Page 15 of Dark Witch: Entangled Fates

"Just a dry throat. I need to drink something."

"Okay. Call me when you can."

"I will." Margo ended the call and dropped the phone with a sigh. "I love them to pieces, but they are driving me crazy. I'm tired and achy, and I don't have any patience, but if I tell my mother how I feel, she will start freaking out, and I really don't have the patience for that either."

Smiling, Negal gathered her into his arms so she was nestled against his chest. "Rest, Nesha. If they call again, I will answer for you and tell them that you are asleep."

Margo chuckled softly. "Then they will want to know who you are." She turned to look up at him. "What do I tell them about you?"

"That I'm your fabulous new paramour, and that you are madly in love with me, and that we are going on an expedition to Tibet."

She snorted. "Yeah, and that will fly so well with them. They will think that you are manipulating me and demand to meet you." She sighed. "I'm never that rash, and they know it. I take weeks to plan a weekend in Vegas."

Negal hadn't known that about her, but he should have. Margo was cautious in every aspect of her life, not just who she took to her bed.

"I hope Aru gets an extension from your commander," she said. "He promised that he would try if I start transitioning, and I have." She scrunched her nose. "At least, I think I am. I hope I am. Otherwise, I will get really worried about what's wrong with me."

"You are transitioning, my love. Even Kian said so, and he's the biggest skeptic I know."

The truth was that Negal was almost certain that Margo was transitioning, but he wasn't a hundred percent sure. He was waiting for Frankie and Dagor to leave for the wedding and for Margo to doze off so he could give her a transfusion of his blood.

Dagor had told him where he'd stashed the rest of the disposable syringes he'd pilfered from the clinic, so all that was required now was the right opportunity.

As Dagor and Frankie's bedroom door opened and the two stepped into the living room, Margo tried to whistle, but all that came out was a whoosh of air.

"You two look hot," she said. "I wish I could come with you."

"You can." Frankie patted the elaborate up-do she'd created. "You can put on something comfortable and spend the evening sitting in a chair. You don't have to do anything strenuous."

"It's okay." Margo smiled. "Negal and I will watch the wedding from here. They are broadcasting it live."

"I know." Frankie grinned. "I was in your shoes not too long ago."

Dagor wrapped his arm around his mate's waist. "We need to go, or we will be late. They lock the doors as soon as the bride walks in, and we will not be allowed in."

"Yeah, I know." Frankie cast one last sad look at Margo. "Feel better, bestie." She blew her a kiss and then flounced toward the front door with Dagor.

When the door closed behind them, Margo pulled the blanket up to her chin and yawned. "I'm so tired."

"Then sleep." Negal shifted her so her head was on the pillow, and then lifted her legs so she was supine.

"I don't want to miss the ceremony." She waved a feeble hand in the direction of the television. "Can you please find the channel they are broadcasting it on?"

"Of course."

She'd dozed off several times during the afternoon, but she'd refused to go to the bedroom and get a proper sleep as long as the others were around, and since her family had kept calling her, she wouldn't have gotten much sleep anyway.

Negal perched on the edge of the couch beside her. "I'll wake you up when it starts. You've been taking catnaps for the past couple of hours, and they seem to help you."

Margo nodded and then yawned again. "It's about to start shortly. I can sleep after it's done."

That was true, but he wasn't sure she would be able to keep her eyes open for much longer. Besides, he was itching to be done with the transfusion. The sooner she got it, the sooner she would get better.

"I wish Jasmine could at least watch the weddings on the screen." Margo curled on her side, facing the television. "She must be going out of her mind down there, all alone without even the staff to keep her company."

"I'm sure not everyone is working, and some people stayed behind." He reached for the remote and turned the television on. "She'll be fine."

Margo's concern for those she cared about was one of the many things he loved about her, but in this case, her worry was misplaced. Jasmine was safe in the staff area, and if Negal was being honest, he wasn't entirely sure he trusted the woman with her overly charming smiles and calculating eyes. Her scent was fresh and devoid of any undertones of deceit, but emotional scents were not the equivalent of a truth detector. Sometimes, they lied.

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