Trickery by Sabrina York Page A

you.”
    Willow crossed her arms and huffed. “It’s my Coming Out. I don’t understand why I can’t celebrate it the way I want.”
    “You’ll celebrate it the way we all do. In the Sacred Circle. The Goddess will select a mate for you and that will be that.” Skylar drained her coffee.
    “What if I don’t want someone picking out a mate for me? What if I don’t want him?”
    Skylar had to laugh at her naiveté. “You will. You will.” Warlocks could be the most seductive creatures—when they wanted to. During certain times of the year, they were downright irresistible. There was a reason they stayed on their side of the Circle. There was a reason some witches kept their distance. And she wasn’t thinking of one man in particular. She wasn’t. Determinedly, she thrust him from her mind.
    She stood and kissed her protégé on the cheek. “I have to fly now.” She shook a finger in Willow’s face. “You be good now, you hear?”
     
     
    You be good now, you hear?
    Willow glared out at the street as she watched her mentor disappear. The untutored eye would never have noticed the ripple, the distortion in the Fabric as Skylar disappeared herself and took to the sky, but Willow had seen it.
    The Sisters in her coven treated her like a child. It was terribly annoying. They wrapped her in cotton wool and hovered over her shoulder and protected her all the time. All Willow wanted to do was practice her magic, to explore this exciting new power—the power she’d always had but only just discovered.
    She’d studied hard, learned all the spells in the standard book and then begun exploring the archives. Midea had a fit when she discovered Willow in there the first time but now she was used to it. Well, kind of.
    All her hard work had paid off and she was ready for her Coming Out, the ritual officially welcoming her into the fold. She would become a real witch, with permission to cast any spell she liked.
    She bit back a grin. What a lucky thing Skylar hadn’t smelled the spell she’d already begun weaving around Austin. It was a subtle incantation, a dusty mote she’d found buried in the archives. A calling spell. And it was already starting to work.
    It hadn’t been an easy enchantment. Calling spells, seduction amulets and lust potions were tricky at best. For one thing, they didn’t work if the target wasn’t, in some dark corner of his soul, willing to be beguiled. So in addition to the tedious work creating and balancing various elements of this charm, Willow had also had to find a way to reveal herself to him.
    A man like Austin would never want her unless he could perceive her true self.
    It had taken awhile because, damn it all, Midea wove tight, nearly impenetrable magic. But Willow had finally figured it out. Finally poked a hole in the repugnant mask.
    Austin approached and Willow’s heart skittered with anticipation. She reveled in the broad expanse of his shoulders, imagining what that exquisite body was like beneath the tightly stretched fabric of his tee shirt.
    “Can I get you anything else?” His voice was sexy, a dark dulcet melody. Flirtation glittered in his eyes. Ah. He could see her. The spell was nearly complete. She could taste it.
    “No thank you, Austin.”
    He grinned. A glorious raft of dimples exploded on one cheek. “Hey, you know my name.”
    She pointed at his chest. “It’s on your name tag.”
    “Oh. Right.” He laughed and slapped a hand over the metal plate. “What’s your name?”
    “Willow.”
    “Willow. That’s pretty.” He stood there for a moment gazing at her with his head tipped to the side like a puppy dog. “Say, my shift’s over in a few minutes. Can I walk you home?”
    Willow boggled. Holy hell. Surely the spell wasn’t working this quickly? But then again, maybe it was. His expression seemed rather…doting. “W-walk me home?”
    He nodded. A thick black curl flopped onto his forehead. Damn, he was cute. “We do live in the same