Season of the Witch (Claws Clause 2)

Julian Koenig. Colt couldn’t wait until he tracked him down and introduced the wily Nightwalker to his beast.

It was proving to be more difficult than he thought. Wright’s vampire contact seemed to disappear. So did Hudson Moonshadow. There weren’t any more dead bodies popping up, which was one good thing, and Wright asked Colt if he thought that the Nightwalkers had finished their draining spree—if he thought that it was over.

It took Colt a second to answer. Tired and frustrated, keyed-up after another fruitless hunt, he let his mind wander back to Shea, to how the vamp referred to her as his betrothed, and to the warning Rafe yelled out before Colt threw him through the window.

You’ve made your promise. There’s no going back now, witch. You will have him. Once the first exchange wears off, he’ll come for his betrothed himself and even this dog won’t stop him...

No, he told Wright.

This wasn’t over by a long shot.

* * *

Before Shea closed up the shop for the night, she opened her door and stuck her head out into the chilly night’s sky.

The temperature was dropping. There was talk of snow earlier; the handful of customers she’d spoken to had all blustered in, throwing totals out like they were imagining the next great blizzard. Four to six. Six to twelve. Twelve to eighteen. Shea thought about closing early, especially when Moira told her she heard a nor’easter was coming,

but eventually decided to stick it out.

Still no snow, she saw. It was cold out, but maybe not too cold for the snow to start falling just yet. It was still a perfect night for soup, a good book, and a snuggle under her blanket.

No sign of Colton out there, either, she noticed as she engaged her locks and activated her wards. A wave of disappointment rolled over her before she shook it off, reaching out to flip the OPEN sign to CLOSED. She’d gotten used to him coming by and missed him when he wasn’t there.

Just in case, she made sure to keep her cell phone close by.

Too wary to believe that his sudden change of heart was gonna last, Shea refused to drop her guards and let Colton know how much she cared about him. He’d developed a habit of calling her once a night, and though she was only making their inevitable separation more difficult for her battered and bruised heart, Shea secretly looked forward to hearing his ringtone go off.

She picked out the song specifically with Colton in mind, choosing the lyrics to be a reminder for her every time he called:

...no matter how I try to convince myself,

this time I won’t lose control.

one look in your blue eyes and suddenly

my heart can’t tell you no...

It didn’t ring.

All through her bowl of split pea and halfway through the romance novel she kept on her bedside table, the phone didn’t ring.

Shea tried to tell herself that it was okay, that he was probably busy, but as she stared at the silent phone, willing it to ring, she decided she might as well go to sleep.

When she was dreaming, she didn’t miss Colton so badly.

* * *

“Shea. Rise and shine, my darling.”

One moment, Shea was sleeping deeply, lost in a dream that involved Colton, a hunk of pinkish-orange carnelian, and some massage oil.

The next?

Not.

As soon as those cold, clipped words reached her, she was suddenly ripped from her dream. Her eyes flew open, the dark silhouette at the foot of her bed shocking her the rest of the way awake.

Shea didn’t like to use magic. It always backfired on her. Scared and confused, she latched onto some of her backwards power and used it to turn on the lights. Three of the four lightbulbs in her light fixture popped and exploded at the sudden influx of energy, but one stayed intact.