Wolves at the Door - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,5

into giving up the house? No way. I’m onto your deal. No incubus is worming his way into my pants.”

“I swear I have no interest in worming my way anywhere. It’s Helena…I care about.” I said it too soft for Helena to hear. “But she hasn’t let me worm my way into her pants either. I wanted to tell you a little bit about Helena, because I met her when she bought my grandfather’s house. He was the last of my family, and it was hard to say goodbye to all those memories. The house kept luring me back, and when it did, I saw Helena busting her ass trying to make it beautiful. She loved the house. She worked hard. And she did a lot of it all on her own. She told me how she treated you in high school, but now I think her family treats her with disdain because this is what she does.”

For a second, I thought I had her. She looked at Helena. She seemed anxious and cornered. “That’s a nice story, Mr. Capello,” she said. “I wish Helena luck. But if you think I’m giving up the house, I don’t know why I would.”

“The house was in my family.”

“Family? Family friend, by the sound of it. Blanche Greenwood is an old lady who deserves a fair price.”

“It’s haunted by a ghost who is a family friend.”

“Nearly every house that age is haunted. You’ve got to let the ghost move on.”

I was losing patience, and took a deep breath before I did something rash, like the time I accidentally used magic to slam the brakes on Helena’s car. I could feel the temper simmering in me now. “The house is a mess,” I said. “I’ve seen it. And I’ve seen the comps. They’re not wizard houses, but—you don’t really want the house, do you?”

Her breath was coming a little faster. “Back off.”

“What do you want?” I pressed.

My honorable intentions went right out the window. I could feel myself luring her in, using my magic to seize her trust before I’d earned it. I’d done this many times in my life without ever knowing what it was.

Now I was starting to see. I thought I was good at persuading people to see my side, to win their hearts and minds. But I was just using magic.

“I want…” She was struggling not to speak.

I need this house. I have to have it. This is my family’s history. It’s too late to turn back now. Even if it means I have to shove this girl out of the way.

“I want to destroy the council,” she choked.

Then her eyes widened in terror. I had forced the words from her mouth, and she looked at me like no one had ever looked at me. Like I was a villain, a man to be feared. Sweat broke out on her brow. She covered her mouth.

“Please—” She was scrambling for something else she could say, something to save her from what she feared might come next. Maybe she thought I would tell Helena and Helena would tell the wizard councils, but I was also in over my head here. I hardly knew what the wizard councils did or what power they had.

The spell was broken and I took a step back. I forced her to speak.

Who was I becoming?

“Why?” I asked. The rush of magic left me. I was just asking her like a normal person now.

“Why are you working with an Ethereal witch like her?” Billie gasped out. “I can’t trust her. I don’t trust any of them, the witches who hold the power in this world. They play nice when it’s convenient. But when life gets hard, they protect each other. Not a nobody witch like me, and not a demon like you. I don’t know what your deal is, but I don’t trust her, and I sure don’t trust you either,” Billie said, and then she turned away from me and rushed into the settlement office.

I heard Helena come charging up to me. She flung out her arms. “Is she going in there to buy our house?”

“Yes. I could have stopped her, but I would have had to do something awful.”

“Some good that was, then! Graham—we need that house!”

“What could you have done without altering her thoughts? She’s determined. But she has her reasons, and—”

“What are they?” Helena interrupted me. She was a woman on a mission, a woman who hated to lose.

“I want to know all about