Feral Heart: A Witch Hospital Romance (The Witches of White Willow Book 2)

by Angela Addams

  “Still, she really shouldn’t…” He sighed, stopping himself from saying anything more. “Never mind.” He kept pacing. “I need some advice.”

  Hazel nodded, sitting up a little straighter. He could only imagine what she must be thinking. He hadn’t exactly done his best to get along with her in the time he’d known her. To him, Hazel Knight had been the pampered princess of White Willow. A superstar from birth, she’d been raised to believe herself a chosen one, destined to join the Circle of One. Until she realized that her mother was using her, forcing her to sacrifice her magic and youth to the betterment of witch-kind when really, it should have been her mother’s place to do that. The decision Hazel ended up making was to save the life of the man she loved despite her mother’s wishes, and Bas had to figure if she was willing to do that, maybe she knew a thing or two about the state of one’s heart.

  “How are things down there? In the Dungeon, I mean?” Hazel waved her hand, indicating below. “I didn’t even realize they were setting up a familiar treatment centre down there until Chanda told us you’d been sent to work with Mina Knox… You know who she is, right? Her reputation for helping animals is legendary and her family—”

  “I’m aware,” Bas said. “I don’t have time for this.”

  Hazel blinked, her lips pressed into a thin line.

  “Seriously, Hazel.” Bas flopped down to the chair behind him. “I need some counsel, not a lecture.”

  He’d left when Angel arrived, not because he was revolted, as usual, by her presence, but because he found himself wanting to be nice to her! Like treat her as an equal, work with her to build the sanctuary…another thing that he knew would make Mina happy. That’s where he had to draw the line, right? Something was obviously wrong with him if he was willing to go that far.

  “Love spells, how do they work?” He was grasping at straws, he knew, but there had to be an explanation for his behavior over the last week.

  Hazel’s eyes went wide. “Well, they don’t. Work that is.” She shrugged. “Not usually the way the spellcaster wants anyway.”

  “Okay, let’s say hypothetically, a witch casts a love spell. Could it make someone act completely out of character? Like do things he…or she…would never want to do, not in a million years?”

  “What kind of things?”

  Bas sighed. “Thoughtful things…for people who are totally undeserving.” He winced. Fuck, he even felt guilty for saying that knowing that Mina wouldn’t approve. He could practically feel her disappointment. “I mean, would a love spell be able to change a person’s inherent character traits or heartfelt beliefs?” He ran his hand through his hair, growing more agitated as he spoke. Hazel had been training to be a Healer her whole life, fast tracking her education thanks to her mother. She had to know if there was a way that he was charmed with a love spell.

  Hazel shook her head. “No, never heard of a love spell that could do that.” She leaned forward. “Most love spells are hoaxes anyway. Any that could work would take the recipient’s inner most desires and amplify them. So you’d have to have been feeling it to begin with for that to work. You know this, Bas. This is basic spell stuff.”

  She was smirking at him as she said that, which instantly made him feel like an ass.

  “Okay, let’s say it’s not a love spell,” he growled, his anger snapping. “Is there a way for someone to control your behavior so that you’re acting out of character?”

  Hazel leaned back and tapped her fingers against her lips. “Well, sure, I guess. Voodoo can do that.”

  “Voodoo?”

  “Yeah, like a kind of zombiefication spell. Old school magic.” She flicked her wrist and a book appeared on the table next to him. Another flick and it opened to a page. “It’s all in there.”

  He picked the book up and quickly scanned the page, noting the images that accompanied the words. “No, this isn’t what I’m talking about. This is mind control. These people can’t remember the shit they’re doing.”

  “True…and it’s also not a kind of magic that’s used around here much.”

  He closed the book and as soon as he did, it disappeared. “How do you do that?”

  Hazel smiled, shrugged one shoulder. “Magic,” she said.

  Bas rolled his eyes. She was insufferable most of the time.

