Free The Doctor Witch (The Ward Witches) by Lauren McMinn

was walking in some kind of forest with thick evergreens. It was pleasantly warm, and the sun beat down on her face. When she looked around, she saw him. His long hair was blowing in the breeze, and his green eyes flashed. With the sun framing him at his back, he looked like an angel. Well, more like some kind of avenging angel, but just the same.
    But when she tried to step toward him, he ran. Through the tree cover, which had gotten worse since she started trying to catch him, she couldn’t see him at all, just hear his feet. Then she couldn’t even hear that anymore.
    She woke up gasping for breath. What had just happened? She went into the bathroom for a drink and tried to calm her nerves. She even tried to get back to sleep, but what she did get was restless and full of images she couldn’t quite make out.
    The next morning, she woke up a little less than ready to face the day. She had gotten up especially early so she wouldn’t have to see Leo, especially not after that dream, which was still as vivid as if she had actually run through the forest. She packed a simple lunch of a prosciutto and chicken sandwich with a homemade sauce on the side, with a side dish of carrots. She left a note next to a pile of pancakes, and she set off for the Coven House.
    She knew she was really early, but Justin still answered the door before she knocked. “You realize lessons start at nine, right?”
    “ Yeah.” She blushed.
    “ Then why are you here at seven thirty?”
    “ More to the point, why are you up at seven thirty?”
    “ I was going to the gym before the rest of the house wakes up.”
    “ Fair enough. If there’s somewhere I can sit, I’ll just wait until nine. I brought a book.”
    “ No way. Now that there’s a beautiful woman here, I’ll leave the gym for tomorrow.” He winked and brought her back to the room they had been in the day before. “Really, explain why you’re here so early,” he led her into the sitting room they had been using yesterday.
    “ Why don’t I meet my potential teachers first, and I’ll explain it on the way out?”
    “ No way, babe. Your evasion makes me wicked curious. Besides, I doubt they’re awake and ready to go this early.”
    “ That’s a good point.”
    “ So spill. It’s just you and me.”
    She didn’t know how much to tell him.
    “ I don’t need to be an air witch to tell what’s going on in your head. You’re torn, wondering whether you’re in love with me and should just confess or if you should just kiss me and let me figure it out myself.”
    She laughed and jabbed his arm. “You wish.”
    “ Alas, you wound me.” He made a show of grabbing his chest and leaning back in the chair.
    “ Seriously, though, I’m having a hard time puzzling out some strange emotions. It’s not just when I’m awake, either, but when I sleep as well. You know,” Skylar jumped upon an idea. “You may actually be able to help me.”
    “ That’s what I’m here for.” He was all seriousness now, knowing that she needed an ear to talk to more than she needed jokes. He sat down, and she did the same, perched on the edge of the couch.
    “ I’m having guy problems. I’m not used to having guy problems, either. I hate to be like this, but I usually have a few dates, some sex, and a month later, I’m ready to move on. So I do, and I don’t look back. Yet I’ve never really, you know, meshed with any of them, no matter how much I tried. So I don’t understand what’s going on with him at all.”
    “ It’s because you’re a witch.”
    “ Come again?”
    “ Part of being a witch means that you have an instinctual need to find someone who calls to you magically. It could be another witch, or even a non-witch. But this attraction is strong. I hate to be like this, but you’ll really never be satisfied with anyone whose soul doesn’t align with yours. There is usually only one out there for each person, so the likelihood of meeting one of them is rather slim, and