Page 9

"One more… and speaking of which, the curse expert is already here in town," I admitted with a sigh. I didn’t mention he was handsome and infuriating.

"What? You're just now telling me?" she asked, dipping her breadstick a little too hard, splashing sauce over the table. She huffed at herself and cleaned it up. I certainly wouldn’t judge a little mess. I’d been there plenty of times before.

"I was processing," I answered honestly. I didn't know what to think about all of this and the embarrassing mess I was in now.

"Spill," she ordered. “I can tell you’re holding back. Sharing is caring, remember?”

I had picked up my pizza and dunked it into the ranch and went to take a bite when the cheese slipped off the crust, down the front of my shirt and ended in my lap.

"Shit," I muttered. There was no way that all the napkins in the world could clean this up.

Blake had just taken a drink and soda came out her nose as she started to laugh at my misfortune. Of course, the bell over the door dinged right at that moment and in walked Rook Sinclair. The Henfather, himself.

I was starting to think he was the bane of my existence. Even if he smelled like sin.

Blake eyed me curiously as I sank down in my chair, swiping furiously at my clothes and table as if that would fix this whole mess.

As my embarrassment and anxiety rose, I could feel magic buzzing at my fingertips.

Fuck, I had to run. Fast.

“Sorry, Blake. I can feel it coming,” I hissed as I rushed right past Rook and out the front door, my feet carrying me as fast as they could go. Tears burned at my eyes and I struggled to calm myself.

I didn’t stop until I was in the woods that lined the edge of town. My chest ached from exertion and my hands were shaking violently. I collapsed to the moss and let out a sob, the trees around me letting out a collective crack, branches and pine needles raining down in a loud rush as my magic burst out of me all at once.

Thank the gods I made it in time.

“Prue?”

“You shouldn’t have followed me,” I said, glancing over to see Rook walking toward me, hands up like I was a cornered animal and would dart off at any second.

There was no salvaging this moment. I already had a littering of pine needles around me, in my hair, and dirt and moss staining my already pizza-coated clothes.

“Prue,” he said as he dropped to his knees next to me. His hand hovered between us as if he was unsure I’d let him touch me. The sad omega inside of me wanted to take the reassurance this alpha was offering, to crawl into his embrace and let him lie to me and say this would all be okay.

The logical side of my brain knew being in a pack was dangerous. It wouldn’t be fair, or safe, for me to let him get close.

Especially someone without a curse.

His scent rolled off of him, stronger than before as his alpha reacted to a pathetic omega. Parchment, campfire, and cinnamon hit me stronger than ever and I wanted to give in and curl into his lap, accept the comfort he was willing to provide, curse be damned.

“I’m not afraid of you or your curse, Prue,” he promised gently. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” I said, standing up and throwing my hands wide. “I just took out a whole ring of trees, Mr. Sinclair.”

“Rook,” he corrected, not the least bit startled by my outburst.

“Then I hiccup out a whole fucking slew of chickens and have to go before the magistrate… again. They tell me you are coming,” I rush ahead, gesturing at him before pacing again. “Then I go to lunch and my pizza flies all over me. I was starving, too, thanks to my fucked-up morning. Then you walked in and I got nervous all over again and then I took out the trees.”

I finished ranting and stopped. The pine needles and leaves around me did not, swirling in a tornado that had my hair flying around my face.

A frustrated screech tore out of me, primal and raw and full of fury. The tornado burst away from me as if my scream directed it, pelting an unfazed Rook who simply closed his eyes and took it.

The clearing was eerily silent after my outburst. Rook simply spit out a leaf, brushed off his shirt and pants, and raised an eyebrow.

“So… I make you nervous, little witch?” Then that devilish smile was back.

What the actual fuck?