Page 40 of Pack Witch
“Liar,” I teased, pushing myself up on my hands. The earth had stopped thrumming quite as eagerly under me now, probably because I was almosttoohealed, if such a thing was possible. I hadn’t had this much energy since I was a child.
I glanced at the closest trees, smiling at the animals who’d made their way into the garden somehow the night before. They peered from the shadows of the fruit trees, still keeping guard, though a few young rabbits were working their way through my lettuces. I’d have to re-work the spells over the whole place, or they’d eat every scrap of food before the end of the week.
“They call them your babies,” Julian said softly, watching a chipmunk scurry out of a hole and sit up to take us in.
“They are. Even more now,” I said truthfully. Inside, my connection to the animals had been strengthened. Their energy was woven into mine, or perhaps it was the other way around.
“Do you think…” His voice was almost a whisper.
I lifted a hand to his lips, hushing him. I pressed my other hand over my heart, feeling the threads that connected me to every living creature around me. To him, and even to the boys in the cabin.
This morning was already a miracle; I didn’t want to get dragged into the might-have-beens that I’d already let go. A baby at my age, even if it were physically possible, didn’t feel right. I had my babies, as the boys called them. Hundreds of them.
Julian let it go, kissing my hand gently, and I was glad.
Shouts in the distance had us both grinning. “Speaking of children, should we go check on the boys?” I asked, hopping up. I was glad I could do that now; the night before, I’d gotten dizzy when my body wasn’t prone on the earth. I’d needed a lot of healing.
Julian’s eyes gleamed. “We should definitely not. I’ve decided I need to worship your perfect body a few more times before we leave the sacred garden.” He grabbed my ankle, and I fell on top of him, laughing.
“Sacred garden?”
“Yes.” He dropped quick nibbles and kisses along my thigh, and around my hip. “The humans have a story about the first garden. There was a man, a woman, an apple tree, anoh fuck—” The kisses stopped abruptly.
“A what?” I sat back up, quickly spotting what had caught his attention.Ah.“Urchin, I told you to leave Julian alone. He’s scared of snakes.” I reached down to pick up the garter snake, but she slid faster than she had in years—maybe she’d been healing as well?—and wrapped herself around Julian’s ankle.Uh-oh.
Julian froze, but a moment later, let out a quiet, “Huh.” I reached for Urchin again, but he said, “Leave it. She’s not bothering me.”
I swallowed hard. “How?”
His cheeks darkened slightly. “I think… I think it was my wolf side that didn’t like snakes. It must have been.” He reached down with one finger to stroke Urchin’s scales, proving his point. “I wonder what else has changed. Are you different now?”
He stood and walked over to the orchard. None of the animals fled, and one of the bunnies hopped over to sniff at his foot. His body was the same as before, except the tattoos had all sunk deep into his skin and had no texture, as if he’d been born with them. The scars he’d carried from battle were gone, though, and his skin glowed with health.
He glanced over one shoulder at me, the sunlight causing the silver hairs in his beard to glint. I hummed noncommittally. I wasn’t certain if Julian was ready to know how much I’d changed when I’d taken the power of the deep earth into me. If heknew I could now read his emotions easier than a recipe. If he understood that I didn’t need to look for him to know where he was, that the earth told me where he was standing.
I felt a tickle in my hair and reached up to pat the flowers there. No, he wasn’t ready to know everything. Neither was I.
“Miss Zinnia? Sergeant? Food’s ready,” Bo called from somewhere near the cabin. “We, ah, put y’all some clothes on the path, just in case all them critters left shit—I mean,scaton your other ones.”
Sergeant shook his head, laughing. “Thanks, Bo, we’ll be right there.” He stalked over to me, giving me ample opportunity to appreciate just how healed he was. I licked my lips, suddenly very thirsty. “Food first, my insatiable mate.” He laughed, then leaned down and placed one arm behind my knees to lift me into his arms.
I shook my head and held out a hand instead. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. The earth…”
“You need to keep touching it?”
I grinned ruefully. “It feels like it’s the other way around. Like it doesn’t want to let me go.”
He shook his head. “I never thought I’d be jealous of dirt.” We returned to the cabin hand in hand to find the boys had put together a table outside, long boards laid over a sawhorse and a flat-topped boulder, with a charming picnic lunch laid out on top, set for two.
Leroy pulled out a half-cut pine log for Sergeant, while Bo gestured to one of my own chairs from the cabin. “M’lady.”
There was a platter with a stack of pan-fried trout in the center of the table—only slightly burned at the edges—and bowls heaped with freshly cooked greens, onions, and even some of the early peas. It smelled delicious, and I told them so.
“Leroy did most of the cookin’, ma’am.” Bo ducked his head when I pressed a kiss to his cheek and sat. Leroy was there in aninstant, heaping food on my plate. Bo started to do the same for Julian, but he stopped him.
“Where are your places, boys?”
Bo and Leroy blinked at each other. “Me and Bo was, uh, just gonna eat down at the creek. Give you two some alone time.” Leroy wiggled his eyebrows at Julian, then tilted his head at me, a silent, completely transparent hint.
