Page 22 of Amateur Goddess (Morrigan University #3)

Teddy flopped down to break my fall but didn’t get all of me, just my upper body which helped at least.

“So you clearly didn’t realize I was here,” Wyatt muttered, his eyes wide when I looked at him. “Sorry.”

I blinked up at him and then took stock of myself. “You scared the shit out of me. Seriously.”

“Sorry,” he repeated.

“Thanks, Teddy,” I whispered and scratched his back.

“We got you, gorgeous,” Teddy chuckled.

“Sorry,” Wyatt said for a third time as I pushed to get up. “I was a bit startled by all of this.”

“All of what?” I asked.

He looked at me as if wondering if I was kidding. “You have a dozen familiars sitting semi-circle around you and more natural animals in the trees over there like you’re a blonde fucking Snow White.”

I glanced over to where he gestured and chuckled when I saw all of the birds, squirrels, and more on the branches. “Yeah, that’s normal for me. I normally tell them to cut it out or they’ll get me caught. The ones where I grew up knew that and acted like I couldn’t hear them.” I brushed off my butt and cleared my throat. “This is my normal.”

“Clearly, but it’s like you’re hosting a round table that I can only hear your part of, and it’s—this is a bit shocking to most people,” he said as he gestured to it all.

I gave a half shrug. “It’s all I’ve known. This is how I survived and had friends.”

“It’s nice that you had that growing up in hell. I’m glad,” he replied after a moment. “I wish I’d had that. I had my freedom, but my armor is so tough from all the snakes constantly biting me and giving me bad advice to watch me fall that—it took a long time to find real friends who didn’t care about my name. Only after I got disowned even.”

“Yeah, I used to hear Clare and Bryan complain about that.”

He cleared his throat this time and went over to some bags that were on the ground that I hadn’t noticed. He winced as he picked them up.

“A few taco shells might be broken. I was startled.” He moved closer and set them on the ottoman. “I heard some of your classmates talking about a paranormal romance series a human wrote where the main character loves Taco Bell as her comfort food. I thought it was funny but then realized you maybe have never eaten there.”

“I haven’t,” I confirmed when he hesitated.

“Well, I ordered you the whole menu minus drinks because that’s harder to carry and too much sugar, and caffeine when I’m on edge makes it worse for me. That’s where my head was.”

I blinked at the bags and smiled. “Thanks, Wyatt. Really.”

“Of course.” He ran his fingers through his hair a bit roughly. “Kelton came to talk to me about what happened.” He hurried on when I opened my mouth. “I told him that it wasn’t my business and I wasn’t your priest or even your lover so to not involve me unless you gave permission.”

I was speechless. Did he really hear me how weird that was to me and upsetting? “Thank you. It gives me the ick how they all came to you with stuff like you were my older brother or dad and then wanted to see me naked.”

He gave a sharp nod. “Taking a step back and looking at the situation, I can understand that now. There’s always chaos, and—none of this is easy and none of us have been in a poly relationship so… But we weren’t really yet either.”

“It’s complicated,” I accepted, seeing that side too.

“But Kelton and I weren’t friends before, so I’m not who he should go to. He has friends or his brother he can talk to about girl trouble without giving away too much. Just not me.”

“Thank you. Really. Thank you for hearing me on that.”

He frowned. “I’m sorry I didn’t sooner and you feel the need to thank me for something that’s…” He ran both hands through his hair again. “I hope you have fun with the Taco Bell. I’m going to go for a run and play with Quinn. He’s already running around.”

“Okay, cool. Thanks.” I held back the need to roll my eyes. How many times had I thanked him now?

He set off and I sighed, hating how awkward things were between us.

But they were getting better. So that was nice. I glanced at the Taco Bell.

Really nice.

I brought out a few drinks from inside and listened to all of the thoughts of the familiars while stuffing my face. That was how Nina and Sergey found me, and to say they were confused but also struggling not to laugh was actually amusing.

I explained, and then they just asked how I felt about the food which amused me.

“I don’t think it will be my go-to. I also didn’t feel comforted. I think that’s more Chinese food for me,” I admitted after a moment. I handed a bag to Sergey. “Do you like refried beans? I don’t. We kiss, so I don’t think you’ll care that I took bites out of them.”

Nina snorted and grabbed the bag. “I don’t care either, and I don’t feel like cooking tonight.” She plopped onto another ottoman and found a few things she wanted before handing the bag to Sergey. “The quality of Taco Bell used to be better and it was very cheap. That was the draw. The cheapness for what you got. Quick tacos are always lovely.”

