Tethered 02 - Conjure by Jennifer Snyder Read Free Book Online Page B

tonight.
    “I said when I had something for us to use I’d be back,” he reminded me. “Well, I found something I’d like to try and these are the ingredients for it. Now point me in the direction of your workroom.”
    “Workroom?” I had no idea what he was talking about. There was no workroom. I didn’t even own a tool, and I was sure my grandmother hadn’t either because I had yet to find even a screwdriver.
    Theo sighed. “The room you work your magick in.”
    I stifled a laugh while reminding myself this was Theo I was talking to and not Kace, as my mind instantly created a dirty comeback to his words.
    “Oh, it’s upstairs,” I said. I started for the stairs and Theo followed. I could feel my magick rushing to the back of my neck and the backs of my legs in order to be closer to him. It was an oddly pleasant feeling. “That telltale warning you were talking about, what do you feel when you’re near me?” I asked without glancing over my shoulder at him.
    “The sensation of a warm wind that presses against my skin,” he said. His breath was as smooth as honey. “My Air ignites your Fire, and your Fire warms my Air. Hasn’t all of this already been explained to you by your lover boy, Kace?”
    “Somewhat,” I said. I opened the door that led to the narrow stairway of the attic. We climbed the stairs and I turned the knob on the red door.
    Binks came rushing up the stairs and dashed into the attic before either of us. I flipped the light switch on and watched as he trotted over to the love seat, where he hopped up and sat, staring at the two of us as we entered. It was almost as though he knew Theo was not supposed to be in here, like he knew what he stood for. What he was made of.
    For all I knew, Binks did know, and that thought sort of freaked me out.
    I watched as Theo crossed the room, carrying his array of materials, and wondered what exactly he would be making with it all. Leaning against the wall behind me, I continued to stare at him—taking in his lean, but thickly muscled body from where I stood. His biceps rippled and tightened with every move of his arms. His solid form blocked my view of what he was doing, but I imagined he was organizing everything that had been crammed into his arms neatly across the table.
    “Are you planning to continue staring at my backside, or are you going to come around here and see what it is that I’m doing at some point?” Theo asked, the sound of his voice startling me in the quiet of the room.
    I cleared my throat and pushed away from the wall. “I wasn’t staring at your backside. I was just giving you some space.” Lie. But he didn’t need to know that.
    My chest tightened as I remembered how moments ago I had sent Kace and the others away because I’d said I wanted to be alone, and now here I was, standing in my attic with Theo. The one person I shouldn’t even be around, considering what his family had possibly done to me, or were doing to me, I should say. Worse yet, I was checking him out.
    What the hell was wrong with me?
    Theo gathered a pinch of something from one of his bags as I walked toward him and tossed it into what I could now see was a small white bowl. The air in the room seemed to pop with an unknown energy that teased my nose with its mysterious scent. Binks hissed from where he sat, still perched on the love seat in the corner of the room.
    “Guess he’s not a fan of whatever it is you’re doing.” I glanced at Binks and scowled.
    He regarded me with intensely disapproving eyes as he flapped his tail against the love seat in an irritated drumbeat.
    Awesome. I’d managed to push away those who cared about me tonight, let a Hoodoo Conjurer enter my house, and pissed off my cat. Great way to kick off the weekend.
    “Most familiars aren’t,” Theo said calmly. He cast a quick glance at Binks and then returned his attention to the white bowl in front of him.
    Surveying the ingredients spread out before him on my table, I