Free Wicked Nights by Diana Bocco Page B

her jump. Emily’s number was flashing on her screen, and she knew what that meant. She had something important to tell her about the case.   Something she probably couldn’t discuss in front of the suspect. She cursed under her breath. More than anything in the world right now, she wanted to stay and find out what was going on.
     
    “Sorry, I have to go. Do you mind if we continue this some other time? How about tomorrow?”
     
    “Come over for dinner, Miss Cole, and I’ll explain a few things about magic.”
     
    She nodded and turned to walk towards the door. Before stepping out, she decided there was one more question she needed to ask. She turned around, and her eyes found his.
     
    “One more thing. Does the name Corneliu mean anything to you?”
     
    Silence took over the room. It seemed like minutes before either one of them moved or breathed. Her mind was lost in a snarl of thoughts, trying to figure out her next move, his next words. But when they came, they didn’t provide any answers.
     
    “I don’t think so,” he said.
     
    She hesitated for a second but decided against asking any more questions. Maybe because part of her realized he wasn’t willing to give her any more answers.
     

     

Chapter 2
     
    Corneliu .
     
    It didn’t seem possible, but there it was. When the woman first mentioned the stang , Alex’s first thought was of his cousin Corneliu. Immediately after that, he felt the energy of the room change and the electric charge of the air swell. And then something happened to her. He could feel her own energy vibrating, increasing in some way. That connection was enough for her to somehow “hear” the name Corneliu.
     
    This was a complication he wasn’t expecting. He could deal with Corneliu if he was really behind the disappearances, but this was different.
     
    It had been a long time since Alex had been able to connect with an “ordinary” human. The human mind was too limited, too closed up to act as a receiver for a warlock’s energy. And yet, somehow, he’d been able to connect with this woman today.
     
    His mind was screaming “danger,” but the rest of his body and soul were just too curious about her to turn away. He had felt the attraction as soon as she walked into the room, but once he realized there was a bridge between them, curiosity turned into fascination.
     
    Still, it was dangerous. His kind had mostly escaped detection for centuries, and he wasn’t about to risk the secret just because she had all the right curves. Being a warlock in the modern world was tricky. He was human enough to lead a normal life. Hell, he was human enough to become an illusionist and pretend everything he was doing was just that, an illusion. It was easier for humans to believe in tricks and mind games than to allow for the possibility that magic was real, that he was really making things move and disappear using just his mind. But all that hiding in plain sight was possible because he was able to hide the other side of him, the truly magical one.  
     
    So he had to be careful the next time he saw her. He needed to figure out how connected they were and why. But he also needed to figure what part Corneliu played in all this.
     
    Damn him.
     
    If his cousin was involved, he was almost sure he knew why. Samhain was just around the corner. While “normal” people would celebrate Halloween by dressing up and going around collecting candy or playing scary games, Corneliu was probably planning a ritual. And not just any ritual.
     
    Alex had read the newspapers. All the women had birthdays that fell on one of the pagan holidays. They were all the right age, with the right look and the right energy. He hadn’t realized the connection then because he’d been missing one vital piece of information: the stang , that magical tool used to cast a circle before starting a spell … or a ritual. You weren’t really supposed to leave those behind after a ritual, but maybe whatever