“It’s great!”

Layla turned around, surveying the newly bought land belonging to Hunter and his clan. It was a large, open area. Phoenix had already planted some apple trees on the outer border. For the past few weeks, she and Hunter had been splitting their time between the game reserve with Rose and being here helping out with the building. The house the demons had built was nearly done. There were a few more minor details to see to, but for the most part, they were ready to move in.

“Okay, you remember the spell you’re doing?” Rose asked, pulling Layla’s gaze away from the house.

“Yes, the alert spell.” The plan was for Layla to take care of some of the more minor spells for the property while the more experienced witches took the heavy defensive ones.

“You remember what I told you?”

“Yes, Rose, I remember. Damaris isn’t sure it’ll work, though. She thinks it’ll be a lot harder to make sense of a stipulation.”

Rose shrugged. “If we don’t try, we’ll never know.”

Rose’s theory was that Layla’s backlash most commonly targeted the person a spell was aimed at. There were certainly plenty of instances to the contrary, but Rose wasn’t discouraged, saying that some randomness was guaranteed. For this project, Layla was to focus on Phoenix, the legal owner of the land. She was technically casting the spells for him. If Rose was right, her backlash would target him and the other demons more than the coven, allowing the witches to keep working.

“Remember not to put too much power into it,” Damaris warned. “It’s just an alert charm. The real power will be in the protection wards. If you knock someone out, it should at least be for a shorter time with a less powerful spell.”

“We think,” muttered Rose, but she was also optimistic on this point. She next positioned the demons so that they were closer to Layla than any of the witches. Rose loved trying to work out limitations, and she’d been tireless in her experiments.

Partly because of her exuberance, Layla was kind of looking forward to Hunter having his own place just so that she could get away sometimes. She loved learning about magic, but she also loved taking a break every once in a while.

She cast the first spell, proud to get it on her first go. Damaris collapsed to the ground. Rose sighed, making yet another note on her pad.

“It could be just an anomaly,” she said brightly, leaning down to check Damaris’ pulse. “If my calculations are correct, she should wake up in about three minutes.”

Damaris took seven minutes to wake up, but Rose didn’t seem discouraged. Layla was beginning to wonder if any sense could be made of her backlash at all, but Sophie assured her that Rose had done some great work on the stipulations over the years. Layla just figured it was a good thing she’d live forever, seeing how slowly things were progressing.

She waited for Damaris to fully wake up before casting her next spell, to ensure she didn’t drain her again before she was recovered, and then she gave it some more time so that the others could get some work done before she potentially drained one of them again. The whole thing was time consuming, what with Lizeth zoning out after every spell and Sophie needing to rest after each of hers. Damaris did the bulk of her casting soon enough, but then her magic was used up for the day.

While Rose didn’t technically need to rest between spells, she stopped after a few hours. Layla knew that the longer Rose had been casting for, the more likely she was to get tired and make a mistake. They all knew the terrible consequences of Rose making a mistake, so Sophie encouraged her to take as much time as she needed.

The second time Layla cast, her limitation hit Cord. Like Hunter, he didn’t pass out, but he got pretty weak and had to lie down for ten minutes. The day crept by as Layla worked her way around the property, casting alert charms on the land as well as the house itself, waiting between spells for her friends to recover.

Then, suddenly, Hunter was in front of her, blocking her way. “Not this way.”

“I have to go that way! I need to cast there.”

“Damaris already took care of it.”

Layla narrowed her eyes at him, but Hunter merely smiled. He’d been keeping something secret from her ever since they’d started building, though. Layla had been given the run of the property, but whenever she tried to venture into the woods behind the house, one of the demons was always there to head her off, their excuses having become more and more ridiculous as time had passed.

Her favorite was the time when Phoenix had told her that Hunter urgently needed her help with a magical matter of great importance. When she’d reached him, Hunter had then spent half an hour questioning her intently on the history of the hair growth spell she’d been learning while Phoenix had disappeared into the mysterious forest.

