Page 23 of Black Willow Witch
Anyone who spent four years or more like that were ‘lost’. They breathed, they ate, they slept. But they were an echo of the person they’d once been.
Not Ripper.
Although he’d come back from that Rabid state, he wasn’t the same. He’d always been lethal and rough around the edges. Butnever so stoic and serious; never humming with the uncivilized air he now had.
Emberlyn pushed off the doorjamb. ‘What did Millicent insist on in return?’
‘My blood to use in her spells.’
Made sense. The blood of an Alpha werewolf, particularly one from Lupin’s line, would be potent.
‘She told me that if anything ever happened to her I should go to you; that you could recreate the elixir. She said the ritual can be found in her book of shadows.’
Huh. Millicent hadn’t mentioned any of this to Emberlyn. ‘I’m fine with making the elixir available for you. But I don’t want your blood in return. Just the same five-dollar fee as that of a standard-strength elixir.’ It wouldn’t require additional ingredients, just stronger magick. ‘That work for you?’
He eyed her intently for several moments. ‘It works.’
‘Do you have an elixir for tonight?’ There’d be a full moon later.
He gave a curt nod. ‘I have one left.’
‘Come to me some time before the next full moon and I’ll make you more.’ Emberlyn expected him to leave then. He didn’t. He lingered. And something in his expression told her . . . ‘You have a question.’
‘More of a proposal, really.’ He swiped his tongue over his front teeth. ‘We don’t know each other well and we’ve never been anything close to friends, but I don’t see why we can’t be allies.’
Surprise fluttered in her chest. ‘You don’t need me as an ally. Politically speaking, I don’t bring a lot to the table.’ She wouldn’t have thought that he’d want to associate with any witch beyond a buyer-customer thing in any case.
‘But we both have the same enemies right now, don’t we?’
True. ‘You want us to present a united front?’
‘There’s strength in numbers.’
Indeed, but it would place her under his protection. And while Alpha werewolves were no doubt a delight in bed, they could be troublesome creatures. Nosy. Meddlesome. Prone to swooping in and taking control.
Emberlyn was a person who moved to the beat of their own drum. She didn’t like people trying to coddle her, tread over her independence or interfere with her choices.
But then, she couldn’t picture Ripper caring much about what she was doing or fussing over her safety. And she could do with some good connections right now. It might help keep the coven and Carver off her back. She could deal with them, she just didn’t want tohaveto.
Ripper, well, he was the ultimate protector and defender. Dangerous. Loyal. Dependable. That made him a very good deterrent.
Also, she respected him, because it took some strength for a person who’d been through what he’d endured to stand in front of her now – whole and healthy.
Emberlyn nodded. ‘I’ll agree to it.’
‘Allies, then?’ He held out his hand.
She looked down at his open calloused palm, surprised. Werewolves didn’t accept or initiate touch easily. You had to wait for them to invite it.
She placed her hand in his, choosing to ignore the zap of static that shot up her arm. ‘Allies.’
His eyes darkened in a way that told her he’d felt that zap as well. ‘Good.’ He slowly released her hand. ‘I know you probably have to head to work but, as the boundaries of our territory now touch, we should settle a few things.’
Her palm tingling from the skin-to-skin contact, she almost rubbed it against her thigh. ‘Such as?’
‘I took a walk along the territorial line. It cuts through one of your grandmother’s gardens. Some weird cluster of plants.’
‘Oh, her Poison Patch.’ Emberlyn hadn’t realized that it didn’t fall within the line.
