Page 12 of Witch of My Heart

“Anxiety as far as I know. Liam hasn’t seen her walking around here, has he?”I asked the stupid question that plagued my brain since she died.

“No,” Starry said aloud and firm. “That he would tell us.”

“He smells like magic,”I whispered over the group link.

“Is that good or bad?”Starry switched back to the group link too.

“It would be perfect if I could manage to be a cat again instead of a chicken,”I said.

“Oh, Cord. You’re not the first to run from your true-mate. You won’t be the last.”

“Do you think I made him and Xi enemies?”I sighed.

“No and I shouldn’t have asked Xi to pursue him like that. For that I apologize. I sorta freaked out too, because I didn’t know what was going on. All I could pick up from your part of the group link was something about HER. For all I knew, he was sent by one of her goons who escaped, and I wasn’t about to let him get you. Xi’s pretty forgiving. I think once Blithe and you are in the same room, even he won’t be too pissed off about it.”

“Shit! Shit! Shit!”I swore under my breath remembering the tiny, clawed incident under the table.

“What’s wrong?”Starry asked, glancing at the front door.

“I hit him!”I said and rolled off the sofa arm, onto my back on the floor.“Claws and all! I hit him, Starry!”

“Do you want me to check on him?”Starry offered, peering over the sofa arm at me.

Sighing, I rolled onto my belly and managed to get to my feet. Once my four paws were on the ground, my grace returned. I sauntered across the living room, shimmied behind the long flowing curtains who were sometimes my enemy, but not today, and leapt up onto the window ledge.

There he was: The man I’d spend the rest of my life with, if I ever gathered up the courage to be human again. He was a ginger and for a second, I wondered if our kittens would have that rich, bright color in their fur. Then I shook my head. That was putting the tail before the claws. Even if Ginger Barrel couldn’t run out of Frost’s Pit and gobble up my kittens, I wasn’t sure I was ready to be a parent. I wasn’t sure I was ready to be a mate either. I was pretty sure a guy like Blithe wouldn’t want to spend the rest of his life in my bedroom at Starry’s house.

He waved and my heart pounded against my ribs. My tail twitched as I raked my eyes over him. He was tall, taller than Daniel. He had bright green eyes and broad shoulders. There was a rip in the left knee of his jeans and a scuff on the toe of his right sneaker. He must’ve lost his shirt somewhere along the way, because he was bare chested and bare abed as it was possible to be. I licked my lips, imagining what the salt from his skin might taste like. Then I gave myself a good mental shake. Despite what the magical pull of the mating response wanted, this wasn’t the time to sit in a window and think about licking anyone. Well, maybe myself.

The spring sunlight played through his hair in a way that made me both want to lick it and bat at it.

“Stop with the licking thoughts,”I scolded my cat from inside the inner sanctum.

I raised a single paw and licked it. It was already clean. I was a cat. I was always clean. Still, the unneeded grooming bought me time to figure out what to do about the gorgeous Alpha waiting on me outside.

“Figured out what you want me to do yet?” Starry said.

Startled, I nearly fell from the window ledge. When I peeked back out, Daniel grinned in amusement, but Blithe’s lips hadn’t even twitched. At least someone knew how serious it was.

“Is there another cure for this?”I asked Starry over the group link.

“There really isn’t a cure for a true-mate response. It’s not exactly a disease,”Starry said, his voice soft and tentative.

“I know that. Is there a cure for the brain fog, racing heart, and fragmented thinking?”I tried my question again.

“Umm…. There is one, but it involves being a lot closer to your Alpha than you are right now.”

“Besides that!”I hissed.

“Afraid not. Not that I know of anyway. Hell, I didn’t even wait an hour before claiming Xi. I went straight for it and knocked myself out from using magic and not eating. It was worth it. To this day it was worth it.”

“Do you know anything about him?”I asked.

“About Blithe? Only what I said earlier in the meeting hall while we were decorating.”

“Wait! Where’s Xiam?”I asked.

“With my brother. He’s safe. It’s okay. We didn’t all forget about the baby. I could never do that. Xi either. He’s safe. He loves his uncles. We have time to figure out what comes next.”

---