Chapter 19. Lex
We spent the rest of the day relaxing, refusing to give Chad Brunswick—curse his name—another thought until the trial.
Lochran and Billy settled into an oddly endearing, if not slightly strained, friendship. It was strange having not one but two volatile creatures under my roof who could switch between murderous rage and cooing concern in the blink of an eye.
Lochran’s shadows ebbed and flowed throughout the day as he digested the brief version of what Chad had done, as did Billy’s shifting. But when one spotted the other about to tip over the edge, they pulled them back with a distracting comment.
And it helped that the house absolutely adored Billy. The moment she mentioned getting ready, the house magicked a frothing bubble bath for her in the main bathroom. It readied the third bedroom, complete with the best home comforts it could offer, and I had a sneaking suspicion that the house was trying to convince Billy to stay longer than the three nights she was supposed to. Its plan was apparently working, as Billy exclaimed with glee that she would do anything to have such an awesome house looking after her. The house creaked so merrily that I was surprised the walls didn’t crumble around us.
After a shower and a session of meditation to calm my nerves, I dressed in the outfit the house had left out for me. It had chosen a pair of black suede loafers, black pants, a loose white blouse, and a heavy black cardigan with a pattern of golden suns and moons knitted into it. The outfit was more formal than I was used to wearing—though I guessed most outfits were formal in comparison to house clothes—but still had an odd comfort to them. I pinned my hair into a neat bun before carefully curling the loose strands.
As I stood in front of the mirror for a final check over, I hardly recognized myself. I still looked like me, of course, but something about my aura had changed. I no longer felt the crushing anxiety of blaming myself for what had happened, or the pressure of punishing my succubus. And I looked well for it. I took a deep breath as I touched my reflection in the mirror. It would be a rocky road ahead of me, starting with the trial, but the healing had begun.
And I had my patient mate, fierce friend, and cunning house to thank for it.
“Lex! If you don’t get your ass in gear, you’ll be late!” Billy bellowed from below, breaking my rather poignant moment of reflection.
With a sigh, I made my way down the stairs. The house had illuminated every surface with flickering candles in a fruitless bid to keep Lochran’s shadows at bay. They swirled worriedly around where he sat on the sofa, engulfing Billy, who coughed dramatically and said, “Secondhand smoke kills, y’know!”
But the moment his eyes met mine, the shadows dropped once more. I couldn’t help but smile at my mate. I could sense that he wanted nothing more than to hunt down Chad and tear him limb from limb for what he did. But he knew that I needed him by my side more. The thought of standing trial without Lochran beside me was inconceivable, and the fact that he put my needs above his meant the world to me.
Lochran stood and offered me his arm. I took it, pressing my head against his shoulder, and whispered, “Thank you.”
He looked down at me in confusion. “For what?”
“For not making this about you.”
Lochran’s face softened. He planted a soft kiss on my forehead before saying, “You’re strong and capable, my little witch. And if you wanted him dead, I have no doubt he already would be. My only concern is to be here at your side.” Lochran thought carefully before adding, “But I would consider it an honor if you asked me to end him for you.”
“No fair!” Billy huffed, silver fur fluttering over her exposed skin. “If the Babadook is allowed to kill him, then I should be allowed to too!”
Lochran scoffed. “Cool it, Lassie. If you’re a good girl, I’ll let you chew on his bones.”
“What are you going to do with him, Shadowman? Flutter your wings at him?” Billy made a butterfly movement with her hands, causing Lochran’s lips to twitch in amusement.
“You better hope he has an allergy to dogs—”
“No one is killing Chad,” I said. While I appreciated the pair trying to lighten the mood before the trial, we really were going to be late if I let them continue.
“But what if he turns up on our doorstep? Can I kill him then?” Lochran asked.
I rolled my eyes at him but couldn’t quite hide the smile twinging my face. It felt like a lifetime ago that I’d first told Lochran about the no-touching rule, and he’d responded: What if you fall down a well and are unconscious? Can I touch you then to rescue you? His method, immature and infuriating as it was, of breaking the building tension worked just as well now as it had then.
“If Chad Brunswick shows up on our doorstep, you can kill him in whatever manner you see fit. But he won’t. He’s probably surrounded by a team of cosmetic surgeons trying to rebuild his penis as we speak.” If that was the case, I would happily write another thirty page essay just for the joy of hexing it off for a second time.
Billy suddenly stiffened, her eyes flashing inferno red as they snapped toward the front door. Her canines lengthened to lethal points, her icy talons tearing into the fabric of the couch as a fine dusting of fur flashed in waves over her skin. Her nostrils flared, but the growl that rumbled in her throat was different to the dominant, challenging growl I was used to hearing from her. Nonetheless, Lochran took a protective step in front of both Billy and me.
Billy snapped at Lochran, who held his hands up in a have-it-your-way gesture. My mate’s lips twitched into a grin as he took a step back and draped his arm across my shoulder. “This will be fun to watch,” he whispered into my ear as Billy stood up .
She violently shook her body, dispelling the change her wolf had brought about. Her cheeks flushed red as she frantically ran her fingers through her hair and straightened her clothes.
A moment later, the front door swung open to reveal—
Priscilla fucking Raisin.
Who was attached to the arm of my brother.
For the first time, I was glad my magic had been stripped from me. Otherwise, I would definitely be writing another journal.
Priscilla was the worst. Scratch that. Priscilla’s mom was the worst. Our coven rarely accepted new members, but we could never turn away a lone witch in need—which was what Priscilla’s mother claimed to be when she first arrived on our doorstep two and a half decades ago, heavily pregnant and without a cent to her name.
