“Cordelia Fireheart’s come home hasn’t she?”
I snarl. My wolf snaps his teeth. “She’s mine.”
The witch wiggles her fingers at me. “Ohhhh, there you are my Soul Tied fated mate. I knew you had it in you.”
“How do you know about that?”
“I’m a witch. I know all kinds of things.”
I rein my wolf back in. Not easy since he wants her blood. He thinks she’s a threat to Cordelia and there’s no end he sees to this where he isn’t snapping her neck in half. “Stop fucking with me, it’s not polite.”
The witch sighs and looks up at the moon. “You know, Clover is a lot more fun to deal with than you. You’re very,” she waves her arms around before she points her cigarette at me, “tightly wound. Real serious type, aren’t ya?”
“You know Clover?”
“Of course, I do. Who do you think taught her that cool conjuring trick she’s worked on the closets and cabinets? Not to mention that little voice trick for the stage?”
Realization hits me. I know this witch.
“Jazzy?”
She throws her arms out and bows. “The one and only. Pleased to meet you, Thorne.” I think about demanding how sheknows me but that seems stupid as hell considering she knows I’m Soul Tied to Cordelia so I shut up and let her keep talking. “Now, you’re a lot stiffer than I thought you’d be because Clover is a bundle of fun, but that’s okay. Families come in all kinds, right?” She winks at me. I stay quiet.
Jazzy sighs and lights another cigarette. “You might be wondering what I’m doing out here all alone in the great wilds of your territory. The answer is simple. I was mushroom hunting just up the way in a lovely patch of morels I found when I saw the fire start. Smelled those Moonshadow goons straight away. They weren’t keen on sticking around so it was an easy enough thing to get sorted,” she says, flicking a hand around the burnt wood.
I hold up a hand. “Ma’am. That’s not what I want to know.”
“Ah, yes, your mate.”
“She’s not my mate.”
“Stop lying. I know you’re just waiting until the time is right.”
I jerk back like she slapped me. “What the hells?”
“Witches are a lot more plugged into the way of things than shifters want to believe. Cordelia and you are old news as far as I’m concerned, but you’re fighting it, huh?” She gives me an expectant look.
I clear my throat and then nod. “Yeah, that’s the way of it.”
“Because you think you’re keeping her safe?”
“I don’t think, I know I’m keeping her safe by not claiming her.”
“You’re right. You are.”
Damn. This witch keeps surprising me. Everything she says is never what I think it’s going to be. I take a step back from her and watch her for a second before I speak. “Keeping her safe from what?”
“Her old mate.”
That rocks my shit. A mate?
“Who?” I snap. “Who is he?”
“Some foolish fop who didn’t know what he had when he had it. Traded Cordelia right in for a spoiled little princess that will only bring him misery. Can you imagine doing such a thing?”
I shake my head. “No.” It’s true, I can’t. Cordelia is…she’s fucking starlight. Beautiful and pure, untouchably perfect. “I can’t.”
“That’s because you’re a smart wolf. Her mate,” my wolf snarls when she says that so she holds up her hands in placation, “my apologies, her ex-mate, as stated earlier, is not smart like you. He made that deal and he’ll live to regret it for the rest of his days but he doesn’t know that yet. Neither does the Moonshadow Pack.”
