I’m not here to make your days suck less. – Madison, The Witch Hunter

Three days into our sojourn in the woods, and two things continued to amaze me—Karma hadn’t returned, and I hadn’t killed Grady yet. The intricacy of the spellwork was beyond anything I’d ever examined. I might be an unending fountain of magical energy—well trained, and more than capable of holding my own against the biggest and baddest the magical community could throw at me—but I wasn’t this creative or inventive.

I didn’t make shit happen.

The spell on this place not only kept us and the warmth in while keeping the snow out, it fed us regularly. After a meal, we covered the plates with our silver domes and when we returned to the table, a fresh meal would be waiting for us. We waited it out 24 hours on our first day—personal note, Grady’s a damn bear when he can’t eat—and the meal was appropriate to the time of day.

What totally sold me on how creative this magic was—the coffee. Pots and pots of it, always fresh, always hot, and always ready exactly when I needed it. If I weren’t trapped here with tall, blond, and too damn hot for his good, it might also be a vacation.

The bathroom included a hot tub and a shower, another saving grace. I might have to listen to him, but I didn’t have to smell him. The door to the bathroom opened just as I took a sip of my fresh cup of coffee, and Grady strutted out wearing nothing but a towel.

“I am so glad I already finished my breakfast,” I said without turning around to look at him. I could see him just fine in the mirror over the dresser. As cabins went, this place was a cozy ideal. Perfect for a romantic escapade.

Terrible as a prison, unless the idea was to punish me for some sins I hadn’t committed yet.

“I’m starving.” Grady sat down in the chair across from mine, the towel gaping over a powerful thigh as he lifted the silver dome to reveal a prime rib, two fried eggs, and crispy potatoes. Despite her own poached eggs, hash browns and a waffle, the steam wafting up from the meal made her hungry.

“So much so that you can’t be bothered to get dressed before you dive in?” Admitting how distracting I found his shirtless form didn’t do my cause any good.

“Absolutely, but if you’re feeling overdressed, there are plenty more towels in the bathroom.”

“As if I’d give you the pleasure.” Coffee. Focus on the coffee. It had helped me survive this long.

“I don’t expect you to give me any pleasure.” The pause was so significant; I could almost hear the period. Then he added, “At least not until I earn it.”

What? Meeting his glowing blue eyes, I scowled. “Earn it? I’m not some prize or paycheck at the end of a long and arduous week.”

“You know what’s funny,” Grady said as he cut into his steak. “You believe that’s all I think about you. And, to be fair, I’m a mouthy guy. I can’t say you don’t have your reasons to think that. But have I hit on you, even once, since we agreed to be partners? Have I made one untoward move in your direction after we decided to split our time, one in the bed and one on the floor? Have I stolen a peek at you while you’re in the shower? Hidden your clothes? Any other sleazy stuff?”

Lowering my coffee cup, I studied him. Gone was the smug smirk and in its place, an honest smile. Even bare, save for the towel, he wasn’t flashing me or trying to lean in my direction.

“You’re right. Being cooped up is driving me crazy.”

“I know,” he said, then took a bite and chewed it. That was it? He knew? After he washed the bite down with some orange juice, he added, “Just focus on how we’re going to pay Cyrus back for this. It’s what’s getting me through the day. That and troubleshooting the spellwork.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” As much as I hated to admit it, I said, “I’m stumped.”

“Then we stop working at odds and work together.” After pointing his fork at me, he gestured to the rest of the room. “Between us, we can take down a herd of ogres. Somewhere in this mess is a weak spot. Let me finish my breakfast and you can get that third cup of coffee in you, and we’ll see about huffing and puffing and blowing this house down.”

“We’re not wolves.” I sighed, but I didn’t try to hide the smile tugging at my lips.

“Too bad.” The transformation was noticeable this time, his playful smirk resumed. “I’d love to make eating you jokes.”

Groaning, I hugged the mug with my hands and took another long drink. Grady being right so much was also making me crazy. Of course, I did need that third cup. Three cups, and no one got hurt.

