Page 29 of A Forest Witch

“Uh,” Ariel muttered uncomfortably. “I’m just going to head on up to my room. You guys know where I’ll be if you need me for anything.”

“You’re welcome to stay down here with us,” Romero said in a gruff voice. “We’re all family and you don’t have to run off.”

Ariel looked at me with wide, frantic eyes and, despite the situation, I almost laughed.

I smirked at her before heading across the living room towards the back door. I felt the presence of my coven as they all followed me. Like I knew they always would.

Now that my blood had cooled down I realized the air had as well. Fall was almost here and the summer weather had disappeared. I was glad the greenhouse was heated and she wasn’t out in the woods in the cold.

It was a miracle that we had found her when we did. Otherwise her dead body would have been in the pile with the rest of them that we’d found tonight.

That thought fucked with me more than I wanted it to.

This girl was under my skin and I had barely even spoken to her yet.

The lights in the greenhouse were on when we walked in. That was a good indication that she was still out here.

Everything else was…

“Holy fuck,” Liam breathed out in awe.

“You can say that again,” Scout choked out.

“This is…” Gunner trailed off, at an obvious loss for words.

Incredible is what it was. To say the very least.

The whole entire place had been transformed into something truly magical. Magical and beautiful and just… left me at a loss for words.

“She did this?” Mason murmured in confusion as he looked around the space. “How long was she in here for?”

“All night.” I muttered under my breath as I searched the space for the beautiful girl.

It had become a tropical jungle in here. The whole space overflowed with greenery and flowers and fruits and vegetables.

I didn’t understand if she was capable of this then why the crops in the forest weren’t growing.

Then it hit me.

The markings on her face that told the story of what would befall anyone who harmed the girl.

They were warnings for a reason and they clearly hadn’t been taken seriously.

Not that anything that had happened to those people was Autumn’s fault at all, because it certainly was not. I had a feeling she was entirely blameless in everything.

We searched high and low throughout the entire greenhouse now turned jungle and the girl was nowhere to be found.

“Fuck.”

Where the hell could she be?

If something happened to her I was going to lose my goddamn mind.

14

Liam

Everyone panicked. I couldn’t blame them after everything we’d witnessed in the woods tonight.

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