Free The Professor Woos The Witch (Nocturne Falls Book 4) by Kristen Painter

weirdness in her time, but this was the topper.
    Gertrude nodded. “You sleeping with the disbelieving man candy?”
    “I—no.”
    “You should be. He’s got it going on for a normie.” Gertrude tapped a finger against her chin. “Technically, he’s not a complete normie, though.”
    “He’s not?”
    Gertrude’s eyes narrowed. “Is he some relation to my Ulysses?”
    Pandora nodded. “Distant nephew.”
    Gertrude slapped her thigh. “I knew it. Same eyes. Plus, I can tell a familiar when I see one.”
    “A familiar?”
    “I tried to give him a hint.” Gertrude wiggled her fingers at the bookshelf on the other side of the room, and a narrow book slid out and floated over. “But he’s got a classic case of denial going on.”
    The book bobbed in the air in front of Pandora. She plucked it free and read the cover. “ Concerning Familiars ?”
    Gertrude waved her hand at Pandora as if assessing her. “Your magic’s a little wobbly on a good day, isn’t it?”
    Pandora lifted her chin. “I do my best.”
    “Oh, it’s not your fault, dearie.” Gertrude levitated so she could look down her nose at Pandora in a very conspiratorial way. “But around the stud muffin, it works just fine, am I right?”
    “No one says stud muffin anymore.” Pandora bit her lip as she thought back. All the magic she’d done that had actually worked had been performed in Cole’s proximity. The candle and the sealing spell. And maybe the summoning spell. He was just a few floors down, after all.
    And while the spell hadn’t found any unfinished magic, it had brought Gertrude out of the ether. Whether or not that was actually a positive remained to be seen. “What does it mean that my magic works around him?”
    “He’s a familiar. And not just any familiar, he’s yours.” She gave Pandora a naughty wink. “Touching him will awaken feelings in both of you, but to seal the bond and keep him from bonding with any other witch, you need to get a little more intimate. You know what I mean? You need to get—”
    “I know what intimate means, so settle down. Let’s go back to what you first said, because I don’t understand all of this. Familiars are like cats and birds and rats. There’s a member of our coven who has a bearded dragon.”
    “You could at least kiss him, that’s all I’m saying.” Gertrude hovered close enough that Pandora realized she was wearing false eyelashes. “And yes, familiars are usually animals. Sometimes, they’re people who can shift into animals.”
    “Cole’s not a shifter.”
    “Ah, but he is . You can see it in his aura.”
    “I can’t see auras.”
    “Didn’t get that gift, eh? It’s all right. Not many do. But trust me, being a familiar is an essential part of who Cole is. After all, my Ulysses was one.”
    Pandora did a quick mental check on all the stories she’d heard about Gertrude and her husband. “I’ve never heard that about you two.”
    Gertrude’s drawn-on eyebrows rose abruptly. “So you’ve heard things about me, then?”
    “My mother knows—knew you.”
    “Who’s she?”
    “Corette Williams.”
    Gertrude nodded. “I remember her. You ask her about human familiars. You’ll see. They’re rare, and those of us who are fortunate enough to get one, don’t talk about it, because there are less-scrupulous witches out there who’d like to steal them away. Some witches spend their whole lives trying to find one, but human familiars don’t work that way. They find the witch who needs them, not the other way around. And if one finds you, then you are a very lucky witch indeed.”
    Pandora’s head was spinning. “But why doesn’t he know he’s one, if that’s what he is?”
    Gertrude shot up into the air and hovered several feet above the floor, her gaze shifting over Pandora’s shoulder. “Gotta go!”
    “Wait!” Pandora put her hand out, but Gertrude was gone.
    Behind her, the attic door opened.
    “You okay up here?”
    She turned. Cole stood at