Page 28 of Resurrecting the Witch
Anya reached out and grabbed my chin to face her. Her small hands were warm to the touch, and despite her previous anger, she was calmer now. “That is not what I meant, Cliona Erin, and you know it. You have brought life back to this island after great tragedy. I see children running and playing in the streets. We have festivals for the sabbats again. We even have council meetings that folks actually want to attend.
“You aren’t a bad leader. You are a great leader. Bryg would be so proud of you, sweet girl.”
Tears pooled at her words, and I hadn’t realized how much I needed someone’s approval until that moment.
“You just need to figure out how to trust people and let them in so you don’t have this immense power that is literally ripping your body apart.”
I nodded at her words, acknowledging the truth in them.
“But what if they betray us?” I whispered the words to Anya. I hadn’t even voiced this worry to Guillermo because he would logically be one of my coven members. I didn’t want him to think I didn’t trust him, but if Hunter fucking Jacobs and my own mother could betray us, then who was to say I could trust my own judgment?
“You can only control whatyoudo, sweetheart.”
Anya pulled me up to a sitting position on the bed and gripped me in her tiny arms. She was small but fierce in her affection for me, especially since Gran passed. They had always been best friends, and while Anya was a wolf and an alpha in her own right, she and Gran always had a soft spot for one another. Anya had been at every coven meeting since I could remember as a girl, even though she wasn’t an official coven member, refusing to join despite Gran’s pleas.
I could trust Anya with anything, which I didn’t say lightly.
“I have actually been meaning to talk to you about something,” I said. “Can you bring the others back in here?”
“You know you’re going to have to tell me about this fae mate of yours before too long,” she demanded, rolling her eyes at the word mate, and I laughed.
“Oh, I know.”
She kissed my forehead and rubbed my shoulder. No sooner had she turned the handle did Patrick barrel through the door, causing the others to laugh at his hurry. He was immediately by my side and touched the sides of my throat as if sensing my body was weak and craved his touch.
“How are you feeling,mo grá?”
I melted at his touch and physically felt the reprieve from my power. Which was great not only for how I felt but also because this power he had over me was what I needed to ask the others about. I needed to know how this was happening and what his touch did to me physically, apart from making me horny as hell.
I took a deep breath at the calming sensation. “Anya, did you see what just happened?” I turned to her and saw her mouth pursed tight and fingers rubbing on her chin.
Another moment passed before she interrupted the silence.
“You!” She pointed at Guillermo accusingly.
He had the right sense to look somewhat off-kilter at being on the end of her pointed finger as if she would shoot a bullet out of it if she could.
“Why didn’t you tell me the fae brute was a conduit?”
“A what?” Lennox asked and then turned toward Patrick with an anger I only saw her get when someone or something she cared about was threatened. “Get your filthy conduit hands off her, you bastard!” She lunged for Patrick’s hands, but Guillermo wrapped an arm around her waist to hold my tiny friend back.
“It’s not bad, Len,” I started. “I felt it on our first date. His touch on my skin does something to my magick. It doesn’t make it go away, but if I am freaking out, it’s like he… dulls it somehow?”
“A conduit,” Dom muttered and looked at Patrick up and down and then smirked. “That would actually make sense.”
“I’m embarrassed I didn’t see it before.” Guillermo’s eyes were wide as he talked more to himself than the rest of us, releasing Lennox as she realized Patrick wasn’t hurting me. “A conduit would make sense, considering his undead nature.”
“Idiots,” Anya said to the room.
“Can someone tell me what a conduit is? I only know when I need to touch her and how she feels at ease when I do.” Patrick refused to remove his hands from me, and I could have kissed him for it.
“Is that what you thought you were doing, boy?” Anya asked.
I barked out a laugh at her calling him a boy when he was technically centuries old, but Anya was probably older.
“You don’t feel her power coming into you?”
“I don’t feel anything different except her pulse slow and breath become regular.”
