Witch's Brew - Spellspinners 1 (Spellspinners of Melas County) by Heidi R. Kling

Mystery Machine and ask Shaggy for some tips. Or we could go the Orchid route: I jump him and just snatch it.” She ran her tongue over her teeth. “He looks highly jumpable.”
    “Off limits!” I said, reclaiming the moment. Not because Logan was against the rules, but because he was mine. “No, no. Stick with my plan. I’ll pretend I don’t see it.”
    “As you wish. But I got your back in case they pounce, Lil.”
    Orchid wasn’t looking at me as she said it. And who could blame her with two ridiculously hot warlocks sauntering twenty feet away.
    I glanced down toward where the mark may be. When my eyes met his skin, a dizzying heat coursed through my body.
    He was all I’d been thinking about. And here he was.
    “Hey,” Logan said.
    “Hey,” I said back. As our eyes locked, a feeling like a feather tracing the outline of my spine tickled down my back.
    Off-limitsOff-limitsOff-limits.
    “We haven’t been formally introduced.” The friend leaned over Logan, extending his hand to me, “I’m Chance.”
    “Lily,” I said, shaking his hand. His eyes flashed liquid pools of water when we touched. He knew exactly who I was. So Logan had been talking about me?
    Logan leaned forward, breaking his grasp on my hand. He turned his body toward me as if protecting me from his friend.
    Orchid hissed under her breath as she reacted to their energy. I felt her heart speed up as her antsy foot tapped the wooden planks.
    “What are you doing down here?” she asked them, in a tone that was less than civil.
    Logan shot me a nervous look.
    “Free country,” his friend said, meeting Orchid’s tone.
    “Not necessarily a free country when you’re banished to the outskirts of town, now is it?”
    The energy shifted from lighthearted to stormy in a matter of seconds.
    This was her first encounter with the warlocks. Our mixed energy was like gas trickling toward an open flame. It would likely lead to a conflict in broad daylight if I wasn’t extremely careful.
    “Orchid, it’s cool,” I said. “We aren’t responsible for governing over them. Broken rules or not.”
    A curious smile twitched at one side of Logan’s mouth. He was glad I was sticking up for him.
    Orchid wasn’t. She narrowed her eyes at me. “But the Congression is. And we’re entitled to report anything unusual to our Mistress. So...” She shrugged.
    “Orchid, come on. Don’t make a scene.”
    Tourists were glancing our way. Fights happened down here a lot, but not usually between girls and boys.
    “That warlock scum stole your amulet,” she hissed. She was so not going along with my plan.
    She palmed Logan’s chest hard. “Give it back to her. Now.”
    Chance stepped between Logan and Orchid. Their chests practically grazing each other. I could hear their breathing, out of sync, the energy, the tension was thick as they struggled for dominance.
    “Logan.” He knew what I meant. I needed him to get his friend to back off Orchid, so I could chill her out. He nodded and gripped his friend’s shoulder with his hand, soothing but firm.
    “It’s cool, dude.”
    “Is it? Because my girl here says he ripped off her stone. Pretended to save her and then switched it. Where I come from that isn’t cool. So give it back or we throw down right here. This is human territory, and therefore our jurisdiction.”
    Logan might be able to restrain Chance, but I could not rope in Orchid.
    So I sucked in a breath and ran a spell in my head.
    When I opened my eyes, Orchid was batting her lashes, leaning into Chance like we were all friends from Melas High—as if we weren’t breaking major coven law by approaching two warlocks in public.
    Like she hadn’t wanted to kill him thirty seconds ago.
    “What are you boys up to today?” Orchid asked, all flirty, her hip jutting out to the side as she twisted a black bead on her bodice.
    Chance looked from Logan, to me, back to Orchid, confused.
    A slow smile formed on Logan’s face. He knew what I’d