32
GRAY
I shook my head as I stared out the window at the grounds below, keeping my eyes firmly attached to the blood dripping from Willow’s palm. She held a knife in her other hand, squeezing her fingers into the cut she’d made so that her blood flowed freely onto the dying plants.
It had been all I could do to control my instincts and allow her to leave my room at all. I’d let her rest and then woken her up with my cock between her legs. Whatever soreness she felt from the night before was easy to chase away with a single bite, until she’d all but writhed in my lap when I brought her into the office area and guided her to ride me on the sofa.
I wanted her scent to fill my office. I wanted all who stepped in here to smell her on me and around me.
I wanted my claim to be known now that Willow herself knew I’d fed from her on the night of the first Reaping. She might not have known I’d already claimed dominium over her, but that was hardly relevant.
The curious little witchling wouldn’t even know what that was, despite the knowledge her mother had instilled her with.
Kairos stepped into my space. “You needed me?” he asked, forcing me to turn my stare away from the window finally to meet his gaze.
“I have to go into town for a while today,” I said, crooking a finger and summoning him to the window. “I want you to keep a very close eye on her. For your sake, though, I do not suggest letting her know you’re watching.”
“Does she have the bones already?” he asked, his shocked expression turning toward me. We didn’t speak of them often, aside from when I’d informed my people that a Hecate witch had returned to Crystal Hollow.
“Not yet,” I said, blowing out a breath as I considered the lengths she’d been willing to go to find them. What she’d still be willing to do. “That doesn’t mean she won’t maim us both if she thinks I gave her a babysitter.”
He chuckled beneath his breath, and I had the distinct feeling he wasn’t taking me seriously enough. He’d find out soon enough if he didn’t believe me.
Willow would make a snack out of him if he underestimated her, but I didn’t think he’d doubt her abilities. Not after what he’d seen her do the day we went to collect her.
“How long do you think you’ll be gone?” Kairos asked as I watched Willow through the window once again.
It shouldn’t have infuriated me that she pressed her knife into her open wound, peeling off any dried blood that had slowed the flow. I might have healed her from the attack the night before, but I’d also fed from her.
More than I should have, if I were being honest.
“A few hours at most,” I answered.
Willow stumbled over a tree root as she dripped her blood upon the ground, her lips moving in the faintest hint of a spell as she moved. The plants behind her blossomed, fresh greenery sprouting and flowers blooming in a wave of life. She stopped, tucking her knife into the sheath she’d strapped to her thigh at some point after leaving me an hour ago. Kneeling at the side of the walkway, she held out her palm and allowed a small pool of blood to gather in it.
I watched as the plants swayed toward her, a single leaf touching the surface of the blood as it drank. She ran a delicate finger over the rosebud that bloomed as she watched, and the irony of the moment wasn’t lost on me.
Willow was the last of the Hecate witches—the intended keeper of the bones and a necromancer of great power if she could find them. But life followed her everywhere she went, drawn to her in a way I couldn’t remember any of the previous Madizzas inciting.
“It’s fascinating, really. Watching the way she interacts with the plants,” Kairos observed, his head tipping to the side. I growled, turning my attention away from my witchling to give the Vessel a warning even he couldn’t ignore. He rolled his eyes. “Not like that. She’s life, but she’s also death. There’s never been a witch like her. The things she’s capable of…”
He swallowed, and I realized the man wouldn’t underestimate Willow. The fear he held for her was healthy, his eyes widening when Willow raised a hand, and the rosebush grew taller. The vines extended, lengthening as the plant shot toward the building and climbed up an abandoned trellis. Willow stood, raising her stare to the window where we watched her as those roses came to a stop just below the windowsill.
Point taken.
I turned away from the window, guiding Kairos to give her the distance she required. She could have her privacy for now.
It would take time for Willow to come to terms with what we were to one another, for the depths of the obsession she’d only intensified by giving me her virginity. By the time she understood, it would be too late for her.