Page 46 of Bad Witch

“Night, peaches.”

I was failing with her. I needed to talk to my brothers. They’d been as useful as tits on a bull so far, but I needed help. Badly.

I could feel that I was this close to losing her. I couldn’t let that happen. If I could get her to choose me, to make me her lover, as she put it, I’d have a chance.

Only problem was, she seemed to want anyone but me.

Fuck.

Chapter

Twelve

Tempest

* * *

“How many have been moved to the ICU?” Magnolia asked across from me in the break room.

She’d arrived for her shift early. Pain filled me at her question. “Four. Two of them just pups.”

We’d lost Frances and Josiah last night, two elderly members of the pack. It was hitting the young and old the hardest.

“Have you talked to Iris? Is she okay?” I asked her. She’d been so worried about her sister and her family.

Fear shifted through Magnolia’s eyes. “She and the twins are with my mom, staying away from the pack for now. She’s worried sick about Draven, but he made her leave to keep the kids safe. He won’t leave the keep, though, he won’t abandon his pack. The whole thing is really awful.”

“I can’t imagine how scary it must be for her.”

Mags rubbed her forehead. “We’re keeping a close eye on the boys. It should be impossible for the virus to touch any of them. Immortals should be safe, but this virus is changing quickly, growing stronger. I don’t think we’ve reached the pinnacle of what it can do yet.” She shook her head. “How did this happen? Where the fuck did it come from?”

“Hopefully, we’re getting closer to a vaccine.” We’d had a lot of volunteers among the covens come to help, but we desperately needed more healers. Jack had been burning the candle at both ends, trying to make sure we all had at least one day off a week to prevent burnout, but with more wolves admitted every week, it was getting harder to cope.

“I tried to call you last night. When I didn’t hear back, I was worried.”

Her gaze slid from me. “Yeah, sorry about that. Something came up and it was late by the time I saw I’d missed a call from you.” She was quiet a moment. “You seem to be spending a bit of time with Fender?” she said, still without really looking at me.

I opened the tin of cookies I’d filled and brought in this morning, took one, and slid it back to the middle of the table. “Yes, I have.”

Maybe I was imagining it, but Mags seemed different, distant. That wasn’t the first of my calls she’d missed and hadn’t replied to.

“He’s a really good guy,” she said. “And you don’t need me to tell you that he’s been through a lot.”

“He has, but he’s making really good progress. I think I have his pain medicinals about right. A few small tweaks and I think we’ll have that side of things sorted.”

She rested her arms on the table. “So, there’s nothing more between you two?”

I blinked at her in surprise. “No…I mean, we’ve become friends. I’ve been helping him find something actually.”

Magnolia studied me. “And that’s it? Nothing more.”

I frowned.

“I know it’s none of my business, Temp. Tell me to mind my own and I’ll…well, I’ll try,” she said and chuckled. “But I just want to make sure you know what you are getting into when you spend time with a male like Fender. Hounds are different.”

I had no idea what she was getting at. “He hasn’t done anything. He might be a bit domineering at times, but he’s a good male.”

“He is,” Mags said. “But if a hound is involved with a female, um, romantically, they become extremely protective.”