One Bad Witch Read online

  She snapped through part of her restraints and I raised a hand, swirling red pulses of magic through my fingers. “Leave the rope,” I told her. “I don’t want to hurt you, but if you try to run for it, I’m not going to have much of a choice.”

  “You’re going to pay for this,” she muttered. “If you let me go now, I might put in a good word for you.”

  “With who?” I laughed. “Your boyfriend? Len Whitaker?

  Narissa’s eyes cut to Bruno. “What have you been saying, Bruno? Spouting off all kinds of nonsense, no doubt.”

  “Actually, I found the picture of you two together. At first, I thought you were just a fangirl, but it looks like there’s more to the story.”

  “Len Whitaker is a brilliant man!” she spat. “As for Bruno here, well, he could have been great, but he squandered his chance.”

  “How so?” I asked.

  “Len was going to make him the pack leader of the Pacific Northwest after the takeover plans were completed. Unfortunately, Bruno got a little big for his britches and decided he wanted control of the entire coast. And when Len told him that wouldn’t be possible, he threatened to go to the SPA and tell them about Len’s plans. Obviously, we couldn’t let that happen.”

  Nick turned green. “So you killed his mate?”

  “He needed a reminder of who was in charge,” Narissa replied, flashing a dangerous look at Bruno.

  “There! She admitted it!” Bruno said, gesturing wildly at me. “What are you waiting for? Flash your badge. Take her into custody!”

  “Badge?” Narissa glared at me. “What is he talking about?”

  “She’s with the SPA!” Bruno said.

  Narissa’s eyes went wide and her nostrils flared. Then, she cackled. “Oh, honey, you really don’t know who you’re dealing with, do you? If anyone is going to prison, it’s you.”

  “For what? All I did was talk, there’s nothing you can pin on me,” Bruno insisted.

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk. You know your mistake, Bruno? Underestimating those around you. I think you’re going to have a heck of a time explaining the thirty-thousand dollars you had deposited into Pierce’s bank account for the hit job on your little girlfriend.”

  Nick and I exchanged a dark look.

  Bruno growled, the sound wolf-like enough to send the hairs on the back of my neck on end. “You’re delusional. I don’t have thirty-thousand dollars to give to anyone. And why would I hire Pierce to kill Breanne? She was my mate!”

  Narissa shrugged. “Oh, who can say. Jealousy? A lover’s quarrel. It’s the oldest story in the book. She betrayed you, you ordered your second to kill her, then gave him a nice little paycheck for the trouble. Nothing points back to me,” she drawled. “The dummy corporation is in your name, the wire transfer came from a bank account that will show your name, once the layers of red tape are peeled back, at least.”

  “You little—” Bruno started toward her but Nick cut him off at the knees, tackling him to the carpet.

  “Stop! If you hurt her, you will end up in jail,” he said, pinning down the furious werewolf.

  “I don’t care!” Bruno bellowed. “She killed Breanne!”

  Narissa watched them brawl with amusement. “See, now this is what Len needs, someone like you, Nicolas. In fact, before this unfortunate mess with Pierce, I was going to put in a good word for you with him.

  “It would have been perfect timing too. Bruno and Pierce will go away forever on conspiracy and murder charged, and I could have made you the alpha.” She frowned. “Pity. Now Len will have to find someone else. But don’t worry, he will. He has a gift.”

  “If you ever thought I would go along with this insane plan, then it’s clear you didn’t really know me at all,” Nick said, still clinging to Bruno’s flailing legs as he tried to belly crawl toward Narissa.

  She shrugged. “Oh well. Can’t win them all.”

  With a wicked smile, she snapped the rope from her wrists.

  I readied the same spell I’d used on Lord Bracken, preparing to freeze her as soon as she got her ankles freed from the ropes, but instead, she lifted her hands and shifted back to her cat form, this time a smaller version of the Manx we’d spend before. In her cat form, she slipped from the ropes with ease and then morphed back into her human form, all in the span of a heartbeat. If I hadn’t been so stunned, I might have offered a round of applause. The control she had over her form was mind-boggling.

