Page 51 of Witch Queens: Tales from Oz

CHAPTER 19

Icould feel his bodylengthening as his muscles bulged out even further than before. His eyes had taken that scarlet glow and I knew that I was no longer dealing with Scarecrow, but with the beast.

“Unhand me!” I demanded, shoving my body upward to try and dislodge him.

It was like hitting a brick wall.

“You will listen to me!” he growled, pinning my arms above my head.

“Why?” I cried out, frustration and mistrust causing my voice to break. “Why should I listen to anything that you say? I won’t be my sister’s replacement!”

“How can you be so intelligent and so damn stupid at the same time?”

I flinched, “I am not stupid!”

His hungry eyes glanced down at me, making me feel naked where his eyes had touched.

“Thinking that anyone would want your sister after being with you, is massively stupid.”

He used his nose to trace the length of my neck.

“I can’t stop thinking about the two of you together,” I blurted out.

“Damn ass, Steele. He should never have said anything. It is only because he is so fucking in love with Elphaba, that he interfered.”

Steele loved my sister? Did everyone love my sister?

“Look,” his eyes dimmed, making his presence seem less scary. “I made a promise to El that I wouldn’t tell anyone about this, but I won’t lose you over it.”

I was more confused than ever, “What? More secrets?”

“El and I were never a thing. I swear to you, on my life, that this is true. She came to me a while back, hurt and upset. She wanted to get back at someone and asked if I would help make them jealous. There were three kisses, and every one of them was staged. I did not, and do not, have feelings for her.”

My voice was thick with emotion, “Why would she do that?”

“She and Steele have some weird type of love/hate relationship. When she came to me, I was bored and didn’t mind riling my buddy up. But when I met you,” his voice deepened, “Fuck, Indy, the bottom dropped out of my world. I didn’t want to mess with Steele and didn’t give a flying rat’s ass about El’s attempts to make him jealous.

"But I was terrified that you would never give me a chance because I had known your sister first. She had sworn me to secrecy, not wanting anyone to know what we had was a sham.

"So, I deluded myself into thinking I was keeping my word to her by not telling you. And then I got to know you.”

I wanted to believe him so badly.

“So, what? You got to know me,” I replied hoarsely, “What difference did that make?”

“I went from hoping that you might take a chance on me, to knowing that fair or foul, I would have you. I know that is a shit answer and selfish as hell. I know that I am not good enough for you, and when you wake up and realize it, I will be lost. Please, don’t shut me out, Indy. I screwed up. But I need you.”

“You need me?” I gulped, trying to take in everything that he had said to me.

“I need you more than I need air to breathe,” and his head came down to kiss my forehead.

“When you look at me, I feel like I am invincible. And when you laugh, I know that there are still good things in the world. I have been around for a long time, Indy. I don’t need money. I don’t need attention or any of the trappings around us. There was a time when I would have said I didn’t need anything. But all of that was before you.”

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