Colin: Her Warlock Protector Book 4 (2 page)

“That was impressive.”
 

The voice was deep and just a hair shy of gravelly. She spun around, hands up to defend herself, and she saw a man leaning against the brick wall just a few yards away from her. She thought that it was no accident that he stood between her and the freedom of the street. Though she considered ducking back into the diner, she stayed still.

“Impressive?” she asked cautiously. “All I did was dump some trash. Is that a big thing among your people?”
 

“No, though I suppose some of my relatives could use some tips on keeping their homes in good order. No, I meant what you did in the diner. With the girl.”

 
Selene forced a laugh even as she started reaching for the door to the diner. Whoever this man was, he was making every nerve in her body scream with tension. He was not terribly tall, but she could see how broad he was, and he moved with the calm assurance of a powerful predator. In the orange light, it was hard to make out his features, but she refused to let herself panic. She might be short, but she was far from helpless, as this man would find out if he pushed her too far.
 

“Now what do you think I did with that girl?” Selene drawled. “You make it sound as if we were putting on quite a show back there.”

 
“I think you did a good thing,” he said, and there was some sincerity in his voice. “I think you took a burden off her that would have hunched her shoulders for her entire life.”
 

“I talked to her, and that was all,” Selene said, but he cut her off.

“I know better, Miss Lapointe.”
 

Selene couldn't help but flinch when she heard her real name, and she squared herself up to face the man. To her mild surprise, he didn't try to close the distance between them. Instead, he stayed where he was, and she felt a little less alarmed. If he was going to kill her, he was taking his time about it, but she wasn't terribly worried one way or another.

“So I suppose my dark past has caught up with me,” she murmured, and he laughed.

It was a rich, velvety sound that caught her off guard, and she realized with a faint pang that she was drawn to this man. Perhaps it was the night. Perhaps it was the slightly thrilling menace in the way he watched her. Perhaps it had simply been too long since she had found anyone in her bed, but some part of her responded to something in him. Perhaps it was merely a witch recognizing a warlock.

“Not your dark past, no,” he said. “Though it is certainly dark enough. If someone came out of it looking for you, well, you might want to be alert.”
 

“So you're not a member of the Magus Corps?” she asked sarcastically. “You're not going to tell me to come back to the bosom of the coven and to fall in line like a good little witchling?”
 

“You're right and wrong all at once,” he replied. “I am a member of the Corps. Colonel Colin MacDaniel, at your service.”
 

He actually bowed to her with a courtly grace that made her think of gentlemen from the movies, and for some reason it made her blush.

“So where am I wrong?”
 

“You're not getting another offer to join a coven,” he said, and now there was something as hard as steel in his voice. “You're a rogue, and at this point, now that we've found you, I've come to offer you a choice.”
 

“Sounds great. What have you got?”
 

All of Selene's nerves cranked up another inch. She knew what was coming, and though she wasn't afraid, no one in their right mind wanted to go toe-to-toe with a Magus Corps officer who held the rank of colonel. Like all members of the Corps, he was dressed in simple black, though his dark coat was of a fine cut. She would bet that the faint glint at his collar was an insignia representing his rank, a brushed steel pentacle. She had dealt with members of the Corps before, but never one so highly regarded.

“You, Selene Lapointe, have been judged a rogue that is too powerful and simply too troublesome to be allowed to run free. The task that I have been assigned is to bring you to heel in the service of a coven or the Corps itself, or to eliminate you.”

The words hung in the air between them for a long moment, and then Selene tilted her head.

“Elimination. That sounds like a pretty word for an execution, Colonel. I assume that the executioner would be you?”
 

There was a faint hesitation, and then he nodded.

“Believe me when I say it would give me no joy. But you have injured a coven master with no provocation, and you disappeared after swearing allegiance to the coven in Montana. The Corps is forgiving, but simply put, you are dangerous, Miss Lapointe.”

Selene smiled, though it was a smile you could use to cut glass.
 

“So dangerous that I need to be brought in like a prisoner or put down like a dog? I suppose I should be flattered.”
 

He started to speak, and she shook her head.

“And what waits for me when I get back?”

“A hearing first,” Colin said, sounding relieved. Honestly, she could have laughed. “You'll state in front of a set of mediators why you injured the coven master. He will be allowed to present his side of things. The consequences may be harsh, but you can be assured that they will be fair.”

“I'm sure,” she said, doing her best to sound contrite.
 

She stepped closer to him, something that seemed to startle him. Now there was just a few feet of space separating them, and she became aware of how good he smelled. There was just a touch of cologne on him, and whatever it was, it was mild and spicy, and she liked it.
 

“Do you think I'll be okay?” she murmured, and he looked down for a moment, which was far from what she wanted.
 

“I do,” he said, finally. “I'm not a mediator. But I have heard things about your coven master, and this is not the first hearing he has been sent for.”

Selene laughed a little, and that made him look up startled. That was what she had been waiting for. This close, she could see that his eyes, whatever their color, were pale. It was a surprise against his black hair, but that mattered less than the fact that she could hold his gaze.
 

“
Praxis,”
she muttered, and she saw him go still.

This was a variation on the spell she had worked on Yasmine. It held him motionless, and it showed him that her powers worked in more than one way. The praxis charm would help him remember, but it also had the very handy side effect of putting him into a trance that would last until someone disturbed him. He was calm now, and she smiled.

 
“I suppose I could lecture you on being so careless with a rogue like me,” she said softly, “but I'm sure your precious commandant will do that. I want you, and any other Corps members who come after me to know what they're dealing with, okay? I'm not some scared little witch who just realized she can spit fire. I'm not a terrified rogue who's desperate to be found. I took out a coven master. You know what that means. I'm taking off now, and if you don't want to be in a serious world of hurt, you won't come looking for me again.”

