I took my time changing clothes. I needed a few minutes away from Nik.

And yet, I couldn’t wait to get back to his side.

He had my head completely turned around. When I left Vegas, all I wanted to do was be safe and free. I wanted to hit the coast and then keeping moving, maybe head down to Florida until it got too hot next summer. Then, who knows? Tennessee? New York?

The key was to stay on the road as much as possible. Try to go unnoticed. Hide my magic at all times, just like my mother taught me when I was little.

But somehow, I had ended up in a town full of magic, and the first guy I met already recognized it in me, even if he didn’t know exactly what my powers were. I had either royally failed or won the lottery. I still wasn’t sure which.

And I probably wasn’t going to figure it out tonight.

I hung my wet bathing suit up in Nik’s shower, checked to make sure my dagger was still tucked away inside my purse, and headed back downstairs with what little belongings I had. Hopefully, I could find a nice but reasonably priced hotel in town where I could stay for a night or two.

I had some money from selling my mother’s bracelet, but since I still didn’t know how much the repairs on my car would be, I needed to spend it sparingly. Besides, unless I could find a way to bring in money on the road without using my magic, it was going to be a tough time ahead for me for a while.

The more time I spent here in Willow Harbor, though, the more I hoped that after some time, I might feel safe enough to come back here to stay longer.

Maybe that was a fool’s dream, though.

I needed to just be happy I had these few wonderful days here and let it go at that. There would be more adventures to come, hopefully, even if none of them would involve a place quite like this one.

Or a man quite like Nik.

Still, maybe it was for the best that I would have to leave. From what I knew of love, it mostly ended in broken hearts.

Nik’s eyes lit up when I came down the stairs, and my heart expanded. I had no idea why he was being so nice to me or why he seemed to care about me as much as he did, but the feeling was mutual.

I simply couldn’t resist him, no matter how hard I tried.

“You ready to go?” he asked.

I nodded. “I’m ready,” I said.

I noticed Drifter behind the bar, staring at me with an intense look I couldn’t make out. Was he angry? Or scared? Or just curious?

“Good to see you again, Drifter,” I said.

He raised an eyebrow and lifted his glass to me before he downed a shot of something brown. Truthfully, it looked more like two shots at a time, but the drink barely seemed to faze him.

He was a strange man. He’d seemed totally delighted to have me come in last night, but now he seemed distant and worried. What exactly had Nik said to him about me?

I would have to ask him at dinner, which just reminded me that my stomach was still growling from hunger. Our underwater swim was incredible, but it had taken a lot out of me. I wanted to eat a big dinner and crawl into a nice, comfy bed for about ten hours.

“You two be safe out there,” Drifter said. “The night before Halloween in Willow Harbor, you never know who you might run into.”

I eyed Nik, as if to ask if Drifter was being serious, but Nik just laughed.

“We’ll be fine, old man,” he said. “You want me to bring you back something good from the Dark Horse Diner?”

“Some of those fancy onion rings would be nice,” he said. “And a slice of that pumpkin cheesecake, if you don’t mind.”

“Will do,” Nik said. He opened the door and motioned for me to head out.

“Thank you,” I said.

Once we got back out to the boardwalk toward town, I asked if Drifter was serious about it being dangerous around here near Halloween.

“Let me put it this way. It wouldn’t be smart to walk around alone after dark any time of year in Willow Harbor, but it’s particularly dumb around this time of year,” he said with a laugh. “Well, not unless you know how to defend yourself against creatures of the night.”

I shivered, wishing I had thought to ask Nik if I could borrow his jacket again. This hoodie wasn’t cutting it.

“Creatures of the night?” I asked, glancing around. The boardwalk was teeming with people up ahead in the lights, but it was the shadows that worried me.

“Vampires, werewolves, different types of shifters, nagas, and the list goes on,” Nik said. “Just about anything Hollywood ever imagined on-screen is real and living here in Willow Harbor. And other things Hollywood could never dream of.”

I moved closer to Nik’s side. If I hadn’t experienced the things I had in my lifetime, I might not have believed him, but I knew about the things a demon could do. If there were others just as bad—or worse—I didn’t want to get caught out here alone.

“I thought you said this was a safe town. It doesn’t sound very safe.”

“You get used to it, and you learn the rules,” he said. “Don’t go out to the beach alone at night, especially during summer solstice. Be careful anywhere in the woods alone, especially near the borders of town. There are certain unspoken rules here the whole town knows and keeps in place. The vampires aren’t allowed to hunt here, stuff like that. But every once in a while, especially during the higher energy times of year, someone will go rogue.”

My head was spinning from all of this information. First, he brought me to this amazing underwater cave where I could actually breathe water like it was air, and now he tells me that vampires are real and walking around.

