Claiming His Witch (19 page)

“Brats. Both of you.” Scarlett rolled onto her back and lifted her legs in the air, pointing her toes at the ceiling. “Though there is that succulent Beast hanging around. I could go for a little beard burn on my thighs, if you know what I mean.”

Charlotte looked at me, her eyes unfocused and her movements uncoordinated. “I’m not sure I know what you mean. How do you get it on your thighs?”

Scarlett’s grin turned wicked. “Well, when a man has a beard, and he goes down to the holy land—”

Rebel threw open the door, a low rumble vibrating in his chest as he homed in on Charlotte. “I hate to break up the party—”

“No, you don’t,” the three of us said in unison.

“You’re right. I don’t.”

“So tell me, Rebel,” Scarlett started, looking blearily at the handsome shifter. “How is it you can give this woman six—
six!
—orgasms in one night, but she’s never had beard burn on her thighs? Are you anti-face-riding, or do you shave too much?”

“Jesus.” Rebel looked at the ceiling as Charlotte and I laughed. “You girls are trouble.”

“Totally.” I walked over to my bag, looking for a pair of socks as the floors were a bit cold in the cabin. Pup’s duffel sat unzipped next to mine. A ratty sweatshirt peeked out from inside, gray and soft-looking from wear. I shrugged a shoulder and pulled it out of the bag. I wanted to have his scent on me, wanted him to fill my senses as if he were here. This yearning for another person was new for me, and I had no idea how to handle it.

“Oh yeah, do that,” Charlotte said, waving the bottle in my direction. “He’ll love that.”

“You don’t think he’ll mind?”

She laughed, a loud, booming sound that made me smile. “Fuck no, he won’t mind. We’ll all be lucky if he gives us time to get out of the cabin once he see you in it.”

My cheeks heated as I thought of Pup so turned on by me wearing his clothes that he couldn’t wait to be alone. How his hands would slide under the fabric. How he’d pull at it as he owned my mouth. The way his fingers—

“Quit daydreaming and put it on.” Scarlett huffed and turned over while Charlotte laughed again.

“Are you sure?” I asked. This time it was Rebel who laughed.

“Zuri, we’re wolves. Any sign of our claim on our mate is…a positive thing.”

“Positive?” Charlotte leaned toward me. “I bought this shirt that had Rebel printed in bright letters across the girls, and you’d have thought I’d painted my breasts—”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Rebel picked Charlotte up and carried her out the door, whispering, “You brought that shirt, didn’t you?”

Cheeks burning, I hurried into the bathroom and stripped out of my skirt and sweater, leaving me in a tank top and panties. I pulled the sweatshirt over my head and laughed as it swallowed me from shoulders to knees. It took three rolls of each sleeve to keep the cuffs above my fingers, but it was warm and smelled like Pup. I strolled back into the bedroom and pulled a pair of knee socks out of my bag to keep my legs warm.

Scarlett snored softly from where she’d passed out on the bed. I shook my head and picked up the cabin to kill time. Dirty clothes, a few slips of paper, a magazine—all small things that cluttered the tiny space. If I was going to live here with Pup for a while, I’d have to figure out how to earn my rent. I didn’t have a job outside the coven, had never needed one since I ran the web store of the pagan supply company Sarah had started. Once Pup and I decided where to live, I’d have to find work. Definitely a daunting thought.

My stomach rolled as I imagined moving away. Would Scarlett go with us? Or would she choose to go back to the coven? And Amber—the idea of not having Amber around to temper our personalities was painful. She was the mature one, the little momma, always trying to keep us in line. Scarlett was the crazy one, in more trouble than out of it. I was neither as controlling as Amber nor as wild as Scarlett, but I always knew I had a place with my sisters.
 

I sighed and gripped the receipt for the pizzas Pup and I had shared as an early lunch, my heart hurting and a melancholy settling over me like a summer storm—sudden and overpowering. I was going to lose parts of my family no matter what decision I made. Pup was wonderful and I could see a life with him, but my sisters were my past. They were my present and supposed to be a big part of my future. They were my blood. We weren’t
us
without the three sides being together.
 

Depressed and missing Pup madly, I laid down beside Scarlett, curling into her side. The whiskey had made me sad and sleepy, a combination too seductive to resist.

