It still took a minute for Wanda to wrench the door open, and looking over her silky robe, smeared make-up, and a serious case of bedhead, I had a pretty good idea of what exactly they were up to in there that had kept us waiting so long.

  Wanda Depraysie was Maverick’s cousin, and also the High Witch of his coven, Scapegrace, I think they called themselves. I wasn’t sure why. She and Lorcan were probably going at it a lot these days, since they were technically ‘married’, but in a more spiritual sense of the word. I really didn’t understand what had happened there, other than that both of them seemed okay enough about it, and that meant it wasn’t any of my business.

  From what Maverick had told me, Wanda was pretending to be Lorcan’s vampire fledgling, in order to keep other vampires off their backs.

  Wanda made a show of pulling her robe more tightly around herself while scowling at Maverick. “What are you doing here? It’s late, and I’m busy.”

  Maverick rolled his eyes. “I don’t need more than a half an hour of your time and this is more important than you and Lorcan doing the dirty.”

  “The dirty?” Wanda and I repeated at the same time, both giving him a look of disgust.

  “Whatever,” he continued. “I’m sure Lorcan will survive blue balls long enough for you to get through one ritual.”

  At the mention of Lorcan’s ‘blue balls’, I was sure I was blushing scarlet to my hairline. I wasn’t a prude, not really, I just wasn’t used to sex being discussed so openly, especially not between family members. I knew covens were a little different, but still. I glanced at the pile of snow next to the front porch and wondered if anyone would notice if I just kind of buried myself in it.

  Wanda’s eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms over her ample chest, hip cocked to one side. “If you want magic at this hour, you can pay for it like everyone else, Maverick. I’m off the clock.”

  She grabbed the door, obviously intending to slam it in his face, but Maverick shoved his foot into the gap to keep it open, and his boots were heavy enough to keep her from breaking his toes, if she was willing to go that far.

  “Look,” Maverick said, suddenly earnest. “If you won’t help me, you should at least help Taliyah.”

  Wanda stared him down for a moment, before her dark eyes flicked to me and now they were laced with curiosity. “I’m listening,” she said, obviously grudgingly.

  “I’m trying to help her avoid Prince Reynard,” Maverick continued, even as I opened my mouth to explain, but wasn’t even sure where to start. Yes, I was definitely off my game tonight and the truth was, I was more than pleased to have Maverick acting as interpreter. “And you’re the only one who can help us on short notice.” Maverick didn’t exactly rush his words, but he kept them clipped and to the point, obviously familiar with his cousin’s exceedingly short patience.

  For a second, I really thought Wanda was going to slam the door in our faces. I was pretty sure Maverick thought so too, from the way his body went tense. But then she sighed, and opened the door a little wider, motioning us both to come inside.

  “Lorcan,” she called over her shoulder as she closed and locked the door behind us. “Put your clothes back on, we have guests.”

  Vanishing into a snowbank was sounding more and more appealing by the second.

  When we came around the corner into the surprisingly tastefully furnished living room, Lorcan was shimmying back into a pair of slacks. His chest was still bare, and so were his feet. There was a lot of Lorcan on display, more than I’d ever thought I’d see, and I turned to stare at some weird glass sculpture on the mantelpiece that I probably wouldn’t have been able to pick out of a line-up five minutes later.

  “Ah, are you the door-dashers dropping off my dinner, or are you my dinner?” Lorcan asked, smiling a grin full of fangs.

  “Ha ha,” Maverick answered.

  Lorcan crossed his arms over his chest, apparently not bothering to put on any more clothing. “So… what is it you require?”

  Maverick slid his hands into the pockets of his long black wool coat. From what I understood, it was the warlock equivalent of holstering your weapon. “I need Wanda to create a binding between Taliyah and me and you can serve as a witness.”

  Wanda frowned, running her hands through her long dark hair like she was attempting to tame it, but it was a lost cause. She reached for a glass discarded on the coffee table. It was filled with dark red wine and she immediately downed the contents. “What kind of binding are you looking for, exactly?”

  “A handfasting.”

