“Celestine doesn’t hate you, Wanda,” Astrid corrected. “She’s only doing what she thinks best.”

  “Well said, Astrid,” Poppy said as she faced my niece and gave her a big smile.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I waved them both off, “let’s skip the whole Kumbaya stuff, please. I’ve got too much to think about without the two of you going on about rainbows and kittens.”

  “Rainbows and kittens?” Astrid repeated, looking puzzled.

  I shook my head and waved my hand in the air. “Or whatever fuzzy, warm stuff that I have no interest in thinking about at the moment.”

  “I love rainbows and kittens!” Libby called out from the kitchen excitedly.

  “You are a rainbow kitten,” Darla grumbled, not bothering to look up from her magazine.

  “Okay, so what’s next?” Poppy asked, laughing.

  “Can we start the reverse detection spell now?” Astrid added.

  “Might as well,” I grumbled as the scent of bacon and melting cheese met my nose.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I walked across the room, picked up Gemma’s wedding dress, and unzipped the garment bag on the kitchen table. Then placing my gloves back on, I was careful to take the dress out of the bag. Poppy, Astrid, and I stood around the table and gazed at the white mess of taffeta. I could hardly stand to look at it, the repulsive charm was so bad, but Poppy sighed.

  “Wow. It’s beautiful.”

  “Just don’t touch it,” I told her. “Then you won’t think it’s so beautiful.”

  She frowned. “What does that even mean?”

  “You don’t want to find out and I don’t want to take the time to explain,” I managed. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

  I took a bowl from the cupboard and placed it in the middle of all those miles and miles of taffeta. Poppy took a candle and a bottle of Divination Oil out of her potions bag. She placed the candle in the bowl and lit it with a match.

  I held out my hand to Astrid and she took it. Poppy took Astrid’s other hand and then looked over at me.

  “Don’t you need Hellcat for this?” she asked. “I thought uniting your power with his made you stronger?”

  I made a face. “I don’t trust that cat as far as I can throw him—I’m sure he’s been reporting all my failures directly to Mother.”

  “Okay,” Poppy said with a shrug. “I guess that’s a no?”

  “That’s a no. Scrying the enchanter who cursed this dress shouldn’t be too hard, anyway,” I added, only hoping my words were the case. “We’re only trying to find a potions brewer, not break through any heavy-duty spells.”

  “I don’t know…” Poppy hedged. “Hellcat might still be useful.”

  “Just pour the oil,” I managed and when she gave me an irritated look, I added, “please.”

  With the three of us linked hand in hand, Poppy released my hand to lift the crystal bottle of Divination Oil as she began to drizzle it over the candle. It combined with the melted wax and overflowed into the bowl. The aromas of clove, orange, and sandalwood floated through the kitchen.

  I let my eyes slip out of focus as I concentrated on the dress and, more specifically, the curses on the dress.

  “Goddess above, Goddess below,” I started, my voice soft. “Whoever enchanted this dress, help me to find so I may restore my peace of mind. As I will it, so mote it be.”

  “So mote it be,” Astrid repeated.

  When I opened my eyes, the candle flame began growing in size, illuminating the gauzy folds of the dress. Brightly colored shapes appeared at the bottom of the bowl as the sigils started to activate.

  They gleamed brighter and then wavered as the eddies of potion covered them. My vision blurred for a moment as my magic did its job, bringing images before my eyes. It took the images a second or so to come into focus and then I found myself looking into my own store.

  The puddle of white powder from a few days earlier spread over the floor. As I watched, the pile of powder wavered and then began changing into strange shapes. They didn’t look random, either. Were they sigils… or were they letters? I wasn’t sure. As I watched, whatever was creating the scratches started to reveal itself. First, I saw a set of long, curved, and spindly fingers that terminated in pointed claws. The fingers were covered with short, gray fur. Soon the thing’s legs started to come into view and those were covered with gray and brown fur which soon revealed a round and bulbous, furry body and a long, striped tail. Then the thing’s face came into view, complete with a black furry mask.

