Claiming His Witch (15 page)

Gasps echoed through the room again, including my own. Swearing upon the dead was a strong promise, a heavy responsibility that no one took lightly. Scarlett had just proclaimed, at the cost of her own death for a lie, that what she knew was fact. That I was being truthful. My sister had thrown the full weight of her support behind me, and I’d never been more grateful for her.
 

The faces around us went from surprise to anger, the looks this time focused on Bethesda Marrin. But it was too late. My fate had been set, and only a full tribunal refusal or an overturning of coven power could negate my banishment.

And deep down, I didn’t know if I wanted it turned over. Not after the way they’d shattered my trust in them.

Scarlett and I moved as one toward the door. But my sister wasn’t finished. She always had been the one to turn that final screw in an argument.

“You all disappoint me, you disappoint our ancestors, and you disappoint the Goddess. May your action weigh heavily on your soul, and the rule of three be upheld in the coming days.”

And with that, we exited the greenhouse, hand in hand. Probably for the last time.

The freezing rain started in the early morning hours. The ground quickly turned dark and soupy, the areas with an existing buildup of mud turning near-white with frost. Heavy and pounding, the water washed away the dirt and the debris that had accumulated since the last downpour. I sat on the porch of my cabin, drinking coffee and wishing a simple rain shower could wash away my own sins as easily.

“So Beast thinks Spook isn’t our guy?” Rebel asked, leaning back in his chair in a way that would have sent me crashing to the floor as a kid.

“Yeah. I’m going to drive down there in a bit, see what’s up with the crew. Maybe something will kick off my instincts.” I bent forward, planting my elbows on my knees and resting my head in my hands. “It’s only like an hour and a half to get down there. Figure a day to hang, and I’ll be back by morning. It’s nothing.”

“You know I can give you a break if you need it, man. You just found your mate yesterday—”

“No.” I turned my head in time to see Rebel’s lip curl. “No disrespect, but you gave me a job to do, and I will get it done. Meeting Azurine won’t get in the way of my responsibilities.”

Rebel watched me for a few long minutes, assessing and inspecting as I expected him to do. I held my position, not looking away, making sure he knew exactly how serious I was about this. I’d earn my place, no matter what.
 

Finally, he nodded his acceptance.

“Okay then.” He leaned back in his chair again, rocking gently while looking past the muddy clearing and over to the trees. “Just know that the offer stands. There are other guys who can investigate this for me. And I fully respect the Rites of Klunzad. I’d be more than happy to set up a team to guard the camp should you choose to complete your mating the traditional way.”

Shame stealing some of the volume of my voice, I murmured, “I kind of already completed the mating, sort of.”
 

Rebel stopped his rocking, looking serious as he turned to me. “What do you mean, sort of?”

I choked on a sigh, practically ready to bang my head on the railing at my own stupidity. “I bit her.”

The front legs of Rebel’s chair hit the floor. “You’re fucking joking.”

“Nope. I just…lost control while we were…” I glanced his way and gave him a “you know” look. He raised his eyebrows at me.

“So you performed the claiming bite during…coitus.”

I sat back in my chair. “It’s the twenty-first century, man. I bit her during sex, not coitus.”

Rebel smacked me upside the back of my head with a growl. “Fine, you smartass. Let’s just be blunt; you bit her while fucking.” He huffed as I cringed. “Did you even ask her if she wanted to be bonded that way? Did you explain what it means?”

I ducked my head and whispered a regretful “No.”

“That’s what I thought.” Rebel ran a hand over his face and groaned. “What are you gonna do?”

“I have to tell her. She’s going to be pissed as hell, but I can’t keep it from her. I didn’t mean to this morning, I just got…distracted.”

Rebel snorted. “Yeah, we all heard you being distracted. Nice job, by the way.”

“Sorry,” I said, embarrassed and yet…not. I frowned as he pulled his phone from his pocket. “What’re you doing?”

“Trying to figure out who I can call in for the K-zoo den issue.”

I sat up straighter, my neck burning as my heart raced. “No way, man. I can do this.”

Rebel shook his head, still staring at his phone. “I know you can, but you need to focus on Azurine right now.”

