Witch Trippin' Read online

  That was beyond believable. “Five...?” I looked at his crotch. Couldn’t stop myself.

  He and Clara nodded, but added nothing to that.

  Before I could explore that information, I sensed someone’s arrival. Yeah, I sensed him before I saw him, though when I saw him, it turned me into a blabbering idiot as I tried to explain to him, “Jace, yes, time...lost, well, time, yes, I didn’t...track...lost...”

  “Too much information too soon, Roger,” Jace said, totally ignoring my mindless explanation for why I wasn’t ready for our evening. He walked up to us and inclined his head. “The ladies don’t need to know about your penis adventure.”

  “Penis adventure, indeed!” Roger scoffed.

  He, Jace, looked glorious. His aura was red hot. His body looked damned inviting. He was an alpha wolf and that is all I can say, other than, all my girl parts went into hyper drive.

  His dark blond hair fell stylishly over his forehead. His golden eyes were alight with amusement. His black silk shirt barely fit over his broad chest. Black silky pants completed the picture, and I was breathless as I looked him over and finally breathed and was able to say, “Oh, Jace, I’m sorry. Are you early or am I super late? No matter, give me a minute and I’ll be back.” I turned to Roger. “Nice meeting you. Bye.” I teleported in a haze of blue mist and was in my closet, looking at my clothes a moment later.

  From my nightstand, my wonderful skull familiar, Bone-Apart, said, “Bennie...you are in danger. Don’t go out with him tonight.”

  “Danger? What kind?”

  “Not sure. Feel it. Be careful tonight, and be careful with that wolf. He is...well, he is a wolf.”

  I went over and kissed Bone-Apart on his clean, white forehead. “Don’t be jealous of him, Boney, and I will be careful.” A minute later, I was showered and in a red summer dress that displayed just enough of the swells of my breasts and hugged my waist and hips. Gold hoops in my ears, red heeled sandals, and a brush through my long, wavy blonde hair finished the picture.

  Below, in the kitchen, I found Jace and Clara laughing over something as I walked down the stairs. Roger had left, and the open floor plan gave them a full view of me rushing toward them as they looked my way.

  “Honey, you are going to give the male shifters in our little bar palpitations looking like that,” Clara said, and smiled.

  I laughed, and then saw Jace’s appreciative golden eyes doing a slow walk over my body. For some absurd reason, I felt shy, but he immediately put out his arm for me and said softly, “Gorgeous lady, shall we go?”

  “Take care of her, Jace,” Clara said. “You know Sophie might not be too thrilled, and besides that, I feel something coming and it isn’t good.”

  “Huh,” I said. “Boney just said something about danger lurking. You two must be in tune.” I still thought nothing overly worrisome about the warning.

  I waited ’til Jace saw me seated in his Jag, and he was at the wheel before I said, “Sophie? Not thrilled?” I gave him my eyebrow, which spelled out explain in large letters, and then, just in case he didn’t get it, I said it right out loud, “Explain, as I asked you if you were involved. I don’t step on other female’s toes.”

  “Sophie is a member of my pack. She thinks because she and I were...more than friends for a short time, she has some kind of relationship with me. She doesn’t. I made that clear before we ever went out. I told her she had become too clingy, and stopped seeing her.” He eyed me and frowned. “I told you the truth when I said I wasn’t involved. I haven’t imprinted on her and I won’t. She, however, hasn’t given up, and she is the jealous sort, end of story.”

  “Because going to lunch is one thing, doing shots at a bar...is another,” I said. “She sees me as a threat because she is trying to hold on. Have you encouraged her or allowed her to think she might be able to hold on? If so, this doesn’t work for me.”

  “No, quite the opposite, but she has a mind of her own, and like your Marvin, she doesn’t seem to want to take no for an answer,” he said, and I heard the truth in his voice and saw it in his eyes.

  “Okie doke, but even so, tonight...you and me...just a couple of friends, right?” I wanted him to know where I stood. I didn’t want to get involved with him. After all, I was going back to New Orleans. He lived here with his pack. I don’t do long distance, and I don’t want to live with a pack, and besides that, he had told me upfront he doesn’t get involved.

