Wicked Magic Read Free Page A

fun.”
    â€œOut,” he growled when for some reason he wanted to smile. That thought had him scowling again.
    The Faerie giggled, then swooped out of his home and into the twilight, pink sparkles and the scent of lilacs following in her wake.
    Keir shook his head. Galia had teased him often outside of his cabin, but like other Fae she had never been in his home. What made her trespass today? Apparently her desire to go to the San Francisco Otherworld.
    Pink dust. Damn. It would be weeks before he got the female-smelling lilacs out of the air.
    But he had far more pressing matters to be concerned with than one of the mischievous Fae.
    Ceithlenn .
    Keir was tempted to rouse his warriors and head to the
San Francisco Otherworld tonight, but his men and women needed at least one good night’s rest before they went to war.
    After removing his weapons belt and setting it on a table, Keir went to a small corner of the great room to a chair positioned by the window where carved wooden figurines perched on the sill. Among the small figures were an elk, a squirrel, a hawk, and a raven. Keir settled into the chair, leaned forward, and reached for the box where he kept his tools.
    When he was but a boy, a Dryad had shown him how to bring the creatures to life that “lived” in the wood. No one, save for his Dryad teacher, was aware of his aptitude for this art form. It was simply something he chose to do to relax.
    Keir removed a large piece of cedar from a pile of assorted wood the Dryads had given him, grabbed one of his carving tools, and slid the metal into the cedar. He concentrated on bringing it to life.
    Only this time, for the first time, it was not an animal he carved, but a face. As the features formed he found himself shaping the head and shoulders of a woman he had never met.
    He couldn’t seem to stop himself. It was as if the face had to be released from the cedar before he left in the morning.
    When Keir was finally finished, the wood polished until the features shone in the dim candlelight, it was late into the night. He blinked his tired eyes and stared at the face for a while. He stroked the cheek with his thumb, the polished wood as smooth as a woman’s skin.
    Why had he carved a face? The face of a woman he did not know?
    He shook his head, put away his carving tools, and set the face on the windowsill before heading to his bed. Despite the urgency he felt, he needed what rest he could get before leaving come morning.
    They were going to war.

Chapter 3
    SAN FRANCISCO
    With a grunt of exertion, Rhiannon helped Sydney physically move a long table from one end of the once closed-off common room to the other. They set the table down with a loud thump and Rhiannon put her hands on her jean-clad hips, rolled her shoulders, and moved her neck from side to side to relieve some of the stress. Her chin-length auburn hair swung as she moved her head.
    It was only the night before last that she’d had the vision of Ceithlenn and the images still turned her stomach and caused the Fomorii scars on her cheek to burn.
    The common room was filled with the chatter of witches, warriors, and Paranormal Special Forces—PSF—officers all working together. As much as she wanted more D’Danann to get here and get here quick, she had no idea where they were going to put them. They’d probably have to sleep on the floor of their shared apartments until more rooms were ready. She and the others would have to make the basement into a living area.
    Yeah, they needed more space. Never mind the friggin’ grocery store and cookie factory they needed to buy to feed the warrior Fae. Thank the goddess for the wise investments most of the witches had made over the years.
    Dirt streaked Rhiannon’s cheeks and sweat rolled down the side of her face. But she felt the satisfaction of a job well
done as she gazed around the room where everyone was working to move out old furniture, boxes, and assorted