Claiming His Witch (14 page)

I immediately checked out my reflection in the mirror, my eyes going to the red marks decorating my neck. Wonderful. I yanked my sweatshirt over my head and gasped. I’d almost forgotten the way Pup had bitten me. But there was no forgetting it now—the teeth marks Pup left behind were obvious. They looked brutal. Possibly even worse than the hickeys he’d left up and down my neck. Scarlett was right… I’d need to cover them with clothing because none of my makeup would fix them.

Leaning over the counter, I examined the bite on my breast. It didn’t hurt. It was warm and something I definitely noticed, but it wasn’t painful. Even if it looked like it should be.

Curious, I brought my hand up to get a better feel for the mark. As I ran my fingers over the edge of the raised crescent, a deep pulse of arousal exploded through me. I did it again, this time brushing the length of it, and nearly lost my balance. Whatever the mark was, it was not a simple bite from a lover. Some kind of energy was wrapped around it, something warm and intriguing. I’d have to ask Pup about it the next time we were alone. See if the bite worked for him the way it did for me. If his touch would cause the same deep, explosive arousal.
 

By the Gods, if it worked the same way for him, the two together might just actually kill me. Death by orgasm. Damn.

Knowing Scarlett was still just on the other side of the door, I pushed those thoughts aside and turned away from the mirror. “Thanks, Scar.”

“Anytime, Zuri. That’s what sisters are for. To help keep you from getting into trouble. Just hurry up. We need to get downstairs and start working on getting the biddies to give up this ridiculous shunning.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

Twenty minutes later, I rushed down the stairs with my wet hair braided into pigtails and a turquoise turtleneck sweater covering the evidence of my night. I was ready to face the coven, ready to begin the process of regaining their support, even though something dark and angry swirled in my gut. I had the strongest urge to go back to the camp where Pup was staying. To be closer to him. But I couldn’t risk it. If the coven found out, I’d be in even more trouble than I already was.
 

I resettled a smile on my face as I reached the greenhouse, ready to offer my help with the protection spells. The room was humid as always, windows foggy as the heat and cold met through the panes of glass. Amber stood at the far corner, frowning at Clara Gardner as she and Bethesda worked different additives into bushels of soil. Sarah sat in a chair in the corner, looking pale and tired as she huddled under a blanket. Seeing her so obviously sick was a kick to the gut, one that filled me with guilt. I should have been spending time with her, not playing house with Pup. No matter how right it felt when I was with him. She was the only mother I’d ever known, and I was losing her to the Summerlands. No amount of comfort or care from another should compete with what she needed from me.

Shame swamped me, pulled me under its devastating wave. I had spent the night in bed with a man while Sarah suffered alone.
 

“Stop it,” Scarlett whispered, surprising me with her very presence.

“Stop what?”

“I can practically feel the guilt radiating from you. Sarah was fine; I checked on her multiple times last night. I would’ve called you if she’d needed you.”

I sighed, not really feeling better. “I owe you one.”

“Bitch, you owe me like twelve. Now go say hi.” She smiled as she walked over to a couple of women burning a pile of something dark and rootlike.
 

I was hurrying across the room on my way over to talk with Sarah when Clara hissed.

“How dare you?”

The entire room went silent in a blink. Sarah’s eyes met mine, showing concern for a moment before a deep sadness washed over her. A sadness directed at me. Dreading what I would see, I turned to face Clara, ignoring the stares of the rest of the coven. I knew whatever was wrong was about me. Felt it. Things were about to get ugly.

When I finally saw the ancient witch’s glare directed at me, I took a step back. “Pardon me?”

Bethesda stepped from around the older witch, a scowl on her face. “Where have you been, Weaver?”

I glanced around the room, catching the shocked expression on Amber’s face. “I’m not sure what you mean. I was just upstairs.”

Bethesda strode my way, a fire burning in her ebony eyes. “Don’t twist my words. I know you were with those witch hunters.”

She tilted her head and examined me, going so far as to sniff the air around me. “What did you do? Lay with one of them? Did you use your water magick to entice once of those mongrels into having sex with you?”

