Free His Witch To Keep (Keepers of the Veil) by Zoe Forward Page A

Affection? “I thought so.”
    “You thought what?” He darted an uncertain glance between her and the road.
    A grin broke across her lips. That wasn’t the look of a man only interested in her for a one-nighter again. He liked her. The phrase repeated in a singsong voice over and over in her head.
    He studied her for a moment, then focused on the stoplight.
    She was more than satisfied by the flush on his cheeks and the hitch in his breathing. She loved she could shake him in a way she suspected no one else could.
    “Let me call our healer.” She removed her cell from the inside jacket pocket and dialed the druid leader, Matt. He answered on the first ring. “Your brother is in bad shape. Where are you?”
    Matt screamed into her ear so loud she had to hold the cell a few inches away from her head. “Damn it. Eli mentioned some of what you were up to. I told him it was suicide. But you’ve had him twisted around your finger forever.”
    “That’s not true.”
    “Liz kidnapped. Eli…did he get shot?”
    “Yes.”
    “The two of you have always been crazy. Are you hurt?”
    “I got shot, but I’ll make it.” Her gaze darted to Alexi, who didn’t glance her way, but the skin over his cheeks tightened. “He really needs you.”
    Matt said, “We’re at Bryce’s place. Can you get here or do we need to send someone?”
    “We’ll get there. Give us a few minutes.” She hung up. “We need to go to Bryce Sinclair’s penthouse. It’s—”
    “I know where it is,” Alexi said.
    “Really?”
    “We’re almost there.”
    “Then why’d you ask where our healer was if you already knew? Isn’t the location of both Sentry leaders information you’d share with the OLM? With that psycho who leads them, Losev? I always thought that guy had a hard-on to kill Bryce.”
    “I never asked where your healer was. I only said you both needed him.” He turned onto the street that led to Bryce’s apartment. He entered a code into the parking garage gate, which rose to admit them.
    She gawked. “How’d you do that? How’d you know the code? What kind of magical skills do you have?”
    He shrugged.
    “That’s it. That’s fucking it. You will answer one of my questions or I’m jumping out of this car right now.” She popped up the lock and opened the door of the moving car.
    He reached across her lap and yanked the door shut. “I might’ve followed you here once. It’s not hard to watch someone else enter a code. Pretty low-tech, in my opinion, for security.”
    “Why didn’t you share this information with your OLM boss ?”
    He glanced at her, hesitation in his gaze. “My loyalty has never been to the OLM.”
    “What do you mean? Why do you work for them, then?”
    “We will discuss why, just not right now. Eli is dying.” He pulled in front of the elevator. “Wait here. Let me get Eli in the elevator first.” He lifted Eli out of the backseat.
    “I don’t need help.” She opened her door.
    “Please, don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
    Her exit wasn’t the smooth hop she’d envisioned. An onlooker would think her drunk with the amount of door clutching and pulling required to get her on two feet. Oh, my, it was a long walk to the elevator. One step away from the car and her head swirled with vertigo.
    Alexi caught her before she went down. “Damn it. I told you to wait.” He carried her to the elevator. Before he put her down, he frowned and gazed down at her, his expression unreadable.
    Hurt and scared, she realized she didn’t trust anyone other than him to keep her safe and help her with Liz’s kidnappers. The druids were compromised. There was at least one mole that had broken into her house. She might have major personal issues with Alexi, but he’d protect her. He might even help her, if she let him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his chest again. “Don’t leave me.”
    “You need your healer.”
    She looked up at him.
    His eyes darted to the