Witch Undecided: The Thirteenth Sign Book 2 Page 3

  There was a challenge in his eyes and my pulse kicked up. I loved a good challenge.

  “Nothing worth having is ever easy.” I smiled. “Besides, I’m adorable.” I widened my eyes and pouted sweetly. “They’ll love me.”

  Both guys froze before their gazes dropped to my mouth, lingering on my pout hungrily. Heat rushed up my chest to hug my neck. I should break up this moment, say something, stop pouting maybe? But the wicked part of me took over, allowing my tongue to peek out and sweep across my lips.

  Tor sucked in a breath and averted his gaze, bringing his mug to his lips for a hearty gulp of his coffee.

  “Fuck,” Leif said. “Friend zone, friend zone, friend zone.”

  God, I was a bitch.

  Leif cleared his throat and stood with a scrape of his chair. “I’m gonna take a cold shower real quick. We leave in half an hour.”

  He ruffled my hair as he walked past, but my gaze was ensnared by Tor and my heart pounded hard because there was ravenous hunger in his gaze, feral and primal.

  I stood quickly and crossed the room to the sink to wash up my mug. Break up the tension. This worked. Normal, menial tasks.

  His chair scraped softly on hardwood, and my pulse kicked up a notch. He was leaving, that was all. Please be leaving, but the delicious prickle across my nape told me different.

  His heat kissed my back and my pulse quickened further, leaving me with a breathless fluttering in my chest like a trapped bird. His large hands bracketed my hips as his lips brushed the delicate shell of my ear, sending shivers down my neck and across my chest. His fingers tightened on my hips and heat bloomed low in my belly. It took everything I had not to push my ass into his crotch and grind. Instead, I froze, muscles tense, mug clutched tightly in my hand.

  “Little piece of advice, Cora.” His breath licked my skin and liquid fire raced through my veins. “If you play with fire, you’ll eventually get burned.”

  My mouth went dry and my throat tightened. “Okay. I won’t do that again.” My voice was a breathless whisper.

  He smiled against my ear. “Good girl.”

  Oh fuck, now I was wet.

  He inhaled. “Fuck, you smell like peaches. One taste won’t hurt, Cora.” His voice was a delicious purr. “In fact, it’ll feel so fucking good.”

  Heat coiled in my belly, pushing low to throb at the apex of my thighs. I pressed my legs together to quell the ache.

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” My voice was a husky whisper.

  “Yes, you do that.”

  He patted my ass, then retreated, taking his heat with him. I sagged against the sink. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I needed a cold shower. Stat.

  Vita territory overlapped with Grimswood land, and the Vita Pack house was barely two miles away. We could have walked, but Leif insisted on taking the car.

  We drove slowly down a narrow woodland track, bumping and rocking. “How are Sten and Toke?”

  “They’re preparing to hand over to Tor and Rune. They’re keeping busy.”

  “Have they seen Charlotte…since?”

  His jaw flexed at the mention of her name. “I don’t know.”

  Fuck me and my insensitivity. Just because he smiled and acted okay didn’t mean he was. If anyone knew about putting up a front, it was me, the queen of poker faces and acts.

  I turned in my seat slightly. “How are you coping?”

  He flicked a glance my way. “I’m okay, Cora. I’ll be okay. Arne was a good father. He was loving and strong and he died to protect my mate. To protect the world. I can’t be mad at that. I miss him. It hurts, but I can deal.” His tone was a little too flat to be believable. But I wasn’t about to push if he wasn’t ready to open up.

  I slid my hand onto his thigh and squeezed. “I’m here if you want to talk about it.”

  “I appreciate that. But Cora, you need to remove your hand before I crash this car.”

  Shit. I yanked my hand away and he shot me a grin and a wink.

  Damn, he was good at masking, but then so was I, so I didn’t miss the dullness to his eyes that hinted at his pain. And then that pain was inside my chest, dark and swirling, and fuck, it hurt so bad it made my eyes sting.

