Page 63 of My Hexed Honeymoon

We did make a pretty incredible team when we stopped fighting and worked together.

It doesn’t change the unfortunate truth, though. We lost it, and it’s about to turn the supernatural war in the wrongdirection, I can feel it. “We have to get back that loom. I felt its power, and I know down to my bones that the amount of destruction the vampires will do with it will be devastating—for humans and supernatural creatures alike.

As much as I want to lie on Diego and cuddle for an evening under the stars while we recover, there’s no time.

We’re dealing with powers that are much bigger than us.

We’re talking the type of shit that changes the course of the universe.

“If I can just get a hold of the Blood Loom again, I can open up the Hollow and put the weapon back where I found it. Then I’ll seal it up inside for good.”

Diego’s slowly nodding, not quite as enthusiastically onboard as I would’ve hoped. “Okay, so we’ve got to get it back and fight off the vamps as we return to the summit where magic is the strongest, and then you can seal it off?” He taps his finger to his lip. “We’re going to need reinforcements.”

“Yes to reinforcements—I definitely need the help of the werewolves to retrieve the loom, and it’s going to be a battle for sure. Once it’s in my possession, I’ll use it to amplify my powers and open up a portal to the Hollow.” I give a little curtsy. “No need for a three-day hike.”

“Thank God,” he utters, and I smile despite our in-over-our heads situation. He would hike back up there for me in a heartbeat, fighting off vampires the entire way.

I’m one more dreamy declaration from falling in love with him completely.

“Yeah, I’d like the hiking portion of our honeymoon to be over already,” I say. “We’ll just unzip a door, toss that fucker inside and have you pull me back out, then we’ll never do another deal with the vampires.”

“Deal,” Diego says, the side of his face that’s fully formed smiling while the side that’s red and shiny-looking tries.

“And who said marriage was hard?” I ask.

He huffs a laugh. “It’s really just about compromise, after all.”

Our jokes do their job, breaking some of the tension.

Still, as we gather what’s left of our gear, unease churns through my body, the logical side of my brain screaming that we’re still up against huge odds.

“I’m too slow,” I say, not quite asking him to carry me like he’s offered a dozen times before but walking him right up to it.

“Yes,” he says, and I shoot him a scowl he finds incredibly funny.

He’s going to make me ask, and how can he still be so incredibly pigheaded when so many lives hang in the balance?

How can I?

“Diego, my dearest husband, whom I promised to throttle and to hold?—”

“Ah, that’s where our miscommunication started.” He’s already naked from his last transformation and the subsequent battle, so he doesn’t have to strip before he drops to all fours.

I hear the growing-familiar crack and pop of his bones as he shifts. Then the gray, golden-eyed hound stands before me like I’m a girl who asked for a pony for Christmas, only to get this beast instead.

I look for a foothold. “In sickness and in health, in wolf form and human…”

“Till death do us part,” Diego finishes through gnarled teeth, his face a disturbingly human-wolf hybrid. “But don’t worry, bruja. Neither of us is dying today.”

By the time we reach the outer perimeter of the compound, every muscle aches and burns, but there’s no time to rest.

Sasquatch, Elias, and Gideon meet us as soon as we reach pack territory, their expressions grim.

“Scouts picked up movement,” the massive ginger security guard informs Diego, as if he hasn’t received enough bad news lately. “Coming from the East, fifty-to-sixty vampires, all warriors.”

“We also picked up a trace of Riven, along with a few others, cutting through the woods and heading toward the same area,” Elias adds.

Suddenly it hits me, what probably should’ve dawned on me sooner. My stomach sours, dread curdling in my throat. “They’ve struck a deal with Andromeda.”

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