by Teresa Roman
The Runaway Witch
Teresa Roman
Contents
The Runaway Witch
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Also by Teresa Roman:
Acknowledgments
About the Author
The Runaway Witch © copyright 2020 Teresa Roman
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This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
The Runaway Witch
Chapter 1
Nicolai
With Willow in the hospital, I lay alone in the bed I’d been sharing with her since she’d come to stay at the castle. I’d wanted to be with her, but Maria insisted I return home and get some sleep. Willow was back to full health, thanks to Maria, who’d healed her, but recovering from the emotional trauma of what she’d gone through would take time. She needed to rest, so I did as Maria asked. Morning would come soon enough, and when it did, I fully intended to bring my mate home.
It took forever to fall asleep without her curled up in my arms. Eventually morning came, and I could wait no longer. By the time the sun rose, I was up and dressed. On my way out of the castle, I bumped into Frederic.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“To see Willow,” I replied. “And, hopefully, bring her back home.”
His jaw twitched. “By home do you mean where she lived before her father died or here?”
“That’s up to Willow.”
He sighed. “Don’t you think it’s a bit early for a hospital visit?”
I glanced at my watch. Frederic had a point. Still, I wanted to be there when she woke up. If being at her side brought Willow the same comfort it did me, then I needed to go to her. Now. “Am I supposed to believe that all of a sudden you’re concerned about Willow’s well-being? You’ve been nothing but awful to her since she came into our lives.”
Frederic shrugged. “It’s not Willow I’m worried about. It’s you. There’s no need to throw yourself at her feet. Give the woman a chance to miss you.”
I sighed. Perhaps Frederic was right. I didn’t want Willow to feel like I was smothering her. “Fine. I’ll wait, then.”
I turned and walked away from my brother. Halfway down the hall, Frederic called my name. I looked over my shoulder.
“Bringing Willow here makes no sense,” he said. “We have been in the states for far too long. It’s time we returned to Sarabia. I don’t mind waiting a few more days so you can give Willow a proper goodbye, but I have no intention of remaining here longer than that.”
I gritted my teeth. “And I have no intention of saying goodbye to Willow.”
“Nicolai, don’t be foolish.”
“I don’t remember asking for your opinion.” I turned back around and walked away before Frederic could get another word in.
Once upstairs, I returned to Willow’s room. The air was thick with her scent. I breathed it in, feeling a sudden ache in my chest. One day Willow would be my wife. I couldn’t ask her just yet, though. She’d say it was too soon, that we hadn’t known each other long enough. I didn’t need more time. I knew that we were meant for each other, but I’d wait as long as it took for Willow to realize that as well. One day, when I was certain she was ready, I’d ask her to become my princess.
The minutes ticked by slowly and silently. I lay down on the bed, willing my phone to ring. I missed Willow’s voice already. I had left her cell phone at her bedside, but perhaps she hadn’t noticed. Her doctors had been giving her heavy pain medications. She’d been fast asleep when I’d snuck Maria into her hospital room during the night to heal her. I’d wanted to wake her and tell her I’d see her in the morning, but Maria had convinced me to let her keep sleeping.
Before long, I’d reached the end of my patience. I gave up on waiting for a call from Willow. She was most likely still asleep, but she’d want me to be at her side when she woke up. I was certain of it.
I headed back downstairs, grateful that I didn’t run into any of my brothers on my way out. I got in my car and turned the engine on. It had been so long since I’d driven that it took me a few moments to refamiliarize myself with how to do it, but once I got going, the drive to the hospital was a smooth one. The cool early-summer breeze that the open windows let in swirled around me. After almost two years being trapped inside my family’s castle in upstate New York, it felt downright exhilarating to be able to come and go as I pleased.
The closer I got to the hospital, the faster and harder my heart beat. My mind filled with images of Willow. I pictured her face as we danced, and I thought about the feel of her skin as we held hands, the softness of her lips as we kissed. The night before, when I’d brought Willow to the hospital, it was with a stab wound to her chest. A dagger, thrown by an incubus who went by the name of Peter, had collapsed one of her lungs. She’d also lost a lot of blood. Thankfully, the doctors had been able to stabilize Willow. Hours later Maria returned from my home country of Sarabia. She’d healed Willow and enchanted the hospital staff and police officers who had questions neither me nor my brothers had been able to answer. Thinking about everything that had happened brought the terror I’d felt back. Not knowing whether or not Willow would survive had been agonizing. But now that she was fully healed, I’d be able to bring her home with me.
