Page 26 of November Reign
I bit back bile and too much alcohol.
Tension rose between us. The weight of the heavy secret I now held and Oak’s worry over what I’d do with it.
“What happened?” I tried to keep any judgment out of my voice.
For a while I thought he wasn’t going to respond, either too drunk or too ashamed to tell me.
“The stuff with the shifters, the potions. I found out when the council did.” Bleary eyes met mine. “You know I love shifters. What he was doing was inexcusable.”
Basil got caught selling potions to shifters at extortionate rates. Far over and above what was reasonable to charge them. Most of the time, the shifter council paid for these potions or any magical assistance their shifters required, so he hadn’t needed to get them to pay in the first place, let alone through the nose. One of these shifters had been form locked, stuck in their animal form, as a punishment for “crimes” their Alpha had decided they had committed.
Scared, alone, and desperate, the shifter’s mate had come to Basil as the High Witch of the coven and had been exploited. What Basil should have done was to offer his aid and claim anything back from the council after. What he had done was against our creed to harm none.
“So you ended it?”
“Yeah. Let’s just say he didn’t take it well.”
“I can imagine.” I smiled bitterly. Basil was a bastard of the highest order. His temper was legendary when he didn’t get his own way.
“No, you really can’t.” He shook his head mournfully. “He won’t let me go, Thyme. It’s why… with you…”
“Why you turned me down.” It wasn’t a question. Nothing would get under Basil’s skin more than being replaced by his little brother.
There was barely a year between us. I was the longed for “girl” who would secure them control of the coven based on my power level and good breeding. Joke’s on them, I’d always been a boy and willingly gave up much of my magic so I could live as my true self. I’d never wanted to rule, just be myself.
“Yeah. Most of the time, it’s just you in my head, but then he messages, or calls.”
“He texts you? He still calls?”
Just the idea of Basil trying to get under Oak’s skin skeeved me out. It had been over a year since they had broken up, if they were even anything solid enough to need that. Oak said he’d ended it. They were done, so why couldn’t Basil get the hint? Wasn’t it enough that Oak was actively working against Basil’s plans for the coven?
“Yeah. That time… when Mori got shot…”
I launched to my feet. “It was you!” I accused.
Oak stood, he swayed in place. “No. He heard the voices of the others in the background. I swear, I didn’t tell him anything.”
“You let everyone believe it was me, or River!”
“River was working with him, though. He just didn’t know to tell him Damon was staying the night. Basil heard River telling me about which rooms they were in.”
It had always bugged me. I’d wondered for months how they knew which room Damon was in.
“I remember. You were distracted. Kept checking your phone. You picked a fight, one of many, and then walked off.”
“Basil kept texting and calling. I was going to tell River which rooms to put them in when I accidentally answered.” Oak looked distraught. “I still blame myself for Mori getting shot. If I’d known he would hear them, I’d have switched my phone off.”
Exhausted, I sat again. “He would have just called River then.”
Oak retook his seat. “Yeah. He would have.” He ran a hand through his hair. “No matter what I do, he still finds a way to me. I’ve changed my number a few times, but he always gets it again. I just want to be free of him.”
“Do you want to be free of me, too?”
The idea he would made me feel cold inside. Oak was special to me. Knowing what I did now, it made sense all the distance he put between us. He wanted me the same way I wanted him, but the ghost of Basil haunted whatever we could have.
“No. That’s the thing.” Our eyes met and held. “I want to only see you when I look at you. But how can we move past this?”
“I’m not sure that we can.”
