Chapter Sixteen

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Bianca dressed carefully for the evening ahead. Warrick was going to pick her up and drive her out to his mother’s place. She was about to officially meet her boyfriend’s mother. But this time, Bianca had the advantage of knowing what his mother had been up to that day at Bubba’s Psychic Readings.

Likely she’d been sizing Bianca up to see if she was good enough for her son. However their relationship came about, Bianca was happy. She was in love with a perfect guy and his mother already approved of her. Win-win.

Once Bianca’s mother found out her eldest daughter was serious about someone, there would be another mother doing a dance of joy in Arkansas. When Bianca went back to Alienn for both of her sisters’ weddings, she’d have a plus one instead of facing blind dates. More wins.

The knock at the door made her heart leap, but not as much as the sight of the man waiting on the other side of it. Warrick was early. He came inside and Bianca kissed him until he stopped looking worried.

“I love you, Bianca. I really do.”

“I love you, too, Warrick. Why are you so nervous? I’ve already met your mother. She chose me for your matchmaking contract. I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”

He put his hand on the back of his neck, rubbing as if trying to smooth out tense muscles. “It’s not that. I need to tell you something else.”

“Did another girl flirt with you today?”

That earned a tentative smile. “No. Nothing like that.” He looked up. He looked at the floor. He pushed out a long sigh.

“Spill it already.”

“I think my mother put a love spell on you,” he blurted. And then looked like he wanted to bite off his own tongue.

“What?”

“Don’t make me repeat it.” Warrick took her hand, squeezing hard as if he feared she’d run.

“A love spell,” she whispered to herself. Bianca considered her actions since meeting Warrick. The moment she’d seen him, Bianca wanted him. She wanted him now. But she didn’t feel like anyone was forcing this feeling. She had this feeling all on her own. Didn’t she?

“I don’t feel like I have a love spell on me.”

Warrick’s gaze narrowed. “What do you think it would feel like?”

“I don’t know. Like I didn’t have reason or the ability to say no to you. But I’ve been the one chasing you all this time. I’ve been the one afraid I’d bonk you over the head and take advantage.”

“I’m sorry.”

Bianca looked into his eyes. “Did she put a spell on you, too?”

He shook his head. “She always swore to us she never would.”

“You kissed me back that first time we met.”

“I did. And I have zero regrets.”

She wrestled with the notion of not having free will where Warrick was concerned. “How did you find out?”

“Viktor told me. He saw the matchmaking contract on Mom’s desk with a pink note that said ‘love spell.’”

“When was this?”

“Last week. He didn’t remember until after meeting you at Insomnia.”

“Hold on. You knew I had a spell on me for a week and you’re just telling me now?”

“I suspected, but I wasn’t sure.”

“And you didn’t tell me. Why not?”

“I was…afraid.”

She couldn’t believe it. “You’re a fearsome, mighty dragon shifter. I know. I’ve seen you shift. I find it difficult to believe you are ever afraid of anything.”

Warrick stared at her, hard. “Are you afraid of me when I shift into my full dragon form?”

“What?”

“It’s a simple question. When I shift into my full, fearsome, mighty dragon form, are you afraid of me?”

“Not exactly.”

“What do you mean, not exactly?”

“Deep down, I know you would never hurt me. That you would always protect me.”

“That is true.”

“But…”

“But?”

“I have a fear of something else, not because of you, but…”

“What? Spill it already,” he said, using her own phrase against her.

Bianca stared deeply into his eyes and wondered if what she was about to tell him would ruin everything. She said in a rush, “I’m never going to want to ride on your back, okay?” Her voice had risen to what her mother considered unladylike.

“I don’t understand. What?”

“You heard me. I know, because I shouted it.”

Warrick looked confused. Bianca was going to have to tell him about her deepest fear.

“What makes you think you have to ride on my back?”

Bianca slowly crossed her arms. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s some sort of symbol of acceptance for me believing in you and loving you, that I trust you enough to ride on your back? I thought it brought about a deeper bond or something between us. At least, that seems to be the way it is in the books I’ve read. I’m terrified that I need to do it for us to be complete. I even tried to ask Viktor about it last week, but he kept running away with rubber baby buggy bumper repeating in his head. But I can’t do it, Warrick. I’m so sorry. I won’t do it.”

She was babbling, and she knew it. Her voice even sounded hysterical to her own ears. Forget about some stupid love spell. She was terrified she was going to lose him because of her own ridiculous fear.

