Chapter 18
The door swung open, and with a cry of relief Prim launched herself at him, hugging him with everything she had.
He lifted her off her feet and carried her into the house, kicking the door shut behind him. Prim had her head tucked against this shoulder, and when her body started to shake with silent sobs, he took her to the couch and sat down, letting her sit in his lap as she cried.
“It’s okay, Prim,” he said soothingly as he caressed the back of her neck. “I promise, it’s going to be all right.”
She lifted her head just enough to look at him and said, “I was d-doing fine until you got here.”
He tightened his grip, holding her closer. “I’m sorry it took me so long to find you.”
“It’s okay.” She sniffed. “I was in jail until about an hour ago, anyway.”
“I know.”
She blinked and then let out a tired sigh before dropping her head back onto his chest. “I suppose everyone knows.”
“Seems likely.” Dante had a lot to tell her, but all he wanted to do was hold her.
“I didn’t do it,” she said into his shirt. “I just want you to know that.”
Dante wanted to tell her than he’d never believe for a second that she wasn’t innocent, but that would be a lie. He had doubted her, even if for only a few minutes. Instead he said, “Niko has been assigned your case.”
“He has?” She sat up, staring at him in surprise. “But what about Indigo?”
“I asked him about a conflict of interest, and he said it was fine for now. But he warned me that could change depending on the investigation.”
“Oh my gosh. Thank the gods for that,” she said and snuggled up closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder.
They were silent for a while until she looked up at him and said, “I went by your place for our date tonight. But you weren’t there, and then…
Well, I was arrested. I don’t know how they knew I was there, but they did. Where were you?”
“That’s a long story,” he said, unsure of where he wanted to start. At the beginning, he supposed. “I got a text from you, asking if we could meet at Orca Point instead of my place for dinner.”
“What?” She sat straight up and stared at him. “I didn’t text you that.”
“I know that now,” he said as he reached into his pocket for her phone and then handed it to her.
She let out a little gasp of happiness as she took it and pressed it to her chest. “Where did you find it?”
“I’ll get to that. Anyway, I made a picnic to bring to Orca Point and was setting up when my ex, Shari, arrived.”
“Shari? Your ex-fiancée-from-Salem Shari?” she asked.
“That’s the one.” Bile rose in the back of Dante’s throat as he thought of her.
Why couldn’t she just leave them all alone?
He’d never understood why anyone would want to be with someone who clearly didn’t want to be with them.
The only answer was that Shari was an entitled, spoiled brat who thought she deserved whatever she wanted, and nothing ever got in her way.
That was clear to him when he found out she’d been magically stealing from all their neighbors and pretending that she was paying for it all herself.
“How did she know you were going to be there? Did she follow you?” Prim asked, trying to put two and two together but coming up with five.
“No, she texted me from your phone, pretending to be you, and then she met me there.” He tapped the back of her phone case.
The lightbulb went on as Prim tapped her screen and then checked her messages. After reading the exchange, she scowled. “Where did she get this, and how did she know my code?”
“That, I don’t know.” Dante pulled out his own phone, opened the icon that stored all his pictures, and then scrolled until he found one of Shari. “Have you seen this woman anywhere?”
Prim nodded. “Yes, that’s Lynn, a nice lady who purchased some herbs from me. Why?”
“That’s not Lynn. That’s Shari.”
“This beautiful woman is your ex?” Prim gasped out.
“Yeah, but once you get to know her, the beauty fades pretty fast,” he said dryly. “Did she come into your store today?”
“Yes.” Prim scowled. “I was really nice to her, and she stole my phone!”
“That’s not all she did,” Dante said. “I’m willing to bet that she was behind whatever happened in your store today.”
“She was there right around the time the light fixture fell,” Prim said, thinking back over the day.
“I also noticed my phone was missing right after that, though I wasn’t quite sure when I lost it.
” Prim stood and started to pace her living room as she tried to put her thoughts together.
“It would make sense for her to cause a commotion if she was trying to steal my phone to get to you, but what about the incident later when Bree was stabbed with the knitting needles?”
Dante blinked at her. “Who’s Bree?”
Prim quickly got him up to speed and then said, “Why would your ex go after one of the actors in the movie?”
“There’s a question of timing, too. She was at Orca Point at six o’clock, which means she had to have left town no later than 5:15. Do you know what time the knitting needle incident happened?” Dante asked.
“No, just that it was after I left. I got home around two o’clock, so sometime after that,” Prim said, pressing her palm to her forehead.
Dante frowned, wondering if Shari had gone off the deep end. Why would she attack a random actress? He couldn’t think of a single reason why unless she’d set up multiple spells with the goal of either attacking Prim or framing her for casting them. That would certainly get her out of the way.
“Maybe we should lay low for a while,” Dante said, the words tasting like dust on his lips.
“What do you mean?” Prim asked as she walked over to him and sat on the coffee table in front of him. “You mean stay out of the public eye until the case is solved?”
“Yes,” he groaned. “Maybe dial it back for a while so that she thinks we’re not together anymore.
Shari appears to be after you, and she’s proven herself to be without boundaries.
If she’s doing this because she wants you out of the picture to somehow get to me, she’s not going to let up.
And I just can’t risk you getting hurt or getting framed for her crimes. ”
“I can handle myself,” Prim said, her back straightening like steel. “You do know I’m part of the most powerful coven in the Pacific Northwest, right?”
“I know your grandmother is powerful, but—”
“It’s not just my grandmother, Dante. It’s all of us combined.
I’m not going to live my life letting some jerk witch cast a few spells that not only ruin my business, but also my personal life.
That’s not who I am. And it certainly isn’t who my sisters and my grandmother are either.
Are you honestly telling me that you’re going to let Shari dictate who you see?
