Page 15 of The Witch's Pet

Julia cocks an eyebrow. “You would let me feed on you to stop me from killing someone else?”

When she puts it like that, the choice is obvious. I won’t let others die because I’m too afraid.

I nod firmly.

Her eyes flick down my body, and I clench my fists so she doesn’t see my hands shaking.

Nick seizes the chance to heave himself back into his car, wheezing and coughing. Julia sweeps a hand toward him, her fingers moving as if etching symbols in the air. She murmurs words I don’t understand.

I open my mouth to tell her to stop whatever she’s doing, but she whispers, “Memory charm.”

I bite my lip.

Nick’s eyes glaze over as he sits in the driver’s seat, his expression going blank.

Julia drops her hand, still studying me with her brow pinched. Standing this close to her, I can barely breathe.

Then she grabs me by the wrist with enough force to make me gasp and drags me back toward the house. I follow her on clumsy feet, fear gripping my throat so hard I can’t make a sound.

Back inside, it’s suffocatingly quiet except for the crackling fireplace. Julia lets go and steps back to study me. The shadows staining her fingers have faded, and her eyes are back to normal, piercing and wintry.

“A partial feeding won’t be enough to fill my magic,” she says. “I will have to feed on you frequently.”

I hesitate. Letting her repeatedly siphon my life force sounds like a slow death. “There’s no other option? No spell or meditation or…crystal ritual that you can do?”

Julia’s laugh is sharp and cold. “I’m not some amateur practitioner who sells rocks to superstitious commoners, Miss Schmidt.”

“Right.” I shift, wracking my brain for other possibilities. “And you can’t feed on something other than a human? A bug or whatever?”

Her nose wrinkles. “No.”

“And we can’t, like, go to a blood bank?”

“Blood? What do you think I am, a vampire?” she snarls.

I put my hands out to calm her. “Okay, okay. Fine. So the repeated feedings won’t kill me?”

“Not in the short term.”

Good enough, I guess, if we’re going to break this spell by morning.

I nod. “Then do whatever you want to me.”

Her gaze sweeps up and down me, and if this wereanyother scenario, I would swear she was checking me out. Which is probably why my body reacts the way it does, a flutter sweeping through me and heat erupting in my face. It’s completely at odds with the terror pumping through my veins, making me even more disoriented.

She shifts, and I tense. A tremor runs through me. I can’t believe this woman is in my kitchen. Again.

She backs up, holding my gaze with a blazing intensity until she reaches the wood-burning fireplace. There, she sinks to her knees and extends her hands to me, palms up.

“Right now?” My voice comes out as a squeak.

She sighs. “Would you rather have a nap first? Yes, a slow start to finding my coven is a lovely idea. We have all the way until sunrise, after all.”

I clench my fists, my heart pounding. Am I ready to do this again?

“Fine. But if I’m going to be your personal battery, it’s going to be on my terms. You ask when you want to feed on me. You only take what you need. You stop if I tell you to stop.”

A pause.