  Both Wanda’s eyebrows reached for the ceiling. “Interesting. Pray continue.”

  I frowned as Maverick stepped towards her. “I need you to create a direct bond between the two of us—one that would be… accepted by the supernatural community.”

  “You do realize what a handfasting binding represents?” Wanda started.

  “Of course,” Maverick answered.

  Then Wanda’s attention turned to me. “Perhaps I’m asking the wrong person,” she continued with a sickeningly sweet smile. “Taliyah, hmm, how best to put this,” she continued as she bobbed her long index fingernail on her bottom lip. “It appears my cousin is attempting to imprison you in a marriage bond. Needless to say, now is your time to run.” She cocked her head to the side. “And I give you my permission to slap him first.”

  “First of all,” I started, not in the mood for any of this. I’d already had the day from hell and I just wanted to get home to my boys. “If I wanted to slap Maverick, I wouldn’t need anyone’s permission.” Maverick grunted something from behind me but I ignored him. “And, secondly, I’m well aware of the reason why we’re both here.”

  “Hmm,” Wanda said, eyebrows reaching for the ceiling again. “This is interesting.” She turned to face Maverick again. “The binding you’re asking for… are you looking for something similar to what I used to bind the coven together?”

  “I think so,” Maverick answered but sounded a little less sure this time.

  “Wait,” I started and lifted my hands.

  Wanda faced me with a little nod. “I imagined you’d come to your senses sooner or later. I’m a little surprised it was later as—”

  “What are you talking about?” I interrupted. “What sort of bond did you use to bind the coven together?”

  She waved her hands in the air as if she didn’t have time or the interest to get into the nitty-gritty. “It’s a blending of lives and energies. But with only two people in the bond, it would be much, much tighter. That’s why covens historically have at least three members, to balance things out. What Maverick is asking for… well, it would be a soul-to-soul bond.”

  I glanced at Maverick, frowning. “I thought this was an ‘in title only’ kind of deal?”

  Maverick shrugged, looking unconcerned. “Wanda likes to exaggerate.”

  Wanda scowled at him. “I do not, and I am not.”

  Maverick still looked unbothered but didn’t take his gaze away from mine. “It’s the only way to ensure that you don’t have to marry Jerkoff Reynard.”

  “Jerkoff Reynard,” Wanda said, nodding. “I like the sound of that.”

  But Maverick’s attention was still on me. He shrugged and jerked a thumb towards his chest. “Better the devil you know, right?”

  “Well, when you put it that way, how can I refuse,” I said, my voice drier than the Sahara.

  Honestly, I wasn’t sure about any of this. The way Wanda was talking made me think all of this was a much bigger deal than Maverick was letting on. He was right that I really, really did not want to marry Fox, or be Queen of the Fairies, or move to some weird magical realm that I knew almost nothing about. But was this my better bet? Being soul bound to Maverick? What did that even mean?

  Strangely, Maverick didn’t seem particularly fussed over the idea. He was calm, relaxed almost, standing in Lorcan’s living room like we were just talking about the weather, not both of our futures. At the end of the day, I trusted Maverick, and that wasn’t something I could say about a lot of people. So, I let it go.

  Wanda, though, didn’t seem like she was going to move on any time soon. She stared at Maverick, her mouth hanging open. “Weren’t you the one who wouldn’t stop harping on me about my ‘marriage’ to Lorcan? You sure seemed opposed to the idea, then. Was that hypocrisy, or just jealousy talking?”

  A scowl twisted Maverick’s face. “It isn’t like that, for spell’s sake. I’m just trying to keep Taliyah in the Hollow.”

  Wanda looked at me and frowned. “Explain.”

  “If she marries Jerkoff Reynard,” Maverick bit in for me. “You can be sure he’ll insist she move to the Fae realm with him. This is the only way to ensure he doesn’t have a hold on her. And as to Taliyah and me,” he continued as he looked over at me. “This doesn’t have to be anything more than a get out of jail free card for Taliyah. The point is that she shouldn’t have to be forced into doing something she doesn’t want to do, something decreed by some prophecy that came along before she was even a year old.”

