Page 4 of Payback is a Witch

“It’s daytime outside.” Waiting to see if my words hit the mark I almost laughed when the shifter narrowed his gaze. “The humans are already afraid of us as is. The last thing we need is for me to start throwing magic around in mid-day and turn people into anthills. I can live with a split lip and a swollen eye. I can’t live with the fact I made them fear us enough that they turn on us.” I started to reach for my face so I could scrub a hand over it but luckily caught myself in time before I pressed on all the injuries which were already slowly healing. “They won’t stop with the witches, either. I won’t be the reason we all go down.”

“Nobody is going down.” Danika’s voice made my hunched spine snap straight and I scrambled to stand up before she fully stepped into her office.

“Eavesdropping is rude.” I muttered under my breath but my heart skipped a beat when her head snapped to the side and she nailed me with those cold green eyes. “I’m just saying.” Dumbly I continued talking so I pressed my lips tight and bit on them from the inside of my mouth to keep them from parting.

“Ace. What brings you here?” Danika dismissed me per usual and sashayed behind her desk where she lowered in the leather chair as graceful as a swan. “I was not expecting visitors today.”

“He’s with me.” I jumped to his rescue before she can cause problems for him with his Alpha. “I wanted to come talk to you and he came to make sure I’m okay.”

Danika leaned forward, pressing her forearms on the desk and looked me up and down with a speculative gaze which tied a knot in my gut. I was a mess, covered in blood with bloody knuckles, stained shirt and a swollen eye. My appearance called me a liar so my grandmother didn’t have to.

“Ace was parking the car when this dude,” stabbing a finger at the male starfishing it on her couch I continued my explanation. “attacked me at the doors.”

“Why in Hecate’s name would Mr. Seaward be attacking you?” taken by surprise she released me from her glare and looked at the guy I was pointing at. I realized that she didn’t notice him until that moment. With a groan she closed her eyes and pressed the bridge of her nose between a thumb and a forefinger. “What did you do now, Hazel?”

“Why doesn’t anyone believe me when I say I was attacked and didn’t initiate a fight?” glancing from Ace to Danika who didn’t look impressed at all I threw both my arms in the air. “Did you miss the part where I said he attacked me? I asked him what he was doing in the building in the middle of the day and he turned feral. He tackled me.”

“We broth him here so we could question him when you arrive.” Ace ever the helpful chirped in to back me up as lame as his attempts appear to be.

My grandmother rose from the chair like a cobra uncoiling just before she strikes and I had never been that happy that her cold, murderous glare was not aimed at me. She rounded the desk with such fluidity it seemed like she was gliding over the rugs instead of walking, her long black dress curling gently around her feet. I held my breath when she came close until she stopped at the head of the unconscious with.

“We shall know now what he was doing.” Snatching the guy’s arm so fast I barely saw her move she yanked him off the couch with such easy my jaw hit the floor. “Wake up Seaward.” She shook him as if he weights nothing.

When nothing happened, I cleared my thought which earned me a glower for interrupting. “I might’ve hurt him more than I intended.”

Ace choked on a lough at my offhanded comment but he covered it with a cough. It still didn’t fool my grandmother who send him a side-eyed look which promised painful things for the shifter if he does it again.

Another shock smacked me on the side of the head when she reached behind her and simply by curling her fingers she dragged a heavy chair next to her. Plonking the male on it she grabbed his chin and squeezing hard jerked his face up. “I said wake up Seaward.” Her red painted nails sunk into the skin of his cheeks like claws.

Power burst out of Danika the moment she drew blood. Like a blast of a bomb it exploded out of her and filled the room with magic so potent all the short hairs of my body were standing on end. Poor Ace latched onto the back of the now empty couch fighting a shift with everything in him. The air smelled like ozone and it stung my nostrils.

“Wha…” the witch mumbled blinking his eyes fast in poor attempts to focus on my grandmother’s face.

Groaning the male tried to curl up in a ball, hugging his middle but Danika held firmly to his face. So, he kept wiggling feebly until he finally had his eyelids peeled back and saw his predicament.

“Mrs. Byrne.” The male gasped. “I… Where…how…”

“Speak.” Danika said so calmly fear lodged in my throat like a fist.

The dude pissed himself.

I couldn’t blame him.

Until he stared searching around for help with his eyes and he spotted me to the side. “She attacked me unprovoked.” I didn’t need to be a shifter or a vamp to know the high-pitched squeal stunk of lies. “She hurt me.”

“Dude, don’t lie. Just tell her the truth before you regret delaying it.” I was surprised when I found that I genuinely wanted him to tell her so she doesn’t hurt him. Not that it would back up my story. Although that didn’t hurt.

“She hurt me.” the witch repeated but doubt was loud and clear in the tentative tone of his voice.

“You have never seen pain like I would inflict if you do not speak.” Danika bent at the waist until they were nose to nose.

It was all of two seconds before he started screaming and I wanted to be anywhere but in that room.

Chapter 3

“You okay kiddo?” Alex’s mismatched eyes found me immediately nearly twelve hours later before he even fully entered the almost empty office that used to belong to High priest Shadowblood, may the goddess torment his soul for all eternity.

“Ace the snitch called you, huh?” my mouth twisted in a grimace as I contemplated how to repay the treacherous shifter for the betrayal.

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