Sinfully Spellbound (Spells That Bind Book 1) (22 page)

Anticipation hummed through my veins as I walked in the
front door. I was running late, so Melina had already left because they were
shooting an episode of
Night High
and she insisted that things always
went wrong when she wasn’t there. Since I was a bit of a control freak
regarding work myself, I had no room to judge her workaholic ways. My last
client had run later than planned, meaning I wouldn’t have time for more than a
quick snack before we headed to the council meeting.

I found Allie in the bedroom dressed in jeans and a tank
top, applying makeup with shaky hands.

“Is that what you’re wearing to the council meeting?” I
asked, because I’d expected her to dress up. After all, this meeting was a big
deal. At least, I thought it was a big deal, and I really hoped she did, too.

She shrugged without looking at me. “I figured it didn’t
matter since I’ll be wearing a robe. Mel brought me one of hers so I can be in
my family’s color tonight.” Sure enough, she held up a black robe. That’s when
she finally looked at me over her shoulder, her expression challenging me to
disagree with her—a challenge I intended to take.

My face hardened, and my temper flared at the idea of her
wearing that robe. I knew the robe was her way of putting some distance between
us, and I wasn’t going for it. Fuck this!

“No,” I said simply as I kicked off my shoes and started
unbuttoning my shirt. I might as well wear jeans and a t-shirt, too. My eyes
remained locked with hers, waiting for her response.

Fire flashed in her whiskey-colored eyes, and she looked
seriously pissed. That worked because I was seriously pissed, even though I
knew I had no right to be. Honestly, it shouldn’t make any difference to me
what color robe she wore, but I didn’t act on logic when it came to Allie. No,
instinct drove many of my actions.

“What do you mean, no?” she demanded with her arms crossed
under her full breasts.

“After you wore my robe last time, the council will expect
you to wear it this time,” I explained, slipping the t-shirt over my head and
grabbing a pair of jeans, proud of myself for making such a reasonable argument
when I felt far from reasonable.

“I wore it because I didn’t have my own,” she reminded me.

“Doesn’t matter why you wore it.”

“We don’t have time for this,” she said with a huff. “There
is no good reason why I need to wear anything other than the robe Melina bought
me. I made pasta and left a plate out for you. It probably needs to be heated
up for about thirty seconds, but you should have time to eat it before we
leave.”

“Thank you, sweetheart,” I said with a grin. Dressed in blue
jeans and a deep red t-shirt, I slipped on my shoes and grabbed her robe on my
way out to the kitchen. I stopped by my office and tore the robe into four
sections before running the pieces through the paper shredder with a satisfied
smirk.

“What the hell are you doing?” Allie screeched from the
door. Her labored breathing was making her breasts move up and down in a tantalizing
way. I had to force myself to look away because we really didn’t have time for
sex before the meeting.

“Your robe was damaged, so it looks like you’ll be wearing
red again,” I said calmly and smacked her ass when I walked by.

As I made my way into the kitchen, I heard her muttering
something about putting my dick through the paper shredder, and I wasn’t sure
if I wanted to laugh at her fit of temper or hide the paper shredder.

Hearing the shredder running again, I chuckled, knowing
exactly what Allie was doing.

“Oops!” Allie called out. “The red robes were damaged, too,
and I think you’re going to need a new paper shredder.”

I laughed so hard I nearly fell off the stool at the
breakfast bar. “At least, you won’t be able to run my dick through it now,” I
called back.

“Such a pity,” she said.

“Let’s go, honey,” I called out from the garage. “Time to
get hitched to my witch.” Teasing Allie seemed like a good way to get her to
forget about putting my dick in the paper shredder, which was probably broken now.

“It’s just a test, Dylan,” she said with an exasperated huff
as she slid into the passenger seat of my car. “No matter which way it goes, we
are
only
taking a test tonight. Of course, I doubt they’ll even let us
take the test now that our robes have been destroyed.”

I shrugged, and Allie uncrossed her arms, looking less
confident.

“They wouldn’t make us to do more, right?” she asked in a
panic. “Even though your mom really wants you to get married, they aren’t going
to force us to take the next step tonight, right?”

“No, sweetheart, they won’t force us to do anything more
than take the test tonight,” I assured her. “Unless someone pushes the issue,
that is, but I would be shocked if that happens. My mom is just trying to prove
a point.”

