Too much more.
Shit.
Chapter Five
“She likes you.” Leif beamed at me before focusing on the road ahead.
“I like her too. I think we’ll get on well.”
“I’m sorry you didn’t get to meet my sisters. Mother thought it might be overwhelming on your first visit—teenage girls with a ton of questions, you know?”
I’d never been a teen, and honestly, I hadn’t had much contact with them. “You make them sound like a breed unto their own.”
“Oh, they’re pretty full on.”
Our cabin came into view and Leif pulled up into the garage. “I have patrol in half an hour. What will you do to pass the time?”
Yeah, I needed to talk to him about that. “I don’t know what Charlotte did, or what the other anchors did, but it seems to me it involved a lot of dinners, lunches, social events, and basically no kick-assery?”
He sucked on his cheeks, a twinkle in his eyes. “And I assume that won’t be enough for you?”
“You assume correctly. I can’t be that person. I want to help against the varga, against the revenants and the outlier threats in Leyton. I’m going to speak to Anna about joining patrols, and I’ve told your mother I want in on the monthly hunts. I might not have fangs and claws, but I have other abilities.”
I allowed my hands to spark.
The female shifters hunted feywarg, menacing weasel-like creatures that fed on livestock and terrorized the local farmers. They bred like rabbits and the female shifters had taken responsibility to cull the numbers.
“You’ll need more than your power against the feywarg,” Leif said. “You’ll need stamina and speed. You’ll be running with wolves. Will you be able to keep up?”
Fuck, I hadn’t thought of that. I’d relied on my ability to jump all my life. But with the amulet, even as anchor, my jumping ability wasn’t inexhaustive. I couldn’t allow myself to rely on it. Luckily stamina could be built.
“I’ll train. I’ll run every day.”
He exhaled softly. “Determination. I like it. You’re something else, you know that, Cora?”
“Well, I haven’t heard that one before.” I injected sarcasm into my tone because the way he was looking at me, all intense, made my body do strange things. “And the varga patrols? Can I come?”
He sighed and shook his head. “Even if you get your stamina up, the varga patrols are too dangerous. One scratch, one bite, and you’d be infected. The infection kills humans, but it also kills witches, driving them feral and insane first. We can’t risk your life.”
I wanted to argue, but I could feel his resolution in my chest as if it were my own. There’d be no changing his mind on this. Not now anyway.
God, this mate bond was weird. “Hey, Leif, can you feel my emotions?”
“Flashes. Sometimes.” He touched my bottom lip with his index finger and pressed down slightly. My pulse surged and my breath hitched. “Like that. I felt that.” He looked down at his crotch, and I followed his gaze to see his erection outlined beneath denim. “Damn.” He blew out a breath. “I’ll need to sort that out before patrol.”
I was tempted to offer to do it for him but bit back the words. Unfortunately, the friend zone could only be stretched so far.
“I’ll walk you to the mansion,” he said.
“No, it’s fine. I can make it myself.”
He looked like he might argue, but I needed some time alone, away from the emotions his presence evoked. “It’s daytime, I’m safe.”
He nodded. “Okay. I’ll see you later. Make sure you’re back a couple of hours before sunset and we can go for a run. Start your training.”
“Yay, running before supper; sounds like fun.”
He chuckled low and sexy and I unlocked the door to get away from him before I was tempted to crawl onto his lap and snog his face off.
I closed the door and leaned in toward the window. “Have fun on patrol.”
“Always.”
I set off down the dirt track toward the mansion, aware of his gaze on my back, warm and inviting and hungry.
Yeah, alone time was a must.
Anna wasn’t in her office and Wren was no longer in the infirmary. Neither was Pippa. In fact, I couldn’t find anyone I wanted to speak to. I was tempted to call on Jasper but decided against it.
The last thing I needed was his electric presence driving my already dizzy hormones wild, and I wasn’t ready to lie to him again, to tell him I didn’t want or need him.
I popped my head into the dining hall on the off chance I’d spot a friendly face. It was the lull between lunch and supper, and the place was practically deserted aside for one table where the pouty redhead I’d seen on my first day here and her dark-haired friend sat eating fries.
They stopped talking as soon as they saw me and stared at me with deer-in-headlight looks.
“Hey.” I approached. “Any idea where everyone is?” I looked about. “It’s kinda dead around here.”
They exchanged glances, then the redhead spoke. “They’re in the atrium, testing for a new witch to join The Elites and take…take Brie’s spot.” Her eyes welled and she sniffed.
“It’s okay, Justine. You did good.”
“Not good enough,” Justine said. “Brie would be so pissed at me.”
The dark-haired woman looked up at me. “Justine is Brie’s cousin.”
Shit. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
“You tested?”
“Yeah, they took me first—bloodline and all that—but I wasn’t good enough.”
“You did everything,” the dark-haired woman said.
“Not the negation chant, Kel. I couldn’t get the negation chant right.”
More witches filtered into the room, some looking downcast, others relieved. I guess not everyone wanted to be an Elite, in the firing line when it came to revenants.
“They’re replacing her already?” It seemed a little harsh.
Kel gave me a flat look. “The Elites are our first line of defense against the revenants. There needs to be four of them for the spell to be effective, even with the amplification crystal.”
Yes, I’d seen
