Page 111 of Black Willow Witch
‘Belongs?’ CeCe echoed, her tone flat.
Intent on getting across just how serious his warning needed to be taken, Ripper expanded: ‘I slept in her bed last night. All night. So, yeah. Belongs.’
Logan’s brows lifted. Crew whistled low. Kerr gave a pleased smirk. CeCe’s friends subtly exchanged looks.
As for CeCe herself? She stared at Ripper in no small amount of dismay. ‘No,’ she breathed. ‘No. That’s . . . you wouldn’t . . .’
Ripper leaned toward her. ‘If you fuck up again, it won’t be me who deals with you.’ Not when she wanted his attention.‘It’ll be Kerr or Crew. They can punish you however they see fit, starting from right now.’
‘You head off,’ Kerr told him. ‘Go back to your witch. We got this.’
Crew nodded with a grunt.
‘I’ll give you a ride,’ said Logan, knowing that Kerr had driven him here.
‘Wait.’ CeCe snapped out the word, a hint of panic there. ‘Rip, you can’t honestly be serious about her. Dammit, you loveme.’
‘No, I don’t. I thought I did. I was wrong. Did I care about you, though? Yeah. Once. You changed that.’
Her face flamed. ‘You’re just saying all that to hurt me. You love me. You love me so much you refuse to share me.’
‘Ididshare you,’ Ripper reminded her. ‘And you know something? I’d never share Emberlyn – not even for a single night, not with anyone.’
‘Rip, I—’
‘Don’t,’ he growled when she reached out to touch him. ‘You can give up trying to “get things back to the way they were”. It won’t happen. Not for you and me. Too much shit has gone down at this point.’
‘But—’
‘Someone get them out of my sight,’ he gritted out.
Crew instantly herded the women away. Her friends went easily – no, eagerly. CeCe moved in a daze, her gaze inward.
Kerr turned to Ripper. ‘You were right in what you said. It was all an attempt to get your attention on her part, and it was sparked by you choosing to be with Emberlyn over running with the clan.’
Logan took a step forward. ‘You really stayed the night at the witch’s place?’
‘Yeah,’ Ripper confirmed. ‘I’ll be doing it every night from now on.’
Kerr grinned. ‘I knew even at the start that you were fighting a losing battle by trying to keep your distance from Emberlyn. It’s why I nagged you to just give in already and try dating her.’
Ripper frowned, correcting, ‘You nagged me to bed her. That was it.’
‘I knew you wanted more than a one-nighter. But I doubted you’d admit it to yourself until you’d spent an evening balls-deep inside her, so I figured I’d push you in that direction.’
Ripper felt his frown deepen. ‘You’re an interfering motherfucker.’
‘And you’ve got the woman you’ve wanted for years, so it’s all worked out. You should be thanking me.’ Right then, the radio attached to Kerr’s belt crackled.
‘Kerr, we got an issue you might want to relay to your Alpha,’ said one of the Watchers.
With a speed that spoke of long-term practice, Kerr grabbed his radio and pressed down on the side button. ‘What’s going on?’
‘I just heard that some fuckery went down at Bellcrest. Ripper’s witch was at the center of it. She left, she’s fine—’
Ripper snatched the radio from his friend and spoke into it. ‘Tell me what happened.Exactlywhat happened.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
