Page 60 of Bewitching Her Monsters

Something’s off with Jade and her ex. And I need to know if she’s lying about her ex’s identity or if he lied to her.

I want her to be innocent. Then maybe I can have a taste of the sweetness between her legs as well.

Why would a guy lie about his true name unless he had a big secret to hide?

Hell,wedidn’t even hide our actual names.

“Maxum!” Mal shouts, pulling me out of my thoughts as I’m about to burst through their main entry door.

Whoops. I suppose I should unlock it first.

“What?” I barely keep back the snarl in my voice as I spin to face her.

Mal doesn’t even flinch. She’s a tough cookie.

“She’s important to you too, isn’t she?” Mal asks.

“Huh?” I shake my head. “She might be wrapped up in something bigger than herself. But she could easily be at the center of it and is fooling me.”

“I doubt many people fool you,” she says, worry clear on her face. “When humans lie about their identities, it isn’t like the supes… it usually means they are running from the law.”

“I’ve been around a decade or two,” I say… more like centuries. I know human games. “But I also haven’t ruled out him being a supe yet either.”

“Be careful out there. The brewery got hit last night. They think it’s ASO.”

I hadn’t heard about that. I was too busy watching the witch’s house with Arran snuggling up with her all night.

I tell myself I was out there to keep Arran safe. But it was also to see who might be watching her. And perhaps I wanted to be there to stop Arran if he were to go into berserker mode. I wouldn’t let him hurt her.

But no one showed up last night. If there was someone else outside Jade’s house last night, I didn’t sense them. It will be interesting to hear if she had any more messages from the ex. It would mean he could slip past my guard.

A lingering thought passes through my mind that she’s innocent, and we brought this all down on her head by assuming her a spy, but I let it go for now. There are too many unanswered questions to assume or dismiss any possibility.

Jade still might be our enemy.

* * *

I make my rounds throughout the city and hop through a portal to the fae realm to check in with my contacts there. No one has heard more about the incident with Osen or who is behind the ASO.

The Anti-Supernatural Organization has claimed a lot of attacks, but they hadn’t claimed Osen for some reason. And nothing at the scene indicated their involvement. Actually, nothing at his death spot made sense. That’s why we haven’t ruled out the Witch Council and the extremists among them.

If the whispers are to be believed, ASO aren’t witches at all, but possibly other supes.

Honestly, I don’t think anything would surprise me anymore.

If I didn’t know the horrific magical draining operation had been stopped, I might think it was the people responsible for that who completely sucked Osen’s magic from his body.

But he didn’t look like how those other victims looked. The others were nothing more than shriveled shells, and it took weeks for the process to kill the victims. Osen was just gone… all of his soul and magic. We even had a hellhound inspect the body to confirm what I felt. Nothing was left but the physical form.

From what Arran said, if Osen is possessing the witch, his spirit was confused and likely didn’t know what happened.

As I burst through the front door of our safe house, Arran comes to attention and sits on the edge of the couch, waiting for my report.

“Well?” he asks when I don’t immediately give him a news report. I’ve been dreading this all day.

I pour myself some demon-brewed whiskey. It’s the only thing that can give my kind a buzz. Calder and Flint appear from their rooms to join us. After savoring the burning sensation of the liquor, I address my eager audience.

I’m curious about what they will make of this mess. “It doesn’t appear that a Robert Holden exists around here.”

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