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Chapter One
Why do you fight me? Let me inside.
He was at it again. Every night, all night for the past two weeks he’d been whispering in her mind. Probing for entry. No force yet, but the persuasion was almost worse. Either way, it was enough to give a witch a migraine.
Dorothy flung off the covers and got out of bed to stumble toward the kitchen. Maybe some hot chocolate with a sprinkle of Valerian would help her ignore the voice in her head that wouldn’t take no for an answer and let her get some sleep.
“Why won’t he leave me alone?” she mumbled grumpily, noticing the clock on the stove. “Three in the morning. You’d think he’d at least stop poking at my brain long enough to get his beauty sleep.”
We must speak face to face. Trust me. Trust in the magic inside you. I’m sure it knows I mean you no harm.
She rolled her eyes. “That’s what they all say. Didn’t Aunt Glin tell you wizards were deceitful devils? Don’t answer. He’ll go away eventually.”
She set a pan on the stove with more force than strictly necessary and filled it with milk, her features softening when a sleek, orange cat leapt onto the counter to mewl conversationally.
“Don’t try to suck up now, Suki. I’m not talking to you either.”
The cat’s eyes widened innocently. “Nice try. Some familiar you turned out to be. What happened to scratching my enemy’s eyes out? A few sardines—and yes I saw the empty tin so don’t deny it—was all it took to win you over to his side.”
When she’d come home this afternoon to find a note from her new neighbor attached to the suspiciously sated Suki’s collar, she couldn’t get inside and lock her door fast enough. She’d even tried to call her aunt, but Glin was on another cruise. The older woman was busy enjoying her golden years right when Dorothy needed her the most.
Suki nudged Dorothy’s hand with her head and she sighed, scratching her behind her fluffy ears until she felt some of her tension ease. “Fine, I still love you. It’s not your fault he’s such a charmer. Unfortunately for you, he doesn’t seem to be all that picky about who he charms.”
Aunt Glin had spent an inordinate amount of time reminding Dorothy that wizards were born unfaithful, notorious horndogs who only cared about sex and power. She’d never wanted to believe it. She was the only kid in school who didn’t think of kindly wise men with flowing robes and long beards when someone said the word wizard. No. Thanks to Glin’s lectures, Dorothy imagined lecherous demons instead.
But she never in her wildest dreams imagined anyone like Z. “It’s like he’s trying to break some kind of record.”
Suki yowled in agreement.
Dorothy had lived in Venice Beach for years, and she’d thought she’d seen all that the eccentric beachside community had to offer. There was no shortage of characters in the neighborhood. Honestly, it was one of the reasons she loved living here enough to put up with the tourists. In this crowd, a weather witch didn’t stand out at all.
But he did. The wizard definitely stood out, and not just because of his long black hair, perfectly golden tan and a body that would stop a nun in her tracks.
What was worse, every time she looked out her balcony window, the man was making another conquest.
He didn’t seem to have a discernable type, a favorite gender or any rules about the number of people he allowed in his bed. In fact, from what she could tell, he seemed to prefer entertaining one of each. Usually at the same time.
Dorothy had a front row seat for all of it since he lived in the condo across from hers. He seemed to have a personal vendetta against curtains and always poked around in her mind right before he played with his nightly guests.
He wanted her to see him.
Well, he’d gotten his wish, but the side effect of his exhibitionism was the reputation he was getting around the tightknit community. Neighbors she’d forgotten she had were finding reasons to visit her just so they could use her window to spy on the handsome new arrival.
Her stepsister, Emily, was no more immune than anyone else. She may as well have moved in with the amount of time she spent here over the last week or two. Talk about a problem Dorothy didn’t need when dealing with little to no sleep and a persistent wizard.
She and Emily didn’t exactly get along. Technically, they’d only been sort-of siblings for a single year. But for Dorothy, it had been more than enough. The amount of restraint it had taken not to use her fledgling powers on her stepsister was a feat she could still scarcely believe she’d accomplished.
Emily was everything Dorothy wasn’t. Slim and blonde, rich and selfish. She’d been spoiled by her father, whereas Dorothy’s mother had hardly seemed to know she was alive, often leaving her in the care of her aunt for long stretches at a time.
Except for that one, endless year.
When their parents divorced, she was sure she’d never have to see the snooty little princess again. She could have friends that wouldn’t be stolen, crushes that wouldn’t be exploited, and a life that didn’t revolve around the bratty blonde.
Much to her surprise and dismay, however, Emily refused to go away.
Suki rubbed against her and Dorothy shook her head. “I’m a horrible person.”
With adult hindsight, she’d realized that, other than her useless egomaniac of a father, Emily didn’t actually have any family. And lord knew, she couldn’t keep any friends. For some strange reason she’d decided to claim Dorothy as her sister, no matter what her father or anyone else thought about it. Stranger still, Dorothy couldn’t find it in her to turn the woman away.
Even when she used her key to sneak in and
eyeball her perverted neighbor like a freak.
Damn Kansas, anyway, she thought as she stirred in a few squares of dark chocolate into the steaming mixture. None of this would be happening if he were here.
She’d known Kansas Frayne and his uncle for as long as she could remember. He’d always been there when she needed to vent about her mean stepsister and neglectful mother. Not even Emily or the imposing Aunt Glin could scare him away, which was saying something.
After a nasty breakup with his boyfriend a few years ago, Kansas had moved to his farm in Iowa and shut himself down. It had broken her heart, but she’d refused to let him suffer in silence, calling him every week and sending regular email updates on her life.
