Sinfully Spellbound (Spells That Bind Book 1)
Read Sinfully Spellbound (Spells That Bind Book 1) Online
Authors: Cassandra Lawson
Sinfully
Spellbound
~~~
Cassandra Lawson
Copyright ©2016 Cassandra Lawson
All Rights Reserved
Cover Image © Fotolia/Honored
Proofreading by Kendra’s Editing and Book Services
This book is a work of fiction. All characters and events
are creations of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual people or
events is purely coincidental.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a
copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by
federal law enforcement agencies and is punishable by up to five years in
prison and a fine of $250,000.
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Hex With a Vampire (Book 2)
I want to thank my fabulous beta readers who give me
invaluable feedback. Thank you Amber, Kari, Levenia, and Ria. You ladies are
beyond awesome. I also want to thank Levenia and Kari for putting up with my
endless changes during the cover design process. As an author, I rely heavily
on bloggers and readers. You are all wonderful, and I appreciate your support.
The Hunter
You never really forget your first kill. Though it had been
many decades, I could still hear her screams when I closed my eyes, and that
memory was enough to arouse me to the point of pain. It hadn’t been my
intention to kill that first one, but it had been a different time, when humans
were considered disposable. In all honesty, we’d considered other preternatural
creatures to be disposable, too. To survive, you had to kill or be killed.
Luckily, I’d been blessed with the ability to find pleasure in killing.
Reaching a hand down to my uncomfortably tight pants, I
stroked my erection through the fabric, enjoying the memory and the
anticipation of what was to come. Thoughts of killing have always had this
effect on me. While many masturbated, fantasizing about sex, I could only get
myself off thinking about the agonized screams of those unlucky enough to die
at my hands. Sadly, there weren’t many recent memories for me to savor.
While the laws of the preternatural community gave us some
protection, they also bound all preternatural beings by asinine rules that
required us to act more human. Sure, it was nice not worrying constantly about
someone trying to kill me, but it limited my ability to find real pleasure.
Forcing my mind from thoughts of past kills and
preternatural laws, I considered what I’d learned earlier today. There had
always been rumors of something like this being possible, but I’d never heard
of anyone actually doing it. The prospect was exciting for many reasons. Aside
from the kill, there was the challenge involved.
Grabbing my phone, I focused on the important business at
hand. The phone rang only once before he answered—no surprise, since I
suspected the person I was calling had been waiting anxiously for my reply.
Each of us had our own reasons for considering this partnership.
“Have you decided?” he asked, sounding like he didn’t care
one way or another.
“Before I agree to anything, there are a few requirements
that must be met,” I began.
There was a long pause, and I could picture him struggling
with his temper. One thing we had in common was that neither of us liked losing
control, a fact that would make this all the more fun because he needed me,
which put me in a position of power. Sure, I needed him, as well, but I wasn’t
as desperate.
“What requirements?” he snapped impatiently.
“You’ll have to do some of the hunting,” I said. “I’m not
going to be the only one risking my ass for this little scheme.”
“Are you saying you’re afraid you’ll ruin your manicure if
you do all the killing?” he mocked.
“Listen, asshole, you need me, not the other way around, so
I suggest you stop acting like a prick about the whole thing. I’m not your
fucking employee. Got it?” My voice remained calm, which was a struggle when
dealing with this bastard. The sooner he learned respect, the better it would
be for both of us.
“Fine, I’ll do some of the hunting,” he agreed in a bored
tone.
“Don’t worry,” I assured him with a grin that I couldn’t
hold back. “I’ll take the first one. Tomorrow night, we’ll have our first
succubus.”
“Don’t forget the timeline,” he warned.
“Just worry about your end and set up the ritual room,” I
said before ending the call. The new moon cycle started tomorrow, and I was
going to mark it with a satisfying kill.
Dylan
Lunch with Trevor was proving to be a major pain in the ass,
which wasn’t exactly a surprise since he’d been getting on my nerves all day.
