Free Demon's Moon: A Celia Winters Novel Book 2 by D. L. Harrison Page B

it might stop a shifter from ripping off
the door, or shooting them through the glass with a weapon.
    She did Ed’s corner last.  She did the best she could not to
be intrusive, but she was pretty much leaning over him if not touching.  She
could scent his attraction to her easily from this close, and the effect she was
having on him being so close.  She had to concentrate harder to get it done, and
then returned to her seat.  She felt a little better, doing magic had helped.
    Silva settled down quickly, only getting a little upset,
wards weren’t something that took too much magic at once, but the tiger was
still sensitive.
    “I think that will do it, but you should maybe add water and
earth protections when we stop.”
    She turned her head when Ed cleared his throat nervously, so
he wouldn’t see her knowing smile.
    “I can do that.”
    She looked at her watch.  The wards had only taken an hour, which
left at least six more to go before they’d find a motel somewhere in
Pennsylvania.  Then she adjusted her body in the seat…
     
    Celia asked curiously, “I was kind of forced into this, not
that I mind it.  I think I like being an enforcer, but…”
    She left the question implied.
    Ed replied, “You’re curious why I am?”
    She said softly, “Yes, but if you don’t want to talk about…”
    Ed shrugged and glanced over at her for a moment before
looking back at the road.
    “My parents were killed in the war twenty years ago, when I
was just twelve.  My aunt took us in, my sister and I, but I turned pretty
angry as I grew into my teen years and I watched the coven fall by ones and
twos.  No one would let me fight of course, but that didn’t stop me when we
were attacked two years later.  I was just fourteen when I killed my first
shifter.  After that, Damon guided my anger into some useful training, and how
to fight smart.
    “By the time I was sixteen, I was allowed on my first
mission.  The war was my life for a long time, until I turned twenty four and
peace happened.  I’m not complaining, just trying to explain.  I was glad the
war was over, but all I knew how to do was protect my coven and fight.  I had
other knowledge of course, but those were my habits, and my passion.  I just
couldn’t imagine not protecting the coven after doing so for ten years, since
it was all I had wanted to do for all of my teen and adult life, so I chose to
be an enforcer.”
    The war, it always seemed to come back to that.
    She asked, “Sister?”
    He smiled, “Doing good, works for the coven business.  Her
name is Anna Marie, she followed a more peaceful path than I did.”
    On the rare times he smiled, she thought he looked really
good, and that he should do it more often.  Considering what he’d gone through,
she thought it a wonder he was able to deal with shifters at all, much less
seem to care for one… her.  She bit her lip in thought.
    It was a long trip, but they got to know a lot about each
other as their chat grew more intimate, and more about their personal lives
than they’d ever touched on before.  Usually she’d been lucky if she could pry
small talk out of him, but then most times the third partner, another shifter
had been present, either Paul or over the last week, Josh. 
    She’d also discovered if she played with fire or air it
would settle her energy a bit.  Not much, because she didn’t want Silva to be
uncomfortable, but a small candle sized flame, or small burst of air at a one
or two on their self defined magic power scale didn’t faze the tiger at all
anymore.  Not to mention playing with a fist sized fireball in a moving vehicle
was probably a bad idea anyway…
    But it was only when she hit three on their arbitrary scale that
Silva would get nervous and have to fight not to freak out.  Progress was good,
if painfully slow.
    During a lull in the conversation, she called the store. 
Berny assured her everything was fine, and that she should concentrate on not
getting