Playing with Monsters by Amelia Hutchins

are right now.”
    I trembled as his words echoed through my brain. My eyes took in his disheveled suit and noted the runes that glowed and pulsed just beneath the collar of his dress shirt. Death runes? Impossible. It was a dead language. No one knew how to use them, let alone control them enough to place them upon skin. I tried to focus on them, but unbidden, my eyes moved to meet his.
    “You won’t get in my business again,” he whispered with a strange tone and cadence to his words as he lowered his mouth and nipped at my bottom lip. Pain shot through my body, and I moaned as he released my lip, only to capture it again and apply even more pressure. Pain mixed with pleasure, and I felt my body melting for more. “You like that, don’t you, sweet girl?” he asked as he pulled away and looked my body over slowly. “You make it really fucking hard to walk away when you respond to me so sweetly,” he rumbled angrily and I blinked in confusion.
    As if I wanted this? I couldn’t seem to control my body around him, and he had me at a huge disadvantage.
    “What are you doing to me?” I whispered in a broken whimper as the emotions I had been holding back threatened to come out all at once.
    “You’ll stay out of my way, because killing you would be a waste of what I presume will be a worthwhile fuck. I won’t take chances, not even for you, Lena. My men want you dead and they’re not convinced you can be swayed to stay out of our way. You’re too fragile in this state, too breakable. Do you understand what I am telling you?” he asked as his eyes lifted to meet mine. I inhaled a shuddering breath as I took them in. They were no longer inky black, but a striking shade of blue mixed with green hues. I blinked and they were back to normal, and I wondered if I had imagined it?
    “I’m fragile, I need to stay out of your way,” I replied through anger and disbelief. I was not fragile!
    “I wish you weren’t so fragile,” he whispered ruefully as his fingers trailed between my thighs. “I’m not accustomed to waiting for what I want, and it’s only going to be harder on you when I finally get it.”
    I narrowed my eyes on his and forced words out through my useless lips. “I didn’t see a dog.”
    His eyes snapped to mine and narrowed. His body instantly pressed hard against mine and his hands captured my face and held it immobile between his large hands. His kiss was hard, punishingly so. I moaned and tried to remember why I needed to fight him.
    “I came by the house to explain what happened tonight,” he said insistently as he pulled his mouth away. “You let me inside. We talked for a while, and I told you about the dog. The one I discovered on the highway. It’s what you saw me burying tonight. There was no body, just a dog. You thought it was a human, but it was an honest mistake. I left when you became tired, and you slept peacefully afterwards.”
    My lips moved, telling him exactly what he wanted to hear. After the words had left my mouth, I kissed him to shut him up. His words were ricocheting through my head, and it hurt. Bad. It was like compulsion, but I knew it couldn’t be. Witches of our coven were protected from it, and yet whatever he was doing, I wanted to believe in what he was saying.
    “You’ll come to my club tomorrow. Your sister will bring you at the coven’s bidding. You’ll come to my office alone. I’ll see you there, sweet witch.”
    I blinked and looked around the room. I sat up and looked at the floor where the salt was still in place around the bed. My eyes moved to the warding runes on the walls that had been carved there when the house was first built, and then I looked out the single window at the fading form of the man who I was pretty sure wasn’t a warlock, because we couldn’t do those kinds of tricks.

Chapter Seven
    I pulled the teapot from the stove and filled a large mug to the rim with burning water. The earthy aroma of Earl Grey made my nose dance a