Page 14 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

She was so damn beautiful.

She offered me a small smile, and I grinned in return. I hadn’t seen her since last night, and I had missed her. If my friends knew how pathetic I had become, the heckling would’ve never stopped, but I couldn’t deny the truth.

As I pulled myself out of my reverie, I realized Sawyer and Brody were silent. I was struck by the truth. Freya wore her own face instead of the glamour she usually used in front of humans.

Had she forgotten, or had she wanted to meet my friends as herself?

Freya cleared her throat and waved at me. “Hello, Walker. Just wanted to…swing by.”

Does Freya actually soundshy?

“Freya,” I greeted and crossed the short distance that separated us. “I placed my hand on the small of her back. “This is Brody and Sawyer.”

Freya shook Brody’s hand. When she tried to shake Sawyer’s, he instead lifted it to his lips, grinned, and placed a delicate kiss there. My magic jerked inside me, and the barn lights flickered. I gritted my teeth and forced it to subside with steady breaths.

Freya glared at me but quickly flashed my friends another smile before they noticed.

“Damn,” Sawyer said, “I take back all the shit I gave you, Walk. If this is what happens when you give up cowboy shit, sign me up.”

Your magic is not your emotions,I reminded myself and draped my arm across Freya’s shoulders.

She arched a brow at me but leaned into my touch. Though Sawyer was clearly trying to get a rise out of me, I couldn’t stifle my caveman urges. I wanted his lustful stare off Freya.

Mine,my body and my magic screamed.

Ridiculous.

“I wouldn’t quit your day job,” Freya told Sawyer with a deadly smile.

Brody bellowed, and, to my utter shock, Sawyer’s cheeks turned red, and I squeezed Freya’s arm. She was magical with or without casting spells.

A truck roared, and my stomach dropped. I knew that obnoxiously loud engine. Brody and Sawyer swapped curses.

“You told me he was out of town,” I said and gritted my teeth.

“He was,” Brody assured me. “Damnit, he should’ve been gone for the next couple days!”

“Your old boss?” Freya asked. I nodded, and she scrunched her nose. “I never cared for him.”

“Yeah?” I said. “Me neither, sweetheart.”

She rolled her shoulders back, and I reluctantly released her. Freya had allowed my testosterone-fueled instincts to take over for a bit, but I knew her well enough to know she liked to face her enemies on her own two feet.

After how I had left him high and dry, Nathan was certainly an enemy. I considered trying to escape him, but he would probably chase my ass down. He undoubtedly recognized my truck. Besides, I had faced off a batshit-crazy witch.

I could deal with Nathan.

As I heard his door slam, however, childhood fears crept in. Nathan was an expert in making me feel two feet tall. As his tall, broad body came into view, those old fears dissipated. When I was a kid, Nathan’s huge stature intimidated me. Now, all I sensed was his lack of magic. His wrinkled face was doubly lined with rage, yet no hum filled the air. No energy crackled on my skin except my own and Freya’s.

He was so painfully human.

“What thehell,”Nathan grumbled to Sawyer and Brody, “isthatdoing on my property? When I agreed to let you keep hisdamned horse, I said you couldonlydo so on the condition that it contributed to the ranch, and its damn owner would never set foot here again!”

“Jesse’s the nicest animal on your property,” I argued, “other than the other horsesmyfriends have provided you.”

Nathan fixed his watery-eyed gaze on me. “You’re right. He’d make a hell of a lot of money at a sale.”

He’s bluffing,I thought.He doesn’t have the paperwork or the means to actually do it. Besides, a free horse is a free horse.

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