“I don’t…I’m not sure…” I caught Scarlett’s eyes, knowing mine had to be wide with panic.
How could they know?
 

“You’re not sure if you spent the evening with your new pet? How convenient.” Bethesda spun and addressed the silent witches around the room. “Ladies, we must take a stand. Azurine Weaver has brought danger deep within our coven. She’s lied to us, invited in the evil that hunts us, and has lain with one of them in her effort to undermine our union. We cannot allow this type of deceit. Already we’ve shunned her, and less than twelve hours later, she stands before us, reeking of witch hunter.”

Amber stepped from behind Bethesda, her face a mess of pain and confusion. “Sarah is dying, the coven is scattering in fear, and you betrayed us for a man? How could you, Zuri?”

“No.” I reached for my sister, silently willing her to give me a chance to explain. But that chance would never come. My heart broke as she pulled away from me. I looked around the room, feeling small and vulnerable in the face of the angry looks being sent my way. “I would never betray this coven. The men in the camp south of here are not witch hunters. They’re wolf shifters, but they’re not a threat. They’re not here for us, nor are they a danger to our coven. The Fates led me there—”

“Do not disrespect the Fates with your untruths.” Bethesda stormed my way, her eyes positively blazing. “You have all borne witness to this witch’s lies and the danger she brings us. Our coven is being hunted, and yet she goes to the ones who would kill us all. She cavorts with them. She spreads her legs for them.”

My face burned and my heart raced, but I had no idea what to say. I
had
slept with Pup, but I knew he and his friends weren’t a danger to us. Unfortunately, Bethesda had just branded me not only a whore but also a willful betrayer of the coven. And while I knew neither of those was true, convincing the coven of my innocence seemed completely out of reach.

“I call for an immediate and binding vote.” Bethesda stepped to the middle of the room and raised her hands in the air. “Goddess of Light, Mother of the Earth, we call on your guidance to show us the way. Let the element of air bring us sight and wisdom as we evaluate the actions of one of your daughters.”

Amber swirled her hand over her head, causing a biting wind to spin through the greenhouse. I shivered and curled in on myself as other witches exclaimed their shock over the sudden drop in temperature. But not Bethesda. She stood strong, hands raised, eyes closed. For several seconds, nothing happened. The wind blew itself out and the temperature once again rose, but no one moved. No one spoke.
 

Until Bethesda dropped her hands and nodded. “I have seen the path we must take.”

She circled the room, looking each of my covenmates in the eyes as she passed. Even Sarah, who shook her head with tears in her eyes but said nothing, making my stomach drop in fear. And when Bethesda was finished, when she’d completed her circle and made contact with every witch besides me, she pulled her crystal talisman from around her throat. The stone in the middle was a deep indigo azurite, the color used for centuries in the pursuit of spiritual guidance and divination. Bethesda held the talisman like an offering, lifting it high in the air.

“Coven of Parity Lake, I call for a full banishing of Azurine Weaver.”
 

As witches gasped around the room, Bethesda dropped the talisman to the floor. It landed with a sickening crunch, sparks flying. Bethesda picked it up and held it aloft once more, high enough for the entire room to see. The witches around me murmured excitedly as they saw the results—the stone had lightened to a shade of purple that made my stomach drop. The color represented spiritual guidance and contact with the spirits. It also was the color we used when driving away evil.
 

Bethesda made sure each witch in the room saw the way the stone had changed color before slipping it back around her neck.
 

“The spirits have spoken. We must banish the evil that Azurine Weaver represents. Who here supports this decision with the guidance of the Goddess?”

The silence was a physical being, something wet and heavy in the room. No one had been banished from the coven in over two hundred years. It was the worst the coven could do to a witch, sending her out in the world alone without her fellow witches to help strengthen her magick. It also meant being cut off from all of her family and friends.

And by the way the hands were being raised around the room, the coven was united in my banishment.

“I do not support the banishment of this girl, Bethesda.” Sarah’s voice sounded rough and scratchy, but there was a strength to it no one could deny. “If Azurine says the Fates called her to this man, then I believe her. Perhaps we should investigate them further before we make such a rash decision.”

