growling like a beast.”
“I’m not growling, asshole.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” He smirked. “Chill, Hiro.”
“I don’t wanna chill.” I grabbed his hips, stepped closer to him to rest our foreheads together, and closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them to refocus on him. “If you think this is worth tryin’, then we’ll do it, but we need to speak to Rasha about it first. If what you say is true, she should know what she’s getting herself into.”
“Do you think we should wait until I ask Rebe? I’m like ninety-nine-point-nine percent sure they’ll help, but I don’t want to get Rasha’s hopes up, just in case.”
I sighed. “Yeah, okay. She’ll be excited about goin’ to Faela with you anyway. Let’s tell her after dinner. But, Bas?”
“Yeah?”
“When we get to Faela, you’re not fuckin’ talkin’ to that fuckin’ kelpie by yourself.”
He snorted. “Alright, hunter, you can come with me as long as you promise not to try killing them.”
“I’m not makin’ that promise.”
He leaned back and lifted a brow.
“Fine. I promise I won’t as long as they keep their fuckin’ hands to themselves.”
Basil grinned. “I knew you liked me.”
“Don’t let it go to your head, witch.”
He went up on his toes to press his lips to mine. As he went to break away, I grabbed the back of his head and held him there so I could give him a proper fuckin’ kiss. I deepened it, devouring him, my tongue tasting every inch of his mouth, and he groaned and draped his arms over my shoulders.
The furthest he’d let me go with him was some heavy petting and blow jobs—lots of blow jobs—and it was really starting to frustrate me. I couldn’t blame him exactly, but it didn’t feel good knowin’ he still didn’t trust me fully. Not to mention sleeping next to him every night was really wearing on my patience. Part of it was due to the fact that Rasha was in the house, I knew that, and also because he’d been busy as all hell. This week, he’d finally been assigned to the witch-killer case. There had been four more witches killed in the last three weeks. And they were no closer to catching the serial killer.
Basil broke our kiss and whispered, “I’m glad you’re coming with me this time.”
“Me too.” I kissed his forehead before resting mine there again. When he’d gone to Faela a few weeks ago, he’d only been gone for two nights, yet it had felt like it had been two years. “Yeah, you’re not doin’ that by yourself anymore.”
“You putting your foot down, hunter?”
“Hell yes.”
He grinned up at me and pecked my lips. “We’re leaving in the morning, so we need to pack. I have some clothes and shit there, but I still like to take a bag. And I have no idea what all Rasha needs.”
I sighed and captured his lips for a few more seconds. “Alright, baby, let’s go pack.”
“Should we go grab Rasha now?”
“Yeah, let’s go.” After one last little kiss, I moved away from him and headed toward the big house where Rasha was playin’ since we’d just had dinner there. Bas and I had gone for a walk so we could argue freely without upsetting her—apparently, we had to go for lots of walks, which wasn’t all that surprising, I guess.
When I stepped into the big house, I had to take a beat. It was always so loud and crazy in here, yet somehow also inviting, and the fact that my daughter and I had been welcomed with open arms still surprised me at times.
“Hey, Hiro,” one of Basil’s siblings named Pumpernickel—who in the fuck named their kid Pumpernickel?—said as he walked past me. He was one of the Food Twins, as the rest called them. Two sets of twins with food names. So odd.
I nodded at him. “Hey.”
“Are you going to Faela this weekend?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
He nodded. “Never mind, then. The rest of us are going swimming on Saturday, so I was going to see if you and Rasha wanted to join.” He offered a smile that I returned.
“Thanks anyway.”
“No problem, man.” He walked away.
All of these witches were… fuckin’ nice. It was weird. Good weird, but weird nonetheless. And I still couldn’t believe I was living among them. I never would’ve believed it even three months ago. Not that we’d officially moved in here, but considering we hadn’t been home for longer than it took to pack up a few bags, we’d basically moved into Basil’s