Chapter 2
FAYE
Faye lifted her wand in the air, screwing up her face in concentration, and sent a burst of energy out her heart, down her arm, through the wand with the crystal wired to the end, to the hay lying on the floor.
She opened her eyes to look. The individual strands of hay swirled in the air in a vortex but settled back on the ground without changing properties.
Crap! It should have worked this time. What kind of fairy was she if she could not even manage to turn hay into gold? And the more pressing question: how would she pay the rent?
As if in response to her thoughts, she heard the familiar pounding on the door from her landlord’s heavy fist.
He’d been on tour with his band for the past six weeks, and she hadn’t answered his calls about why she hadn’t deposited her rent on time. She now owed him for two month’s rent—three thousand dollars she didn’t have. She did not move, hoping he would go away.
“Faye? I know you’re in there. Open up!” his deep voice boomed.
Her heart beat faster. Cade Lupus never failed to discombobulate her, partly because she found him attractive and partly because she found him terrifying. She closed her eyes and took another swipe at the hay with her wand, but when she looked, the straw had not even moved.
Curses.
She set the wand down and locked her workshop, trudging to the door to swing it open for her hot, menacing landlord.
At six foot three, he towered over her petite frame.
He wore his black leather motorcycle jacket, with his band’s t-shirt on underneath, stretched taut over a drool-worthy muscular chest.
“Oh, hi!” She tried to sound surprised and pleased to see him, as if he had dropped by for lemonade, instead of to kick her ass for owing him money.
Well, probably he would just boot her out, but he looked like the sort of guy who could kick a lot of ass.
His pierced eyebrow and the silver cuff on his ear gave him a tough, dangerous look.
His broad pork-chop style sideburns reminded her of Wolverine from X-Men.
He definitely had sexy, intimidating rock ‘n’ roller down pat.
She’d had a crush on him since day one, but he flustered her too much to even think about flirting.
He leaned on the doorframe, giving her a “Don’t pull any bullshit on me” look.
“What?” She attempted innocence.
He held out his hand. “Rent’s due. Overdue, I should say.”
In a flash of desperation, she hatched an idea. “Sure. Come on in.” She stepped back.
He entered, shutting the door behind him.
“Have a seat on the couch. I’ll just go get it, okay?”
He grunted an assent and dropped onto the sofa as she left the room, heading to her workshop, her heart slamming in her chest.
It was crazy, but it just might work. He would figure things out eventually, but all she needed was a few more days.
She was getting the hay to move—which proved she was close.
She probably would have his rent by now if she hadn’t decided to quit her job at the coffee shop to focus full time on alchemy.
Oh well, too late to dwell on that now. She picked up her wand and held it in both hands over her heart, drawing on the power of nature, the devic kingdom, and Pan to assist her in this easy magick spell.
Stowing the wand in her back pocket, she walked back into the room. “Here you go.” reached into her pocket as if she were going to pull out the cash. Instead, she whipped out the wand and made a slashing motion at him. Memory erased. Money forgotten. Go home.
It was really more of a Jedi mind trick than fairy magick, but it would work in this pinch.
To her horror, though, Cade did not look confused or forgetful. Instead, he howled in rage, reaching for his feet as if they pained him.
“What did you do?” he yelled.
She looked at his feet and gasped. His leather motorcycle boots were gone, leaving his feet bare. Except, they were no longer human feet. They had turned to flippers.
“Uh… um… I don’t know!” she admitted.
He lunged forward and snatched her up, pulling her to sit on his lap, facing away from him with one hand caged around her throat, the other arm tightly wound around her waist.
“What. Did. You. Do?” His growled question held a lethal warning to it.
For some reason, her body decided this was seduction rather than a serious threat of violence, because it heated, loving the feel of being held tightly by her gorgeous landlord.
He smelled of leather and sandalwood and delicious man and while his arm was tighter than a steel band, the hand around her throat hadn’t closed.
She could still breathe. So he wasn’t ready to kill her yet.
“I don’t know. Truly.”
He didn’t seem to believe her. “Okay, little witchling. We’ll do this my way.” He lifted her from his waist and flipped her face down over his thighs. His hand crashed down on her ass.
She yelped. “Ow! Hey, you can’t do that!” She squirmed with all her might to free herself of his grasp.
He pinned her legs under one of his and continued spanking. “I can’t? Really? Because it looks to me like I am!”
