Witchy Sour (The Magic & Mixology Mystery Series Book 2)
Read Witchy Sour (The Magic & Mixology Mystery Series Book 2) Online
Authors: Gina LaManna
WITCHY SOUR
Copyright: Gina LaManna
ISBN: XXXX
Published: June 10
th
, 2016
Kindle Edition
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** **
Witchy Sour
Contents
Synopsis
A dark stranger. A deadly potion. A school for scoundrels…
Lily Locke
has barely had time to sink into her role as The Isle’s newest Mixologist when a series of events sends her world spiraling out of control. Her vampire cousin is overtaken by a serious bout of blood intolerance issues, and the key ingredient for the antidote is missing.
Meanwhile, Zin is training day and night under the watchful eye of Grandma Hettie to break into the elite, male-dominated world of the Ranger security force, but it’s a constant uphill battle. Then Ranger X turns Lily’s world upside down when he breaks the longstanding rules of the island and throws both her heart and her head into a tailspin.
Hooded strangers, dangerous potions, and a budding romance threaten to ruin all that Lily’s worked to achieve. Add in a stolen spellbook, and Lily's barely able to hold her head above water.
When a body turns up on the beach, Lily must catch the murderer before a true battle begins...
Welcome back, Islanders.
A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Dear Readers,
Thank you for continuing on with the next story from The Isle! Without you,
Witchy Sour
couldn’t exist. I read every email, comment, and message I receive, and it always brightens my day. Thank you!
Book Helpers:
I appreciate each and every one of you who helped with this book in some shape or form!
- Joy – For making quotes sound good with your graphics!
- Stacia – Thank you for your patience, and for being more organized than I ever could.
- To Connie – For the cast of beautiful dolls – I can’t wait to show them off!
- Kim – For making me laugh!
- Dianne & Barb for your advance reading, and for your support.
- SMO’7 – For the most perfect palm tree on The Isle.
** **
To Mom & Dad—For letting me believe in magic
To Alex—For believing in The Isle. я тебя люблю!
To Meg & Kristi—For being as good of sisters as Poppy and Zin
To my Oceans Apart ladies—To the best book friends a girl could ask for
To Sprinkles On Top Studios—my awesome cover designer. Photo Courtesy of Deposit Photos
And last but not least, to all my family and friends, thanks for making me laugh.
** **
Chapter 1
“You have
got
to get some sleep.”
I looked up, forcing a half smile at the surprise visitor lounging against the doorframe.
“Watching that safe is not going to bring your spellbook back, Lily,” Ranger X said, sliding into the storeroom like a whiff of smoke. Despite his large frame, he moved like the wind, bringing with him the crisp, pleasant scent of the outdoors mixed with something else, something sharper. Peppermint, maybe. “Can I help you?”
“No,” I sighed, letting my hands fall to the table and my head slump onto them. “I know your Rangers are looking for it, but…
The Magic of Mixology
is my future.”
“It’s not so bad.” Ranger X clunked something on the table next to me, and a quick peek through my folded arms told me it was a bottle of wine. “They say the true Mixologist rarely needs to look up spells. It comes from—”
“In here, I know,” I said, thumbing toward my chest. I had gone over this a thousand times in my own head. “But ‘
in here’
is a little confused right now since I didn’t even know I was a witch until a few weeks ago.”
Instead of responding with words, his hands carefully, cautiously came to rest on my shoulders. He let his fingers linger on my bare skin, waiting for an argument. I gave him none.
With painstaking precision, he began to rub my shoulders, the skin exposed around my simple, spaghetti-strapped sundress. I groaned, a happy groan—the sound of stress audibly slipping from my muscles—before collapsing onto my arms once more, dipping my head onto a pillow of my own limbs.
“You are wound tighter than a spring,” he said, kneading each individual knot with care before moving on to the next. “Not healthy, Lily.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” I mumbled, trapped somewhere between a state of bliss and shock. Ranger X had never touched me like this, and even if I’d wanted him to stop, I couldn’t have spoken the words. There was a magic in his touch, a tenderness that had nothing to do with spells or potions. “You don’t have to be here, you know. It’s late.”
“I was heading home and saw your light on, so I decided to stop.”
“You just happened to be patrolling The Isle with a bottle of wine?”
His pause was fleeting, his fingers tensing on my shoulders until he sensed the joke, and laughed. “You’d be surprised at some of my terrible ideas.”
For some reason, the awkwardness of his response made me snort with laughter, and I straightened up, even though letting his hands slip from my shoulders was a sin. “I don’t think it’s a bad idea at all.”
“No?”
I shook my head, finally taking a moment to tear my eyes from the empty safe where my spellbook once lived. This time I focused, taking a hard look at the man who flipped my stomach in somersaults. X must have come straight from the office because he was wearing a suit—and that man could
wear
a suit.
Unfortunately, he was missing a few pieces. Somewhere along the way, he must have lost a tie, along with a few buttons from the top of his white shirt, leaving it open a bit lower than it should be, his tan skin exposed. The black mop of hair on his head was ruffled, and if I wasn’t mistaken, there was a tiny twig poking out of his messy locks.
“Had some business to take care of before I came here,” he said with an apologetic shrug. “Sorry about my appearance.”
I swallowed in lieu of a response. To me, he looked perfect. The scar over his eye decorated his expression, making him appear both tough and vulnerable.
I raised a hand to his cheek where a small scratch gleamed red. “You’re hurt. Let me get you a bandage.”
Ranger X wrinkled his nose like someone had unleashed foul egg odor. “For this scratch? No.” He gave a devilish wink. “Think this is bad? You should see the other guy.”
My eyes widened with a mixture of disbelief and horror. “What did you
do
?”
“Nothing. Nothing
bad
, I promise.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Are you lying to me?”
“No?” He pursed his lips, his eyes searching for a way out of my interrogation. “Want some wine?”
I gave him a slow roll of my eyes that showed I knew he was changing the conversation. However, I didn’t have the strength to argue with him. “Only if you’ll join me for a glass. I’m already depressed enough without drinking alone.”
That got a smile out of him, and from somewhere in his suit he pulled a bottle opener and went to work on the wine.
“You didn’t plan this at all,” I teased as he handed me a glass. I took a long sip of the deep, red wine, the rich taste warm and comforting. Between the backrub and the wine, I’d be counting sheep in no time. “What do you think about this?”
Ranger X followed my nod toward the empty safe. He strode around the room, his brown eyes soaking up every detail of the place. When he finally returned to my side, he set those eyes on me.
He said something, a mixture of words that probably made sense, but since I was too busy soaking up his presence, I missed all of them. Those eyes of his were so dark they walked a fine line between good and evil.
“What do you think?” he asked, startling me so thoroughly that I sloshed half my wine out of the glass.
“Um, yes?” I quickly grabbed a rag and wiped up the spill.
“You weren’t listening.” It was a statement, one that curved the corner of his lips upward. “I was asking if you had any theories about who might have had access to the spellbook before it was stolen.”
