Jaxson(52)

“Oh, thank God.” Olivia let out a breath. “Where are you?”

“Everyone’s at the safehouse for now. We gave the bad guys a pretty good smackdown, but the asshole in charge is still on the loose. I need you to come to the safehouse. Everyone connected to this needs to lay low, stay off the radar, until we can get this sorted once and for all.”

“The safehouse?” Olivia asked, giving a pointed look to Gwen.

Her aunt’s eyes grew wide, and she shook her head rapidly. No way Olivia could bring a witch into a den of wolves. And besides, Olivia couldn’t carry out her plan with that many onlookers.

“It’s really just my family’s place in the mountains. But it’s off the grid and safe. And… plenty big. You could have your own room.” There was apology in his voice. “I know things aren’t exactly settled between us, Olivia, but you have to let me keep you safe. Please. Either way, you need to get out of your apartment. Once they get regrouped, they might find you there.”

“I…” She scrambled for a reason not to do this. “I have a bunch of work in the office that I’m in the middle of—”

“It can wait.” Weariness crept into Jaxson’s voice. It was late. He had to be tired from the mission to rescue his brother. And stressed, worrying about her.

Olivia hated using that against him, but she had to. “Look, if we’re going to hole up for a long time, I need something to do. And Riverwise needs to keep running while you’re hiding out. I’ll just stop by the office and pick up a few things—”

“Fine.” He was frustrated. “But not without me. I’ll meet you there in twenty minutes. Pack up your things and bring everything you’ll need for an extended stay. I don’t know how long it will take to track these bastards down.”

His voice was even more tired now, but she had known he would never let her go to the office alone. Which meant she, Gwen, and Jaxson would be in the same room for a short period of time… and that was all she needed.

“Thank you, Jaxson.” The gratitude in her voice was real.

“Olivia.” The way he said her name, soft and yearning, choked her up all of a sudden. There was a brief silence on the phone. He seemed to be struggling for words. “I was thinking about you tonight, and—”

“I’ll see you there,” Olivia said quickly, then hung up the phone. The choking feeling threatened to crawl up and push tears down her face, but she held it in. Whatever Jaxson was going to say, she couldn’t hear it… not before she carried through with this. Afterward, he would be free to choose from all the female wolves in the world—she didn’t want him professing his love for her now, minutes before she freed him from the curse.

It wasn’t fair to either of them.

“Are you all right, dear?” The concern was back on Gwen’s face.

Olivia swallowed her tears and nodded. “Let’s go.”





Her glamour had to be perfect… only trouble was she hadn’t performed any magic in over a decade.

“How do I look?” Olivia asked her aunt. They didn’t have any mirrors in her office, which was where they were waiting for Jaxson to arrive.

“Sybil had more cleavage showing.” Gwen’s nose was wrinkled with disgust.

Olivia could hardly stand it herself, but her glamour spell was supposed to convince Jaxson that his nemesis had returned. She had to get it right. She closed her eyes and pictured the haughty witch in her mind—yes, she definitely had more cleavage showing under her clingy purple silk blouse than Olivia had allowed. Adjusting the glamour was like adjusting her imagination, so as soon as she had a good fix on Sybil’s porcelain skin, long raven hair, and oversized breasts straining against the skimpy outfit, Olivia opened her eyes again.

“How’s that?” she asked.

“Perfect.” Gwen’s frown showed her disgust, but at least Olivia had the spell right.

“How do I sound?”

“Your voice is a dead match, but you don’t sound like her at all,” her aunt said.

“Because I’m not rude enough?” Olivia winced. She was a kitten to Sybil’s tigress. How was she going to be able to pull this off?

“Imagine you loathe everyone except for the pleasure or power they can bring you.” Gwen’s expression was even more disgusted. “Talk to me like you’re thinking about turning me to ash just for daring to breathe your air. Like you’re the Queen of all magic, only no one has managed to appreciate your brilliance.”

“Pathetic peasants!” Olivia swept out a hand to her imaginary audience. It was jarring to see it look exactly like Sybil’s long-fingered one. “Can’t you see how glorious I am? You will suffer under my reign!”