Warrick led her to her sofa and together they sat down. “What on Earth are you so afraid of, Bianca? Tell me.”

She bowed her head, unable to look him in the eye. “Heights,” she said in a small voice. A tear escaped from one of her lids to run down her cheek.

“You don’t want to ride my back because you’re afraid of heights?” Warrick grabbed her and pulled her into his strong arms. She clung to him and sniffled.

“Why do you think I live in an apartment on the ground floor?”

She felt a rumble in his chest. Then another rumble, louder.

“Are you laughing at me?”

“No! Not at all. I’m laughing at something else.”

“What?”

He pulled back far enough to look down into her face, his grin the widest she’d ever seen. “I was afraid you’d want me to be your personal taxi all across town once you saw me shift into my dragon form. Every other date I’ve ever had didn’t want me, they wanted expedient transport.”

Bianca gave a watery laugh, but quickly sobered. “Okay, now we’ve got that sorted, why didn’t you tell me about being spellbound? Was it because you were afraid of losing me?”

Warrick hugged her tight. “Yes.”

“Are you certain you aren’t also spellbound?”

“My mother swore to both me and Viktor that she never would put a spell on us. Just to be sure, Viktor called some kid in a gray hoodie, who came and looked me over. The kid said I didn’t have a spell on me.”

Bianca digested that. Warrick wasn’t spellbound, but she might have been, even though her feelings for him felt like they were all her own. “Now what?”

“Now we go to my mother and tell her to remove the spell and hopefully we can still be together. That’s what I want. If nothing else, we can be good friends.”

Bianca wrapped her arms around his neck. “Forget friends. Since the moment I saw you, I’ve wanted to hug you and kiss you and never let you go. I like it. If this is being spellbound, maybe I don’t want it removed.”

“I appreciate that, but we’ve spent time together. We have a lot in common. We have a whole week of history of being girlfriend and boyfriend. That’s got to count for something, right? Spell or no spell.”

“You’re right. We’ll be okay regardless of whether I have a spell on me.”

Bianca held onto Warrick and hoped that after the spell was gone she’d feel the same way. She hated the thought of losing him over something so trivial as free will.

The drive out to his mother’s large estate on the outskirts of town was a tense one. She couldn’t help but be nervous about what would happen when the spell was gone, and she knew Warrick felt the same way.

The place looked like a grand European castle tucked in the woods. She loved it.

Warrick parked his car in the drive and came around to help her out. A butler—an honest to goodness butler—opened the door as they climbed the front steps. “Your mother is waiting for you in the drawing room.”

“Thanks, Rochester. This is Bianca.”

“Charmed, miss.”

“Bianca, this is my mother’s butler, Rochester.”

“Nice to meet you, Rochester.”

The butler took their coats. Warrick grabbed Bianca’s hand and headed for the drawing room.

“This place is huge. You could walk around here even in your mighty fearsome dragon form.”

“That’s why she built her home this big, in case I ever wanted to. Which I did.”

Warrick led her into a large space at the end of the hall, through another large doorway. An older woman Bianca recognized looked at them and smiled warmly. “Warrick. Bianca. I’m so glad you made it.” Vilma stood up and motioned them over to join her in a nice seating arrangement in front of a large roaring fire on the opposite side of the room.

Viktor occupied one chair in a masculine sprawl. He managed a tight smile for them. When Bianca looked into his mind, he was mentally chanting.

“Rubber baby buggy bumper? Still? You can drop it, Viktor. I already know the secret.”

Viktor tilted his head back in an exaggerated sigh of relief. “At last. Thank you. My brain feels like mush.”

“Know what secret, dear?” Vilma asked.

Bianca turned to the older woman. “Warrick told me about the love spell you put on me.”

Vilma sucked in a deep breath. She looked at Warrick, eyes wide.

He added, “And I know about the matchmaking contract you set up between us using Bubba’s Matchmaking Service.” She sucked in another deep breath.

“We’d like you to remove—”

A thunderous noise silenced him. Without thinking, Bianca reached for Warrick, just as he reached to pull her protectively into his arms. They all turned toward the center of the large room to see a column of bilious smoke rising toward the high ceiling. It quickly dissipated to reveal a woman dressed in a skintight black dress, with raven hair, black-tipped nails and lips the color of fresh blood. The look in her eye said she wanted someone dead.

Vilma swiftly moved around Warrick and Bianca and approached the woman, apparently unafraid. “What are you doing here, Cassandra?”

“I’ve come to exact my vengeance, of course.”