To Love A Witch (A Novel Nibbles title) (9 page)

She looked at him like he’d gone totally insane.
“Jake, we need to find her tonight. Requesting access to that data
would take weeks.”

Jolie doubled over in pain again. Molly held her
tight and frowned at Jake. “The contractions are coming
faster.”

He shot Romy a look. “We’re not going to ask
permission.”

Billing systems had pretty good security. It
took him four-and-a-half minutes to hack into the first. He’d
picked the system that fed state Medicaid; they covered lots of
pregnant women.

He looked up in victory. “I’m in.” Romy, who had
been watching over his shoulder, stared at him in utter shock. “You
hacked into Medicaid?”

“You weren’t the only one with a misspent
youth.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and ported the list
of names over. “Here, I need you to read me the names off one at a
time. Molly’s computer isn’t fast enough to pull down a lot of
data, so I’m going to stay in their system and look up the
names.”

Romy still looked stupefied. “This is
illegal.”

“Totally. And I have about three minutes before
their system locks me out or gets Molly in a lot of trouble, so
start reading.”

They got a hit on name number five. Aylen
Windwalker, twenty-two. Nine months pregnant and the address on
record was three blocks away.

Romy ran for Jake’s bike. “I’ll go. You call the
fire department and paramedics.”

It was a reasonable plan. Bullshit. The woman he
loved was riding off into action without him while he played
secretary. Not very damn likely.

Jake finished backing out of the system he’d
hacked and grabbed a tree branch. Normally, he preferred motorbikes
to broomsticks, but this was an emergency. Dialing 911, he lifted
off and cursed; he could already see flames in the distance.

…

Romy turned the corner toward Aylen’s address
and knew she was too late. Flames spurted from the window of a
house halfway down the street. Neighbors were already
gathering.

She skidded to a halt and ran for the door.

“There’s no one in there, lady,” a bystander
yelled. “The woman that lives there moved out weeks ago.”

Romy thought of Jolie doubled over in pain,
pulled her shirt over her face, and opened the door. She could see
flames licking across the hallway, and a terrified, very pregnant
woman behind them.

She could also feel the power inside her,
clawing to get loose. Fire was calling to fire.

Jake charged up, pulling on a leather jacket.
“I’ll go get her. You get out of here.”

She grabbed his arm. He wasn’t going to burn
again on her watch, not if she could help it. “Let me try to move
the fire away. Let me try, Jake.”

If the fire called to her, then she could call
to the fire. She ran outside the house to the broken living room
window and pulled with all the magic inside her.
Here I am. Come
to me
.

Flames exploded out of the living room window.
She shoved her hands up and pushed a stream of power toward the
sky. The fire followed, delighting in the new fuel source.

She heard the sound of cheers and the clang of
arriving fire trucks. Thank God. She couldn’t hold it much
longer.

Jake grabbed her shoulders. “Romy, we’re out.
You can let go now.”

Tears streamed down her face. “I can’t. I don’t
know where to put the magic. It’s going to blow soon. Get the
people back.”

He grabbed her arms. “You can. Send it to me.
I’ll put it down into the earth.”

No way. Never.

Then he put his hands on her face. “I love you,
Romy. Now trust me. I’m going to call the power, and I want you to
let it come.”

Jake threw his hands wide and reached for
magic.

“
I ask the power of earth and land,

Come on out, give me a hand.

Take her magic, make it mine

Two into one, by love’s design.

Gotta do what must be done,

Make it so, Number One.”

Romy felt the fire shifting and trembled. It
knew he was there, now, and power called to power. She felt the
first helpless fraying of magic headed out of control.

And then the truth of Carla’s words hit her, and
she knew what to do. She reached for love, and let it go along with
the magic. Power sang out of her and down Jake’s fingers into the
ground. Love sang out of her into his heart.

It was a relatively small earthquake, all things
considered.

Romy stepped out of Jake’s shower and smelled
the ends of her hair. Much better. She didn’t smell quite so
fire-roasted any more. Wrapping a red terrycloth robe around
herself twice, she walked out into the hallway. A glorious smell
was calling her name.

Jake grinned as she came into the kitchen.
“Carla delivered a care package. She figured you’d be hungry after
playing with that kind of power.”

Hungry didn’t begin to describe it. For food,
first, but she had more than one screaming need in her belly.
“Thanks for the robe.”

“Please keep it. My mother sends one every
Christmas. She swears I’ll need it one day.”

She didn’t really want to think about his
mother’s ability to see the future right now. Every hormone in her
body was singing.

Jake carried two plates to the table. “Carla
also left a message. She said to tell you ‘totally normal’. She
said you’d understand.”

Romy tried not to blush. If the way her insides
felt right now was the totally normal result of working magic,
Franco was a very lucky man. She scooped up some of the linguine as
her stomach growled loud enough for Jake to hear.

He just grinned and handed her a slice of warm
garlic bread.

“I called the hospital while you were showering.
Aylen is fine, and she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Molly
and Jolie are with her.”

Romy grimaced. “Did Jolie experience all the
labor? I’ve heard that can be pretty intense.”