She visibly relaxed, and I hadn’t realized until that moment
how terrified she was of having that choice taken away from her. Before
starting the car, I reached over and squeezed her hand until she looked at me.
“No matter what happens, I would never force you to do something you don’t want
to do.”

“You’re forcing me to take this test,” she reminded me. “You
also destroyed my robe to try to force me to wear your colors.”

I let out a sigh as I started up the car and pulled out of
the garage. “You make me act crazy,” I admitted. “Even while I was agreeing to
the affinity test, there was this voice in my head telling me it was a total
asshole move, but I just couldn’t stop myself. Still, this is a far cry from
forcing you to marry me like we’re in some historical romance novel.”

“You’re right,” she said, and then she giggled.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“I was just picturing you reading historical romance
novels,” she said, and that’s when I realized what I’d said.

“Before you think too little of me, Trevor’s oldest sister
really loves those books,” I began.

“And she let you borrow them?”

“No, you little smartass.” I pinched her thigh. “She got
really sick a couple of years ago, and when I visited her, she’d ask me to read
them to her.”

“That’s really sweet, Dylan,” she said softly.

“What can I say? I’m a sweet guy—a guy any witch would want
to marry,” I teased with a grin.

“What are you hoping to gain if we pass tonight?” she asked,
switching back to the subject I’d been hoping to distract her from.

“All I want is for you to see we’re a good match and give me
a real chance to prove that to you.” We were at a stop sign so I turned to look
at Allie. “Don’t forget. When we pass the affinity test tonight, I win the bet,
which means I get to spend the rest of the night enjoying your body.”

Allie’s breathing became labored, and this time, I knew it
was from arousal. One thing Allie couldn’t deny was the pull between us, and
that was a start.

Standing before the Council of Witches and the other
attending witches was intimidating. Witch in good standing or not, I was still
a succubus, and sex demons were looked down on by most witches, probably
because of their tendency to seduce warlocks, even attached ones. The fact that
Isadora Hunt wanted me with her son still made absolutely no sense. I’d been
assuming she was just getting desperate, but our conversation earlier had me
questioning my original assumption.

Dylan reached out and squeezed my hand before leaning toward
me. “It’s going to be okay, sweetheart. I’m right here, and I won’t let
anything bad happen to you.”

“I’m not worried,” I said, but it seemed ridiculous to argue
when anyone with eyes could see I was terrified. “It’s just that I really wish
I knew what was going to happen. Not knowing makes it harder.”

“I wish I could tell you, but you already know the test is
different for everyone,” Dylan told me, looking regretful. “Allie, I’m sorry I
let my mother push you into this, and even more sorry I helped her do it.
Seeing you like this is tearing me up inside.”

There were moments like this when I knew I could fall in
love with Dylan, but I was still terrified he would break my heart. No, Dylan
wouldn’t cheat on me. He’d be faithful, but how could I be enough for a warlock
of his stature? Despite my father’s high rank, I was still half-succubus, and
most witches still didn’t accept me because of that. Then I had to wonder if
all of these worries were just excuses to avoid admitting that I was already
falling in love with Dylan. Was I just trying to keep myself from hoping we’d
pass the affinity test?

For some reason, I’d assumed we’d come into the meeting and
move straight to the affinity test. Apparently, we were last on the agenda,
which meant we had to sit through the entire meeting while we waited to see
what would happen, as if I weren’t already stressed out enough.

The meeting seemed to go on forever as the COWs discussed
all sorts of boring business, including a complaint about how
Night High
was portraying witches as ditsy cheerleaders. Yes, this was a major concern,
and the council unanimously agreed to call Mel before them to explain her
script. That was a meeting I might attend because Mel’s response was sure to be
entertaining.

Dylan leaned close until his warm breath fanned out across
my ear. “We should come back when Melina answers their questions about
Night
High
. I’d love to see their faces when she tells them to go fuck
themselves.”

I put a hand over my mouth and looked down, hoping the
council wouldn’t notice me trying to stifle my giggles. Dylan had apparently
spent enough time around Mel to know how she’d react. It wasn’t the part about
explaining herself that she’d react poorly to as much as them telling her to
change her portrayal of witches. I couldn’t wait to see what she did with the witches
on the show after that meeting.

“Dylan Hunt and Alana Talbot,” a warlock at the front of the
room called out, and I wondered if we were in trouble for talking during the
meeting.

