Page 13 of Witch's Betrayal
5
SALMAC
On four large paws, I slunk low to the ground, keeping behind the treeline.
The witch's house backed up to dense woods and their property wasn't fenced in. These humans loved being close to nature without any real implication of what that meant. Witches were slightly more in tune with the natural world but they still had dulled human senses.
Deja and the male witch's voices floated up to me from the clearing of the backyard. My feline ears swiveled forward, picking up their words easily. I could also see them clearly in the dark, although I wasn't entirely sure that I wanted to.
She stood in the middle of the clearing with her eyes closed and palms outstretched by her sides. The man moved behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. He leaned down and spoke closely to her ear, instructing her on how to search through the shadows in her subconscious. A low growl rolled in my throat.
They didn't hear it but Raum, sitting overhead in a tree, fluffed his black feathers in amusement.
Jealous, brother?
Don't you see what I'm seeing? His hands are all over her.
And Ash's hands will be all over her later tonight,he mused.No need to get bent out of shape over it.
I can smell that she doesn't like him. He hunts our incubus brothers and she hates having to learn from someone who kills our kind.
She will be fine. Just trust her.
I do. It'shimI don't trust. He wants her and he knows more about our powers than the average witch. He could manipulate or hurt her if we don't keep an eye out.
That's why you're on the ground and I'm in the air. But we don't get involved. Not unless she's clearly in distress.
I know that. I've been at this longer than you, birdbrain.
Raum laughed.You're crouched like you're ready to rip the guy's throat out.
Honestly, I am. Just waiting for a reason to do it.
What if she chose him?
I extended my claws into the brush of the forest floor.She wouldn't.Then I flicked one ear up to the bird I couldn't see.Why? Have you seen that she does?
I'm just saying what if, he repeated.What would you do then?
The witch man moved a few feet away from Deja and I relaxed my claws.
It would be her choice, so I'd have to accept it.I lowered my belly all the way to the ground for a relaxed posture.I don't see her adding another to her legion, though. Especially not a mere human.
I didn't either,Raum said, his voice sounding almost sad.But this long absence of hers has changed things. Things are different now. She didn't just pick up where she left off. She was born, had a childhood, and spent most of her life believing she was an ordinary human. That affects things much differently now than back then.
I didn't want to admit it but he was right. The world was a completely different place from when she left it.
We missed the hell out of our woman for centuries. Each of our souls felt like a piece of it had been ripped out with her, leaving an empty, wounded hole. The only thing that kept us going for so long was the knowledge that we'd eventually have her back. Now that we did, we had to face the reality that nothing would be the same as before, as much as we'd like it to be.
Deja's knees suddenly buckled under some unseen weight. By the time she plopped down onto her cute little ass, I was crouched and tense. With my head low and my teeth bared, my vision turned red as the male witch ran over to her with concern on his face. Once he saw that she was okay, his expression returned to that of a smug asshole.
"You wobble like a goddamn baby deer," he told her.
"Yeah well you didn't warn me about getting dizzy," she shot back, brushing grass and leaves off her pants.
His eyes lowered to her ass as she dusted herself off and a growl escaped my throat, louder than I intended. They both looked up with startled expressions toward the brush where I hid.
"What was that?" Deja asked.
