I preferred to text or call him before just showing up unannounced. The last time I had just shown up had been traumatizing. I’d walked back to his office looking for him to find his bartender at the time, Dave, on his knees in front of Duely giving him a blowjob. Duely hadn’t minded but had appeared more amused than anything. However, Dave, who was engaged to a female, had been horrified. Duely had been slightly annoyed that Dave had then quit over the incident.

The strange warlock appearance and disappearance had rattled me so much I’d forgotten to call him first. I had nowhere else to go, and no one else to tell about the sighting or stalking, whatever it had been. I needed an opinion, and I needed to not be alone. The longer I thought about it, the more I realized that I might possibly be in danger, and I didn’t know why. Duely was all I had when it came to the world of the charmed. I trusted no one else.

He jerked his attention from the television he’d been watching toward me when the door closed. His eyes widened in surprise. It was not normal for me to just show up. Especially since I’d just seen him at the wedding. We often went months without seeing each other. “Cat? You okay?” He dropped his feet to the floor and shifted his entire body to face me.

“The man, or warlock, whatever he is, I saw him. He was at the college. Watching me.” I blurted it all out. Not asking if he was alone first or thinking about my words. I was starting to panic, and it was clouding my good sense.

Duely frowned. “The stranger at the wedding?” he asked for clarification.

I nodded.

“Fuck,” he muttered then nodded to the seat beside him. “Sit down. I’ll fix you a drink.”

I started to say I didn’t need a drink but decided maybe I did. I had a potentially dangerous warlock stalking me.

“I talked to my mother,” I told him, then I walked over to take a seat at the bar.

“I’m sure she was a wealth of knowledge,” he drawled heavy on the sarcasm.

“She knew nothing. She didn’t cast…” I trailed off, paused and glanced around to make sure we were alone. He hadn’t looked concerned when I’d said “warlock,” so we probably were.

“No one is here. Just us,” he assured me.

I leaned forward on the bar with both elbows resting on the smooth surface before continuing. “She said it wasn’t a caster’s magic and that she didn’t know what it was. Which makes no sense. What else could it be?”

Duely placed ice cubes in a glass frowning so hard his perfect complexion wrinkled around his forehead. “What else did she say?” he asked.