Page 34 of Pitch a Witch
The next thing I knew, he grabbed the sheet and yanked on it to bare the side of my body to him. By no means was I a prude, but buy a girl a dinner first. Jerk. My legs scissored, and he tucked his groin away before I smacked the ball of my foot in his jingle-berries, which allowed me to wrap the sheet around me like a burrito.
“What in Hecate’s name is wrong with you?” I shouted at him. “You don’t get to see my bare ass or my vajayjay without permission. Actually, scratch that. You won’t see them ever.”
“I’m not trying to gawk at your naked body, woman. I was trying to see if there was any indication of injury left, so don’t be absurd.” But his voice had gone husky, and his gaze was scorching when it flicked to mine. Three sets of female eyes watched him fidget. “Oh, for goodness sake.” Blondie threw both his arms in the air. “She healed faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. I thought I’d imagined the Blackwood wolf tear her side open. I was worried I was going insane.”
“Nope, not insane. It just turned you into a creep.” I had to bite my lip not to chortle in his face when Jack, who’d escaped his mother yet again, lifted a leg and peed on River’s foot.
“Unbelievable,” Blondie groaned while I snickered, but my joy was short-lived.
Sissily used the situation to her advantage and forced the straw between my lips. My flat stare told her everything I thought about it, but I drank the disgusting thing dutifully.
“It’ll restore your energy much faster.” My friend explained as if that would change the fact that she was as stubborn as me when she made her mind up about something.
I’d never tell her, but it did work. Tingles started at the tips of my fingers and toes, but soon they spread everywhere. Since I’d woken up, I had pointedly avoided looking at my skin, but even from my periphery, I knew the sigils were faint. The more I gulped from the grass juice, the brighter they became.
“What did you put in this?” Frowning into the now-empty glass, I flicked my gaze to my friend.
“The color is returning to her face,” Amber muttered, crowding closer to peer at me from the side of the bed. Even River forgot about his drenched pant leg and shoe as he observed me. “Her Fae magic is reacting to the herbs you used, Sissily. Well done, dear.”
My friend blushed to her roots at the phrase. Sissily never knew how to accept a compliment without feeling awkward, which I’d never understood. The woman was amazing. Smart, talented, loyal, kind, driven, and very beautiful inside and out. She had it all, yet at the slightest compliment, she looked like she was ready to bolt or dig a hole to hide in. It was mindboggling.
“I mixed ginseng, peppermint, and sage, but it didn’t feel like enough. I added ashwagandha to give it a kick, too.” Her shoulder twitched in a shrug. “I never thought of mixing those together, but it felt right.”
“It worked.” Amber squeezed my friend’s upper arm affectionately. “You’ll have to mix some for me, too. Someone always needs a boost around here. Do you think it’ll work on shifters?”
“I don’t see why not?” I pointedly locked eyes with Amber, remembering what the Alpha had said about their origins. If the tea worked on me, it must be the same for the shifters. “Did anyone get hurt last night?” The sun was coming through the window, telling me I had a full night’s sleep.
“A few cuts and scratches, but nothing serious.” Amber darted her green gaze awkwardly to River.
“What is it you’re not telling me?” Instantly, I was on alert.
“It was two days ago, not last night, Hazel.” Blondie spoke cautiously. “We couldn’t wake you until you stirred on your own not long ago.”
That explained why Sissily was freaked out, and I felt horrible all over again for being the reason she’d gone through all of it. The worst possible thing she could’ve done was become my friend, yet the stubborn witch always had my back, through thick and thin. I hugged her again, in gratitude this time, my grip much stronger than before.
“Thank you for the tea,” I told her earnestly.
“You mean for the grass juice.” Snorting, my friend jabbed me in the ribs with her finger.
A soft knock on the door had all of us turning to face it, and as soon as I called for whoever it was to enter, Ace filled the doorway. “Alex wanted you to join him in the office.” He spoke to Amber, but his eyes widened when he saw me awake. “Oh, you are awake, Hazel. If you can, maybe you should come, too.”
“Anything the matter?” Amber scooped Jack, who was already headed for the open door.
“Danika is here.” Ace’s declaration made me groan.
“Hazel is an ass,” Jack, who’d shifted back into an annoying butt-naked nine-year-old, announced loudly. Obviously turning into a wolf never stopped a child from overhearing things they shouldn’t. My grandmother might’ve had plans for my broodmare status to continue the Byrne bloodline, but I had every intention of staying childless for the next few centuries, if I survived that long.
“You bet your cute bare butt that I am an ass,” I told Jack with a proud grin, and I laughed with everyone else, but inside I was fuming.
What new clusterfuck did Danika bring to my plate now?
23
“… couldn’t be sure, but everything points at Destin at this moment,” Danika was saying to Alex when I joined them.
Everyone had left my room, so I had the opportunity to dress instead of walking around like some roman goddess wrapped in only a sheet, but that meant I’d missed half of the conversation.
“Hazel, I’m happy to see that you are well.” Cold emerald eyes perused me from head to toe like a laser security device.
