Chapter Two

Luci

“ W ell, what did I tell you?” Ethyl nodded to the big black truck pulling into the drive. “Latin Latte is here to ask you out.”

When he jumped out of the truck, slamming the door behind him, my heart hit my stomach.

“Oh Goddess, Ethyl, what did you do?” I clutched the bakery counter, my knees turning to jelly at the look of pure rage simmering beneath his gaze while he stalked toward the door like a lion about to pounce on his prey. I quickly glanced at Des, who was too engrossed in his game to notice there was about to be trouble. Then I turned back to Ric. I’d no idea his cheeks could turn so red.

“He doesn’t look too happy, Ethyl. I think he’s here to tell me off.” Merlin’s mudflaps! Ethyl screwed up the love potion. “ You sure you used siren shade and not dragon shade?” I asked out of the corner of my mouth while Ric jerked open the front door.

Ethyl blanched. “There’s a dragon shade herb?” Her hands flew to the pentagram charm hanging around her neck. “Oh, troll dung!” With a snap, she transformed into her miniature pixie self and fluttered into the rafters, leaving me alone to face down my pissed-off and soon-to-be former customer.

I repressed a curse when Ric stormed up to the counter, chest heaving and nostrils flaring. My heart did a backflip when he looked down at me with luminous dark eyes swirling with flecks of gold. How oddly beautiful and enthralling his eyes were. If I hadn’t known any better, I would’ve mistaken him for a shape- shifter, for they usually had multicolored eyes that sparkled like jewels. For a moment, I forgot he’d come into my shop looking ten degrees of pissed off.

He let out a long breath. “I came to give you a warning.”

I nearly fell to the floor as panic gripped my chest. Was he a demon hunter? Was that why he wasn’t in the registry? Was he hunting the succubus who’d killed my parents? Was the succubus now after me? “W-what warning?”

His eyes narrowed to slits. “Lenny ate my cinnamon rolls.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” I ran a shaky hand through my hair, relieved his anger was simply a case of pilfered pastries. “I thought he was full after eating all of our free samples.” I spun on my heel and marched toward the swinging door that led to shelves where the pastries were cooling. “I have a fresh batch right out of the oven.”

“I don’t think you’re hearing me,” he snapped, just as I pushed open the door. “Lenny ate the orange-glazed cinnamon roll intended for me.”

I froze and slowly faced him as those grinding wheels in my head came to a halt. “Oh? Oh!”

“So you did spike it!” He pointed an accusatory finger at me, those gold flecks in his eyes sparkling like fireworks.

I clutched my throat, then squeaked when the swinging door smacked my backside. “I-I-I...”

His features hardened. “How long does the spell last?”

“I-I don’t know.” I stumbled forward, then stopped when I realized I probably didn’t want to get too close to him while he was angry. He knew about magic, after all, which meant he was magical, which also meant he was a law breaker because he wasn’t in the registry. “How did you know?”

“If you thought Lenny was a creep before your spell, magnify that by ten now.” He threw out his arms with a dramatic flourish.

“Oh, hocus croakus.” I bit down on my knuckles. Damn that Ethyl!

“Keep your wand handy.”

I swallowed back a lump of apprehension. He must’ve thought I’d cast that spell. How embarrassing. “I will.”

“Also, I don’t like being tricked.” He drummed long fingers on the glass case overlooking the chocolate-glazed donuts. “If you wanted me to take you out, all you had to do was ask. I would have said yes.”

I perked at that. He would’ve said yes? Then I inwardly cursed when that angry look in his eyes sharpened. He might’ve said yes before but he wouldn’t go out with me now.

The wheels in my head and heart simultaneously started spinning. “I wasn’t trying to trick you, I swear.”

“Nah.” He let out a bitter-sounding laugh. “Just poison my cinnamon roll with love potion. I’ll be taking my business elsewhere.” He turned on his heel and marched toward the door with a rigid spine.

“Wait!” I practically flew around the counter, chasing after him like the pathetic, love-struck witch I was. “I didn’t put love potion on your cinnamon roll.” I grabbed his elbow, trying to jerk him to a stop, though it was as futile as trying to reign in a dragon in heat. “Ethyl did and didn’t tell me until after you’d left.”