“No, you can’t!” Her nipples tightened into beads inside her bra. Heat pooled between her legs. She hated how turned on she was getting by his show of dominance. “Stop it! Don’t!”
He kept spanking her, though, ignoring her protests.
“Ow!”
He stopped and she assumed he had finished until she felt his hand under her belly, trying to undo the button of her jeans.
Oh, fate. “No! Way!”
“You’re right, Faye.” He lifted her to standing, facing him.
Her legs trembled, but she wasn’t sure if it was from fear or arousal.
He fixed her with a level stare. “You pull down your pants for me.”
Her cheeks grew hot. “Go fu—” Something in his look made her stop before the words came out. His golden eyes had a dangerous look, and she swore he had growled like a dog.
Her pussy contracted. This guy had alpha dominance on lock. She drew a breath. “I’m sorry. Look, I’m sorry, I just—”
He shook his head. “Save your explanation for after your punishment.” His eyes appeared to glow in the light. “I gave you an order, and I want it obeyed. Pull down your pants, witchling. I’m going to spank you on the bare.”
Something squirmed in her belly. Moisture dripped between her legs. This was…humiliating. Unnerving. Exciting. She lifted her chin. “I will not.”
“Believe me, Faye. You don’t want to find out what happens when I lose my temper. One… two…”
Something in his dark look made her abandon her pride. She unbuttoned her pants and yanked them down, then threw herself back over his lap, where at least he couldn’t see her blushing face.
“I meant panties too,” he muttered, but she detected a thread of amusement in his voice. She sucked her lower lip into her mouth as he peeled her panties down to her thighs and rested his big hand over her ass.
“Cute.” The gruffness left his voice as he stroked a circle around her cheeks.
She made an angry sound in her throat, which had the intended effect of starting her spanking.
He didn’t hold back, spanking her with a hand that felt harder than mere flesh and bone, covering her wriggling ass with smacks until her entire backside was on fire.
She gripped a pillow on the sofa, biting it to keep from giving him the satisfaction of her screams, because she felt as if she would surely die.
On and on he spanked, peppering her cheeks with stinging slaps for what seemed like hours, though probably it was no more than several minutes.
Cade loved the look of his handprints on Faye’s gorgeous ass.
He couldn’t believe his little witch of a renter had just used magick on him. He hadn’t even known she was a supernatural, much less than she had a cursing bone in her body. She had always seemed ditzy-smart with that sweet, natural girl kind of look.
Damn her.
But that didn’t mean he wouldn't enjoy punishing her. She had a gorgeous ass, and the squeaks she made were adorable. Also, the scent of her arousal made his cock hard. He didn’t intend to harm her. He just needed to show her who was in charge and get her to turn his flippers back to feet.
He stopped and rubbed her reddened ass. “Okay, what were you going to tell me? You were just…?”
“I didn’t mean to turn you into a frog!” she cried.
He slapped the back of her thigh, and she jolted and gasped. “What did you mean to turn me into?”
“Nothing!”
He delivered another flurry of spanks, concentrating on her sit spots. “Do not lie to me, Faye. I cannot stand lies.”
“It’s the truth, I swear.”
He lifted her back to stand so he could see her face. She covered her lady parts with her hands. Her pussy was right in front of him, and the scent of her arousal hijacked his senses.
But no. He couldn’t let his attraction distract him. He arranged his expression into a glower. “You have one minute to undo your spell, witchling.”
Her eyes widened, pupils narrowing in fear. “Ah… all right,” she stammered, starting to pull her panties up.
“Nope. Leave your pants and panties down. I haven’t decided if your spanking is over yet. We’ll see how quickly you obey.”
Her eyes dilated, as if aroused by his dominance, but she turned away, offering a delectable sight as she bent over to pick up the wand she had dropped when he had snatched her up.
Her legs parted, showing her pretty pink pussy spread, making his cock harden in his jeans.
He tore his eyes away. She was not his for the taking.
She stood and her jeans fell down to her ankles. She bent over to grab the waist.
“Uh-uh. Leave them. Your time is running out.”
She popped back up to stand, looking even more frightened.
Swallowing, she held one hand over her crotch and pointed the wand at him, closing her eyes.
As she drew a shape with the tip of the wand, he felt a searing pain in his feet—flippers.
Rather than transform, they grew, stretching until they were nearly a foot wide and two feet long.