“You know, I’m going to find out what you’re hiding in there eventually.”

“Oh yes, I forgot to say, Rose says she needs your help with inputting some more data.”

Layla rolled her eyes. Even her coven was in on it. Hunter gave Rose a meaningful look, and Rose suddenly lost the ability to add the numbers in her book, requiring Layla’s immediate assistance.

Of course, they wouldn’t finish everything in one day. Sophie hoped that they’d have everything done within a week. Once they were all magicked out for the day, Layla stayed to help Hunter and the others move their purchases inside of the building. Sophie had paid them well for their help, so expenses hadn’t been a concern. The demons did most of the heavy lifting, carrying couches and tables through. Meanwhile, Layla cleaned counters and organized cutlery and other small items.

Late in the day, Hunter disappeared into the forest for a few hours, and she amused herself by seeing what ridiculous lengths the others would go to in order to keep her inside. She even went so far as suggesting that she should paint their toenails while she waited for Hunter. The demons’ looks of horror were priceless.

They were saved by a call from one of Layla’s clients. She only had two so far, but she was happy to start small. She had forever to build up a better base.

Kristy had a party to go to and didn’t want to wear her glasses. Her eyes were unfortunately intolerant of contact lenses, getting red and sore no matter which brand she tried. Layla invited her over to Hunter’s place to do the spell. When she arrived, Layla didn’t really blame Kristy for ogling the demons, who by now were covered in a light sheen of sweat and had taken off their shirts.

It was a good thing Hunter was out of sight. Layla didn’t want anyone else looking at her man like that.

When he finally came back, Layla had finished with Kristy and was learning to throw knives like the other demons. Cord had taken her outside for the exercise, to save their newly painted walls from her frequently wide shots.

Hunter came up from behind and wrapped his arms around her. “You’re getting good at that.”

“Sure. The trees will likely never recover.”

“It takes time to learn. I’m glad you want to learn from demons as well as witches. Often, halflings choose to embrace one side of their heritage and ignore the other.”

“Seems silly.” Layla gave up on talking with Hunter’s lips so close to hers and kissed him. Cord snorted and went back inside.

“They’re going to get sick of us,” Layla mumbled worriedly.

“They won’t. Come on, I want to show you something.”

He took her hand and started leading her around the house to the forest. Layla’s insides tightened with excitement. He’d been keeping whatever he had in there a secret for weeks. It must be big, or he’d just have put it in a drawer or something. She’d had a hard time resisting casting a revealing spell, but she’d known Hunter would show her when he was ready.

They followed a small path through the trees to a clearing. In the clearing was a log cabin.

“Hunter, is this…?”

“It’s for us,” he confirmed. “After living with others for so long, I think we could both use some alone time.”

Layla threw her arms around him, laughing in delight. She loved living with her coven, but Hunter was right. She’d grown sick of having to lock the door and cast silencing charms just to get a little privacy.

“Come on.” He pulled her by the hand and carried her over the threshold. It was small, with just three rooms: a bedroom, a kitchen and living room combined, and a bathroom. Layla loved it.

“I can’t believe you did this.”

“I’d do anything for you, for us. Anything to see you smile like you’re smiling now.”

Layla’s eyes feasted on the cabin. Hunter had gotten a hold of some of her paintings and put them in frames on the wall. He’d also pilfered her favorite blanket that she’d brought from her mom’s house and covered the bed with it.

“I was wondering where that went.”

“Rose helped me sneak it out while you were asleep.”

“She did?”

“She seemed to think it was funny. She’s really not so bad. None of them are.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.”

“Just one more thing to do,” Hunter said, tugging her to the front door. “Put your hand over here on this round patch of wood.”

Layla did, and the wood grew unnaturally warm under her fingers. “What was that?”

“The ward. You and I are the only ones keyed to it. Anyone else trying to get in will get thrown out on their asses.”

Layla laughed. He was taking the privacy thing seriously, and she loved it.

“I’m going to call Sophie and tell her I’ll be staying here tonight.”

