Page 12 of Captive Witch

“I can train you—”

“You can’t train my magic!” Closing her eyes, she shakes her head. “You can train me with my wolf abilities, but you can’t train my magic when you have none. It… We’ll talk about this later. Give me your hand.” She holds her hand out, palm up, and looks at me, waiting.

Curious, I place my burned hand in hers, my eyebrows raising when she mutters a spell under her breath. Slowly, the pain of the burn fades and the skin heals from an angry, swollen red down to a slight pink, similar to the scars she wears on her wrists.

She smirks, watching the fascination play across my face. “I told you I was training.” She places a warm kiss to the palm of my hand. “I can’t control it very well, especially when I’m upset. Obviously. But I’ve learned some other techniques, though unfortunately, I can’t promise it won’t scar.” She turns her arm over, showing the multiple burns on her arm. “I also can’t form fireballs quite yet, either.”

Grabbing her wrist, I pepper each new scar with a kiss. “I’m so proud of you, little witch. You’ve come so far.”

Her cheeks flame as she tries to hide the smile spreading across her face.

“As much as I’d love to show you how proud of you I am, we do have a few things to do before dinner tonight.”

She slips her hands beneath my shirt, toying with the band of my pants. “Mm, things like what?”

Leaning forward, I flick my tongue against her ear lobe. “Things like finishing painting my kitchen and putting some clothes on that beautiful body of yours. I can’t have my entirepack looking at you with no pants on.” I reach down and palm her ass, lightly smacking it. “Your clothes are in the closet, but put one of my old shirts on to paint.”

She laughs, light and sweet, and I capture her lips in a kiss before forcing myself to the door. While she slept this morning, I told Frank to notify everyone about the meeting tonight—new and current pack members, but especially the hunters. I was also able to pick up another can of paint, hoping it’ll be the last can I need. Moving down the stairs, the smell of fresh brewed coffee hits me, but I only pull down one mug, filling it for myself.

Two sips in, Adara comes into the kitchen wearing leggings and one of my old t-shirts. She raises a brow. “No mug for me?” Her eyes widen as she takes in the new room around her. “Oh my gods, Gideon, what did you do?”

“Mugs are still in the same place,” I say, gesturing to one of the two upper cabinets left attached to the wall.

Glaring at me, she huffs and stomps over to the cabinet, reaching up on her tiptoes for her favorite mug—the one with a teal squid painted along it that I purposely put on the top shelf. I try to casually make my way to her, pressing up against her from behind.

“Here,” I whisper into her ear, loving the way she sucks in a sharp inhale as my breath tickles her skin. I grab the squid mug, setting it onto the counter in front of her, the same way that I’d done it that first time just weeks ago.

She spins in front of me, mischief dancing in her eyes. “You did that on purpose.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I move back to my coffee, sitting on the stool and watching as she makes her coffee, the smile never leaving her face.

As she comes over, she takes a double glance at the stool—now a cream colored, leather seat with a small back instead ofthe black circular ones from before. “Are these new?” Looking around the kitchen, she slowly sits down. “You got rid of… a lot.”

“Anything she touched,” I say quietly, watching her bring her mug to her lips.

She pauses before taking a sip, her eyes cutting to mine.

“I repainted the front door along with the entire kitchen. Unfortunately, I’m quite fond of the countertops—the silver swirling through the black reminds me of your wolf’s eyes.” Reaching out, I brush a thumb over her cheek. “But I couldn’t bear to look at this house and see… her. The pain she caused. I chose this twilight violet because I see you in it. I see you in every corner of this house, and I won’t let anyone take that from us.”

She blinks quickly, holding in her tears, then smiles and lifts her coffee to her lips again, taking a long sip. “I love the color you picked, and I’ve always loved these counters.” She glances at me out of the corner of her eye. “I love our home.”

Inhaling through my nose, I set my cup down, then reach for hers and put it on the island too. I pull her onto my lap, nuzzling my nose into her. “Say that again.”

“What?” She laughs. “The color? I do love it.”

I dig my fingers into her sides, tickling her.

“Okay, okay!” she squeals. “I love our home, Gideon!”

Squeezing my arms around her, I smile into the crook of her neck.

You’re pathetic,my wolf says, but he’s smiling just as hard, the bastard.

Kissing her collarbone, I reach around to hand her coffee back to her. She quirks a brow at me, taking in the space around us again. The stainless steel appliances and dark wood floors are all the same. Most of the cabinets I found useless, so I tore them out, leaving just enough for the essentials and making one long blank wall. The table that used to sit before the window is gone, creating a large open space before the blank wall.

“Didn’t you say we were painting?” she asks.

“I did.”

---