Page 70 of Hellish Witch

Alpha looked at Cookie, then back at me. He barked low a few times, tossing his head in the direction they’d emerged from.

“So…all those captives are back in our kingdom? And the unicorn too?” I asked, trying to puzzle out if I’d understood him right. “They’re safe?”

He yipped like he agreed.

Relief swam through my middle, short-lived as another thought snuck in. By now, the story of what happened would have spread through the kingdom. That something was horrifically wrong with me. That I attacked innocents. People who’d already suffered so much.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, pushing the words past it. “Good. That’s really good.”

Guilt strangled me, along with the fear of how different things would be when I returned.

If I returned.

“And Rex and Zoella… They’re not mad?” I asked.

Alpha shot me a stern look.

“Right. Right, of course they are.” I held up my hands in surrender. “But they found my letter? They’re staying home?”

He gave the barest nod, and I blew out a steady breath.

I’d set out on my own a few days ago to protect others. Now I just had to figure out how to ditch the furry duo and my reluctant babysitter.

After last night, it was more important than ever to get away from Killian.

His sense of loyalty to my brother was unbreakable. I knew he felt he owed Rex for saving his life and taking him in all those years ago.

But the things he was willing to do for his twisted sense of duty were too much.

He’d only just stopped bleeding this morning afterdaysof constant pain and injury. Most inflicted by me.

He’d even pleasured me to keep me safe.

The reminder burned. My pride stung, but also the guilt of forcing him to do something he might not have really wanted to cut deep.

Was that why he hadn’t actually fucked me? Even though I’d made it clear I wanted everything he had to give.

I’d hurt the enforcer again and again.

Enough was enough.

Alpha and Cookie wouldn’t cross the portal to Earth. They were creatures of Hell. What reason would they have to hop realms? Alpha’s place was by Zoella’s side, with his growing pack in the Bloodwood, not getting closer to the hunters who’d hurt him for years, and who knew what that mercurial hellcat was thinking, even following me this far.

“Let’s keep moving,” Killian grunted, jerking a snowy wing down the path. “You can chat with your furred friends while I set up camp. We’re going to need all the rest we can get to cross those blood-soaked plains.”

I fingered the hilt of the knives strapped to my hips, an idea percolating in my brain as I stepped in front of Killian.

The noble bastard would continue to follow me.

Unless I forced him not to.

Chapter 25

The soft breathing beside me finally evened out. I waited a few more minutes until it deepened to a soothing, slow rhythm.

Killian was asleep.

I cracked my eyes, peeking at him through my lashes. He rested on nothing but a bed of fallen leaves, since he’d insisted I take all the blankets we’d purchased from the inn. He clutched his sheathed onyx sword even in sleep, half-hidden beneath his wings, draping him like a blanket.

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