Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
God, they were such babies. ‘I defended myself, and you knew I would. You just thought you could overpower me as a group. And you thought wrong. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.’
But they weren’t. None of their expressions held a hint of regret. Only anger, scorn and defeat.
Her annoyance building once more, Emberlyn shook her head in disgust. ‘So many of you look down your nose at me, but it didn’t stop you from seeking me out when you wanted something.’ She pointed her finger from person to person as she expanded, ‘A seduction spell. A voodoo doll. A pain-inducing potion. A lesson in blood magick. An anti-aging serum. Help with insomnia. A karma spell. A fat-burning potion. Pain-relief sessions. Aid with summoning a deity.’
Each person tensed, embarrassed by what she’d revealed about them while also surprised – and, in some cases, a little unnerved – at hearing why others had sought her out.
‘I could go on and on,’ said Emberlyn. ‘And on and on and on. It’s as if you all have the strange idea that you can pick and choose when you’ll be nice. Oh, how mistaken you are.’ It was time she got that message fully across. Because what happened here was fucked up, and she was done being their whipping boy.
Emberlyn sharply slashed out her arm. ‘After today, none of you need bother to come to me for anything ever again,’ she clipped. ‘No more serums, spells, sessions or potions. No. More. Anything.’ A rumble of power echoed in the latter word.
The crowd went completely silent, realizing she’d literally bound herself to her word. They couldn’t later come crawling to her with apologies and excuses and offer to pay her double for what they wanted. They’d never again get any type of aid from her.
Reena cleared her throat. ‘Emberlyn, I apologize for what happened here today. It was completely unacceptable. My coven is better than this. Those involved will be punished.’
Emberlyn met her gaze evenly. ‘Yes, they will.’ Chanting beneath her breath, she balled her hand up into a tight fist.
Each member of the crowd gasped. At one point or another, she’d used magick to help them with the most superficial shit. And now she’d undone it.
A head went bald. Hair turned gray. Jowls reappeared. Teeth yellowed. Breasts sagged. Acne returned. Lush lips thinned. Cellulite came back. A rash resurfaced. A face lost its uplift.
Bennet looked at Emberlyn, his eyes wide. ‘Does this mean . . .’ He trailed off, apparently not wanting to finish his sentence out loud.
‘That you’ll need to go back to just buying Viagra like everyone else with your problem?’ she asked. ‘Yes. Now, everyone get the absolute fuck out of my way. Or I start having some real fun.’
Folding his arms, Ripper skimmed a hard gaze over the five females sitting on his brother’s porch steps – their heads down, their shoulders hunched. Irritation spasmed in his muscles, making his body tense.
This. He’d left his woman’s side for this bullshit.
He had intended to spend the entire day with Emberlyn. Maybe even convince her to go out for dinner – yeah, he wanted to make it publicly clear very fast that she was well and truly taken. Instead, he was having to verbally tear apart five grown women who were intent on acting like kids.
They had since cleaned up the mess they’d made before he arrived, but that didn’t improve Ripper’s mood. Especially since one of them in particular seemed set on making herself a problem.
CeCe had had quite the eventful night, according to Kerr. And having heard what she’d done to Ripper’s truck in his absence – a slice of news that had really pissed Ripper off – he had a pretty good idea of what had inspired her to resort into full-on drama.
CeCe spared him a sheepish look. ‘We said we were sorry.’
Ripper flicked up a brow. ‘And that makes everything all right, does it?’
She sighed, all fucking forlorn.
He glanced from Kerr to Logan to Crew, sensing that they weren’t buying her act either. Her friends were genuinely embarrassed and shamefaced. If there had been a hole they could crawl into, they would have dived into it head first.
‘It was just a prank,’ she defended.
Logan frowned. ‘And, what, you’re fourteen years old? Because adult females rarely toilet paper someone’s house.’
Her friends cringed, their cheeks reddening.
CeCe weakly shrugged. ‘I thought you’d find it funny. We used to prank each other all the time.’
A muscle in Logan’s cheek ticked. ‘We didn’t do anything so juvenile. Besides, things were different back then.’
‘And I’m trying to get them back to the way they were,’ she stressed, a slight whine in her voice. ‘I thought it would make you feel, I don’t know, nostalgic; thought we could laugh about it and talk. Finally talk.’