Page 30 of Midnight Hunt

I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight. My dagger-like fingers shrank slowly back to their regular size, and the wicked magic seeped away. And, for the first time in the last two weeks, I felt…at peace. There was no lingering buzz, no urges threatening to ruin the moment, no desire pumping through my veins. Just…peace. I exhaled heavily.So that’s what it was.That surge of magic and force that came over me like a protection, it all led to one conclusion.

I was pregnant.

My fingers wove their way into his hair, fisting it tight. He sighed dreamily. I brushed my lips along his cheekbones.I got what I wanted.

“Lochlainn, what did you mean by ‘little show’ earlier?” I furrowed my brow.

“When I ran into her on my way to threaten Dean Bandur, she looked ill. I realized she was also hexed over and over again, and when I tried to help, she fled. She screamed through the campus, claiming you did it.” He shook his head, “It didn’t work on me.”

But that wasn’t only for him…I grimaced as reality sank in. That show was for everyone, as the victims of Amber’s zombiesbegan to exit the buildings.That fucking asshole.I slipped from his hands and slunk away from him.

“Valerie, where are you going?” He called out, lunging after me but I put my hands up. Hands that were ruby from the middle knuckle to the fingernail. The mark of my magic was like an ink, staining my bloodied fingers. If that weren’t damning evidence enough, the blood caked to my cheeks and gristle in my teeth would surely earn me a pyre.

“Home…” I exhaled heavily. “I can’t stay here.”

“Valerie, you can’t give up—”

“I’m not!” I barked, watching his face twisting up in confusion. “I’m just going to do things my way. I’m tired of playing by their rules. Just…just meet me at Contempt Manor at sunrise. Please?”

“Valerie, please,” his face was twisted in pain as I lept over shattered glass and rotting zombie corpses.

“Lochlainn, I’m pregnant!” I confessed. The trees bristled to my back, their branches opening up to welcome be home. His eyes widened in shock as I smiled at him. “Just meet me tonight…I’m gonna need a large bear at my side to make my point to my grandmother.”

His face lit up, that beautiful, charming smile back where it belonged on his lips. “I’ll be there.”

I flung myself into the trees before the mob formed and came for my head. I could already hear the screaming of my name. However, this time, it made me smile.Sure, I’m the big bad witch! I’m the villainess. And damn proud of it.

“If I’m lying, you have my permission to hunt me down, Professor!” I bellowed over my shoulder as I flounced deep into the woods, barefoot and covered in the blood of my enemy.

It took me several hours to make it home on foot. Sure, I could have used the woods to launch me there faster, but I enjoyed the solitude. It let me be with my thoughts.Breeding season is over.I’d have to congratulate Lochlainn on his powerful fluids—which made me snicker for a good thirty minutes. I thought maybe I’d have some wayward feelings about it. But, as I walked with my hands on my stomach, I couldn’t summon anything but excitement.I got what I wanted.

Lochlainn, I got to keep him. Next stop, my apothecary. First, however, I needed to speak to my grandmother.

I reached the rear gates of Contempt about an hour before sunrise. Hazy light filled the woods, highlighting the darker flora that surrounded me. Unlike the campus, full of fun oak trees and willows, the Contempt manor was a four-story manor with gothic black iron fencing. The grounds were surrounded in haunted, skinny stalks for trees as well as thick redwoods with faces made out of tree bark. Dangling purple and ruby vines twinkled like bells as I opened the gate. It groaned, an eerie sound that bounced off the stone path that led up to the house. An ash black manor with as many spiked and grand windows as they could install. Bones dangled from twine and dried grass in the crow tree that took up most of the back yard. A massive beast made of gnarled wood, thick branches, and obsidian leaves with ruby veins. Crows sat in it, cawing at me as I passed. Then, my mother’s familiar, the three eyed crow with yellow pupils full of spinning circles, called out. A wereraven, three times the size of an average vulture, launched from the tree.

Benji created a cold gust that wrapped around me. He surged to the back porch and hopped on his massive talons till he faced me.

“Hi, Benji,” I chuckled, plucking the chunk of zombie flesh I’d brought with me through the woods. I tossed it to him and he cawed for me happily. As he chomped down on the rottenmeat, the other crows hushed behind me. My spine tingled and I stiffened. “Hi, Mom.”

“Baby, what are you doing home so—Valerie?” my mother’s voice caught as I turned to face her, my actions basically a flashing sign. My legs were streaked with inky magic that started trailing the inside of my thighs over three hours ago. My hands were still stained a vibrant ruby, but now there were thorny branches tattooed around my middle finger like a stylish ring. Plus, the itchy blood that I hadn’t fully scratched off my face. My mother, an elegant five foot one, all curves and long onyx hair, wrapped in a red velvet dress, gasped. “Oh Valerie.”

“Mom, I-”

But she rushed forward, tears streaming down her pretty cheeks and arms open wide. “My baby’s firstmurder!”

I was engulfed in her arms. Even Benji hopped down the steps to nuzzle his massive beak sweetly against the back of my calf. I rolled my eyes but hugged her back. My mother stroked my hair tenderly, squeezing me tighter for a moment then pulling back to look at me from an arm’s length. “Oh, just look at you! You’re glowing!”

“I’m sticky and gross,” I snorted.

“A little, but it looks good on you!” She winked at me before motioning toward the house. “Come, come, let’s get you washed up then. Mother will want to see you. Ooooh, poisoned thickets, impressive. You know, they just don’t string people up in thorny branches like they used to!”

I let my mother dote on me, kissing my hair and marveling over my stains while I climbed the steps to my childhood room. She cranked on my shower for me and tossed a steamer in it before helping me peel the tatters of my clothing off.

“Now, tell me everything! Set the scene. I want it all!” She plopped herself onto the bathroom counter as I dunked myself under the rushing water. Scrubbing my hair was nearlyorgasmic. Getting the gunk off my face and cleaning the stains off the insides of my legs was a fucking delight. And while I rinsed and scrubbed then rinsed some more, I regaled my mother with it all.

I told her about trying to rub it out in the woods. She laughed at me. I told her about being chased and running into Lochlainn. She rubbed her hands together like a villain as I told her about the murders and being put in The Grove. Then, she sat there, patient and understanding as my voice warbled a bit, explaining everything. From the high of Lochlainn’s confessions, Kahrina’s friendship, the feeling of my magic…to the lows of Amber, of the accusations, the dirty looks, being afraid to lose the things I wanted.

When I finished, explaining how I ran into the woods with Amber’s blood in my teeth, she nodded. We existed in silence, me wrapped in a towel while trying to wring out the water from my hair, her on my counter still.

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