Autumn and the Wrong Witch

Part 1

THE DANGEROUS DUO

When an ancient obelisk erupts beneath Central Park with its glyphs glowing and its magic shaking the soil loose, L.A.W. liaison Chad sends Sahara and Lioness. Together. Despite their substantial objections.

Sahara Nadir is a disciplined archaeologist who translates dead languages the way other women match outfits. She trusts structure, logic, and the comforting order of glyph patterns.

Lioness Graves is a remote-viewing artist whose visions strike like emotional lightning and breathe life into her sketches. She trusts her intuition, instinct, and whatever emotional chaos the universe throws at her.

They are opposites. They are oil and water. They are Rayna’s personal headache for the entire Autumn quarter.

And unfortunately, they’re the exact witches the obelisk responds to, because the obelisk isn’t just an artifact. It’s a prison. And the prisoner is waking up. Sahara needs to translate the outside of the obelisk, and Lioness needs to illustrate the inside.

Their investigation quickly attracts backup: Ezra Vale, a calm and maddeningly centered mage whose grounding magic softens Sahara in ways she refuses to acknowledge.

And Cal Monroe, the firefighter with Golden Retriever energy Lioness once saved — now keeps showing up at exactly the wrong (or right) moment to return the favor and pull her out of danger.

Does he believe in magic? It’s hard not to when a teleporting mansion comes to his rescue.

As glyphs flare, visions collide, and something ancient tries to claim a host, Sahara and Lioness are forced into a partnership neither asked for.

Mabon demands balance, harmony, and cooperation — three things they’ve never managed without arguing, sabotaging, or threatening to hex each other’s boot laces together.

But when the obelisk’s prisoner stirs, choosing human vessels and cracking reality at the seams, intellect and instinct must finally unite. If Sahara and Lioness can’t trust each other, and the infuriating men who keep trying to help them, the city won’t survive what’s coming.