AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jessie gazed at it adoringly. “She won’t hurt me.”
She? “And you know this because of your extensive experience with the critters of this world? Oh wait, I forgot. You’re a fucking witch. Is that it?”
“Don’t say it like that. I didn’t ask for this.”
“And how am I to say it? With a skip in my step and a smile on my face? Witches are our natural enemy. Theyhuntus.”
“And don’t you hunt them in return? Are you sure it’s not just a vicious cycle of revenge?”
“They use us for spells. Dismember us. Disembowel us.”
* * *
Jessie flinched at his words. “I would never do that. Even if we were enemies.”
Orik leaned back on his heels, pinning her with a shuttered glare. “You’d be surprised what enemies can do to one another.”
A shiver skidded across her shoulders.
His features turned dark with disgust. “Enemy? Friend? I don’t know what you are.”
She had never been on the receiving end of such a withering look. To say it was disheartening was an understatement.
“Orik, I promise you. I’m not like the witches here on your planet. I couldn’t use magic on Earth. Nothing like this ever happened to me before coming here. Now all of a sudden I can see auras, shoot energy from my hands, and bring dead animals back to life.”
He cast her a WTF look. “Auras? Dead animals?” His perceptive gaze dipped to the lema in her arms, lounging like Bacchus, surrounded by grapes and purring like a mini jet engine as Jessie scratched its belly. “The other witch didn’t bring it back to life.Youdid.”
Gravely, she nodded.
“And because of that, youassumeit won’t harm you?” He sounded skeptical, but at least he wasn’t freaking.
“It’s not just because of that. I have a sense.” It was a feeling she couldn’t describe. A connection with the creature that seemed…ordained.
“You should have told me all this last night. Before we…” He trailed off.
Before he’d unwittingly slept with a witch. How could his unspoken words gouge so painfully? “I still wasn’t sure if it had been me or the other witch tricking me into thinking I had resurrected Phoenix. I wanted to verify my powers before saying anything.”
“Well, congratu-fucking-lations. Verification accomplished.” He swiped his pants up off the floor and stabbed his legs into them.
Alarm fluttered through her. “What are you doing? Are you leaving?”
After donning his shirt, he growled, “What does my aura tell you?”
“Dark. Angry.”
He snorted. “Spot on, though I would argue the obviousness of your observation.” Then he stormed out of the room.
She set Phoenix aside and darted after him. “You want to know what your aura looked like last night?”
He sent her a black look. “No.” He grabbed his utility belt from where it lay next to her blade and began strapping it on.
“It was beautiful. The most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Full of colors and emotion.”
He scoffed. “Emotion. You must be jesting. The only emotion I felt was relief when you milked my seed from me.”
“That’s not what I think. I think last night meant more than you’d like to admit. Why else would you insist we sleep in the same bed?”
“Because I found you untrustworthy. Surprise. I was right.”
