Addicted to You

by Belinda Boring

  “I’m going to demand a meeting with the Court again tomorrow, and I won’t leave until they answer my questions. Every. Single. One.”

  “And if they don’t give them to you?”

  “Let me worry about that. Close your eyes again and try to sleep some more.” I could feel him moving my energy around again, his touch now filled with magic.

  “We’ll figure it out,” I murmured.

  Hope filled my heart, but not before a sliver of fear wormed its way in.

  The Collector.

  Was I losing my mind or was there really someone out there seeking retribution against me?

  Like always, the answer danced out of my reach—taunting me.

  In my dreams, it haunted me.

  Chapter 11

  Shelf Indulgence remained closed the next day.

  As far as I was concerned, I never wanted to step foot outside the upstairs apartment. Even with Micah trying to convince me that it wasn’t as bad as I imagined, I was content to ignore the world outside.

  Thoughts about my outburst piled up inside my head until I wanted to scream for the noise to stop.

  Micah had remained by my side, only taking breaks to ensure Holly was still okay out in the living room. She’d come upstairs once the crowd had dissipated, locking up the store while the Court took care of magically fixing the damage I’d caused. No one had asked her to. Instead, she saw a need and filled it.

  Micah had just finished the last energy treatment in balancing out the power that came and flared like the tides submitted to the moon. I was already beginning to feel edgy—the benefits of his touch fading away faster today. The pain that remained was manageable.

  The lust . . . it was torture to have him so close and not be consumed by him.

  There was a tiny tap at the door to warn me I was about to have a visitor. I’d refused everyone so far, and I didn’t hide my surprise when Holly popped her head through the crack in the door. “Someone wants to talk to you.” She seemed twitchy—antsy.

  Before I could question her, my aunt pushed her way past, dismissing Holly with the order to close the door.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. She was the last person I wanted to see right now. Her very presence grated against my skin, creating a new wave of pain. She’d broken my heart with her refusal to see me as anything other than someone to manipulate.

  “What’s happened to you is no excuse for such rudeness. If you can’t speak to me with respect as your family, then you will show me it because of my position within the coven.” There wasn’t a hint of compassion in her words. Once again, she’d waltzed in and with all the condescension she could muster, made herself the victim.

  I was the one being rude.

  I was the one causing her distress.

  If I had the strength, I would’ve stood up and tossed her out of my home on her ass. Rage sprung to life as I remembered every disagreement we’d ever had. All the cruel words she’d said for my “benefit.”

  She was spared from any confrontation by Micah’s return. The moment he saw her standing there in front of me, he rushed in and made her step back. He wanted her nowhere near me.

  “I don’t think this is the time, Ms. Mathews,” he began, forcing her toward the door by taking a step toward her. He could be extremely menacing when he chose to be.

  “While I can admire your willingness to protect my niece, I’m not here on personal matters. I come on behalf of Saundra Beaumont. She felt, considering our familial relationship, it would be better if I come and investigate the magical mishap from yesterday. I thanked her for her generosity.” Millicent watched me like she expected me to agree or profess my love and loyalty to the witch. I hated seeing the know-it-all shine in my aunt’s eyes. She was itching to say it.

  I could feel it.

  “If you could kindly invite Saundra to meet with me, I’ll gladly answer any questions she might have.” It was Micah who answered. “In fact, I’ll be willing to sit down and have a conversation with anyone who might answer my questions.”

  “This doesn’t concern you, Mr. Westbrook. I thank you for taking care of Sedona, but this is a family matter now. You’re welcome to come back in once I’ve finished my discussion with my niece.” She had the audacity to look down her nose at him.

  Micah took one more step toward her. “Everything that concerns Sedona concerns me. So I repeat, please arrange a meeting between Saundra and myself. I understand you’re just doing your job.” He said the last few words as though he mocked them. “But I don’t believe in passing notes back and forth with a messenger.”