  “Just a couple of friends, just showing you around,” he said.

  Like hell, I thought. I know when a man has ideas, and Jace Tomlin looked as though he wanted to lay me down and tear off a piece.

  I believe in facing the truth. That was a truth. Did I want that? Hell yeah. Was I going to allow it? I sure hoped I was strong enough to resist, because Jace was someone I just might end up liking more than was healthy for my heart.

  I had to be careful. I mean, sure, I could enjoy him for the time I was here, but that is sorta doing, well, maybe not a one nighter, but similar to it. I would be the one who would become attached. I didn’t want my heart to crack open just because of the chance of the best sex ever.

  Now that was right? Wasn’t it?

  At any rate, this night was for listening to some music, and with any luck, dancing a little, and doing a couple of shots. Then it was home to bed, alone!

  Right, Bennie, tell yourself that...again and again, maybe you’ll believe it!

  * * * * *

  The local and lively Assjacket bar was achieved by going into the backroom of the hardware store. The music was loud, and everyone appeared to be having a really good time. I was seriously surprised.

  Shifters of all sorts were sitting at tables and at the long, bar counter. A band with a decent singer was rockin’ it on a small stage. People were milling about, and dancers were intent on only one thing—having a good time. Things were, once more, beginning to look up.

  We took a corner table, and Jace went to the bar and came back a few moments later with some wings and a tray of vodka shots with Kahlua chasers. Oh, yum.

  We clicked and drank, and it didn’t take long before I was up on the floor wiggling it and beckoning for him to join me. He did. Oh, he did, and we danced until the music turned slow. I started to walk off, but he took my arm and gently maneuvered me into his arms. Why the hell not? I asked myself, after all, it was only dancing.

  His hands sensually gripped me by the waist. I brushed up against his body and a tremor so overwhelming shot through me that I nearly gasped. Nearly, but I controlled myself.

  He pulled me in closer. I could feel his hard-on brush up against me, and it made me burn with desire. Resisting Jace Tomlin was going to be no easy feat.

  I slid my hands up onto his chest and pushed slightly, putting space between us.

  He eyed me. I was getting a kink in my neck looking up at him, because even in heels, he was a mountain towering above me.

  He shook his head and the space between us vanished as he pulled me up hard against him. I didn’t object.

  Damn, but I felt like I could get lost with him wrapped around me if I allowed that to happen. Allowed it? I realized I wanted him wrapped around me. I wanted him to take off my clothes and fuck the living hell out of me. I...

  No, wait, no. I didn’t just think that. I can’t let myself think in that direction because I wasn’t about to be another notch on his bedpost.

  “Bennie...” he said my name sweetly. “I’m sorry for the way I treated you when you were in Tomlin Woods the other day.”

  “S’okay,” I said. The booze was starting to haze me over. The closeness of his body was taking my libido and doing a tango.

  “Even so, you need to be careful when you go out walking near those woods. I have already given orders that you are not to be bothered by the pack if you stray onto our land, but...be careful all the same.”

  “Aww...but I’m a powerful wiz, no, maybe that is a secret. I am a powerful...wi...witch,” I said, sure the room was spi
nning around me.

  He looked down at me and chuckled. “What you are is a witch in her cups.”

  “In my whaaaat?”

  “An old world term that means bombed,” he said, and laughed again. “Come on...it has been a long day for you. Time to get you to bed.”

  “Oooh, bed...maybe fun.” I shook my head. “But no fun for me. I don’t do...one thingies.”

  “One thingies?”

  “Nope, no can do...very sad,” I confirmed.

  “Good, now let’s get you to your bed, alone...in Clara’s house. Okay?”

  “Okie doke, but if I was going to do a one night thingy...” I couldn’t finish the sentence. It was the last thing I said before bam, out like a light.

  * * * * *

  I woke up in the Jag with him putting a cold rag to my forehead. “Come on, Trouble, get it together. I don’t want Clara to see you like this and come down on both of us. I didn’t realize you would get caught so easily.”

