Page 43 of Rogue Witch

“Raith,” I murmur.

“Raith,” he repeats.

There’s something in his voice that—

Jonas bursts into the room, eyes wide. “They’re coming.”

I jump from the bed. “Who’s coming?”

He looks from the wolf to me, then says, “Ariel and her gang. They’ll probably be here in an hour.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll deal with them.” I start toward the door.

The wolf grabs my arm. “Not with magic.”

I pull free. “They won’t hesitate to use magic.”

“Do you want to get out of here?” he asks.

“Out of the Reaping—or this house?”

“Both.”

I narrow my eyes. “Of course.”

“Then we find an alternative to magic.”

“Easy for you to say. You can shift. I’m hamstrung.”

“Didn’t they teach you anything at that Academy?” he asks.

“Sure, they did,” Jonas says.

I frown. “Look, Jonas, if you’re talking about the meditation and love shit, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re under attack.”

“We have three other witches here and two wizards. Not to mention me,” he says.

I pause. “You’re Longthorpe?”

He shrugs, clearly embarrassed by the question. Longthorpe women are strong witches. Warlocks generally have less power than the witches and many don’t really practice magic. I figure their male egos prevent them from trying that hard. If they can’t do something better than a woman, they walk away. I bet Jonas won’t be able to walk away.

“What do you think we should do?” I ask him.

“We can place a shield around the house.”

“We need protection against aggressive energy,” I say. “It’s not as easy as throwing protective light around a house.”

“It’s also not that hard.” He looks at Caleb.

“He’s right,” Caleb says.

“Holding them off indefinitely isn’t an answer,” I say.

“Don’t be so sure,” Caleb says. “We only need to do things the right way once to get out of here.”

“I pin him with a hard stare. “You’ve been in a Reaping before.”

“Yep.”