“Rebel.” My whispered plea stopped him, bringing his attention back to me. “I don’t want to fail again. Let me do the job. I can find out who stole the money and still deal with my mate.”

He put his phone down, turning that intense, Alpha stare on me and not letting me look away. “I did this, remember? My mate left me hours after I found her, and I suffered through it for months. Don’t be stupid like I was. No one, not a single Breed brother, would blame you or think less of you if you needed to take some time away to deal with the mating. You have nothing to prove.”

I turned enough so he could see the back of my jacket, the bare expanse of leather where I dreamed of a growling wolf insignia.
 

“I have everything to prove, man.”

Once again, he watched me, silently weighing me against some measure in his head. And then he gave me a head nod.

“All right. I can respect the need to earn it. But know this, if you need it, the time’s yours. No questions, no shame, and no loss of respect.”

“Understood.” I nodded once. While the offer of time off was one I would’ve loved to take advantage of, I couldn’t. I had to focus on the long-term, which meant earning my patch. Without that, I was nobody. Nothing. Not even close to good enough for someone like my Azurine.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, both of us watching the rain, lost in our own thoughts. Mine revolved around Zuri, around the bond I could feel between us. There was a staticky feeling to it, as if it were a radio station I was just out of range for.
 

Trying to ignore the sense of panic slowly gnawing a hole in my gut at the idea of Azurine being outside of my reach, I slouched in my chair.
 

“You tell Charlotte yet about the whole biting shit?”

He sighed. “Not all of it yet. We’re just getting solid, you know? We’re finally talking about the future of our relationship. She’s even considering us moving in together.”

“That’s awesome, man.”

“Yeah.” He grinned but then forced it back as he watched the rainfall. “I’m worried that telling her about the slower aging thing will put her over the edge. It’s like the whole ‘Hey, we’ll live for centuries together if I bite you, but you’ll have to watch your brother die a human death’ might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. I don’t know if she’d choose to stay with me in that situation.”

I shrugged. “No way to know until you ask.”

His head whipped in my direction and he growled. “See if it’s so easy when you have to tell your little witch that not only is she now bonded to you for eternity and that you can feel her presence no matter where she goes, but that you did it without her knowledge or consent.”

My chest and neck burned, reminding me of my human youth when I’d been scolded or corrected for doing something wrong. The embarrassment of knowing how much I’d screwed up. And I had definitely done something wrong this time.
 

“I couldn’t stop myself.” I coughed, trying to clear the lump growing in my throat. Fuck, I’d screwed up bad. Shaking my head, I whispered, “Everything came down to my teeth meeting her skin. There was nothing else in the entire world. And I hate it, but I couldn’t stop.”

We sat in silence again; the only sound the dance of the rain as it hit the ground. But then Rebel sighed.

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Rebel leaned back in his chair, rocking and balancing on two legs again. “It’s not easy to hold back on that particular instinct. I struggle with it every time.”

“You do?” I asked. Rebel was a master at control, always so focused. At least until he met Charlotte. His struggling in anything wolf-related was a surprise.

“Sure. But I’m a lot older than you, both as a man and a wolf. Control comes with time.” He stiffened as he looked out toward his cabin, once again dropping his chair back to four legs. “And it looks like our time is up.”

Charlotte hurried our way with a jacket over her head to keep from getting wet. Not that it helped. She was soaked within seconds. Beast followed behind her, grinning and tilting his head back to catch the rain.

“Sometimes I think you’ve got a little Labrador in you, my friend,” Rebel called to Beast as he met Charlotte at the steps. He grinned and kissed her, his hands sliding down to grip her hips. “Hello, mate.”

“Hi.” She looked my way as Rebel led her back to his chair, pulling her onto his lap once he sat down. “What are you two boys doing over here? Plotting world domination?”

I chuckled. “No, just talking about women.”

“Oh. Your Elizabeth Taylor lookalike got you all riled up?” Charlotte asked with a smile.

“My what?”

She rolled her eyes. “Azurine. The girl looks just like Elizabeth Taylor in her younger days.”

“That’s why she looks familiar.” Beast shook his head. “It’s been driving me crazy.”

