AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ow! Why the hell did you do that? Ariel, get your ass back here right now!”
Someone was sounding an awful lot like his uncle, and I really didn’t want to hear it anymore. I also didn’t bother listening to him.
My feet ached as they scraped against rocks and twigs. I instantly regretted not having taken the time to put shoes on before leaving the house. I’d run through the woods without wearing shoes before, and it had messed my feet up so badly it’d taken weeks for them to heal properly, and I had scars on them that would never go away.
I didn’t want to have to go through that mess again, but here I was, barefoot and in the woods once again. Thankfully Finn still wasn’t moving fast, so I could take better care with where I stepped while following him.
I heard Tyson crashing through the woods right behind me, and I was sure even Finn heard his crude cursing. The idiot probably hadn’t taken the time to put shoes on either. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost, but not quite. If he wasn’t so nosy then he wouldn’t be out here in the first place. He only had himself to blame.
It didn’t take long for Finn to burst out into the clearing on the Alexander property. There was a fire pit out here where the guys always did their moon rituals. There was also a fancy tent out here that had a comfy bed in it and a whole lot of pillows and blankets. Dash had put the whole thing together for me, and it had never been taken down. We had slept in it a time or two after we had a fire in the pit. I hoped it was never taken down.
What I did not like was seeing Finn head right for my beautiful, fancy tent. He was going to sully the space, and I didn’t want to think about him lying down on that bed or even touching one of the pillows. Right now, he was dirty and messy, and I didn’t want him in my private space. Especially not a space that held such special memories for me.
He did not belong here. It felt wrong, like he was trespassing on our personal coven space, and I wanted to scream at him to get out. It was one thing to invite him into the house, but this was different. I felt like this crossed a line I did not think any of my men would appreciate.
“What the fuck?” Tyson growled as he grabbed for my shoulder. I shrugged him off and stepped out into the clearing. “Ariel, this is stupid. I want you to go back to the house and get the others. I’ll stay here with Finn until you get back. I promise I won’t even be mean to him.”
Yeah, I wasn’t going to be doing any of that, thank you very much. There was no way they’d let me out of the house after this, and Tyson and I both knew he was lying—he wasn’t going to be nice to Finn. At this point, I didn’t think he’d be capable of being nice to anyone but me, and even that was sketchy.
“You go back and get the others,” I snapped at him. It looked like neither of us were capable of being nice at the moment, and that was just fine with me.
I resented him following me, and I thought he deserved to know it.
He sighed, finally being smart enough to give up arguing with me. “Do you at least have your phone on you so I can call someone at the house and get them out here?”
That meant he didn’t have his phone on him, or there’d be no reason for him to need mine.
I thought of my phone, which was still plugged into its charger and sitting on my nightstand in my bedroom. I didn’t even have pockets. Where did he think I had my phone hidden on me? Besides, I was supposed to have stayed locked up in the house all day, so I hadn’t needed my phone for anything.
He swore harshly under his breath when I didn’t answer him and stalked toward the tent. He was really getting quite colorful with his swearing today. It was almost impressive. If I hadn’t grown up with Vivian and her revolving door of repulsive men, I might have even blushed at hearing the words coming out of his mouth. But alas, those days had long since passed.
I brushed the tent flap aside and stuck my head in.
Goddamn him. Finn was not alone in there.
This… This was not what I had imagined finding when I caught up to Finn.
Not at all.
14
“Who the hell are these people?” Tyson demanded as he pushed me aside and stormed into the tent.
Not to be outdone, I followed him inside.
His question held merit though, because Finn was not alone, and I had never seen these people before. Clearly Ty hadn’t seen them before either.
Quinton always claimed the witch community was a tight one, and therefore they should have known most of them. I begged to differ. Just look at myself and Finn.
I thought there were more witches in hiding from the Council than they could ever dream of. With good reason. But still, I didn’t think we’d ever find out about even half of them. It made me sad because I didn’t think we should have to hide from each other in order to be safe.
There were two teenage boys curled up on the bed together. They held hands, and they didn’t take their eyes off of each other, not even when Tyson spoke.
Finn stood at the foot of the bed with his back to us, his entire focus on the bed and the boys in it.
Just who were these boys to Finn? Was this another obsession of his, like Rebel had been? If so, then I felt sorry for them, because Rebel had been used by Finn for his sexual needs, and I didn’t think Rebel had enjoyed it all that much. Or so I’d been told.
I had never met Rebel, but I’d heard quite a bit about him. None of it had been good.