The decision to ask him to join me for lunch had not been one of my best. Yes,
it had been my mother’s idea, but I should have found a way out of it as soon
as Trevor started pushing me to go to the party at his house tonight. While I’d
grown out of parties and clubs, Trevor hadn’t. In fact, today, he was
determined to talk me into reliving our early twenties, which had involved me
doing plenty of stupid shit I’d rather not remember.
How Trevor managed it, I had no clue. We were both
successful preternatural attorneys with our own firm—an impressive
accomplishment for two warlocks in our early thirties. That success was owed
largely to the hard work we put into building a name for our firm. We both
worked long hours, but Trevor, apparently, didn’t need as much sleep as I did.
“Why are we in this crappy hole in the wall?” Trevor asked
testily after responding to the fifth text message he’d received since leaving
the office, and that’s when I caught on to what was really going on with Trevor
today. He was having witch problems—again. I decided it was best to change the
subject to the reason we were at this little sandwich shop today—my mother’s
desire to see me settle down with a nice witch. That was probably the best way
to keep Trevor from bemoaning the tragedy that was his love life.
“My mom insisted we come here for lunch,” I reminded him.
Trevor chuckled. “That’s right! Guess there must be some
poor little witch working here your mother wants you to meet, and you’re not
going to give her a chance, are you?”
“You got that right,” I muttered. My mother’s sole mission
in life was finding me a witch so I could give her grandchildren. Since my goal
was the exact opposite, I didn’t get involved with witches, not even for casual
affairs. I preferred to steer clear of all preternatural creatures because
there always seemed to be issues, regardless of the species. It was also more
likely to get back to my mother. One-night stands with humans had far fewer
complications since the Council of Witches would seriously frown on my having
any kind of long-term relationship with a human.
“Why’d she want me here?” Trevor asked, looking at his phone
again.
I raised an eyebrow at his ridiculous question, and Trevor
laughed. “Your mom is crazy,” he said with a shake of his head. “She knows I’m
not in that field.”
“But your family administers the affinity tests, so she
thinks you’ll encourage me if you sense the witch is right for me,” I
explained.
“What is it with her getting you married off, anyway?” he
asked. “Why not your brothers?”
“That is a question I find myself asking all the time,” I
said. “It seems she gave up on Asher and decided to focus on me.”
“I’m surprised she’s not pushing Gray to find a nice warlock
and get themselves a witch surrogate. And why not push Asher to find a witch?
He’s fifty years older than you,” Trevor added.
My brothers, Grayson and Asher, were both much older than I
was, so it made sense that she’d be pushing them harder than me. I should say
it made sense to everyone except her. Due to our age differences, I wasn’t
close to my brothers. Trevor had always been more like a brother to me. We
could easily pass for brothers; both of us had brown hair and stood at just
over six feet tall. We ran together four times a week and used the weight room
at the gym in our office building at least three times a week, so we were fit.
There were differences—my eyes were blue while his were brown, and my face was
more harsh lines and planes compared to Trevor’s—but not enough that people
wouldn’t believe me if I said Trevor was my brother.
“Oh, I’m sure she’s pushing Gray on that subject all the
time. In fact, he’s complained about it at family dinners. As for Asher, my
mom’s pretty much given up on him settling down.”
Trevor checked his latest text message and muttered
something I couldn’t make out before falling silent, which was a relief because
I expected him to start grumbling about his witch at any moment.
If we were here too much longer, I was going to risk my
mother’s anger and leave. How long could it take to make sandwiches? We’d been
here nearly fifteen minutes, and the line had barely moved.
At least, the show outside the sandwich shop window was
entertaining. It was just after noon, and the guy across the street had his
girl pushed up against a wall while he kissed her. No, kiss wasn’t the right
word for what he was doing to her mouth. He was ravaging her mouth, claiming
her. That girl was going to have bruised lips when he finally released her. One
hand was edging up under her shirt, and I had no shame watching them. I wasn’t
the only voyeur enjoying the show they were putting on for everyone in downtown
Oakland.
