Witch Unbound by Debbie Cassidy

Chapter Seven

The wound on my neck was gone. Sloane had healed it instinctively. There had to be something in her saliva, maybe activated by her intentions? We weren’t sure. The pain of her feeding had also been brief, and the rest…Well, thinking about it got me all flushed.

We took The Elite vehicle to the Holm Pack settlement and got there when the party was in full swing. I spotted the guys, but before I could talk to them, a petite woman with golden hair pulled back in a bun intercepted me with a warm smile and twinkling hazel-green eyes. Her features, although feminine, held hints of Rune. This had to be his mother.

Halle appeared beside her a moment later, strengthening my conviction. “Cora, hey, my mother wanted to meet you.”

The woman beamed wider. “Rune told me what you did for him. Thank you for bringing him back to us. You have no idea what this means to me, to all of us.” She pulled me into a hug that caught me off guard. I wasn’t used to maternal love, but I felt it like a kernel of ever-warmth unfurling inside me when she held me and stroked my hair. “Thank you, daughter.”

Daughter? I’d never been a daughter before.

“Thank you for bringing my son back to me.”

I pulled back and returned her smile. “He saved my life too.”

“I know.” She pulled back. “I know it all. And Wren played a part too.”

“You met him?”

Halle jerked a thumb toward the buffet table to our left. “Oh, he has a reward already.”

I caught sight of Wren sitting on the table, the proud recipient of the biggest slice of chocolate cake known to man and the center of female adoration. Shifters ooed and aahed as he ate, and he rewarded them with flicks of his long lashes and glances from his huge brown eyes.

Yeah, that mogwai knew how to work a room.

Rune’s mother took my hands in hers. “You are always welcome here, daughter. You do not require an invitation. This is your home now.” She stroked my cheek.

“Esther, can we borrow you?” someone called out.

Rune’s mum glanced toward the group. “Coming.” She smiled up at me. “Eat, drink, enjoy.” She walked off, leaving me with Halle.

“You made us all very happy, Cora,” Halle said. “I don’t have the words to tell you how much this means to us.”

I swallowed the lump of emotion in my throat. “I did what I had to. I love him, Halle. I couldn’t lose him.”

“Thank you…for allowing yourself to love him.”

Arms wound around my waist from behind and I was pulled back against a solid chest.

Rune.

He kissed the top of my head. “Can I steal my mate away?”

Halle grinned up at him, her eyes bright with love. “Of course you can.” She made to walk away but turned back and kissed me on the cheek. “I love you, Cora.” Her eyes shimmered with tears. “Later.” She sashayed off to join a couple of male shifters.

Potential procreation partners, maybe? No time to focus on that, because Rune was nuzzling my neck, which was all sorts of distracting to my senses.

“Did you miss me?” he asked.

My pulse sped up. “Always.”

I caught sight of Tor and Leif across the lawn, surrounded by female shifters, but their attention was on us. Rune’s grip tightened possessively, and he kissed the spot under my ear, trailing his lips down the column of my neck.

A shiver ran through me because Tor and Leif were still watching us, eyes dark with desire. I wished we were back home, naked, the four of us in the huge bed, skin on skin. I wanted them, all three of them at the same time.

“You think it and it can be,” Rune whispered in my ear before releasing me.

My stomach flipped as he steered me toward the end of the buffet table.

“You should eat to build up energy for later.” The corner of his mouth turned up slightly, but his eyes were serious.

Oh boy.

He loaded up a plate and handed it to me.

“Rune, hey, welcome back.” A ruddy-looking shifter approached.

I turned my body away slightly, giving them privacy to chat, and scanned the lawn for my friends. Poppy and Jessie were under a tree chatting to some female shifters I didn’t recognize. Wren was still being cooed over further down the buffet table, but now his cake had been replaced with a plate of chicken. He was so gonna pass out in a food coma later. I spotted Bramble hanging with Halle, and Sloane chatted amiably to a couple of shifters who didn’t seem bothered by her vampiness…Maybe they couldn’t smell it, maybe her witch nature was stronger. Who knew?

“Don’t worry.” Rune put his arm around my waist. “Everyone knows about Sloane’s unique situation. No one will make an issue of it.”

Well, that explained it. I smiled up into his sunny face. He looked happy, vibrant, beautiful. He’d pulled his golden hair back in a low ponytail so his strong jaw and high cheekbones were on display.

I’d caught several of the females checking him out as we’d made our way to the buffet table. In fact, they were still watching us now, but Rune seemed oblivious to the attention.

