Page 31 of Bewitchingly Hers
I grunted my answer, not ready for this conversation.
Yes, I’d slept outside her door, curled up in a ball in my wolf form, teeth ready to rip apart anyone who dared to open it. My wolf was ready to tear them limb by limb if anything happened to her.
The witch in question was wearing a cozy two piece pajama set, complete with fleece pants that were covered in leaves and pumpkins. It was cute how much this town loved fall. Her hair was pulled back into two tiny French braids on either side of her head, and it reminded me of my sister.
I wondered what Freya would think of Eryne. If they’d get along.
Stop getting ahead of yourself, B,I reminded myself. It was too soon for that. Sure, we were mates, but none of that changed the decision I’d made last night.
Eryne took one look at the coffee pot where I was brewing coffee—black—and scrunched up her nose. “Icanmake you coffee, you know.” I frowned.
No one had ever taken care of me before. At least, not until she’d rescued me. I liked the idea. It warmed my insides, and I tried to ignore it. How good it felt to have someone that cared that much.
“I really don’t mind,” she added, voice sweet.
Raising an eyebrow, I flipped the bacon over. “Please tell me there’s not any hidden potions inside this promise of coffee.” My voice was gruff, but gods, the idea of drinking that nasty concoction again had me near retching. I’d had enough of those for an entire lifetime.
She raised her hands. “None, unless you include the spell for extra energy.” She pursed her lips. “And good vibes.” Eryne twirled her finger, a little spark of magic bursting through the air.
“Fine,” I said, grunting out a response as I collected all of the crispy pieces of bacon while I continued to cook the rest of the food. There were eggs frying in another pan, and toast in the toaster.
“What’s all this?” Eryne finally asked as she took over the coffee maker, clearly not using any of the buttons I had before. I had a hard time keeping my eyes off of her, even though I had to look away a few times to make sure I didn’t burn the food.
“Breakfast.”
She rolled her eyes, grabbing the milk out of the fridge and steaming it with the frother. “Well, I can see that, Captain Obvious.”
“You need to eat.”
Eryne glared at me. “I normally eat at the shop.” She finished the coffee, sliding over a mug to me.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “You don’t go in until the afternoon. And then you’re there until closing, and I’m pretty sure you don’t eat dinner half the nights either.” I’d memorized her schedule when I’d been stuck in her bed, day after day in wolf form, unable to move or talk as my body stitched itself back together.
Eryne pouted. “Fine. You caught me.” She grumbled something under her breath about me having her daily routine committed to memory.
Plating up the food, I handed her a full dish. “Appease me.” I flashed her my best pearly-white smile, keeping my canines retracted.
She sighed, sitting down at the island as I piled my plate high with the rest of the food. I could wolf down alot—and I needed to, with the amount of calories I burned from my high metabolism. After how long I’d spent recovering, I needed the food to help me maintain my physique.
I’d never really cared about it before, but something about seeing her eyes flare last night at my body made me want to look good forher.
I sat down next to her, shaking pepper onto my eggs before finally taking a sip of my coffee. I groaned. “Damn, sugar. That’s good.”
Her cheeks had the cutest tinge of pink to them. “I’m not as good at making coffee as Willow, but I’m not half bad.”
“Not half bad?” I took another gulp. The flavors were perfect, with just a dash of cinnamon that somehow perfectly balanced it out. I closed my eyes and savored it. “I’d find it a lot easier to get out of bed every morning if I knew I had one of these to look forward to.”
The compliment seemed to make her glow. She fiddled with the end of one of her braids. “So, any fun plans for the day?” Eryne asked me, bringing a bite of food up to her mouth beforelooking over at me. “Or are you going to stalk me to the shop again and growl any time a man gets close to me?”
A low rumble built in my chest.Yes,I wanted to answer.
“Do I need to?” My voice was low.
She bit her lip. “No.” The word was a whisper.
“Then… I have research to do,” I answered instead. “I want to look into the barrier and find out the history of your town wards. I was thinking I’d see if I can access the town archives at the library. Maybe the newspaper, too.”
“Oh, good idea.” Eryne’s head nodded along. “There’s so many old books in there, you could probably be in there a week and not find anything. And I might be able to help with the latter—I know one of the witches who works for the Pleasant Grove Gazette.”
