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“What? Where?” I hadn't thought about tattoos much. I'd seen people on the telly with them but hadn't had a human body long enough to consider getting one myself. It seemed fate had already planned my life.
“Here.” He pulled my sleeve up and ran his hand over the purple tattoos that swirled across my forearm. The pattern was familiar, but I couldn’t pinpoint how.
“It's purple. The exact same color as Zaide's scars,” I muttered. “Why were you worried about telling me this? This is pretty.” I had a thought and gave him a funny look. “How did you know they were there?”
“They glow in the dark. I could see them in the night through your shirt. I'm not a total pervert." He tilted his head to watch me examine my new bonding mark. My skin prickled as I traced it lightly with a fingertip. “You aren’t going to freak out?”
“I don’t think so.” I felt calm looking at it. It was a sign of power, connection, and strength. I felt more confident.
He raised an eyebrow. “Maybe you feel more settled in yourself now that you have the other half of your soul bound to you and a handsome witch to keep you grounded.” He winked.
I laughed. “Maybe. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves.”
There was a comfortable silence between us as I stopped looking at my arm and looked around the room, my gaze naturally falling on my soul pair, still staring at nothing.
Charlie seemed to respond to the worries floating through my mind. “Don’t stress. He'll be fine. We just need to get out of here.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I won’t stress while we are held captive in a cage by witches who are probably keeping us alive for bad things.”
CHAPTER2
CHARLIE
Having a familiar was really bloody weird. While she didn’t seem to sense anything from me yet, I could feel her emotions. I could see her thoughts floating across her face. If I listened hard enough, I could probably count her breaths, her blinks, her heartbeats.
I’d never felt closer to a person in my life. That wasn’t exactly a difficult thing since I kept a distance away from everyone, but the feeling was out of this world.
I wasn't lying when I told her that I didn't regret being her witch. But I was worried about it. Clawdia would be able to read my mind and feel my feelings, and that made me feel vulnerable and open. And I don't want to admit it, but it scared me. I just hoped she wasn’t disappointed by what she found.
“Are you thirsty?” I asked. She nodded. “They left us a little jug. Hold on, let me just get it.”
I knee-walked my way to the other side of the cave-cage. She asked, "They?"
"The witches. They're down here twice a day to feed and water us. We don’t know what they want. They don’t respond to us. Just glare."
“How long was I asleep?”
“A few days.”
“Days?” I could feel her shock as I knee-walked back toward her with a cup in hand.
I peered at her as the sound of her slurping on water filled the cave. She looked awful, her clothes crusted with blood, her hair matted and filthy. She smelled as bad as the rest of us. But the sight of her long, blond lashes fluttering open, her violet eyes staring back at me … I'd never seen anything so beautiful.
Almost losing her scared me. The moment Zaide yelled instructions at me on how to bond her, save her, I realized I liked Clawdia. Liked her more than the cat I adored. And not in the friendly, distant way I’d been treating her either.
I wanted more with her. More of whatever she will give me. Which was why I couldn’t seem to take my hands off her as I broke the bad news and updated her on the situation. Why I was flirting and why her innocent reaction was so addictive and arousing.
But she has a soul pair, and we both know it.
My eyes flitted over Zaide, who had backed himself into the corner of the cage again, protecting himself. It had been fucking horrible watching him retreat and get lost in memories. He barely slept. When he did, he whimpered, and that fucking killed me. I felt helpless. I tried talking to him, but he didn’t reply. I was surprised he replied when Clawdia called him over but equally glad he was still present enough for her. But now, even with her awake, he wasn’t present enough to notice me making a move on his girl.
Thank fuck for that. I saw the state of the last people who tried to take her from him.
Although to be fair, that was because they were kidnapping her and trying to portal her out of the realm. So maybe he wouldn’t beat me to a pulp.
Clawdia coughed slightly and drew my attention back to her. “What is that horrible smell?”
"Eau de Toilette.” I gave her a sarcastic grin.
