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Chapter Sixteen
Rowan
I stare at the spot where Xander had been just moments before. My blood burns like fire and my heart races in my chest.
What the hell is wrong with that guy?
I’m horny as hell, and now I’m fucking mad. What did he mean he made a vow? Is that asshole married? Having been the woman on the other side of that equation, I have zero interest in starting an affair with someone who already has an attachment.
I stalk into the house. Without Xander and my magic, I feel suddenly empty, and it’s not a good feeling. I should have listened to him that first day by the coffee shop. He’d told me he didn’t associate with witches. It’d been easy to peg him as a jerk and leave it at that. But why can’t I get him out of my head?
It’s more than him being smoking hot. That’s hard to ignore, true enough, but I’ve been with plenty of hot guys in my life. Looks aren’t everything. It’s something else: his dragon. That raw, powerful force crouched inside of him, ready to come out at any moment. The way he’d protected me from the horned beast in the forest. From the men at the bar. And now, thinking back on it, I think he’d been here the night before, too. That’s what we’d heard in the forest fighting.
When I get to my room, Catticus Finch rubs against my leg. I reach down and pet him absentmindedly as I flop onto my bed. Why is Xander protecting me if he hates witches so much? The look in his eyes before he’d run off… so tormented and full of longing.
Nothing makes sense anymore.
The exhaustion I’ve been holding off all day claims me now, and I pull the covers over me and fall into a deep sleep.
The next morning I’m woken by someone pounding on the door downstairs. Ven’s at work, and I’m alone in the house. As I approach the door, I pull my chenille robe more tightly around me. I hesitate before I answer it. But nothing demonic can get past the wards. Plus, I don’t think the horned beast is the knock-on-the-front-door type.
It’s the sheriff. He eyes me standing there with my mussed morning hair and my robe, his eyes lingering a moment longer than I’m comfortable with.
“Can I help you?” I ask pointedly.
“I thought I’d come and check on you after everything that happened yesterday,” he says. “I’m sorry we had to head out so quickly.”
Why am I suddenly getting the small-town treatment? He hadn’t seemed to give a shit before. “Thank you, we’re fine, though. How’s the investigation going? Any news on my aunt’s death?”
“Well, that’s part of the reason I’m here.” He drops his gaze a moment. “I heard from some of the locals that you’ve been spending time with Xander Cole.”
I stiffen. People must have seen our brief dance at the wine bar. “How is that relevant? Or anyone’s business?”
“I shouldn’t mention this,” he says, looking down again. But then he lifts his blue eyes to mine. “But Xander is on the list of suspects in your aunt’s case. Possibly this new one as well.”
“What?” My heart thuds to a stop and my thoughts go in several directions at once. “So, the other murder is related?”
“We’re not totally sure yet,” he says quickly. “But also, there are two missing tourists who were seen leaving the bar the other night at the same time as Mr. Cole, and they haven’t been seen since. I just don’t want you to get mixed up with the wrong people, Rowan. Your aunt was a good lady, and I felt like I had to warn you.”
I can feel myself going into shock, my head buzzing with these new details. Plus, I’m well aware of the “tourists” he mentioned, and I’m sure he’ll be able to read it on my face if he stays any longer.
“Thank you, Sheriff. Consider me warned,” I say.
I take a step back into the house and he tips his hat to me, his blue eyes scanning over me one more time, before he turns and descends the stone steps to his truck.
As soon as I hear the engine of his truck rev up and the tires crunch on the gravel drive, I sink down in the loveseat in the hallway. Xander could be my aunt’s killer? It can’t be. Can it? No, he’d gotten through the wards yesterday. Plus, he’d protected me multiple times. But he does hate witches, and he’s been standoffish and borderline rude ever since I met him.
A horrible thought occurs to me, then. The second body, the one they found burned. If Xander is a dragon shifter, then that means he could easily have done something like that. What if his inner dragon loses control sometimes? Like how werewolves run wild at the full moon? I don’t know anything about the magical world. It could be possible.
Had I nearly slept with my aunt’s killer?
A wave of nausea rolls through me at the thought. I don’t want to believe it’s true. My gut tells me it isn’t. But then, I just divorced my husband of ten years for cheating on me. I’m not exactly the best judge of character.
I remember something the sheriff had said the day before—that one of the fisherman had posted a video of the body. I don’t want to see it, but I have to know what’s going on. I would have looked sooner if yesterday hadn’t been so busy with magic practice and putting up wards. With trembling fingers, I pull out my cell phone. A quick Google search reveals the video. Apparently, it hasn’t been taken down by the social media sites yet. Once on the internet, always on the internet.
I hold my breath as it begins. Ignoring the commentary of the startled fisherman taking the recording, I home in on what I’m seeing. It’s not just a burned body. It’s a burned body tied to a tall wooden post. A stake.
Someone is targeting witches. Why had the sheriff told me they weren’t sure if it was related to my aunt’s death? While the method of death is different than Sybil’s, it can’t be a coincidence that both of the victims are witches. Even if local law enforcement doesn’t believe in magic, they have to know about the town’s witches, even if they think them only eccentric pagans.
And somehow, this is all tied in with the horned demon, who seems to be after me.
I don’t know why the sheriff is hiding things, but I’m going to find out. Lives are at stake.
Mine highest on the list.
