Witches Be Burned: A Magic & Mayhem Novel Read Free Page B

power.
    He and his pack of werewolves almost killed Nexi and Kyden in the process.
    Yet there was one thing Lazarus never counted on:
Nexi.
    He certainly didn’t see it coming when she ended his life—since her magic, as both guardian and witch, proved stronger than the vampire jacked up on Tillie’s magic.
    She sighed at her thoughts and added to Haven, “I get that Kyden’s…
sensitive…
about it all, but he needs to stop protecting me.” Since that night with Lazarus, she hadn’t looked back. Of course, Kyden wasn’t seeing eye-to-eye with her on that point. With her witch magic now centered in soul, and with six months of guardian fighting behind her, she’d never been stronger—something that Kyden was choosing to ignore, and the reason why he hadn’t taken her out on an assignment yet.
    Haven placed a comforting hand on Nexi’s arm and a dose of balmy love seeped into the bond. “Perhaps the problem is you’re both just guardians who want to protect what they feel is most important to them.”
    Nexi pondered the thought and realized that Haven wasn’t wrong—Nexi felt obligated now to protect innocent lives. Kyden, while holding the same type of duty, likely wanted only to protect her. Maybe that was the problem in itself—was it too much to ask to have Kyden’s support of her and her capabilities as a warrior? “Perhaps,” she agreed, when a sudden meow snapped her head down. A familiar furry face looked up to her. “Not you again,” she muttered.
    Twice now, the black fluffy kitten with the orange-tipped tail had found her in the Earthworld. Both times had been when Nexi went shopping. She began to think the kitty was following her.
    Another loud—very impatient—meow had Nexi picking her up. She stared into the kitten’s bright green eyes. “Why won’t you leave me alone?” The kitten purred as Nexi scratched under the kitten’s chin. “And how in the hell are you able to find me all the time?”
    Each time the kitten showed up Nexi had been in different cities. She wondered if the magical energy she sensed oozing from the kitten had something to do with it. Maybe she was a werecat with tracking abilities, but that didn’t explain why the kitten kept wanting to find
her.
    “No wonder she won’t leave you alone,” Haven said, patting the kitten on the head. “She’s a familiar.”
    Nexi scrunched her nose, never having heard that term before, but not surprised she hadn’t, either. Until six months ago she never knew supernaturals were real and weren’t just characters in scary stories told to children around a campfire.
    She’d parted her lips to ask more about the familiar when the front door of the house opened, revealing her luscious, sexy guardian—all male and muscles. Dressed in the guardian gear of a brown leather kilt and scabbard across his bare chest, her heart fluttered in the way it always did when he drew near. The raw heat between them called her forward.
    Intent not to lose her chance to join the assignment, she placed the kitten in Haven’s arms. “Take her home for me, ’kay? She is clearly
never
going to leave me alone, so I better accept she’s mine. I’ll come get her later.”
    Haven’s eyes widened, a sense of horror roaring through their bond. “But if you bring her into the Otherworld, that means you’re keeping her, and if you leave her, she’ll—”
    “I’ll be back soon. Promise.” Nexi dropped a peck on Haven’s cheek, then spun on her heels and ran—her sword banging on her back with each step as she made it across the street.
    The vampire standing on the porch with Kyden noticed Nexi first. She’d never met him before, but that wasn’t a shock, either. The Council’s Guard was made up of hundreds of supernaturals. Though she recognized the tracker next to the vampire: Alazar. They’d worked together when they were hunting down Lazarus.
    Kyden still hadn’t spotted her and said to the vampire, “I’ll get in touch if anything