Page 39 of Witch Undecided
Leif
“Where is she?” Tor demands, as if Cora not being home yet is somehow my fault.
She’ll be home once patrol is over,Rune says calmly.
“Patrol should be over by now,” Tor says. “She should be home by now. Unless…Something’s gone wrong.”
He paces back and forth in front of the hearth.
“We’d have felt it,” I remind him.
“What about the spike a couple of hours ago,” Tor reminds us. “You felt that, right?”
We’d all felt it. “If she’s fighting revenants, we’re gonna feel it.”
If she was hurt, we’d know, Rune says.She’s not hurt.
“Fuck the varga,” Tor grinds out. “We could have been with her tonight if not for them.”
“We can’t be with her all the time,” I remind him.
“Why the fuck not?” Tor says. “She’s our mate. Sten, Arne, and Toke kept Charlotte with them all the fucking time.”
Cora is no Charlotte, Rune reminds him.Cora’s an independent woman, a fighter, an Elite. Things will be…different for us.
Tor stops pacing and stands with his back to the flames flickering in the hearth. He looks like a fiery demon—angry, sulky, and huge.
“Tor, man, you need to chill.”
He glares at me. “You’re okay with her being out there, putting herself in harm’s way?”
Hell no. My stomach’s in knots. “I trust she can take care of herself.”
Tor exhales and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I know. Doesn’t change how I feel.”
I know,Rune says.I feel it too.The urge to run out there and search for her. But she’s not alone. She’s with The Elites and she has Lauris. At least you two can hold her when she returns, touch her…
Oh fuck, I forget how hard this must be for Rune. “I’m sorry, Rune.”
Tor’s agitation melts in the face of Rune’s words. “If there was any way—”
I know. I’ll take what I can. Be close to her in any way I can. I suppose it’s a small mercy that she wants to keep the relationships platonic. At least I won’t have to watch you take her.
“Who said anything about watching?” I grin at the golden wolf.
“What?” Tor says. “You don’t like an audience? Afraid you wouldn’t be able to perform?”
I arch a brow at him. “Oh, I can perform, I just wouldn’t want you to be intimidated.”
Rune groans.Puhlease, we all know whose name she’d be screaming if I wasn’t in wolf form.
“Seriously?” Halle enters the room carrying a tray of mugs filled with hot chocolate and topped with whipped cream. Wren clings to her back, huge eyes surveying the room.
“How old are you guys?” she asks.
She’s right. We’re being ridiculous, devolving to our teen bantering years. Is this what the mate bond does to a wolf’s brain? And sharing a mate…this isn’t how it’s meant to be. Maybe Cora has the right idea. Keeping things in the friend zone is the best way forward no matter how much I may want to take things further.
Wren leaps off Halle and scrambles to the window seat.
