Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

Uh-oh

RILEY

Riley was in his room, half-sitting, half-laying down on his dreadfully hard mattress while considering all the miserable choices that had caused him to sit here, alone in the dark, on this abominable piece of uncomfortable furniture instead of being wrapped up in Mila Bennet’s soft, warm curves and her intoxicating coconut scent.

It was what was best for her, he repeated to himself for the millionth time. But the certainty of doing the honorable thing was a grim consolation prize and didn’t make him feel any less miserable.

That was when a loud pounding started on his door.

Riley’s first instinct was to reach for his stunner gun. He was about to unsheathe it when the pounding was joined by a woman’s voice screaming. Mila’s voice.

“Riley King, you’d better come to the door and let me in, or I’ll blow it to smithereens. And then I won’t just turn you into a toad. I’ll turn you into a pet bunny and gift you to a pre-K school so that you will end your days having your tail pulled and with the screams of children in your bunny ears.”

Riley had no idea what could’ve caused such animosity in the seemingly sweet witch he’d dropped home only a few hours earlier, but he thought it wise to get the door before she woke up the entire neighborhood.

He dropped the gun, useless against Mila, and pulled the black beanie over his head instead, a much more useful protective gear when it came to that particular witch.

When he opened the door, Riley found Mila on the other side, practically crackling with magic.

Her long hair was fanned behind her in a wide halo that seemed to float on a phantom wind, her eyes were glowing green, and actual sparks were coming out of the tip of her fingers.

Uh-oh.

Before Riley could have any reaction, she raised her hands and shoved him back into the house. Her palms and his chest never came in actual contact, but the force of her magic was enough to propel him halfway across his living room.

In a similar contact-free manner, Mila flipped her hand and the front door slammed shut with a wood-splintering bang.

Next, those phantom hands reached for the beanie atop his head, lifted it off him, and hurled it to the other side of the room. “You’re not going to lie to me for this conversation.”

Okay, now Riley was worried. Mila had been a bit of a firecracker from the first day they’d met, but the witch in front of him was a pissed-off, incandescent force of nature.

Still, in his career, he’d dealt with all kinds of formidable opponents, and he’d learned that sometimes the best way to respond to ferocious rage was with utter stillness.

So he shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants and slowly tilted his head. “What are we fighting about?” he asked calmly.

A tornado wrecked the house in response as Mila started pacing the living room. “Still playing dumb, I see.” She continued the pacing. “Anything you forgot to mention to me?”

Without the beanie on, Riley had to school his thoughts into very narrow tunnels. There were so many things he hadn’t told her and right now he could not think about any of them.

Still, Mila could hear him loud and clear, and her response spared no punches. “I’m not talking about whatever other things you’ve failed to tell me. I want to know about the single, most important truth you’ve kept from me.”

Oh, so she knew.

“Yes, I know, jackass,” Mila spat, her voice angry, frustrated, and, worst of all, hurt. “We’re hexing soulmates, and you were never going to tell me?”