He turned so suddenly, I stumbled into a hard, broad chest. I gaped up at him, dumbstruck as I melted against his solid body in a puddle of lust.

He arched a thick brow. “Why would she do that?”

I untangled myself from his heat, stepping back while clutching my elbows with trembling hands. “Because she knew I was too shy to ask you out.” Fire flamed my face as I looked away.

He closed the short distance between us, his heat encompassing me like a giant solar flare. “You didn’t need to be shy.”

“Neither did you.” I pouted. “You could’ve asked me a long time ago instead of coming into my shop every morning, leading me on with your shameless flirting.”

“I’m a shameless flirt, says the woman who put a love spell on my cinnamon roll.”

“For the last time, I didn’t do it!” I winced at my tone, then looked over my shoulder, pleased and maybe a little disturbed that Des was still engrossed in his video game.

When the front door banged open, I jumped with a squeak while Ric swore.

The little pastry pilfer pointed at us with a finger dyed by orange glaze. “Hey! I told you she was mine!”

Awww, holy demon dung!

I whipped out my lipstick wand and zapped the sniveling toad, cringing when he crumpled to the floor, hitting his head against the tiles with a sickening thud.

Ric hovered over Lenny and tapped his limp head with the tip of his boot. “Did you kill him?”

“I don’t think so.” I frowned down at Lenny while he drooled all over my freshly mopped floor. “I just knocked him out.”

It occurred to me that I should probably keep hold of my wand, just in case Ric turned out to be a succubus. I gasped when blood trickled out of Lenny’s ear and pooled on the floor.

A car engine revved, and I jerked my gaze to the troll outside the window whose head barely cleared the steering wheel of his silver Prius.

Ice solidified my limbs as panic threatened to split my skull in two. “Damn, Gus! Cursed troll. He’s looking for any excuse to close down my bakery.” I latched onto Lenny’s ankles, grunting while desperately trying to drag him to the back room. “Help me move him!” I cried. “Please!”

With a curse, Ric threw Lenny over his shoulder like he weighed no more than a sack of potatoes. I chased after Ric’s long strides through the swinging doors into the back room and out into the alley behind the shop. I should’ve stayed behind to clean up the pool of blood and drool, but I had to help Ric hide Lenny.

“Where are you putting him?” My eyes widened with alarm when he marched straight toward the dumpster.

“With the rest of the trash,” he grumbled, unceremoniously dropping Lenny’s limp body into the dumpster and closing the lid.

Great Goddess! I was so royally hexed!

I raced back into the bakery, fingering my wand, spell poised at my lips as I prayed I wasn’t too late to clean up the mess.

Imagine my surprise and relief when I found Ethyl serving Gus a steaming cup of coffee. Gus stood a few feet from where Lenny had fallen to the floor.

I shot Ethyl a quizzical look while smoothing hands down my apron.

“Hi, Gus.” I tried my best to sound calm and collected, knowing I sounded neither, but Gus seemed too engrossed in salivating over the display case to pay me any heed.

I tossed a glance behind me, thankful that Ric had stayed behind. Des was still focused on his computer game, too oblivious to know our world was only a thread away from falling apart at the seams.

After smearing greasy fingers all over the glass case, Gus finally looked up at me with eyes that nearly crossed and a wrinkled piggish nose. I thought he was sneering, but his eyes were so close together, he could have been giving himself dirty looks.

“I’ve had reports that you’re using magic to sweeten your products.”

“If by magic you mean Stevia syrup”—I held up my hands and forced a smile—“then guilty as charged.” I actually used real sugar combined with a calorie reduction spell, but he didn’t need to know that.

He rubbed a graying, bushy beard with long, knobby fingers. “I’m going to have to take some samples to the lab.”

I knew that by ‘lab,’ he meant his stomach. There was no way he was tracing the magic in my secret family recipe. The obnoxious little troll wasn’t that smart.

