Page 31 of The Wolf's Bullied Pregnant Mate
“Who’s that?” Zephyr asked, laughing, and it sounded odd to hear that complete shift in his voice, from rough demanding to gentler teasing of his friend.
“Nobody,” Hector answered. “Bye.”
The line went dead, and Zephyr’s sigh echoed through the cavern.
Silently, I padded from the bed, scooping up my discarded clothes from that very first night. I tossed them aside in a pile, cringing at my torn panties.
Where isthatZephyr?
And then I quickly convinced myself I didn’t care where that version of him was now. Either way, I was stuck with the version of him that didn’t care about me.
And you don’t care about him, I reminded myself.Especially when he purposefully antagonizes you.Remember who he is, Adalyn. He is a killer. He admitted it himself; all he knows how to do is fight and kill.
I needed submersion in the pool, right where the water’s energy was as strong as it would be in the bubbling creak of the waterfall. With the earth and water combined down here, I would strengthen my powers indefinitely, and my own waning abilities had been a pit in my stomach for days.
Since the other night with Zephyr, I hadn’t bothered to dress in any of the black sets left, comfortable one-piece short-sleeved suits, both soft and stylish. Instead, I had found one of the robes hooked on the cavern's wall and let it drape over me. I shed that now, letting it drop to the floor in a heap of silk.
Completely naked, I wandered through the archway to the pool cave, the ceiling low and the pool deep. It was big enough for ten people to comfortably bathe in it. The smell of sulfur was strong, but that had never deterred us. Regret and desire warred in my head, but I hesitated on the edge of the pool, gazing into the see-through emerald-colored pool.
“I call to the healing powers of water,” I murmured, “To cleanse my soul, ease my mind, and invigorate the magic of my brethren in my body.”
With that, I slipped into the water, and groaned at the feel of the water washing over me. It was warm, sliding over my skin, sinking into me. It was heaven, a silky embrace. It was as if the very hands of the pool reached out to me and tucked me into an embrace, welcoming me home.
I let myself go beneath the surface, my eyes open as I let my arms and legs float. I didn’t try to control my body; I simply let the water guide me.
I felt the power threading through my body, building back up.
My eyes finally slipped closed as I floated in the pool, feeling my clan's history rise through the water.
I am one of you, I thought.Just please do not cast me out for bringing a shifter into our home.
The water lapped over my skin, as if it was hungry for more of me. It was a caress I knew I had needed for weeks after pouring all my energy into shields and mapwork. The spell I had done to Zephyr in the Emporium had taken way too much, more than I could handle. Witches were supposed to submerge themselves into pools like this before using such magic. It often was not spontaneous.
I had been idiotic, desperate to show off what I could do.
Desperate to impress.
Just like when I was younger.The thought spun darkly as I cast my mind back to the days of being bullied in a normal high school. There were witch-specialized ones with classes forus—moon reading, map work, spells, energy, the elements—and then there were overcrowded Brooklyn high schools.
I had hated every moment in that city, from the overcrowded streets to the awful students I had gone to school with. Moving to Azure Cove had been the right move in the worst circumstances.
Let the water heal you, my grandmother had once instructed me.Let it take away all the bad. All the nastiness. All the doubt and worry and negativity.You are part of the most powerful witches spread across the world. We dominate the continents. Feel that power flow through you.
I smiled, humming as I floated.
Except when I opened my eyes at the noise of scuffing on stone, I found that very negative nastiness and doubt looking at me from across the pool, standing on the other side. Zephyr had been content to ignore me these past two days, but not now.
The eyes I had wanted on me before now searched my face.
“Mornin’,” he said.
I glared at him, ignoring the flush in my cheeks at finding him completely naked. Under the presence of a glare, I took note of the tattoos inked over his skin. They lined either side of a toned abdomen, his muscles rippling right down the center of his body in a way I had never considered attractive a lot, but the way Zephyr looked…
It was hard to keep my focus.
His thighs were thick with muscle, with more ink wrapping around one of them in a thorny spiral. His cock was soft, and my body stirred as if remembering how it felt in me.
Do not, I begged myself mentally, needing my thoughts as far away from the shifter as possible.
