Everwild (The Healer Series, #1) by Kayla Jo

alone right now,
Willow. If someone tracked you—”
    “I can handle it,” she said curtly.
    He smirked at her and crossed his arms. “Yea,
I saw how well you ‘handled’ it against Hekate.”
    “What you saw and what you think you saw are
two different things,” she retorted, unable to confess the fact
that she was more than grateful for his rescue. In fact, if it
hadn’t been for him, she would probably be dead right now. Call it
what it was, but she just didn’t want to admit it to him how
vulnerable and desperate she really was. Why did it have to be
Declan to rescue her, anyway? Where were all the other
warlocks?
    He sighed. “You’re so stubborn.”
    “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Willow said
and settled back into the soft pillows.
    “I’m going to get someone. If anything
happens…just scream.”
    “Oh geez, thanks,” Willow said sarcastically,
“I didn’t know that’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re being
attacked.”
    Declan laughed and shook his head, walking
out of the bedroom. He left the door wide open and light from the
hallway streamed into the room lighting up the shadowy areas.
    Willow took a moment to look around the
bedroom and immediately grew uncomfortable. This was Declan’s room,
she was sure of it. Just by the décor alone, it was obvious. There
was a laptop in the corner on a desk and an HDTV hanging on the
wall in front of her. He had dark hardwood floors and his room was
painted a deep green, except for a large yellow lightening bolt
that flashed across the room every few seconds. It was charmed to
do that, but she couldn’t help but think this was a pretty cool
room. Willow was never allowed technology, and felt a twinge of
jealously at his fancy gadgets.
    Then, an even more disturbing thought filled
her head. She was sitting in Declan’s bed. His bed nearly took up
half the room it was so big. He had a warm, fluffy green comforter
and several white and gold pillows. She could easily drift asleep
in here. Willow rubbed her eyes and paused. Her arms were moving!
Willow’s upper body had finally recovered from the extraction and
had gained back some strength. She drew a deep breath and squished
herself between two large pillows in the center of his bed.
Sleepiness clung to her like a sedative drug. If only she closed
her eyes for just a second….
    “Willow,” a voice called her from above. She
felt arms shaking her shoulders. She didn’t open her eyes or budge.
This bed was too comfortable, like it contained some sort of
sleeping spell. Willow wasn’t ready to wake up yet. She didn’t even
know how long she’d been asleep, but she didn’t care. It was
extremely relaxing. She didn’t want to open her eyes; they still
burned from lack of sleep. In fact, she could easily sleep for
another twelve hours or more she was that exhausted. It must’ve
been part of the healing process; rest was essential.
    “Go away, Declan,” she moaned groggily and
tried rolling away from his persistent attempts to wake her up.
    “You know, I’ve always wanted a witch chick
in my bed,” Declan said sultrily above her, lowering his voice to
sound sexy. Willow’s eyes instantly shot open. He was smiling with
his perfect teeth. “Gotcha,” he said then glanced over his shoulder
as a small, slender woman came into view. Declan stepped aside and
Willow immediately knew it was his mother. She was short and small,
but beautiful with large hazel eyes and the same Chesnutt colored
hair as Declan. Hers was wavy, though, and fell down her shoulders.
There were subtle caramel highlights that caught the light when she
moved. She was very pretty indeed.
    “Willow, this is my mom Millicent. Mom, this
is Willow Tre—I mean, Willow Rose,” Declan said and looked at her,
humor lighting his face. Willow bit her tongue in order to suppress
the smart comment that almost escaped her mouth. She wanted to act
mature in front of the wife of the most powerful warlock in the
Emerald