  “This whole time?” Nick said, staring at her.

  Narissa turned back, her expression serious again. “It’s nothing personal, Nicolas. Just business. If it makes you feel better, I enjoyed our time together.”

  She slipped her hand into her pocket and I lashed out with my magic to stop her from leaving the apartment. The magic hit the target, but instead of blasting Narissa back against the front door, a huge plume of smoke filled the air, temporarily blinding all of us. Shouts of chaos and sputtered coughs cut through the thick smoke and I heard the front door open.

  “Ta ta,” Narissa called.

  I lunged forward, my eyes watering and lungs burning, and followed after her. My vision cleared just into time to see Narissa barrel down the breezeway—right into Tyson’s wall of a chest as he was coming up the stairs.

  “Oof!” she exclaimed, her face slapping the solid muscle.

  “Ah, Miss Leonard, nice of you to come out without a fuss,” Tyson said, restraining Narissa before she could fully register what happened. He slapped a pair of handcuffs on her and frog-marched her toward the stairs. “We have Pierce in custody and he just told us the most extraordinary story about how you were planning on blackmailing him into killing Bruno.”

  Narissa swore and struggled, but was no match for Tyson’s grip and the cuffs around her wrists were charmed to ensure that even someone with her level of skill wouldn’t be able to shift their way out of them.

  “While you were taking your little power nap, I made a phone call,” I told her from the top of the stairs. “

  Tyson steered Narissa toward his SUV parked at the curb in front of the apartment building. “Narissa Leonard, you’re under arrest for the murder of Breanne Smythe.”

  Narissa watched, her eyes wild. “This is a mistake! Len will have me out of custody in twenty-four hours, and I’ll have all your heads on a platter!”

  “Oh, yeah? Hmm. We’ll just see the Haven Council has to say about that.” Tyson told her. “In the meantime, you’d be better off keeping quiet.”

  “Thanks, Holly,” Tyson called, raising one hand in a casual wave as if we’d just bumped into each other outside a coffee shop. “See you around headquarters sometime?”

  I wiped my eyes and watched as he loaded her into the back of his SUV.

  Nick came to stand beside me at the railing and braced his hands against it. He coughed and shook his head. “Looks like I’ve earned a colossal told you so.”

  I shook my head. I wasn’t going to rub this in his face. “Come on, let’s get out of here. Let the SPA sort this mess out.”

  “You sure?” he asked.

  “My job is done,” I replied. “And all I can say is that I better get a nice, fat bonus after all this.”

  Nick laughed until the coughing kicked in again and then we went down to his car. Bruno chased after us, but Nick waved him off and told him to call a cab.

  Chapter 21

  The following afternoon, I found myself in Agent Bramble’s office for a formal debriefing. She took my official statement of the events on the night of Whitaker’s arrest, and I signed a bunch of paperwork. At the end, she produced a paycheck.

  “Thank you,” I said, tucking the slip of paper into my pocket.

  “You earned it,” she said, smiling. “You did a good job, Holly. That wasn’t an easy assignment, but I’d say you pulled it off and then some. Agent Tyson spoke very highly of you as well.”

  I smiled. “Aww, well you can take that with a grain of salt. He’s trying to get my roommate to agree to date him.”

/>   Agent Bramble blinked.

  “I’m just kidding. Well, not about the dating thing, that’s actually true. But I—” I stopped myself and gave my head a little shake. “Nevermind. Thank you. So, what happens next? Did Len get arrested, too?”

  “Len Whitaker has been taken in for questioning, but I’m not sure we’ll find something to stick unless Narissa flips on him, and at this moment, she’s staying loyal. However, we’ve got access to his financials, and I imagine it’s only a matter of time before we find a slip-up and get something that links him to at least one of the open murder investigations.”

  “Why was he killing off wolves in the first place, if he’s one himself?” I asked.