Hunter played with her hair while she made the call. Sophie didn’t sound surprised, of course. She just told Layla that she and the rest of the coven would be back early the next day to continue with the wards.

“Oh, I should warn you—watch out for Rose,” Hunter said conversationally once she was off the phone.

“Why?”

“She takes her research with the stipulations very seriously. She was telling me that she still hasn’t done any investigation into how a heightened emotional state will affect your drains. Don’t be surprised if she drops a spider or something down your jacket to find out.”

“I’ll knock her out for a week,” Layla muttered. She hated spiders.

“Come on, let’s get something to eat. I haven’t installed the fridge in here yet.”

They went back to the main house to find that the others had ordered pizza. Phoenix had managed to get the television set up, too, and they spent a few hours watching movies, laughing together as though it was the most normal thing in the world.

Layla guessed that, now, it was. She hadn’t just gotten Hunter; she’d gotten the rest of his demon family, and she was glad of it. Having friends and people who cared about her was amazing. It would still take some getting used to, but she had a lifetime for this to become the new normal.

Layla faked a yawn, and Hunter took the hint. “Well, it’s getting late. I think we’ll head off to bed.”

Phoenix sniggered, and Cord rolled his eyes. Layla felt her cheeks getting red, but she didn’t mind. As long as they couldn’t walk in on her and Hunter, she was happy.

“You know, you never finished that drawing of me,” Hunter commented once they were inside their own little cabin.

“I guess I haven’t had a chance. It’s difficult when the scene keeps changing. Maybe I should just start a new one.”

“Well, this scene won’t be changing for quite some time. Maybe, in the morning, you can start a new one.”

“As long as Rose doesn’t kill me with her experiments. You’ll stop her if she tries to bring a spider anywhere near me, right?”

“Well, I don’t know, the experiments are important…”

Layla hit him on the shoulder, and Hunter laughed. “Okay, okay. There will be no spiders, I promise.”

Hunter’s hands were soft on her shoulders, and Layla had to concentrate on remembering what she’d wanted to say.

“I want to try something. Hang on.”

She muttered the words to a simple spell. Nothing happened. Of course it didn’t. The one time she wanted to show off for Hunter, her magic played her up.

“It’s okay, just try again.”

She took a deep breath and repeated the spell. On the second try, it worked. The lights turned from a boring, pale yellow to a deep, sunset orange.

“It’s beautiful,” Hunter breathed, laying back on the bed, no doubt drained by Layla’s magic.

“It’ll only last the night, but I can cast another tomorrow. A different color, maybe. Sophie can get hers to last for a week, and there’s this really advanced spell that has them change color depending on the mood of the caster, but I’m miles away from that.”

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”

Layla suddenly regretted that she’d drained Hunter, because the look kindling in his eyes was making her heart beat faster.

“So how long does it take you to recover from a draining?”

“It really depends. This one isn’t so bad. Maybe five minutes. I’m not sure Rose is right about the strength of the spell affecting the strength of the drain…though I guess I’m not the expert on it. Don’t tell her about this. She’ll have me rating my exhaustion on that twenty-point table again.”

“I won’t tell if you won’t.”

They lay side by side on the bed for a while, each immersed in their own thoughts.

“Does this kind of thing happen often?” Layla asked eventually. “You said you’ve done jobs like this before. How many people are in need of bodyguard services?”

“Probably more than in the human world, but I wouldn’t say it’s overly often. Most witches never have a power-crazy warlock target them; that’s why no one realized who was behind it. I wouldn’t worry too much.”

“Are you still going to do jobs for people?” Layla asked worriedly. Though she knew how capable Hunter was, she wasn’t overjoyed at the idea of him putting himself in danger.

“Probably not. We don’t really need the money…we just do it to keep ourselves occupied and stay sharp. The others probably will, but they don’t have mates. I’m perfectly happy to occupy myself with you for the foreseeable future.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“I think I’m going to be busy for a very, very long time.”