  This was the real Leif. This was his grief communicated through our bond, and it was darkness and emptiness and…No. He wasn’t going to do this alone.

  “Pull over.” My voice was gruff and urgent.

  “What?”

  “Pull over now.”

  He swung the car to the left and put it in park. “Cora—”

  I crawled over the gear box and into his lap.

  “Cora?” Confusion painted his features.

  “Come here.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tight, pressing my body to his and giving him my strength. His hands remained at his sides for a moment and then he hugged me back, his arms crossing over my back and enveloping me in his unique scent. “Stop it. Stop hiding it and let it the fuck out. Please.”

  “I…I can’t.” His voice was thick with emotion.

  “Yes. You can.”

  He tucked his face into the crook of my neck and took a shuddering breath. And then warm wetness kissed my skin.

  He was crying.

  Oh fuck, he was crying.

  My chest ached with his tears, and my throat pinched with his pain, then my vision blurred with tears of my own. We remained like that for long, silent seconds, just holding one another as he vented his pain. The knots in my chest unraveled a little, the pressure ebbing.

  Finally, Leif pulled back, looking at me with wet eyes. He brushed my tears away with the pad of his thumb.

  His gaze fell to my mouth and my lips parted on instinct. “Fuck it.” He kissed me. A soft, tentative kiss, plucking at my lips with his like the intro to an epic tune.

  Just a peck, this was just a—

  His tongue flicked out to taste me and I lost control, deepening the kiss, taking his tongue and sucking on the mint and coffee flavors while my fingers reveled in the rasp of stubble across his jaw.

  His grip on me tightened, fingers digging into me, and then he tore his mouth free, chest heaving, gunmetal-blue eyes dark and drenched with desire.

  “Friend zone…” His breath kissed my lips in a goodbye.

  I nodded mutely, grateful for his restraint, because in that moment, I had none.

  He closed his eyes and brushed the tip of his nose against mine. “Thank you, Cora.”

  “You’re welcome.” I climbed off his lap and settled back in my seat, keeping my eyes on the road ahead and willing my pulse to slow as he started the engine.

  It was only when we were back on the track that it hit me.

  I’d not only be meeting Leif’s mother and his sisters. I’d also be meeting all the women who wanted to fuck him.

  An ugly emotion twisted in the pit of my belly.

  Jealousy.

  Great. Fucking great.

  Chapter Four

  Vita Pack was a community of houses built on acres of farmland. We drove past horses and cows grazing in fields, past a schoolhouse and a playground filled with children.

  “How many wolves in your pack?”

  “I’m not sure,” he said. “A hundred in total I think, but the active pack is twenty-five strong. We patrol in units of five on rotation. The rest of the pack are civilians, and everyone has a role in the running of our community.”

  “And can they leave?”

  His mouth tightened slightly. “This isn’t a prison or a cult, Cora. Wolves are free to stay or go, but we’re not like other outliers and this is our home. It always has been. We always come back.”

  There was something in the way he said that, a hidden meaning, but despite our connection, I didn’t know him well enough to decipher it.

  I sat back and let it go for now, instead focusing on the world outside. “It’s beautiful here. I can’t see why anyone would want to leave this fresh air for the pollution of the city.”

  “This is home,” he said softly.

  Home. It sounded so warm and cozy. I’d had a home with Fee but then she’d found a new home with her guys. A purpose that didn’t include me, not really, no matter how much she’d said it did. But now I was here, mated to three dire wolves, and this…This was going to be my home for the next century.

  When would it feel that way?

  We turned off the main road onto a narrow track bordered by majestic trees, then rolled onto woodchips and leaves bordering a two-story sprawling farmhouse with a wraparound porch. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting from the Vita Pack house, but it wasn’t this gorgeous building that looked as if it belonged on the cover of a country homes magazine.

  Nerves never really bothered me, but right now they were making themselves known, like, hey, you thought you had us under lockdown, right? Well, guess who was wrong?

  “Leif, are you sure this is okay? Isn’t everyone in mourning?”

