Black Hat, White Witch by Hailey Edwards

5

Ahard bump jostled me awake, and I murmured, “No jumping on the bed.”

For a moth, Colby had surprising heft. She probably weighed a good ten pounds.

“Rue?” A warm hand cradled my cheek. “How do you feel?”

The touch flung my eyes wide open, and I got a prime view of a half-naked Asa. “Where’s your shirt?”

Oh, yeah. I was blaming brain damage for the fact his cut torso was mesmerizing me.

“I lost it when I shifted.” A furrow tightened his brow. “Do you remember what happened?”

“The end is a little fuzzy.” I moved my arm and bumped his knee. “Am I…in your lap?”

A snort from up front confirmed it. We were back in the SUV. The bump must have been a pothole.

“Yes,” Asa said softly. “You were unconscious.”

Another memory burst to the forefront of my mind, and I clamped a hand over my mouth. “No.”

I swallowed once, twice to test for any coppery aftertaste, but all I found was dirt and a piece of grass.

“You didn’t eat the heart,” Asa confirmed. “You said no, and I didn’t force it on you.”

“Thank you.” I placed my hand on my stomach. “I don’t want to be that person again.”

Had I caved today, I couldn’t have faced Colby. I would have failed her, and myself.

A tickle on the arm tucked against Asa left me brushing long black strands off my elbow.

Caving to my earlier impulse, I smoothed the strands between my fingers. “Your hair is soft.”

The SUV swerved as Clay jerked his gaze to the rearview mirror. “Rue…”

“I don’t mind.” Asa watched me. “You can touch it.”

A laugh bubbled up the back of my throat. “That sounds so wrong.”

“I agree,” Clay grumbled. “You’re better off keeping your hands to yourself.”

A low growl vibrated through Asa as their gazes clashed in the reflection, but I was too tired to care.

“I’m going to nap now,” I announced to avoid them freaking out when my eyes didn’t open again.

I fell asleep with a lock of Asa’s hair curled around my finger.

* * *

“Rue.”The weight of a chonky house cat landed on my chest. For real this time. “Wake up.”

“Oomph.”

“I don’t weigh that much.” Colby jabbed my cheek with a foot. “Open your eyes.”

The nap had done me good. I wasn’t back to my usual self, but I was getting there. No hearts required.

“There.” I widened my eyes until they bulged as I stared down at her. “Are you happy now?”

“That’s creepy.” She smacked me between the eyes. “Stop being weird.”

A yawn stretched my jaw, and I lifted my arms overhead, arching my back on the seat.

Oh.

Not the seat.

Heat prickled in my cheeks when I glanced up at Asa. “Um.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Thank you for the use of your lap.” I clutched Colby to my chest as I sat upright. “Home already?”

“I gave you thirty minutes.” Colby tucked her wings in tight. “You didn’t wake up, so I came out.”

Magically induced exhaustion had done a number on my brain. I hadn’t put together how she was here.

“You know the rules.” I lifted her to my face level. “Never leave the wards.”

Puffing her fur, she crossed four arms over her chest. “Clay and Asa…”

“You don’t know Clay or Asa.” I put us nose to proboscis. “You can’t trust people you just met.”

The stubborn moth had chosen her hill. “You trust them.”

Aware both agents were watching me, one more intently than the other, I sighed. “Promise me.”

“I promise,” she said dutifully. “I will stay inside the wards where it’s boring and nothing ever happens.”

Her sass was nothing new, but I could guess why the rules chafed now when they never had before.

“Good.” I kissed the top of her head. “That’s what I like to hear.”

Heaving a dramatic sigh, she wriggled free and glided to the house in the next best thing to slow motion.

“That kid.” I wiped my mouth to check for drool. “I’m not sure this is wise.”

“The paperwork came through while you were resting.” Asa cut the legs out from under my argument. “The director is willing to work with you on a case-by-case basis. He’s willing to permit you to live here, if you touch base with your team once a week during times when you’re not on an active case.”