In some ways, it made me want to go check on my car and get out of here as fast as possible, but in other ways, it made me feel freer than I ever had in my life.

If the people in this town were used to those who could do extraordinary things, maybe I wouldn’t be so different. Maybe I would be free to just be myself for a change. In a town where everyone was different, different became normal. I liked the sound of that.

Of course, I liked it more with a big strong guy like Nik at my side. I glanced at him. Was he hiding supernatural powers of his own? Why was I so scared to ask him about it?

“Something tells me you could take care of yourself, though,” he said.

“Why would you think that?”

“Just a feeling I get from you,” he said with a shrug. “That you’re independent and would do whatever it takes to stay that way.”

I nodded, feeling a bit sick at the thought of what I’d had to do to get out of the suite at Mist Lake Towers where Dominic had held me prisoner.

“Yeah, I have a feeling you can take care of yourself,” he said. “You’ll be fine here, I promise.”

Nik placed his arm around my shoulders, warming me instantly. This time, I didn’t pull away from him.

We walked together the rest of the way down the boardwalk and then turned toward main street and headed into town. The large Willow Tree was just as inviting after dark as it was during the day, and I longed to go sit near it again and feel its energy. Maybe in the morning I could grab some breakfast and go sit near it for a while.

The Dark Horse Diner was located right there on Main Street, and it was filled with people by the time we got there. It was nice to feel the buzz of energy when we walked inside. The place was decorated like a real, old-fashioned diner, complete with black and white checkered floors and cozy booths. There was a real home-town feel about this place, as if everyone knew everyone else, and no one was a stranger.

That being said, Nik and I got a lot of looks when we walked inside and chose a booth near the window.

“Everyone is staring at us,” I said in a whisper.

“People aren’t used to seeing new blood around here,” he said, and I winced at his choice of words.

Were any of the people here vampires? Shifters? How could you tell the difference?

“They also aren’t used to seeing me with anyone else,” he said. “I’ve been in town for a long time, but I’ve mostly kept to myself except for a few friends I’ve met along the way.”

“So, do you know what everyone is?” I asked, leaning forward and keeping my voice down. “Like, are there any other witches in here right now?”

I would have liked to meet a fellow witch.

Nik casually glanced around. “A few,” he said. “The largest family of witches in Willow Harbor is the Tillman family, but none of them are here tonight. Anna, the one who made that potion for me, will be at the festival tomorrow, though. I really want you to meet her. You’ll love her.”

“Festival?” I asked.

“The Fall Festival,” he said. “It happens every Halloween on the town square, and it’s a lot of fun. I was hoping I could convince you to stay long enough to go with me.”

Was there an actual blush on his cheeks?

A woman who looked to be in her late fifties or so came up to the table and handed us a couple of laminated menus.

“Heya, Nik,” she said, smiling. Her thick blond hair was pulled into a tight ponytail, and her golden eyes gleamed when she looked at him. “Good to see you actually sitting down to enjoy dinner instead of grabbing takeout. Who’s this you’ve got with you?”

“Marla, this is my friend, Eva,” he said. “She’s visiting for a few days.”

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Eva. We don’t get a lot of visitors just passing through, but it’s a good time for it with the festival tomorrow and all,” she said. “The whole town comes out for the event.”

“That’s what Nik’s been telling me,” I said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“What can I get you guys started with tonight?” she asked. “Girl, I could hear your stomach rumbling from a mile away.”

I clutched my stomach, wondering if that was just a figure of speech or if she really could hear it over the noise of this place.

“What do you recommend?” I asked.

“The nachos come out fast, if you want a good appetizer,” she said. “I can get them going for you while you decide on your dinner.”

She was gone before I even had a chance to say yes.

Nik laughed. “Are you really that hungry?” he asked.

“Could she really hear my stomach?”

“Probably,” he said. “Marla’s a lion shifter. She can sense hunger from a mile away.”

“Well, in that case, hopefully she’ll bring those nachos out fast, because I don’t know if I’ve ever been this hungry in my life,” I said, laughing. I still couldn’t believe I had landed in a town where a lion shifter was about to bring me some dinner.

When Marla came back, we both ordered enough to feed a small village. We topped it off with a couple beers and dug into the huge plate of nachos.

As we ate, we talked about everything from what it was like seeing that cave for the first time to some of the more colorful residents of Willow Harbor. Before I knew it, most of the food was gone and Marla was asking us about dessert.

While Nik ordered a couple of the diner’s specialties, as well as the to-go order for Drifter, I sat back against the booth and realized this was basically the definition of a date. That might not mean much to some people, but I had never been on a real date before.

My cheeks warmed at the thought.