Fair enough. I nodded. “Yeah, I could totally get that, but I think I’d rather pay a bit more and get them from a Mexican restaurant.”

“You have that option,” she offered with a shrug.

Yeah, good point. A lot of people didn’t.

“Kelton texted me that he fucked up and to check on you,” Sergey told me as we ate. “You okay, foxy?”

I sighed. “No. I killed someone this week. I get to not be okay right now. I’m doing the best I can, and I think he’s a bit more traumatized from what happened than he would like to admit, so Bubba’s right and he shouldn’t be the person to try and help me right now.”

“I love that Bubba helps you like this,” he said earnestly. “I really do, and I agree with you. I think Kelton will too and didn’t see it. I’m not defending him, just how I see the situation.”

I nodded, running my tongue over my teeth but then chuckled when Bubba chewed him out.

“What did he just say, and why is he upset with me?” Sergey whispered, rubbing his chest “I was just trying to help.”

“I think it’s because you gave unsolicited advice, something you love getting and we complain about people giving us for decades,” Nina surmised, focused on her food. She chuckled when I offered her a drink. “She’s more than capable of asking for your opinion or advice just as you are.”

“Plus, I was just complaining to all of the familiars about this,” I admitted. “People are weighing in on everything, and even if they have good intentions, it’s overwhelming. Especially when they all say different things.”

“Right, sorry.” Sergey cleared his voice.

“But?” I drawled.

“No, it’s not an opinion, but I told Kelton that he’s an idiot and people like us can’t just go to anyone for therapy. We’re from top-tier families even if I’m a double bastard and you’re disowned. That’s leverage. That’s someone to buy. So his advice was extra stupid because he just dangled something you could want but don’t know how to have.”

“I didn’t get to that part yet but yeah, you’re right,” I agreed. “Fine, beat him up.”

Nina threw back her head and laughed. It made us both chuckle as well.

We finished up and then Nina asked me if I wanted to take a break from everything and see some progress. I nodded, curious as to what she meant and always up for anything good .

I left the toy guts in the house with a note for Tracey or Jasmine to get it to Keke and tossed our garbage. Nina circled us to their new house and showed me her huge workroom. It was awesome, and I could see the excitement as she told me what it all was and how the process worked.

We were far along in the brush plans. She knew how to use the machines. I’d checked, and I didn’t have to be the one to cut the hair off the person—which was great because that had been my biggest worry. I only had to mix the stain before Nina or whoever applied it.

Then she already had run the hair she had through the machine with the natural bristles we were using and had the brushes ready to figure out the last step.

I nodded and looked over the list of who had their brushes done. Then I went to the leather station and let my magic search for the answer. “I have to paint the leather, but it doesn’t have to be cut up into strips like this already. So I can come and stir stain for you when it’s those days and paint sheets of leather for different animals while I’m here.”

“That’s better than each little strip for sure,” Nina muttered. “This is fascinating to watch. You should be very proud of yourself for how far you’ve come with so little training, Bev. I wish I listened to my magic and trusted it as much as you do. Truly inspiring for witches to think this way.”

I flushed lava hot at the compliment. No one had put it so maturely and all-encompassing like that. Wow.

I moved my hand over the paint options and frowned. “The color doesn’t matter. It’s not like dogs need blue, but whatever colors we choose, we need to stay with them. It’s a different vibe for dogs versus horses or like Bubba. That’s all I know. I have to focus on brushing the animal and feeling closer to them.”

“Okay, then we will need more color options or we start doing half and half for melded,” Nina muttered as she wrote down. “I will set up a color chart and legend of the animals. We can go from there. For today, I will just take pictures and we know who they’re going to.”

Fair enough. We were only starting with three people since we could get three important ones at the same time and I felt comfortable working with them.

I focused as I painted the different straps.

“This says thin coats each take ten to thirty minutes to dry and the final coat should dry for twenty-four hours,” Sergey said as I worked.

I sighed. “That means I won’t know the answer on how to fasten. I think you can just do it, but I won’t know for sure.”

“That’s not a problem. I love having you here,” Nina said easily. “It gives me time to set up the color wheel and legend. We can meet again tomorrow.”

I smiled at her, grateful she and Rita always made everything so easy on me.

So that was what we did. I came back the next day with Wyatt since he’d been working with me on tutoring and my power assessment. I’d gone on my long run with several of Taylor’s guys and learned something really important.