For him to agree to such big concessions, he wanted me back for more than this copycat case.

That might change once he heard about my new dietary restrictions.

But I doubted it.

Something else Asa said struck a belated chord with me. “My team?”

“You have to be on call twenty-four-seven to rate a partner.” Clay chuckled. “Part-timers get a team.”

I could see where this was headed from a mile away, but I still asked, “Do I get to pick them?”

A preternatural stillness swept over Asa. “Yes.”

“Hmm.” I tapped a finger against my bottom lip. “Can I interview candidates or…?”

“Yes.” Asa angled his face away from me. “That can be arranged.”

“She’s pulling your leg, Ace.” Clay snorted. “She wants us.”

“You got your butt kicked by a tree earlier.” I could laugh about it now. “I’m not sure you’re qualified.”

“That’s not fair.” The car rocked when he twisted to face us. “I had already pulverized seven trees by the time you got there.” He cut me a scowl that highlighted his pulpy face. “Plus, I’ve got Ace up my sleeve.”

I shouldn’t have laughed, but I couldn’t help myself. He looked ready to climb in the back and shake me. Between the grinding and popping noises the seat was making, I doubted it would hold out much longer.

“Clay, you know you’re the only one I trust to hold my umbrella at the shitshow.”

A wide grin swept across his face, and he pumped his fist, leaving a dent in the roof.

With Asa’s head turned, it was hard to gauge, but I detected a lip twitch at Clay’s enthusiasm.

A single tap on Asa’s hand where it rested on the seat earned me his full attention.

“You had my back.” I searched his face. “I won’t forget that.” I stuck out my hand. “Teammates?”

His warm fingers wrapped mine and didn’t let go. “Teammates.”

“Details are in your inbox.” Clay grunted when he caught his hip under the steering wheel. “Let us—”

Snap. Crack. Pop.

A yelp shot out of me when the seat broke, dropping it—and Clay—into my lap.

“Hold still.” Asa set his hand on Clay’s shoulder. “You’re going to crush her legs.”

The golem twisted his lips, but that was all he moved. “Sorry, Dollface.”

“Accidents happen.” I was just glad Colby had gone in. “There’s a reason you’re a backseat driver.”

“I’ll have to shift to get it off you.” Asa lifted his eyebrows. “It’ll be a tight fit.”

“Do what you gotta do.” I wiggled my toes. “I’m losing feeling below the knee.”

Flame exploded down the length of Asa’s frame, igniting a change that resulted in the same beast from the forest sitting next to me. Mostly. He had to duck to make allowances for his horns, and his upper body required him to crowd me.

The daemon braced one wide palm on the seat behind me then cupped the broken front seat, shoving it upright and holding it steady while Clay contorted enough to ease out the driver side door.

“I’m clear.” He reached in and took the weight of the seat from the daemon, holding it off me. “Scoot out.”

“Stay,” the daemon ordered me then performed a contortionist act of his own to get out his door.

“I could just…” I hooked my thumb toward my open door. “I’m bruised, but nothing’s broken.”

The daemon didn’t appear to trust my self-diagnosis. He wedged a hand under my thighs, placed one on my back, and lifted me out of the SUV and against his bare chest. Now that he had me, he appeared torn on what to do with me. Wards prevented him from entering the yard or house, and the SUV was busted.

“You can set me down here.” I pointed to a patch of thick grass. “I promise not to budge.”

The daemon snorted, not believing me for a hot minute, but the movement brought his hair gliding over his wide shoulder into my lap. His burnt-crimson eyes watched me for a moment, daring me to play with it as I had in the SUV earlier.

Maybe it was an inkling that Asa viewed himself as monstrous that made me slide my fingers through the silken length while he purred around me.

“You really don’t want to do that,” Clay warned me. “Ace, put her down and shift.”