After parking in the visitor lot, I stopped by the gift shop for some flowers before heading to Willow’s room. Just outside her door, I stopped, nervous. I had an important question to ask her. I’d meant it when I’d told my brother I had no intention of saying goodbye to Willow. I missed my country as badly as my brothers did, which was why I planned on asking Willow to come with me when my brothers and I returned to Sarabia, a small Eastern European country nestled in the Carpathian Mountain range. I prayed she’d agree.
“Excuse me, sir.”
I turned my head. A nurse in blue scrubs stood behind me. Her name tag read “Pam.”
“Are you here to see Ms. Duncan?” she asked.
“Yes. Why?” Something in the tone of her voice troubled me. “Is something wrong?”
Pam hesitated before replying, “Not exactly.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“About an hour ago, I went into Willow’s room to collect her vital signs, but she wasn’t in her bed. We’ve checked her room a few more times, but—”
“
You can’t be serious. Why am I just learning of this now? I should have been called as soon as you realized she was gone.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but you’re not listed as her next of kin.”
“Did you call security?”
“This is a hospital, not a prison. If Ms. Duncan decided to leave against medical advice, that was her choice to make.”
Realizing that I was wasting my time talking to Pam, I turned my back to her, threw open the door, and whipped back the privacy curtain, hoping and praying that Pam was mistaken.
She wasn’t.
Where could Willow have gone? Her car was still at the castle. Maybe she’d had enough of hospitals and had gotten tired of waiting for me. Perhaps she’d called a taxi and was on her way back to the castle at this very moment. But why hadn’t she called first? My eyes scanned the room, eventually stopping on a note that lay on the bedside table. My name was printed on it. I walked over to it and picked it up.
Nicolai–
I’m sorry.
I care for you, but not in the way you want or deserve.
I’ve decided the best thing for me to do is leave Beaver Falls. There are too many painful memories for me here. Now that your curse is lifted and I’ve been healed, we can both make a fresh start.
I wish you a happy life. –Willow
My heart stopped. How could this be? The last time Willow and I had talked, she’d given me every indication that we felt the same way about each other. The letter was in Willow’s handwriting, but I couldn’t believe it was actually from her. Had someone taken her from the hospital? Peter was dead. I was sure of it. I could still practically taste his vile blood in my mouth, still feel the heat of it as it soaked my fur after I’d bitten him in his neck. The danger Willow had been in was supposed to be no more. But Peter had someone helping him. A succubus. Without her, Peter never would’ve made it past my brothers and into the castle. Could she have taken Willow from the hospital? I read the letter once more, alternating between heartbreak and panic. I needed to find Willow, to make sure she was safe. I picked up my phone and called her. When she didn’t answer, I texted, but there was no reply.
Instead of waiting for an elevator, I sprinted down the stairs.
As soon as I reached my car, I entered Willow’s address into the GPS. A few minutes later, I pulled up to the curb in front of her house, praying that I’d find her inside. If Willow was packing her things to leave Beaver Falls as her letter had claimed, then I’d find a way to convince her to stay. The alternative—that Willow was in danger—was too unbearable for me to think about. The front door was locked. I tried the doorbell and then knocked a few times. No answer. I grew more frantic by the second. With a swift kick, I managed to break the lock.
“Willow,” I called out, only to be met by silence.
She was gone. But my keen werewolf senses told me she’d been there earlier. Her scent hung thick in the air.
Once, when I was still a child, I’d lived through an earthquake. As the ground under me moved, the ceiling above had collapsed, sending piles of debris crashing down on top of me. I was terrified I’d be buried alive. That same sense of panic I’d felt back then returned.
I took a few more steps into Willow’s home. I’d asked my brothers once what her house was like. I’d wanted to know everything about her. They’d done a pretty good job of describing her small one-story home. The ballroom in my family’s castle back in Sarabia was bigger than her entire house. I had hoped to show it to her one day, along with so many other things.
I found Willow’s bedroom and searched through her belongings. It felt wrong, invading her privacy that way, but if Willow was in danger, then I had no other choice but to look for clues that would lead me to her. All I found were practically empty drawers. If someone had taken Willow, they wouldn’t have stopped at her home first for her belongings. Or maybe I was purposefully being misled into thinking Willow had left me so that I wouldn’t go looking for her. A feeling of despair settled in the pit of my stomach. I was on the verge of falling apart. I didn’t know what to do, but perhaps Maria would. I called her.
“Have you heard from Willow?”
