Page 73 of Bad Witch

It sounded like we were going to war not starting any kind of relationship. “You want to share those with me?” This wasn’t the place for this, but I had her talking and I didn’t want her to stop. If I got one thing from her tonight that gave me more of an insight into what she was thinking or feeling, I’d be fucking ecstatic.

“One,” she said holding up a finger. “No getting attached.”

Nope, didn’t like that one.

A second finger popped up. “Two, no sleepovers at my place. No coming to my place at all.”

Didn’t like that either, and now I just had more questions. “Anything else?”

A third finger came up. “This arrangement is temporary and, because of that, will be a short one.”

I fucking hated that one.

“Four, I know you have questions, but my private life must remain private. Getting all caught up in each other’s lives isn’t a good idea.”

That one was bullshit. Was she forgetting where we were? What we were about to do? She was caught up in my life more than she even knew. “That’s a lot of rules, peaches.”

“There is one more, though this isn’t really a rule, and more an FYI.”

How was it possible for her to be adorable and infuriating at the same time?

“When we do have sex, you don’t need to worry about pregnancy. I have a tonic to prevent that.”

“Seems you’ve got it all figured out, but FYI, I can’t get a female pregnant unless I am mated to her in truth, so you’re covered.” But I couldn’t wait until I made her mine and put a pup in her belly, just the thought made my gut clench tight.

“That’s good information to know.” She nodded to herself. “But given all the information I’ve given you, and my desire not to become addicted to you, when we do have...” She swallowed thickly. “Sex. Maybe just move the earth a little bit? Do you think you can do that? That should prevent any dependence on you that could arise,” she said.

Tempest was dead serious. Again, even after hearing all those insane fucking rules, I had to bite back my laughter. “I’ll see what I can do.”

She nodded and gave me a smile and a double thumbs-up. “Excellent.” Then she grabbed my hand and headed off toward the cemetery.

I let her lead me, confused and turned on, and again, trying not to laugh. Considering all the fucked-up shit going on, that was some kind of miracle. Temp stopped at the gate to the cemetery, lifted her hand, allowing it to hover there for a moment, then without a care, opened the gate and we walked onto the Stonebridge cemetery, right through its wards that had to be heavy duty and onto their most sacred and powerful grounds like we belonged there.

Lush, magic-infused gardens full of herbs that scented the air and a whole host of other plants edged the tall wrought iron fence. Headstones jutted up from the ground, at least thirty of them, and a path of glittering white stone snaked through the middle, leading to a small mausoleum made of pearly-white marble.

“They’re in here, they have to be,” Tempest said and pressed her hand to the slab in front of the entrance. “Do you think you can shift it?”

Tempest stepped back, giving me room. I lifted the huge piece of stone so it didn’t scrape on the ground and draw attention and put it to the side, allowing us enough room to slip inside.

Tempest made an odd sound, and I turned back to her, brow raised in question. Her gaze slid to my biceps and back up. “You’re quite strong, aren’t you?”

It wasn’t a question. “Yes.”

She bit her lip and smiled as if she was holding back another of those little stifled whimpers.

Fuck me, this female was adorable, and maddening, and I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss the hell out of her. But now was not the time. We needed to get this done and get out of here.

I grabbed her hand and led her inside. There were stairs leading down into the ground.

“They’ll have them down there so that their magic can reach the earth and enrich the cemetery,” Tempest said, taking a flashlight from her bag of tricks and shining it down into the darkness.

“Makes sense.”

We headed into the tomb. It was a tight fit. The three sisters were lined up, not much space between each crypt. Their names were etched onto the lids, and they were placed in order of age.

Going by what we’d discovered, and the timing of the virus outbreak, it made sense to me that Brigid was the one who bore the glyphs, but we needed to know for sure if it was Disease we were dealing with, and we needed to check them all to be sure.

“I guess start with Eartha.”