  “It seems he was doing it to create instability in specific packs. From what Bruno and Pierce have told us, the plan was for Len to create something of a universal pack, with himself as the leader, and then seconds who would oversee different pockets of the country and report back to him directly. He was doing this by any means necessary; bribes, promises of money and power, and when those tactics didn’t work, he turned to violence. He wasn’t going to stop until he had the allegiance of all the alphas.”

  I shook my head. “All for what? It seems so pointless.”

  Agent Bramble shrugged. “You stay in this job long enough, you realize that there are some people who simply want to watch the world burn for their own sick pleasure.”

  I shuddered. “I’m not sure I want to reach that point.”

  Agent Bramble folded her hands on her desk. “Well, speaking of, if you have another minute, I’d like to talk about your next assignment.”

  “My next assignment?”

  “As I said, we are impressed with your field work on this investigation. We’d like to offer you the opportunity to go through further training and become a full-time agent.”

  I sagged back against the chair, shocked by her words.

  She gave a reassuring smile. “You can take as much time as you need, of course, but the next batch of recruits will begin training after the first of the year. If you’re interested, I would like to see you in that class.”

  “Agent Bramble, I—I’m flattered, but there’s no way I could take on something like that. When I started working with the agency, it was meant to be behind closed doors, working in a potions lab. This was an exception, not the new rule, or at least that’s what I thought.”

  Agent Bramble looked disappointed, but she gave a genteel nod. “Originally it was, but after your performance here, we thought we would at least try to offer something more substantial to you.”

  I nodded. “I appreciate it. Truly. But right now, I need to spend more time at home, not less. My potions business is off to a great start, and then there’s Adam. Not to mention my best friend’s wedding in a couple of months.”

  Lifting a hand, Agent Bramble stopped me. “I understand, Holly. Just know, the offer is on the table, should you change your mind.”

  “Thank you Agent Bramble—”

  “Why don’t you call me Agatha?” she offered kindly.

  “Thank you, Agatha, but I don’t think I’ll change my mind. I’d be happy to continue working in the potion department though, if that’s still an option.”

  “Of course. I’ll check in with them in a week or two and give you a call.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  We said goodbye and I left the SPA headquarters, suddenly in a hurry to be home again. As I walked back up the hill to the manor, I marveled at just how much things had changed in the last few years. I’d never imagined being offered a job as a full-fledged SPA agent, let alone that I would be in a position to turn it down.

  But, as my recent conversation with Evangeline had taught me, I needed to learn the art of breathing. Saying no to things that took me further away from my dreams. As fun as it was to chase every shiny sparkle that crossed my path, I’d never get to where I wanted if I didn’t learn to stay the path.

  And, as I’d also learned, the path I was on was pretty great all on its own.

  Adam was in the kitchen when I returned home. He turned and smiled from his place at the stove. “There you are. Where’ve you been all day, gorgeous?”

  “Agent Bramble’s, or, Agatha’s, as she told me today.”

  Adam gave an impressed eyebrow waggle. “Fancy.”

  I laughed and went to see what he was cooking. “Speaking of fancy, what is that? Chef Boyardee?”

  He chuckled. “Don’t judge. I’ve been busy working all day and this was the best I could do before I got so hungry I chewed my own arm off.”

  “Yikes.” I jumped up to sit on the counter and kicked my legs like an impatient child. “Any chance we can go for a walk after you scarf that down?”

  He glanced over his shoulder. “Sure. Everything all right?”

  “Everything is good. I’ve just been taking some inventory lately and wanted to talk to you about it.”

  “Inventory, huh?”

  “You know, evaluating things with my life and what direction I want to go next.”

  Adam’s expression shifted, an almost indistinguishable tenseness showing at his mouth and eyes. “I’m starting to wonder if I should be sitting down for this talk.”

  I smiled, trying to assuage some of his fears. “No. No, it’s nothing like that.”

  “Okay?” He killed the burner and dumped the pasta into a bowl.

