Witchmate (Skeleton Key) Read Free Page B

around, assessing the tribe members who had come out to greet them when they returned. “Who do we trust?”
    “I trust you.” And he meant it. Even though Toland had a twin brother, Keir and he had always been close since childhood. “I trust your judgment.”
    Toland nodded sharply. He pulled his shoulders back and lifted his chin. “I will not fail you, Domiscin San ,” he said using Keir’s formal title of leadership for the San fe Sang.
    Keir put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I know you won’t.”
    About a half hour later, Lis rejoined Keir and Toland. “I treated the large burn wounds on her back and the knot on her head. She’s unconscious again. Her pulse is strong, and her breathing is normal. Or at least I think so.”
    “You think so?” Keir asked.
    “She is neither witch nor wolfkind, I have no idea what’s normal for her.” Lis studied Keir. “Your scent clings to her, which is unusual, except for—” He frowned. “Are you feeling the mating call?”
    Was he feeling the call? Or what his kind called the choosing ? Before he could answer, Toland came to his rescue.
    “Bah,” he said. “Not with her, Lis. The woman is not wolf, so she must be witch. No other kind has existed in all our history.” He paused, his eyes widening. “Maybe she’s the witch in the woods.”
    Keir laughed. “That tale meant to frighten wolf pups? You can’t be serious.”
    The Korridan Forest’s west boundary was marked by the River of Tears that was two hundred feet wide. Its rushing rapids made it beyond treacherous. The river ran through both witch and wolfkind territory and ended at Widow Falls, a waterfall so fierce and huge none could cross it. No one who looked over the edge would see the bottom of the falls, either.
    Wolfkind elders and parents told the younglings about “the witch in the wood” whose grief ran so deep with loss that her tears created the river, and if a child went down there, she would cast a spell to catch and drown them. Keir knew it was a scare tactic, but even so, he always felt a bone chill when he traveled close to the area.
    “What do you think, Lis?” asked Toland.
    Lis shrugged, his massive shoulders almost pinching his ears. “If she were made of magic, she would be gone. No magic is self-sustaining.”
    “She was burned by the magic. If she were a creature of the witches, she would have absorbed the wave of lightning,” Keir said. Why was he defending her? Why this stranger who, other than carrying her for many miles, he knew nothing about? Because she made his heart pound and his body rejoice? It wasn’t a good enough reason.
    “Hmm.” Toland tapped his chin. “I don’t know.”
    Lis, shorter than Toland, but wider in build, circled Keir’s second, checking him over for signs of fresh wounds. Toland took Lis’s hand when the healer tried to push up the bottom of his shirt. He looked down at doctor, his gaze suddenly gentle. “Don’t fuss, Lis. Go check on the others. I think Mika took a wound to her thigh.”
    “Tell me the truth, Tol. Are you hurt?” Lis asked.
    Toland shook his head. “You can check for yourself privately later.”
    Lis smiled. “I’ll hold you to it.” He took his hand back from Toland and gave Keir a respectful nod before taking his leave to help the others.
    “When will you take him as your mate, Toland?”
    His second raised an eyebrow. “When you take a mate, I’ll take a mate.” He frowned. “Was Lis serious about the choosing? You feel it for her?”
    “I feel something for her. I cannot name what.”
    “She’s dangerous to us. To you. Do not give in to your urges.”
    Easier said than done, my friend. He cursed his body for being drawn to a woman who should not exist. But despite what he’d told Toland, he could not ignore the well-known signs of the mating call. For whatever reason, the beautiful stranger had elicited this primordial response. He knew better than to try and fight it. But how would he