“That’s the crazy kind of shit I’m always talking about,”
Trevor said, pulling my attention from the PDA across the street. Listening to
Trevor talk, no one would ever guess he was a successful lawyer, but he could
act more like an adult when he wanted to.
I stared at him with one raised eyebrow because I had no
idea what he was talking about. Honestly, I’d only been half-listening to most
of his complaints since we’d entered the shop because they were probably just
repeats of the complaints from earlier that day. Once he started bitching about
witches again, I started watching the couple fooling around outside and
returned to ignoring him.
“Are you even listening to me?” Trevor asked with a huff.
“Seriously, don’t get all pissy on me, Trev. I’ve been too
busy wondering how far that girl’s going to let him go before she puts the
brakes on everything and leaves that poor guy with a massive case of blue
balls.”
“That’s the thing, she won’t put the brakes on things,” Trevor
said.
The look I gave him clearly conveyed my doubt in his
assessment of the situation. Unless she was a sex demon of some kind, there was
no way she’d let him go further with an audience.
“Seriously, Dylan,” he said. “That’s Theresa, one of the
legal aides from the law offices on the third floor.”
“The ones who represent werewolves in pack disputes?” I
asked. That was a booming business to be in, but very stressful. While we
worked with some werewolves, we did not get involved in any pack disputes. If
she was a werewolf, that might explain her being more daring with her mate.
“Yeah, and that’s her husband with her. Both are human, and
they do this shit all the time. I was tempted to complain to her boss when I
caught them fucking in our copy room.”
“Why didn’t you?” I asked.
Trevor grinned. “And interrupt the show? I’m not that
stupid. Theresa’s pretty fucking hot, and this has made my Wednesdays much more
interesting.”
“Now I know where you disappear to every Wednesday
afternoon,” I said with a chuckle.
He shrugged. “It seems unfair to ask our assistants to make
copies for us when they’re already busy.”
“How very kind of you.” I returned my attention to the
couple outside.
“How the fuck are they still hot for each other when they’re
married?” Trevor continued. “I can’t even fathom staying interested in the same
woman for a month, let alone years. Don’t get me wrong—unlike you, I’d love to
find the right witch to settle down with, but it seems impossible.”
“How long have you been seeing Cheryl?” I asked, because I
knew that’s what Trevor wanted to talk about, even if I didn’t want to hear
about Trevor’s ongoing witch problems.
“Lindsey,” he corrected. “And you’re an asshole because I’ve
been complaining about her since we left the office, yet you still can’t
remember her name.”
“Sorry, man.” I genuinely felt like a prick for tuning out
my best friend. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“I swear I’m going to have to fake my own death to get rid
of this witch,” Trevor said in an overly dramatic tone.
“You’ve only been going out about two weeks,” I reminded
him, even though two weeks tended to be Trevor’s limit with women. It’s not
that he wasn’t looking for more; Trevor just tended to fall in love far too
quickly—before he really knew the woman.
“That’s about one week too long,” he complained. “The girl
is already way too clingy and wants to know where I am every second of the day.
When I told her I couldn’t meet her for lunch today, she lost it.
Literally—screaming voicemails accusing me of cheating—lost it. Two days ago, I
told her things just weren’t going to work between us, so I don’t see how I
could be cheating. No matter how many times I tell her we broke up, she just
says we need more time to work things out. Seriously, why can’t there be more
women like Allie?”
This was the fourth time Trevor had brought up the
mysterious Allie since we’d left the office for lunch today. He’d been bringing
her up on and off for about a month, and I figured she’d end up on his crazy ex
list eventually, but he just kept insisting he’d never date Allie. He had yet
to say anything negative about the woman, so I couldn’t figure out what to make
of it. I’d yet to meet her, and I was beginning to wonder if there was more to
her story than Trevor had let on. “Are you sure you don’t have a thing for this
Allie girl? Did she turn you down and now you’ve put her up on some pedestal?”