I turned up my nose, resisting the urge to look over the counter and see if he was standing in a puddle of blood. “That’s fine.”

“Here.” Ethyl pulled out a pretty pink box already wrapped in a bow. “We baked up a delicious pumpkin streusel coffee cake.”

“No, not that.” I forced a note of desperation into my voice. “We put a lot of work into that coffee cake. I’m saving it for my best customers.” I realized I was being overdramatic, but it didn’t matter. Gus always fell for my tricks.

His eyes lit up like a sugar-addicted pixie on Halloween. “I’m craving pumpkin. I’ll take the coffee cake.”

Jutting hands on my hips, I made a big show of scowling at my apprentice. “Fine!” I just hoped that after Ethyl had accidentally dropped the coffee cake on the floor this morning, she’d brushed off all the dirt. Well, most of the dirt, anyway.

When Gus marched back out the door and drove off, I let out a shuddering breath, my shoulders slumping in relief.

I peered over the counter, amazed to see not a drop of Lenny blood in sight. I walked the floor, spinning a slow circle. “Ethyl, did you clean up the blood?”

Ethyl shot me a quizzical look, reminding me of her miniature dragon, Puffy, whenever he was looking for the origin of his fiery fart. “What blood?”

I wondered if maybe Puffy had licked up the mess, but I didn’t smell his lingering sulfuric breath. He usually slept in the back ovens well past noon.

I slowly turned, eyeing my son, who was laughing while he killed bad guys in his wizarding game. I slid out the chair across from him and waved a hand in front of his face. He pulled off his headphones, looking at me with wide, innocent eyes.

“Des, did you clean up Mama’s shop floor?”

He puffed up his chest, flashing a dazzling smile. “Yep.”

My heart caught in my throat. Had he been paying attention this whole time? “Why?”

Des shrugged. “Troll would shut down Mama’s bakery.”

Though I didn’t always know what my son was thinking, I was so very grateful for his intervention. Whenever he used his magic, he blew me away with his abilities. I suspected he had more power in his little pinkie than I had in my whole body.

“Thanks, sweetie.” I leaned over him, kissing his forehead, not surprised or offended when he grunted and pushed me away. Des wasn’t always in the mood to accept physical contact. The exception was Puffy, who could snuggle Des whenever he wanted, the only reason I allowed Ethyl to keep the klutzy dragon at the shop.

The back door banged open, and Ric walked through carrying Lenny over his shoulder.

“I’m taking him back to the office,” he said rather gruffly, avoiding eye contact with me.

“Hey, you two,” Ethyl said with an exaggerated wink, seemingly oblivious to the man slung over Ric’s back. “Did I come at a bad time? Maybe I should take Des to the park.”

I scowled at my apprentice. “How long does the love potion last?”

“Love potion?” Ethyl blinked hard, feigning stupidity. “What love potion?”

I wasn’t fooled. Ethyl had to have heard the exchange between Ric and me while she was hiding in the ducts.

“Don’t play dumb, Ethyl.” I waved at Ric, then avoided looking him in the eyes. Two could play at that game. “He knows.”

“Oh.” She scratched the back of her head. “Uh...a few days. Maybe a few weeks.”

“A few weeks!” Ric roared, his baritone so deep it shook the glass bakery case.

“Or months.” Ethyl squeaked then backed away from Ric.

“Months!” His face turned ashen then reddened.

“I made it in a hurry.” She shrugged, playing with the frayed end of her apron string while looking at her feet. “I might have used a tablespoon of siren shade instead of a teaspoon.”

I slapped my forehead with a curse. “Creepy Lenny ate the cinnamon rolls!”

“Oh, dragon balls. I’m sorry.” Then with a snap, she turned back into a six-inch buzzing little brat with a squeal that could shatter glass. Sobbing, she fluttered into the rafters, disappearing into a duct.

This was Ethyl’s usual reaction to stress, miniaturize and then fly away, leaving someone else to deal with her messes.

Ric flashed a sexy dimpled smile. “So it really was her?”

“I told you.” I folded my arms, narrowing my eyes at Lenny as he slowly started to move and moan.

