Slightly Spellbound by Kimberly Frost Page A

side of the room, looking for a chink in Zach’s metaphysical armor.
    I squinted, my head aching like someone had tightened a vise around it. Bryn reached over and gripped my bare forearm, drawing power. I jerked back.
    “No, not to use against Zach,” I said, stepping out of reach.
    “He’s used you against me,” Bryn murmured, and then he spoke in Latin and a window shattered inward. Zach spun just in time to keep a glass shard from stabbing him in the leg. It cut the skin and glanced off. Zach grabbed a piece of glass and flung it at Bryn. Bryn countered with a spell and a wave of his hand, but the amulet interfered and the glass sliced Bryn’s side.
    I grabbed my side. No blood coated my hand, but pain seared my flesh. I panted for breath and dropped to my knees.
    “Zach, stop,” Edie cried. “You’re hurting Tammy Jo.”
    Both men swung to look at me.
    “The amulet can’t hurt her. She’s protected from it. It’s gotta be his magic in the ring that it’s reacting to. Take that damn ring off,” Zach said, stalking over. I shielded my face from the dreaded pendant.
    “Stop. Don’t come closer!” I yelled. He froze.
    “Take the ring off her,” Zach growled at Bryn. “You’re not going to use her as a shield.”
    “It’s not the ring,” Bryn said, bending down and putting a soothing hand on my back.
    I clawed the ring off my finger and cast it aside in case it was the problem. “Let me go,” I said, pushing Bryn away gently. My eyes stung and my head ached. The pain in my side eased, but I thought that was more from time than the weakened effect of the amulet’s power.
    “Get out,” Zach yelled, shoving Bryn hard toward the doorway. “Get out so I can take this thing off. It didn’t hurt her like this last night. Not until you got here.”
    “You can’t use it against me without using it against her. She and I are bound by a blood oath.”
    “Get the hell out of my house,” Zach roared, pushing Bryn through the living room.
    I closed my eyes. The two kinds of magic inside me had come uncoiled from each other. The witch magic wanted to reach out to Bryn. The fae magic wanted to stumble outside into the grass to touch the earth, to draw comfort from it, to heal. Too divided to move, I stayed where I was. My hand throbbed and burned for my missing ring.
    I crawled toward where I’d thrown it. I needed to put it back on. There was too much pain coming from so many directions.
    “Tamara, be still. There’s glass all around you. Be careful,” Bryn said.
    “Out!” Zach shouted.
    “Yes, go outside, Bryn. Please,” I said. I wanted them apart.
    I heard the front door slam and a couple of seconds later, Zach leaned over me. He picked me up and set me on the table. The headache and eye pain eased. He wasn’t wearing the amulet anymore.
    My hand still cramped and seared. I looked around and spotted the gold ring. I hopped off the table and stepped over glass to get to it. I slid it back on my finger and exhaled in relief. I leaned against the counter, feeling exhausted.
    “I had TJ send me your hairbrush. The warlocks at the training center used the hair to code your witch magic into the amulet. They swore it wouldn’t hurt or repel you. It should work on anyone supernatural except you.”
    “Yeah, but I’m not just a witch, Zach. I’m half witch and half fae. I think there’s some iron in the amulet and when it’s activated, it affects me. Also, Bryn’s right. I felt every one of the wounds to him that the amulet inflicted. Our power is connected now. No one can hurt either one of us without hurting the other.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “I made an oath.”
    “What oath? You’ll take it back.”
    “I told you that I made a vow to save his life. I did it willingly, combining my blood and his. My power and his. There’s no way to undo it that I can find. I’ve looked it up in books and asked Aunt Mel.” I shook my head. “It’s for life or longer.”
    Zach took a