Trevor laughed. “Are you fucking kidding me? Allie’s like
one of the guys. We can just hang out and talk. She doesn’t even get offended
when I talk about sex. There is no way I’d want to mess that up.”
“How long have you known this girl?” I asked.
Trevor thought for a moment. “We reconnected about a month
ago, but I didn’t really know her very well before that.”
Apparently, I wasn’t going to get more explanation about how
he’d met Allie. “And you really don’t want to fuck her?”
“Like I said, Allie’s nice, but I’d never fuck around with
her,” Trevor insisted.
Translation—she’s not very attractive. Actually, she had to
be pretty damn hard to look at for Trevor to say something like this. My friend
might be an asshole, but he had an innate way of seeing the beauty in all
women. It was part of his gift, or his curse depending on how you looked at it.
The downside of Trevor’s power was that it meant he rarely met a witch he
didn’t want to fuck, and it also meant he fell a little in love with the
witches he fucked because he only saw the good at first.
“You should come over and hang with us tonight.” Trevor
tried once again to get me to go to his party.
“Maybe,” I said noncommittally because I really didn’t want
to go no matter how curious I was about Allie.
“I’m beginning to think we aren’t really friends anymore,”
Trevor complained with a pout.
There it was. Trevor was pulling out the big guns. I almost
laughed because he’d been doing this shit since we were five.
“Don’t be a whiny little witch,” I grumbled.
“I’m just sayin’, you never hang out with me outside of work
anymore. I’d think you had some really good pussy on the side, but you’ve been
way too uptight for me to believe you’re getting laid. When
was
the last
time you got any?”
“If I go to the party, will you stop bugging me about this?”
I asked with an annoyed sigh.
“I knew you’d come around.” He grinned. “Now, you can
finally meet Allie and see how cool she is.”
“Where’d you meet Allie?” I asked.
“I ran into her at SpellBinders last month,” he said
casually. “Like I said, I knew her before that, but not very well.”
“Let me get this straight,” I began, because I was having a
hard time believing I’d heard him right, “you met a girl at a sex club.”
Spellbinders was more than a sex club—it was the ultimate sex club for the
preternatural community. You could satisfy any sexual craving you had, no
matter how deviant some might consider it. I’d only been to SpellBinders once,
and it had been an unforgettable experience. SpellBinders made an orgy seem
like bingo night at the local church. An incubus owned the club, and most of
the staff were sex demons.
“Why is that such a surprise?” Trevor asked. “We’ve met
girls at sex clubs in the past.”
“No, we’ve fucked girls from sex clubs,” I corrected him.
“No names, and definitely no hanging out after or inviting them to your house
for a party. Just fucking. Now, I’m supposed to believe you met a girl at
SpellBinders who you just want to hang out with.” I was now picturing Allie as
a cyclops with a hunchback. That was the only explanation that made any sense.
“You’ll see what I mean,” Trevor said with a grin.
With any luck, what I saw wouldn’t involve a head full of
snakes and me turning to stone.
We were finally at the counter, and I spotted the witch my
mother wanted me to meet right away. Her eyes locked on me, and she looked
seriously pissed that I was there. While I wouldn’t describe her as ugly, she
had an assortment of scary facial piercings, hair dyed the ugliest shade of red
I’d ever seen, and way too much black eyeliner. She was definitely not my type.
Damn my mother.
“Hey there,” I said, giving her my most charming smile
because I’d promised my mother I’d be nice to the witch.
“Just give me your order and leave,” she muttered under her
breath. “I promise to tell my mom you were charming and asked me out.”
Blinking twice, I stared for a moment because that hadn’t
gone the way I’d expected.
Trevor laughed at my expense, and yes, he was already
undressing our angry sandwich maker with his eyes. “What do you recommend,
gorgeous?” he asked.
The little sandwich maker flushed, and her face softened.
She looked up at Trevor, and I had a feeling I’d be hearing him complain about
how clingy the sandwich girl was a week from now.
Oh well, at least she wouldn’t be my problem.