Page 113 of Black Willow Witch
‘But it’s very possible that whoever riled them up is part of the faction.’
The best way to confirm that would be to ask the members of the crowd. Placing his nose behind her ear, he breathed deep and gently pressed, ‘I want the names of those who confronted you today.’
Impatience flitted over her face. ‘As I said before, going after them will only make things worse. I get why you’re angling to huff and puff and kick some asses, but you’re smarter than that.’
‘Right now, I don’t care about what’s smart. My concern isyou.’
A little softness leached into her expression. ‘And I’m fine.’
‘I know you are. I know you’re too tough for them to ever break you. But you can’t tell me it didn’t sting big time that they yet again tried to pin something on you. You can’t tell me you were blasé about them surrounding you, coming at you from all sides, and trying tocuffyou.’
She looked away, exhaling heavily. ‘It stung because I’m tired of it. And no, I wasn’t blasé about the scene that unfolded. But I don’t care about those people, so their actions don’t hurt me. They’re just irritating.’
Hurt, irritated – it was all the same to him.Anynegative emotions they caused her would be completely unacceptable to Ripper.
The air chilled abruptly, and then a chair skidded across the floor and clanged against a cupboard. Like it had been angrily shoved by someone he couldn’t see.
He couldn’t lie, his pulse jumped.
The fine hairs on his nape lifting, he refocused on his witch. ‘The entities in this house aren’t happy right now, are they?’
‘Nope.’
‘They can take a ticket and get in fucking line. I want the names of the witches who went at you, Emberlyn.’
‘Oh my God, you are beyond obstinate.’
As was she. So he knew he’d have a hard time changing her mind. Unless . . . he made a suggestion she’d support; came up with a way of handling things that wouldn’t worsen the situation. ‘How about you come with me while I talk to each person?’
Her brow pinched. ‘Go with you?’
‘Yeah. Together, we’ll pay them each a quick visit. I’ll make my feelings clear to them. In doing so, I’ll get the message across to the entire coven that I willpersonallyseek out anyone who comes at you.’
Pale-hazel eyes narrowed for the briefest moment. ‘How exactly will you make your feelings clear? You can’t beat them all up. They weren’t all guys, Rip. Some were women. Some were elders. There were even two teens in the group.’
‘There’ll be no violence. Well, not much.Providingthey apologize to you.’ He swept a hand up the back of her neck and sank it into her hair. ‘There needs to be consequences, Emberlyn. I want the coven as a whole to see that. They already know you’re under my protection. They ignored that so, yeah, I agree that someone riled them up. Let’s make them resent that person.’
She twisted her mouth. ‘Intriguing approach.’
‘That a yes?’
Her phone rang, snaring her attention.
He reluctantly released her and watched as she walked to the wall-mounted phone. She plucked up the receiver and answered, ‘Hello?’
Muffled words came gushing down the line, the voice loaded with anger.Paisley.
‘Ididcall you, you didn’t answer,’ said Emberlyn. ‘If you had, I would have told you . . . I wasn’t gonna drive to your place just because you didn’t pick up . . . I had no reason to assume you were sleeping; I thought you were out.’
It was no surprise to him that Paisley had overslept to such a degree – a werewolf’s first full moon tended to massively exhaust them.
‘Calm down, it’s not really me you’re mad at.’ Moments later, Emberlyn’s body stiffened, her eyes going squinty. ‘Already worked up about what, exactly?’ Whatever response she received made her gaze snap to Ripper and harden. ‘I see. No, I hadn’t heard . . . He’s right here, but we were discussing the Bellcrest incident . . . I will . . . Yeah, later.’
Emberlyn returned the receiver and then faced him. ‘So, it seems that there may be something you’d like to share with the class regarding CeCe.’
He sighed. ‘I did intend to tell you. Paisley just beat me to it. How much did she say?’
‘Just that CeCe tried embarrassing her for having a threesome. Is there more?’
