Page 45 of Bait N' Witch

That didn’t make her feel any better. Especially given what they’d just been saying. She took a deep breath and looked him dead in the eyes. “I would never hurt them. Ever.”

“I know.” Not even a smidge of hesitation. Grey tugged her in the direction of the house. “Come on.”

Inside the house, he left her in the kitchen with a “don’t leave” as he ran upstairs to check the girls. She stood, arms dangling at her sides, gaze focused on nothing in particular as thoughts chased themselves through her mind like hounds after a fox.

“They’re fine,” he said as he reentered the kitchen. The soft whisper still made her jump.

He sent her a smile she supposed was meant to soothe, but after tonight, and the warnings, and the way her heart was reaching for Grey and his family, it didn’t help. If anything, the way he was trying to help only made this worse.

“Tea?” he asked, reaching for the cups in the cupboard.

I can’t do this.

“Um…” She backed toward the door leading to her room. “Actually, I’m pretty tired. I think I’ll just go to bed.”

She tried not to see the surprise or acknowledge the disappointment that shadowed his face as she jerked the door open.

“Okay—”

Whatever else he was going to say was cut off by the sound of the door closing behind her.

Chapter Seventeen

He’s going to figure it out.

She’d given too much away in those moments of both terror and heartbreak, thinking that he could kill her.

He had yet to question her, but he was too sharp not to figure out eventually that her level of fear made no sense unless she was harboring a secret that might put him in a position to have to punish her. Not to mention the girls’ words.

Meanwhile the girls were stuck figuring out what their powers involved. The three discussed it endlessly.

“What if we’re predicting people who meet each other?” Lachlyn wondered now.

Rowan glanced up from the green peppers she was stuffing for dinner. All three girls sat around the heavy wood kitchen table, halfheartedly practicing their magic.

“That would be dumb.” Atleigh rolled her eyes. “And Delilah said we’re not fates, so we’re not predicting anything.”

“We could be Seers,” Lachlyn insisted.

“Yeah?” Chloe scoffed. “Predicting how a woman sets up a business she already has? Dad said she formed the business before we predicted anything.”

Rowan silently agreed. That would be a waste of a Seer.

“Girls.” As soon as she had their attention, Rowan pointed at their plants.

“This is so boring,” Atleigh whined.

Persephone, displeased with their progress, had assigned them extra homework on top of what they had for school. More plant growing. Today the girls were making philodendrons sprout vines. Their aunt had assigned a specific length as a goal.

“This is going to take forever,” Chloe grumbled.

No argument there. Why their aunt insisted on training them like witches half their ages, she had no idea. Rowan cocked her head, eyeing the plants. Maybe she could spice things up without going against the rules. “Give me a second to finish these. Then I’ll show you a game.”

“We can’t play a game.” Atleigh waved at her project. “We have to grow stuff.”

Rowan allowed herself a delicate snort. “I’m well aware you can all grow those plants without a second thought.”

The three froze and exchanged a glance. Rowan hid her small smile as she continued to prepare dinner.

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