  “Could someone curse you to lust? Or to fall in love even if you didn’t want to?” Mina used dark magic—he felt it all over the place. And she had a grimoire. He’d seen it on her bookshelf but when he’d tried to sneak a peek, looking for some kind of spell that would cause the symptoms he was having, he couldn’t get the damn thing open.

  “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on? I mean, what’s really going on and then maybe I can better help you?”

  Bas looked at her, like really looked at her. This was Hazel Knight, the most talented witch in the building…perhaps in the world. And yes, it hurt him to admit that. If she couldn’t figure this shit out, no one could.

  He sucked in a deep breath, let it out, then stood and started pacing. “I’ve met this woman and I like her…a lot…and it’s messing with my head.” He glanced at Hazel, expecting some kind of wise-ass remark but she was just sitting there, hands folded on her lap, looking like she was actually listening to him. He stopped pacing. “I find myself wanting to do things for her. Like, things that I would never want to do normally.”

  Hazel was smiling now. “You’re falling for her.” She motioned to the chair opposite her. “Will you please sit down? Your pacing is making me nervous.”

  Bas slumped down into the chair once again. “I’m falling for her? That’s it?”

  “Bas.” Hazel leaned forward. “Have you ever fallen for a woman before? I mean, really fallen for one?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? Of course I have!” He ran his hand through his hair. “I mean, sure, I have…right? Probably.” He shook his head.

  He didn’t know—that was the truth of it. The feelings he had for Mina were mingling with ones he was familiar with—lust, excitement, interest, curiosity, lust, lust, lust. But there were other feelings, too. Compassion and empathy and a need to be around her all the time. He loved her voice, the way she said certain words, with a cadence that mellowed him out or turned him on, or made him feel safe. Wanted, accepted…

  Wait…what?

  “I’m not acting like myself at all.” He tapped his head. “My brain is all fucked up because of this woman.”

  “So what’s going on? You want to do things for her? Special things? That’s completely normal. No love spell needed.”

  “It’s more than that.”

  Over the last few days, he’d actually found himself making a coffee for Angel in the morning and then initiating a conversation, asking after her health when it was clear she was losing strength. He found himself giving an actual shit about the limp in her step and had mentioned some herbs she could use to soothe aching joints. Then Angel had mentioned his mother and the time Mother Stone had spent with her. He remembered hearing about that visit, but hadn’t known the Sin Eater had been there as well. His mother had been happy, honored to have captured the attention of someone so powerful. Even before Mother Stone had become who she was now, Great Mother of White Willow, she had been an important and powerful witch. Bas’s mother had been hopeful for the future, a future that didn’t actually exist for her. When Angel brought it up, Bas had found himself leaning forward, intrigued by her version of things and he almost, almost started to explore his feelings about how all that went down. He almost told her how much that visit had meant to his mother. Luckily, he’d caught himself in time and then got the hell out of there, feeding Mina a lie about needing something up here in his room.

  “Listen, Bas, I get it. You have the reputation to uphold,” Hazel started. “But maybe this is what you need.”

  He stifled his usual response to her self-righteous tone. “I don’t like feeling this way.” But that was a lie. He didn’t like feeling vulnerab
le, true, but he didn’t hate why he was feeling that way. The cause, Mina, was not what he disliked, just the symptoms. It made him itchy…uncomfortable, wanting to bolt.

  “It’s easier to think that maybe a love spell is at work, I get it.” Hazel waved her hand. “But like I said, even with love spells that work, it’s only because the feelings are there to begin with.”

  “So there are love spells that can do this?”

  Hazel sighed. “No, Bas, they can’t make something out of nothing.” She did her hand flick thing again and brought another book to his lap. “This is the most extensive book of love spells I have ever read. It has every version out there, not including the homemade variety that you’d find in some families’ grimoires. If you look through them, you’ll notice one thing that’s common…” She made the pages flip—someone had marked areas with black ink so his eyes were drawn there.

  “You can’t make something out of nothing. It won’t work if it’s against the will of someone else,” Bas said.

