Page 40 of My Pucking Life

“Dark magic,” Willa seethes beside me through gritted teeth.

“What?!” I gasp, “Where? Why? How?” I can't stop my mouth.

Roman. Guys. Willa said it's dark magic.

Be careful! Stay with Fran.Roman fires back, obviously only hearing that there's a dark witch in the building, which means I could be in danger.

I internally roll my eyes while, beside me, Willa begins scanning the stands with more scrutiny while muttering under her breath.

The medics are on the ice trying to calm the player when another one goes down. The gasps erupt around us once more, joined by worried mutterings and a lot of what-the-fuck-is-going-on's. I want to ask Willa if she's getting anything or what we should do to help, but I don't want to interrupt her.

“There!” she yells at Fran, who launches into the aisle and flies up the stairs towards the unseeming blonde woman with her unblinking eyes locked on the rink.

I know it's not what I should be thinking right now, but that woman does not fit my mental image of a dark witch. When I think of a dark witch, I see the bad guys in a Harry Potter movie, or the ugly old witches in the Witches movie, or an old hag that dresses in all black with her fingers tipped in fading black skin. I did not expect to see someone who looks like…well, me. She's dressed similarly and perfectly blends in with the world. Do any paranormal creatures actually give themselves away?

I expect Fran to tackle her in a big dramatic moment, but instead, she steps in front of her, severing her line of sight to the men on the rink, and the men immediately stop convulsing. When the witch rises and acts like she's going to leave, Fran grabs her by the wrist, halting her movements, and looks to Willa, who immediately begins mumbling again, and the dark witch looks to faint.

“Remind me to never piss you off,” I try to joke, but Willa's face is serious.

“We only use our powers for good. As long as you aren't doing anything nefarious, I won't have to,” she snaps back seriously.

“I know…I just…never mind.”

I look out to the ice, and not only are the two previously convulsing men now rising to stand, but their entire team looks around at each other dumbfounded. Was the whole team spelled? Was that the reason for the strange energy and hostility? Was there a dark witch at the last game?

I have too many questions and not enough time to gather answers. The refs call more medics onto the ice to check out the players of the other team, as none of them seem to even know where they are. They can't very well finish a freaking hockey game if they're recovering from some kind of yucky spell they were put under.

But why?

30

The medics call the game and begin clearing out the arena of fans and reporters alike. Fran and Willa left with the dark witch, taking her to the cells below the townhouse for questioning.

After the incident with Leera and the rink’s security during the game that I took that nasty hit from Khaos, I got with my co-owner and restricted security to be staffed by shifters or paranormal beings. It’s important to me that the people relatively in charge around us are part of our world and don’t have to be left in the dark. This situation being a prime fucking example.

With the stands cleared of everyone but Leera and the players who have since changed out of our skates and uniforms, the Crescents head coach and Coach engage in an animated discussion about what the actual fuck happened here. Nodding to Benny,Stay with Leera,I make my way to the coaches. “I’m assuming neither of you knows what happened here tonight?”

They both scowl and turn their attention to me.

“I’ll take that as a no. All I know, so far, is that a dark witch was here and had your team”—I lock eyes with the Crescents coach—“under some kind of spell.”

He jabs his finger in my direction and opens his mouth to say something that would probably piss me off, so I don’t offer him the opportunity, speaking over his train of thought.

“Leera’s guard and white-witch professor subdued the witch and have taken her to our cells for us to get the answers we need. As soon as I have more information, I’ll report back,” I finish, looking around the space knowing everyone heard me and offering them the opportunity to speak their concerns.

A satisfied smile spreads across my face, and all the men in the room nod, including the Crescents players, to the irritation of their coach.

Leera tries not to smile, shaking her head at me as I approach her. “What?” I ask dramatically, my arms held wide, awaiting her embrace.

She leans into me, still shaking her head. “You’re incorrigible. You know that?”

“I don’t care what I am as long as it keeps you smiling like that,” I beam at her, running my thumb along her plump bottom lip.

“All right! Time to go,” Benny pipes up, snapping the quickly escalating sexual tension. Leera shakes the lustful thoughts from her mind and smiles bashfully.

Back at home, convincing Leera to remain upstairs while we go down to get information from the witch is no simple task. Thankfully, Runa was able to convince her that they needed some girl time before we leave for Sabbax. I'm also fairly certain Leera was very aware that we were teaming up against her to keep her out of harm's way, but she smiled and went along with it.

From the garage, the elevator doesn't go down to protect the privacy and security of what we have only seldom had to keep below the townhouse. There are two doors on the other side of the garage. One is the door to the stairs that lead up to the main level in case of emergency, the electricity is out, or if I just don't feel like taking the elevator up. The other door leads to what looks like a utility closet full of salt, shovels, maintenance fluids, and other boxes of random shit that's collected in there, but if you shut the door completely once inside, there is a hidden panel door in the wall. Pressing on the right side of the door, the digital pin-pad illuminates, and I key in the passcode that only my men and I have knowledge of, and, well, now Fran.

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