Page 46 of Hooked on a Witch
Eli stepped backward, glancing around.
She said, “How can you not trust me and my choice? Seriously, Eli? We’ve known each other since we were old enough to talk. Sure, we fight. But I’ve covered for you so many times over the years, especially to your father when you were in high school. Remember when you guys were visiting back then and you wanted to sneak out every night to see Melissa Calvin in town for a…”
Eli held up a finger, warning her not to finish that.
“Melissa, huh?” Merck chuckled. “She still lives off Southside.”
“Enough.” Eli’s cheeks flushed. “We don’t know this guy, Shannon. This is me telling you I’m worried.”
Her father chimed in. “How do you know you and Eli aren’t destined? Why’re you running all over with this guy when Eli may be it for you?”
“Did I ever say Merck and I were destined? No. This isn’t about finding my soul mate right now. It’s about all of us surviving.” Her father’s stubborn look said he wasn’t giving this up. “Eli and I? We’re not.”
Eli’s eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms.
Shannon purposely licked her lower lip and gazed up at Eli, giving him her best sultry half-mast eyelid gaze. Eli’s gaze didn’t deviate from hers, not even to watch her tongue. He stared at her like an annoyed older brother, a look she knew well, having had two of them.
“Eli, do you lose your mind every time I’m nearby, with need to…you know.” Her eyes darted to her father. The graphic word she needed to use got tangled in her throat when she caught her father’s pinched look. She focused on Eli again. “Or is there only a need to protect me, like a big brother?” She poked Eli’s chest with a solitary finger, feeling none of the heat that drove her nuts around Merck. One finger into Merck’s chest like this and he’d have her pressed against the side of the car, taking her challenge and one-upping it, no doubt. She’d be fully into it, hoping Merck would finish it this time.
But Eli? No. She glanced at her father. “You want me to kiss Eli and prove this isn’t ever going to work with him?”
She’d puke if she had to kiss him. When a druid wasn’t destined for a Pleiades, there was some sort of cosmic deter spell that made anything with the man disgusting.
Eli leaned away. She could tell by Eli’s wary gaze it was a no-way.
“Don’t do it.” Merck’s words froze her.
He’d moved directly behind her. The godlike power he kept under wraps poured off him. His aura swirled with threat.
“We’re leaving. Don’t follow us,” Merck said, striding toward his parked car with one hand on her back, gently pushing. He helped her into the passenger side and closed the door.
Eli yanked open the passenger door seconds after it’d shut. “Get out of the bloody car. Don’t make me force you.”
Merck climbed into the driver’s seat and cranked the SUV.
“I need to go with Merck right now.”
Eli shot her a wounded gaze.
She leaned out of the seat to touch Eli’s cheek and said softly enough her father couldn’t hear, but Merck could, “I meant what I said before. I love you like a brother. Would I kill for you, if I had to? Yes. Would I do what I needed to protect you? Yes. I understand where this attitude is coming from, but you need to trust me. I’m going right now to do something about my problem. I’ll come back. I promise.”
“Everything’s trying to kill you. You’re running all over with this guy who we know nothing about who hunts witches. Be reasonable.”
“Get out of the car, Shannon,” her father thundered.
“Shut the door. Now.” Merck levied a feral gaze on both men. Her father’s eyes widened. Eli backed up a step. Nothing that she’d ever seen scared Eli or her father until now.
“What the hell are you?” To Shannon Eli asked, “Do you really trust him?”
Doubt plagued her. She couldn’t control Merck like she could other guys. That meant she had to trust in him. Did she?You have to trust someone right now.“He’s faced off with some dangerous creatures attacking me and… Yes, I trust him. I’ll be back in a few hours. We can discuss whatever plan you guys came up with then.”
Eli closed her door.
“Sorry about all that,” she said as he pulled away.
“You can avoid, but you can’t run away from your father. That’s something you’ll have to deal with.”
“I know. First I’ll let him cool off. Where does this witch live?”
“West of Savannah. She’s a voodoo mambo, not a witch.”
