Page 126 of What The Hex (The Family Spells)
I was tied to this wolf just as I was tied to this witch.
“We met in a bar,” Caine offered up with a smarmy little smirk. “On Christmas day.”
“How charming.” I glanced over at Grace, but already, her green eyes were softening me up.
I would give in. I knew that I would. Also, I’d probably fuck her hard enough to break whatever bed we slept on tonight, but that was beside the point.
“We’ve formed a friendship over the past few weeks,” Grace began softly, wetting her lips. “I think we owe it to ourselves to get to know him a little better.”
“I think she owes it to herself to see if she likes me better than she likes you.” The wolf smirked at me, and I resisted the urge to throw a curse in his face, one that would cause his cock to shrivel up and then fall off.
I’d dealt with Monster; I could deal with this.
So long as I never had to deal with that demon dickhead again, I could manage.
So long as I never had to go to Faerie again, I could manage.
Who knew I’d end up suckered into both?
Back to the present …
Monster was waiting downstairs in the lodge’s breakfast area, nursing a cup of what appeared to be hot cocoa with marshmallows and a candy cane. I sat down across from him and simply stared at the man.
“Before I say what I’m going to say, I want you to understand that I have never hated anyone in this life as much as I have hated you. Considering how much I despise Caine, this is a monumental fact that must be acknowledged.”
“Good morning, Argent,” Monster said, ignoring me and focusing on a copy of Inked Beasts magazine, a Numinous publication that was only available in physical format and self-combusted forty-eight hours after publication. He flipped a page and proceeded to be the rude cock that he’d always been. “What can I help you with?”
I slammed a palm on the tabletop hard enough that Caine’s brother, Abel, stopped what he was doing to look back at us, shaggy blond brows raised. I reached up and pulled a small bone charm from the front of my hair—the only actual hair I had left that was long enough to weave—and tossed it in his direction.
He could no longer hear our conversation.
“Look at me when I’m speaking to you.”
Monster did not look up, and I came this gods-damned close to strangling him with his own hair.
“I’ve suspected something for a long time, but it’s all starting to make sense to me.”
“Mm.” He kept looking through the magazine, but I wasn’t deterred. I’d been working on a theory for the last few weeks, and although the very idea of it made my skin crawl, I could no longer deny what I was seeing and feeling. “And what’s that, exactly?”
“You’re our soulmate.”
There it was. The words were out. I could not take them back anymore than I could make them untrue.
Monster lifted his head up very slowly to look at me, copper eyes blazing. He tried his best to affect a casual look, but it fell flat. He was terrified. Of what, exactly, I hadn’t figured out, but the pieces fit.
We couldn’t have cast the spell to cure Graceley’s mother without him. He wasn’t a witch, so he hadn’t needed to be in the circle, but he did need to be touching Grace. When our eyes met, I felt the zing. His magic was sympathetic to ours.
Most of all … despite what he’d done to her, Grace … she loved him.
I could barely stand to look at the two of them together.
“Pardon?”
“Don’t play your games with me,” I snarled, losing my temper. My skin glowed silver and cast wavy reflections on the walls around us, brighter than the strands of Christmas lights that were all over the damn place. “You are. I’ve been thinking about it, about the words of the oracle. You will prosper, Graceley Spells, when and if you complete your circle with five.” I tapped my fingers on the table’s surface. “Easily interpreted multiple ways, don’t you think?”
“What I think is that you’ve lost your mind, Argent Spells. If you believe my motivations are anything but selfish, I suggest you rearrange your brain and look for a new solution to your problem. Don’t be absurd.”
I stared at him, my green eyes boring into his copper ones.
He could lie all he wanted, but I was fae. We played word games with life-and-death consequences for fun.
“I don’t care if you are or not. Frankly, you could die in a hole for all that it would matter to me. My question to you is why. Why hurt Grace? Why hand her over to me? Why come back into her life at all?”
Monster sat back in his seat, crossing his arms over this glorious black jacket with a high neck and an asymmetrical zipper. In Hael, he waltzed around in plate armor or stiff leather tunics made out of lesser demons. Here, apparently, he was an Instagram model.