  I looked around. We were parked at the edge of the parking lot of the bar. “What happened? Did I pass out? From a couple of shots?” I was amazed. I don’t pass out.

  A suspicion slipped into my head. I am the suspicious sort.

  Did someone slip me something? Was it someone’s idea of a joke? Not funny. Thank goodness for my...I guess it is my wizard metabolism that shook me lose from whatever I was given.

  “Yeah, I was surprised because you only did a couple of shots...not enough for a witch or a shifter to pass out from, and you are both,” he said, and frowned.

  “No, Jace...I never ever pass out, and I know I didn’t have as many as I can and have done many times before.” Something tasted wrong on my tongue, and I knew. “Jace, one of my drinks was tampered with,” I said, and my voice was sharp.

  He said nothing for a minute. “You taste it?”

  “I taste it,” I said.

  “But who? Who would do that, and why?”

  I straightened in my seat. “I can do as many shots as any shifter. I am one. Also...I know my limits and...there she is again!” I had seen her enter the bar in a black, spaghetti strapped dress. Her short auburn hair framed her pretty face.

  “Is that Sophie?” I asked, knowing the answer in advance.

  “Yes,” he said, and he didn’t look happy. “I didn’t see her inside.”

  “I did,” I answered. “Is she the sort who would slip me a mickey?”

  “But why?”

  “To keep us...apart. We couldn’t do anything, could we, if I was out for the count, right?”

  He didn’t look happy. “I am sorry, Bennie.”

  I smiled at him. “Not your fault. Not your problem, and I will handle it.”

  The next thing I knew, I was in his arms and his tongue was down my throat.

  All I knew was that I wanted his kiss, and damn, he tasted like vanilla and honey. He was delicious. I had told myself I wouldn’t succumb to him, but here I was, torched and shoving my tongue in his mouth and wanting more, so much more.

  I responded to his kiss with a fervor I couldn’t believe was possible, and one I had never felt before.

  It was as though he splashed cold water all over me when he set me aside.

  I blinked.

  He said, “As a rule, I don’t take advantage of vulnerable ladies. You were drugged and passed out. I shouldn’t have kissed you. That was no way for me to behave. Forgive me.”

  I stared at him. Who was this wolf? I had never met anyone like him before. After all, I kissed him back. Taking advantage? I don’t think so. Besides that, I am a big girl, not a star-struck ingénue.

  However, I wasn’t sure what I should say, so I came up with, “That kiss, buddy, all it was—all it could be, was a thank you for a wonderful night. Nothing more, so no guilts.”

  “Is that what it was—a thank you? And are your thank you kisses always...so damn, downright hot?” he asked, and there was a glint in his golden eyes.

  “No, I don’t ordinarily shove my tongue down a man’s throat to thank him,” I answered, and laughed. “Even so, let’s just call it a goodnight kiss. Let’s be smart and agree that was nothing more than a really great, goodnight kiss.”

  His soft, husky voice went right through me and made me want to bend into his arms when he said, “We need to do it again...a goodnight kiss, at your door.”

  I laughed. “Not happening.”

  “We should, just to be certain it was the mind-blowing kiss we thought it was.” His voice was full with a tease.

  “Hmm, don’t need to. I know that you have one hell of a throw down punch of a kiss,” I told him. Yeah, I should keep my mouth shut at times. I never know what is going to come out of it.

  He chuckled, and without another word, started the car and drove me the few miles to the edge of Assjacket and onto Clara’s long, winding driveway.

  I looked at the boot house, dimly lit and warmly welcoming, and felt an absurd sense of belonging.

  He didn’t shut off the ignition as he jumped out of the driver’s seat and opened the passenger door. I was wobbly from my drug experience, and he scooped me up and carried me to the front door, opened it, and placed me on my feet inside.

  “Goodnight, Trouble, goodnight.”

  I watched him leave. He got into his car, backed up, and then headed down the drive. He had left, and hell, I wished I had said yes to a one night thingy!

  ~ Five ~

  MORNING CAME IN A SERIES of dreams. Good ones, well not good, naughty is a better word. Yeah, naughty, and Jace Tomlin had a starring role in each of those very vivid dreams.

