I couldn’t help it—I leaned toward him and let my eyelids fall shut.
BANG.
BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.
I gasped, breaking through the weird trance I had fallen in.
What thefuckwas that? Was I about to kiss him? Where the fuck did that come from?Hot embarrassment flamed in my cheeks.
Bewildered, I scurried backward, unable to meet Tandor’s gaze.
“Is that the door?” he asked.
“Sure sounds like it.”
He cleared his throat. “Expecting someone else?” His voice was full of gravel.
“No.”
“Oh. Who would just show up to a business at night?”
“Besides you?”
He glanced at me sideways. “Besides me.”
“I don’t know!”
“Are you going to answer it?”
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Thankfully, the distraction lightened the strange tension that had settled over the room. I hoped Tandor wasn’t feeling it as thoroughly as I was—maybe he didn’t notice how close I had come to planting a big fat unsolicited smooch on him.
“I guess I have to. Will you protect me if it’s a monster?” I joked. There were no monsters in Moonvale.
“Of course, princess.”
That damn nickname. My cheeks warmed for some reason. I yanked the waist tie on my dressing gown impossibly tighter before I stomped over to the front door.
“This better be good!” I shouted to the nighttime intruder as I yanked the door open. What I saw perplexed me. “What the fuck. Linc? What are you doing here?”
He smiled broadly. “I came to see you, of course!” He spread his arms wide, beckoning me into a hug.
What. The. Fuck.
CHAPTER 9
Tandor
My bandaged hands hung uselessly by my sides as I stared at the situation in front of me with absolute bewilderment.
Linc, the human man that was always fluttering around town, was standing outside Kizzi’s door, in the dim light of the gleaming dual moons, grinning at the witch with his arms thrown out wide and a manic gleam in his eye. His cheeks were flushed to an alarming degree, and I could hear his heart thudding from where I was standing.Thump. Thump. Thump.
Kizzi and… Linc? I hadn’t seen that coming. Sure, the man was handsome, but he was sort of… odd. And not necessarily in a good way.
Lead settled deep in my gut. I swallowed, trying to ease the tension that was growing inside me.
Part of me wanted to punch the human. My knuckles wouldn’t even split with how neatly they were wrapped with bandages.