“No,” Maria said. “Aren’t you with her now? Frederic told me you went to the hospital to see her.”
“I did. But Willow was gone by the time I arrived.”
“Gone where?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. She left a note for me, but nothing she said in it makes any sense.”
“What did it say?”
“That she doesn’t have the same feelings for me that I have for her and that she’s leaving Beaver Falls.”
“What? That can’t be.” Maria sounded as confused as I felt. “Where are you now?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and replied, “Willow’s house. I thought the letter could have been a forgery or that she’d been tricked into writing it. I came here because I was worried that she might be in danger, but now I’m not so sure.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Her clothes are gone.”
“Come back to the castle, Nicolai. We’ll figure this out together.”
I hung up, got back in my car, and drove home. Maria met me at the door.
“Have you heard from her?” I asked, hopeful.
Maria and Willow had become more than teacher and pupil. They were friends. Leaving without saying goodbye first just didn’t seem like something Willow would do.
Maria shook her head. “Not a word.”
I let out a frustrated howl. How could this be happening? For two long years, my life had been a living hell. Trapped in my family’s castle, I had felt so isolated and alone—until I found Willow. My mate. She’d saved me in more ways than one. I was sure she’d felt the same. How could I have been so wrong?
“Come inside, Nicolai. Your brothers and I will help you find her. I told them she was missing. They’re waiting in the drawing room. Together we’ll figure out what to do.”
“What if finding her is not what she wants?” I said, handing Maria the letter Willow had left for me.
When she was finished reading, she lifted her gaze. “This isn’t right. Willow loves you. I’m certain of it.”
“Then what do you think happened?”
“I don’t know.”
I headed down the hallway with Maria trailing behind me. She followed me into the drawing room, where my brothers were gathered. “Any word from Willow?” Maxim asked.
“No. Nothing.”
I glanced down at my brother, who was sitting on the couch with his feet up on an ottoman. The dark circles under his eyes stood in such stark contrast to his pale complexion. Maria had done her best to heal him after he’d been attacked by Peter’s accomplice.
Maxim’s memories of that night were poor. All he remembered was that one of the servants had escorted a woman he’d never seen before inside the castle. Maxim said that he’d been about to have her escorted right back out when she’d done the last thing he’d expected her to. She’d removed her shirt and bared her breasts. He was so mesmerized by her beauty that he didn’t stop her as she crossed the room. The next thing he knew, her lips were on his. He didn’t remember anything after that.
If Frederic and Alexander hadn’t shown up when they did, Maxim might not be with us today. The woman—a succubus—probably realizing she was outnumbered, had fled. Minutes later, I’d come running down the hallway with an unconscious Willow in my arms.
If Maxim had been human instead of a werewolf, the succubus would’ve probably drained the life out of him. Magic had healed Willow’s wounds easily, but Maxim’s condition was different, which was why he was still so frail. It would take time for him to fully heal. The sight of him filled me with panic once more. The succubus who’d fed on him was still out there somewhere. What if she’d gone after Willow?
“Maybe that pretty friend of her knows something,” Maxim said. “If I remember correctly, her name is Grace.”
; In my panic, I hadn’t thought of Grace, but talking to her would be a good place to start. I still had her number stored in my phone from when I’d called her to let her know that Willow was in the hospital. I dialed it. After several rings, she answered.
“It’s Nicolai Korzha,” I said. “We met last night in the hospital.”
“I remember.”
“I’m very sorry to bother you again, but I’m worried about Willow. She wasn’t at the hospital when I went to visit her earlier this morning, and she wasn’t home either. I’m hoping she’s with you, and if she’s not, maybe you know where she is.”
“I … I’m sorry, but no. She’s not with me. And I don’t know where she is either.”
“You haven’t talked to her today?”
“No. I haven’t,” Grace said. Her stiff reply gave her away. She knew something. Something that she didn’t want to tell me. “I’m sorry I can’t be of more help, but I really have to go.”
Grace hung up before I could get in another word.
I put my phone back in my pocket. “She says she doesn’t know where Willow is.”
“But you don’t believe her?” Alexander said.
“No. I don’t.”
“There’s a way to find out for sure whether she knows anything about Willow’s whereabouts,” Maria said.
“How?” I asked.
“With a truth spell.”
Frederic shook his head. “That’s a bad idea,” he said. “Willow would be furious if she found out that you had Maria use magic on her friend.”
Alexander pursed his lips. “Maybe she should’ve thought of that before she decided to vanish into thin air.”
