Page 15 of Witch Unexpected
“It’s a long story, but demons aren’t monsters. Well, not all of them are. Fee is… She’s special.”
His eyes were glazing over as they studied the plate of eggs and bacon in the center of the table.
I spooned food onto his plate. “Dig in.”
He was instantly animated as he scooped scrambled egg into his tiny mouth and chewed with gusto. Fuck, he was adorable.
He slowed as the plate emptied and looked up at me with a smile showcasing tiny, white, razor-sharp teeth. It was the only vaguely threatening thing about him. The rest of him was cute and cuddly. A moon-shaped face with big round eyes and small round ears positioned at the top of his head like tiny plates. They twitched and twisted from side to side as if picking up radio signals. He had two small slits in his face where a nose would be, and his mouth had a sulky look to it. His hands and feet were paws with tiny talons poking out of them, and his body was covered in soft fur so dark it looked blue.
He was weird and cute, and I had no idea what he was. “Jasper called you a mogwai. What is that?”
He licked his fingers, taking care to clean his talons. “Wren doesn’t know.”
“You don’t?”
“Merkle keep Wren forever.”
“You don’t remember any time before?”
He shook his head again and frowned. “Wren remembers a scent…A safe scent. A warm scent.” His nostrils flared, and he extended his neck my way. “Cora smells safe and warm too. Not the same, but similar.” He nodded and went back to his food.
He’d been taken by Merkle. Kept a prisoner all his life.
“Wren, how old are you?”
He paused, and his brow furrowed. “Don’t know.” He looked worried. “Is that important to Cora?”
“Gosh, no. Eat up. It’s fine.”
“Wren doesn’t want to upset his new mistress.”
“Whoa. Enough of themistresscrap. I’m not your boss, or your keeper, or your owner, because you’re not a possession. Do you understand?”
He tilted his head to the side. “Then Cora want Wren to go?”
“No. I mean, you can go if you want to, but you can also stay if you want to. It’s your choice. You’re free now, Wren.”
“Free…” His eyes grew wide. “Wren can go?”
“Yes.”
He looked at the door, then back at his plate and up at me. “But Wren can stay too.”
“Yes.”
He nodded. “Can Wren have more food?”
I chuckled and put more bacon on his plate. He went back to his food, making snuffling sounds as he ate. He was a total squishy, and Fee would love him.
I poured more tea into my mug and shivered as the temperature in the room dropped. My instinct was to get up and turn up the thermostat, but then Wren made a strange sound and keeled over face-first into his plate.
“Wren!”
I scooped him up into my arms, brushing egg off his furry cheek. Had I poisoned him? Did mogwai even eat eggs? Shit. Why hadn’t I checked this stuff? And why the fuck was it so cold?
Wait a second. A drop in temperature could also mean another thing…
Jasper materialized by the sink, and my suspicion was confirmed. “What the fuck?” I cradled Wren. “You could have hurt him.”