  “A raccoon?!” I yelled, sounding as frustrated and unimpressed as I felt.

  “Oh, I was right,” Poppy answered with a self-satisfied smile.

  As I watched the vision in the bowl, the raccoon looked down at the floor, extending its paws as it scratched the mess with which I’d now become so familiar into my hardwood floor. Before I could say another word, the vision evaporated, leaving nothing but the three of us standing in a circle, holding hands.

  I picked up the bowl, blew out the candle, and poured the potion into the garbage.

  “A raccoon?” Astrid asked as she looked over at me.

  “Maybe an enchanted raccoon?” Poppy offered.

  “It was someone’s familiar,” I answered.

  “Ah,” Poppy said at the same time that Astrid nodded.

  “Do you know whose familiar it was?” Poppy asked.

  I shook my head. “All I do know is that whoever cursed Gemma’s dress is the same person, or raccoon, who keeps breaking into the store,” I answered, keeping in mind that the spell had been meant to reveal whoever was responsible for the curses on Gemma’s dress. But, it had revealed much more.

  “That makes sense,” Poppy agreed.

  “I don’t know,” I answered, cocking my head as I thought about it. “I’d pretty much figured the intruder couldn’t be the saboteur.”

  “Why did you think that?” she asked.

  “Because if the intruder…”

  “You mean the raccoon?” Astrid corrected.

  “The raccoon,” I grumbled. “If the raccoon cursed the dress, why didn’t it do so when it was inside the store and the dress was hanging right in front of it? The creature had every opportunity, so why wait until the dress left the store? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “It wasn’t hanging right in front of the raccoon, though, was it?” Astrid pointed out. “You said the dress was in your office and the raccoon only seems to make its carvings in the front room, right?”

  I shrugged. “I guess so.”

  Astrid continued, “Maybe the raccoon never went into your office so it never found the dress.”

  “But why would the raccoon wait until after the items left my store before cursing them? Why not just curse them right there?”

  “Maybe because you would have noticed a cursed object in your store,” Poppy suggested with a shrug. “The curse on Gemma’s dress was so strong, you could barely stand near it.”

  “True,” I conceded.

  “And if you’d known something bore a curse on it, you wouldn’t sell it, right?” she continued.

  “Right.”

  “So… your customer leaves the store, thinking they got the original enchantment, provided by you. Then somehow the raccoon strikes and curses the object.”

  “This is hopeless.” I zipped the dress back into its garment bag and got another tingle of the poisonous energy coming off it. I breathed in deeply as I looked down at all the beautiful fabric. “I’m not sure what to do with this thing now. Maybe burn it? I definitely can’t use it as a dummy dress or a prop with that awful spell on it.”

  “Can’t you reverse the spell?” Poppy asked.

  “I’m not sure I want to.” I glared at the dress and my entire body rebelled against it because it had become an example of everything going wrong in my life. Now this dress not only represented curses and raccoons I wanted to hex into oblivion, but it represented Gemma McClain and law suits and potentially vicious magazine articles.

  Picking up the dress and shoving it back into the garment bag, I walked into the living room and flung the dress over the side of the couch. Then I flopped down on the cushions next to Lorcan. “This is going down as one of the worst weeks of my life.”

  Poppy and Astrid exchanged glances and then tiptoed into the living room. They sat down on either side of me. “What’s next?”

  Before I could answer, Lorcan stirred under the blanket. I pulled it off as he blinked and opened his eyes. He appeared confused for a moment or two but recognized us and got with the program.

  “Hi, Lorcan,” Astrid said as Poppy uttered the same.

  He grinned at us.

  “Ah! Another evening. Wonderful.”

  “How’s your head, big guy?” Darla asked, from where she was sitting on the floor in front of him and stretching. Recently she’d been getting into yoga.

  “My head,” he answered, reaching up to feel his forehead. Then he looked at Darla. “Why do you ask?”

  “Oh, because Wanda dry-gulched you with her phone. Seemed to me like she was tryin’ to bump you off.”

