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What if she’s working with the Heechu hunters? That dark coven has been a nuisance for centuries, never giving up their ill-fated vengeance against the loveable fluff-ball library protectors. Miko already knew Goosey laid golden eggs. Of course, if one grew up reading, maybe that wasn’t so unusual.

I blinked a few times, watching the purple magic around Miko shift into a soft lavender shade and dissipate completely as I came out of a daze. Huff rolled over to me, then climbed up and sat on my knee. The position reminded me of how a dog sits on its rump with the back legs beneath them and the front ones balancing their upper body. Although, Huff was so damn fluffy that I couldn’t make out his actual legs, just his paws from the point where the joints met them.

“All done, Baney,” he proclaimed, rubbing his closed eye with a paw, then he prodded the side of my hand with his nose, also hidden within his fur along with his mouth, until I flipped it over on my thigh. Huff hopped into my open palm, and I lifted him to my shoulder.

“Thanks, mate.”

I stood, then bent at the waist and scooped her into my arms, Huff gripping the shaggy fur at the nape of my neck with his tails tightly, before making my way down the spiraling staircases to the ground floor and over to the reading nook in the back corner of the library. My fingertips slid along the nondescript spine of books, locating the set that would unlock the hidden door and tipping the books in sequence, triggering the mechanism.

I stepped over the threshold into her apartment through the secret entrance. No one knew of it, even the previous inhabitant, only the Heechu and I.

Fuck, it was good to be home.

I had been sent into multiple fairytales back-to-back and had no clue how long I was gone this time. I shrugged. It didn't matter, I'd ask Huff later. The only thing that mattered right now was seeing to Miko’s needs and then getting as far away from her as possible.

“Baney,” Huff said, gently placing a paw on the side of my neck, “you know we can sense it right? The woman is your mate.”

My shook my head and nearly knocked him off in the process, setting her down on the comforter, then walking into the bathroom and grabbing one of the hand towels before soaking half of it in warm water. A little huff sounded right next to my ear.

“She can't be my mate, Huff. Remember? I told you that when they banished me something within my mind fractured. There's no way of telling what exactly happened but either way I am damaged goods. I can’t to tell if anyone was my mate at least not with certainty.”

One of his tails squeezed my shoulder as he hugged my neck with the other two and nuzzled his face into me, saying nothing but offering me comfort all the same.

“How long was I gone this time?” I asked him, striding over to the bed and pushing down my wayward thoughts and instinctive urges when it came to this tiny woman. Just get her clean and move on. Freddy was about to interject, but I mentally batted him away over his bullshit for the day.

“Now that was just rude,” Freddy spat.

“It was a while, at least a month.”

My heart dropped to the bottom of my rib cage. “A godsdamn month?” I whispered. “There has to be a way to stop these witches. Did the library sense anything amiss?”

“There were a few flickers of magic that brushed the wards, but nothing more than that.”

I frowned. “Hmm. I wonder if it was a test. It can’t be a coincidence that these innocent brushes of magic coincide with my repeated capture.” My gaze drifted to Miko and hardened, a surge of resentment stinging my chest.

How dare she come into my life and give me hope.

“Baney,” Huff said, growly, gurgling, and nuzzling into my neck harder.

“No,” I growled, then gently picked him up and set him on the bedspread. “I can't trust her, and I can't think straight when I'm around her, but I also don't want the fucking witches sending her into any more stories. Or, if she is somehow involved, entering them and taking more of their enemies with her in the process.” I gently swiped the soft cloth over her neck, following the smeared crimson trail and growling as the blood and flecks of dirt only smeared on her skin.

Huff walked over, tripping on one of his long ears, his slight weight leaving no telltale depressions in the bedspread. I groaned as he looked up at me, gentle reassurance emanating from his lavender eye. He placed two upper paws on her biceps and closed his eye, his three tails fanning out around him.

Miko shifted on the bed, her eyelids fluttering. I backed away a few steps, my talons sinking into the thick carpet. My tail thwapped the carved leg of the nightstand, creating an irregular rhythm the more uneasy I grew.

The Heechu’s lavender magic swirled over her, healing her head wound, then sweeping over her body and erasing all traces of the trials she endured today. “It’s okies. She won't wake yet we have put her in a temporary sleep state while she heals fully. On the outside the injury might look healed, but there is still some internal damage that will take time to absorb the magic.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, clenching my jaw. “How long will she sleep?”

“A day or two,” he explained. “We don't have much experience healing humans, but their anatomy is not all that different from a supernatural’s.”

I nodded, my wings flaring. “I need to fly. Maybe that will help clear the shite out of my skull.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Huff questioned, bouncing lightly on the mattress, his little fluff ball of a body, the very embodiment of cozy comfort.

I shook my head. “No,” I replied, shaking my head, then ran a hand over my face as I realized how harsh my tone was, clearing my throat. Huff didn’t deserve my ire. “I’m an arsehole. Sorry, Fluffball. Thank you for the offer but I’d like to be alone for a bit.”

“Okies. I'll grab Aurey and we’ll watch over her while you’re gone.”