  The room was silent when Maverick paused to take a breath, all of us staring at him.

  There was that heavy feeling in my chest again, the one that felt like something was threatening to crack and spill messy emotions all over the floor. I swallowed it back.

  Maverick shook his head, letting a slow breath out through his nose. “If the prophecy can be worked around, then it should be worked around. As it stands, Taliyah is set to lose everything she loves, potentially including herself. We owe it to her to try to avoid that.”

  Wanda gave her cousin an odd look. “Where is Maverick and what have you done with him?”

  Maverick snorted, shoving his hands back into his coat pockets. “What does that even mean?”

  Wanda smiled, and it was a nice one, not her usual smirk that made people check for the exits. Then she gestured to me to follow her out of the room. I hesitated for a second, glancing Maverick’s way, but he looked just as confused as I was. I shrugged and trailed after the witch.

  I caught up to Wanda in the hallway. “What’s going on?”

  Wanda tossed the heavy curtain of her hair back, glancing over her shoulder at me. She gave my outfit a significant look, her nose wrinkling up. “I’m not about to let you get married in a pair of dirty blue jeans and a Haven Hollow school sweatshirt.”

  “Um, Maverick sort of sprung this idea on me and I had no time to shower, let alone find something to wear.” Not that I had anything that screamed ‘wedding’ in my closet anyway.

  “Well, luckily for you, Lorcan has a whole guest room of gowns he purchased for me and we’ll make one of them fit.”

  Wait, what? “I really don’t think that’s necessary, Wanda. This is just an on-paper marriage, so to speak. I don’t need to wear anything fancy.”

  Wanda listened as I spoke, her arms crossed over her chest. She nodded and then proceeded to ignore every word I said.

  “Lorcan,” she called back to the other room. “Find something suitable for Maverick to wear because his customary funeral attire isn’t going to cut it.”

  And then she steered me down the hall and into another room.

  Chapter Four

  It felt weird to be both a little excited and equally embarrassed by what was intended to be a ‘get out of faerie free’ card.

  It was just that I’d been engaged, if you could call it that, for about an hour, and now I was about to walk down the aisle—well, figuratively anyway. In truth, I was about to walk down Lorcan’s hallway, but the end result was the same.

  I was getting married.

  But not to Fox Aspen, who’d blown into my life making a whole lot of demands about how I needed to change, and what I needed to give up, all while not listening to me at all. Instead, I was going to get hitched to Maverick, my friend. The man who’d offered to throw down against an actual Fae prince in order to honor my wishes.

  I stared in the full-length mirror Wanda had bullied me in front of, and if I hadn’t been there the entire time, I might have accused her of using magic on me. In less than half an hour, Wanda had managed to convince me into an admittedly gorgeous, backless dress in an icy shade of lavender that complimented my new faerie appearance—an appearance which was heightening by the minute. Truly, the closer it came to midnight, the more changes I was noticing—age marks on my hands were completely gone, so was the hair on my arms and I could swear my ears were a little pointier.

  Wanda had braided my annoyingly long hair back and slipped in some of her own diamond hair combs that brought a sparkle to my appearance, looking not unlike newly formed frost.

  Then she insisted on doing at least some minimal makeup even though I wasn’t much for the stuff. I went along with it, because I was too exhausted to try to fight her. I hadn’t been sleeping well in the days leading up to December first, the grim prospect of going full faerie and losing my entire life as I knew it wreaking havoc with me.

  I’d never bothered much with makeup before, but I had to admit, Wanda was just as good with it as she was with clothing. A few deft touches, and I looked a little bit brighter, certainly more awake, and a little more vibrant than usual. And, as much as I hated to admit it, I was woman enough to want to look nice on my wedding day. Even if it was for a marriage of convenience.

  “There,” she said with obvious satisfaction as she stepped back. “Now you’re ready.”

  I wished I had the same confidence.

