Cassidy slowly opened her eyes, adjusting to the bright moonlight filtering through the trees. She was grateful to be alive, but she had no idea what kind of damage she had done to her body by saving Giles. She tried to get up and realized she couldn’t move her legs.
“Cassidy, dearest, are you finally awake?” Giles asked, leaning over her.
“How do you feel?” she whispered, searching his face for any kind of pain, but finding none.
“I’m well,” he said, softly moving her hair off her forehead and placing a solemn kiss there. “Thanks to you.”
She smiled tremulously. “I’m so glad I could help,” she said. “I didn’t want you to die.”
“And I didn’t want to die,” he said, “not when I’d just found you.”
It was worth it, she thought. My legs are nothing compared to his life.
Still, the idea of never walking through her beloved orchard again, never running down a hill…never chasing after her child. Her eyes filled with tears and overflowed down her cheeks.
“Darling,” Giles asked immediately. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t feel my legs,” she cried.
He looked down at her and chuckled.
What kind of cruel beast was he to laugh at her?
“Giles, this is not funny,” she cried.
“Oh, darling, of course it’s not,” he said, placing his arms underneath her shoulders and sitting her up. “Well, not yet.”
She looked down on her legs and saw Orion sitting across them, looking out into the pasture.
“I tried to move him,” Giles explained. “But he wouldn’t budge.”
“Orion?” Cassidy called.
Orion turned immediately and leapt into Cassidy’s arms. He licked her face and neck while his tail wagged his entire body. She buried her face in his fur and cried with relief.
“I have him back,” she sobbed. “How?”
Giles shrugged. “I don’t know. Magic?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, hugging Orion. “It just matters that you’re both safe.”
Giles stood up and brought Cassidy with him. “Orion, sit,” he commanded, and the dog immediately obeyed.
He clasped her hands in his and searched her face. “You saved my life,” he said. “You not only freed me from the spell, but you risked your life to save my own. How can I repay something like that?”
Slipping her hands out of his, she stepped forward and linked her arms around his neck. “You risked your life for me, and more than that, you gave me the faith I needed to save you. How can I repay something like that?”
He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her even closer. “I suppose we’ll have to be indebted to each other forever,” he said, placing a soft kiss on her lips. “And have to pay on the debt every day for the rest of our lives.
She smiled and nodded. “I think that’s a very good place to start.”
He chuckled softly as he pulled her closer to seal the deal with a kiss.
The End
About Terri Reid
Terri Reid is the author of the Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery series. She lives in the same area of the United States as her Mary O’Reilly character, Northwest Illinois. She lives on five acres of rolling land in a 100 year-old farmhouse, with her husband, children, dogs, cats and several dozen chickens (well, they live in the barn) and several good-natured ghosts.
You can find her books on e-books through Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other e-book distributors. Her first book is Loose Ends – A Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery (Book One).
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She loves to hear from her readers. She can be reached at [email protected]
EVERY WITCH WAY BUT WICKED
© Copyright, 2011
All rights reserved.
AUTHORS’ NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Published by Dane House
Cover art by Amanda Hocking
Compiled and edited by Barbra Annino
Every Witch Way but Wicked Page 19