Leif and Tor were still standing in the midst of hormone central. And was it my imagination or had the circle of interest tightened around them?

What was wrong with these females? Didn’t they know these shifters were mine? My stomach clenched and dark, dangerous anger spiraled up my throat.

“Cora?” Rune gently squeezed my waist. “Are you okay?”

I blinked and the feeling dissipated, leaving me shaken. “I’m fine. I just…I was thinking about when you guys have to procreate. I shouldn’t think about it, but I can’t help it.”

“I won’t be,” Rune reminded me. “Halle took that responsibility, remember? It was an official ceremony.”

I scanned his face, relief cooling the heat in my chest. “You won’t?”

He took my plate and set it on the table before taking me in his arms so we were chest to chest. “Nope. Does that mean I’ll be your favorite now?” he teased.

I pressed my palms to his pecs. “Rune…This isn’t a joke. I hate that they have to do that. I was okay with it before, but now, it makes me…angry.”

He pulled me to him and rested his chin on my head. “Trust me, it’s the last thing they want to do. You’re our mate, mind, body, and soul, and lying with someone else is…It will be an unpleasant chore that must be completed.”

When he put it like that…No. Nope, it didn’t make me feel any better.

“But they’ll put it off for as long as they can, trust me.”

Part of me was glad about that, and the other felt that maybe it was best they get it over with now. Just rip off the bandage. And that same part reminded me that although they were exclusive to me, I hadn’t exactly been exclusive to them, making me a big fat hypocrite.

I looked across the lawn at Sloane still chatting to the same group of shifters. As if sensing my regard, she glanced my way. Our gazes collided for a moment and the memory of her lips on mine drew a sigh from me. The corner of her mouth lifted, as if she could read my thoughts, before she turned back to the group.

I’d showered before coming here to make sure her scent was gone, not to hide what had happened but to avoid riling up my mates’ beasts. My stomach quivered because I still needed to tell them about Sloane and me, though.

Hell, there may be no Sloane and me. I mean, we hadn’t actually discussed it, but we’d gotten intimate, and the guys deserved to know about that.

“Cora…” Rune gently pinched my chin and tilted my head so he could look at my face. “Did something happen between you and Sloane?”

My back prickled with that sensation of being watched, and sure enough, Tor had his attention fixed on us from across the lawn. He stood with his arms crossed defensively and his expression unreadable.

Oh, shit. “You guys know.”

“You might have washed off her scent, but she still carries yours,” Rune said with a wince.

Dammit. Of course. “I made her feed off me. She needs blood from the vein, and she was refusing to take it off the others. I knew she wouldn’t be able to resist me because…”

“She has feelings for you,” Rune finished. “Another kind of hunger.”

“Yes, and so she fed and…things happened.” My cheeks grew warm and I ducked my head.

“It wasn’t planned,” Rune said softly.

“No, but that hardly makes it okay. I never meant to cross that line with her, but…I’m not going to lie. I have feelings for her. Strong feelings and an undeniable attraction. It’s been there from the start, even before we mated.” I pressed my forehead to his chest. “Urgh. Did the guys ask you to speak to me?”

“It was either me or Leif, and I won, on account of it’s my party and all that.” His chest vibrated with a chuckle.

I looked up at him in surprise. “You’re not mad?”

“I’m not. We’re not…well, Tor’s a little…territorial, but he can’t help that, none of us can. But like we said to you before, we want you to be happy. We like Sloane. She’s a good person, one of the few witches Tor can tolerate. Would have been better if you’d come to us about your feelings before anything happened, but…I get it.”

His words were a weight being lifted off me.

“In fact, Tor and Sloane used to hang out a lot before he left,” Rune continued. “She was the liaison between pack and coven, along with Pen. He considers her a friend, so you need to understand that he’s going to want to speak to her, friend to friend.”

Ice trickled down my spine. “Speak to her? What do you mean?”

“Just that. Talk. That’s his only condition to Sloane potentially becoming a part of our family.”

I had no idea why anxiety was squirming in my belly. Tor wouldn’t hurt a woman, but Sloane…Sloane was a vamp now, and he was a shifter, and vamps and shifters naturally rubbed each other the wrong way.

I looked over to where Tor had been a moment ago to find him gone. Sloane was also no longer with her group.

“Shit.”

“What?”

“Rune, it’s not Tor and Sloane clashing we need to worry about, it’s the vamp and shifter clash.”

His eyes flared in comprehension. “Oh, fuck.”

* * *