He spun me around to face him. “Whichever you desire most, Lexi.”
I hummed low in my throat, fully aware of our audience. “And what if I desire more?”
“Insatiable,” he purred, lips turning up in a faint smile. He ran his thumb across my bottom lip and my breathing hitched. “I enjoy a challenge.”
Fighting back against the growing heat in my stomach, I pushed away from him. He chuckled, but maintained his grip on my hand. Or maybe I was the one who wouldn’t let him go. A fierce possessiveness had taken root since last night, after a long and overdue discussion about Lilith. I didn’t mention what Loki said, about how he was blind to what Lilith was truly capable of, but it weighed on me nonetheless.
There was also the possibility that I was the one in the wrong, that everything I knew about Lilith was as much propaganda as the shit scholars wrote about Lucifer.
In truth, I didn’t know what to think, and that was what kept pulling my eyebrows down until a finger pressed the space between them. “Your face is going to get stuck like that if you’re not careful.”
“Mom.” I grinned at the woman in front of me, the amused tilt of her eyes contradicting the tension in her stance. Her ginger hair was held in a bun by a carved wooden stick with a chain of amethyst bits dangling from the end, a lucky find at a thrift store a couple years ago. “Is everyone here?”
“Just waiting on Alana,” she replied, nodding to the two people who stood behind her. “Lexi, this is Camilla Greene. I believe you’ve already met her daughter, Jasmine.”
I shook the woman’s hand, feeling the zing of magic in her touch, and smiled at the preteen clinging to her shoulder. “I’m glad you’re both here today.”
“Thanks in large part to you, I hear.” Camilla bared her teeth in a sharp smile, and I wasn’t entirely sure if she was trying to look friendly or threatening. “Jasmine and her friends nearly scared the wits out o’ me the night they come runnin’ and screamin’ in my house. Took half the night and all my patience to pry the story out of ‘em.”
“They were just lucky Nathan’s vision led us there that night,” I said. “It could’ve been much worse. I hope it was also a good lesson about respecting the rules the adults set?”
Jasmine nodded quickly, glancing up at her mom. “Yeah, no more magic at night.”
“More like no more sneakin’ out the house, period,” Camilla clarified harshly. Then she sighed, her shoulders drooping visibly. “Either way, thank you for… well, showing up. If not for you, we all would’ve continued to ignore the problem and just waited for things to blow over. Powerless don’t suit me, so taking an active part in the fight is exactly what I needed.”
“Not a fan of powerlessness, myself,” I replied with a laugh.
She eyed me and arched a thin eyebrow. “Honey, with the power rolling off you, I doubt feelin’ powerless is a problem you ever had to contend with.”
Lucifer’s voice cut me off before I could respond—not that I even knew what to say to that. “Yes. I’m sure Lexi had every intention of burning down movie theaters and flooding pubs. Powerlessness is not for lack of power, but lack of control, whether that control is over a situation” —He squeezed my hand gently— “or your own abilities.”
Camilla lifted a swarthy hand to her chest and dipped her chin. “I… apologize for the assumption. I just never met anyone like you before today. I guess it never occurred to me that having too much power could be a hassle in its own right.”
“I even have to wear a magical cage,” I chuckled, lifting the bronze chain around my neck. “We all have our limitations, even if they’re not so visible.”
My mom, who’d been standing patiently to the side, clapped her hands together. “Right, well, it looks like everyone’s here now so why don’t we get started?”
I turned to where she gestured, noticing all the witches gathering in a large, loose circle. Walking down one of the paths toward the crowd was a woman with long hair as dark as night, dressed in a sleek black pantsuit that looked expensive. A few in the crowd waved to her, but she ignored them, redirecting her trajectory when she spotted us. Dark red lips curved upwards and she lifted her overpriced sunglasses to rest on top of her head, revealing rich brown eyes.
“Sam Rivers,” she purred, giving him an assessing once-over. “This is the last place I thought I’d find the best baker in Boston. And certainly not with his assistant clinging to him.”
Someone behind me hissed. I kept hold of Lucifer’s hand and reached out with the other. “We haven’t met yet. I’m Lexi Sutton, Miranda’s daughter and Sam’s partner.”
Lucifer hummed and stepped closer, wrapping a possessive arm across my shoulders. “Much more than that, I think.”
The only ounce of surprise she showed was a raised eyebrow. “Alana Everett. I’ve heard very little about you other than you’re quite the powerhouse.” She shook my hand and laughed, eyes widening with delight. “Gods, it’s true. This crazy little spell of yours might work after all, Miranda. That kind of power, it might become more than just an alarm system.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, turning to my mom. She hadn’t said anything about my involvement messing with the spell. Too much power could make a spell backfire as easily as the lack thereof. My exploding broom trick when I was a kid was proof of that.
“It means, doll, that your power is what will make this work on such a large scale,” Alana said bluntly.
This huge, enormous spell… hinged on me? My mouth felt suddenly dry. Camilla stepped up beside me, a hand on my arm, and eyed the other coven leader. “No pressure or anything.”
“Oh, Heavens no.” She peeked over her shoulder at the group waiting on us and frowned, the barest crease between her perfectly shaped eyebrows. “I suppose we need to go over the details again and get to our assigned areas before we miss the hour. But I wouldloveto talk some more when this is all said and done.”
Something was off about that woman, but I couldn’t place it. Like she couldn’t decide which personality type matched her suit and her Gucci bag. As if reading my mind, Lucifer leaned in close as the rest joined the group, his hot breath brushing my ear.
“Witch, but she’s a bit older than she looks. That kind of magic can take its toll on the human mind.”
