Page 42 of Black Willow Witch
If it bothered her to have a pissed-off Alpha werewolf at her back, she didn’t show it. Didn’t tense. Didn’t peer at him uneasily.
‘You got antivenom?’ All non-werewolves were advised to store it.
‘I already jabbed myself with some. It was the first thing I did when I got inside. Well,afterI used magick to make my blood clot.’ She calmly sipped from a steaming cup of what appeared to be chamomile tea.
Howshe could be calm, he didn’t know. But he was starting to learn that Emberlyn Vautier only overly reacted to things if shewantedto. Her vengeful acts and power displays weren’t about a loss of control; they were generally about sending a message.
A chill swept through the room as a cupboard door flapped open and the mugs inside it began tremoring.
His skin prickling in unease, he glanced at Emberlyn. ‘Are you doing that?’
She spared the ajar door a quick, disinterested glance. ‘Nope. Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you.’
‘They?’ he echoed, but she didn’t elaborate. He looked at his brother, who puffed out an unnerved breath.
‘You really didn’t need to come, Ripper,’ she said, setting her cup down on the table. A whole array of things were spread across the surface, including a knife, roller, cutting board, mortar and pestle. She also had stoppered jars of various substances, including herbs, salt, leaves, flower petals and what looked to be . . . charcoal?
‘Iwantedto.’ Ripper rolled his shoulders, trying to rid himself of some of the tension there. He moved so that his front was mere inches from her side. ‘What are you making?’
‘A healing poultice.’ She crushed a leaf between her fingertips. ‘It’ll disinfect the wounds, ease the pain and speed up the healing process.’
Logan approached. ‘Anything we can do to help?’
‘Nah, but thanks,’ she replied.
Ripper pinned his brother in place with a glare, not wanting him any closer to her while she was injured.
Logan pursed his lips and raised his hands in a placatory gesture.
Still antsy, Ripper edged closer to her and breathed her in. The smell of blood wasn’t unpleasant to werewolves. And hers? It was spiced with magick, giving it a realkick.
She eyed him, one brow hiking up. ‘Getting bold, aren’t we?’
Okay, yeah, itwaspretty audacious to invade her personal space and sniff her that way. But ask him if he gave a fuck.
Logan snickered. ‘He’s an Alpha. “Bold” comes with the package.’
Emberlyn made ahumphsound and turned back to the table.
‘What exactly happened out there?’ Ripper asked her.
She crushed dried herbs in her palm and sprinkled the bits into the mortar. ‘I came straight home after leaving your place.’
Ripper sensed more than saw Logan lift his brows.
‘I heard growling when I got out of my car. The Rabid came out from behind the willow tree. It attacked. Retaliating sucked – it was a person at one time. I mostly tried to just put it to sleep, but it was a tough son of a bitch, not to mention fast. I only managed to daze it.’ She briskly wiped her hands on a cloth. ‘Logan yelled as he approached, and the Rabid heard him and fled.’
They didn’t often flee, so . . . ‘You must have hurt it bad enough that it felt too vulnerable to stick around.’
‘You don’t look at all spooked,’ Logan noted. ‘I mean, most people are after an encounter with the Rabid.’
She shrugged but then winced as the move pulled at her shoulder wound. ‘When I was a kid, I went through a stage of having recurring nightmares. It started after my mom died. Millicent took me down to the basement and summoned the devil.’
‘What?’ The word burst out of Ripper.
‘She thought that if I knew what it was to look into the face of pure evil, nothing would ever scare me again.’ Emberlyn added some chamomile tea to her mixture. ‘The nightmares did stop, and it is exceedingly difficult to spook me.’
Logan blinked. ‘You . . . you met the devil?’
