Page 62 of The Powerless Witch

“Hey.”

I flinched as Alice’s hand touched my shoulder. I had grown so distracted by my thoughts that I hadn’t noticed her approach.

“Hey.” I forced a smile.

“Are you alright? You look…” She trailed off as if unsure how to finish the sentence, but her expression said it all. She could see the struggle within me, the hate, the love, and the helplessness. I wasn’t sure how much she understood—probably more than I thought, considering she had been through it. After all, our own pack sold her to the hunters and while she hated them for it, for a time, they were our family.

“I’m fine.” I cleared my throat, trying to focus my mind on something else instead. Like her haggard look or the dark circles under her eyes. “Have you been sleeping? You look like you might drop where you stand.”

“I’m fine.” Her reply sounded as sincere as mine did. “Everyone else is recovering now, so losing a few hours of sleep was worth it.”

Pursing my lips together, I tried to catch her eye again. While I was eternally grateful for everything she had done—she was the sole reason there weren’t more caskets today—I knew that her lack of sleep had nothing to do with the pack and everything to do with a certain human girl who had still not asked to see her.

“I’ll call him again,” I said. Her head snapped up, hope flaring in her eyes, but then she just shrugged. That fucking bloodsucker. I was done waiting for his misplaced chivalry or whatever was that made him hover over Lily so intently. They needed to meet, to sort this out by themselves. They didn’t need some dead, heartless killer to chaperone them.

“I’m afraid at this point,” Alice muttered, hugging herself. “Of her rejecting me. If she couldn’t make up her mind just to see me, what hope can I have of her wanting toaccept me? But still…not knowing what the other person feels is harder.” She looked up again, her eyes even duller and more tired than before. “I just want to see her.”

I nodded in understanding, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. The things I would have given to be with Celeste right now…or to just mindlink her so I could make sure she was alright and healing. But I couldn’t hear even a whisper. I wasn’t sure if it was the Fae glamor around the grove, her lack of magic, or the distance that was preventing us from communicating, but it was driving me insane. Just a few hours ago, I was contemplating running to the Fae to check on her, to spend a bit of time with her, touch her, kiss her…

“Alpha.” Allison’s voice pulled me out of the downright spiral of feelings that thinking about Celeste sent me into. My Beta had stopped a few steps away, several of our warriors lingering behind her.

Right. I had told them to gather after the funeral so we could discuss our next steps. While we didn’t have the strength or numbers to take down an entire coven, sitting on our asses just felt wrong.

“Let’s head back to my house.” I nodded, and they moved to leave. Only Allison lingered, glancing questioningly toward my sister. Alice pushed herself away from me.

“Go,” she said hoarsely, rubbing the edge of her eye. “I have to drop by the sanctum to make sure everyone is ready to go home. I’ll see you later.”

Awkwardness settled into my chest as she walked away, and I felt the urge to hold her back. Every time I let her out of my sight, I had the feeling that she’d disappear again. After all, she was family—I wanted her to be involved in everything, even the decision-making.

However, they didn’t know her. They didn’t trust her. She was an outsider, even though she had won many over by saving their loved ones.

‘Patience,’I told myself.‘They will accept her. They will love her.’

As I watched Alice stride away under the weak winter sun peeking from between the clouds, I couldn’t help but imagine a shorter, slender form walking away from me. Would my pack accept her too? Trust her? Love her? What would she even be to them? A luna? An outsider? An enemy?

‘Patience,’I told myself again.‘One fucked up issue at a time.’

“What’s wrong with her?” Allison muttered when she fell into step with me. We left behind the eerily quiet cemetery, making our way toward our neighborhood. Ilicked my lips, not sure if this was my story to tell, but since Alice refused to talk to me about what she really felt, maybe she’d be more open to another woman.

“Alice found her mate. She’s one of Celeste’s humans,” I blurted.

Allison tripped—actually tripped!—on the even ground, her eyes widening with shock. She opened her mouth one, two, three times, then just sighed.

“Damn.”

“Damn indeed.” I winced, adding. “They also seem to be living on Roman’s property, so he banned Alice from approaching the house at the threat of death.”

“Fucking bloodsucker!” Allison hissed, her eyes turning golden for a split second. Then she took a deep breath and released it, looking at me with her usual calmness. “I’ll…keep an eye on her. Can’t you talk toherabout it? Makehertell the vampire to get out of the way?”

Confusion passed through me for a second, but the guilty, uncomfortable look she gave me made me realize she was no longer talking about Alice.

“You can say her name, you know,” I muttered. “And no, I can’t because I have no way of contacting her. The mindlink doesn’t work between us at this distance.”

Allison was just opening her mouth when we reached my house. Peter and the others were already waiting outside, so I unlocked the door and invited them in.

I silently thanked Alice for tidying up the place. The last time I came back from patrol, she had scrubbed it so clean that I could barely catch the familiar smells over all the chemicals.

I closed the door after Oliver, the last of the group, walked in. Motioning for them to sit, I slumped into one of the chairs while they found seats along the couches and around the kitchen table. I could feel their eyes on me—eager, waiting, tense—but I took my time before speaking.

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