  “Unless we’re talking about dark magic from a grimoire, then all bets are off. Those spells are hard to control.” Hazel raised her hand. “But if you were cursed, your kitty there would be able to undo it right quick.”

  Bas startled when she said that, looking over his shoulder to see Zeus sitting on the back of the chair. “Where the hell did you come from?”

  Zeus didn’t respond, he just continued to stare at Bas like he’d committed some crime.

  “Creepy cat,” Bas mumbled.

  “He’s a fine looking creature,” Hazel said. “But more importantly, he’s powerful and if you were cursed, he wouldn’t let it stick.”

  “Fine, so what’s going on then? I mean, I’m not acting like myself.”

  “Maybe that’s a good thing,” Hazel said as she stood.

  Bas grumbled a not so nice retort but Hazel ignored him.

  “You’ve got a chance at love here. I know from personal experience that that’s not something you want to take for granted.”

  She left the room and Bas sat back in the chair with a groan. Fuck me! Love wasn’t in his vocabulary for a reason. Love made you act crazy. It made you change life plans. It made you into a fool. Bottom line, love had too much power.

  “Cat, why don’t you help me out, huh? I’m suffering here. This woman is getting to me. I don’t like it.”

  Zeus swatted his head, calling him a dumbass without having to utter a word.

  19

  Mina had never felt so content. She was working on a project that she loved, with animals who needed her, and Bas and Angel were getting along. Each day she’d noticed that the tension and frosty mood was lifting. Even just that morning she walked into her makeshift patio to find Bas and Angel having an actual conversation over a morning coffee. She’d backed up and gone out of sight, not wanting to derail whatever was happening.

  A few minutes later, when Bas suddenly appeared and told her he needed to go up to the intern suite, she’d known he was rattled. It had given her a bit of a laugh after he’d gone because he looked so freaked out, but ultimately she wasn’t worried. He needed time to come to terms with his shifting values. Whenever things you once believed were challenged, you should be thrown off balance. If he needed some time alone to process that, so be it.

  “You think you’ll be able to tell Bas about Edward soon?” Mina asked.

  Angel was setting food out for the cats who were living in the sanctuary. Later, Mina and Bas would build a spell that would set scheduled feedings for all of the animals. Bas said there was a way to do it that would individualize the food orders for each creature and make sure they were the only ones who could eat it. That way she could work in some medicine that was tailored to the needs of each familiar. The spell would deliver it, one less step for her in an already hectic day. Maybe she could even get some volunteers to sort the food bowls and that would free up even more of her time for tending to the familiars. Fictional volunteers that only existed in her head right now but hey, everyone had to have a dream, right?

  “Yes, soon.” Angel’s reply caught Mina off guard. She’d lost herself in her future planning once again, something that was happening more and more lately, especially now that she had Bas working with her. Angel was moving slowly, limping her way across the room to take the final two bowls into the cats.

  “You should get someone upstairs to look over your leg, Angel. I know you don’t want an intervention but some pain relief would help your mobility.”

  “Thank you, Mina.” Angel disappeared into the sanctuary.

  Mina sighed. Thank you, Mina. That was the only way Angel would respond to any suggestion Mina made to ease her suffering. Even some of the herbal remedies Bas had suggested were handled in the same way. Thank you…but no. It was clear to everyone that Angel was suffering, making it seem like Bas’s beliefs held some water. Maybe the Sin Eaters did indulge a little too much in self-sacrifice.

  Angel was in rough shape and Mina wasn’t just talking about the limp. Angel hadn’t removed her cloak in over a week and Mina feared it was because the signs of her suffering showed greatest on her skin. Her hands alone looked more gnarled, less flexible than they had the week before. She was worried about Angel, not yet ready to admit that time was running out quicker than she’d thought it would. Sin Eaters had a life expectancy of thirty; Angel was thirty-four, something Mina had only found out by accident when they were chatting one day last week. So she was past her prime and then some. It was a shock to find out that what little time Mina thought Angel had left was gone. She was living on borrowed time. Mina wished there was something more she could do but Angel just wouldn’t accept any help.