Don’t you understand? If you do that, she wins.
She learns that she can keep ruining people’s lives without consequences. Is that what you want?”
Dante ground his teeth together. “It’s not about if she wins, Prim! It’s about keeping you safe. Don’t you see that?” If Shari hurt Prim, Dante didn’t know what he’d do, Likely he’d end up arrested, too.
She climbed onto his lap, straddling him. With her hands cupping his cheeks, she said, “I’m not letting your ex come between us. Not now. Not ever. I know you and the rest of the town think I’m a bumbling idiot when it comes to magic, but I can hold my own when I need to. You need to trust me.”
Dammit, he did trust her. He closed his eyes and moved his face to the side so that he could kiss her palm. “I don’t want to stay away from you, Prim. You have to know that.”
“Do I? How could I know that when at the first sign of trouble you try to break up with me?” she asked, her eyes searching his.
“I’m not breaking up with you.” His voice was gruff and his heart ached with the realization that he’d made her think that. “I’m trying to protect you.”
“Well, you’re in luck, because I’m trying to protect you, too.
We can’t give in to Shari. What do you think she is going to do if she thinks we aren’t together?
She’ll turn her magic on you to try to get you to return to Salem.
Or she’ll move here and never leave you alone.
As far as I’m concerned, the only way forward is a united front, whatever that looks like. ”
Dante loved her confidence. Loved that she was willing to fight for him. To stand up to Shari in a way he’d never have expected. Prim was more than he deserved, but he was tired of trying to make her see reason. All he wanted was his mouth on hers.
“A united front,” he said, staring at her lips as they curved into a seductive smile.
Prim stood, held her hand out to him, and then led him to her bedroom.
“It’s been one hell of a day,” he murmured as he pressed kisses along her neck. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“I’ve never wanted anyone more,” Prim said, her eyes flashing with pure desire as she tugged on his shirt, pulling it over his head. And when she reached for the fly of his jeans, he gave up all hesitation.
Twenty minutes later, he covered her naked body with his, claiming her, his body making her promises he prayed he could keep.
Thunder crackled, waking Dante deep in the night.
Prim was curled up next to him, her rhythmic breathing indicating that she was deeply asleep.
He stared into the darkness, his body languid and full of contentment.
On any other night, he knew he’d wrap his arm around Prim and instantly go back to sleep.
But tonight there was something in the air. Something both vaguely familiar and slightly unsettling. Careful not to wake Prim, he eased away from her and slid his legs over the side of the bed. Silently, he pulled on his jeans and a T-shirt and crept through the house to the front window.
The thunder rolled again, but as far as Dante could tell, the rain hadn’t started yet.
He stepped out on the porch, expecting to feel a breeze and the slight chill of an imminent rain.
But the air was still and slightly warm with barely any humidity.
It just didn’t feel like it usually did when it was about to rain in the Pacific Northwest.
Something was wrong. Seriously wrong.
He stepped off the porch, scanned the clearing around the house, and then narrowed his eyes when he saw her.
Shari.
She was standing beside a large pine tree in a white robe, her arms raised to the sky, her lips moving as she chanted something. A spell.
No. A curse. She was trying to lay a curse on Prim’s house.
Dante bolted off the porch, heading straight toward her. “Shari! No!”
His ex ignored him and started chanting what sounded like Latin at the top of her lungs.
“Nooooo!” he cried again and lunged for her, taking her down in a heap of arms and legs. Sticky magic burst from her fingertips and clung to the pine tree right next to them.
“This is your fault, Dante,” she said and then spat in his face, making him rear back, giving her just enough room to get out from under him.
He reached for her ankle, grabbing hold, but when the tree beside him burst into flames, sending sap and small limbs raining down on his head, he let go and covered his head as he rolled away.
The sound of a car engine penetrated his senses even as one of the limbs from the flaming tree exploded right over the top of him. He rolled again, this time careful to get out from beneath the tree and save himself from being burned to a crisp.
Scrambling to his feet, he ran for the water hose that was near the house. After turning it on full blast, he sprayed the area under the tree first to keep embers from spreading and then drenched the tree, trying to put it out.
It wasn’t until he felt powerful magic fill the air that he looked over and found Prim with her arms raised, chanting, “Earth, wind, water, and fire, fire, water, wind, and earth! Join forces to reverse the spell. End the burning. Hear my call! End this curse. I call on the collective of Befana Bay, her earth, wind, water, and fire, to end this curse. So mote it be!”
The fire instantly went out, leaving Dante standing in the clearing with the water still drenching the tree.
Prim calmly walked over to the spicket and turned the water off. “Shari did this?”
He cupped the back of his neck. “Yes. I tried to stop her, but she got away and is already gone.”
“Next time, Dante,” she said with a glare, “wake me. I don’t need a savior.”
“I can see that.” Dante pulled out his phone and called Niko.
The phone rang three times before his friend grumbled, “This better be good.”
“Shari showed up at Prim’s and attempted to put a curse on her house. She used magic to set a tree on fire. It’s out now, thanks to Prim’s magic, and Shari took off, but I thought you should know.”
“Son of a…” Niko let out a grunt of irritation. “Anyone hurt?”
“No.”
“Any sign that Shari’s still around?”
“No.”
“Good,” Niko said. “I’ll be out there as soon as it’s daylight to collect evidence. And, Dante?”
“Yeah?”
“If she comes back again, call me immediately.”
“We will.” Dante ended the call and walked over to Prim, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in close. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
She chuckled softly. “You’re just about the only one who thinks so.”
“They’re all idiots.” He picked her up and carried her back inside and into the bedroom, where he laid her on the bed and undid her robe.
She gazed up at him, her eyes heated with desire.
Dante leaned down, kissed her until she was breathless, and then stripped.