“So now what?” Ric scowled at Lenny then shrugged him to the floor.

Lenny fell with a thump , moaning louder as he rubbed his ass. “Owie.” His head lolled side to side. “Granny.”

I hovered over Lenny, my breath caught in my throat when his eyes flew open and focused on me.

“How do you feel, Lenny?” I asked, then gagged when the stench of piss and old food hit me like a brick to the head. He had jelly filling smeared across his comb-over and a bull’s-eye that looked like vomit on his shirt.

“I have a boo boo.” His lip hung down in a heavy pout while he rubbed his ear. “Will you kiss it?”

Fighting the urge to vomit, I backed away.

He cupped his genitals, a wicked gleam in his beady eyes. “Down here.”

Ric bellowed so deeply, I knew without a doubt he was a shifter, perhaps a bear or even a dragon. His nose flattened and his eyes turned to yellow slits. Lion. Damn. There was a rumor in the magical world that cats were hot in the sack.

He jutted a foot forward. “You son of a—”

“Stop!” I jumped in front of him, doing my best to ignore the smell of his pheromones, an intoxicating blend of musky feline spice that hit me in all the right lady parts. “No more violence, please. We need to fix him up and get him the hell out of here.”

“Here’s my number.” Oblivious to the imminent danger, Lenny held up a slip of paper. “Come over tonight. Grams is asleep by seven. We’ll have the house to ourselves.”

“Uhh, no thanks.”

When Ric growled behind me, I decided to do Lenny a favor and zap him once more. His head lolled back and his eyes shut before he let out a loud, blubbery snore.

Ric’s eyes shifted back to normal as he slung Lenny over his shoulder again. He turned to me with what looked like a cross between a scowl and a smile. “You owe me one.”

“I owe you?” I blinked hard. Was this jerk for real? “This mess wouldn’t have happened if you wouldn’t let little creepy men steal your breakfast.” Sure, it was unfair blaming it all on Ric, but the strong scent of his pheromones had me on edge.

He shot me a cool look. “And if you were stricter with your apprentice.”

“Believe me”—I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, cursing when I heard Ethyl flutter farther into the duct—“I’m having a long talk with her.”

“Good, but you still owe me.”

“Fine.” I shot him a glare that could melt Merlin’s sword. “Your next cinnamon rolls are on the house.”

His mouth hitched up in a devilish grin. “I was thinking more about you going out with me.”

“Oh.” I blinked at him. “Like a date?”

He shrugged, Lenny’s inert body bouncing like a rag doll with the movement. And yeah, Ric had broad shoulders, but I had a feeling he also used magic to bear Lenny’s weight. “If you’re still interested.”

“Yeah. I’m interested.” I licked my lips as another wave of pheromones hit me. I wondered if he was secreting them on purpose, though I was so turned on I didn’t care.

“Great. I can pick you up at the bakery tonight at seven.” He turned on his heel and headed for the door.

“So...” I followed after him, missing his scent, my libido such a twisted mess I felt like a stray cat chasing scraps. “Dinner and a movie?”

“No dinner.” He frowned, his hand on the door. “Just a movie.”

“Oh, okay.” I stood there staring after him while he loaded Lenny into the back of the truck and peeled out of the driveway.

I felt a fluttering by my ear and looked over to see miniature Ethyl and her rainbow-hued wings perched on my shoulder. “So he can afford to buy two dozen cinnamon rolls every day but he can’t take you out to dinner?” she squeaked.

Though Ethyl had a point, I had bigger issues than my date being a skinflint. Namely, why the hell wasn’t he in the registry, and why in Goddess’s name did I agree to go out with him?

I CLUTCHED THE ROOTS of my hair while pacing the floor.

“Why did I say yes? I can’t go out with him.”

“What?” Ethyl fluttered off my shoulder and shifted into full size. “Are you crazy?” Her high-pitched voice broke and then cracked as if she still had the tiny pipes that belonged to her six-inch self.

I shook my head, chewing on my nails. “He’s not listed in the registry.”

