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Her shoulders relaxed as she shook her head. Zeke sounded worried, not accusatory, and it seemed to set her at ease.
“Oh. About that. I went to the bookstore where I got the book that summoned y’all. Apparently, it comes from where you’re from.”
“How do you know that?” Cyn asked, leaning his hip on the edge of the counter.
I wondered how she would explain herself. Her answer would go a long way in determining whether we could trust her for more than shelter.
She hugged herself in a protective gesture. “Well, I…” she mumbled, teeth sinking into her lower lip, making heat rush to my groin. I hated the spell binding us to this woman. “I kind of said stuff I probably shouldn’t, and the woman understood.”
“She did, did she?”
She glared at Cyn. “Yes, she did.”
“Did you stop to think that telling another human might be an idiotic thing to do?” He took a step toward her. “You were so worried about being locked up, yet you divulged information to a stranger?”
“Well, no. The thing is—”
“The thing is,” he mocked. “You didn’t know what might happen. It was stupid.”
Her eyes narrowed, and the timid woman who intrigued me gave way to the defiant one who rose to Cyn’s every challenge. “I’m not stupid. I was upset.”
“Like that’s better,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“Fuck you.”
“I told you that isn’t happening again.”
“I don’t want it to.” She planted her hands on her hips, pulling her button-down higher and giving me a better view of the tight dress shorts over her black hosiery. “Besides, it wasn’t anything to write home about, anyway.”
“Excuse me?”
Ash snorted.
Cyn glared at him and turned back to Raelynn. “Say it again.”
She laughed. “Did I bruise your ego?” She shook her head and held a hand up. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone about your performance… if you can call it that.”
Before anyone could react, Cyn crossed the room and wrapped his hand around the front of her throat, pressing her to the wall. “Don’t. Test me.”
She licked her lips, and his gaze dropped to her mouth.
If I weren’t so incensed by how the spell manipulated us all, I’d find his reactions and their push-pull dynamic amusing. Instead, it highlighted how far the insidious spell had sunk its claws into each of us.
“Test you?” She scoffed. “What are you gonna do? You said you wouldn’t fuck me again.”
“No, but I could rip your throat out.”
“Cyn!” Zeke jumped from the stool, followed by Ash.
“He won’t do it,” I said, keeping my voice low. “He’s more in control than he realizes. Acting on pure lust.”
Ash turned to me. “Are you fucking serious?”
“From what he said earlier, and what I’ve noticed, this is foreplay for them.”
They stared at me with slack jaws.
I inclined my head. “Look.”
