Page 74 of The Magic of Revenge
"I'm not sure what happened. One minute Faris was about to get his tongue pierced, and the next it was lights out. Sorry for worrying you. I'm fine, just need a minute," Bram sighed, leaning back in the chair and closing his eyes.
"Did you get hurt at all?" I asked, brushing his hair off his forehead.
"Elbow is a little sore, but it's just a bruise. I'm fine, really," he reassured, pulling me in for a quick kiss.
"Here, let me heal you." Faris poked his thumb on his fang and a bubble of bright red blood swelled instantly. Bram opened his mouth, likely to reject his offer, but Faris slipped his thumb right into his mouth. My eyes widened as I watched Bram stiffen and then he closed his lips and... Dear gods in the star speckled galaxy, he moaned.
"Tha’th a good demon," Faris whispered, patting Bram's head with his free hand. "All better?" he asked, pulling his thumb from Bram's mouth.
My ginger mate cleared his throat, his freckles seeming brighter with the flush that bloomed on his face. "Yes. Thank you."
My eyes darted between the two of them and if I thought my vagina had been drowned before? These two were going to cause a damn tsunami between my thighs. My inner witch fist pumped the air wildly and twerked her big booty for all it was worth. I was in total fucking agreement.
"What are you doing?" Bram asked and I froze.
"Don't know what you mean," I laughed and waved him off.
"Were you just... twerking? Is that the term?" Bram's eyes danced with laughter.
Gods damn. My inner witch took over my outer witch.
"I believe she was theithing. I don't know if I can heal that, but I'm going to try," Faris shoved his still bleeding thumb into my mouth and Bram roared with laughter. I wasn’t seizing!Fuckers.
Bagheera and I crouched down, hiding in a cluster of pine trees in the center of town. His inky black fur made it easy to blend into the dark shadows beneath the trees. We had good vision here and could easily watch The Pig. Napoleon was on our back, and I’d realized that the two could talk to each other when I was in this form. It was pretty cool. I wasn't really listening to their banter though...
I'd stayed at the house with the others to practice our new abilities and I'd only lasted fifteen minutes before I was fidgeting. My heart raced and I was checking my phone as discreetly as possible every other minute. I just couldn't shake the thoughts that kept popping up uninvited. They were absolutely ridiculous. Like, maybe the car they'd left in would blow a tire, they'd swerve off the road and hit a tree. Then the car might explode. Or Asrael would pop up out of nowhere and take my mate. Maybe someone would hold up the shop for cash or something. Thought after thought, it was never-ending. Each one surpassed the previous thought in outlandishness.
Fuck, I was driving myself crazy.
‘Not crazy, just concerned for our mate,’Bagheera rumbled. Ever since this power boost, I was able to communicate clearly with him, whereas before it had been more going off feelings and mental images. It was awesome and it made me feel even closer to him. Where we’d moved like one being before, this amplified our bond to a new level. I think it gave Bagheera a sense of individuality that he’d never had before.
‘That woman is a warrior. Fierce as a lioness,’Napoleon added.
I'd made up some bullshit excuse to the guys about going for a run through the woods to see if I could find any more animals to try and shift into. Then I ran my ass straight here like a cub missing his mother. I knew it was my idea to train today, but I couldn’t help myself.
Movement drew our attention across the street and we watched as Miranda and Annie left the shop. Annie was saying something to her mom about someone named Scruffy, and Bagheera huffed at the idea that there was a dog in there. He was Saige's animal. Well, aside from Maven. He didn't like the idea of her stinking like some smelly dog.
‘Scruffy is a stupid name anyway,’Napoleon chimed in, patting our head.
‘We're just going to hang out here until she's done and then we'll run back home before anyone knows what we're doing,’I told them.
‘Why does it matter if they know?’Bagheera asked, flicking our tail.
‘You know they'll get weird about me being weird. They'll all be worried about it. It's not a big deal,’I grumbled. I didn't want anyone to know, though. It was easy to paint on a happy face—to be fair, it wasn't a show most of the time. My brothers, Saige, Bette, even Khol—they made me happy. Which made me feel like even more of a fuck that there was just something broken inside of me that couldn't just stay fucking happy.
When I was alone with my thoughts, that was when it got overwhelming. While we were at Asrael's castle I’d barely slept, and when I did, I woke up drenched in sweat, panting and confused. Even then, I’d pined for Sprout, needing her like I needed oxygen. The bond was beautiful and it was something that was ours, but it was affecting my mental health in a way I didn't like.
‘Maybe it isn't the bond at all,’Bagheera said softly.‘Maybe it's because you were traumatized having your mate ripped away not only from you, but from this dimension, not knowing if you'd see her again. Or it could be because you watched Fischer sacrifice his life for yours. You've been through a lot recently. You need to cut yourself some slack.’
Well shit, that was deep. I knew he was right. I just didn't know how to fix it.
‘Perhaps speaking with someone...'Bagheera suggested, and I reeled at the thought.
‘No. No, I'll be fine. I just... need to make sure she's okay,’I told him, hoping he'd drop it. I'd talked to a lot of therapists as a teen and I wasn't particularly fond of the memories. A big yawn came out of nowhere and I was suddenly exhausted.
‘You should talk to our mate. You’d expect her to do the same if she was struggling,’Bagheera said, not dropping it like I’d hoped. He was right, I would want her to come to me but the thought of telling her all of this? I wanted her to think of me as someone she could lean on, not somebody who burdened her with the fucked up way my brain sometimes worked. I never did respond to Bagheera before my eyelids started to get heavier.
‘Rest. We'll keep watch,’Napoleon offered and I wanted to decline, but I really hadn't been sleeping much. Maybe just a little cat nap...