  She actually spluttered, spittle flying from her mouth. “Watch your tone, Mr. Westbrook. I am not someone you’d want to make an enemy of.”

  He didn’t budge. Instead, Micah inclined his head in acknowledgment. “I would give you the same warning. I am older than you think. I have wielded power beyond your comprehension.”

  Aunt Millicent didn’t shrink away. If anything, she grew taller, standing her ground. “Is that a threat?” Whenever she got excited, her voice rose a few octaves, sounding higher pitched than usual.

  Like right now.

  Dogs could’ve heard her from miles away.

  She was used to intimidating people and had finally met her match with Micah. He didn’t cower when she pulled out her phone and started dialing a number. No matter how hard she glared at him, Micah didn’t falter.

  It was beautiful to watch.

  “He’s requesting an audience with you.” The person on the other end answered quickly. “I explained that.” She nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”

  The conversation lasted thirty seconds max.

  “Ms. Beaumont asks that you answer the questions I have, and once she’s read my report, she’ll arrange a meeting. Not a second before.”

  Something told me that her response had everything to do with her annoyance at Micah trying to summon her, and less because she didn’t have time. People very rarely talked to the high priestess of our coven that way.

  He turned to look at me. “Are you up to this?”

  Peering around him to my aunt, I wanted to tell him no. I would never be okay talking with this woman who was hell-bent on always misunderstanding me.

  But this was town business—at least the large hole was. The sooner we had this conversation, the sooner she could leave.

  I nodded. “Just don’t leave me here alone with her.” I guided his hand to my thigh as he came to sit by me on the bed. If he could help me manage my outbursts by moving about the energy, then I’d be okay.

  I wouldn’t suddenly act on my need to blast away my aunt.

  There was that anger again.

  “Micah,” I croaked. The flares were happening more often now.

  Aunt Millicent completely ignored the brief interaction. “We need to talk about what happened yesterday, Sedona.” Before I could interrupt her, she waved her hand dismissively. “And no need to thank me. It’s what family does . . . we step in and clean up messes.”

  Oh, she was especially snippy today.

  All I could do was hope my honesty would soften her demeanor. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve been feeling off for the past few days. I remember that I was angry, and then Micah refused.” I glanced sideways to where he was listening. Thankfully my aunt didn’t ask me to elaborate on what his refusal meant. “And the next thing I know, everything goes flying and boom! A hole.”

  If she pursed her mouth any harder, her lips would’ve snapped off completely. “People don’t just expel that level of power and magic by accident without some kind of reason. Have you been tinkering about up here in your grandfather’s study?” There was a flash of pride in her eyes. “Did you finally take my advice and start honing your skills?”

  That reason seemed to please her the most. It was almost cruel to shatter her newly found hope that yesterday was simply a case of a spell gone awry.

  “No.” I didn’t mince words. “And that’s exactly what I’m s
aying. It was an accident.”

  Micah coughed.

  “I suppose you have something to add.” I was embarrassed by how patronizing she sounded talking to Micah. Her position within the coven had made her arrogant. She was talking to someone who held more power in his pinky finger than she did in her whole body. She’d either completely drank the special brand of Kool-Aid—loyal to a fault to Roman Bishop and his fellow cronies—or she had no sense of self preservation.

  Micah let her superiority complex slide off him like water off a duck’s back. “I believe she’s being attacked, or at the very least, targeted.”

  She openly mocked his statement. “By whom? Who would be interested in Sedona? She’s a young girl who runs a bookstore. She has nothing to offer. What potential she has, she squanders.”

  This time I did wince. “I’m sitting right here. I can hear you, Aunt Millicent.”

  She brushed me off with a wave of her hand. “I’m done mincing words with you. I’ve done all I can to help you, and you reject each of my suggestions and attempts. I ask for honesty from you and return it to you in kind. So again, I ask what happened yesterday. I need something to report.”