  “I’m back,” Bas announced as he stepped through the doors, startling Mina out of her thoughts. “You ready to get some work done?”

  She rolled her eyes and smiled, her concerns instantly easing. “I was ready an hour ago. Did you get what you needed?”

  “What?” Bas moved behind her, opening and closing cabinets in his search for spell ingredients.

  Mina stopped him with a hand on his arm and pointed toward the cart she’d loaded with all the things they’d need.

  “Oh, right.”

  He looked frazzled, running high on energy, just like when he’d left. “The Sin Eater still around?”

  Mina frowned. “She’s feeding the cats.”

  He nodded, moved closer to Mina, so close that he could have wrapped her in his arms. “Listen, I—”

  “Healer Frank, Healer Knox.” Mother Stone stood at the entrance of the Dungeon, her hands folded in front of her, hair wild as usual and keen eyes moving from Bas to Mina, no doubt noting their proximity.

  Mina took a step away, feeling agitated. “Mother Stone, what a wonderful surprise.” Mina knew she sounded too happy, too cloying but she couldn’t help it. Authority figures always set her off and Mother Stone was the kind of leader who could shrink you to about an inch tall if she wanted to. Not literally of course… Okay, possibly literally. This was the first time she’d ventured down to the Dungeon and suddenly Mina felt like her heart was in her throat, desperate for a nod of approval.

  “I wanted to let you know, personally, that Healer Rose and her team have successfully rescued the Savior familiars from the colony that our patient, Ms. Walker, informed us about.” She shifted a hard look at Bas for a moment and Mina could have sworn he flinched. She felt it like a slap against her skin. That’s all it took—just one look and you were reassessing whether or not you were fit to be in her presence. “I also wanted to see how things were going down here with Healer Frank.”

  Angel came out of the sanctuary at that moment, her cloak hiding any reaction she might have had at seeing Mother Stone in the Dungeon. She bowed though, and stayed down until Mother Stone told her to rise.

  “Angel, good to see you. I’ve been missing your reports these last few nights.”

  Mina was surprised to hear that. Angel always left late and came early but Mina assumed
she was reporting diligently to Mother Stone about Bas’s progress.

  “I’ve been seeking meditative treatments with the others, Mother Stone. I was planning on coming tonight.”

  “That is fine.” Mother Stone nodded, her gaze shifting back to Bas. “By the looks of things, you have settled down here, Healer Frank.”

  “Yes,” Bas mumbled, not elaborating, meeting her eyes unflinchingly. “It’s been a learning experience for me but Healer Knox has been patient.”

  Mina felt a nervous giggle rise up. She hadn’t been patient last night when she’d jumped into the shower with him to give him a blowjob. Her cheeks heated at the memory, her heart ramping up as it usually did when she thought of Bas’s glorious body.

  Mother Stone nodded again, scanning the room. “I’ve been hearing good reports about your work down here as well, Healer Knox.”

  Mina bit back her usual response to being called a Healer and instead said, “Thank you, Mother Stone. We’ve been working on getting the sanctuary ready to transfer all of our current familiars over so that we can be prepared for the Saviors when they arrive. Do you have any idea when we can expect the team back with the animals?”

  “Yes, they estimate they will arrive by the end of the week.” Mother Stone was watching as Angel limped her way toward the cart, intent on moving it into the sanctuary no doubt.

  Three days. Holy shit! Mina had three days to get things ready. “And do you know the state they’re in? The Saviors, are they sick?”

  Mother Stone was frowning, distracted by Angel’s clumsy, slow movements. “Hmm? Oh yes. You’ll want to touch base with your colleague, Healer McKinnon. He’ll be expecting you to scry him by nightfall so he can report in.” She turned to face Angel. “I’d like to have someone take a look at your leg, Angel. That limp is pronounced.”

  Mina sighed inwardly. Thank the goddess, someone with authority would get Angel to accept help.