Trent: Her Warlock Protector Book 7 Read Online Free Page A

herself, she wondered if doing the ritual in reverse would help, if she could will herself back home. Elaine decided to try it again. It beat being picked up for indecent exposure or trying to explain to the nearest neighbor. Cradling the wolf’s tooth in her hand and scared about the pain, Elaine prepared to do the spell again.
    But something stopped her.
    A familiar scent wafted into her nostrils.
    It was a mix of a deep woodsy musk as well as sharp aftershave, all laced with something else, maybe lavender.
    It was Trent .
    Squinting toward the house, Elaine looked at the nearest window and saw familiar amber eyes staring back at her.  
    “Oh crap!” she blurted out, before running deeper into the forest. Goddess, maybe he hadn’t seen her. Surely if he had, the date was off, unless he wanted to do a date at the mental hospital because that had to be where she was headed.

    • • • • •

    The thing about his assignment for the Corps was that while both his human and animal sides were drawn to Elaine, Trent still didn’t want to be here. This wasn’t the assignment he’d wanted. It was an outpost too far from battle and the real work of hunting down the Knights Templar and their cleric assistants to stop them from killing innocent Wiccans. That’s why he’d become fully initiated in the Corps, and that’s why he was fighting now. He certainly hadn’t signed on to babysit novice witches, even if the current one was by far the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
    That was why he was dialing up one of his superiors back in D.C. at only eight a.m. Maybe he could get out of this go-nowhere assignment if he tried hard enough. It took only one ring before Logan MacCulloch, one of the most decorated generals of the Magus Corps, answered. That figured. The man was not only a living legend but one of the most disciplined of the hierarchy of Corps leadership. If there was a way to answer before the ringing, he probably would do that too.
    “Lieutenant Williamson, I wasn’t expecting another progress report until Wednesday. You must have upped your plans to be reporting early. Did you have a chance to tell Elaine everything?”
    His commander’s Scottish accent was usually subdued in person but carried more deeply over the artificiality of the phone. It threw Trent a minute before he answered.
    “Something like that. We have plans to speak in private this Saturday, and I’ll be telling her everything then. I don’t know if the Knights are here yet searching for her. I think the intel from the Seers might not be right. I think she’s more than just able to communicate with animals.”
    Logan gave a “hmph” on the other end. “Is she able to shift, like you?”
    “Not sure yet. She might not even know herself. You know how hit and miss untrained Wiccans are. They never know the extent of their own powers.”
    “True. Be careful on that note. You know the Corps rules. You help them find their roots, bring them into our fold, and teach them of our rituals.”
    “Including helping them reach their potential with sexual awakening, bingo. I’ve been coached in everything. Look, I’ve only fought for the Magus Corps, and I’ve never helped educate a new witch. Hell, I’ve never even thought about initiating.”
    “There’s no pressure on you to fully initiate her. Keep protection with you at all times. After all, lad, I was over three hundred before I found a witch I wanted to share immortality with. You just get Elaine up to speed with her true nature and protect her. Get her to agree to training with the Atlanta coven. That’s all.”
    “Then I can come back to D.C. like a good boy? Maybe you’ll want to send me out to Nowhere, Mississippi, next. Thanks but no thanks,” Trent finished, wishing that talking with the other man didn’t make him feel like a child. He could only blame the centuries of age difference between them for that. He was hotheaded and he knew it, but the whole thing grated.