The man needed more flaws. Can I ask you a question?” I’d waited until he’d dressed. We might be stuck with the same clothes, but the same spell feeding us, keeping the weather out, and trapping us inside also kept our clothes clean and fresh. With so many layers weaved into the spell, I could honestly say I was baffled at not only how you’d go about putting it together much less combining it so well that not even raw hammers of power could dislodge it.

“Shoot,” Grady answered as he dropped to sit on the edge of the bed and pulled on his boots. Still shirtless, the action sent muscles rippling across his chest.

“What are you exactly?” It was a wildly inappropriate question. Since we were roommates and partners for the time being, I gave into temptation. “Witch? Magician? Shifter?”

Just because I’d never seen him transform didn’t mean he couldn’t.

Straightening, Grady lifted a hand to shove his dark blond hair away from his face. It was shoulder length, and the color of golden sunshine. Everything about him was larger than life.

“Mother is a Sorceress, a gifted one. Father is…well, he’s a bit of a wanderer. Gammelfar, he was always a bear.” Then he winked. “If you’re looking for me to go furry, you’ll have to live with disappointment. I can talk to the birds of the air, or at least they talk to me, but I don’t turn into a quadruped.”

“That explains your size.” It wasn’t terribly out of the question for Shifter blood to dilute, especially if mingled with an especially powerful witch line. Something about the way Grady said Wanderer reminded me that not everything out the world fell into comfortable categories. Safer for everyone to leave it alone.

“Does my size bother you?” Leaving his shirt on the bed, he crossed to where I still sat at the table and held out his hand.

Gliding my palm over his, I let him tug me from the chair. Damn, the man was big. I was nearly 5’10” and he towered over me. “Not even a little bit. Most male witches aren’t built like you.”

“Someone’s been checking me out.”

“You’re very hard to ignore.” I lowered my lashes, then ordered my gaze to stay on his chiseled features and not his fantastically carved abdominals or impressive pectorals.

With almost childlike glee, he lifted his hands in the air. The double fist pump accompanied by a delighted, “Yes!” did what little else of his activities had managed.

I laughed, and it was a freeing sensation. At least until I snort-giggled in the middle of it and my chuckle became a cackle.

“That’s a beautiful sound,” he said, and the thickness in his voice arrested me.

“Me laughing?” I used to be self-conscious about the less than lady-like noise I made when I belly-laughed. The snort, of all things, was hardly attractive. The cackle, though, had earned me far more teasing.

“Yeah, I like it.” The ease in the curve of his lips hid no ulterior motive. “You never laugh when you’re with me—and I mean the real one, not the cool, dismissive, you’re about to kick my ass one you use when you’re anything but amused.”

Huh. The thought sobered me. “I’m not the most people of people persons.” Far from it. My best friend was a spell-brador, who was so in the doghouse considering he’d abandoned me. I hadn’t seen hide nor tail of him since.

“You don’t have to be a people person. You don’t have to be anything. I like you, bites and all.” His admission stunned me.

Frowning, I twisted away from him. He was too close. “What are you talking about?”

“Not a damn thing, gorgeous. Just that I like you, and I like our alliance.” He delivered the last four words while holding his palms forward. “That said, you want to bite and claw me, go for it. I can take it.”

“I don’t want to bite and claw you.” Liar.

“Liar,” he echoed my thought as I paced away.

“Let’s get back to the real issue.”

Joining me, Grady’s arm brushed mine as we stared out the open door. The house fixed everything—except itself. “It makes food, it heats the water, keeps the fire going, and cleans our clothes…why doesn’t it repair itself?”

“Improperly coded spell?” What did I know? I didn’t build magical programs. Programs. “Our showgirl-slash-witness-slash-miracle worker—what if she’s all of those things?”

All business, Grady circled to face me, and his expression sobered. “I’m listening.”

“Cyrus sent me to get a witness who is due to testify. She’s turning evidence for the state—probably senior councilors against the casino she worked in. Now, Cyrus never really tells us who is paying the bonds.”

Folding his arms, Grady nodded. “He likes to keep it all to himself.”

“Right, so she works for the casino, and showgirl is a pretty much dismissed position. What do they do? Wear flashy outfits and shake their ta-tas?”