While she might have been allowed to stay, the magic of the coven refused to acknowledge them as one of our own. The house she was given remained silent. And when she tried to move into another house while the family was on holiday, that house also went suspiciously inactive. Despite trying every year, no incubus ever appeared at the Samhain summoning for Priscilla’s mom. And when she tried relentlessly to seduce the mated incubus in the coven, she was issued a final warning. Her final strike happened when Priscilla was eighteen, when her mom tried to usurp my grandmother as head of the coven. Priscilla’s mom was exiled, and she decided to leave Priscilla behind.
One could be forgiven for feeling sorry for Priscilla, but she was just as cruel as her mother. She lied and cheated, manipulated and blackmailed her way through the coven, but was always careful that her crimes were just on the cusp of not serious enough to induce a trial of her own.
My own personal grievance with Priscilla started when she tried to bully me at school. Like her mother, she coveted things that weren’t hers. I’d saved my pocket money for months to buy the extortionate limited edition stuffed wolf Beanie Baby, and when I told her that I wouldn’t trade her for her old tatty unicorn Beanie Baby, I found my wolf suspiciously decapitated when I returned from recess.
And now the slimy wraith was hanging off the arm of my brother. I knew she’d been after him for years. Like her mother, the Samhain summoning didn’t work for Priscilla. Jake, being the only single warlock around, had been the subject of her desires—double gross—for years. Why she didn’t just leave the coven for her kicks like every other single witch was anyone’s guess. But I guessed not having a succubus side helped her focus her energy on my brother.
But, despite having the emotional intelligence of a toad, Jake had always quashed her advances. Why would he entertain Priscilla Raisin now?
I had a sudden and intense urge to get Jake in a headlock and noogie some sense into that thick skull of his. But it would have to wait until after the trial.
The house creaked in excitement at its new guests, and the kettle began whistling in the kitchen.
“We’re not staying, House. We need to go,” I said. Also, there wasn’t a hope in Hades’s underworld that Priscilla would be crossing my threshold. As if sensing my anger, a low, barely audible challenging growl issued past Billy’s lips.
Jake whistled a low note as his eyes darted about the hallway. “This is going to take some work.”
A candle flew off the wall and hit Jake directly between the eyes. I was not ashamed to admit that, as a dutiful older sister, minor bodily injuries on Jake were an endless source of amusement.
But I stifled the giggle threatening to erupt as Jake rubbed the red welt forming between his brows. “Sorry,” he called to the house, which answered with an indignant huff and the silencing of the kettle. “Nice to see you again, Lochran.” Jake nodded at my mate, who still wore an infuriatingly smug smile, as if he were about to witness something spectacular.
“Good to see you, Jake. Have you met Lex’s friend, Billy?” Lochran replied, an oddly gleeful smile on his face.
Billy, who at some point had moved to hide behind me, stiffened. She cast Lochran a death glare as she took a step to my side once more, her cheeks almost as scarlet as her wolf’s eyes.
What in Hecate’s name was going on?
Jake’s eyes darkened and something pulsed in his neck, but he said nothing.
“Aren’t you going to say hello?” Lochran asked, Billy and now Priscilla throwing him another death glare.
“Oh. Hi, Billy. You’re a wolf shifter, aren’t you? Um, Lex mentioned something about a wolf-shifter friend. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Pricilla’s death glare now slid to Jake. With a viper like strike, she slapped the back of his head, disheveling his hair. My fingers flexed, and I automatically motioned to flick a hex at her for touching my brother, forgetting that I had no magic.
Billy vibrated beside me, and one huge, crooked shadow wing flexed in front of both of us.
Neither Jake nor Priscilla noticed.
“Really, Jake?” Priscilla called over her shoulder as she stomped down the front steps. “You’re just going to fawn over some flea-bag wolf while I’m standing right there?”
Jake, hot on her heels, called, “I wasn’t fawning, Pris. I’ve just never met a wolf shifter, is all!”
The house angrily slammed the door behind them.
Billy, after a moment of grinding her teeth and flexing her fingers, pushed Lochran’s wing out of her way and took a step toward the front door, which opened with a gentle click for her. Jake and Priscilla had made their way beyond our eyeline, but Billy, with her inhuman sense of smell, had no problem following their trail, angrily stomping her way toward the heart of the town where the town hall sat.
“What was all that about?” I asked.
Lochran just shrugged as he walked me down the steps of the porch. “There’ll be time enough to explain later. But, for now”—his fingers interlaced with mine—“tell me how you’re feeling about the trial.”
“Actually, much better than I thought I would. I know I’ll be found innocent, and while I’m not exactly thrilled about reliving the memory again, I’m more nervous about what happens after. I need him off the street, and I’m afraid that the mortal authorities won’t take me seriously.”
A cool wind whipped around us, and Lochran pulled me closer. Shadows pooled from him, his crooked wing wrapping around my back and blocking the breeze. “They will believe you. Even if I have to steal your grandma’s memory crystal and force the mortals to watch. I’ll do it if that’s what it takes.”
Heat bloomed in my chest. How could I not fall in love with my mate when he said things like that?
“You do not want to be in my grandma’s bad books,” I said. “I reckon stealing her crystal will earn you fifty pages at least.”
Lochran huffed a laugh. “She is a formidable woman. But so are you, Lex.”
Except, I wasn’t.
I’d allowed one mortal man’s actions to reduce me to this self-loathing shadow of a witch. I’d allowed him to chip away at my confidence time and time again because I’d convinced myself that I was to blame for his actions. That it was my succubus side that had put me in that situation, and not doing something sooner was my punishment—
As if sensing my spiraling thoughts, Lochran said, “We don’t know our strength until it’s tested, Lex.”