  Leif sighed and twisted in his seat to face me. “Yes, we mourn the loss of our alpha, but we also don’t let it stop us from living. My mother was adamant she wanted to continue with her plans to introduce you to the pack. This was her responsibility as alpha female. Once it’s over, she and her mate will retreat to mourn the loss of their alpha.”

  Of course, his mother would have been a breeder for Arne, not his mate. “How long has your mother been mated?”

  “Fifteen years. I have four half-sisters, who you’ll get to meet, if not today then soon.”

  “And do you…get on with your stepfather?”

  “Leo is a good man, the perfect mate for my mother. He was always kind to me growing up.” Leif shrugged. “But I’ve always been closest to my mother.”

  So, this was important. I needed to make a good impression, and why did I care if she liked me or not?

  Don’t answer that.

  I unlocked my door. “Okay, let’s do this.”

  Leif ushered me into the house and a hallway filled with so many wonderful aromas it had my stomach doing a happy dance in anticipation. The floor was dark wood, and the walls were a neutral magnolia. There was no time to take in much more than that, because Leif took my hand and tugged me gently down the hallway.

  “Just be yourself,” he said.

  “Always am, so you should be more worried.”

  He chuckled. “Trust me, Cora, I’m not worried about this at all.”

  My heart stuttered as we entered the kitchen, cottage-style, bright, and cozy with sash windows and pretty yellow blinds, wooden countertops, and knick-knacks and plaques hanging on the wall. This room was huge and warm, bathed in sunlight streaming in from the many windows.

  This room was a beating heart, filled with soft laughter and the clink of cutlery.

  This wasn’t the house of mourning I’d expected. This was a happy home, and I wanted to be a part of it.

  Two round tables laden with croissants, jams, hams, chicken, ribs, and fruit were set side by side, and several women sat around them drinking tea.

  All eyes fixed on me.

  I scanned faces, snagging on Astrid’s cool gray gaze, then focusing on warm brown eyes that had a hint of sadness about them. The deep auburn hair and the eyebrows that flicked up slightly at the ends gave her away as Leif’s mother.

  “Welcome, Cora,” she said with a smile. “Please have a seat.” She indicated the spot opposite her and Astrid.

  Leif pulled the chair out for me, then kissed my temple. “I’ll be back to collect you in a couple of hours.”

  “See you later.” I sat and took a deep breath. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Likewise,” Leif’s mother said. “Call me Heather, or if you like, Mother.”

  Mother? My throat tightened. I’d never called anyone mother before.

  She frowned slightly. “Or not. It’s entirely up to you.”

  Fuck, she thought I was offended. “No, it’s fine. I just. I don’t have a mother, so it just threw me for a moment, that’s all.”

  And it felt weird admitting that fact because I was rarely thrown. Being here, amidst these witches and wolves, was proving to be an exercise in new emotions and experiences.

  Heather’s brown eyes gleamed with compassion. “When did you lose her?”

  I smiled thinly. Okay, here went nothing. “I never had one.”

  Silence greeted my revelation and then Astrid broke it.

  “Cora wasn’t born,” she said snidely. “She was created.” She arched a brow my way and sipped her tea.

  Well, it looked like someone had done her research. Nice to know she cared, and yep, there were several soft gasps of shock.

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I was here to make friends, and the best way to do that was to be open and honest whether they liked it or not.

  “That’s right.” I picked up the teapot and poured some tea into my cup, adding milk then sugar. “I’m what you call a tulpa. I was created, and I inherited my creator’s witch genes.” I sipped the tea. “I’m happy to answer any questions you have.”

  There was a beat of silence and then a young girl sitting two seats away from Heather spoke.

  “How were you created?” She looked genuinely curious.

  Oh, this one was easy. “Well, tulpas are entities created from an individual’s will. They usually remain inside the creator’s subconscious, but my creator was so powerful her will gave me a life of my own, and a mind and will of my own. It also gave me her witch power.”

  “Wow,” the young wolf said. “That’s amazing.”

  “Are you real?” another wolf asked.

