Page 8 of Rise of the Witch
I suddenly remembered an old Turkish phrase my father often used,Alin yazisi,which translated to“what is written on your forehead.” It was similar to the English idiom of your destiny being written in the stars but more inescapable. Since we didn’t seem to have much control over our current circumstances, it seemed as good a time as any to trust that whatever strangeness was happening to us was simply part of our predetermined destiny.
Either that or the mushrooms we ate to survive were the fun kind.
Vasi left soon after to take care of whatever mysterious witch business she needed to attend to. Ever suspicious, Nox followed her outside 30 seconds later but, judging by his muffled curses from beyond the cabin walls, she had already disappeared into the night. Drying his hands on a rag, Asa rejoined me on the bench, chewing his plump bottom lip like he always did when he was mulling over something serious.
Ace might’ve looked like an all-American boy-next-door, but he was a deadly ambush predator, not least of all because he had the uncanny ability to seemingly disappear into thin air. Even though Nox was the natural leader of our group, Ace was the most level-headed—the one we could count on to take care of things. Take care of us. He was the perfect compliment to Nox’s temper and my devil-may-care attitude, and I loved him so much sometimes it was painful.
“I like her, Tan,” he mumbled, color staining his pale cheeks as he glanced sideways at me through his mess of curly blond hair. Despite how close we were, Ace often held his cards close to the chest, so discovering new things that made him blush was a highlight of my existence.
“It’s okay to like the Good Witch of the East, Ace,” I ribbed, chuckling at his adorableness. “I promise, I won’t tell daddy Nox.”
Instead of brushing me off, his blush only deepened. “No, I mean...I’minterestedin her...” he whispered, his eyebrows pulled together in confusion as he wrung the cloth between his hands and stared fixedly at the rough wooden floor.
Well,thatgot my—and my dick’s—full attention. While Ace had officially taken me off the market, and no other man compared to him anyway, there were times I missed having a woman around. Unfortunately, besides back when he was pretending to be attracted to the opposite sex, Ace had never given a woman a second look, so I never dreamed that was even on the table. This new development made me want to immediately bend him overthisrickety old table so I could slide into his tight ass while imagining the spooky sex we’d enjoy together with our little witch.
However, recognizing Ace was struggling with these unexpected emotions, I took a breath and refocused. While many women regularly turned my head, Vasi was intriguing on an entirely different level. We’d only just met, but I already felt like a moth circling a flame, and it was interesting Ace felt her pull as well.
“Thereissomething about her, hmm?” I carefully asked, hoping to draw him out a little more, to see if this delicious addition indeed was a possibility.
“There’s something aboutallof this,” he hissed, surprising me with the change of topic and his vehemence. “What we’ve seen lately in the forest, getting so incredibly lost, finding...her.”His voice lowered as though he was worried someone would actually overhear us out here in the middle of nowhere. “And don’t you find it unusual that the three of us were sent out alone this time—withoutthe rest of the team?”
I sat back at that, witchy pussy forgotten. This whole time, I’d been assuming the senior officers were finally testing our mettle for promotion, but if Ace was concerned, then I sure as hell was going to take notice. Itwasodd for the three of us to be sent out alone, and our brand new equipment malfunctioning did leave us hopelessly stranded.
With a sinking feeling in my gut, I wondered if my earlier nonchalance about destiny had been irresponsible and if my fate may be less written on my forehead and more branded on my soul.
Chapter 7
Vasilisa
“Are those...chicken legs?”
Standing outside my hut the next day, I had to stifle a smile as Taneer—Tan—finally got a good look at my hut in the daylight. He’d temporarily ceased undressing me with his eyes to take in his surroundings with genuine, childlike wonder, and it amused me to no end for some reason.
I decided that this underlying innocence allowed Tan to get away with flirtatious behavior I would typically find disrespectful. To be honest, I welcomed his playfulness, found it called to a human side of me I thought I’d forgotten. True, Tan didn’t have the refined manners and calm demeanor of the blond one called Asa, but he was much preferred to the lumbering horse’s ass that was Nox. It was only because I still needed to determine how these men had managed to infiltrate my forest wards that I hadn’t reduced that giant oaf to a smoking pile of bones.
“...and what’s this here, eh?” Tan continued his tour of my homestead, thumping his fist against the wooden barrel towering over him. “Are you making illegally distilled spirits? A special witch’s brew?” He tossed an irreverent glance my way, the broad smile stretching across his pleasing face brightening the otherwise foggy morning.
He emanates light like the first rays of dawn.
Attempting to regain control of my misbehaving emotions, I focused on the man who made my skin crawl. Catching Nox’s eye, I smirked while replying, “It’s an oversized mortar. I use it to travel long distances or to evade the pursuit of uninvited men who think they can follow me out into the night on private business.”
Nox scoffed, but I could practically smell the smoke burning in his puny brain. He was Russian through and through, and anyone who was raised in this country knew there was only one witch who lived in a hut atop chicken legs and traveled by mortar and pestle.
Surprisingly, Nox laughed at my revelation. “So, you’re claiming to be Baba Yaga? THE Baba Yaga?” Running a large, tattooed hand down his face and through his thick beard, he seemed to wipe away any signs of mirth. “I amtryingto be patient here, bit...Vasi,”his already dark brown eyes darkened in anger as he growled. “But we have business of our own that is exponentially more important than you giving us a grand tour of your brokedown compound.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I leaned against my decidedly well-kept sauna and coolly replied, “And what all-important business resulted in you men trespassing inmywoods?”
“That’s none of your fucking concern!” Nox growled, his enormous frame advancing on me so menacingly that I stumbled backward with my hands raised, instinctively triggered into fight or flight.
“Nox…” Tan warned, his usually playful gaze flashing with disapproval as he moved to intercept the larger man. Before Tan could reach us, a large, white shape moving at breakneck speed suddenly slammed into Nox from above.
“What the FUCK?!”Nox roared, one arm covering his head protectively while the other tried to bat away his attacker. He fell to his knees as the battle continued, kicking up a cloud of dust to mix with the hair and feathers flying around him like a tornado.
Tamping down my earlier panic, I focused on the action only to realize the writhing, hissing demon pummeling the Russian with its seven-foot wingspan was simply an extremely pissed-off swan.
“Anthia, STOP!” I exclaimed, waving my hands to catch her attention. “He wasn’t going to harm me!”
Unfortunately, my words only served to distract my friend long enough for Nox to grab her by the neck and throw her to the ground at his feet. She immediately righted herself and began lurching forward again, long neck curved backward and wings half-raised, beady eyes fixed on her enemy as her hissing intensified.
