Page 74 of The Secret Life of a Witch

Instead of answering, he hugs me closer until our chest are pressed so tightly together I can feel his heart hammering. I wonder why. I wonder a lot of things. Instead of asking questions, though, I end up sobbing my heart out, and Hunter holds me tightly against his chest the entire time, rocking me back and forth while he traces a path up and down my spine with his fingers. It almost makes me forget he isn’t my real friend.

Almost.

“How about we get you upstairs to bed?” he says after I’ve cried for what feels like forever, yet somehow not long enough. “I’m sure you’re exhausted.”

“Yeah, I am.” I dry my eyes with the back of my hand then step out of his arms. “Just give me a second, okay?”

I turn toward Ryleigh’s body. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you. I wanted to so badly, but I … I failed you.” Tears fall from my eyes and land on her cheeks as I whisper, “I’ll miss you.” I give myself one last moment before I take a deep breath and turn away.

I meant what I said, too. Ryleigh may not have been my real sister, and I may have been angry at her for lying to me, but I’ll miss her with all my heart and will always feel guilty for not saving her.

EVALEE

“You know it’s not your fault, right?” Hunter says to me as we enter my bedroom where Maple is lazily laying on my bed, as if she doesn’t have a care in the world, something I’m kind of jealous about. “Ryleigh’s death, I mean.”

I don’t say anything as I cross my room and open the top drawer of my dresser to get some pajamas out. It feels so strange, looking for pajamas. So ordinary. So normal.

“Eva, please talk to me. You’re being so quiet and I’m starting to get worried.”

When I remain quiet, Hunter sighs.

The floorboards creak beneath his weight as he makes his way toward me. I don’t turn around, busying myself with finding clothes. Finding clothes is easy, and easy is what I need right now. However, I can’t find any damn pajamas! Anywhere! So, I just start tossing clothes on the floor.

He sets his hands on my shoulders.“Take a deep breath.”

“I can’t.” I’m afraid if I do, I’ll start gasping for air. And if I start gasping for air, I may never breathe again.

After giving my shoulders a brief massage, he steers me away from the dresser. When we reach the foot of my unmade bed, hetwists me around to face him then gently pushes me down on the bed. Then, without saying a word, he returns to my dresser, opens the middle drawer, and digs out a pair of plaid pajama shorts and a tank top.

“You made that look so easy,” I tell him as he hands me my pajamas.

“You’re upset.” He crouches down in front of me. “And that’s okay. You’ve been through a lot.” He sweeps my hair off my shoulder. “But you need to know that what happened to Ryleigh isn’t your fault.”

“I know.” And I kind of do. Still, I feel like I failed her. “I think I might know whose fault it is.”

His brows scrunch. “You mean, you know who hit her with the petrifying curse?”

“I’m not positive, but I think it could’ve been Max.”

“The demon who kidnapped you?”

I nod. “Petrifying curses are used so rarely, yet he used it once on me and tried to use it on you. Apparently, it’s his go-to curse.”

He’s quiet for a lengthy amount of time. “I don’t want to upset you more, but I think that assumption might be a long shot.”

“I know that. But I want to look into it. And if he did, he needs to pay.”

He places his hands on my thighs. “I don’t want you going near that demon, or any demon, for that matter. Not when almost every demon out there is hunting you.”

“They’ve always been hunting me, haven’t they?” I ask. “What’s so different now?”

“They were never hunting you before. They were just trying to find a way to get close to you and feed off your powers without killing themselves. Now they’re literally coming after you. They’ve been looming around the house since that demontried to feed off you. The only reason they haven’t come inside is because we had the most powerful faeries and witches basically drown the house in charms and protection spells.”

A cold chill runs down my spine. “What’s changed?”

“I’m not sure. My bet is that they’ve figured out a way to feed off you without dying.” He cups my cheek, looking me dead in the eye. “You can’t leave this house, okay? Promise me you won’t.”

My expression plummets. “You want me to stay in here forever?”

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