Page 34 of What the Hex

The more he tried to logic his way out of it, the less sense it made.

“Cyrus, do you think I can see the security footage from the ballroom last night?”

The hellhound gave him a toothy grin. “I like the way you think.”

Emrys patted his mate’s chest and stepped away. “Go catch bad guys. I have to get back to work.”

“Same.” Arlo angled away from the counter but turned back almost immediately and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Actually, can I get a large vanilla latte with an extra shot for the big guy over there?”

King rubbed his tired eyes as he fought back a yawn. “Make that two. And a matcha latte with oat milk.”

“Rough night?” Cyrus asked as they waited for Emrys to fill their order.

“You have no idea.”

Or maybe he did. The difference was the hellhound couldn’t remember all the chaos.

Since he’d picked up the tab the previous evening, he didn’t argue when Arlo offered to pay for the drinks. Then they thanked Emrys and made their way back across the lobby, where the co-stars were still emersed in their conversation.

When Storm noticed the hellhound behind him, he bared his fangs and pulled King behind him, partially blocking him from view. For the love of all things supernatural, he was too damn tired for this nonsense.

Instead of snapping, however, he took a deep breath and reminded himself that it wasn’t Storm’s fault. “Here, drink this.” He pushed the matcha into his mate’s hand. “Storm, this is our head of security, Cyrus Rathborne. I told you about him, remember?”

Storm relaxed, but only marginally. “You said he had the same problem as me.”

“Right. We’re going to go look at the footage from the security cameras last night. Maybe we can figure out what happened.”

As if the tense encounter had never happened, Storm shrugged and gave Cyrus that movie star smile that made the whole world weak in the knees. “Sounds good. Where are we going?”

In response, Cyrus led them across the lobby to a narrow door situated beneath the grand staircase.

Maybe King watched too many movies, but the security office looked exactly as he had imagined. A square, stark room with a couple of chairs, a table, and a huge desk positioned in front of a wall of monitors. Granted, it was brighter than he’d anticipated, with ample light glowing from the fluorescent bulbs overhead.

The security system also proved to be a lot more efficient than he had seen in films. With only a few clicks of the mouse and a couple of taps to the keyboard, Cyrus pulled up the correct recordings on a separate monitor located on one of the arms of the U-shaped desk.

“What exactly are we looking for?” Storm asked, leaning forward to get a better look at the screen.

Since King was the only one there who hadn’t been cursed, it fell to him to recall pertinent details. It was against hotel policy for the staff to take anything from the catering tables. He also knew for certain that the only thing Storm had consumed during the event was the latte he’d brought him. Therefore, he could rule out the possibility of the food or drinks being tainted.

Plus, if that had been the case, many more people would have been affected.

Cyrus swiveled his desk chair around and cleared his throat. “We should look for someone who interacted with all three of us—me, Storm, and Nita.”

And that was why he was head of security. Still, they needed to narrow it down.

“Storm interacted with everyone there,” King said, speaking slowly as he thought back to the evening. “Even most of the staff.”

“In my experience, this kind of hex requires touch.”

King chewed his bottom lip. Storm had signed a lot of stuff and taken just as many photos. He hadn’t touched everyone he’d spoken to, though.

“So, Nita was the first one to start acting oddly.” He pointed to the hellhound. “Then you. I didn’t notice anything wrong with Storm until we got back to the room last night.”

“That’s good,” Cyrus praised. “So, we’re looking for someone we all three had some kind of physical contact with, and in that order. Nita. Me. Storm.”

“Were there any witches at the event?” King asked.

“Sure.” The hellhound turned back to the monitor. “Along with other magic users. I couldn’t tell you who is who on the recording, though.”