Page 85 of Bewitching Her Monsters
“You two just going to stare at the witch the entire night?” Calder cocks his brow and his hip. Sassy brat.
“Yes,” Maxum answers with such resolve and determination that it brokers no arguments to suggest otherwise. Or it wouldn’t be wise to comment.
Yet, Calder isn’t always smart.
“She obviously betrayed us,” Calder says, waving his hands in her direction.
“So why would Rob attempt to kill her?” Maxum asks.
I’m surprised he’s the one arguing the point.
Calder huffs, “I don’t know, but—”
“But nothing,” Maxum cuts him off. “We need answers. And if Osen is still linked to her, we might get the truth of the matter from him. All we know is that Jade was attacked.”
Calder softens with the mention of Osen. If anyone wasinlove with the incubus, it was Calder.
I loved Osen as well, but I had ended the sexual dynamic when he became increasingly obsessed. He only cared about fighting the witches and proving who was behind the ASO.
I was invested in stopping the threat, but Osen was a fixated maniac in the end.
Calder sees how I’m clutching Jade protectively to my chest. He sighs and offers, “Snacks while we await the verdict?”
“Sure,” Maxum agrees.
“I can’t eat,” I decline. “Not with her like this.”
The phoenix frowns, sympathetic even though he disapproves of how attached I’ve become. Then he rummages through the kitchen for something to eat. I know he only means to protects us all with his gruff behavior toward Jade, but I can’t allow it.
I watch him for a moment, then I turn my attention to Maxum. “Are you picking up anything?”
“She’s been dreaming, but the texture of it feels more like a shadowwalk.”
I perk up.
So does Calder from the other room. He asks, “Osen? You think he’s still in there with her?”
“That would be my guess.” Maxum leans forward, watching her like a cat about to pounce.
Jade breathes in deeply and stirs, her head turning toward my chest.
My broken heart soars with the positive sign she will be okay.
But when her eyes open, they are not their normal hazel-green, but charcoal.
“Osen?” I dare to ask.
Jade turns her head and sees Maxum and Calder towering over us.
“Hey, assholes,” Osen says.
“It’s him.” Calder smiles. Then he becomes instantly serious. “What’s happened? Is the witch’s soul still in there?”
He’s asking what I need to know.
Where is Jade?
Calder’s likely hoping for a different answer than I am.
