Page 44 of Handcuffs and Hexes

Their bodies were moving and I was acutely aware that they were joined somewhere below my hips, especially when the bucking had my clit hitting hard abs and I yelped from how sensitive I still was.

I closed my eyes, letting the magic they were making tingle around me. It felt good, like we were all connected. I basked in it, as I remembered that this was how Seth recharged his magic.

There was so much of it around me now that it felt like I was absorbing it, getting more powerful through osmosis. It wasn’t just magic, though. There was so much... I didn’t know what it was exactly. Happiness? Positivity? Love?

I didn’t know how they managed it, but somehow, I ended up wedged between Liam and Seth on the bed. Seth had his nose buried in my hair, which I was sure was a bird’s nest by now, but I didn’t care. Liam molded himself to the side of my body in a way that was only possible for a demon to do. Gone was the age-old issue of where the hell things like arms went when cuddling in bed; everything just fit perfectly, as if they were meant to be.

Only as I started to fall asleep in their arms did I realize just how dangerous this was. This whole liaison was supposed to be temporary. I didn’t want or need a situationship, especially with not one but two guys I was going to have to bump into for work.

How the hell was I supposed to face Seth the next time he showed up at the same crime scene? He’d seen me at my most compromised.

“Whatever the fuck you’re thinking right now,” Seth said, “stop.” He cupped my face. “Only cuddles and happiness are allowed on the bed.”

“What about more fucking?” Liam asked, his breath brushing over the tips of my nipples.

Huh, interesting; I guess demons breathed to simulate living folk even though they technically didn’t need to.

“That too. But no thinking. If you can still think, then we didn’t do a good enough job.” Seth palmed a breast, giving it a possessive squeeze.

It was probably for the best. Besides, I was too happy and satisfied to focus on the negatives right now. It was also hard to remember what I was worried about with both of them showering me with love and kisses.

So I relaxed and was soon napping contentedly in my lovers’ arms.

Chapter 22

Liam

Seth’smagicswirledaroundus in the aftermath of our lovemaking. It was familiar and comforting, something that had soothed my very soulstuff for decades. But this time, it was stronger than it had ever been.

I felt whole. Not that I wasn’t whole and happy with Seth, but this was even better.

Seth wasn’t the only one who’d noticed when Hazel’s thoughts had strayed to less happy things. She really didn’t hide her feelings well and instead, tended to wear her emotions on her aura.

And about her aura… I was pretty sure that Chief Henderson was right and that she did have some sort of selective magic nullification, but only when it was dangerous to her. It didn’t stop magical spells from working on her because Seth had clearly been successful in helping her reduce her headaches magically. And it didn’t nullify the magic we made under the sheets. If anything, it compounded it. But I was just a demon and didn’t claim to understand how these things worked.

But I did know that her nullification magic definitely made doing her job a little safer. Which was a good thing because I wasn’t sure I could handle having two important people in my life who constantly put themselves in danger.

It was well known that immortal demons who fall for mortals would need to face their loved one’s mortality one day or another, even someone like Seth, who could use magic to extend their life both legally and not. I’d long since come to terms with it, or at least I thought I had until now. Hazel looked so small and fragile in my arms. I didn’t want her to go back to work, and I didn’t want her to be sent out to unknown calls and crime scenes.

And then there was the new development of Seth’s nightmares. Hazel wasn’t as attuned to Seth as I was, and he’d been trying to hide them since that first night, but I knew. I’d tried talking to him about it, but he’d brushed it off as just stress. He did haveboth Desmon and the EA breathing down his neck to find a way to close the unwanted portal.

Seth’s hand, which had been reaching across to rest on my arm, gave a little squeeze. “Nowyou’rethinking too much. Save that for tomorrow. It’s your rule.”

Right, only happy in bed. That rule had saved us many times in the past. We were a good couple, but that didn’t mean we always saw things eye to eye. And ithadbeen my rule.

Here, it was just him and me in our little world, hidden away from all the troubles and problems that plagued his life. Except now Hazel had joined us. She was the first female we’d actually brought home and shared in our sacred place. I had no regrets, though. Everything felt right, like it was meant to be.

Wewereinyetanother tangled pile of happy, sweaty limbs on the couch when a portal opened up in our living room. Seriously, Mateo needed to learn to call before showing up unannounced.

But the “woo-hoo!” that called up from the portal wasn’t Mateo’s voice but Elena’s.

“Mom!” Seth was suddenly alert and untangling himself from us.

“Mom?” Hazel whisper-shouted, her eyes wide. “I’m still naked!”

Seth waved his hands, and Elena stepped through the swirling mass just in time to see a very modest frock appear magically over Hazel. It had a tiny floral print and looked like something a grandmother would wear to church.

Elena’s white-blonde hair was pulled back into her signature bun, and she looked like she’d just been in the sunroom taking care of her plants. She still had her gardening apron on.

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