Page 19 of His Whispered Witch (Witches and Shifters: Scott Pack #6)

“ W ell, this is fun,” Asher said to the donkey currently chomping on his sleeve where he sat in the middle of the pasture with his latest cookbook on the art of Chinese cooking, in which he’d found a recipe for making soy sauce from scratch.

Unfortunately, the process wasn’t terribly labor-intensive.

It just took a ridiculous amount of time to ferment, but some of the other sauces and curries seemed pretty complicated.

After Penn had left, there had been a good half hour of lost time. He hadn’t shifted, but he hadn’t exactly been there.

When he’d rescued the croquembouche from ecstatic woodland creatures on a sugar high while trying to remember why he’d thrown it out the window, he realized he really shouldn’t be alone.

Sadly, he’d made sure that he was as alone as possible, except for a stupid herd of donkeys, so he’d come out to hang out with them.

The pasture was dusty and smelled of dung and hair, and the four animals were heehawing like crazy, which was not exactly a melodious accompaniment to his culinary explorations, but in another hour, he felt human enough to let go of the paperclip he hadn’t realized he’d been clutching the entire time.

She’d called on his magic. He examined that moment again and again, and there was no other explanation.

She’d reached for him, and his wolf had responded, pouring power into her like it was the most natural thing to do in the world.

He was more curious than ever about the spell that created shifters.

Were the witches so desperate that they’d hidden some of their magic in mundane humans along with a predator for protection? Were they so certain of their demise?

It didn’t matter now. One of their descendants called on his reserves, and he had given and given, something only possible between mates. He’d wondered after she spoke to his wolf, but her magic could explain that. Nothing else explained this.

Determinedly, he turned the page and learned about ginger, its origins in Southeast Asia, and how to peel it with a spoon.

A spoon?

He ground his teeth. No root, however ancient and venerated, could hold a candle to the fact that he may have lost his fated mate, and while hanging out here alone in the woods before had been nearly unbearable, he had underestimated the importance of the word “nearly.”

He took a deep breath, surprised to feel sweat trickling down his face in the cool air. What was he doing in a pasture full of donkeys reading recipes when he might lose her forever? If he didn’t even fight for her, what kind of mate was he?

He knew she had an office in Silver Spring right over a coven full of witches.

She had to have a home somewhere, too, right?

Hopefully, that wasn’t next to a coven full of witches.

Her scent was strong enough that the wolf could track her from her office.

He’d find her and lay his heart at her feet and… Whatever the hell happened after that.

He froze when he heard an engine, heart soaring. It was her car.

His joy snuffed out when he heard a crunch and the engine rev. She wasn’t stopping safely within his gates with her tiny car. She was driving straight for him.

He vaulted the fence and sprinted around the cabin to see her little car bounce over the potholes. He ran toward her, and she came to a sliding stop halfway off the road.

“We have to go!” she shouted as she staggered out.

She looked wildly over her shoulder, and he followed her gaze, confused. The forest was quiet.

“We have to go where?”

“I have no idea, but we can’t stay here!”

He caught her up in his arms, and it was the best feeling in the entire world. “Why not?”

“They’re coming for you.”

“Who’s they?”

“I’ve been staying with a coven in town. You know about the coven in town. We’ve already had this conversation. But now they know about you. Which I totally didn’t mean to do, and I’m really sorry about it, but I was trying to get some help!”

He noticed the back of her car was full of suitcases. He peered in the front seat and gasped. There was something alive peeking over the dashboard as if it could understand this entire conversation.

“What is that?”

“That’s Oz. He’s a bearded dragon.”

Something in him clenched. “A real dragon?”

“What? No. They are native to Australia. There just lizards with delusions of grandeur.”

She had a pet lizard. She was an animal witch. Of course, she had a pet. “Why a lizard?”

“Because mammals almost universally live worse lives in captivity. And I can’t not know that, but reptiles, if you keep them well, live universally better lives in a cage.”

“No predators.”

“Automatic heating and cooling.”

“Bonus.”

“So yeah. Bearded dragon. Why are we talking about this? You have to pack. We have to go. They’re coming this way. With crossbows.”

He went cold. Witches and shifters had fought each other for a very long time. Instincts rose within him, and he tamped down the wolf. If he shifted and killed a human being, there was no coming back from that.