Bethesda looked around the room at the hands in the air, ignoring the way some of them fell at Sarah’s words. “The decision has been made. Pack your belongings, Azurine. You’re no longer welcome on coven land.”

I looked to Sarah in fear. She’d always been there for me, always been able to patch up whatever I’d broken. But by the sadness on her face and the tears running down her cheeks, this was more than she could repair. This was something she could not rescue me from, and that reality turned my blood cold.
 

Scarlett came to stand by me, her face ablaze with fury and her fingertips glowing as she held her elemental power close.

“What about the protection spells? The hunter? We need Zuri’s magick.”

Bethesda shook her head. “The coven is to leave here, immediately. If anyone chooses to stay”—she glanced at Sarah—“it’s at their own risk.”

“So we run, and we leave a sick, old woman to what? Die alone? Defend herself against a hunter? How can you be so callous to the woman who’s led our coven for years.” Scarlett’s eyes practically glowed, her inner fire too close to the surface. “I’ve met the man who claims Zuri as his mate, and I believe her when she says he’s not a hunter. I sat at their camp for hours without a single trace of fear or wariness telling me they were a danger. And I believe my sister when she says the Fates pulled her to him.”

She looked around the room, staring particularly hard at our sister who stood in the back with her hand still raised against me. “We all saw her yesterday afternoon, those of us with even the slightest gift of empathy knew of her emotional unsteadiness. Did you forget? Did you disregard what you saw and felt?” She caught our sister’s eyes, glaring hard. “How dare you not believe your own sister? How dare you pull the only family she’s ever known away from her at a time when we need to come together to usher Sarah to the Summerlands? You send your sister into the woods where a hunter lies in wait, and for what? Having sex with the man whom the Fates drew her to?”

“He’s a hunter,” Amber said, her voice small but solid.

“He is not a hunter! Yes, he’s a wolf shifter, but he is not a witch hunter.” Sparks flew as Scarlett yelled, small drops of liquid fire falling from her fingertips, making the rest of the witches in the room back away. “You’re all too afraid to see how stupid you’re being. We have the Goddess on our side; we have magick. If there truly is a witch hunter, let’s bring him the witches. He’d be dead before nightfall if we would only fight back instead of hiding and running.”

“We can’t attack him without cause. An it harm none, do what ye will,” Amber countered.
 

Scarlett glowered at our oldest sister. “This entire coven just broke the Rede by banishing one of its members without cause.”
 

“Your loyalty to your sister, while fascinating in its ignorance, has nothing to do with this case.” Bethesda faced me, her gaze strong as it held mine. “Azurine, go pack your things. Our decision is final.”
 

I nodded and dropped my gaze to the floor. Heat flooded my cheeks and my heart ached in my chest. This was it, my last moments with the people who’d been my family since I was born. The only family I’d ever known.
 

Scarlett’s overheated hand stopped me as I stepped toward the door. When I looked up at her, she was staring at Amber.

“The Weaver sisters are a unit. A triad.” Scarlett took two steps toward Amber and held out the hand not holding mine. “Are you standing with your sisters today?”

Amber stood silent and still for a moment before slowly shaking her head. That one movement, that tiny side-to-side motion, was more cutting than anything else that had happened in the greenhouse.
 

Scarlett’s hair began to glow at the ends, a sure sign her rage was quickly burning out of control. “Fine. You want to abandon your sisters when they need you, go ahead. But don’t think we’ll ever forget this.”

Scarlett took a deep breath—the only outward sign of her fear—and tightened her hold on my hand. Her skin burned me, but I didn’t let go. We were stronger together. All witches were stronger with others of their kind around them, but Scarlett and I truly were a matched set. And right at that moment, I felt as if she was the only thing holding me together.

“I’m going with my sister.” Scarlett lifted her chin and glared at each coven member, one by one. “You have broken the Wiccan Rede, you have banished a woman who did nothing but follow the path the Fates told her to, and you have endangered every member of this coven by failing to listen to us as we informed you of your misguided certainty of where the threat lies. I swear upon my mother’s grave, the man Azurine has taken as her soul mate is no hunter.”