I catch her in my human arms when I shift just in time, her eyes meeting mine as a soft smile tugs her lips.
“See?” she whispers, a hand lifting to my cheek. “This is why I need you. To catch me when I fall.”
“I'll always be here to catch you, Willow,” I say with a lighthearted chuckle, noticing our friends moving closer. “But tonight, I think we all needed you.”
“That was brilliant, Willow!” Yvonne exclaims, clapping her palms together as Rissa and Brooks come over to help Willow to her feet.
The witches throw their arms around Willow, pulling her into a warm embrace. I step back and smile proudly at my mate, but I notice how tired she is, her body frail in their arms.
She used her powers too much tonight, and she needs to rest. But when Elias comes over and whispers that we need to talk, I know I can't be the one taking Willow home.
Everything that's happened tonight calls for a meeting, so I ask the ladies to take Willow home. Aurora says she'll hang back to reignite the trap to keep this area protected and keep the demons out.
“I'll be back soon,” I tell Willow as she passes with Yvonne and Rissa. She stops and turns her full attention to me, smiling with sleepy eyes.
“I think I'm gonna pass out the moment I hit the pillow,” she giggles softly. “I'm exhausted.”
I step forward, curling a hand at the back of her head and drawing her closer, pressing a chaste kiss on her forehead. “You don't need to wait up for me, angel. I'll see you tomorrow morning, then. Rest well. You were amazing tonight.”
Willow smiles at me, standing on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on my cheek. “Good night, Thane,” she says as she steps back, then joins the witches waiting for her at the ingress of the woods.
“That was impressive,” Elias praises even before I can turn around, his voice thick with pride.
“I know, right?” I grin as I glance over my shoulder at Willow, just as she and the other witches disappear beyond the trees back to the main village.
“She carried you back to my place,” Elias says casually as he places his arm over Aurora's shoulders, inspecting me with that keen look in his eyes.
“That's impossible,” I scoff with a nervous chuckle following. “Have you seen my size compared to Willow's? There's no way—”
“There is, actually, dude,” Brooks fists my shoulder with a grin. “She carried you back using her powers. Riss has a theory.”
“I think we all do,” Dawson adds with a thoughtful nod. “Think about it, Thane. Willow turned those demons to ashes. That's something the others couldn't do. You know this.”
I gulp hard, nodding slowly. “Yeah. I guess you're right. But what does any of it mean, anyway?”
“Well, the others and I suspect that there's more to our visions than what we've seen so far,” Aurora suggests. “What we saw tonight was amazing…turning the demons to ashes like that. Willow's extraordinary power may be the ultimate key to defeating the demons. But no one else has had more visions to confirm it.”
“Yeah, it's like Yvonne's visions stopped altogether,” Dawson says, and Brooks nods.
“The last vision Rissa had was when Willow arrived. It's like Willow coming back paused our clues, stopped our visions,” Aurora says.
Maybe that's why Willow has been resistant to exploring our mate bond—she's afraid of her own powers. Afraid of what she saw in her nightmares.
“Willow said she's been having nightmares,” I offer with a shrug. “But she hasn't told me what they're about, except that I die. Which already almost happened. I don't think it's linked.”
“Maybe, maybe not…” Dawson ponders as he cocks his head to the side. “You have slept with her already, right?”
That earns him a fist to his shoulder, not playful, but with enough force to knock him backward.
“I'm just playing, bro!” he protests with a sneaky grin.
I shake my head at him in disbelief, though deep down, I know that it's what needs to happen.
Perhaps what she'd been seeing in her nightmares was a foretelling of what happened to me at the lake earlier this evening. Still, if her presence has paused the other witches’ visions, perhaps our answer lies in Willow having one that will guide us toward our next steps.
But there must be another way to unlock her visions. One that proves to her that I can be there for her, like I promised. One that doesn't scatter her emotional state, but rather has her opening up willingly.
Then it hits me.