She paused, and for a sudden, strange and wild moment, she wanted to punctuate her speech with a kiss. There was something about the combination of his scent, the way his lips looked in the low light, and his body that was compelling. She had to force herself back. Instead, she contented herself with a blown kiss thrown over her shoulder as she walked around him and headed down the street.

“SIR? SIR, ARE you all right?”

 
Colin opened his eyes as if he were waking up in his own bed in his cabin in the Catskills. He shook his head. Where just a moment before, he had be staring down at a woman who might have been the most dangerous witch in her generation, now he was looking at a pleasant-faced blond woman carrying a small bag of trash.

“Sir, should I call someone?”
 

He smiled at her, and shook his head.

“No, no, I'm fine. I just got lost in my thoughts there.”

For an hour and a half,
he realized, checking his watch.
 

The woman looked a little comforted, and she nodded.
 

“Do you need some food or something?”
 

With a start, Colin realized that she thought he was looking for a handout, and he laughed.

“No, but thank you for your kindness. I suppose I'm not really feeling myself tonight. So, I'll take myself off.”

He walked onto the street, and as he did so, he pulled his smartphone out of his pocket, unlocked it, and dialed a number he had memorized. The line picked up immediately.

“Stephan here. How's it going, Colin?”
 

“Well, I made contact.”

“How'd that go?”

“I made contact. She held me in place while she told me to go fuck myself. And she left me with my memories.”

“That’s a good thing?”
 

“Well, it's not a terrible thing,” he said. “I figured out that her powers need eye contact. That's what I wanted to know.”

“I am glad you figured that out, and that you still remember how to use a phone.”
 

The relief in Stephan's voice was real. When Selene Lapointe had been discovered more than ten years ago, there were already mutterings about what should be done with a witch so powerful. The ability to manipulate memories was a rare power, and in the past, it was whispered that it was rarer still because those who possessed this power were frequently found guilty of terrible things and summarily executed.

 
“So it sounds like phase one of your plan is taken care of,” Stephan observed. “What happens next?”

“The next thing to do is use your clever little toy to track her down. This is going to work, right?”
 

“What do you take me for, Colonel? Of course it will. Now that you've spoken to her, just picture her in your mind, do that magic that you do, and boom. That's all.”

“Sounds a little too convenient. Are there any catches I should know about?”
 

“Nope. Just that if you lose it, I'm sure as hell not replacing it. That's a one of a kind item, and it might be a hundred years before I can make another.”
 

Other officers might deride Stephan for making toys, but Colin had simply been in the field too long to really disregard the man's talents. They were useful, and they made things possible that hadn't been for most of his career as a Corps officer. He knew that Stephan's devices had saved more than one life.

“I understand. I'm heading off after Miss Lapointe now.”

“Good luck. Hope you can remember me saying that in a few hours.”
 

Stephan hung up, and Colin pocketed his phone thoughtfully. The amulet in his hand was a humble little thing. It was a leather thong knotted several times and threaded through a small black stone with a hole worn through it. He could feel its power, however, and he could feel it respond to his own. Now that he had made contact with Selene Lapointe, he could find her again. The thought made him smile.

He had seen the way her golden eyes had lit up when she got close. He knew that his compact and muscular body had had an effect on her. He had been drawn to her as well. There was something about curvy women who knew what they wanted that always got to him.

He knew that there was a more sober component to the chase. Selene was a confirmed rogue, and that meant that if he couldn't convince her, he would have to kill her. However, in his long life, there were only a handful of executions that he had had to oversee. He knew that Selene, no matter her troubles, could be made to see reason. Despite the potential grim work in front of him, a part of him was relishing that chase. It was a hunt, and he had always been a good hunter.

The amulet in his hands lit up, emitting a shower of copper sparks, and he was reminded of Selene's hair. With a grin, he reached for his own power, and between the space of two heartbeats, he disappeared.

THERE WAS NO way that a waitress could afford Selene's apartment. It was a beautiful little brownstone at the end of a street paved in cobblestones. The interior was decorated with a charming old-world aesthetic, and the only thing that looked even vaguely modern was the computer in the study.

Selene stripped out of her clothing with relief when the door was locked behind her. She grinned when a white ferret danced its way up to her toes.

“Well hello there, little Bitsy. Did you miss me today?”

She let the ferret nibble lightly on her fingers before going to the kitchen to prepare her pet's dinner. When Bitsy was happily munching away, Selene found herself torn.
 

With a day like the one she had had, she wanted nothing more than to sink into her bathtub amidst a huge pile of bubbles and read a favorite book. However, her real job called, and instead she logged onto her computer. It took a few moments for even her powerful machine to handle the encryption, and she made a face when she saw an assignment waiting for her.

She quickly scanned the several lines of text that she had been given. It looked simple enough, and it was even local. She didn't have to travel, and typically, she liked those jobs the best. She gave a passing thought to the handsome colonel she had dealt with earlier that evening, but she strongly doubted she would see him again. Most of the Magus Corps was more than happy to steer clear of her after they’d had a demonstration of her powers. She assumed that this one would be no different. Still, it might not be a bad thing to find herself a new place soon. She had been in Chicago for quite some time, and it was never a bad idea to stay mobile, to keep moving.
 

She confirmed her assignment and logged off. She was headed for the bathroom when she realized that she would be sad to leave the home that she had created for herself. It was beautiful, and she’d had a wonderful time picking the items out. Selene sighed. It all went away sooner or later, and she tried to be philosophical about it. The apartment was lovely, but she was beginning to get the idea that this comfort was more a trap than anything else for her.