  Still, Maverick was right. I didn’t see another way out of this mess. And I’d pick Maverick over Jerkoff Reynard any day of the week. Even though I’d never imagined marrying Maverick, things were what they were, and I was determined to make the best of them. So, I took a big breath, and I followed Wanda back to the living room where Lorcan and Maverick were waiting.

  When I stepped into the room, my eyes went immediately to Maverick. Lorcan had loaned him a pale blue dress shirt that complimented the lavender of my dress, and brought a softness to Maverick’s steel gray eyes. But Maverick was still wearing his own pants. He was both taller and thinner than Lorcan, so there was no way for him to get away with wearing the vampire’s slacks without looking odd.

  Lorcan had dressed up, too (thank God he was no longer bare chested) and was now wearing a suit, looking like he was a guest at a real wedding. He grinned at me, flashing the tips of his fangs, as I moved across the room.

  “Taliyah, I know we are not well acquainted with one another but I feel it my responsibility to ask: are you certain you are certain about this?” Maverick groaned something in the background but Lorcan ignored him. “And I trust you aren’t inebriated?”

  “She’s not drunk, Lorcan,” Maverick ground out.

  Lorcan didn’t even bother to look at him but kept his eyes on me. “I must admit that someone so beautiful can certainly do better than this lummox,” he continued, jerking his head towards Maverick. “I just wanted to make certain you were not subject to one of his blood magic stunts.”

  “Maverick didn’t magick Taliyah, Lorcan,” Wanda, who was wearing a deep plum, satin, form-fitted gown, piped up as she then turned to face Maverick. “Did you?”

  Maverick rolled his eyes, and I laughed. “No! Do either one of you really think I’m the type who would willingly throw myself into marriage?”

  “Ah, he does make a valid point,” Wanda responded, nodding as she looked at Lorcan and he nodded back to her.

  “Maverick is doing this as a favor to me,” I said and faced him with a little smile.

  Maverick could be touchy, especially about being the butt of a joke, but he didn’t seem offended. He just heaved a sigh, like he was terribly put upon.

  Lorcan and Maverick had set up a table in the center of the room, with three white candles arranged on it; one a thick pillar and the others delicate tapers. Something that smelled floral, but not sweet, wafted through the air, with the fireplace providing a cheerful backdrop of light and the savory scent of smoke.

  Wanda beckoned us over to stand in front of her near the fireplace and table. The knife in her hand made me a little concerned, but Maverick didn’t seem bothered at all.

  With brisk movements, Wanda picked up a canister of some sort of powder, and proceeded to pour it in a circle around us, speaking quietly under her breath, until she made her way back to the table.

  Maverick raised an eyebrow. “A full circle? I’m flattered, cousin.”

  Wanda didn’t bother looking up from where she was anointing the candles with oil from a pale rose-colored bottle. “Keep it up, and I’ll go and get my hot pink Crayola marker. If I’m going to marry you off, I’m going to do it right.” She smirked. “We want to make sure Taliyah knows she can’t give you back.”

  Maverick snorted, and Wanda’s smirk softened into a more genuine smile as she faced me. I wasn’t sure why but she seemed genuinely pleased to be marrying the two of us. Or maybe she was just bored and wanted something to do...

  She lit the two taper candles with a muttered word and a flicked finger—such was witch power and I had to admit, I was impressed.

  “Alright, join your right hands together,” she ordered.

  Maverick’s skin was warm and dry, and his fingers folded easily around my much smaller hand. The embrace felt nice. Supportive. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d just held hands with a man, other than at the bar when Maverick had proposed (a thought that still felt weird in my head).

  Wanda produced a length of red silk ribbon and began winding it around our clasped hands. Maverick didn’t seem surprised, so I assumed it was all part of the ceremony. Strangely, as Wanda wrapped the ribbon around us, my first instinct was to jerk my hand back—to not get literally tied to another person. My heartbeat started to pound as doubt began to climb through my core.

  What was I doing?

  Even if this sham of a marriage was only on paper, even if it was designed to save me from a marriage I really, really didn’t want, hadn’t I learned anything from my last disastrous attempt? I was still paying for that one. Literally and figuratively.