Page 22 of Blood Witch

Is it getting hot in here?

“Twice? You are going to tell me the hallway counts as one kiss?” Tana barked.

“Okay, the second time was like a whole make-out session, but so? Big deal, right? Plenty of people kiss all the time. It doesn’t mean anything. Not that I am saying it meant nothing to me, cause then I would be a ho, and considering I have had like one boyfriend in my life back when I was thirteen, I am far from being a ho,” I said, to matching shocked expressions on my roommates’ faces.

“Ohmygah, this is like the most Mabe has ever said at once,” Rio said, yawning as she snagged a seat next to me. “Girl, slow down. Catch me up. Are you dating Fin?”

“What the Goddess, now?” I murmured.

I felt like a deer caught in headlights. My pulse was racing like mad, and I had no idea how to answer their questions.

Was I dating Fin?

How the fuck should I know?

“No. I don’t think so. I mean, how do I know? Oh, and for the record, about my earlier ho comment,” I said, feeling the need to clarify. “I am not subscribing to misogynistic double standards that say women are hos when we like guys, and like kissing them. But guys can just rack ‘em up, and notch their bedposts, and they get no shit from anyone! That is some bullshit, in my opinion.”

Oh Goddess! I was just like a runaway train with the verbal diarrhea. Just rambling now. I was not even making sense. But the thought of dating Fin sent my heart into a wild gallop, whereas the thought of embarrassing myself by assuming we were dating made me want to puke.

Shit. Shit. SHIT.

“Um, Mabe? Are you all right?” Jade asked.

“What? No! I am not all right, I am freaking out. How am I supposed to know how he feels about me or what we are doing? I don’t even know what we’re doing, but I am pretty sure he was sent here to arrest me. Um, I think.”

I was panting now. My freakout hitting a crescendo and I looked up to see Rio, Maia, Tana, Jade, and Enid surrounding me. No mates in sight. Just us girls.

“Sweetie, it’s okay. Handcuffs can be fun,” Rio murmured sympathetically.

“OMG! Is everything about sex with you?” I asked, horrified, yet curious.

Everyone laughed a little, and I had to appreciate the water witch’s use of raunchy humor to diffuse the moment. I looked up into five faces, all wearing some degree of concern and relief on their faces, when I laughed with them.

Shit.

These women were my friends, and I was damn lucky to have them. Grateful too. It was time to stop putting up walls. I’d read somewhere that if I shared my burdens, they would be easier to bear. Time to test that theory.

“I don’t know what me and Fin are to each other yet,” I confessed, my voice low and uncertain.

“That’s okay,” Rio said, putting her hair in a ponytail. “First, don’t worry about labels. You don’t have to define you and Fin at the moment. The only thing you need to ask yourself is, does he make you happy?”

Wow. Rio had a point. When I found out about the supernatural world, I thought it would be above all the insanity that plagued the human world. Things like dating, and looks, smarts, or even success. You know, all the stuff everyone in the world seemed to worry about. But they,er, we weren’t. Supernaturals had the same worries and trials as everyone else.

We all had our problems. It was the tie that bound us. Only sometimes our problems involved magic and fangs. After another minute or two of squashing out all remnants of my mini-freakout, I turned my head, feeling someone staring at me. It was Jade. The earth witch looked as if she were waiting for something, her brown eyebrows raised.

“What?” I asked.

“Well?”

“Well, what?” I asked. Couldn’t she see I was trying to put a stop to my panicking?

“What does the note say?”

“Oh! Right. I should open it,” I mumbled.

My insides buzzed, and my pulse raced. The sound was a dull roar in my ears as I unfolded the thick vellum. I felt my cheeks ache and realized I was smiling wide as I took in his scrawling script, flowing across the page.

Dear Feisty,

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