Page 52 of Guarded By the Orc

Calm down, Zara.

“I figured as much,” I said, but my voice was so low now that it was almost gravelly. I stretched my cheeks into a fake grin instead, aiming for a nonchalant pose with my hands on my hips.

I was pretty certain I looked like a psychotic superhero instead.

Tabitha, Hanna, and Floria were staring at me with eyebrows almost meeting their foreheads when Tasia ran back in with a stack of five books in her arms.

“We can look through these,” she said, putting them on the coffee table. Heaving out a sigh of relief, I hurried over to her and pulled the top one off the pile, taking it to an armchair.

“I’m sure we’re going to find something,” I told them, and one by one the other females moved over to take a book to review.

“Don’t think I didn’t miss what just happened,” Tabitha told me as she passed, running a palm over my unruly hair.

I sent her a pleading look and she nodded, continuing onto the sofa to sit next to Floria. She would give me some reprieve, but it wouldn’t be forever.

“How about this?” Tasia asked, lifting the book from where she had Gabbi in her arms.

The little girl had woken up and was now moving between the five of us as we searched for an answer in the books we were reading. She was currently braiding her mother’s hair—which meant snagging it into a tangle that Tasia would probably have to use a spell to fix later.

“This is how we would cast a protection spell on the wand wood that would keep it from becoming overwhelmed withmagick,” she said, staying still and wincing as Gabbi gave a hard yank on her hair. “They use it for particularly gifted children, but if we did it as a coven…” she trailed off with a shrug and another wince.

“Yes,” Floria exclaimed with a nod. “That’s exactly what we need. We just need to prepare the wood before it’s crafted. Once it’s done, then it’s all up to Savla and Zara.”

She grinned over at me, and I felt the expectation of the entire coven weighing on my shoulders.

Me. The fuck up.

“Sounds perfect,” I tried to enthuse, but Tabitha moved over to me right away, leaning close.

“You don’t have to do this, little star,” she said in a low voice, taking my hand off of the book in front of me and into hers. “We can keep the protections up and—”

“What freedom would we have then?” I asked in a rushed whisper, cutting her off. “If we keep running and hiding from them, they’re just going to keep getting stronger and stronger. He’s going to gather his forces and then come at us. And if we aren’t prepared. IfI’mnot prepared—” I felt my breaths becoming more erratic, and Tabitha took my face between her palms.

The movement was so reminiscent of my mother—something she would doallthe time—that I froze.

“Listen to me,” she said, kneeling in front of me so we were eye to eye. “There isnothingmore important to this coven than you, do you understand?”

The other women came behind me, placing their hands on my shoulder. Even Gabbi reached down from Tasia’s arm to cup her little fingers around my neck.

“You’re our High Priestess and we’re going to follow you no matter what. If you need more time, we’llneverrush you. If you want us to go to another plane to hide, we will. We’re a family,and we’re going to stick together no matter what,” Tabitha said with a sweet smile. “If you’re feeling any pressure from us—”

“I’m not,” I insisted, shaking my head as I held onto their hands with mine. “I’m just worried that he’s going to find us. That he’ll find a way to hurt you guys and—”

“We’re safe,” Floria said, leaning down to hug me, and the other women joined in, surrounding me with their arms and their love. Gabbi squeezed in, pressing a smacking kiss to my cheek and I laughed. “Thanks to you, Zara, we’re finally safe. We canbreathebecause of you and your mate.”

The words were like a balm to the yawning wound inside me that I hadn’t even known was gaping open. It wasn’t sealed yet—and it probably never would be until I could find a way to protect them the way I’d hoped. The way IwishedI could have protected my mother instead of forcing her to use her powers to protect me.

“If Mom was here—” I gasped, and Tabitha shook her head, still keeping me in the hug as she cut me off.

“Your mother was a strong witch, Zara. A kind and wonderful woman, but she didn’t havehalfof the power you do. From the first day I met her, she knew that she needed to keep you from them, and trust me when I say, she wouldn’t change a single thing,” she said. “You were her everything. The only thing that mattered to her. And she’s watching you with the Goddess Mother, keeping an eye on her daughter.”

Those words hit me in the chest. Words that seemed to come from my mother instead of Tabitha. I remember her saying that to me. She’d always said that no matter what, she would never change her life, because everything she’d been through had led her to me.

I hadn’t understood it,couldn’tunderstand what she meant. Those warlocks had taken her, hadtorturedher and forced her to have me. How could she not regret that?

I didn’t know if I had the same amount of strength as her. Idefinitelydidn’t have her same level of skill, but somehow I was going to find a way to follow in her footsteps.

I was going to protect our coven, protect our legacy. I’d figure out how to channel my power through the wand I was being gifted even if it killed me—well maybe notquitekilled me.

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