Page 45 of Tricky Magic
Sam laughed but quickly stopped as if he was in pain.
“I like her,” he said, rubbing his chest. “Don’t kill her.”
22
Ros
Ros wasn’t going to kill her, but her magic and power needed an out, needed release. Even now, he could see how the power begged to be set free. Did she even realize it?
Ros often forgot that there was a battle in his head. As soon as he saw her, he completely forgot that she could be the next job, that her powers could force him to do something. Those defiant gray eyes bore into his soul, interrupting those worries. She wouldn’t think twice before laying into him, verbally and physically, but she’d come here today, and she was worried about him.
He didn’t know what to do with how that made him feel. His thoughts had distracted him from the conversation, and now Sam and Ellea looked at him as if he were a gilled lake beast.
“I’m sorry, what were you saying?” Ros asked. “I was too distracted, realizing that Ellea actually has a heart and cares enough to check in on me.”
Ellea raised her gaze to the sky as if begging for patience.
“Sam was going to tell me why you both look like you were thrown through a meat grinder,” she said, placing her hands on her hips, looking at both of them with such an intense glare that he felt Sam recoil. How she could stand in a room with two of the largest and most dangerous men and be completely unfazed was unbelievable.
“We had to take care of some rogue vampires up north,” Ros answered. “Things got out of hand, but nothing we couldn’t handle.”
“Out of hand?” Sam said with a raised eyebrow and shook his head. “You had to play the hero and dive into a pile of twenty vamps to save my ass. You should have left me.”
“Why, so Devon could come home, find out you’re dead, and then hunt me down and feed me to the pack?” His answer was snarky but filled with love.
“Pack?” Ellea asked curiously. “Are you wolven? Ros said he wasn’t. He actually almost pissed himself when I thought he was.”
“No and yes,” Sam answered while Ros began chucking. “I’m a wolven; Devon is actually a witch.”
“And Ros?” she said, looking at them expectantly.
“Ros is an asshole,” Sam said.
“Well, I knew that.” Ellea rolled her eyes. “And a few other things.”
“Sam is actually the alpha.” Ros said it with so much pride. “He leads all the wolven in the northeast.” Ellea whistled at the mention of alpha.
“That seems like a big job. And Devon? What kind of witch is she or he?”
“He,” Sam answered, his smile warm. “He is a bit of everything. You may get to meet him one day.”
Sam and Ellea continued an easy conversation, and Ros felt the slow creep of jealousy. He enjoyed the banter with Ellea, but he wondered if it would ever be easy. Did he even want it to be easy?
“Mabon is coming up this month,” Ellea mentioned. “Do you celebrate it here?”
“We do,” Sam answered her. “The town’s supernatural population is so large and close-knit that we celebrate together.”
“Wow.” Her beautiful eyes grew wide. “Everyone? Vampires, wolven, and…”
“Yes, everyone,” Sam said. “Even the forest creatures, water beasts, and anyone you can think of.”
“It’s a real fairytale,” Ros said sarcastically.
“Oh, please,” Sam said, smacking Ros on the shoulder. “You love the celebrations. Why else would you spend months preparing the wood for the bonfire?”
“I do it for the free alcohol,” Ros said, rolling his eyes.
Ellea had gone quiet, and when Ros turned to her, he realized she was staring. He would kill to know what was going through her mind. She took a step back, and her chest began to rise and fall rapidly.
