Page 110 of What The Hex (The Family Spells)
Hex was sharing a large suite with us.
“Couch bed.” Caine pointed to it as soon as we walked into the room and then he swept past, through an adjoining door and into the bedroom proper. The living area was adorably decorated—likely Raeanne’s work—with a small tree in one corner, twinkling with lights and ornaments. There were stockings hung on the mantle, and a roaring fire in the fireplace.
“Just your cup of tea, Spec. Christmas vomit.” Argent moved into the room and deposited Fey on the sofa where she immediately switched her focus from the lights and the fireplace to the decorative glass reindeers on the coffee table.
I managed to stop her from grabbing any of them.
“Oh come now, don’t be a Scrooge.” Spectre released Zavier’s hand so he could explore the large suite with its wall of windows facing the snowy woods. It was magical here, I had to admit. No surprise that there was a faerie ring nearby that would take us straight to the Seelie Court …
I hadn’t yet mentioned it to Argent, but I was planning on asking Raeanne and the pack to help watch the kids while we visited Faerie. First off, there were no portals to Hael anywhere near here, so the krampus were far less of a concern. Secondly, this was the best spot to hop into Faerie without having travel a long way to the Seelie Court.
“Is there a specific way I should be introducing myself or …” Hex paused with his duffel bag on his shoulder, Legend’s leash still wrapped up in one hand. My son let out a pitiful howl, sitting back on his haunches and lifting his muzzle in the air.
Raeanne was not going to like the twins’ dependence on their wolf sides. Not that I cared. I wrinkled my nose and tried to surreptitiously sniff my armpit. Yep, it was happening already. I was sweating profusely at the thought of facing off against homemaker and guilt-giver extraordinaire, Raeanne Dacey.
“Are you, like, sniffing your own pits?” Hex asked, narrowing his eyes at me.
“Um, no,” I lied, reaching up to pluck a pair of charms from my hat. Each one was in the shape of a metal pin, two little white owls that I could clip to my sweater under each arm for maximum freshness. I’d have the merriest pits in the south. They’d make me smell like I was elbow-deep in a bakery, whipping up cinnamon rolls and shit for the holiday. “But also, can you help me clip these to my sweater just under my armpits?”
Hex tossed his duffel on the floor and then released Legend from his collar wherein the little pup immediately went and raised his leg on the corner of the coffee table. Caine caught him by the scruff and hefted him up in his arms before it was too late.
“Let me do the introducing. You just best keep your mouth shut, and act like you’re not a useless shit-stain, you hear me?” Caine pointed at Hex before setting out a puppy pad on the floor and plopping his son atop it.
“Please tell me we’re not actually allowing Monster to accompany us to the house?” Argent inquired, crossing his arms over his chest as Hex smirked and helped me with the armpit charms.
“You’re the sweatiest witch I’ve ever met,” he murmured, and I elbowed him in his rock-hard stomach with the intention of making him grunt. Instead, I found myself enamored with the sheer, unforgiving force of his abdominal muscles. Epic fail, Graceley Spells.
“And you must really love sleeping on couch beds.” I smiled at Hex as he stood up and lifted a brow at me. “I was going to advocate for you moving into the bed with us, but I guess you’re just not interested …”
“Monster.” Argent snapped his fingers to draw my attention. “What reason do we have to continue carting him around like this?”
“Until we’ve recovered fully from the spell—or at least come close to recovering—I think it’s best to keep him around.” Spectre passed out snacks to the two older kids to keep them occupied, and then put out two bowls with shredded chicken and water for the pups.
“If one didn’t know better, one might think you liked the man,” Argent drawled, but Spectre was ignoring him.
“If one didn’t know better, one might think you were a humbug.” Spec turned a look on Argent. “Listen, we’ve got Graceley’s family in the bag, right? We can get the artifact we need whenever we want. We took care of Hex’s family, and now we’re marking Caine’s off the list. That just leaves me and you, buddy. We’re more than halfway through this, and then you’ll never have to see the man for as long as you live.”
I noticed a strange look pass across Caine’s face, but then I blinked and it was gone like it’d never been. Surely, he was as excited about getting rid of Monster as Argent was? Only … it didn’t look like it. For the barest of seconds, I thought I’d seen … well, spells, I don’t know what I thought I’d seen.
