He nodded and crossed the living room, giving me a big hug. When he spoke, he kept his tone low, clearly realizing everyone else was asleep.

  “We made good time.” Then he turned to the woman who still stood behind him. “This is Devona. Devona, this is my girlfriend, Poppy.”

  “You are a gypsy,” the woman said as she looked at me, making no motion to shake my hand or to even smile at me.

  “I am.”

  She nodded and continued sizing me up. Unlike all the other sasquatches, who were all well over six feet tall, this lady barely came up to Roy’s solar plexus. Glossy black hair scattered over her shoulders, and a long and tight-fitting black dress hugged her rounded, curvy body. There was mud and earth covering the hemline where it dragged in the dirt. And there were various thistles and leaves stuck to the rest of it.

  The same sasquatch magnetism of something primal and wild clung to her. She looked like a human—albeit a little on the witchy side with all that hair, but there was more hidden beneath the surface.

  She narrowed her eyes at me and had the expression of someone trying to puzzle something out. Then her dark eyes softened.

  “This isn’t the one,” she said, seemingly to no one.

  “This is my girlfriend, Poppy,” Roy repeated. “Remember? She’s the potions master I told you about.”

  I laughed nervously. “You make me sound like Severus Snape.”

  Then I realized Devona would have no idea who I was talking about because no one in this godforsaken place had electricity, never mind a television.

  Devona smiled and her eyes shone even brighter in the dim light. Her smile gave me a warm feeling, like I might be in the presence of a kindred spirit, even if she was a witch. But this witch wasn’t one I needed to concern myself with. Because she couldn’t claim sanctum anywhere, she was essentially an outcast, harmless.

  “That is not what I meant.” Devona sashayed past me and plunked down in the armchair where I’d just been sitting. She crossed her legs and draped her arms on either side like she thought she was the Queen of Sheba.

  I blinked down at her. I still wasn’t sure if I should be offended by what she’d said. Or was it simply the ravings of an old woman who might be a little bit… off? What did she mean—I wasn’t the one?

  Roy hesitated for a moment, too. “I’ll wake Fifi,” he said and then started for the stairs, leaving me alone with the witch. She smiled up at me and then surveyed the house with an appraising eye. She gave everything an indulgent smile, and I would have loved to know what was going through her head.

  A few minutes later, Roy led Fifi downstairs. Her freshly washed hair flashed glossy silver in the firelight and her skin glowed with vitality. She rubbed her eyes and squinted into the living room, half asleep, but she still looked stunning. She always did.

  Roy steered her toward Devona. “This is Fifi, the succubus I told you about.”

  Devona rose to her feet and took the few steps that separated her from Fifi. Then she reached out and took Fifi’s hands, mumbling and nodding as soon as she made contact. Fifi just stood there, smiling down at her.

  Devona continued to scrutinize Fifi for another couple of seconds and then she looked at Roy. “It’s what I thought.”

  Roy glanced over at me, his eyebrows knotting in the middle because he was clearly as confused as I was. I shrugged. I didn’t understand this strange witch’s pronouncements any better than he did.

  “Are you able to do it?” Fifi asked. “Can you reverse the effects of the Love’s Goddess potion?”

  Instead of answering, Devona turned to face me. “I require your assistance, gypsy woman.”

  “Assistance?” I repeated, deciding to look past the title she’d given me.

  “Potions assistance,” she confirmed. “Come with me,” she said and walked out of the house. I turned to question Roy, but he only spread his hands in the air and shrugged in confusion.

  I made my way outside, to find Devona waiting for me. When I reached her, she waved toward the river. “This way.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Not here.”

  She followed the bank all the way through town and halted almost on the spot where Brandt and the other sasquatch attacked us. Glancing behind me, I noticed the colony loomed dark and ghostly in the distance, without a single light anywhere. It was eerie and the truth of the matter was that I yearned to be back in my cozy house where the heat was just a click away and so was HBO.

  That reminds me, I thought to myself, I really need to get that remodel on the house going stat.

  But, clearly, that would have to wait.

  Devona turned to me. I could hardly make out her features in the starlight, but for some reason I couldn’t explain, I detected every nuance of her expression.

  She smiled again. “It is as I thought.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You must end it with him. You are not for each other.”

  “Roy and me?” I asked, a sinking feeling in my stomach.

  Devona nodded. “You came here seeking answers, gypsy woman.”

  “My name is Poppy.”

  “Your name matters not. You came here seeking truth. And that is the one truth, the only truth to the question you ask. You must end it with him.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say. On the one hand, I knew the truth in her words—felt them in the core of my being, in the flow of my blood, in my bones. But, on the other hand, who the hell did she think she was to tell me, a complete stranger, that I should break up with my boyfriend?

  Something in her expression shut my thoughts down in a hurry. A chill settled over my heart.

  “How long has this relationship progressed?” she asked.

  “A little over three months.”

  She dipped a single nod and spread her hand out in the air above her as if she could see something to which I wasn’t privy. “Your paths cross… but only for a small instance of time. The intersection is meant to be brief and then you are meant to continue on your life paths, separately.”

