Free Final Cut Miami Voodoo You Love? by Belinda McBride Page A

pointy tail and began working at a mat. She made a clucking sound. “What have you done to your hair, child?”
    Her accent was soothing and reminded Antonio of home. His parents still lived in Rio, but in a nicer neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. They had only a short walk to find space to shift and run. When they were finished in Miami, he’d call them, maybe take Coco to visit. He smiled at how easily she’d integrated into his life. Just days before, the future held only himself and his job. Now he had a mate. His job complemented hers, and his body told him without question that children were a possibility.
    “Look at him looking at you. I never expected to see Antonio so in love with anyone but himself.”
    “Not with a girl, anyway.”
    He didn’t even bother to look in Ramon’s direction, instead taking a seat where he could watch Nicola working on Coco. She frowned, working on the spot he’d started earlier. Could it possibly be the same day?
    “Such a tangle. Someone was very angry at you, young lady.” Her hands worked swiftly, but gently. The older woman looked up at Antonio, anger in her gaze. “This mess of her hair represents what they did to her mind. I can fix it up, but if you don’t find who contracted the spell, it’ll take hold again. Her mind will snarl as badly as her pretty hair.”
    “Do you have any ideas who did this?”
    “Oh, I have ideas all right. But the man -- or woman -- who did this hex isn’t that important. The person who paid holds the other end of this.” She tugged and pulled a long strand of red cotton from Coco’s thickest mat. “You burn both parts of this little rope and it’ll break the hex.” Antonio glanced over at Ramon, noting the other witch was looking into the distance, a look of complete serenity on his face. Had he performed the magic? Somehow, it didn’t seem like Ramon’s style. It was mean and malicious, yes. But somehow, he caught the faint scent of blood sacrifice coming from Ramon. He’d moved on to darker things.
    Once she’d unraveled the red cotton twine from Coco’s hair, the rest came apart like magic. Coco reached up and sighed deeply. She rubbed her scalp, relief evident on her face.
    “Antonio, is it…” She frowned and shook her head. “Still gone.”
    He wasn’t certain if she meant her husky or her mind. Didn’t matter, they were a step in the right direction.
    “Now my darlings, you figure out why someone did this. If you can find the person who cast the spell, that will be helpful. Other than the tangling aspects, is there anything outstanding about the spell? Anything that is… a signature?”
    “My animal’s gone.” For the first time since he’d met her, Coco sounded angry. “Gone. Not afraid, not asleep. Gone .”
    “You’re a shifter?” Nicola raised an arched brow in an expression he remembered from long ago. “And this spell took your animal?” She cast a meaningful glance at Ramon. “Anything else?”
    “Water. The spell grows weak around water.” Antonio felt rage creeping into his bones, waking the tiger. He couldn’t let it loose, not here in a bar, but still, he knew he didn’t have long. The cat had fixated on Ramon and wasn’t going to back down. Nicola had given her son away.
    As though sensing an explosion coming, the bouncer moved in their direction. In the far distance of his sanity, he heard the big man speaking to the bartender.
    “Hmm. Someone who uses patterns and hasn’t mastered the elements. Not an accomplished practitioner, I’d say, but a certain rough power. My son might know someone who matches the description.” Tia Nicola calmly put her tools back into her satchel, untying the cape from Coco’s neck. “Such pretty hair.” She stroked it gently, and then quickly tied it back into a French braid. “This will help, but it will soon start tangling again.”
    Antonio rose and sat on the bench opposite Ramon. He stared steadily at the man’s dark, shadowed face.