Rebel pulled Charlotte closer, his hand resting high on her thigh. “No matter who she looks like, Pup here needs to figure out how to go about wooing her. He’ll be miserable without his mate.”

Charlotte ran her fingers through his hair and leaned over to kiss his forehead. When she moved back, he met her gaze, both of them smiling subtly. The amount of love between the two of them was obvious in that look. Soft and filled with emotion, both their faces reflected the adoration they felt for one another. I pulled my phone from my pocket and snapped a quick picture. Rebel looked over with a furrowed brow at the click, earning a shrug from me.

“For later.”

He didn’t look any less confused, but I had no interest in explaining why I’d needed to capture the look they’d shared. I doubted I could explain it to myself.

“Do you think she’ll come back today?” Charlotte asked, turning on Rebel’s lap to face me. “The rain sucks, but maybe she has a car.”

“I don’t know. I didn’t get a chance—”

The static stopped. I waited, looking out toward where I knew Zuri lived, waiting for something. Anything.
 

“Pup?” Rebel sounded concerned, but I just shook my head. I needed to concentrate. To wholly focus on my bond. Something was happening, but I didn’t know what it was.

A sudden tug at my heart had me on my feet, a throaty rumble in my chest.
 

“What’s going on, Pup?” Beast asked as he came to stand by my side.

I shook my head, too consumed with the pull to my mate to answer. Emotions like I’d never known swirled around me. Fear, pain, loss, desperation…but they weren’t mine. Something was very, very wrong with Azurine.
 

I growled louder as her pain increased, my bond to her coming in loud and clear. The railing snapped under my hands as I gripped it. My growl grew louder, my mind going dark as pain like I’d never experienced grew, swelled, overtook my heart…

Rushed toward me.

“What’s happening?” Charlotte asked, her small voice coming from behind me.

Closer, closer, closer…the heartbreak swelled within me, outside of me, all around me. “She’s coming.”

Rebel and Charlotte came to stand on my right as Beast flanked me on my left. A deep, dark pit of emotion was headed my way, sliding along the bond between the two of us. Damn, how could she be dealing with that level of hurt? How could she even function under the weight of that much pain?

Two shadows appeared through the falling sleet.

“Oh shit.” Charlotte’s words barely registered as I jumped off the porch and raced toward Azurine and her sister. Both girls were soaking wet, shivering in the near-winter rain while holding a single suitcase each.

“What’s wrong?”

Zuri looked up, her eyes meeting mine for only a second before my heart died. The sadness on her face was a physical weight, pulling me into a pit of emotion alongside her. Pain like I’d never experienced lived in those jade eyes. Pain that was ripping her apart. I wrapped my arms around her, wishing I could shield her from whatever was making her hurt so horribly.

As soon as I had her pressed against me, she broke into sobs. Shoulders shaking, she cried into my chest as my stomach dropped. I looked over her head to her sister, almost panicking at the collapse of my mate. But Scarlett was no immediate help. She seemed more angry than sad.

“What happened?” Charlotte asked as she joined us in the freezing rain.

Scarlett shrugged. “The old biddies kicked her out. You got any whiskey?”

“What do you mean, they kicked her out?” Charlotte asked.

Scarlett shrugged. “They banished Zuri for sleeping with the enemy. I’m pretty much along for the ride.”

Beast appeared beside her, grabbing both girls’ bags and directing Scarlett around us.

“C’mon, Smokey. I’m sure between Rebel and me, we’ve got enough whiskey to light your fire.”

Scarlett snorted. “I can light my own fires, thank you very much. Or do I need to give you another demonstration?”

As they left, I gripped Zuri tighter, bending my body over hers, trying to shield her as best I could from the rain.
 

When the sobs lessened enough that I thought she could speak, I kissed the top of her head and asked, “What happened?”

“They knew.”
 

Her mumbled words made no sense, but I didn’t question her on them. Instead, I waited for her to continue, to help me understand.

“They knew I’d been with you. They said they could smell the hunter on me. Which is crazy because you’re not a hunter.” She paused, shaking in my arms. When she spoke next, the tone of her voice tore a hole right through my heart. “I don’t understand what happened.”