Page 66 of His Arranged Plus-Size Mate

I wanted to climb into his lap and just lay my emotions bare. I wanted his skin pressed against mine and to feel his heart race.

He groaned, his fingers cupping my face. “God damn…”

“What?”

His eyes softened. “You need sleep. I need sleep.”

I knew that. I was exhausted, and lying here admitting it to myself let me realize just how badly I wanted to rest.

“Your eyes are red-rimmed.” His fingers pressed against my cheek. “Sex can wait for another day.”

I smirked. “You promise?”

I could see what was stirring in his eyes. “Oh, absolutely.”

I tugged the blanket closer, rolling toward him. I closed my eyes as his fingers stroked my head once more. I finally gave in, letting myself drift off.

Chapter 23 - Asher

“How is it going with Hazel? Is she getting anywhere?” Brandon asked as he looked up from his papers.

We were in the middle of our weekly meeting. Kaleb was sitting to the right of him. Westley was seated to the left of me. All eyes were on me.

“She’s been looking through all of her books for the past couple of days. She left today to head over to the healing center and put her head together with Chelsey over everything she’s read. Hoping for something good.”

I watched Brandon’s jaw tighten. I knew that he was getting antsy, his fingers tapping on the table. He had extra hands on lookout. Even with the barrier up, he wanted to make sure there was no way the hybrids could get in. There were more spotted around the area, trying to figure out how to get in.

“Well, hopefully she finds something. We’ve been seeing them circling the pack, and it’s making everyone nervous.”

I knew that. I’d been on nights a few times, and I could see them lurking. They were pacing around trying to find a way in. I knew that everyone was on edge, and we all didn’t know what was next. We were all waiting for Hazel to find something.

Brandon always knew what was going to happen next. We planned for every possible outcome when we set out to do a mission. This entire situation had been one thing after another that we weren’t prepared for. Nothing has gone as planned.

My phone vibrated, and I glanced at it. I noticed that it was Chelsey calling me. I grabbed my phone. “Hello?”

“Asher, are you able to come down to the healing center?”

I frowned, feeling my stomach drop. Her voice didn’t sound panicked, but it wasn’t calm either. “Is something wrong? Did something happen to Hazel?”

“No, we’re okay. Everyone is okay. We think we might have found a breakthrough, though. I also think Hazel might need a break. So, can you come swing by and listen to what we found?”

I nodded, pulling myself up. “Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute.” I shoved my phone into a pocket and smiled. “I think we got our break through we needed.”

I drove over to the healing center and rushed inside. The center was busy with people in the waiting room. Most of the tables were filled, and the other witches were moving around quickly. I couldn’t find Hazel or Chelsey anywhere, though.

“Asher.” Marie froze when she spotted me. “They are in the back. You can head on down.”

I gave her a nod as I moved past the row of beds toward the back area. I headed into a small office where Chelsey was sitting. There were books everywhere and papers all over the walls. I’d seen Chelsey’s office, and it was normally clean, which told me this was all the work that Hazel had been doing.

I knocked on the door, and Chelsey looked up. “Hey, you made it.”

“Yeah, where is Hazel?” I looked around the room, not finding her.

“Storage room.” Chelsey pulled herself up. “We found out that we can actually see into the past with objects that have been cursed.”

My eyebrows went up as we walked down the hallway. “Seriously? That’s a thing?”

She nodded. “Yeah, it’s hard because it requires a lot of concentration and energy, but it’s possible. So, if we try hard enough, we should be able to see who put the curse down in the first place.”