  I picked up a croissant. “As real as any one of you. I just didn’t come to be in a conventional manner.”

  “Well,” Astrid said. “It must be worrying for the coven to be dealing with an unknown entity, but then I guess desperate situations call for desperate measures and it was lucky you were available to play backup for the real potentials.”

  She was making a dig, a shitty one, but still. I could let it slide and deal with her snide comments on and off, pretending they didn’t matter, or I could stomp on this now and make the status quo clear.

  Ha, who was I kidding? There was never any choice for me.

  I leaned forward, my gaze fixed on her. “If you want to make a dig, you need to stab harder. I have very thick skin.” I gave her a sweet smile.

  She blinked sharply and then fixed a stunned look on her face. “Oh goodness. I wasn’t making a dig. I was merely making an observation.”

  Heather sighed. “Astrid, please, if you plan on playing the mean girl, then own it.”

  Well, well, well, it looked like Heather was my kind of gal.

  While Astrid choked on a bite of croissant, Heather and I locked gazes and shared a smile.

  Had I just won over Leif’s mother?

  She topped up my tea and then whipped the plate of croissants away from Astrid and held it out to me. “Please, eat.”

  Yeah, I think I had.

  Heather led me into the huge garden behind the house. Children ran about uncaring about the chill, playing a game of tag. The women stood about clutching mugs of fresh tea, watching the pups play.

  Heather had given me a shawl to fend off the cold, but she stood beside me in only a blouse and jeans.

  “Our pack has always had a strong matriarchal element,” she said. “Even with our alpha being mated to a witch, it’s important to us that the alpha’s mate integrate with us.” She gave me a sidelong glance. “Which means coming to dinners and lunches and helping out with any charity functions we organize. You won’t be called on to join our hunts, though. So don’t worry.”

  “Honestly, the hunt part sounds the most exciting.” I shrugged. “I’m not much of a lunch and dinner kinda gal, but I’m happy to show up and eat.”

  She grinned at me. “Yes. I know what you mean.” We strolled down the path toward slender trees stripped of their leaves by the coming winter. “Leif will make a good alpha. He’s strong and fair, but he has a soft heart. That’s where you’ll come in.” She slid another glance my way. “He tells me you want to keep your relationship platonic.”

  “Yes.” I wasn’t about to explain or justify myself. “I do.”

  “I can understand why, especially in light of what’s just happened with Charlotte.” She drew me to a halt with a hand to my arm. “But love comes in many forms, Cora, and fighting what’s meant to be is a losing battle.”

  I didn’t agree with that. “The mating isn’t meant to be, it’s simply necessary for the seal. It’s not real. I’m not their mate.”

  She smiled. “Maybe not, but that doesn’t make the love you could share any less real. The mating bond is a biological attraction to the perfect mate for breeding purposes. Love is secondary, and in your case, as you can’t breed, there is nothing but love to focus on.”

  What she said made a twisted sense, but it didn’t change the fact that once that bond was removed the guys would be controlled by their need to find a wolf mate.

  “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I think I’ll stick to my original plan. But I promise you, I’ll be a great friend to Leif. I’ll be there for him in every other way.”

  She reached up and placed her palm against my cheek. “I believe you, Cora, but there will be challenges ahead.” She glanced back the way we’d come, and I followed her gaze to see Astrid standing on the porch watching us. “Astrid has a voice amongst the younger females, the contenders for Leif’s seed.”

  Seed. No, don’t snicker. “She wants to stake a claim.”

  “She believes she’s his mate,” Heather said.

  “But wouldn’t he already know if she was?” Fuck, I hadn’t even considered this. “How come the alphas haven’t already found their mates?”

  Her brows shot up. “You don’t know? Sweetheart, Leif, Tor, and Rune had their mating instinct suppressed willingly by the coven when they were children. The ceremony unlocked it. For you.” She glanced back at Astrid. “Astrid is convinced she’s Leif’s true mate and wants to bear his sons in preparation for when he’s finally free.”

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