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And of course I have to run into someone. A person who is tall. I can only see his back. A strong back. Then he turns around, and oh my God…
He’s just right.
Hair that is dark. Eyes that are even darker. A beard that is cleanly shaved and skin that is golden. And he’s speaking to me.
“Mate,” he whispers, and his eyes get a little bigger. I think his voice has an accent, and it sounds like Russian.
Hold on. Damn. He said “mate.”
Why do werewolves always mess things up for me? First that cocky Alpha Jaxon got me involved in his fight with my mom, and now this guy? After that, I don’t want anything to do with werewolves.
I tell myself not to think about that right now. Think about something else. Like that one strand of hair that fell right in front of his eyes…
Nope! I’m going.
I mumble, “I have to go,” and turn to leave. He grabs me and pulls me to his chest, trying to keep me close. I wouldn’t normally let this happen, but I can’t seem to stop him.
He mumbles to himself, “You’re human,” but I still hear it. Thanks, universe! Because my magic blocks my scent from other supernatural beings, he still thinks I’m human. It’s interesting that he can still tell I’m his partner.
Hey, buddy. That sounds bad to me.
“Councilman,” a shorter, rounder sure cuts in. “It looks like the other attackers have been stopped in some way. They were mysteriously left with broken spines, if you can believe that—”
The wolf holding me growls to show that he doesn’t like being distracted, and it reminds me once more why I hate these dirty, possessive animals. Why the hell is he so mad? I’m the one who is being forced to stay.
It takes me a little longer to realize that my “mate” is not only working with the Council, but is also a High Council Representative. The one werewolf on the Council. The werewolf that might be the growliest and most annoying of them all.
I need to leave this place.
I don’t even say anything; I just push him away and run. I don’t know where I’m going, but I do know that I need to leave this place. The world around me spins and tilts, but I keep going, even with heels on.
The wolf tells me to stop, but I don’t. I can see that he’s chasing me. The only way I can get away is to use a portal. I have about five seconds before he uses his superhuman speed, which I don’t have, and then I’ll be stuck with him.
I can’t tell him that I’m one of the witches he’s looking for. And I know he’s looking for me because that jerk Jaxon told him about the coven attack on his pack. I told him to let me handle it, but they’re still looking for my mom.
I want to be the one to kill her and watch her life fade away as I tell her how worthless and disgusting she is.
I’m sure the High Council wants to find me so I can answer for my “crimes” and help them find my mother as if I knew where she was.
I turn down the first alley I see, my heart racing and pounding and screaming. I put all of my energy into making a portal. I don’t care if I end up in a port-a-potty this time; I just need to get away, get away, get away.
I don’t care that the wolf can probably feel my strong magic. He has no idea that the witch he’s looking for just showed up and took his friend or something.
I really don’t care.
I think about Kevin’s apartment and the clean sheets and ice cream waiting for me.
And I go through the portal.
I come back into the bedroom and almost cry with relief. I take off the stilettos and the tight dress that doesn’t leave much to the imagination.
I throw them both away. I don’t need to be reminded of tonight. Thanks to Kevin’s black credit card, I can legally buy whatever I want.
I guess I’m stealing, but Kevin is a s*x offender and I don’t care. To stay out of trouble, I have to use as little magic as possible in public.
I put on a matching set of silk pajamas, grab the rocky road ice cream, and watch The Bachelor, which is my favorite guilty pleasure.
The guy and the girls on that show are hot.
When I watch girls cry because they didn’t get a rose from their “dream guy,” I can’t help but think about the wolf. My friend. I don’t like calling him that. I don’t even know this guy, and he’s supposed to be my future.
No, he won’t want anything to do with me once he knows who I am. And I don’t want anything to do with him…
That’s what I try to tell myself.
As I think about it more, a plan starts to form in my mind. A dumb, careless plan, but I’ve been dumb and careless lately.
I might be able to hide my smell around him and act like a person. Then I can tell that I don’t like how he growls and wants to own me, so I can say no and move on with my life.
Sure, that sounds like a good idea.
But how do I act like a person?
Simple. I’ll just have to kidnap my favorite person and make her teach me how to be “scared” of my partner in a cute way.
I’ll look for Calla tomorrow.
I’m going to watch The Bachelor tonight.
Calla’s point of view
The new year is over. I can proudly say that I have been indoctrinated as Luna and have done some good for the pack. I was really worried that I would do or say something that would make me look like “the human who didn’t understand werewolf culture,” but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was for the pack to help me learn the ropes of my new job.
Jaxon was very patient with me and always took the time to explain the little things about his job that I needed to learn again. For instance, one of his many jobs is to keep an eye on the pack’s home and make sure everything is clean and up to date with renovations. He also runs the food distribution, and he had to tell me that werewolves eat a lot more than people do, which I knew but wasn’t thinking about at the time. The same thing happened with the size weights and pack training equipment that needed to be ordered.
I help him with the boring paperwork that comes with being the Alpha of a big werewolf pack, like dealing with everyday complaints and fixes around the house.
We have had to deal with the consequences of the coven attack. There are still more formal meetings with some members of the High Council to talk about Marlowe, who is on the run.
She took Maisie hostage and killed Felix, then she left town through a portal and never came back. The few members of the coven who are still alive are either in pack prison or dead from the attack. What should we do with the other coven members? That’s another hard choice Jaxon and I have to make. It’s a tough call because we don’t want to let them go and cause more trouble and spread hate about people, which could make things very dangerous. We also can’t keep them in jail forever. It’s not fair. It’s not their fault that they didn’t get to learn another way because they were raised with certain ideas.
I’ve been to the pack prison many times to check on the witches and warlocks who are still there. There are only eight of them left. Their leader has left them to fend for themselves in werewolf territory, so they must feel very lost.
I spend time with the “prisoners” and make sure they have enough food and are treated well. Jaxon doesn’t like the idea of me going there so often, but I know it’s what Felix would have wanted.
Felix grew up with these people, and even though he used to say he didn’t care about anyone, I knew they were the only family he had. There was no way his awful mother was family. If that were the case, she wouldn’t have killed him.
There are times when it really hits me that I’ll never see him again. I’ll never make fun of him for being dishonest; I’ll never see his smile change his whole face. He’ll never be able to use his magic to teleport us to random cities like he said he could.
The worst part is that I never got to say goodbye. I haven’t heard from Elise either. She took his body somewhere, and I don’t know where.
I’m sure she knows that the High Council is looking for her. Elise told Jaxon and me that we couldn’t look for Marlowe because she wanted to be the one to kill her mother. We had to tell the High Council about the coven incident, and they became interested in Elise along the way. Timothy, the werewolf representative, was especially interested because he was worried about how easily a powerful witch and warlock could attack and hurt me, the Luna of our pack. He didn’t want this to happen to any other pack.
I’m getting a little annoyed with the Council’s growing interest in and wariness of Marlowe and Elise. I hope the High Council doesn’t put the two witches in the same group. They might be related by blood, but their morals are very different.
I think they do, at least.
I have to think about Maisie on top of all these other stressful changes. I was worried that she would have some kind of long-term emotional damage after she was kidnapped. I was so happy that she was making friends with other kids at the pack daycare and finally acting her age when she met Maxwell. I thought all kids her age acted that way, but she has always been a little clingy and emotional.
The daycare workers told my mom and me that it’s not how they usually act. We had a hard time talking about it because we didn’t know she might have some developmental delays. They said it had nothing to do with the kidnapping and that it might be a good idea to have Maisie tested to see if there is any way to help her learn better in the future or to help her deal with her feelings.
You can probably guess that I’m feeling overwhelmed.