Minutes or hours later, a knock startled me awake. I uncurled myself from around a still-sleeping Scarlett and walked to the door. What met me when I opened it nearly took my breath away.

“I think we need to talk.” Amber walked in as if invited, wrinkling her nose as she looked around.

“Sure thing, sis. Come right in.” I closed the door behind her, my face burning and back straight. If she dared to say something about this homey little cabin—

“Day drinking? Is that how far you two have fallen?” She waved at a still sleeping Scarlett.

“What do you want, Amber? I know you’re not here to talk about alcohol.”

She turned, a frown on her face. “How could you do it, Zuri? How could you turn your back on the coven? I thought we were a family?”

I stood immobile, staring at her as the tangled web of her words slowly worked its way up through the darkness inside of me.
 

“How could I? You shunned me. And when that wasn’t good enough, you banished me.”

“Because you betrayed us!” Amber stepped closer, pointing a finger in my face. “You knew there were wolves in the woods, but you didn’t tell us. You said nothing when you called, just that you were safe and would be home later. But you didn’t come home. We had to come get you after we found wolf tracks by the house. If we would’ve known they were from yours, we wouldn’t have worried so much or risked coming into a camp full of those animals. You put your entire coven in danger so you could make out with a man you’d only just met.”

“What are you talking about? Pup’s never been to the lighthouse.”

Amber paused, her brow furrowing for a moment before she huffed. “Then the tracks were left by one of his friends; how else do you explain them?”

“Uh, I don’t know. Maybe a wolf came to visit?”

“Yeah, right. As if there just happen to be more wolves in these woods than the ones you’re fucking around with.”

“Amber, when Scarlett and I found the camp, all three of the guys who shift into wolves were here. I would think they would’ve told me if they’d been sneaking around the lighthouse.”

Amber raised her eyebrows, picking at the one thing I’d said that hung like a loose thread. “Maybe they’re not being as honest with you as you think they are.”

I shrugged, her words making me uncomfortable. “The Fates called me here, to this campground, and to Pup. I trust him.”

“And what about us?” Her voice lowered, her face showing her betrayal. “You leave your coven behind because you believe the Fates planned for you to be the broodmare for some wild dog?”

I struck without thinking, knocking her off her feet with my open hand. “Take it back.”

The floor beneath my feet rumbled as she held her cheek with one hand, flicking her fingers with the other. “No. You’re being a selfish brat. You turned your back on your family.”

“You banished me!” The cabin shook with the force of our magicks fighting against one another. Water and air joined into a storm that rumbled through the small space. The air turned humid as it blew around the room, an indoor tornado building, ready to rip the ceiling down.

“You left me to deal with everything!” Amber’s wind increased in strength, making my hair whip around my head and slash across my face. “Sarah’s dying, the coven’s panic. You and Scarlett disappeared into the woods without telling me anything, and you expect me to clean up the mess you left behind. Why can’t you just grow up and be responsible?”

A crash sounded as Amber pushed a wave of energy my way, knocking over a chair instead. Before I could strike back, Rebel rushed through the door, grabbing Amber from behind and holding her off the floor.

“What the hell is going on in here?”

Amber struggled against his hold to no avail. The winds calmed as he held her, leaving us all damp from the water now condensing on the window and walls.

“Just sisters being sisters,” Scarlett said as she stood from the bed. “That one you’ve got in a choke hold is the oldest Weaver triplet.”
 

“Want me to let her go?”

Scarlett tilted her head, considering it. “No.”

“Yes.” I frowned at Scarlett. “Let her go; she won’t hurt us on purpose.”

Amber coughed as Rebel let her down. “Touch me again, you beast, and I’ll kill you where you stand.”

“Your sister’s not invited to girls’ day, ever.” Charlotte stood in the doorway, glaring at Amber. “Threaten my mate again, and I’ll throw a bucket of water on you.”

“This isn’t some cheesy movie. We don’t melt.”

“Stop.” I held my hands up, my head aching and my heart tired of being battered. “Amber, why did you come here? We know it wasn’t some goodwill gesture.”

Amber glared, breathing hard as she looked from me to Scarlett. “Sarah wants to see you both. She sent me to bring you home.”

