Chapter 29
**YARA**
It took me about forty minutes to get ready for my dinner date with Aiden. Less than five of those were used to get into the red one-shoulder belted sweater dress and heels Willow helped me pick out while the rest were used to apply basic make-up with the help of a six minute make-up tutorial on YouTube. Yes, I had wiped my face to start all over again several times and I had almost decided to go without it a couple of times but the final product ended up looking good.
During every minute of that time, the spell book and the note had been on my mind so the moment I was done preparing for the date, I pulled the book out from under the pillow. I then began to flip through it. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular – I had gone through the book to see if there were other notes in it before I began to dress up and there weren’t – I was just glad to have something that had been incredibly important to my mom and wanted to go through it.
I stopped flipping at pages where mom wrote something other than spells, usually funny notes, and where dad wrote jokes related to the spell on the page. There was even a *Unlimited Ice-Cream for Yara* spell which I remembered asking for but I didn’t know if the spell worked.
All of them made me happy and sad at not being able to see my parents again, and I spent the next couple of minutes flipping till a spell’s title caught my attention. *Magic Relinquishing.* I tilted my head as I began to read and the more I read, the more I understood what the spell was about. According to the spell’s guide, a witch could relinquish their magic into an object and it would remain there until they were ready to reclaim it. Doing that would make a witch a non-practicing witch and the thought that it was exactly what I needed slipped into my mind.
When I got kidnapped by witches once, one of them had asked me if I really needed my powers. I didn’t have anyone or a coven to teach me how to properly use it and the group had only found me because I used my powers earlier that day so he told me he’d be doing me a favor by taking it off my hands. I turned it down of course but now I was considering relinquishing it into something because of the situation I’d found myself in with Aiden. And besides, I could reclaim it if I urgently needed it for something.
*…Should I?*
The door suddenly opened, startling me, and I quickly shoved the book under the pillow since whoever had opened the door hadn’t come into view. Then I returned my attention to the door with a frown while my heart pounded away in my chest and I frowned, wondering why one of the men in the suite opened the door without knocking, before Aiden walked in.
I relaxed my shoulders. “Oh.”
“Oh?” The corner of his mouth turned up as he shut the door behind himself. “Were you expecting someone else?”
Returning his smile, I discreetly glanced at the pillow I had shoved the book under to make sure it wasn’t peeking out. It wasn’t. “A lot of people actually. I’m interviewing candidates to find the perfect boyfriend.”
He grinned at that while I got to my feet, smoothing down my dress, and when I returned my gaze to his, I found him staring at me with affection.
He leaned back against the door and took a deep breath. “You’re breathtaking.’
*Oh…* Heat rushed to my face while my heart began to race again but this time, it wasn’t due to fear of someone catching me with the spell book.
“Looks like I’m the first candidate to arrive,” he said and I raised my brows before realizing he was referring to the ridiculous interview thing I mentioned.
“Looks like you are.”
He rubbed his jaw as he walked over to me, his eyes flicking from my dress to my legs, and after our eyes connected once more, I swallowed at the *want* in his. Then he stretched his hand out to me and when I placed mine in his, he kissed my knuckles before hauling me away.
**AIDEN**
“Do you want us to go back to the suite?” I asked and Yara returned her attention to me, raising her brows. “We can have dinner there.”
We’d only gotten to the restaurant five minutes ago and ever since the waitress showed us to our table at the back of the restaurant, Yara had been unable to sit still and was constantly looking around. I had thought she was just nervous about the date at first but then I realized it wasn’t only worry, she was also being on guard.
That led me to believe that she thought we were going to get attacked by witches.
“Oh, no, no. There’s no need for that,” she replied, picking up the menu to go through it, and when she glanced around again a moment later, I decided to joke about it.
“Are you searching for the other candidates you’ll be interviewing?”
Her eyes slid back to mine and her brows furrowed a bit before realization dawned on her and she laughed. It was barely audible over the people surrounding us and I grabbed her hand which was on the table, tracing her knuckles with my thumb. Her breath hitched.
“I’m *not* going to let anyone hurt you,” I stated and her smile faltered for a moment before she beamed at me, making my heart take a pause.
“How about we begin that interview now?”
I tipped my head to the side and smiled. “What would you like to know?” I asked and she hmmed, glancing heavenward.
“Where is your happy place?”
“Wherever you are.”
The corner of her mouth twitched. “Are you trying to woo me?”
“Is it working?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t?” I asked, raising a brow, while a smile played on my lips and I traced her knuckles again. Her gaze dropped to our connected hands and she bit her bottom lip before sucking in a breath.
“Next question. Physical books or audio books?”
“Neither.”
She drew her brows together. “You don’t read books?”
“I don’t like them,” I joked and she pulled her hand away.
“Oh my God. I’m so sorry but this–” she gestured at the both of us “–can’t work.”
I couldn’t hold back my laugh and latched onto her hand while she moved to get to her feet. “I’m kidding,” I said and an exaggerated sigh escaped her before she settled back in her seat.
“Better.”
I grinned before also asking her a question, one related to novels since she obviously liked them a lot, and listened to her answer with rapt attention. We spent the entire dinner like that, switching questions back and forth and branching off into different conversations depending on what kind of answer we gave. Spending time with her like this was the best thing ever and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
“Your turn,” Yara said with a bright smile on her face before I pulled her hand up to my lips, giving her knuckles a kiss, and she sucked in a breath.
“What do you want our future to look like?”
She paused and for the next couple of seconds, she didn’t say anything.
I frowned. *Does she dislike that question?* “Yara?”
She blinked at me before glancing around, making my frown deepen, and I gently squeezed her hand.
“Ya–”
“Did you order lunch to the suite for me before you left?”
*Huh?* “No. Why?”
“There was a…” she trailed off, her eyes fixed on something over my shoulder and I turned to see Julian briskly walking over to us with a grim expression on his face.
“I tried to reach you,” he said just before he got to me and lowered his head so we could talk without the people around us hearing our conversation.
“What’s wrong?” I had told him I didn’t want to be bothered this night because I’d be spending it with Yara so him showing up here meant something *serious* had happened.
“Jason’s dead.”
My brows snapped together. “What?”
Rhys told me he was fine yesterday and that he’d be discharged on Sunday so what the fuck?!
“Sentinel found him in the woods. Gina said he overdosed on *cosmic*.”
Anger rushed through me and I scowled as I pounded my fist on the table, drawing the attention of some neighbors. The anger immediately began to recede when I saw the wide-eyed look on Yara’s face and realized I’d startled her.
“Shit. Sorry. I’m sorry.”
“What happened?” She sounded concerned and her gaze bounced between me and Julian.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated and this time it was because our date could no longer continue. “We have to go back to the pack.”