  “It was an accident,” I answered, frowning at Darla. “Besides, as you all know, Lorcan is a vampire and thus, doesn’t feel pain anyway.”

  “While that is not quite true,” Lorcan amended, “as I do feel pain, I must admit my head is quite fine and shall be even better once I feed. Thus, I shall take my leave of you loveliest of ladies and bid you all a good evening.”

  “Hold up a second, Lorcan,” I said, grabbing his hand as he stood up. “I need you around tonight.”

  He leaned down and smiled at me. “I’m happy to help you with another attempt at Betanya’s spell, dearest, but I really must feed first. I’ll be much more compos mentis once I return.”

  “I don’t need you to help me with Betanya’s spell,” I started.

  “Have you figured it out for yourself?” Lorcan asked, eyes wide.

  “No,” I grumbled. “I need you to help me set a trap for a raccoon.”

  ***

  I squirmed in the utility closet in my store, feeling claustrophobic in the small space. No matter which way I turned, I couldn’t escape the maddening presence of Lorcan pressed in behind me. If I tried to shove him back to give myself more space, I only ended up rubbing my rear end against him, something which, no doubt, frustrated us both.

  He placed both hands on my hips and tried to shift me to one side. “If you stop fidgeting, my dear, we would both be much more comfortable. As it is, you are quite driving me to distraction and I don’t know how much longer I can refrain from doing… certain unmentionable things to you.”

  Of course, I wondered at what such ‘unmentionable things’ could be, but forcefully pushed my thoughts in another direction. What we were in the midst of doing was important and I wasn’t about to let the untamed sexual energy between us get in the way. If I could control it, that is.

  A quiver of excitement shivered up my sides when his fingers brushed my stomach.

  Now, stop it, Wanda, and get ahold of yourself!

  The longer this went on, the more worked up I got. And that wasn’t a good thing because sex between Lorcan and me couldn’t happen—for so many different reasons. Not only that, but I had a multitude of issues already vying for position #1 in my mind.

  I stole a peek through the crack in the door, but the store was dark and still. We’d sandwiched ourselves into this closet for almost two hours with no sign of the raccoon. And, no, I had no clue if the raccoon was planning on making an appearance this evening—I was just hopeful.

  At the sudden itch on my ankle, I ground it against my other leg and, in the process, bent forward slightly which angled my rump directly into Lorcan’s pelvis—exactly what I was trying to avoid. Instead of withdrawing or pushing me away, his fingers flexed around my waist and I heard him distinctly inhale which was really saying something considering he didn’t possess a respiratory system.

  “My dear, if I didn’t know better, I would guess you were trying to trigger my inner beast.”

  “Well, I’m not!” I whispered, half turning my face in his direction. “I had an itch on my ankle.”

  He chuckled. “That’s what they all say.”

  I straightened up. Good thing it was so dark, Lorcan couldn’t see how flushed I was.

  “How about we turn sideways, hmm? Perhaps we’ll get more space that way?” he whispered into my ear, causing goosebumps to crop up all over my body.

  We both pivoted and I turned around to face him, but wasn’t sure this position was much better. Instead of my rump up against his nether bits, now I was standing with my breasts smashed to his chest… to say nothing of the fact that his face was just inches from mine.

  I gasped for air and only managed to inhale a lungful of his scent—a rich, masculine mix of sandalwood and something musky. I had to close my eyes against the sudden desire to lean up and kiss him. Damn this blood bond between us!

  “Here we are, glued to each other in the dark, with not an inch of wiggle room between us,” he said, his breath tickling my face. “Perhaps this was not such a brilliant idea.”

  Right. Things had been getting progressively more heated between us for weeks, but recently the need for Lorcan was becoming an all-out inferno inside me. I’d spent the last however long trying to deny just how much I wanted Lorcan and now all that wasted energy was coming back to kick me right in the you know what.