  “How… how do you know that?”

  She glanced up into the night sky as if the answer were obvious. “It is written in the stars.”

  “That’s not why Roy brought you here—his and my relationship has nothing to do with Fifi’s situation.”

  She shot out a hand. The instant her fingers closed around my arm, I knew I was way out of my league. She might only be a half-witch, but she had me on the mat with one pull. “It has everything to do with it.”

  “I don’t understand you. You wanted me to help you make a potion for Fifi...”

  “There are no potions that can undo what’s already been done.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, taken aback. I also pulled my arm away from her and took a step back.

  “The prodigal son told me of the potion that was used on the demoness.”

  I figured the prodigal son was Roy.

  “Love’s Goddess,” I filled in for her.

  “What was it meant to do?”

  “Make her irresistible to all men.”

  “Not to ALL men. She is not irresistible to the sasquatch, nor to the human.”

  I froze, staring at her in the dark. The potion didn’t make her irresistible to Roy and yet it did to all his male brethren. I still found that odd… Marty, not so much, since he had a condition that allowed him immunity to all magic.

  “Do you wonder why he was able to resist her charms?” Devona asked.

  “Is he a null like Marty?”

  “No,” Devona answered, shaking her head. “He should have been as affected by the succubus power as any other man, but he was not. The immunity came from another source.”

  “What… other source?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the answer.

  “There is only one force that can protect a man from succubus power and that is the sasquatch mating bond.”

  The small hairs stood up on the back of my neck. Mating bond. Roy had mentioned it earlier and now those words made me shiver.

  “If you have been close to him for three months and he has not formed the mating bond with you, he never will.”

  “Three months isn’t that long,” I started.

  She shook her head. “If he was going to mate with you, he would have done it by now.” She lowered her voice to a velvet whisper and didn’t seem to be concerned with my feelings on the matter one iota. Not that I should have been surprised—as far as witches went, they were pretty much emotionless. Wanda was like Cupid in comparison to most witches.

  “Why didn’t he form the mating bond with me?” I asked, before I could stop myself.

  “Because he had already formed one with someone else, his chosen mate.”

  “Why didn’t he tell me?”

  Devona smiled. “That is an easy question to answer.”

  “Because he didn’t know.”

  She nodded. “That bond protected him from the succubus’s power.”

  “Then who,” I started but I already knew the answer.

  His chosen mate was Fifi. And yet, Fifi appeared to be more interested in Marty.

  “The more time you spend with him, the worse things will become between the two of you,” Devona continued. “As fate decides things, so they must be.”

  I wanted to argue with her. I wanted to dismiss her words as the ravings of some crazy broad, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t, because I knew in my heart she was right—I’d felt the truth even before I’d ever met her.

  “And if I don’t end it?”

  “You will become increasingly hostile toward each other until you cannot tolerate the very sight of one another. He will resent you for holding him back from his true mate and you will resent him for not fully committing to you in the way in which you want. You must end it for both your sakes.”

  She was right.

  Roy and I had been fighting for a reason. He’d been putting every other priority in front of our relationship since we’d first gotten together for a reason. And that reason was that we didn’t belong together. I couldn’t give him the kind of life he obviously wanted. We were too different and we both wanted different things.

  And Fifi could give him the things I couldn’t. She could give him children and she’d live as long as he would. She could feed off his sexual energy and his desire for her. He wouldn’t have to hide it anymore because they’d be an established couple. She wouldn’t drain him or harm his health. It was a match made in Heaven, unlike ours.

  “Besides,” Devona continued. “Theirs is not the only future I see written in the stars.”

  I looked at her, curiosity in my expression.

  “There is someone for you,” she continued. “Someone dark… shrouded in… mystery.”

  Shrouded in mystery? It sounded like the storyline to some stupid romance novel.

  “This man… he cannot enter your life until you make room for him,” Devona continued. “And make room you must for it is decreed by the fates that he enter your life…”

  “And why is that?” I asked with little interest.

  “Because your paths must cross and once they do, they will remain crossed.” She looked at me with narrowed eyes. “Soul mates, I believe the mundanes term such connections.”

  “Hmm, I’m not sure I believe in soul mates.”

  She laughed and the laugh said I’d better start. “Clean up your life, gypsy traveller, and the right one will enter.”

  I didn’t know what to make of that so I made nothing of it at all. Instead, I looked over my shoulder toward Cora’s house and I thought about what I had to do. And somehow I felt better about doing it—better about knowing both Fifi and Roy were meant for each other. Fifi fit in here. She knew how to act around the sasquatch. She spoke their language. She moved among them with comfort and ease.

  The thought of them together hurt, but not as much as I thought it would. On some level, I’d always known he wasn’t right for me. I just didn’t want to believe it. But, the truth of the matter was that Roy had been fighting to protect Fifi since long before I ever moved to Haven Hollow.

  “There is someone for everyone,” Devona said, her tone softer now. Apparently, she wasn’t as ice-blooded as I imagined. I turned to face her again.

