Page 21 of Enchanting Her Mate

Jo’s gaze remains on the front door of the coven house as if she is waiting for Tibik to storm back out and continue yelling at her. At us.

I would never let someone speak to one I cared about the way Jo just let Tibik speak to me. I know she has been timid and fearful far longer than she has been a powerful, confident witch, but still, I was not expecting to encounter such blatant rudeness.

“Come,” I tell her, pulling her into my side as I drape my arm over her shoulders. “All will be well.”

We go inside and climb the steps to her bedroom, avoiding the eyes of everyone we pass. Why is the coven not more excited about Jo’s return? I do not understand their silence, given how miserable it must have been with just Tibik leading them.

Jo kicks off her boots and crawls into bed. She does not get under the blankets. She just pulls a pillow against her chest and curls into a tight ball. Mek flies across the room and settles himself into his spot on the pillow above her.

I hate seeing her this dejected. It makes me want to shift into my draxilio and fly us back to my cottage where we can be alone and content once again.

It also makes me want to unleash a ball of fire onto Tibik’s face and melt the permanently sour expression right off his skull.

Yes!my draxilio purrs.We should do that! Defend our mate!

Whoa, she is not our mate,I send back.

I do not know exactly what Jo is to me at this point. She is more than just a female I have successfully seduced. I cannot seem to get enough of her in that regard. There is not a moment that passes when I do not want to feel her lips against mine.

While this is a new experience for me, and the feelings I have for Jo are also new, I am not convinced it means she is my mate.

But I still wish to care for her in any way that she will allow. “What can I do?” I ask as I rub her back.

She turns to face me, her eyes filled with unshed tears, and my draxilio growls low in my chest. She, too, has grown quite attached to this tiny witch. “Water?” Jo asks.

I press a kiss to her hair before I go downstairs to fetch her some water. Just as I finish filling a glass jug with water from the spigot, Tibik enters the room and sighs heavily when he sees me. I choose to ignore him entirely as I go to climb the stairs.

“You do not belong here,” he says, halting my steps. “You and your obnoxious bird.”

I take a long sip of water, keeping my gaze locked on his as the liquid slides down my throat before I say, “Jo wants me here. I am not leaving her side unless she requests that I do.” Then I turn on my heel and head back upstairs.

I am halfway up the staircase when I hear Tibik chuckle snidely and say, “Hexrins are prohibited from taking a mate. Even if that were not the case, she would never choose someone like you.”

Someone like me.

What does that mean? Because I am a draxilio?

Or is he referring to my genetic modifications?

Does he think just because I was modified to lack fear that I am not smart or composed enough to be mated to a Hexrin? That I am not worthy of standing at Jo’s side?

What if I continue to become more attached to her? Will that put her in a position where she has to choose between me and her coven? I know she will choose her coven, and I would not blame her for it. Her witchcraft is in her blood.

Then my mind drifts to the day I cut my arm after missing the rope over the pool. Jo was quite angry with me. Just as she was when I went outside to feed the feathered reptilian creature on the balcony.

Perhaps…Tibik is right.

Perhaps Mek and I are too wild to live among the clan with their structured mealtimes and daily chores. Perhaps the jungle is the only place we truly belong.

CHAPTER 12

JO

It has only been two days since Alu and I returned from her cottage, and the tension in the coven house is as thick as the dark energy cluster in the jungle. I do not know how to resume my coven duties while leaving enough time to spend with Alu.

She remains close by all the time, which I appreciate because she is trying to protect me from Tibik’s cutting remarks, but it is a small house, and Alu is a large presence. It does not help that Mek has been an absolute menace.

The only time Mek is not wreaking havoc is when he is asleep on the pillow above my head. The rest of the time, he is pooping on people’s clothes, squawking in their ears, or using his claws to rip apart their bedding for a new nest.

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