  I closed my eyes and thought I should try and sleep a little longer when the aroma of bacon stirred me and got me up.

  Bone-Apart said, “Don’t go walking today...at least not alone, and not in the woods.”

  “Why, Boney? What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know, I just feel...you are still in danger, more than ever,” Bone-Apart said.

  I love his voice. His skull mouth doesn’t move, but he has this deep fatherly voice, which plays in my head. No one else can hear him. He sounds like Earl Jones.

  I dressed in jeans and a black sweater and went downstairs, where I finished by putting on my hiking boots.

  “Good morning, child,” Clara said. “Come...eat. I made...” she paused and spread her hands over the island, “everything.”

  She had. Spanned over the island top were banana pancakes with chocolate sprinkles, French toast, omelets, home fries, sausage links, and biscuits.

  I nearly swooned with thankfulness and pleasure as I sat and filled my plate. Clara poured coffee, my favorite, hazelnut, and we started to hum.

  “Clara, at home, I help out. I clean, and cook now and then, and definitely stack and empty the dishwasher. Mom makes me do it without magic. Says it is good for the soul.”

  She laughed. “Not necessary, and my kitchen is mine.”

  I didn’t argue, and continued to eat everything in sight.

  Witches are blessed with a wonderful metabolism. I suppose our magic uses up our calories. Thank Goddess for that, as I am always hungry.

  “You don’t have a familiar,” Clara said after we had finished the pancakes and were about to finish the omelets.

  “Well, I do, in a manner of speaking,” I answered.

  “In what manner of speaking?” Clara cocked a look at me.

  “I have Bone-Apart,” I said, and put my hand in the air and silently called him. A moment later, Boney sat in my palm before I set him on the black veined marble island counter. “Boney, meet Clara.”

  Boney doesn’t usually speak to anyone other than me and he usually speaks to me telepathically. He says it keeps others from hearing our private conversations. Boney has always been very private, but he spoke to Clara in his wonderful and reassuring elderly male voice I am so fond of.

  “Hallo, Clara, I hope you will look out for my Bennie. She is in danger.”

  “Danger?” Clara sounded alarmed. “What kind of da
nger?”

  “I am not sure,” Boney answered. “I feel something threatening directed at her, but I have not yet determined what it could be.”

  “I don’t like this,” Clara said. “Familiars have a sense of things beyond our understanding. Boney, try and think. Is the danger from a witch or something else?”

  He was quiet, and I assumed he was thinking.

  I smiled at Clara. “He is very protective.” I told her how he found me when Dad and I were shopping in a Voodoo store in New Orleans.

  Boney must have been listening and interjected, “I was always meant for Bennie. I knew it as soon as she walked into the store. I knew we would do great things together. I was created by the Dark King and he sent me into the world, and when Bennie walked into mine, I knew my purpose.”

  “We—Boney and I, have a secret,” I told Clara confidingly. “Boney isn’t just a skull familiar.”

  “Good gracious, what then?”

  “Are you sure, Bennie? Are you sure Clara the Wizard from the Land of the Dark can be trusted with our secret?” he asked, sounding worried.

  “Yes, Clara can be trusted. Besides, no one else can touch you, can they? The Dark King made you too powerful to go where you don’t wish.”

  “True, I am one of his most powerful Hallows...meant for Bennie, only Bennie,” Boney agreed. “Then go ahead, tell her.”

  “No, let’s do something better. Show her,” I told him.

  He sighed, but did as I asked. His skull unfolded and inside was an orb filled with a gray misty cloud. He said, “You see, I was not always a skull. I was once an Unseelie orb, and the Dark King was my master. He sent me into the human world to hide me from those who would abuse my powers. I evolved and hid myself within a skull. I chose Bennie to be my companion. I am her familiar. Now, my treasure, my Bennie, is in danger.”

  “From what, Boney?” I asked.

  “From two...that is all that comes to me. Two.”

  “Two what?” Clara asked.

  “Working apart...and then together. Two,” he said.

  “Well, we will have to figure that out some other way. So, for now...” I saw Clara was clutching her heart. “Clara?”