  Micah began to stand and defend me, but I couldn’t bear for him to break contact with my skin. He was what was tethering me to the sane part of my psyche. If he stopped, I wasn’t sure I could hold my temper back.

  “I already told you. I’ve been feeling weird the past few days. At first, I didn’t think much of it. I was actually enjoying feeling stronger.” That wasn’t the word I meant. “No, it was more than that. I felt confident.”

  Her face went white as the blood drained out of her cheeks.

  “Confident?” There was a slight hitch in her voice.

  “But it was more like confidence on crack.” That description would have to do. “It just kept building and building until it had nowhere else to go but out.” I made an explosion gesture with my hands. “There were other side effects that came along with the new feeling.” My cheeks were already starting to flush. “Didn’t really have a problem with it.”

  I winked at Micah. The smile he gave me in return lifted part of the weight that I felt pushing down on me.

  “Describe these side effects.” She was poised to write them down in the notebook she’d pulled out from her bag.

  I didn’t answer.

  She repeated the question. When I kept quiet, she turned to Micah. “What am I missing here?”

  Confusion blazed across her face.

  “Sex,” I blurted. “One of the side effects was sex. Lots and lots of amazing sex. Do you still want details?” I threw the challenge down at her feet. I didn’t have the patience to side step her attitude.

  Millicent stopped writing. “That wasn’t necessary either, Sedona.”

  There was one word written on the page, and with an angry scribble, she wrote over it. Then she grew quiet—too quiet.

  “What are you thinking?” It was Micah who asked. He moved his hands, and I loved the way the heat from his touch followed.

  I wished we were alone, so I could have him touch me all over.

  I wanted to touch him.

  My breath caught, and I whipped out to grip his hand tightly. I couldn’t have these feelings right now—not when I couldn’t trust myself to control them long enough not to put on a show for Millicent.

  “Just breathe through it,” he whispered softly in my ear. “Don’t forget I’ve got you.”

  “I believe I know what caused this.” Her words brought everything crashing to a halt. Even Micah stared at her with disbelief. “And before I explain, please know I did it with the purest of intentions.”

  A sickly feeling filled my stomach.

  I didn’t want to hear whatever she was ready to confess. It couldn’t be anything good.

  “I’m listening.” There was a steely menace in the undercurrent of Micah’s response.

  I closed my eyes. If I couldn’t see her speaking, in my tired brain, that meant it wouldn’t hurt more. God, I needed this all to stop hurting.

  “I cast a spell.”

  The room felt like even it took a gasp of shock.

  “Excuse me?” I asked, just to make sure I’d heard her correctly. “You cast a spell on whom?”

  Please don’t say it. Please don’t say it.

  I’d read somewhere that one of the best ways to deal with hearing bad news was to not avoid its existence, but to repeat your exposure to it. At the time it had made sense, but that was the opposite of what I was thinking right now.

  I didn’t want the truth to come out.

  I didn’t want to hear the dangerous lengths my aunt would go to just to prove she was right.

  She’d cast some powerful magic.

  She’d enchanted me.

  “Whom?” Micah pushed, no longer trying to hide the anger he was feeling.

  “After our last argument, I went home and cast a confidence spell on your behalf.” She made sure to rush out that last piece of justification quickly, as though it would somehow redeem her shitty actions. “It was with the best intentions. I wanted to show you that I’d heard you when you said you weren’t as confident as everyone else when it came to your powers. I knew you wouldn’t try to find a cure for those doubts, so I wanted to help you along.”

  “So you turned me into a raging nympho?” Everything about this conversation was surreal.

  “No,” she exclaimed equally fast. “I meant no harm.”

  “Then explain the hole in the wall.” Micah sat calmly beside me. I wondered if that was also for my benefit, because he was still trying to manage my own imbalance. “Explain why she can barely tolerate other people unless I’m right there beside her . . . grounding her.”

