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I rush through my shower, drying off to tell Kaylus.
“Again with this? We won’t find it, Addy. Who knows if it even exists,”he caws at me from his perch.
“Kaylus, I need to find it. I know the well is there. Why else is that witch guarding it?” I stroke his feathers. “Plus, my grandmother spoke about it. She’d been there herself.”
He sighs.“I don’t know… The wolves aren’t bad, though—they’re nothing like the coven says.”He tilts his head at me.“You know that more than anyone. They’ve accepted you.”
Guilt claws at me, knowing I have to either give up this new pack family that I’ve found or my family with witches, with Jules. “I can’t stay here,” I whisper. “Monique will find me. She’ll find Gideon and use our bond against us somehow. I… I can’t put them in that kind of danger.”
Kaylus stares at me until I shift my weight uncomfortably.
“My family is Jules. You and her are all I have left,” I whisper. “I have to try.”
He’s silent for a moment, then nods his head slightly.“Okay, what do you want to do?”
A relieved smile spreads across my face. “I want to find the witch. I saw her last night, and I think I know what to do this time. I think.”
“What about Gideon? He isn’t going to like this.”
I shrug, grimacing. “I know, but I don’t have any other choice. This is the only way to keep him safe.”
“You don’t think she’ll come for him even after you give up your wolf and mate bond?”
“No,” I sigh. “She wants me more than anything. She’s left him alone for this long, right?” I ruffle his feathers lightly before moving to the door.
“Addy?”
I look over my shoulder at the raven.
“One day, you’re going to need to realize it isn’t all black and white. There’s a lot of gray in the world. And there’s a lot of people who love you. A lot of people worth fighting for.”
I give him a small smile as an ache builds in my chest. Making my way downstairs with a plan to feign being exhausted after last night and skip my shift at the bar, Gideon’s voice drifts across the living room to me.
“No, I want the house monitored twenty-four, seven. Overlap the shifts if you have to… I don’t care if it’s just ashes. It’s top priority when the witches are making a move on us, especially this one.”
His head snaps over to me as I take the last few steps, my bones heavy and my hands shaking. He’s watching my house—Monique’s house. I lean against the wall, watching him.
“I’ll talk to you later, Frank.” He hits a button to end the call, tossing the phone on the couch beside him.
“You’re spying on my house?” I raise a brow, trying to muster enough anger to look irritated. “You didn’t think to tell me?”
He chuckles, draping an arm across the back of the couch. “Are you the alpha?”
“No, if I was the alpha, I wouldn’t be sending my pack on a useless task.” I smirk as his gaze narrows at me. “It’s pointless watching that place. She never liked being there when her favorite kid was inside, let alone now that it’s just a pile of ashes. The perfect reminder of me—her most despised failure.”
He sets his jaw, inhaling slowly through his nose. “Don’t talk like that.”
“Like what? It’s the truth. Even if she threatened Jules to get me to surrender, she was still her favorite.” Spinning on my heel, I walk into the kitchen and grab a bottle of water, needing something in my hands to fidget with.
His hand clamps down on my shoulder just as I’m twisting off the cap, and he spins me around, taking the bottle from me and slamming it on the counter, water sloshing over the top. “I don’t care if you think it’s the truth. You don’t get to talk about yourself that way.” He presses me back against the counter, his hand gripping my hip and the other cupping my neck. His thumb tips my chin up, his black hair falling almost into his eyes. “You are incredible, and I’ll use every last breath I have to keep reminding you until you believe it.”
I swallow hard, wishing his words didn’t hurt like a knife in my heart, twisting deeper with every sweet thing he says to me, because this can’t be what I want. This can’t be my life. I belong with Jules and Kaylus, gaining control over my powers. Hell, I don’t evenwantmy powers. I’d rather be low-power, useless Adara Morrow, just as I was before everything was ruined and complicated. Before a target was placed on my back.
He dips his head, his mouth capturing mine in a kiss that sears itself onto my soul, branding into my mind for the rest of my life, and I grab his hips, pulling him closer to me. Because I want to remember everything. How he tastes like whiskey, the way his touch awakens every inch of me, the soft skin at his ribs as my fingers slip under his shirt and drift up.
His hand travels down, both gripping my hips as he lifts me onto the counter, stepping between my legs, and I wrap them around his waist. My hands dive into his hair, running my fingers through the wavy thickness, as I cling onto him with one thought running through my mind.
This man is going to ruin me.
