Page 3 of The Wolf's Bullied Pregnant Mate
“Make me,” he spat. “Go on, use that little witch magic of yours. Give us arealtaste. Unless it trulyisa gimmick.”
“Knock it off, Zeph,” Hector grumbled. “Adalyn, I’m sorry for this. We’ll be heading out—”
“Oh, no,” Zephyr drawled. “No, we’re staying. I want to see what she’s capable of.” His eyes burned into me, a silent challenge in them.
Chapter 2 - Zephyr
I hated her.
I hated the damned witch who had haunted my dreams and days for weeks now. Adalyn, with her long dark hair braided back from her face, round blacked-out sunglasses perched atop her head. Black lipstick emphasized lips that, in my dreams, had trailed right down my skin, leaving smudges like smeared ink.
I could barely look at her for all the vile hatred climbing up my throat.
“What even happened, man?” Sweeney asked a while ago as we grabbed burgers from the only place in town that did half-decent fast food. “You two were, like, into each other, right?”
“Right,” I had agreed. And wewere. She had been someone new to flirt with, to chat up, to make the island even more interesting. “Until I learned she’s a damn witch.”
“So? Doesn’t that make her hotter?”
It should have, but…
My own family had a long distrust of witches. I had never been told a lot about Azure Cove, but I knew it had something to do with my family’s bloodline from centuries ago. I had found our surname in an old history book that I had seen in Harper’s house when I had been babysitting the triplets one day. Ever since, I knew I couldn’t trust Adalyn. I didn’t yet know where I fully fit into the situation, but I knew that she had a place here, and I didn’t, and I couldn’t trust that uncertainty.
Last night’s dream had taken place beneath a waterfall, the dreamscape so strong I swore I woke up to the cascading water’s mist on my skin. Hector had woken me up that morning with a start. An intense energy had been wafted beneath my nose, rousing me from my sleep.
“Thanks, Hec,” I had muttered, dragging myself from my bed.
“What for?”
“Can’t explain right now,” I answered noncommittally. I wasn’t about to confess the contents of my dreams to any of them. Frazer would just tell me to bang it out with Adalyn, Harper, and Alex would warn me off her unless we could be civil, and Hector would tell me to talk it through logically. Sweeney and Johnson would just laugh. No, I did what I did best with unwanted feelings: I turned them into weapons. Weapons were something I could work with. Weapons were second nature to me—I utilized them far better than some goddamn dreams about a witch.
A beautiful witch, I thought.
No. No, I’d rather claw her heart out myself than hold it tenderly.
Witches had been a burden on my family for years. Ever since… Ever since I had lost my brother, finding him dead at the feet of a witch who had just come into her powers. Whether it had been an accident or purposeful, I never knew. She disappeared from sight before I could catch her.
I glared daggers into Adalyn now, my challenge hanging in the air.I want to see what she’s capable of.
And I meant my words. This past summer, when the demon attacks were in full force, wolves had done the killing while the witches, like Greta and Adalyn, provided shields. Offense and defense—it should have been a perfect match, but instead, I was annoyed. Witches could cast from a distance. They never were brave enough to risk their cowardly lives.
Adalyn looked at me. Her eyes were so brown they were almost dark. In truth, she looked terrifying. She looked hot as hell. I clenched my fist and stalked over to her. My palm smacked down on the counter, my fingers digging into the wood.
“Come on,witch,” I snarled. “You’re too coward to risk your damn life out there. You let us wolves risk ourselves. Why don’t you do something, for once?”
My words got to her. I watched her expression flicker, her own hate for me twisting her painted lips. “Back up,” she hissed. “I’ll burn your fucking ass out of my store, Zephyr, if you don’t stand down.”
“Zeph.” Hector’s voice was a quiet command, but I ranked higher than him. The only man who would get me away from this challenge would be Alex, who wasn’t there.
“Admit it,” I said. “You can’tdoanything. Do you even havemagic?” Adalyn glared at me as I braced my hands on her counter, looming over her. “You’re pathetic. You and your whole coven.”
“Zeph,” Hector tried again, just as Adalyn’s eyes rolled back and went fully black when she looked at me once again. Beneath my hand, the counter began to grow hot. When I tried to pull away and step back, it felt like I couldn’tmove. Like my hands were melded to the counter. My palms melted into the wood, and my prints were left there. The wood hardened as if forming a cast around my fingers.
“Fuck off,” I snapped. “Adalyn, stop it.”
“Me?” she smiled sweetly. “I thought I was pathetic? Such apatheticwitch who does absolutelynothingcouldn’t possibly do this!” She blinked innocently at me. “Or would you like to admit you were wrong, Zephyr?”
The wood burned me, and I gritted my teeth. I had endured worse, but as I struggled to break free, the magicked wood only held me down tighter. Sparks of heat ran down my wrists. I hissed, still struggling.
