Page 64 of Shifting Winds
Ben sighed. “You are so fucking weird, Evie.”
With that, he rose and stalked away.
I blinked at his back. “What did I do?”
Caelan lay his hand on my thigh. “You didn’t yell or bite his head off for one.”
“Do people do that a lot? Seems like a wild choice.”
“Our kind as well as humans get angry about things we can’t control. As a healer, Ben feels…morethan most of us. It hurts him deeply when he can’t help someone.”
“Considering my intestines are still inside my body and I’m not bleeding to death, I’d call it a win.”
“You aren’t out of the woods yet,” Caelan rasped, his gaze following Ben’s back as he disappeared into the woods. “I don’t like the idea of him staying at your house.”
“You’d rather my wound open up, and I bleed out while I’m sleeping?” Jealous shifters and their insane tendencies made me want to punch them right in the kidney.
Cernunnos winced and took a few steps away, turning his back to us.
Caelan’s eyes narrowed. A savage smile tilted his lips up. “I’d much rather be your doctor.”
I rolled my eyes. “So you can yell at me every time I move? No thanks. Ben is a healer, and he’s no slouch in the protective department either. And I’m no slouch at magic. It will be fine.”
His jaw tightened. “I don’t like how close you were to him.”
“No shit,” I said with a snort. “It’s pretty obvious Ben does not like me any longer. I don’t see why I can’t attempt to be friends with him. Besides, that’s not even what this is. Ben will be there to ensure I heal properly. There’s nothing nefarious.”
“You don’t know how far a Lord would go to secure something he desires.”
I stared at him. “Do you even hear yourself right now? Of course I know how far one would go. One of those Lords,” I said, poking him in the arm, “is sitting on the ground with me after I almost bled to death bitching about a male healer staying with me for a day or two.”
To his credit, Caelan’s cheeks heated. Cernunnos interrupted.
“I think it’s time to get you home.”
I shook my head. “Show me the tree first?”
“I’ll get her,” Caelan said, gently scooping me into his arms. Careful not to jostle me, he headed through the woods, Cernunnos clearing a path with his magic. We stopped at the edge of the woods.
I sucked in a breath. “Holy shit. That’s four times the size of the Jacaranda.”
And it was. A massive, sprawling tree loomed above us, its trunk twisted into spirals. Long, sloping branches hung close to the ground, leaves of a brilliant greenish gold glowing in the night sky. I craned my neck up and couldn’t see the top.
Caelan stood stone faced.
“Umm. Sorry?”
The Shifter Lord closed his eyes, and I could almost hear a phantom voice counting. When he opened them, he shook his head. “It’s not your fault. It’s mine.”
“The bright side is this didn’t happen in the middle of Evie’s shop or the town square.” Cernunnos laughed out loud when we turned identical thunderous expressions toward him.
Ben walked out from the woods gaping at the sight. He stopped beside me, his hands in his pockets. “Is this thing permanent?”
Cernunnos shrugged, a human expression for him. “The World Tree is reborn with no set schedule. When it tires, it will cease to exist, and the seed will land in another worthy person’s possession.”
“Let’s just hope they don’t swallow it,” I murmured under my breath.
“What happens now?” Caelan asked.
