Page 38 of Bad Witch

The pain on Tempest’s face filled me with the urge to pull her into my arms again. Hounds really liked hugs. We craved affection. I’d been thinking about hugging Tempest a lot since I’d held her down in the dens. Would she let me hug her again? Would she pull away?

Another tear streaked down her cheek. This time it was clear and not bloody, thank fuck.

“Oh, sweet goddess,” she whispered. “The nightmare…the hell Brigid went through. I can’t bear it.” She was trembling, and when she looked up at me, I realized it wasn’t all sadness, it was rage as well.

I took her hand, and when she didn’t try to pull it from mine, I tugged her closer. “Gonna hold you for a little bit, if that’s okay, peaches?”

Her wide green eyes sliced to me, and there was confusion there. I was getting better at reading emotions, hers anyway. I guess spending two days and a night with her had sped things along. Although I didn’t know why she’d be confused. “I want to wrap you in my arms, Tempest. I want to give you comfort.”

She nodded stiffly. “Okay.”

I dragged in a rough breath, trying to keep it cool and not yank her to me in my desperation to soothe the pain lining her face—or my driving need to have her close to me. Gently, so as not to hurt my little female, I lifted her onto the stool beside us so that I didn’t have to awkwardly bend down and wrapped my arms around her. Her soft and curvy body finally pressed against mine. Sighing, I held her tightly to me, or as tightly as I’d allow myself. The beast rumbled in my chest again from the pleasure of it, from the sensation of her soft flesh and warmth, from her scent filling my lungs and the rightness all of that gave me.

Did she feel it too? When I held her this way, did it feel as if her whole world had shifted, that now, for the first time, it was suddenly right? That after a thousand years, this…she was what I’d been waiting for?

Her head rested against my shoulder, and with her on the stool I could rub my hand up and down her back, doing my best to soothe. Her hands were still at her sides. She wasn’t holding me back, but that was okay. This wasn’t about me. Her heart thudded against mine, then evened out. The panic disappeared, and she slowly relaxed. I’d done that, being held by her male had done that.

Her arms moved, and I forced myself not to freeze when slowly, so fucking slowly, her fingers pressed against my sides. I held my breath, and when she finally slid her arms around me in return, I growled softly from the complete and utter pleasure of it.

“I’ve got you,” I said, my voice all-hound now. I clamped my lips together, worried that would scare her, but her heart rate stayed the same and her trembling eased. “Okay, Temp?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I am now. Thank you, Fender. You’re a…a good friend.”

“Friend…yeah.” I wanted to be a fuck of a lot more than that—and I would be—I just had to be patient.

She stilled in my arms and lifted her head. “I didn’t mean to presume. I mean, at the clubhouse you said we were…and I just thought that after everything…that we truly were friends now…but I…I…”

The panic was back. “We are friends, Temp,” I said quickly and continued to slide my hand up and down her back. “We are most definitely friends.”

Then she went and stole my breath again. The smile that curved her lips was wide and breathtakingly beautiful, giving me a flash of dimples. Happiness shone from her like a light had switched on from within, making her stunning green eyes so fucking bright.

“I’m glad,” she said.

“Me too,” I said rough as hell.

As she stared up at me, my willpower began to weaken. I flexed my arms, about to pull her closer, but she stepped back. I let my arms drop when it was the last thing I wanted to do.

“I guess we should get to work,” she said, her gaze sliding away. “I’ll wrap and secure Brigid, if you could gather her books and papers?”

I watched her take a blanket from her bottomless bag and walk back to the other witch’s remains to wrap her.

It was hard to tear my gaze away. I had no idea why the fates had rewarded me with a female like Tempest, but I wasn’t going to question it. I’d just be fucking thankful they had. I could wait for her. Now that I knew she was mine, I’d wait as long as it took. I’d be right here, waiting until she realized I was hers as well.

Tempest

We made it back by morning after traveling through the night. Fender had offered to carry me on his back in his beast form again, as he’d called it, and I’d agreed, since I needed to get home to feed Glinda and Manny as well as make it to my shift at the clinic. He was huge and terrifying as a hound, but for some reason the beast didn’t scare me. He really was beautiful, but the main reason I’d agreed was that as a hound his leg wouldn’t hurt him as much. I took him in, now back in his human form. I’d really liked threading my fingers through his soft fur, and his auburn hair, that hung around his shoulders, now looked just as soft.

“You ready?” he said as he reached back and quickly tied his hair into a low, messy bun.

“Yep.” Coven Stonebridge stuck to themselves. Not that I knew much about the covens here in Roxburgh, but I’d learned things at the clinic, heard people talking. They were also the coven Brigid and her sisters had belonged to and they’d had a large coven that would be happy to see her returned.

The matriarch, Aradina Stonebridge, lived in the large house with her aging father and one of her brothers. The coven’s cemetery was here on the sprawling grounds.

The house was right in the city, and the size of it made it a rare find. As the city had grown, it had swallowed up the available land around them, but somehow, they’d retained their large property surrounded by several hectares of land.

Gravel crunched under my feet as I walked up to the front door. Fender followed, carrying Brigid’s wrapped remains in his huge arms. A buzz of magic slid over me, more a lick of curiosity and thankfully not an alarm and hasty expulsion, like some wards. I was sure it was a different story during the night.

I glanced back at Fender, and he nodded encouragingly. I wasn’t nervous. I was more worried about scaring Aradina when she laid eyes on the intimidatingly tall and muscled hound standing forebodingly behind me.