Page 110 of Witch Unexpected
“I never treated you any different for not having it,” Anna said. “I loved you, regardless. You had a home here.”
“You pitied me. You were ashamed of me. I’m not a fool. I saw it in your eyes. I heard the whispers, and frankly, I got sick of being treated like a lackey in my own home. Why do you think I moved out?”
“You could have come to me,” Anna said.
“You didn’t have what I wanted.” Pen looked at me with a smirk.
“You disrupted the wards at the potentials’ hideout,” Sloane said.
Pen shrugged. “I did what I had to.”
“You messed with the wards on the grounds allowing the banshees to attack Cora.”
“Let me make this easy for you,” Pen said. “Yes. Yes, and fucking yes. I took what I needed to get the job done. You’re not as clever as you think, Grandmother. The map to the ground wards was easy to find. You all underestimated me. You always have. Treating me like a pet, like a lapdog. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat. If you’re looking for an apology or remorse, you’re wasting your time.”
Anna sucked in a sharp breath, and all emotion bled from her expression. “Make the call, Elijah.”
Elijah stepped out of the room.
“Once Croatoan is free, I’ll get my reward,” Pen said. “I played my part, and I have nothing more to say.” She pressed her lips together, resolute.
But that wasn’t enough for me. I crouched to look her in the eye. “Croatoan is never getting free, not on my fucking watch, and all you’ll ever be remembered for is being a psycho, murdering bitch.”
I expected a reaction. A flinch, or a shadow of doubt in her eyes, but she looked me dead on and smiled.
And that was totally fucked up.
* * *
“I should have known,”Bramble said as we stepped out of the study with Sloane at our backs. “I should have figured it out. Pen was an outsider with all the fucking inside knowledge, being Anna’s kin and all.”
I looked to Sloane. “She’ll be punished, right? I need to be able to go back and tell Tor she’s being punished. What she did forced him into exile and fucked with his head. He wanted her heart.”
In fact, I was surprised he hadn’t come here demanding it. Leif and the others must have talked him out of it.
“I don’t blame him,” Sloane said. “But you can tell him she’ll be incarcerated at Blackmore Prison. Elijah made the call. They’ll send a portal for her in a bit, and that will be that.”
“That’s it?” I stared at her. “She killed witches, and she broke the terms of the covenant with the Mana Pack, and she gets a prison cell?”
Bramble placed a hand on my shoulder. “Oh, trust me, Blackmore is no picnic, and it’s just what she deserves. I can’t see Tor being pissed about this.”
“The sisters at Blackmore will take good care of her,” Sloane said with a grim smile.
It was over then.
For real.
Kinda anticlimactic, but fuck it, I’d take it.
I was suddenly exhausted and super hungry. “I’m going to grab Wren and head to the cabin.”
“You can stay here now,” Sloane said. “The threat is contained.”
“I know, but I think I need a couple of days getting to know the men I’ll be mated to. With all this other shit going on, I haven’t had a chance.”
“Well, make the most of it,” Sloane said. “Blood moon in two days.”
A couple of weeks ago, the thought of becoming an anchor to anyone or anything had brought me out in a cold sweat, but everything was different now. This coven and the wolves were important to me. Their safety was paramount. Maybe Jasper pussy-blocking me was a good thing. I hadn’t had the chance to fall in love, which made what I was about to do that little bit easier. There was no lover to leave behind. Nothing to miss.