“I didn’t know that,” Tracey admitted when I told her. “I’m not a runner. I mean, I know that we are stronger and can physically do more than humans, but—well, we know now.”

I nodded, still in a bit of shock.

Because apparently it was not normal for humans to run thirty miles twice a week plus other running every day. That was not what normal marathon runners did. Not without breaking their bodies down.

“Seriously, did my parents teach me anything useful?” I whispered but then chuckled. “Like they cared enough about me to learn how much I ran. But how…” I scrubbed my hands over my face. “Okay then.” I looked between Wyatt and Tracey. “So my magic healed me or just made my body stronger?”

“We’re just more durable than humans, and yes our magic heals us faster without healing magic,” Wyatt explained. “So if you pull a muscle, it heals faster. You bruise and it’s probably half the healing time of humans. All of it. You might have been too hard on your young body—which is resilient for humans too—and just healed because you have strong magic.”

Okay then. I felt a bit better when Nina and Sergey said they didn’t know how human marathon runners behaved either. It was good that someone did warn me before I slipped up in front of humans.

“Right, so, straps,” I chuckled, focusing on the leather. I moved my hand over the painted straps that were now dry. “I don’t have to do it. They’re waiting to be finished and not by me.”

“Okay then,” Nina said as she took the first strap from me, confirming which animal it was for. Then she grabbed one of the brushes sitting off to the side and went by a different machine and sat down. She held the leather to the side of the brush and expertly used the machine to punch what looked like sturdy tacks to hold it together.

And then did the same on the other side.

She repeated the process for the others and then we were ready to go to the Oliveria’s house. Mrs. Oliveria, the councilman, and Link were all bursting at the seams with excitement. It was pretty adorable if I wasn’t so nervous.

I chuckled and faced them and their familiars, focusing on the males first. “I know your hair was part of this helping and that I said I would make helping you a priority, but someone else here has to go first.” I handed the other two brushes off to Sergey and went by Mrs. Oliveria and her familiar. I knelt in front of the hyper Doberman. “You were the only happy I had some days.

“You being so excited to see me when I was young healed the little girl who was so unloved in that house. So you get the first brush like I promised.” I kissed her head and giggled when she slobbered all over my face. I handed the brush over to Mrs. Oliveria. “Thanks for the help with the treats and everything you’ve done. I really appreciate it, Mrs. Olive.”

“You are so precious,” she whispered as she accepted the brush. Then she hugged me and kissed my hair. She knelt down next to me and brushed her familiar, gasping after a moment and rubbing her hand over her chest. “You are a miracle, Bevin. Truly.”

“Well, it works, that’s for sure,” Councilman Reid said from behind me, his voice barely a whisper. “I don’t even know what I’m seeing.”

“This is what you’d see if you scanned Bevin while she does a session with someone,” Tracey whispered.

“It’s more powerful when she does it but yes, it’s the same magic and absolutely astounding,” Wyatt breathed. “Mrs. Oliviera and her familiar are trading magic to build their bond. The brush conducts the transfer and strengthens what is there. This is unreal.”

“Which means we can’t sell them to everyone,” I said with a sigh, scrubbing my hands over my face. I looked at Tracey’s worried expression. “We can’t. I can’t grow the bond between evil and their familiars. Please don’t ask me to do that.”

“Never,” she rasped. “Never, Bev. The treats and toys are different. That just helps the familiar be happy and have a better life. The blankets will give comfort no matter if their person is bad. I would never ask you to make evil stronger. We—I’ll figure out a way to control this.”

“What if you sabotaged them?” Sergey muttered. “Or didn’t do the strap? Then it would just be the stain like on the housing, right?”

I glanced at him with a smile. “I knew you were more than just your good looks.”

His eyes went bug wide and he burst out laughing. He raced over to me and scooped me up, spinning me around before giving me a deep kiss. “You did it, foxy. You created another groundbreaking magical item. I know everything is too hard and crazy, but hang on and hold onto the wins, okay?”

I nodded and hugged him tightly, soaking up his strength as I watched Mrs. Oliveria’s bond grow with her familiar. I saw her magical potential grow as I scanned her.

Tomorrow I could be scared about the possibilities of what that meant and it falling into the wrong hands.

Tomorrow I could go back to dealing with killing someone and even the lawsuit.

I could worry about the threat of my family… All of it.

Today I was enjoying the win.

Today I was feeling the joy and hope around me along with the love.