His eyes snapped to mine. For one heartbeat, he looked almost hopeful.
Then the mask slid back into place.
He leaned away, settling into his chair like nothing had happened. “Guess I better accept those contracts,” he said lightly. “Both start tomorrow. Well... today, I guess.” His grin tilted. “You sure you don’t want the candy witch gig? Sounds like your kind ofsweettorture.” He winced, as if regretting his attempt at a joke.
I shook my head, too stunned to trust my voice.
Blaise pulled out his phone and, after one last unreadable glance at me, accepted the contracts. Around us, the hall surged back to life. Laughter burst from nearby tables. Goblets clinked. Chairs scraped. Congratulations rang out for demons who were no longer there.
He lifted his glass toward me. “Great. Well, here’s to another year of...” His voice trailed off, as if even he couldn’t find a name for the strained year ahead of us.
With a final sigh, he drained it in one swallow, stood, and disappeared into the crowd.
Chapter 4. Caitlyn
One week later...
––––––––
I shot off a quick text as we stepped out into the cool night air, leaving the town hall—and the awful memories of Lex’s trial—behind me.
My friend’s trial is done. I’ll be at the meeting point tomorrow as planned. Thanks for being chill about the delay.
Not that Blaise, my security guard from Shadowbound Security, seemed to mind. He’d accepted the job without complaint and didn’t appear remotely bothered that I’d postponed things all week. Not that he had much to complain about. I’d been paying him since the day after the Samhain summoning. And aside from a curtKor the occasional thumbs-up emoji, he didn’t seem at all concerned that he’d spent the last week lounging at home on my dime.
But Lex was my childhood friend. When her grandmother—the head of the coven—asked me to attend the trial, it was never going to be a no.
Gods, though. I wished I could unsee it.
Her boss’s attempted sexual coercion had been pulled straight from her memory and projected for all of us to witness. And honestly? Hexing his dick off felt restrained.
She’d been found innocent. Of course she had.
Even Priscilla had voted that way—though I’d half expected her to say guilty out of sheer spite. Dating Lex’s brother might’ve helped. Though “dating” was probably a generous term for what she and Jake were doing.
I glanced over my shoulder. Yep. There they were. Bickering.Again.
And I could guarantee it had something to do with Billy, the silver-haired wolf shifter and Lex’s best friend, who’d come to support her through the trial. Billy was marching ahead of us now, deliberately out of supernatural earshot of Priscilla and Jake’s latest lovers’ quarrel.
The way Billy’s ice-blue eyes had tracked Jake all evening... yeah. I had a strong suspicion that those two were mates. And judging by Jake’s indignant“What’s Billy got to do with anything?”he didn’t have a clue.
It would be funny if it weren’t so sad.
“Lochran said he’d take me away,” Lex said suddenly.
I glanced at Lochran, Lex’s accidentally summoned mate. He was charming in that polished incubus way: all sharp cheekbones, easy smiles, and eyes only for his fated mate.
Ever since the day Lochran first walked into my shop, I had been avoiding him for no other reason than because he knew things I wasn’t ready to ask... but desperately wanted to.
Incubi born in the same Samhain cycle grew up together in the Shadow Realm. Which meant Lochran knew exactly who hadn’t been summoned yet. And with only two witches my age left to do the summoning—me and my cousin Jen—he would absolutely know who our mates were.
Well. Technically, there were three witches left. But Priscilla didn’t count.
So, instead of asking“So, Lochran, who’s still hanging around the Shadow Realm unsummoned these days?”like I desperately wanted to, I smiled lightly and said, “Like, on vacation? If you want, I have a cabin near Headless Hollow. It’s booked until the end of the week, but it’s yours if you want it.”
I was still mildly amazed that the current guest hadn’t canceled yet. Cassandra Calloway had officially made ScareBnB history—the first person ever to reach the halfway point of theirstay. I was going to have to come up with some kind of prize. A medal, maybe. Or a certificate of survival.
“Headless Hollow?” Lochran said. “Sounds like a place from a horror movie.”