  Aunt Millicent’s gaze dropped to where his hands were. “It wasn’t meant to do that.” She shook her head, confused. “I was very specific that my spell and magic helped Sedona face and conquer her greatest fear.”

  “And you assumed that was my powers?” It was slowly starting to make sense.

  “Isn’t it?”

  She still didn’t get it. I wasn’t afraid of my powers, because I didn’t plan on using them. I was content to be empathic and leave the rest for anyone else who was interested. The town wasn’t short on magic. There would be plenty of others who would fill the void I made by not embracing the full extent of my magic.

  “No. My greatest fear at the moment is being with Micah and taking the next step in our relationship.” I turned to face him. “I’ve been worried about ruining what we have with each other by rushing things. I worried that I wouldn’t measure up—that somehow I would disappoint.” I shrugged my shoulders with the hope that it hid my embarrassment. It was hard enough telling this to Micah, without my aunt listening in as well.

  He gently kissed the back of my hand. “You think too much.”

  His smile was my reward for being brave and sharing how I felt. I didn’t pretend that every thought and feeling I had was completely rational.

  “Oh.” That’s all she would say.

  Micah didn’t have such problems. “Remove the spell now. Whatever you did, reverse it.”

  This time, Aunt Millicent didn’t resist his demands or reply with some snotty remark meant to put him in his place.

  “I’m going to need a candle.”

  When he returned with a small white pillar, Millicent had finished scribbling something on a piece of paper.

  “She’s going to need a lighter or matches so she can use the candle’s flame to burn her spell.” I knew which one she’d used and how to counteract it. Millicent had tweaked it enough, so she was the only one with authority to break it. So simple.

  The air stilled. No one said a word. When she was finally ready, she began uttering out loud, her voice gradually growing stronger and stronger. The flame danced about as if it eagerly awaited its chance to burn. It wasn’t until the last fragment of paper crumpled into ash that I felt another shot of pain.

  Scrat
ch that. An avalanche of agony that never relented, never subsided. Instead of making everything better and ending this nightmare, whatever spell she’d cast had backfired horribly.

  “Micah!” I screamed, as the energy inside me reached a dangerously fevered pitch.

  “Get down!” he yelled in return, throwing his body over mine.

  Time stood still.

  The energy reached its crescendo.

  It became all I could feel, see, hear, and smell.

  I became it.

  And then everything fell apart.

  Chapter 12

  “Something struck back!” I couldn’t quite catch my breath with my lungs burning for air. There was no escaping the pain as I frantically clawed at my throat. It felt like someone was shredding my insides Freddy Krueger–style.

  “Tell me what’s happening.” It was Aunt Millicent who filled my vision.

  “You’re trying to kill me!” My voice was raw and guttural. It took everything in my diminishing power not to hurl all over her. “You fried my circuits and broke me!”

  “Always so dramatic,” she complained, as she hovered her hands over my body. Electricity crackled between us, but nothing she did seemed to help. If anything, it made things worse. Like a bear woken from hibernation too soon, whatever magic coursed through my veins had created a monster—one that roared in fury for being disturbed.

  “Get out.” I was done. Grabbing Micah, I begged him to kick her out. She had caused this, and if she didn’t quit judging me, I was going to unleash my temper at her. It was white hot and ready to scorch the world.

  “You need me.” She hadn’t even budged, ignoring my demand. “You’ve neglected your powers, so you’re useless to help.” She just kept talking, oblivious to the way it felt like daggers in my heart. Her words wielded more damage than the chaos whipping my psyche into a frenzy.

  “You’re wrong,” Micah barked. He wore a grim expression as he cradled me in his arms, hoping that the more he touched me, the more he could soothe the pain. I saw him tug at the leather cord around his neck. It was a Celtic carving that was shaped into a sigil. He hadn’t taken it off in all the time I’d known him, and the energetic juice that radiated from the piece told me that it was used in hiding his divine nature.