  “There is?” I asked, thinking of all my failed relationships—this was just one more I could add to the ever-growing list of bad choices on my part.

  “There is a man for you who mirrors you in every way. But, you must open yourself, gypsy woman.”

  “Open myself?”

  “You are closed—you are not open to love, owing to the pain you have felt in the past. But, that is not the way. All things are a balance—black and white, life and death. Until you release the pain of the past, you cannot welcome in the future.”

  I nodded and started to turn away. I just… I didn’t want to hear anymore. I knew she was right about Roy and Fifi but the rest of the mumbo-jumbo… I couldn’t deal with it—my brain was on overload as it was. “I’ll tell Roy. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

  “You cannot tell him why.” Devona’s commanding tone stopped me dead in my tracks. “You can never tell him the real reason why.”

  “Why not?” I asked as I turned to face her with a resolute frown. “How am I supposed to break up with him without explaining why?”

  “Because the time is not yet right.”

  “That makes zero sense,” I argued, throwing my hands on my hips because now this situation was just pissing me off. “If it’s so important that he gets together with Fifi, then the truth is the best way for him to understand what he has to do. They can start living the rest of their lives together and then she won’t have to divorce herself from her succubus side.”

  Devona shook her head. That gesture left no room for argument. “You cannot force the mating bond. They must discover it naturally. If you told him, he would rebel against it and push her away. You must remove yourself from the scene and leave him to find his own way.”

  I snorted. “That’s convenient, isn’t it?”

  Devona straightened up. As tiny as she was, she exuded incredible power. “Such is the will of the stars, gypsy woman.”

  “What about Fifi?” I asked. “If she stays a succubus, she’ll continue to attract other men.”

  “The succubus power within her will be nullified as soon as she forms a mating bond with the prodigal son. “

  “And, let me guess, I can’t tell her that either?”

  Devona shook her head. “This conversation cannot leave this place. It is for the two of us only. They must find their own way.”

  “But, Fifi wants to attempt something that’s incredibly dangerous and could possibly kill her in the process!” I almost yelled.

  “And you must see to it that such does not happen.”

  “How?” I glared at her. Why was I the one who had to see to all this crap? When was it going to be my turn to enjoy my ‘chosen mate’ and ride off into the sunset? When was I going to find true love?

  You have to open yourself to love, like Devona said, I reminded myself.

  Right. Well…

  “Fuck!” I yelled, shocking myself because I never swore. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

  “Use your powers, gypsy,” Devona said, completely ignoring my little outburst. “You have a repulse potion, do you not? That should suffice until the time comes when it is no longer necessary.”

  “Right, but to even get the charm to work—so we can leave this colony safely—I need…” I needed Wanda to perform her part of the spell. “I need help. I was relying on a witch friend to perform a charm over the potion.”

  “Did you brew the potion yourself?”

  “Yes.”

  “And did you not put your intention into it, as you brewed it?”

  “I did.”

  “And did you not have a witch add her own magical touch?”

  Hellcat’s fur. “Yes.”

  “And do you not possess your own magic?”

  “I do.”

  “Then you have what you require. You do not need additional help, gypsy woman.”

  I wasn’t sure that was true, but figured there was only one way to find out. The more I considered the subject though, the more another concern raised its ugly head. “So Fifi’s supposed to use the repulsive charm forever? How long is she supposed to rely on it? That means every man will be turned off to her and she won’t be able to feed on anyone.”

  Devona shook her head. “It will make it difficult for anyone but the right man to stay near her for long. She will not be able to feed off any other man, true, but it will bring her man and her together.”

  An image of Fifi and Marty erupted in my brain again. “What if… what if she’s Roy’s chosen mate but… but he isn’t hers?”

  Devona shook her head. “There are no questions where chosen mates are concerned.”

  “It’s just… she doesn’t seem that… into Roy. She seems more attracted to… someone else.”

  “She is lost and still must find her way.”

  Just like the rest of us.

  “What about the threat of her family?” I asked.

  “The repulse charm will save her from her family’s intentions for her.”

  “Things might be a little more complicated than that,” I answered as I thought about the fact that we still had to find a way to convince her family she wasn’t in danger of falling out of the fold anymore. “Her family has to believe she’s back to feeding on men the way she used to. If they find out she’s forming a mating bond with one man, they’ll attack even more strongly.”

  Devona’s lips curled into that smile that made me want to start another swearing outburst. “I am certain you are astute enough to come up with a plan.”

  Chapter Twelve

  I strode down the riverbank, but halfway to Cora’s house, I glanced back. Devona wasn’t there anymore. She’d apparently vanished into the shadows from whence she came. I couldn’t say I was sorry to see her go. One witch in my life was more than enough. Oh, wait. I had two in my life, now that Astrid had come to live in Haven Hollow.

  When I faced Cora’s house again, I slowed my pace. I just… I knew what I had to do and I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t know how to explain why I’d gone off with a strange witch in the forest, only to return with this burning need to dump Roy. And I wouldn’t be able to explain why. Ugh. If our conversation earlier had been hard, that was nothing compared to the one I had to look forward to now.