Page 32 of Pitch a Witch
River frantically calling my name was a distant noise in the background.
Warmth poked me where my body was mushed in the bed of fallen leaves. At first, I thought it was my blood that had leaked from where the shifter held onto my side like a dog with a bone, but when it started spreading, my half-lidded eyes snapped open. The ground was shivering violently, and panic gripped me because I felt another wave of power ready to explode, and this one would kill friend and foe alike. Weakly, I pressed the palm of my hand between the foliage until my fingers dug into the dry soil.
Then the forest came alive.
Thick, gnarly roots from the trees shot upward, bursting from the forest floor like they had a mind of their own. Whipping wildly, they swung above my head before crashing around me. One caught the shifter straddling me and took him in the air before slamming him as if he was a doll in a pissed-off toddler’s hand. The wolf shivered and shifted to a naked man who never stood up. Through the middle of his chest, a young tree was already growing, becoming bigger with each passing second.
A large tree lowered, looming above me, and I flinched because I expected it to crush me as well. It stopped so close that I could’ve touched its leaves if I reached out a hand. The crown of it rustled in anticipation, leaving me bewildered as to how I knew that. Then his branch, which was wider than my body, swung down and pulverized the black wolf who still had his teeth still inside my flesh. The sharp teeth were yanked out, and I cried out, but at least the shifter was gone.
In a daze, I watched the forest return to its original inanimate state until all was silent, apart from my sawing breath. My skin was knitting together, burning as the muscle regenerated itself like nothing I’d ever felt before. Dark spots danced in front of my eyes from blood loss, yet I flipped first on my back then on my side, needing to see if River was okay. My heart skipped a beat when he dropped on his knees and gathered me in his arms, squeezing so hard I whimpered.
“Sissily … Alex …” Words wouldn’t form in my mouth because my tongue was too thick and dry. “Please …”
“They are fine, Hazel.” River rocked me back and forth, his hands running all over me to check for injuries. I would’ve told him they were healed if I could. “No one expected demons to attack here. You saved them all.” A strange glint entered his gaze that pooled dread in my belly. “Where are you hurt?”
“No,” was all I could croak.
“So much blood,” River kept muttering the same thing under his breath. “There is too much blood.”
Following his gaze, I feebly glanced at my exposed skin. The sigils that blinked happily under it could barely be noticed. Ever since my magic awoke, I’d never seen how my flesh looked without them, and at that moment, emptiness yawned inside me. I didn’t look whole. It was like a limb was missing without the symbols that usually etched themselves on me in mockery. Whatever they were, I needed them back.
“Hazel,” Sissily’s shout followed, and the thumping of more than just two feet followed until faces appeared above me where I was curled to River’s chest. My best friend’s worried gaze looked too big for her face. Alex loomed, too, with Jack in his arms and Amber tucked to his side. Ace was there as well, the beta clenching his fists to keep his hands to himself, no doubt.
Hysterical laughter bubbled inside me, and I somehow croaked it out. “Not … dying.”
“You better not be, Hazel Byrne, because I’d find a way to bring you back so I could kill you myself.” Sissily bared her teeth at me like a feral animal.
The darkness beckoned.
“Deal,” I whispered, but I wasn’t sure I said it out loud. Chances were I’d lost my mind because I could’ve sworn I heard River whisper for my ears only.
“Sleep, firefly. I’ll protect you with my life.”
But that’d be dumb. Right?
22
Dead.
I must’ve been dead, or otherwise I was about to pitch a witch. Something was licking my face like a fucking popsicle, and I could feel the drool sticking to my skin from my chin to my forehead, the tongue snagging on the tip of my nose in passing. Revulsion tossed the contents of my stomach around like a tornado, and I had to keep my mouth shut so I didn’t projectile vomit all over myself.
At least I was stretched out on something soft.
“Always look on the bright side of things,” Sissily repeatedly said to me in hopes to drill it in my grumpy head. Bright side, my ass. I’d liked to see what she’d find good about being licked. Before I was misunderstood, I’d like to mention that, just like any other woman, I was all for licking. Hell to the fucking yeah. Be my guest. Bon Appetite.
Just not this type of slobbering.
My eyes were glued shut and, short of tearing them up, there was no way they’d open. Tried, failed, and not doing it again. Both arms were limp next to my body and tied to something since I couldn’t even flinch. I had the desire to ask whoever had done that to me what would happen if I suddenly had to scratch my ass. Would they do it for me?
Internally screaming, all I wanted was to know what in all hell was going on.
Did I die for real?
Was this my Hell where my face was being disgustedly licked to the bone?
It was. Wasn’t it?
“She’s waking up.” A soft feminine murmur reached my insane, panicked brain.
