Page 103 of Simon

Simon pouted, and someone banged on the door again.

“Go on, answer it!” I shooed at him.

Simon growled and cracked the door an inch, then a little more, and more, until it was fully open. “There is no one there.” He stomped his hoof and slammed the door.

I tilted my head, went to the nearest window and stuck out my head. Simon followed me and pulled me back.

“They could still be outside. Stay here.” He huffed and led me back to the nest. But when we turned, we saw someone already standing within our home, standing next to our bed .

The woman wore a wrinkled pair of grey joggers and a large pink t-shirt. She wore her hair in lopsided pigtails. One side of her eye makeup was done, while the other was smeared, either from crying or rubbing her eye, as if she had forgotten she’d even applied makeup. “Oh, I fucked up,” she muttered to herself.

Instead of feeling afraid, I was utterly confused.

Simon grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him.

The woman chewed on the piece of gum in her mouth for a moment longer and blew out a large bubble, popping it when it got too large.

“Listen, please, please, please, do not tell my boss about this. I just got this job. I literally just got it three weeks ago, and Ialready screwed it up!” The woman got on her knees and had her palms planted together in a pleading manner. Simon backed me up, and the vines from the top of the bungalow lifted her up to standing.

Simon’s body relaxed and brought me to his side.

“She’s a witch. A not very good one,” he whispered to me.

“How can you tell?” I asked.

“Smell that?”

I sniffed the air. It was familiar, ozone, like lightning during a storm. Similar to Rune. I nodded at Simon in understanding.

“Again, I’m so sorry.” The witch pulled on her pigtails to release the rubber bands and ran her fingers through her hair. “I’ve got some mad ADHD. This is my first job outside the coven. And with the goddess, no less. I can’t believe she thought I would be good with this, giving me such an important job with so many more qualified witches. She put me in charge of all the fauns. Me! Look at me! I haven’t even gotten dressed today!” She snapped her fingers, and her sloppy clothes vanished.

She now wore dark jeans and a cute, hot pink blazer. Her bright blonde hair was in a bun, and her dark-rimmed glasses sat on top of her head. A notebook was in her hand, and she looked like the perfect… receptionist?

Simon and I both stared at her in confusion, and she tilted her head back at us.

“Is this okay? Should I change into something different? Maybe less formal? Oh, he’s naked, and you are half naked, should I be—” She moved to snap her fingers, and I jumped forward to grab her hand.

“Nope, nooo. You are just fine. You look great.” I patted her hand and looked back at Simon, who was too stunned to speak.

I rolled my lips together and tried to make sense of it all. “What do you mean, job and your boss? The Moon Goddess? A job like Starla, perhaps?”

The witch nodded excitedly.

She cleared her throat and tapped the clipboard with her fingers before she flipped a few pages over and read out loud. “Hello. My name is Sable, and I am a member of the Witches Monster Bonding Guild, hired by the most benevolent, the Moon Goddess. I am here to help you on your journey to become bonded.”

Sable looked at us both, and her shoulders dropped. “But you have already done that without me.” She frowned.

Simon crossed his arms and puffed out his chest.

I rolled my eyes and put my hand on her back. “That’s okay, you are just learning.”

It would have saved us from bothering the orcs, having Simon get drugged, me riding out a lot of his rut while he was asleep, getting kidnapped in front of my dad and his new mate, but hey—no biggie.

“It’s alright. Is there anything else you can help us with besides telling us how to bond?” I asked patiently. Simon pulled me back, his nose buried into the fresh mark on my shoulder.

Sable sighed heavily and looked down at the notes in her notebook. “Well, I could tell you more about your past, but you should be getting more of your memories back, if you had any memory loss.”

Simon huffed in annoyance, his warm breath traveling down into my dress.

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