Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Sky grinned at him and lifted both of his hands into the air, pumping them. “How about a rave of necromancers?”
The cute man laughed and bumped his shoulder into Sky’s. “Idiot.”
“Sometimes.” He rubbed the center of his forehead with the heel of his palm and sighed. “I feel like one because this mess has me baffled. How could this have happened? God knows everyone in the magical community is going to look at me because I’m the only necromancer in the city as far as I know.”
“Well, you’ll have to tell them you were hanging out with a bunch of demons last night, binge-watching your stories,” Nolan replied.
Sky glared at Nolan, making the man wince. Really, who was going to believe that nonsense?
“Let’s head home, and…” Sky pushed off the car but froze, his words dying in his throat. An old maroon minivan with fake wood paneling bounced down the road at a ridiculous speed, dust and debris flying up in a cloud behind it.
Who the hell was racing on this road?
Just as the minivan would have turned past the graveyard, the driver slammed on the brakes, causing the tires to squeal and slide on the gravel.
A woman with wild, windblown brown hair and large, thick glasses hung a thin arm out the open window and glared at them. Her thin lips almost entirely disappeared into a line as she frowned at them.
“You that necromancer, Sky Wallace? Grammy Wallace’s grandson?” the woman shouted.
“Who wants to know?” Nolan called out before Sky could untie his tongue. A massive rock had sunk into the pit of his stomach while his blood threatened to freeze in his veins.
Another woman leaned forward from the passenger seat to stare at them around the driver. “That’s him. I can smell him from here.”
The driver grunted and reached inside for something. When her left hand reappeared, she was pointing a slightly crooked stick at them. Fuck. A wand. Pretty much what he guessed.
Witches.
“Get in the van, or the boyfriend gets frogged,” the brunet threatened.
“Frogged?” Nolan twisted to gaze at him. “What the hell is she talking about?”
“Just what it sounds like,” he muttered, already walking toward the minivan. “She’s going to turn you into a frog if I don’t go with them.” And he didn’t have a single defense against that right now.
Nolan jogged after Sky and climbed in with him through the open side door.
“What are you doing?” Sky demanded, trying to block him.
“I’m not letting you out of my sight.” Considering the dark glare he leveled on Sky and the witches in the front seat, Sky shut his mouth and let the sexy man stay with him. He didn’t need to explain to Nolan the danger they were both in. Besides, this allowed him to keep an eye on his soon-to-be boyfriend. He’d protect him.
Sky flopped down on the bench seat and waved a hand at the witch in the driver’s seat. “All right. Let’s do this.”
Kidnapped by witches. Definitely not how he’d seen this day going.
Chapter 4
Nolan Banks
The car ride was bumpy enough for Nolan to fear for his fillings. The driver—whom the other passenger called Audrey—kept the gas pressed to the floor despite the poor condition of the road. Since Audrey’s companion was doing plenty of complaining about the witch’s driving, he and Sky remained silent.
And that was scary enough.
Sky wasn’t the quiet type. The man loved to chatter about everything under the sun. When he was nervous, it shifted more to babbling, but Nolan loved his babbling. It gave him a glimpse into Sky’s vast and confusing world.
If Sky was silent, something was very wrong.
From what little his neighbor had said, Nolan knew most witches were female. They didn’t look too kindly on those few male witches who existed. It also didn’t seem like the female witches got along with each other all that well.
So, any meeting with female witches couldn’t be a good thing.
It didn’t help that Sky was without his usual supply kit of spell ingredients. Did that mean Sky was unarmed? Could he protect them if the other witches got nasty?
Nolan reached out, threaded his fingers through Sky’s left hand, and squeezed. That earned him a small smile, at least. He got why Sky didn’t want him there. If the witches were aggressive, Nolan was a target. A weak spot for Sky.
But there was no fucking way he was allowing Sky to face them alone. He would always have Sky’s back. Sky might be the only necromancer in the area—that didn’t mean he was utterly alone in the world. Nope. Nolan would be right there. He just wished there was some way he could be more helpful. The preference would be for a kind of magical helpfulness, though.
Audrey drove them forty-five minutes out of the Hartford suburbs to a tiny state forest crowded with dark-green leaves gilded in warm golden sunlight. She pulled off into a gravel parking lot filled with cars. It should be noted that several had bumper stickers such as “My other ride is a broomstick,” and “Why yes, I can drive a stick,” and “Hocus my Pocus.”