“Maybe we overlooked him. Let’s check the Registry.” Ethyl waved her wand and the book materialized on the glass table top beside us.

My nervous gaze shot to the door as I made a quick sweep of the empty parking lot. Revealing the Registry of Supernatural Creatures and Practical Witchcraft Guidebook in public places was against the law. I really needed to reign in my apprentice, but we had no customers at the moment, and knowing if my date was an axe murderer was sort of important. I turned my gaze toward Des. He was back to playing his computer game, but after the incident with Gus, I wondered if maybe he wasn’t halfway listening. Oh well. Nothing to do about it now.

Curiosity won over as I tapped the heavy, leather-bound book with my wand. “Alfred, show us Ricardo Romero.”

The book’s worn and cracked surface scrunched a bit before revealing the droopy eyes, bulbous nose, and heavy frown of Alfred, the grumpy old man who enchanted the pages of the registry.

Alfred blinked up at me. “Would it hurt you to say please and thank you?”

“Ugh.” Ethyl rolled her eyes. “Please, Alfred, show us Ricardo Romero.”

Alfred let out an annoyed, “Harrumph,” before “Where’s the thank you?”

“Why would I thank you?” She smacked Alfred with her wand. “You haven’t even delivered yet.”

Alfred’s grumpy features twisted before he flipped the book open, grunting when his nose smashed the table. “According to my records,” he spoke through a nasally voice while Ethyl pushed down on the pages, “there are two Ricardo Romeros.”

I frowned at the images of two old wizards. “No, neither of them are him.”

“Then I’m sorry, my dear, but your Ricardo is a human.”

I flipped the book shut, scowling down at his scrunched nose as it slowly expanded back into shape.

“That can’t be. Do you have any record of feline shape-shifters wanted for crimes?”

Alfred frowned. “None living.”

“Thanks for nothing, Alfred.” Ethyl waved her wand at him.

His eyes widened then narrowed as he slowly began to disappear. “Impertinent little pesky pixie,” he echoed before he faded completely.

Damn. I had so been hoping I could find out something, anything, about Ricardo. Maybe I should cancel the date.

I fell into a seat, drumming my fingers on the table. “Why do you think he isn’t listed? Do you think he’s a succubus?” I sure as hell hoped not.

Ethyl shot me a sideways look. “He’s not a succubus.”

I shot up, hopeful. “How do you know?”

“His eyes.” Ethyl tapped the corner of her eye. “He’s a shifter.”

“You saw them, too? That doesn’t mean he’s not demon possessed.”

“Of course it does.” She laughed, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder. “You’d be able to see the red in his eyes when they shifted if he was a succubus. Besides, succubi hate sugar.” She waggled her brows. “And he loves eating your sweet rolls.”

Ohh, she was wicked! A mixture of apprehension and relief swept through me. “Then why isn’t he registered?”

Ethyl shrugged. “Plenty of shifters don’t register.”

Was I ready to date a bad boy? My poor parents would be doing backflips in their graves if they knew I was dating a criminal. “That’s illegal.”

Ethyl let out a little pixie squeal. “As if they give a shit.”

“I supposed you’d know.” Ethyl had once said she had a personal goal of shagging her way through the magical world, crossing every type of creature off her bucket list. She collected boyfriends and girlfriends like trading cards, the more rare the magic, the more points she awarded them.

Ethyl flashed a coy smile. “Shifters are the baddies of the magical world.”

“Baddies?” My stomach soured. “I can’t get mixed up with baddies. I have Des.”

“They’re also animals in the sack.” Ethyl let out a little growl to emphasize her point. “You have to go out with him, Luci.”

I chewed my nails, anxiously looking at Des as he played his game with his headset covering his ears, a complacent smile on his face. He still had no clue about the dark underbelly of the magical world. I had every intention of keeping him blissfully unaware as long as possible. “I don’t know.”

She flashed a sly grin. “If you don’t, I will.”

My head snapped back as if I’d been jolted. “Hey!” No way was Ethyl taking a bite of my stud sandwich, which meant only one thing—I would have to go on a date with him.

Goddess help me.