“Says the witch who doesn’t admire a well-formed body and the talent it takes to shake those ta-tas and asses in outfits and headpieces which can weigh up to fifty pounds.”

Really? “Not going to ask how you know that.”

“I’m an open book.”

Uh huh. “My point was,” I said dragging us back on topic. “If you tell us we’re hunting a showgirl, are we really looking for someone with badass magic?”

Lips pursed, Grady tilted his head to the side. “No.”

“No. So maybe this…” I swirled my finger around. “This is what she stole. Her earring came from here. The wisps found it—after Karma found this place. So, she was here. Maybe this is her stash pad. Which is great, because it means she’ll come back.” Or not so great, if she dumped it and took off. This was really hot magic. That would be safer to not run around another realm with it. Of course, it didn’t explain Karma bailing on me, or why Grady’s team hadn’t come to find him…

“About that,” Grady said, clearing his throat. The cocky confidence he wore faded. “The earring…might not have been left here by…”

Clenching my fists, I blew out a breath between my teeth. “Nihil, ūnus, duo, trēs, quattuor, quīnque, sex…”

“Sex?” The familiar smirk returned, only the disbelief in his gaze didn’t quite match it.

“I’m counting in Latin.”

“Oookay…do I want to know why?”

Lightning sparked along my fingertips. The electricity skated through my system and flickered at the edges of my vision. Hair raised all over my body. “You set me up.”

“Yes.” The immediate honesty in his answer tempered my anger. “In my defense, we weren’t allies then.”

“And you waited three days to tell me.”

“Also true.” His smile faltered. “In part because I forgot and I didn’t really think it had any bearing on the spell.”

Both sounded valid. I could continue to be pissed or I could do something about it. “Any other details you might have forgotten?”

“In the interests of our new partnership?”

“Why not. In the interest of our new partnership.” Keeping a lid on my need to lash out took effort, but I needed to think my way out of our problem. Fury never solved anything.

“My guys had a bead on Floosey in town. I told them to stick with her, bag her while I distracted you.” Was that sheepish note in his voice? “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry—and I’m totally going to take those two to the cleaners. They should have come looking when I didn’t show up.” The corners of his mouth turned down, and his gaze went distant. “Crap.”

“Let me guess, they likely assumed you bagged and tagged me, and they wouldn’t dream of bothering you.”

If my aggravation wasn’t already an issue, the stricken look on his face might have amused me. “Yeah. We’re still in the same boat. Stuck here until we can figure out how to break through the spell.”

I must be unraveling, because I believed him and the last dregs of my rage drained away. Massaging my temples, I paced. Movement helped me think.

Wait.

Unraveling…

“You have an idea.” Grady clapped his hands together. “Hit me with it.”

Well, since he asked so nicely…

I’m not weird. I’m sexily eccentric. – Grady Hammersmith

The wallop of power picked him up and flung him across the room, and pinned him to the shield. The impact knocked the breath out of him. The snap and crackle of sizzling air around him as she held him prone to the interior shield sounded way worse than it felt.

“Do I want to know what you’re doing?” The question seemed appropriate. Madison stood in the center of the room, one hand raised and her hair flowing around her as a breeze circled her.

Wreathed in her own power, she was a dark goddess, clothed in black.

“Unraveling.”

Yeah, that didn’t tell him anything. “Come again?”

“Unraveling.” When her eyes opened, they were pure black and lightning splintered across the darkness. Lust surged through him, a powerful provocation and far surpassing anything he’d ever experienced in her presence.

Grady loved women, and his passion for them was something for which he’d never apologize. No woman he’d ever met could come close to attracting him the way she did in this moment.

Madison, the preternatural bounty hunter, and chosen by the spell-brador—damn she was hot.

“Can I do anything more than be a lightning rod?” Her power cascaded over him, leaping from his fingers to his arms, along his shoulders, and then down his flesh to his abdomen and arcing to his legs. The hum left him elated.

“Shh,” Madison whispered, but whatever she saw while the lightning played in her eyes held her attention. “I need to find the part where they began weaving the spell. I may not be able to build complicated magical constructs, but I know how they make them.”

