Always Practice Safe Hex (Stay a Spell, #4)

by Juliette Cross

Magic sparked in the room. For once in my life, I didn’t know if it was mine or his, my body heating and coming alive with remarkable speed.

Strangely, handing over my will to him had never made me feel more powerful. Or free.

Her submission meant everything. She had no idea what this was doing to me.

Like I’m all you want, all you ever need.

I’d be reborn a different man. One who lived and breathed for only her.

“Fuck, baby,” I growled.

I’d never taken orders from anyone. Ever. Not after I’d killed the last person who’d ever dominated me in any way. But obeying Lavinia didn’t feel like being oppressed or pushed or smothered. It felt...right.

But she saw in my eyes what I’d known for a while now. I was in love with her. So fucking deep.

I hope she made me bleed. I wanted her marks on me. Marks. I lifted my head enough to see teeth imprints in her fair skin.

“Yes. Then you feed me.” “Anything you want.” And I meant it. She could’ve asked for all of my wealth, my house, even Queenie—well, maybe we’d have to share Queenie—and I’d have given it to her.

Who was I fucking kidding? I was already addicted, obsessed, with all of her silky textures.

“I rocked your world, didn’t I, Blackwater?” “You have no idea.” She really didn’t.

Then she reached up with both hands and cupped my face. I had never let anyone do that to me before. Ever. And I hadn’t even flinched.

I laughed yet again. I couldn’t help it. I was giddy at this playful side of Gareth.

Then the smile he’d rewarded me with when I told him I definitely wanted to meet her injected me with another shot of endorphins. It was like Clara had zapped me with one of her happy spells nonstop for hours. I couldn’t explain this euphoria. Just looking at him made my heart speed up, and warm.

He rattled off an exact quote so matter-of-factly, I was stunned. “Eidetic memory,” he reminded me. “Wow,” was all I managed to say, wondering how long ago he read the poem and still retained it word for word in his big brain.

“Ask me anything, Lavinia. Anything at all.” Anything? I asked him, mind to mind. His only response was a careful dip of his chin. Trust. Here it was.

This guarded, enigmatic man who kept his secrets well-hidden and locked away, had just opened the door to me.

“I’d never hurt you. And I’d kill anyone else who did.” Whoa there. He wasn’t kidding.

“Go on,” I told him. “If you think this will scare me away, then you don’t know me at all.”

“So you’re one of twenty-seven grimlocks in the world?” He nodded, his lips thinning with strain. Wow. So Gareth was special on that kind of scale.

My heart melted at the soft vulnerability and acute pain seeping through his veneer. He was scared to tell me. Afraid of what I might think?

You can tell me whenever you’re ready, but I already know what I need to about you, Gareth.” I skated my hand up and around his nape, tugging him closer. “You are not evil, no matter what darkness you hold inside you. I know that with every beat of my heart.

And if you never tell me what happened, that’s fine too. I admire the man I see.” I traced my fingers up his sharp, clenched jaw and across his intelligent brow and down to his succulent mouth. “And I see a lot more than you think.”

“I want what I see. Now more ...

I coasted my hands softly up the tight muscles of his back and hugged him closer. His mask vanished, revealing all the longing tenderness of a man who’d lived without this for far too long. “Oh, Gareth.” I swallowed the lump of emotion swelling inside me.

It wasn’t pity but the need to assure him he was wanted. And should be cherished.

“I’ll stay as long as you want me.”

Those words were offered freely and with great sacrifice on my part. To submit not just my body, but my heart too. He understood exactly what I meant, because he lifted his face from mine, examining me with complete and utter awe.

“Then stay forever. Never leave me.” It was both command and request rolled together, his gaze se...

I’d had tenderness and made love before with other women. Other men. But something told me that he never had. This was his first time.

What I was sure about was that I wanted to give Gareth everything he’d been without. The tenderness and care and yes, the love, that he deserved.

The risk of loving a man like Gareth was high. Because I couldn’t simply own him like I had other lovers in the past. He’d own me too.

Where we both belonged.

“She means something to you,” he said definitively. Not a question. She means everything to me.

Besides, I had a feeling this assignment would be good for Henry. It was about damn time that he re-opened the doors to his magic. What he was meant to do.

“Let me put it to you this way,” I added with all seriousness. “Imagine it was Clara instead of Lavinia in the line of sight of a dangerous, possibly lethal, predator.” Henry stopped tapping, went deathly still, his eyes glinting with fury.

Sure, there were others like him I could call on, those who hadn’t put a permanent block on their magic for over a decade. But I needed someone discreet. Someone I trusted to keep my investigation secret. I needed proof before I did anything further.

The way she said sire, a common term for vampires to their overlord, was a tad too worshipful. Jules’s face pinkened, while Ruben turned back to me.

“Do I detect a theme?” Ruben arched a brow at me in challenge. “Yes, you do,” said Devraj, joining us, his glass in hand. “Let me guess,” I said to Dev. “The girl is resistant to the monstrous god, but he woos her any way.” “Woos is a kind interpretation,” added Dev. “Kidnapping is more accurate.”

Dev and I both laughed. You’d have to be a complete idiot not to see how badly Ruben wanted Jules Savoie. How he seemed to surround himself with visions of getting her.

“Don’t be angry,” I told him, still smiling. “In the case of Eros and Hades, they both get the girl.” “And live happily ever after,” Dev added. “Of course, you’d have to actually start wooing the girl in order to get her back.” Ruben flinched, and I was sure it was because of Dev’s slip of the word back. He’d had her once before, and then lost her.

Swirling the ice in my glass, I said, “Seems like that will be quite a long campaign.” Ruben’s gaze returned from whatever distant point he’d been focusing on and looked at me. He had that fierce look of a vampire on the hunt. “Oh, yes. Weeks and weeks. Months, even.” When he smiled again, wider this time, I caught a flash of his fangs which had descended.

Yes, he was definitely on the hunt. I wondered if Jules had any idea what was coming for her.

Henry paused then shook his head on a smile. “Good for you, G.”

Today was the first day I’d have a significant other, and my stomach fluttered with nervous energy every time I heard the pub door open and someone else walk in.

“I invited Gareth,” I told her. “I know.” I rolled my eyes. “Then why’d you ask?” “Because I wanted you to admit that you’re into him.”

I couldn’t imagine Gareth looking at me like Devraj looked at Iz. Like he worshipped her. Adored her. Would die for her.

Not a full minute later, Gareth walked in the door, and all air left my lungs. I don’t know why seeing him in casual clothes twisted me into such lusty knots.

I bit my inner lip to keep from smiling at the adorably awkward expression plastered on his face. I walked over, his gaze devouring me from top to toe. “Hey,” I said, beaming and more than breathless.