Page 19 of Knot the Witch Next Door

“Carmilla, sweetie, are you in there?”

Morning light streamed through the windows. I’d twisted myself up in the blankets and curled up on a pile of pillows. Every muscle shouted in protest. It was like I just had an all night workout, and even as I sat up, the throbbing between my legs reasserted itself. My heat was nowhere near done with me yet.

“Carmilla?” Dad was directly under the tree house now.

“I’m here.” My voice cracked from being dry, and I dug around to find a bottle of water. I took a sip and peeked out the window. I could see the top of his head with his blond hair tousled by the breeze. “Sorry if you were worried. I was reading and fell asleep.”

“Ah, my little night owl. All cozy in her nest in the tree.” Dad chuckled.

Nest. The word slapped me totally awake. I looked around me at all the blankets, pillows, snacks, and comfort items. Shit. I was nesting in my tree house.

No one could see. I couldn’t let anyone know.

“Your mom and I are going to the flea market. Did you want to come with us?”

It was one of my favorite things to do on Sunday mornings. There were so many little treasures I’d discovered over the years and made incredible crafts from them. Speaking of which, last night’s craziness put me behind schedule.

“I’d love to, but I didn’t finish my packaging last night. I need to get that done and send everything out today.” My stupid heat would just have to be put on the back burner. I couldn’t let my business suffer because I was an Omega.

“Do you need us to stay and help?” My heart swelled. That was my dad. I loved it so much that he was always looking out for me. Family really was so very important, and I knew that Deacon would see that eventually.

“I’m okay.” No one needed to know that I wasn’t. “See if you can find any good trinkets for me to work with at the market. There would be a ton of Halloween stuff out now.”

“You got it, sweetie. We’ll stop off at the store after and bring home the stuff to make beef stew.”

The more he talked, the more I wanted to have my parents hold me and tell me everything would be okay. I never had any secrets from my family. We were all very close, and they always supported me in what I wanted to do. Even when I had silly ideas of being a child investigator solving mysteries and being an internet sensation by ghost hunting. My folks never told me I was being unrealistic, and my business was a success because of their confidence in me.

Would they be disappointed in me if I told them about Deacon? I could imagine my father marching over to the Graves’ house and demanding Deacon marry me. He’d only be looking out for his beloved daughter, and Deacon would do it. He already said he wanted to be my mate. But would it matter to them if it would ruin Deacon’s familial relationships? And mine with Rosemary?

Instead, I said, “Yum. Sounds good!”

It sounded hollow, no matter my love for beef stew in the fall. Yup, I hated hiding things from my parents. After my heat was over, never again.

My dad waved good-bye, and I waited until I heard the van leave the driveway before I scampered down the ladder. I rushed inside and took the maximum dose of ibuprofen to try to help with the pain of my heat. Yet even a hot shower seemed too much against my sensitive skin. Dressing in an over-sizedpumpkin hoodie and sweatpants didn’t help either. It only made me imagine Deacon’s fingers caressing me, his lips brushing kisses all over and taking them down low between my legs.

Push through it. That’s what I had to do. I needed to get those packages out today.

One order after another. I broke down in tears twice because of the pain. There were only a few left when it got so bad, I fell to the floor and couldn’t get back up.

I couldn’t let my parents find me like this. And if they did, I couldn’t tell them Deacon triggered my heat. With no compatible Alpha, I would have to ride it out. There had been cases where Omegas died with no relief.

I didn’t want to die. There was so much to live for. Like more of Deacon’s kisses.

Dammit!

Reaching up, I nabbed my cell from the table and opened my contacts.

I stared at Deacon’s name. One click. That’s all it would take. He’d be here in less than a minute. Fuck, I loved that I knew for certain he would take care of me.

That’s why I didn’t click on his name. I couldn’t ruin his life.

My parents would hurry home if I called them too. Yet they did so much for me, and they had enough to worry about with my mom’s illness. They didn’t need that extra weight on their shoulders.

Tears blurred my vision. That left one person. I didn’t want to call her either, but even if I did manage to package the last few orders, I wouldn’t make it to the shipping center to send the big load of products out.

My best friend. I loved her so much.

I tapped Rosemary’s name, and she picked up after the first ring.

---