Page 39 of Tricky Magic
You are one to talk.
“But if Billy is still hanging around her, something must be up.” It was uncommon for a familiar to stick around this long—Garm didn’t count, not really. He was the original helhound. Their relationship was different. “Maybe it’s her winning personality?”
Doubtful. Do you have a plan?Garm asked with a thoughtful look. Ros wondered if he was hiding something.
He took a moment to think about it. Did he have a plan?No, but he never did.
“Woo her, make her fall in love with me, learn all her secrets,” Ros said with a sly smile. “I’m still torn between killing her and dragging her to bed.”
He groaned and scolded that hunter side of him that was so quick to kill. Yes, she was powerful, but malicious? Probably not. He would have to find out more, which meant more time with her, and that thought made him smile. The thought of not being able to love someone made the smile quickly disappear. That wasn’t an option, but he could have fun…for now.
Gods, you males are the worst. I’m serious,Garm remarked, sitting up and taking in Ros’ face fully.
“I don’t trust her, but she makes me feel so many new things,” Ros said, looking into the hound’s eyes. All the humor was gone from his stare.
Hel, I feel like you’re a kid again, chasing after the ladies in your fathers court,Garm said, letting his head rest on his enormous paws. He looked tired, probably from rolling around in the woods all night.
“That was so long ago. Times are very different now, and the curse means nothing can be permanent when it comes to partners,” Ros said. Starting to rub Garm between the eyes, he purred at the contact, then his red eyes snapped open.
Speaking of chasing and partners, Billy mentioned Ellea would be running this morning,he said, then closed his eyes and smirked.She said she wanted to make sure she was late so she wouldn’t get dragged along.
Ros thought for a moment, but his mind couldn’t come to a conclusion. He only knew he wanted to see her again. Not her,Ellea.It hadn’t been more than a day and he knew her name—he wanted to rub that fact in her perfect face.
“I may not have a fully formed plan, but I’m going to go for a run,” he said, stroking the hound’s head one last time.
Yeah, I figured. Try to not seem needy, boy. It tends to come off as creepy,Garm said, opening his eyes only to settle higher on the bed, taking up the free pillow.
“Like you know anything about getting a lady,” Ros said, getting out of bed. He grabbed a pair of sweatpants, sneakers, and a shirt. He could have left it, but Garm was right, he shouldn’t seem too eager.
I got one last night, I know lots of things,the hound said as Ros left the bedroom.
Ros made it down the stairs quickly and headed out the back door. It was still early—the sun was just rising, and the crisp air clung to his skin. Fall couldn’t get here fast enough. He hated the time when it was cool in the morning and then burning when the sun was at its highest.
He took a quick look at the property across the lake and noticed the end of Billy’s tail going into the cabin. Ellea must already be out if the dog was sneaking in. Ros took a deep calming breath and listened. The even steps hitting concrete came easily to his ears. It had to be her since no one else was in this area. He headed the opposite direction so he would run into her head on. That way it wouldn’t seem like he was following her.
“Yeah, Ros, not creepy at all,” he mumbled to himself.
17
Ellea
Ellea’s feet pounded into the road at a steady pace. The lack of sleep didn’t slow her down as her anxiety and magic drove her forward. She was only slightly worried that Billy hadn’t come home last night; something would let her know if Billy was in trouble, and Ellea was more worried about that beautiful beast her familiar had chased down. Could he be a helhound? Was that why Billy had snapped? Thoughts of her tutors and what she’d learned growing up ran through her mind, and she couldn’t find a reference to helhounds. She’d only heard of them from her favorite TV show, but demons were real—why not helhounds? She didn’t know much about demons except a few of them sat on the council. She stopped the thought quickly, not giving space to the fact that the council may be looking to drag her home and force her to do something about her outburst. Instead, she turned her thoughts to last night’s dream. It had been a mix of old nightmares, random men, and chaos. She blamed the guys who had been dropped into her lap recently. Usually she wouldn’t mind, but these men…they weren’t the fun kind.
She still didn’t know what to make of Elias. He’d come out of nowhere, so eager to help, and when she’d needed it. But did she want his help? The little research she’d been doing had gotten her nowhere. What she and her Uncle Felix had always worked on wasnotusing her powers. She knew the basics—small illusions and mind games.
According to her research, she should be able to form actual objects, not just the smoke and mirror tricks she could do now. Ellea didn’t remember much of what her father could do. Those memories were buried deep, and she would rather start from scratch than stir the crazy pot. Taking a deep breath, she worked on removing the creeping feeling that came with the slightest thought of her early years.
Deep breath in, hold, deep breath out. Let the memory go.She continued this until she noticed something on her left side.Fucking shit balls.It was Ros. He was running down one of the cross streets and coming her way. Of course he was. And he just had to be wearing gray sweatpants. Judging by the bouncing between his legs, he was not wearing underwear.Fucking double shit balls.She groaned.
Ellea had no way to avoid him, and he already had a shit-eating grin on his handsome ass face. She put on a mask of utter boredom, secretly hoping he would be convinced that her heavy breathing was from the run and not the sight of him.
“Good morning, princess.” Ros began to run beside her. “Or should I call you Ellea?”
Ellea almost tripped at her name on his lips. She did her best to hide the breathless sound of her voice as she said, “How the Hel did you learn my name?”
“Your beast told my beast, and my beast told me. The rest is history, princess.”
“Don’t call me that,” she said, scowling at him. “Might as well use my name now that you have it.”