Fury. Absolute and fiery hot, fury exploded within me. Holding it back as best I could, I walked up to my sister, nearly brushing my nose against hers. “You banished me from the coven, which means I can no longer live at the lighthouse. I am home.”

Her face fell, her eyes growing shiny with what looked like tears. But that didn’t last. She took a deep breath before her face hardened into a mask of anger. “Yeah, well…she still wants to see you.”

“Fine.” I grabbed a pair of leggings out of my bag and pulled them up my legs. “I’ll go see Sarah. But then that’s it. If you and the coven can’t accept Pup in my life, then we have nothing left to say.”

I roared into camp, tires slipping on the semi-frozen ground as I raced toward my cabin. Zuri hadn’t called me or answered the handful of times I’d risked dialing while riding. Neither had Rebel, who should have been watching over her. The lack of communication didn’t help the panic bubbling within me.

Not willing to waste a single second, I laid my bike down in front of the cabin, hopping off as it skidded. Two slips and I was racing up the stairs.

“Zuri!” I threw open the door and ran inside. “Fuck.”
 

The cabin sat empty. A near-empty whiskey bottle lay on the bed. Zuri’s bag was open, resting on the floor beside mine. Yet she wasn’t there. Her scent permeated the cabin, fading a bit from her full, in-person strength. If I had to guess, I’d say she’d left within the last hour or so. Which meant she was trackable.

I grabbed my phone and called her for what had to be the tenth time. Her phone lit up from where it lay on the table, making me roar in frustration. I was about to shift, to sniff her out and follow her trail, when I heard the rumble of a big vehicle coming closer. Running outside, I bolted for the entrance road, praying that she was in the truck. That she was safe and coming back to me. That I was overreacting.

But it was only Beast’s face through the windshield when the truck turned off the main road.

He slammed the brakes and threw the truck in park when he saw me running toward him. Opening the door, he jumped down and immediately ran in my direction. “What’s wrong?”

I panted as my mind spun, unable to stop on a single thought. “Spook. Zuri. Not here.”
 

Beast grabbed my shoulders and leaned in, bringing his face eye level with mine. “Is she in trouble?”

I nodded, still unable to catch my breath.

“Okay.” He pulled his coat off and tossed it on the hood of his truck. “Shift, we’ll track her from here.”

I swallowed and moved to turn, but Beast held me still. “Calm, boy. You’ll end up a twisted mess of bones and flesh if you try to shift in this state.”

Holding eye contact, I took three deep breaths. The effect was calming, though not nearly as much as normal. Not even his maker mojo could completely take away the anxiety rolling through me. Only Zuri, safe, and back in my arms.
 

“Spook’s after the sister, Amber,” I said breathlessly once I could focus on my words. “But he had pictures of all three.”

“Okay.” Beast patted my shoulders and took a step back. “We’ll find them. I want you to shift and lead the way. Your bond will tell you where your mate is even faster than my nose.”

I nodded and breathed deep, searching for the slight tug on the thread joining me to Zuri. In my panic, I’d forgotten how the two of us were joined; thank God Beast hadn’t. I carried her essence in my blood; I could track her by feel as well as scent. And as long as I felt that pull, I knew she was alive.
 

Reaching in my pocket, I pulled out the knotted stretchy thing Zuri had given me. I wrapped it around my wrist, hoping it would make it through a shift. With little more than a prayer for Zuri’s safety, I shifted to my wolf form. My discarded clothing flew behind me as I untangled myself from their hold. The second my paws hit dirt, I ran full bore in the direction my bond told me to go. Beast followed at my shoulder—a black-as-pitch shadow with a vicious scar on one side of his face—racing into the woods without question or fear.
 

We’d find her.
 

We had to.

“You could slow down, you know.” I stumbled over a tree root, cursing as I almost fell.

“Or you could try to keep up.” Amber practically glided down the trail, head up and anger clouding her aura. “Some of us have responsibilities, you know.”

“Ladies.” Rebel followed us, holding on to Charlotte’s hand to keep her from falling. Seeing them, the way he led her around puddles and rough spots, made me miss Pup. I cursed myself for the tenth time since we left the cabin for not grabbing my phone on the way out the door.