Dylan tugged on my hand and led me to the front of the room.
That’s when I noticed the strong resemblance the warlock standing at the front
had to Trevor. Since Trevor had said his father would be administering the
affinity test, the man before us had to be Trevor’s father.

Isadora gave me a reassuring smile while my dad refused to
make eye contact, probably figuring I was still mad at him for allowing this to
happen.

“Where are your robes?” another council member asked,
clearly annoyed.

“There was an unfortunate incident involving a paper
shredder,” Dylan explained, and there were several coughs around the room, all
probably meant to cover laughs.

“Are you ready?” Trevor’s father asked with no expression at
all.

“They have no robes,” someone complained.

“We can certainly proceed without robes,” Trevor’s father
insisted.

“I’m ready,” Dylan answered.

“Um, I didn’t really study,” I said lamely.

Trevor’s father coughed to cover his laugh.

Isadora chuckled softly. “Alana, you are definitely what my
son needs. Don’t worry, dear. Everything is going to be okay.” Then she turned
her attention to Trevor’s father. “Alana wasn’t trying to be disrespectful.
She’s just nervous, so please try to be patient with her.”

Trevor’s father raised an eyebrow. “Do you think I’m going
to yell at her?” he asked. “The poor girl looks like she’s going to faint.” His
face softened as he looked at me. “There’s nothing to be afraid of, Alana. This
is a simple matter, and it will be over soon.”

“Can we get started?” Dylan asked. “Waiting is making it
harder on Allie.”

“Of course,” Trevor’s father agreed. “You’ll need to remove
any magical items before we begin.”

“I can’t,” I said quickly, feeling my panic returning.

“It’ll be okay,” Dylan assured me quietly.

“No!” I insisted. “I need to keep my cuffs on or there could
be problems.”

“The affinity test can only be performed with no magical
items on your person,” Trevor’s father explained less patiently this time.
“Those items make it impossible to give accurate results.”

“The sooner you take them off, the sooner we can be done
with this,” Dylan insisted as he walked to the table and dropped his keys with
the spelled chain so he couldn’t lose them, his cell phone with the tracking
spell, and his wallet with Goddess only knew what spell on the table.

Since I’d left my purse in the car, I only had my cuffs to
remove, and I really didn’t want to. Still, Dylan was right about me delaying
things by standing here arguing. Reluctantly, I walked to the table and removed
one cuff. As that cuff hit the table, I heard Dylan suck in a sharp breath.
When the second cuff came off, Dylan groaned, and I turned to find him nearly
doubled over. Looking around, I expected the same reaction from the other
warlocks in the room and was surprised to find none of them were having any
reaction at all to my succubus powers.

This didn’t make any sense. Dylan was upright now with his
head dropped back and his fists clenched at his sides. It looked like he was
fighting to control his own arousal while everyone else was completely
unaffected.

“Can we get this over with quickly?” I asked, because I
hated seeing what my succubus powers were doing to Dylan.

“Move forward and take his hands,” Trevor’s father ordered.

I hesitated for a moment because I wasn’t sure getting
closer to Dylan was such a good idea. He might have an even stronger reaction if
I touched him.

“Come here,” Dylan ground out, his eyes burning into mine.

I obeyed because I honestly didn’t feel like I could refuse.
Dylan had both hands outstretched toward me. When I took his hands, he tugged
me against his body and slammed his mouth down on mine. His kiss was hot, and I
don’t just mean it was turning me on—it felt like we were surrounded by heat,
and it kept getting hotter and hotter as Dylan’s tongue plunged into my mouth
over and over, mimicking the act of sex.

“I need you,” he said, pulling away slightly to stare at me.

It was then that I noticed we were literally surrounded by
fire. Crimson flames danced around us so high I could no longer see the
council. These weren’t normal flames; they were Dylan’s magic, writhing around
mine. Looking up at Dylan, I watched the fire dance in his eyes and felt myself
getting wetter at the thought of the power he possessed. No, it was the power
we
possessed. This wasn’t just his power and my power; this was our power combined
in some inexplicable way. The anxiety I’d felt about the test was gone, and it
was like no one else existed—just us.

A cool breeze wafted through the room, and the flames were
gone, stealing the cocoon that shielded us from the rest of the world. Dylan
blinked twice, looking disoriented, and I knew exactly how he felt.