"Don't answer it," I plead.

"She's a witch," Basil responds, his hand hovering reluctantly over the door handle. "I can see her aura, but something isn't... right."

"Then don't fucking answer. You remember what Maddox said. Our safety is more important than your need for adventure right now."

"She could be in trouble. What's one witch against the two of us anyways?"

I can't escape the feeling of my stomach tying itself into knots. He was right about something feeling off, so why the fuck is he being so stupid? He turns the knob slowly and I find myself backing up into the wall behind me, hoping to disappear into it.

The door opens, revealing a tiny, five-foot nothing girl in a floor length, red velvet robe. She was soaked to the bone and she looked around the inside of the cabin with wild eyes as Basil ushered her into the living room.

"Hey, are you okay?" He greets her.

She flinches at the sound of his voice and doesn't answer. Instead, her eyes lock onto mine, widening in shock at first before narrowing suspiciously. There's recognition in her gaze and I tilt my head at her, trying to figure out how she could possibly know me.

"Do I know you?" I ask her calmly, despite the gymnastics my insides are doing.

She shakes her head no. The motion causes her hood to fall around her shoulders, exposing her neck and the mark there sends a shiver down my spine. A single red poppy, tattooed where her mate mark would be if she had one. It's familiar, but I can't exactly place where I've seen it before.

"But you know me."

She hesitates, but eventually nods her head yes.

"Why are you here?" I continue to prod.

I hope the answers will ease my nerves, but the girl doesn't seem inclined to give me any. Basil moves to come stand next to me and the girl flinches again, but her attention seems to keep gravitating towards the fireplace as she shifts anxiously on her feet.

"You can go sit by the fire, warm yourself up," Basil offers.

He shoots her a genuine smile, and even though her guard is still up as she looks at him, she takes eager strides towards the fireplace and happily takes a seat, stretching her palms out to warm them against the open flame.

She doesn't take her wet robe off and I can't imagine it's comfortable, but she just seems grateful for the warmth.

You shouldn't have done that, Basil. She needs to leave.

Oh, please. I've met pixies bigger than this girl. She's not a threat.

Did you see that tattoo on her neck? A Poppy, and I recognize it from somewhere. Something is wrong. Just because she's small, doesn't mean she isn't capable of being dangerous. Maddox and August will lose their shit when they find out we've let her in.

Then I'll take the blame and let your darling Alpha punish me the way he seems fit, but I'm not going to let this poor witch suffer the storm alone.

Basil gives me a glare that says "I dare you to tell me I'm wrong" and walks past me to go sit next to her. He tries to chat quietly to her, making small talk and telling her all about his mate and our coven even though she never responds.

I opt to sit on the couch, the furthest point away from her where I can still keep an eye on her as I try to mind link Maddox and tell him what's happening. There's a weird wall up between us, one that's obvious neither of us put up.

I try to push past it, to call out to Maddox as hard as I can, but it won't budge. It's like our bond has been severed, only instead of unbearable pain, all I feel is... emptiness between us.

When I turn my focus back onto the room around me, fully intent on telling Basil what I just experienced, I notice the girl is looking straight at me. Basil is still chatting away, oblivious to the malicious intent written all over this girl.

"I'm sorry," she tells me, her voice soft and breathy.

She takes a small satchel from underneath her robes and before I can even stand up, she pulls out a pinch of some sort of powder and blows it in Basil's face. I scream as he drops backwards onto the floor, unconscious, but I don't know what to do.

If I get too close, she'll obviously do the same to me. I try to summon my magic the same way I've seen my mother, a nature witch like me, do it countless times, the same way Hecate taught me to channel the elements in all of our training, but to no avail.

Not only can I not access it, I'm completely blocked off from it, the same way I was from my bond with Maddox.

"What have you done?" I gasp, my eyes stinging with hot tears as she takes measured steps towards me.

"What I had to."