Jake shook his head. “Molly says no; the
connection shut off right after the rescue. And she says Jolie’s
already angling to bring Aylen and the new baby home with
them.”

Oh, boy. Jolie was a force to be reckoned with.
“How does Molly feel about that?”

“She has a heart bigger than Tabletop Rock. I’d
imagine Jolie just managed to procure herself a baby sister.”

Romy could feel a soft, goopy glow sinking into
her belly that was more than just good food. Jolie was one small
witch who wouldn’t fall through the cracks. And whatever Aylen’s
past, a friend like Molly seemed like a pretty good turn for
anyone’s life to take.

“You do good, important work, Jake.”

She saw him start to shake his head, and then
stop. “Yeah. I do. And I don’t work alone.”

No. He knew an awful lot of people, from Molly
and Carla to people on the end of a phone, willing to do whatever
he asked. He was the kind of guy that made a lot of lives
better.

Even if he bent a few rules. “So when were you
going to tell me about your career as a teenage computer
hacker?”

He spoke around his linguine. “It’s a longer
career than you think.”

“People go to jail for that kind of thing.” And
no one like Jake should ever have to spend a moment in lock-up.

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Only if
they get caught. In my young and stupid days, that was a distinct
possibility. It isn’t any more. Sometimes what’s right and what’s
legal aren’t the same thing.”

She could hardly argue with that. Several lives
had been on the line tonight.

Including hers. She knew that now. Calling the
fire had been an act of sheer, stupid bravery.

She suspected, however, that her bravery
couldn’t hold a candle to his. “What was that spell you cast?
Sounded like a rap song.”

He shrugged. “I always thought old-fashioned
rhyming was boring.”

She closed her eyes and tried to pull the words
up. He reached for her hands and saved her the trouble.

“
Take her magic, make it mine

Two into one, by love’s design.”

Romy was a novice with spells, but she was
pretty sure she had this one worked out. “You weren’t just calling
my power, were you.”

He shook his head. “It wouldn’t have been
enough.”

Reaching inside, Romy pulled magic to her
fingertips until they glowed softly. She stood up and held out her
hands. “Love me, Jake.”

He got up from the table and touched his
fingertips to hers, moving their hands up until they stood, palms
touching. She could feel the magic pulsing. This time it was she
who spoke the words.

“
Take our magic, his and mine

Two into one, by love’s design.”

She felt the buzz run through her. His grin lit.
“Not bad for an amateur.”

The needs she’d managed to quiet down over
dinner were back and screaming for an outlet. What was she, a
teenage boy?

Her magic might be under control, but her
hormones definitely weren’t. “I need you to know two things. One,
you matter to me. A lot. And two, I’m fighting a really big need to
rip your clothes off. Carla says it’s a side effect of the
magic.”

He put his hands on her face. “One. I love you.
A lot.” He kissed her gently.

“Two—Franco seems to be a very happy man, so I’d
suggest you stop fighting with yourself.”

She ran her hands up under his T-shirt and felt
the earth rumble, just a little. He pulled the shirt over his head
and sent whatever self-control she had left careening into the
ditch. Her shirt followed moments after.

He swooped her up and started walking. When cool
air hit her skin, she stopped kissing him long enough to look
around. “This isn’t your bedroom.”

He shook his head. “The back yard’s private. And
given the tenuous control I have right now, I’d say we’re likely to
float sometime this evening. I’ll bang my head on the ceiling if we
stay inside.”

It took Romy a moment to figure out what he was
saying. “You fly during sex?”

He grinned. “I was sixteen the last time it
happened. If it does, don’t let go.”

She couldn’t stop the giggles as he plunked her
feet on the ground and pulled her down to the cool grass. His eyes
darkened. “Don’t let go.”

Then her need to touch and claim blew all words
away. She reached for him with magic, need, and the love she wasn’t
quite yet ready to speak.

His hands ran over her body, peeling clothes and
leaving her screaming for more. When he finally slid a hand between
her legs, she wasn’t sure whether the quaking started inside or
out.

Rolling on top of him, she reached for his hands
and laced their fingers. Then she rode and fed the fire in both of
them.

Jake rolled over in bed and saw sunlight
streaming in the windows. Romy lay beside him, quietly snoring.

He picked up the covers gingerly and peeked down
at his body. Yup, certain important parts were still attached. And
yup, he had a couple of red hand marks on his chest. He knew
exactly when those had happened; it was a particularly fond memory
from the wee hours of the morning.

The essentials checked out, she was still
snoring, and he was starving. After last night, they’d both need
some breakfast. His culinary skills extended to bacon and eggs.

Resisting the urge to wake her, he slipped out
of bed and headed to the kitchen, pulling on a shirt and shorts on
the way. He could get really used to this.

In the kitchen, he started the bacon and checked
his phone messages. Carla had called at the crack of dawn with
status updates on everyone and an invite to Sunday dinner. His
buddy Duncan had sent a text—Sentinel had approved Jake’s personnel
request.

Excellent. The New Mexico zone was a mess, and
he needed help to clean it up. He hoped a certain redhead might be
interested.

“What are you grinning at?”