“Spell weaving.” Damn. “If our little showgirl can do this…” The bond Cyrus would pay them was about to triple. “You think maybe the reason they want her back is she can do this.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time someone with a fine magical gift was co-opted by others.” Damn, her voice dropped an octave into a husky, decadent register.

Enslaved she meant. “I’m not a fan of slavers.”

“Well, then we have that in common.” The spell holding him fast released, and her magic washed away, continuing to electrify the internal shield. The diamond pattern repeated, the symmetry near perfect—then there was a hint of a shadow. A shadow he hadn’t seen anywhere else.

Shivering to shake off the tingling still riddling his spine, he pointed to the corner of the rug. “There.”

Madison twisted to face the same direction and her power concentrated on the rug. The shadow appeared again.

“I’ll be damned…it’s an actual thread.”

“Weaved right into the rug.” They’d tried every other part of the room, including the floors, but they’d rolled up the rug when they’d gone after it.

“Can you undo it?” Rolling his head from side to side, Grady freed some of the tension. If it took brute force magic, he’d pour his into hers, but he also had tools. A thought brought his Smith & Witchin’ to his hand.

Pacing forward to the edge of the rug, she knelt but didn’t answer him. Curious, he followed and dropped to one knee next to her. The breeze around her caressed his skin as it rotated. The electricity danced over her hand as she held it toward the rug.

Bad idea. The knee jerk gut reaction had him grabbing her arm and throwing up a shield a moment before the room imploded around them. The detonation left his eyes dazzled and his ears ringing. Pressure struck his shield like a tidal wave, slamming into with increasing force. Folding himself over Madison, he focused all his will.

He would break before he’d let that shield come down.

A moment later, darkness plunged over him and the world winked out.

…

…

…

“Grady.”

Not right now. He wanted five more minutes.

“Grady.”

C’mon. Just five more minutes.

“Grady, I’m naked.”

His eyes opened and he focused on Madison, leaning over him. Her dark hair a curtain, and the ends of it tickled his flesh. Three things registered immediately—they were alive.

Yay.

He was sore as hell.

Eh.

She was not naked.

Boo.

“Oh, thank the Goddess of Midnight and Morning, I thought you were dead.” The relief in her tone was palpable.

“No such luck, babe. You’re stuck with me.” His reward for honesty?

She punched him in the shoulder.

“Ow.” It took more effort to say the word than it was actually worth.

“You saved me.” There was a hint of amazement in her voice. He wouldn’t be too insulted by it.

“I know. I kind of like you.” Smiling when his toes responded to his need to wiggle, he managed to lift his head and glance around the cabin.

It was all in one piece—even the door.

Relaxing, he half-wanted to hit his head against the floor—maybe a few solid blows would free them from the eternity of the trap. Instead of the wood floor, however, Madison cradled his head in her hand.

“You keep saying that,” she murmured.

What? Wood? Sliding his gaze south, he squinted at his groin. No sign of an erection against his jeans. Good. As delicious as Madison was, he needed a moment. Licking his lips, he didn’t taste any blood. So far, all good news. “What do I keep saying?”

“You keep saying you like me.” Then those dark eyes were above his and a hint of honey filled his nostrils. “When you tackled me away from the detonation, you took whole force of the blast and you kept saying over and over—you wouldn’t let anything happen to me.”

“I need to learn shut up.” Closing his eyes, he fled the temptation of her. He was hurt, and he’d done something heroic. It really flew against the grain.

“Thank you,” she whispered, then her lips caressed his and he forgot how to think, how to breathe, and energy surged through his body. The whomp burst from them and radiated out. Sliding his fingers into her hair, he cupped her head. Then her mouth opened to his and their tongues tangled.

It was all the encouragement he needed. Not that his brain needed a blood supply, not while he held a living lightning bolt in his arms.

A woof interrupted, and Madison broke the kiss. Aww, man…

Turning his head, he stared at Karma gazing at them from the now open door. The spell-brador was half-in, and half-out.

The spell had broken.

“It’s about time you showed up,” Madison growled. “Come help me with big boy here. My partner and I have a showgirl to catch.”

Her partner…oh, me.

Cool.