  “I’m going to go change my shoes,” I told him, hopping down from the counter.

  “I’ll be ready to go for that walk when you get back,” he replied.

  I laughed. “I have no doubt.”

  We took a familiar trail through the old timber that lined the back of the property. Some of our best, most intimate conversations had been witnessed by the centuries-old trees, and it felt fitting that this one would be too.

  Our gloved hands clasped, we headed into the woods, taking a familiar path. “I gotta admit, you’re kind of freaking me out here, gorgeous. You usually blurt things out on the spot.”

  I smiled. “All right, I won’t keep you in suspense any longer.”

  “Thank you.”

  “As you know, I saw Agent Bramble today,” I started. “We talked about the whole Narissa thing, of course. But when we wrapped up that part, she told me that several of the higher ups in the agency were asking about me. I guess they were impressed with my ability to work with Agent Blair and, as it turns out, he’s in need of a full-time partner.”

  Adam’s steps slowed, nearly to a stop.

  “So, she offered me the job.”

  He froze in place. “Holly—”

  I moved to stand before him and took both of his hand. “I said no.”

  Adam’s brows lifted. “You did?”

  I nodded. “I told her that I’m honored to be considered, and appreciated her encouragement, but that it was time for me to focus on my future. I said that if this case taught me anything, it was that field work isn’t what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

  A smile warmed Adam’s face. “Any idea what you do want to do?”

  “As a matter of fact, yes. I want to take the money I’ve saved up and lease my own studio to do all of my potion work. I can’t keep working out of the kitchen. Mostly because it makes me want to ghost-murder Posy from time to time.”

  Adam laughed. “Ghost-murder. That’s a new one.”

  “I don’t actually think it’s possible, but the point is that I spend way too much time stressing out about making a mess or holding myself back from trying new things because if it goes wrong, it could send her over the edge. I think that’s why I enjoyed working at the SPA headquarters so much. Sure, having access to top potion masters is a thrill, but even more than that, it was about having a space where anything went. I could experiment and tinker as much as I wanted. I could leave things brewing for more than a few hours at a time. It’s freeing and as a result, my creativity and passion have been reignited.”

 
; Adam reached up and stroked the side of my face. “I’m happy for you, gorgeous. How can I help?”

  “Well, I was hoping you could help me find a place to lease. There isn’t much here in town, but there are a few places in the Seattle Haven I want to check out.”

  Adam’s smile drooped. “The Haven?”

  “I figure it will be easier that way. I mean, how am I supposed to explain the nature of my business to a human property manager?”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” He pocketed his hands. “Does that mean you’re thinking of moving back?”

  “Not unless you’re going with me.”

  He didn’t say anything.

  I tugged his hand from his pocket and held it tightly. “I don’t want to go anywhere unless you’re going, too. That being said, I still think it’s a little soon to go out and rent a house together. I really want to focus on my business right now. It’s going to take me a little while to get things up and running with the new shop, and it’s going to take a lot of money. I also don’t want to up and leave Evangeline to deal with three new roommates. Stars only knows what she might end up with. I want us to take our time and find the right house, and then I think we should buy it. Together.”

  “Buy it?” Adam repeated, his dark brows arched again.

  I nodded. “I’ve never had something that’s my own,” I told him, as we started walking again. I looped my arm through his. “The only place I ever had that truly felt like home was with my parents, before they died. Since they’ve been gone, everywhere has felt temporary. The manor is the closest I’ve ever felt to having that same homey feeling again. I guess that’s part of why I’m reluctant to leave, even though I know it can’t last forever. That’s why, when I do—or, when we do—I want it to be for something permanent. Something forever.”

  “And you want that to be here, in Beechwood?” Adam asked, a tentative note to his voice.

  I smiled and squeezed his hand. “Yes.”

  “What about—”

  “Agent Bramble said I can keep my credentials and will still have access to the portal here in town. I can still come and go as much as I need for my business, and I’ll still be invited to go to headquarters for potions work.”