He ran for the cabin and then paused. “Wait, we?”

“Yes.”

He turned back to her. “You’re coming with me?”

“Well, apparently, there’s an irrevocable tie between us. You weren’t lying about that. And I hid a werewolf from them, so even if we were just casual acquaintances, I’d still have to get on the road.”

He stepped toward her and gently took her hand. “I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.”

He bit his lip, sure it was precisely his fault, but he didn’t want to fight. “Tell me that’s not the only reason.”

She met his eyes and took a huge breath.

It couldn’t be the only reason.

“It’s not.” But she pulled away anyway. “This is insane. I’ve known you for a week. And here I go again, ripping my life apart. This time for a man instead of against a man, but what am I thinking? Where are we going to go? There’s nowhere to go. There’s nowhere safe.”

He took a deep breath, thinking of the grief in Malcolm’s eyes when Asher walked away, then thinking of the fear in the children’s eyes when he walked toward them.

Could he go home? He felt guilty for even hesitating.

He had a home, dammit. He had a pack, people who loved him, territory that was protected, and a whole family who understood about witches and shifters.

Could he take her there?

She wasn’t wrong. They barely knew each other. Normally, couples made this kind of decision after months or years.

“We could go home,” he said, and something cracked open within him at the thought.

She turned back to him. “I don’t have a home.”

“I do. I have an entire pack. Half of us at this point are mated to witches. There are wards. You would be welcome. You would be more than welcome. Hell, they’d love to have another witch to add to their magic.”

“And you’re saying complete strangers are going to take me in…” She seemed to shrink into herself. Carefully, he put his arms around her and encouraged her to lean against him until her head landed on his shoulder. His gut clenched in pleasure, and he ignored it.

“I don’t know why I’m hesitating,” she whispered. “I’ve already torched any new bridge I’ve built here. Well, to be honest, I did that first with a donkey race.”

“Please come with me,” he murmured into her hair. He was generally an even-keeled guy, or maybe not even-keeled, but at least numb. He’d had more emotions in the last twenty-four hours than he had in the last ten years combined. He wasn’t sure he could take much more of this.

She pulled away from him. “This isn’t a declaration of eternal love. This is just a declaration of…” She trailed off, sounding so lost. “This is just a declaration of not having anywhere else to go.”

His heart broke for her. “You will always have a home with me. Whether or not we are ever a we. My family will welcome you with open arms.”

She pulled away until they were not touching. “A wolf pack.”

“Well, yeah.”

“The world is topsy-turvy. I’m seeking shelter with a wolf pack from a coven full of witches.”

“We are meant to be together.” He felt her stiffen and winced. “I don’t mean us . I meant witches and shifters. We’re made of your magic. We were meant to be together.”

“And we spent how many years trying to kill each other instead.” She took a deep breath. “Okay, fine. For now, I go with you.”

The sense of triumph and claiming and mate felt like a blow to the solar plexus.

“We have to move,” she said. “They’re just waiting for reinforcements. They could be here any minute. You need to gather whatever is important.”

“If that included a couple of donkeys?”

“We’re not riding burros over the mountains like we’re in The Sound of Music. ”

He chuckled, loving her. “Two things. They didn’t have burros. They walked. And I have a horse trailer.”

“Oh. Right. That makes sense. You’ve seen The Sound of Music? ”

“It’s a wolf pack, not a movie-hating cult. Who hasn’t seen The Sound of Music ?”

“I don’t know!” She burst out laughing, and he could barely breathe at the joy of it. “Go get the trailer!”

Reluctantly, he stepped away from her. He wanted to spend the rest of the day in her arms, but they had little time.

He had even fewer clothes than when he came because he wore his clothes until they fell apart on him.

He stuffed one bag into the back of his truck.

The only thing he valued was his collection of cookbooks, and he stashed those in the bench seat in the back of the cab of his truck.

Other than that, there wasn’t anything he wanted.

As Penn herded the donkeys into his horse trailer, he doused the stove, stirring and stirring the ashes to make sure they were completely out. Without his help, he knew it would run out of fuel and cool down, but he didn’t want to risk a fire on his way out.

He jogged out of the house to see her transferring her suitcases into his truck.

“You can drive behind me!”

“The axle’s broken,” she said without emotion.

“What?”