Fur Magic Boxed Set: Talisman, Sage, Fawn, Lola: Paranormal Romantic Comedy by Colleen Charles Read Free Book Online Page B

behind Sabrina until the black hair stood up all over my body as he posed his loaded question. I tended to stay close to Penelope at events like this. One never knew when the riff-raff would infest a gathering. Like the plague.
    “Oh, Damian,” Sabrina said. “I didn’t see you behind us.”
    Wanker.
    Sage disliked Damian. No, scratch that. Sage hated Damian. And he wasn’t alone in his feelings. No one liked Damian except his own family and maybe a bunch of other evil witches casting spells with their idols and their cauldrons simmering with roasted rat’s rump. As soon as the owl saw the man, he flew to his perch in Pen’s office, high above the heads of all the humans present. Then he turned around and deliberately gave Damian his back. Sage knew firsthand that Damian illegally poached animals, often tormenting and torturing them before he killed them.
    It had been Damian that had wounded Sage’s wing with an errant arrow while trying to shoot a buzzard in the eyeball. If it hadn’t been for Dr. Luke, Sage would be earth bound. I know him so well, I don’t think he would have survived it. A bird needs to be able to spread his wings and fly to make life worth living. Especially, that particular conceited bird.
    “Good evening, ladies,” Damian said as he shot Sage a glare that said he’d like to take him out with a medieval crossbow and then stomp all over his dead body. Damian expected reverence and didn’t care for dismissal.
    There could only be one reason that Damian had meandered over to this area, and that was to talk to Penelope. Damian wanted her. A fact that was clear to every other male in the vicinity because Damian’s desire radiated off his body and his heat for her rose like a mist at dawn. Penelope didn’t have a clue. Whether because of her diminished powers or naiveté, I didn’t know.
    Damian trained an evil eye on Pen. Not because she was the best catch in Shadowkeep either. Her kindness, intelligence and effervescent personality made her so. Damian wanted her because she was the most beautiful girl in Shadowkeep and would be a trophy on his arm. He wanted everything that he thought he couldn’t have. That no one else had ever had. Pen did a great job of fighting him off, well aware of his negative charge. But of late, she’d been weakening. All because of the siphoning off of her powers.
    “Hi, Damian,” Pen said. “Sage lives here with Talisman and the other animals, because Dr. Collier was able to save his wing after he got accidentally shot with a hunter’s arrow. He’s been with me ever since. I don’t think he feels safe to go back out to live in the wild. It’s dangerous out there for our local creatures.”
    “That’s too bad,” Damian said as he continued to glare in Sage’s direction. “He’s such a majestic animal. I can’t imagine someone wanting to shoot down an owl.”
    “I can’t either,” Sabrina said. “I’m surprised I’ve never heard that story before.”
    “It’s not something I like to talk about,” Pen replied. “It makes me really sad to think about it. I’ll never forget the look in his eyes when Dr. Collier brought him here for recuperation before we knew if he’d recover. He kept trying to leave his perch and fly but each time, he’d fall.”
    Below Penelope’s jeans-clad legs, I sat watching Damian’s face. The look in his eye was almost gleeful. Like he was enjoying the conversation about Sage struggling to fly but failing. Like he thought nothing of his deplorable behavior.
    I had to break up this little tete-e-tete before Penelope did something stupid in her moment of weakness. Like agree to go out with this douche bag. I spotted Dr. Luke standing by the punch bowl and staring over at Penelope and Damian with his sad, brown eyes that followed Pen wherever she went. I trotted over, put my paws on his pant leg and scratched lightly.
    “Hey, Tali,” Dr. Luke said, leaning down to give me some strokes on my head, which I