Chapter 21 - Thane
Standing in a corner of the witches' training room with my arms folded, Elias offers me a beer, but I decline.
Watching Willow at work is far more interesting than what a beer can do for me right now.
Or anything, for that matter.
“Brooks…” Willow calls, barely glancing at him as she sticks out her hand. “You got any more of that tobacco?”
“Coming right up,” he says as he grabs a container off the table. He passes some of the dried leaves to Willow, grinning. “Hey, why don't you roll us a joint while you're at it?”
“Not funny, babe!” Rissa scolds, her head popping out from behind Willow as she scowls at her mate.
“Are you guys bored?” Aurora chuckles, and Elias waves his hand while he takes a swig of his beer.
“No, we're not bored, baby,” Elias responds to his mate. “We're just—”
“Feeling useless," Dawson chimes in when Elias glances at him.
“I don't feel useless,” Brooks boasts. “But I am bored. It'd be nice to have that joint, you know?” He wiggles his brows suggestively at Rissa, which earns him a backhand slap on his chest.
“I wish there was more we could do,” Dawson sighs, and Yvonne tilts her head at him.
“Sorry, my love. Until we've aced the trial of this potion, we won't need you guys.”
“We will need you when it's time to draw blood,” Willow reminds us, too focused on stirring the ingredients in the pot to turn around.
“I don't mind waiting around. I like watching you at work.”
While the room fills with whistles from the guys who poke fun at me for my comment, Willow turns and finally meets my eyes, offering me a warm smile that makes my heart flutter.
She's been working hard for two nights trying to perfect the trial version of the potion from her vision so we can be prepared on the night of the next full moon. And I can't stop watching her in her element, between the greenhouse and this room, wielding her magic like a master.
As the days go by, I’ve realized just how much Willow means to me, but I haven't really found an opportunity to speak to her about it.
What happened in the greenhouse the other day was a turning point in our relationship, but we just haven't had the time to discuss it, when all we've been doing is preparing for the ultimate showdown with the demons.
I know this is bigger than her and me, but I want her to know that for me, she's the most important thing in my life.
“Alright…” Willow nods as she removes her gloves. “Everything we need is in there, except the alpha blood.”
Yvonne steps closer and peeks into the pot on the gas burner. “This needs to brew long enough before adding the blood, or the wolfsbane will just burn out its potency.”
Rissa nods. “It needs to be kept overnight.”
“Maybe we should head out and set up more traps,” Rissa suggests, and Aurora nods in agreement.
“Good idea.” Aurora turns to the guys. “Have you guys configured the new traps?”
I nod. “Yeah. But once they're set up, they'll have to be tested against Willow's magic.” I inform them about the newly built traps that are meant to withstand Willow's power.
If we're fighting the demons, we need traps strong enough to hold up against her blasts, since her magic fried some traps before.
“Yvonne and I will use a shield while Willow tests her magic on the traps,” Aurora says. “Rissa can be on standby in case the new traps don't work and we signal the demons instead.”
“We'll draw your blood when we return,” Willow says, and everyone proceeds to leave the training room.
I stand by the door, waiting for Willow.
“Hey. Thank you for sticking by my side throughout all of this,” she says with a sweet smile.
“It's not like you need me,” I chuckle, and Willow rolls her eyes at me.
“I do need you, Thane,” she sighs, stepping under the arm I've held out for her. Once she's securely under my arm, we follow the others out.
“Well, we did agree that we need each other,” I remind her as we near the front door of Elias's house. The others are already outside, so I slow down to have a moment with Willow.
“When we're done taking samples, I was hoping I could steal you away for a moment.”
“Another surprise?” she asks with a raised brow, and I chuckle.
“No more surprises. But we seem to be missing each other at night. Maybe we can have dinner together,” I suggest, and Willow nods eagerly.
“I'd like that.”
I press a kiss to her forehead, but it doesn't last as long as I'd like when Rissa calls her name, and she rushes off ahead of me.
Sighing, I shove my hands into my pockets, hardly looking forward to an evening of setting up traps, but knowing that this must be done for the sake of protecting the pack and ridding our world of the demons.
I am the sub-alpha, after all. But I'm also a man with a heart that beats only for one woman.
Soon, when all of this is said and done, and Snehvolk is safe again, I plan on doing something special for Willow.
She'd been caged in when she was in Seward, and more caged in by the feeling of not belonging all her life.
She deserves to see the world, and I plan on showing it to her.
***
“Ow!” Brooks protests the moment the needle pierces his skin.
“Dude! Are you serious right now? Are you a baby?” I burst out laughing, and Brooks throws me a sideways, snide glance.
He winces as Rissa draws his blood into the attached tube, then mumbles under his breath, “I'm not a baby. I just don't like needles.”
“Says the guy who has claws and fights demons,” Dawson snorts.
“It's okay,” Rissa says gently as she pulls out the needle and presses a cotton ball to the prick on Brook's arm. “He's my baby.” Once she passes the sealed tube to Yvonne, she releases the tourniquet from his arm and holds it out to Willow.
“Wanna do Thane's?”
Willow takes the band without hesitation. “Sure.”
Rissa turns back to Brooks and leans in to kiss him, and Dawson makes a face at them.
“Ugh…you two need to get a room.”
“Oh, you wanted to stay to see me suffer. So now you gotta put up with this,” Brooks taunts, and Dawson rolls his eyes.
“Yvie, we should head home now. Emile's already asleep, and Gio is getting crabby,” Dawson tells his mate. Elias and Aurora had already left to go tend to the kids to give Elias's grandfather, Elder Silas, a break from babysitting.
“Er—” Yvonne turns to Willow. “I labeled these already. It's just Thane's left.”
Willow nods. “You guys go ahead. I'll manage. Actually…” she turns to the two lovebirds still hanging by the chair. “Rissa, you guys can go, too. Thane and I will clear up once we're done here.”
“Sure,” Brooks smirks and tosses Willow a wink. “I think she gets it.”
“Of course she gets it,” Rissa muses as she slaps a playful hand against Brooks's chest.
As soon as everyone has left the witches’ room, and it's just Willow and me, I turn to her with a cocksure smirk.
“So…was that a plan to get some much-needed alone time?”
Willow giggles, pointing me to the chair. “Maybe. Or maybe I don't want you to get embarrassed in front of the others if you're anything like Brooks.”
“Pfft!” I scoff as I take a seat on the chair in front of her. “You really think I'd be afraid of a needle?”
“I don't know,” she shrugs as she ties the strap around my bicep. “What could the great alpha Thane Savage possibly be afraid of?”
Willow leans forward, holding the needle in one hand with an alcohol swab in the other. Our eyes meet, and she pauses, our breaths catching at the same time.
“I think I might be somewhat like Brooks,” I whisper measuredly, and Willow arches a brow.
“How so?”
“I don't wanna keep my hands to myself right now…”
Willow's breath catches for a heated second as she stares deeply into my eyes, that breath escaping with a whispered, “Thane….”
“Willow….”
I'm about to reach for her face to pull her in for a kiss when suddenly, she snaps up straight, her eyes turning a regal shade of iridescent gold as she stares past my head.
“Willow…?” I whisper in the softest tone, drawing my hand back slowly because I know what this is, and I don't want to risk snapping her out of her vision before she sees what she needs to see.
Maybe she'll have a vision that'll help us understand what needs to be done with the potion that's brewing on the gas burner.
But while I watch her frozen in her trance, I can't help but be fascinated by this creature, this witch, who now occupies every corner of my heart.
If there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that I love Willow Barker, and I can't wait to find the right opportunity to tell her my feelings.
It'll have to be special.
As special as she is.