Page 14 of Prey

“Oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense,” she says. “The only other people who come here are Grams, my mom, Emmett, and Josiah occasionally. Usually, it’s just me and Emmett though. He wasmy roommate until him and Josiah moved in together, but he stays over occasionally when we have movie nights and stuff. Which was actually what tonight was supposed to be, till all of this happened.”

“How long have you and Emmett been friends?” I ask, finding a pan and pulling BLT makings from the fridge, along with some orange juice and water. Juice to give us a bit of sugar and water for replenishment.

“Since we were kids. His parents live next door to Grams’ house. We’ve been inseparable since they moved in when we were like three years old. Before my dad died. When we graduated high school, we both went to the community college for business and then opened up the shop together. We share it fifty-fifty,” she says.

I nod. “It’s pretty much like that for me and Ethan too. Our parents were of the same pride. When his parents were murdered, mine took him in. They would’ve never let him go anywhere else. We had been together most of our lives. When you’re an only child it helps to have a friend always there. My parents gave us a pretty good life and our pride has always been close, but it was still rough for him, Shasta.”

Bowing my head, I take a deep breath. I want her to understand why he is the way he is. I love him like a brother, and I want her to love him too.

“I won’t tell you the whole story, because it’s his to tell. But I can say this, it was horrific. Being a witch I’m sure you’ve heard stories of what the black magic users do to shifters. He saw it all. That’s all I’ll say. So please be patient with him.” Swallowing, I go back to flipping bacon.

Shasta comes up behind me and wraps her arms around me, running her hands up inside my shirt and lays her head on my back. I reach up and cover one of her hands with my own. Fate really did give me a good mate, I think. We don’t know eachother well yet, but she is compassionate, sassy, smart, and sweet, all in one tiny little package. From the little bits of her magic I’ve seen so far, I believe that she is extremely powerful. I also don’t think the black magic users would be after her if she wasn’t.

She moves away so I can continue to cook and starts pulling glasses from the cabinet and pouring the juice. She also grabs the mayo from the fridge and begins to toast bread for the BLT’s. Huh. Most people don’t do it that way. I love my BLT’S on toast. It gives it that extra crunch that I love so much.

Smiling to myself, I turn back to the bacon.

“It’s not as if I’m going to give him the third degree,” she finally says. “I want to get along with him too. Do you think it would help if we took him around my Coven? So that he can see how everyone really is?”

Thinking about that for a minute, I nod my head. “I’m not going to tell you that he will be the most polite guest, but one of the times he takes a shift protecting you, you should find a reason to go by your Grams’ place to do a little immersion therapy. Just let him see how everyone gets on together and how they act in general. I don’t know that he’s ever actually spent any time around witches at all, save for on a job.”

She nods. I finish up the bacon and plate it, cut the tomato, and pull off some lettuce, setting everything on the table. She has the toast done and slathered some mayo on it and it’s waiting on two plates for us to add the BLT parts.

Biting into my sandwich after I build it, I moan. Shasta flicks her eyes at me, raising her brows.

“I love that you like it on toast too, it’s so crunchy,” I say with a huge smile on my face.

She giggles and bites into her own sandwich again, closing her eyes in pleasure. I could watch her like this all day. Swinging her legs under the table, laughing, being at ease. I have a bad feeling it won’t be like this for long.

After we eat, we head back to her room and I sit in the chair while she sleeps, hoping everything stays calm.

Chapter seven

Best Friends & Burning Houses

ETHAN

I’m in a pretty foul mood today. Kadi went and stayed with the witch last night and called about twenty minutes agosaying he’s on his way with news. He sounds pissy though so I can only imagine what happened there after the hoodie guy melted himself.

I still can’t figure out why I’m feeling the way I am about her and the more I stew on it, the more confused and angry I get.

Slamming the door to my office, I sit down at my desk and lower my head to my hands. Joaquin came back late last night and gave me a rundown of what happened. The very last thing I want to deal with is black magic or the Society. It has all the memories of my parents coming up and it’s making me extra pissy.

I was supposed to take the morning shift watching over the witch’s shop, but Joaquin asked to do it instead for some reason. My senses are tingling that something big is about to happen and I’m not going to like whatever it is.

Kadi steps into my office. He has a funny look on his face, and he stands there for a second just staring at me. After a moment, I catch his scent.

What the actual fuck?

“What the hell is going on?” I demand. “Start talking.”

“If the reason you’re yelling is because I smell like Shasta then you’re about to hear some news you’re not going to like.” He crosses his arms over his chest in defiance. “She’s my mate.”

“Your what?” He can’t be serious right now.

No way. He can’t be mated to a witch. Flashes of my burning house, my parents screaming, the smell of smoke and charred flesh, all run through my mind while he stands there waiting for a response. Also, why am I so jealous at his words?

Roaring, I stand and flip my desk. Pushing past Kadi I go to head out the door when he grabs my arm. “No. We are going to talk about this, and you aren’t running.”

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