Page 24 of Knot the Witch Next Door

I hated the tension between us. Did she hate me? She’d called Deacon over to help me, that much I did know, but even though she had helped me, it didn’t mean she liked it. I couldn’t stand to lose my best friend.

Oh God. I bit my tongue to keep the tears from coming on.

Suddenly Rosemary was flying across the room and hugging me tightly. I embraced her just as hard as we both let out sobs with happy tears.

“I was so worried about you, Milla. I thought you were going to die! And if Deacon didn’t save you, I was going to have to kill him. That’s too much death to have to deal with!” Rosemary sniffled and stepped back, straightening my hat forme and gripping my hands. “How are you doing? You look really good.”

“The worst of my heat has passed and I survived. Thank you so much for helping me. You’re the best of besties.” I nipped my lower lip and glanced at Deacon. He gave a small singular nod, and I braced myself as I looked back at Rosemary. “You’re not mad at me, are you? It’s not like I planned on this happening. I would never do anything to mess up our friendship.”

“Honey, I know.” Rosemary laughed and hugged me again. Relief flooded my body, and I had to squeeze her hands to hold me up. “I love you, Omega stuff and all. I wish you would have told me before… But I get it.” She gave her brother a look, but it was more playful than angry. Then she leaned in to whisper to me with a smirk. “Here’s a secret: when we were kids, I wanted you to be my sister so bad, I imagined you marrying my brother so we could be, and then him dying off so it could just be the two of us as crazy old cat ladies.”

I smiled conspiratorially and whispered back, “We can still make that happen. I’ll take care of Sam if you off Deacon. House full of cats, here we come!”

“You know we can hear you two.” Deacon pretended to look offended, but it was clear he was holding his laughter back.

“We’re just joking.” I gave Rosemary an exaggerated wink, and then we burst into a round of giggles. She didn’t hate me. All the churning in my stomach evaporated and fluttered away on bat wings. I had my handsome mate, my amazing best friend, and my fabulous family. Best Halloween ever.

“Will you stay and help us hand out candy, dear?” Mom asked Rosemary as she loaded some candies into a bowl that looked like a broken egg.

“I’ll come back later. I need to get home and shower, and then I’m taking Kat trick-or-treating with some of her friends.”Rosemary gave me one more hug. “Did you want to come? I suppose you can bring the vampire there.”

Deacon rolled his demonic eyes. Could he get any hotter?

I loved handing out treats, but spending time with my bestie and my mate as well as getting to see all the houses decorated and kids’ costumes was too hard to pass up. “Yeah, that will be fun. Text me when you and Kat are ready.”

“Cool. Shouldn’t take long.” Rosemary picked up a container of cookies from the counter. “Thanks again for the treats, Mrs. Rookwood. At the rate I’m consuming your goodies, I’m not going to fit into my wedding dress next month.”

She waved as we laughed and exited out the back door. At the same time, the doorbell rang.

I bounced on my toes. “The first of the trick-or-treaters!”

Grabbing Deacon’s hand, I pulled him as I raced to the door. I twined my fingers with his and grinned. Even such a simple act such as holding his hand produced such joy in me. The fact he was smiling so widely at the same thing knocked my happiness up another notch.

I swung open the door with a ‘Happy Halloween’ on the tip of my tongue, but my whole body went stiff to see Claudia Graves standing there. She wore a straight-from-the-runway blue blouse and black skirt, and she had her hands on her hips as if we’d kept her waiting two seconds too long.

Deacon’s grip tightened on my hand. He hadn’t seen his mother since Sunday. When his family home had been empty on Monday, he’d fetched his stuff and moved it all over to my house. We knew a confrontation would be coming, but I was taken by surprise at how sudden it seemed.

“Deacon,” Claudia’s voice was tighter than her hair bun.

“Mother.”

I caressed the back of his hand with my thumb and inched close enough that my shoulder touched his arm. He would knowthat I was there for him in whatever way he needed. I certainly didn’t want him to argue with his mom, and I couldn’t stop the stab of guilt that it was my fault, but he’d chosen me. And I wasn’t about to let him go easily.

“Carmilla.” She nodded her head to me.

“Good afternoon.” I kept my tone neutral. “Would you like to come in?”

“Yes, thank you.”

We stepped back together as Claudia came into the foyer and shut the door behind her.

There was almost a half a minute of awkward silence. I mentally scrambled for something to say, but what?So what do you think of the pumpkin crop this year? Did you see that the Jones’ house was for sale up the street? How do you feel about alienating your family?

Finally Deacon cleared his throat. “What is it you want, Mom? If you’ve come here to try to convince me to build the ‘right’ connections and think of our family image…”

“No, that’s not why I’m here.” Then I saw it when Claudia looked at Deacon. The darker circles under her eyes, the deeper lines in her face, and the glimmer of grief in her expression. “And it’s good you’re both here. I need to say this to you together.”

Oh no. She was going to disown Deacon. Not that he had the greatest relationship with his mother, but she was still his mom, his only parent. No matter his hard exterior, I knew he loved her.

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