Page 31 of Gift from the Tree

We’ve made it down the steps and another five seconds have passed, and she hasn’t pulled her hand away.

She’s going to love me.

I’m going to be her favorite.

Definitely.

“So tell me about your day. All I heard was your morning was pretty eventful,” I say with a cheeky smile.

Corentin told me to meet him in his home office this morning. Apparently, the three of them checked on her while she was recovering in the sunroom without me, which was bullshit.

They left me out.

But he told us about her having a Memoria stone, and after finding out what it was, she let out an air blast that he couldn’t even get under control without reeling her back in a little bit.

I thought Caspian was going to lose his shit when he heard that. And he did go off for a moment about how we’ve let the enemy into our home, blah, blah, blah.

Tillman didn’t say much, just some grunts of acknowledgment here and there. I’m pretty sure he’s still in shock that she claimed him publicly in front of his team and us, and she has no clue that she even did it or what she did. Finally, something’s shaking Mr. Unshakable.

By the eye twitch Corentin’s been rocking since yesterday, he’s about to pop like a nasty pimple on a teenage boy’s face. He’s about to go nuclear because it’s evident he isn’t going to be able to control this situation or her. He wouldn’t go into much detail about everything that happened, which means my little wanderer put him in his place somehow.

Ahhh, I wish I could’ve seen it.

And me? I just felt proud. Of course our girl was strong and could knock Corentin on his ass. She may have shown up here last night, beaten and bloodied, but I have no doubt, she’s a badass. I can’t wait to see her come completely into power. I wonder what her gift is. I hope it’s something rare like me, so we can fuck some shit up together.

Smiling to myself, I give her hand a little squeeze to get her to answer me and she lets out a sweet little sigh, shaking her head.

“It was eventful. I destroyed all the food and the whole room when I panicked and let out another air blast. Corentin had to calm me down. Then I passed out again.”

She says it like she’s disappointed in herself. Hell, slinging some food around, or whatever happened back in the nonmagical realm since that was technically when her power emerged, couldn’t have been that bad.

Usually, when powers emerge, it’s a subtle occurrence. Nothing grand or destructive happens, then your power will grow the older you get and the more control you gain. Well, except for our Nexus group. All of us emerged with a bang. And Willow’s no different, apparently. Her powers were felt from a whole realm away.

“There’s nothing to be disappointed about, little wanderer. I mean, usually, when powers emerge, they aren’t so dramatic, but me and my brothers all had memorable, crazy emerging days. And it happened when we were younger, so we were teenage boys wreaking havoc,” I tell her confidently, hoping that lessens some of this guilt she’s carrying around about some destroyed food.

“Really? When your powers came bursting out of you, you were destructive?” She eyes me skeptically.

“What? You don’t think I can be destructive?” I ask, chuckling.

“No, I don’t. I don’t think you’d hurt a fly.”

I snort at her assumption. Little does she know.

“Well, what happened to you when you emerged then?”

Damn, I didn’t think she’d follow up, so I don’t have time to hide my face as it crumbles. As quickly as I let it slip, I put my charming smile back on. I don’t talk about that day.

“Another time, kitten. Let’s find food.” I change the subject quickly, opening the back sliding door for her to lead us into the kitchen.

Only a couple steps in, she stops so fast I can’t stop myself from running into the back of her, knocking her right off her feet. As quickly as I can, I grab onto her and turn us, so I hit the ground and hopefully soften her fall.

Ohff. Balls.

“Shit, sorry, sorry. Are you okay?” Willow asks, using my chest as leverage to push herself up.

“I got to admit, kitten, this isn’t how I pictured you on top of me for the first time,” I choke out, moving her over a little to get her knee off my balls.

“Shit, shit.” She scrambles off me, letting out a surprised laugh. “Fuck, I feel like I got hit by a train. How much do you weigh?” she asks, wiping her eyes from the stray tears she has from laughing so hard.

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