  Who was I trying to kid? And why was I trying to kid myself? The truth was, ever since I’d met Lorcan, he’d riled something within me. Sure, at first, it had been extreme dislike, but… had it really been? From the moment I could remember coming face to face with Lorcan, he’d heated me, impassioned me. He’d made me feel alive in one way or another. And those feelings had never gone away. If anything, they were even stronger now.

  Whether it was growing madness from the blood bond between us or genuine desire that was driving me toward him, what difference did it make in the end? And, as far as I could tell, the end was drawing nearer with every passing day.

  So, to hell with it then, right? What was the point in holding back? What was the point in trying to pretend I didn’t have feelings for him when I very obviously did? What was the point in continuing to deny myself the pleasure of feeling him, tasting him, becoming one with him?

  He might be a vampire, but he was also a good guy, much though I found that truth difficult to admit. But, Lorcan had done more for me than anyone ever had, male or female. He was generous, kind and he cared, not just about me, but about people in general. Not to mention, he was also smoking hot.

  As I stood in that closet, trapped between Lorcan’s body and the walls, a switch flipped in my mind and I made a decision, right then and there. Whether the blood bond was the one speaking or it was my rational mind, I wasn’t sure. But, my decision was already made—and that decision was that I was going to do it—I was going to have sex with Lorcan. Damn the consequences!

  Yes, as soon as we caught this damned raccoon familiar, I would have a private party with Lorcan all by ourselves. The next time Betanya’s spell failed, I wouldn’t be putting my clothes back on. And neither would he.

  An overwhelming tide of desire suddenly flooded through me, telling me this decision was right, pushing me even closer to him. Before I knew what I was doing, I’d lifted my face to his and slipped my hands onto his shoulders.

  His muscles tensed but then he relaxed. He had to know this was inevitable between us, too.

  “Wanda,” he started but I shook my head.

  “Kiss me.”

  He didn’t waste any time. Instead, he bent down to meet me and our lips were hot when they touched. His hold around me tightened and I leaned into his embrace, loving the feel of his strong arms and the taste of his full lips.

  When he pulled away, I wasn’t ready for it and tried to pull him closer again but he held me at bay.

  “I heard something,” he said. We both froze, with our arms still wrapped around each other. Forcing myself to my senses, I backed away a step and only managed to ram my back into the wall.

  That was when I heard it—a scuffling noise coming from inside the store.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I turned my back to Lorcan again. He slotted behind me and we both leaned forward to peer through the crack in the door. Lorcan pressed against me even more firmly, but every thought about his body evaporated as I watched something rummaging under the clothes racks beyond the changing cubicles. The garments wavered on their hangers and then, without warning, a football-sized missile rocketed into the open.

  It wasn’t so much a missile as it was a raccoon. The thing scuttled to the middle of the floor, where it wavered for a moment and then started waggling its body in the strangest way. I couldn’t figure out what it was trying to do until a glimmer of streetlight shone through the front window. The light reflected off a new batch of scratches in the hardwood.

  That was the last straw.

  “Little bastard!” I yelled as I sprang out of the closet and fired the first hex that came into my head. “Bound in place at my word!” I flung the hex at the little creature and froze it to the spot. It could still look at me, but it couldn’t move.

  The raccoon cowered in terror. Its eyes widened to two shiny black discs and its round body trembled all over, even though it couldn’t move, not even a toe.

  I stalked over to the thing and glared down at it, throwing my hands on my hips. I could hear Lorcan coming up behind me.

  “You’re in big trouble, pal.” The creature didn’t seem to react. “This is the last time you break into my store,” I continued, but the raccoon just looked up at me blankly. “No one messes with Wanda Depraysie.”

  “Do you believe it understands you because I don’t believe it does,” Lorcan said, facing me and looking perplexed.

  I frowned up at him. “How the heck should I know?”

  The words barely escaped my mouth when the raccoon broke through the hex. Now suddenly animate, it darted across the store, making a dive for the clothes rack where it first appeared. I shot out my arm to fire another hex, but the raccoon was too fast and missed it.