I had never been free to even think about being out on a date with a guy that I liked, but there was no doubt that I was attracted to Nik. To be honest, I liked pretty much everything about him, and there was no one I would have rather had a first date with than him, even if I didn’t realize it was a date until it was nearly over.

“You’re going to love the cheesecake here,” he said. “It’s kind of their specialty.”

“I can’t wait,” I said. Unlike earlier, there were now nervous butterflies in my stomach, though. Did he want this to be a date? Would he want to kiss me later?

It seemed ridiculous to be twenty-one years old and to never have been kissed, but there had never been anyone in my life that I’d wanted to kiss.

There were definitely men and lesser demons in Dominic’s crew of thugs who had made advances toward me, but Dom had made it clear early on that I belonged to him and that no one was to touch me, thank God. At least I had been protected in that way, but the idea of actually falling for a guy and wanting him to kiss me had never really been something I had dreamed of until tonight.

Now, I couldn’t seem to think of anything else, which only made me feel vulnerable and nervous.

“Everything okay?” Nik asked. “You got quiet all of a sudden.”

My cheeks grew even hotter, and I was sure that with my super pale skin, he could tell I was blushing.

“I’m fine,” I said. “Just tired now that I’ve eaten. It’s been a long few days.”

“I bet,” he said. “As soon as we get dessert, I’ll walk you over to the Willow Harbor Inn. It’s the only real hotel in town, even though it’s more like a bed and breakfast than your typical hotel.”

“That would be great,” I said. A bed and breakfast sounded pricey, but if it was the only option, I would just have to make do and try to save my pennies elsewhere.

Marla was quick with the cheesecake for us to share and a small bag of food for Nik to take to Drifter.

“Tell Drifter his food is on the house,” she said. “And tell him he should step outside that rickety old bar of his sometime and come see us, will ya?”

“I’ll tell him, but you know it won’t do any good,” Nik said with a laugh.

“I know it,” she said. “I’m guessing he won’t be at the festival tomorrow night either?”

Nik shrugged. “I might be able to convince him to close down for a night and come have some fun with us,” he said. “I’ll tell him to look for you if he decides to make an appearance.”

Now it was Marla’s turn to blush, but she quickly ducked her head to avoid letting us notice.

“You do that,” she said. She quickly dropped our bill on the table and walked away, her head still down.

“Aww, I think she has a crush on him,” I said.

“She most certainly does,” Nik said. “That’s been going on for years. She used to come into the bar a lot and they would talk until late into the night sometimes. She hasn’t been coming as much since she started working the night shift here, but she’s got five kids to take care of, so I imagine work has to come first.”

“Wow,” I said, my heart going out to her. “Five kids and she’s a single mom?”

“Yeah.” Nik frowned. “Her husband was a fisherman who used to work on the docks with me when I first came to Willow Harbor. He was a real nice guy from what I knew of him, but he passed away about eight years ago during a big storm out at sea. It’s been tough for Marla, I know. Her youngest was only five at the time, but a lot of the people around town helped her out with free babysitting just to give her a break from time-to-time. She’s got some family around, too, and that helps. A couple of her older kids have already moved off and gone to college, but the youngest just started high school. She seems to be doing pretty good now that she’s helping to manage this place.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize she was a manager, too,” I said.

“Yeah, she normally doesn’t wait tables, but she makes an exception when I come in,” he said with a laugh. “I think she mostly just likes to ask me about Drifter.”

“Well, that’s very sweet,” I said. “Does Drifter know?”

“I think he’s mostly oblivious to it, to be honest. He seems to like Marla well enough, but he has a past with shifters that isn’t so pleasant, so I think that keeps him from wanting to entertain the idea of anything romantic.”

I wanted to know more about Drifter’s past, but it didn’t seem like a good conversation to have so close to Marla. I still wasn’t sure if she was being serious about hearing my stomach rumbling from a mile away. If she did have great hearing, I’m sure this wasn’t a topic she would want to hear about tonight.

Instead, I took a bite of cheesecake and could suddenly think of nothing else.

“Oh my God, this is amazing,” I said.

“I told you,” Nik said with a laugh. “It comes from Ida’s Bakery, made fresh daily in different seasonal flavors. I have to say I’m partial to her strawberry cheesecake in the summer, but the pumpkin is a close second.”

“Well, whoever this Ida woman is, she’s definitely capable of magic, because this is the best thing I’ve ever tasted in my life.”

Nik laughed again, and I eyed him.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“Ida’s a witch, too,” he said. “See what I mean about falling in love with this town? And this is just the beginning.”

He held my gaze, and I felt the depth of his words throughout my entire body.

Was this just the beginning?

Or, like all things in my life, was this just another good thing that would soon come to an end?