Wide fangs sharpened the corners of his smile. “No.”

As much as I hated playing the damsel, I had witnessed this type of overprotective behavior triggered in predatory males when their female partners got hurt before. Wargs were terrible about it. Gwyllgi weren’t any better. Big cat shifters might be the worst. Even vampires got extra bitey over opposite-sex partners.

Daemons must have the same instinctive drive to care for us puny females under their protection.

“I’m going to let go of your hair.” I opened my hand. “And now you’re going to let go of me.”

The daemon’s brows slammed down, and he looked like he was thinking about growling at me.

Done humoring him, I murmured a tiny spell and jabbed him with my finger. I only had enough juice for a static shock, which was laughable on a daemon his size. But it did the job. He lost his focus. That gave me an opening to shove off his chest, flip over his arms, and land in a crouch.

“Ace.” Clay snapped his fingers in his partner’s face. “I will kick your ass if you take another step.”

A tinkling laugh froze us all in place, and we turned in unison to the porch and the moth on the railing.

“You say a lot of bad words.” Colby fluttered with delight. “More than my gamer friends even.”

As I straightened, I leveled a stare on her. “Your gamer friends use language around you?”

“I hear the microwave beeping.” She spun in a circle. “Gotta go.”

“Can she use the microwave?”

“Oh, yes.” I found Clay standing beside me, half his attention on the daemon. “She enjoys explosions.”

Moths weren’t meant to microwave, but that didn’t stop her from trying to cook when I wasn’t home. I was shocked she hadn’t burned down the house as often as she zapped tinfoil. And utensils. And metal takeout containers.

For a while, I thought it was a cry for attention. Then I realized, no. She was just that bad in the kitchen. Since she was always trying to fix me dinner or desserts for special occasions when disaster struck, I didn’t fuss.

Alarm clanged through his tone. “How…?”

“She watches a lot of TikTok.” She got me hooked too. “It gives her ideas.”

The thirst traps I fell into on total and complete accident gave me ideas too.

“I should go.” I backed away to keep the daemon in sight. “I need to read over that contract.”

No doubt there was fine print buried in there ready to trip me up if I didn’t comb over it.

“You do that.” Clay waved to the moth with her proboscis glued to the drama. “See you tomorrow.”

This twenty-four-hour window Asa sold me on was stretching into a solid forty-eight.

“I have to make the right decision.” I had to say it, even as it caused Clay to drop his smile. “For her.”

“Team,” the daemon growled, “mates.”

I heard the gap between those words, and it gave me a case of the shivers. The daemon in Asa had ideas about me. I chose to believe Asa was reading into the bond I shared with Clay, and the day’s events gave him a case of overprotectivitis. That I could forgive. You couldn’t change your DNA.

And just like that, I dumped a bucket of ice-cold reality over my own head.

Sure, I resisted temptation today. That didn’t mean it wouldn’t consume me tomorrow.

Each case was another opportunity to succumb, another heart no one would mind me having for lunch.

“Once you sign on the dotted line, I’ll get the files to you.” Clay kept a wary eye on the daemon. “Well, he will.”

The size of Clay’s fingers made it hard for him to use laptops. Phones, at least, could be voice controlled.

Inching back, I banged the fence with my hip, fumbled the gate open behind me, then retreated into the yard, safe behind the wards. All without turning my back on the daemon, who watched me with avarice.

Manners I had forgotten returned to me in a rush now that a ward stood between me and the daemon.

Already dreading the answer, I still forced out, “Do you need a lift to your hotel?”

“Yes,” the daemon rumbled, his fangs gleaming.

“No.” Clay spoke over him. “I called a tow for the SUV. The driver said he would give us a lift into town.”

“Sounds like you boys have it handled.” I pivoted on my heel. “I’ll be inside if you need anything.”

A shiver coasted down my spine, and I glanced over my shoulder to find the daemon sliding a dark claw down the ward that kept him from opening the gate.