Bewitched

The house is two stories tall, and from where I stand in the living room, I can see the doors that line the second story. Most of them are already closed, and it doesn’t take any supernatural sense of mine to know just what is going on behind them.

Without meaning to, my eyes land on a group of lycanthropes across the room, near a roaring fireplace. The magic shimmering off them is translucent and textured, rather than colorful and misty. At the center of them is the one and only Kane Halloway.

My stomach flips at the sight of him chatting with one of his friends, and all those old feelings of excitement and infatuation bubble up. Back at Peel Academy, I pined for this guy. And for all that time, he looked right through me.

Kane turns away from one of his friends, and before I can look away, those lupine blue eyes of his catch mine.

Look away, I command myself.

But I can’t seem to.

Kane holds my gaze, and the longer I stare, the more I swear I see his wolf peeking out from those irises. Heat rises to my cheeks as the two of us stay locked like that. I don’t know much about lycanthropes, but I’m pretty sure staring is a dominance display. And I’m pretty sure challenging a wolf like this is a bad idea.

Across the room, Kane’s nostrils flare just the slightest.

Then he smiles.

“Oh my goddess,” Sybil says, catching sight of the exchange. “Go over and talk to him like you’ve wanted to for the past several years,” Sybil says.

Finally, reluctantly, I force my gaze away from Kane to give my friend a pointed look.

“He can hear you,” I say, my voice low. Even in their human form, lycanthropes have preternatural hearing.

“Then I hope he knows you’d happily fuck him too,” Sybil says louder.

Hell’s bells.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Kane grin with the confidence of a man who definitely just heard that bit of conversation.

“Why would you do that to me?” I whisper furiously at her.

“Because I love you and you’ve waited too long for good things to happen to you.” Sybil gives me a quick squeeze, then pushes me out of the circle of witches.

I stumble away, flashing her a betrayed look.

“What are you—?” But Sybil has already turned back to Olga, who is only too happy to resume her conversation about last words.

I take a few steps away, chewing on my lower lip, my heart racing. I glance down at my beer. I’m going to need at least three more drinks before my confidence is anywhere near high enough to approach my longtime crush.

“Hey.” That deep, masculine voice nearly makes me drop my red cup.

I turn toward the voice, and there’s Kane, looking larger and stronger and altogether hotter than my memories of him.

“Hey back,” I say. I’m proud the words actually came out because I am drowning in adrenaline. I’m pretty sure the same people responsible for heels and iron maidens and the Spanish Inquisition also invented crushes because there is nothing pleasant about this feeling. Which, to be fair, is probably why it’s called a crush in the first place, because I’m positive Kane is about to pulverize my giddy little heart beneath his boot. I can’t imagine this ending any other way.

“Selene, right?” he says, those lupine eyes a little too intense this close. I can practically feel the power radiating off him. Now I do want to bare my neck and look away.

Surprise has me raising my eyebrows instead. “You know my name?”

I can’t believe Kane Halloway knows my name.

His own brows furrow. “Of course I remember your name.”

I’m screaming inside.

He’s so much bigger than I remember—not that my memory is to be trusted. And his voice goes straight through my ears and down to my pussy.

Why are you thinking about your pussy? Pull yourself together, woman!

“I’m glad you came,” he says. “I remember you from Peel Academy.”

I nearly drop my drink. “You do?”

I feel like the entire history of my infatuation with him shifts on its axis. I always assumed I blended in with the wallpaper.

Kane gives me a strange look, then leans in conspiratorially. “I did ask you out on a date,” he says. “But you never showed.”

“No,” I say, my voice hushed with horror.

I never showed? Why, universe, why?

“You don’t remember?” he says.

I’m still agonizing over the fact I could’ve been dating this man since high school.

“Um, about that…” How to explain my power? “I have this thing, with my magic—”

Before I can finish, some of Kane’s friends come up to him, one of them slapping him on the back.

“Kane, man, great party.”

One of the other shifters with dark hair lifts his chin at me in greeting. “Hey,” he says, flashing a smile.

Hand to the goddess on high, Kane growls. It’s so low, I’m not entirely sure I heard correctly, but then Kane’s friends back off.

“Easy, boy,” the man with dark hair says, even as he backs away. “I meant no harm. Just wanted to tell the witch she has nice eyes.” He winks at me, even as Kane growls again.

I guess that’s how you fuck with your friend if you’re a shifter—you make him seem weirdly possessive of a girl he just started chatting with.

And maybe if I hadn’t been pining for Kane for years, I would’ve let those growls scare me off. But my happy little heart finds the whole thing thrilling, self-respect be damned.

It helps that Kane is grimacing, as though frustrated with his own reaction. He glares after his friends as they walk away.

“I’m sorry,” he says, turning to me. “There are things about being a lycan…” His jaw works a little as he tries to find the words.

Kane struggles with people accepting parts of his identity? I didn’t expect that.

I wave it off. “Believe me when I tell you, I understand.”

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