Page 27 of Reclaiming His Lost Mate (Secret Legacy #3)
S elina
As I sipped my coffee, I let my gaze wander around the boutique, each corner filled with the vibrant hues of handpicked herbs and enchanted tinctures.
It was only three days since Alexis had returned to the Shadow Moon Pack, yet it felt like he’d been gone for weeks.
I’d told him I’d miss him, but this hollow in my chest was deeper than I thought it would be.
Mia, too, who had already missed him while he’d been up the mountains, kept asking when he’d be back.
Yesterday, when I’d picked her up from school, I’d watched her scan the parents waiting outside the school door, only for her eyes to land on me, her little shoulders drooping and chest deflating; it was hard to see her miss Alexis so much as it only made what was constantly on my mind harder to debate.
Alexis’s words played through my head, as they had since he’d left, “I want to take you and Mia back to the Shadow Moon Pack.”
The stomach tightened now just as it had then.
I’d told him my reservations—I didn’t want to give up my shop, the thriving business that I’d built from the ground up, with Lyvia, who meant the world to me.
Did I want to uproot me and Mia from the life I loved here?
I knew I should talk things through with Lyv.
I’d only told her Alexis had had to go away on pack business for a bit.
I felt restless, a nervous kind of energy thrumming through me.
I played with the necklace around my neck; I wore my Aventurine stone that signified the essence, knowing I needed Igaluk’s guidance in the big decision weighing on me.
Once again, I was letting the matter take up too much of my time, idly staring around at the shelves of herbs, glowing in the soft morning light, and feeling that ache as I thought about packing them away and leaving here.
I sighed, suddenly yearning for a double shot, not just for the caffeine but for the raw energy it would give me to face the day.
I really needed to get myself together. Tomorrow was the new moon; the day before a new moon was always a busy sales day—morning and afternoon—with witches and a few shifters wanting to harness Igaluk’s new moon for its potency.
I went over to my most central display, the new formula of frostvine tincture that I’d been working on for a while in pride of place.
The frostvine leaves were rare, and I had high hopes both my tinctures and the leaves themselves would catch the eyes of the discerning witches and shifters shopping today, ready to harness the energy of the herb in their spells and self-care.
With that in mind, I opened the tester pots and the tubs of the frostvine leaves, ensuring the delicate scent would be on display.
No doubt, too, the agglikkuk would be in high demand still. Many of Matsuna’s residents and those belonging to local towns had visited the last few days once word had spread that I’d restocked it.
As if I’d manifested a customer with my thoughts, the bell above the door dinged. But, as I turned to greet them, my stomach bottomed out. I knew that gait all too well.
Marissa.
She sauntered in, dark hair twisted into a perfect bun, the epitome of polished poise.
A smile danced on her perfectly-lined lips, though the sparkle in her dark eyes was far from genuine.
“Selina, so this is where you’ve been,” she said.
“Well, isn’t this cute?" Her nose scrunched slightly in disdain .
My eyes narrowed, my instincts kicking into high alert.
Marissa hadn’t bothered to reach out to me ever since I’d left the Nightwing Pack.
The fact that she’d found her way to my door now couldn’t mean anything good.
But one thing was for sure: I wasn’t going to play the cat-and-mouse game she’d engaged me in back in the Nightwing Pack.
I wasn’t the same person I had been then.
It may not mean anything to Marissa, but I loved my boutique and had worked damn hard for it.
Matsuna was my home, too. Besides, I was a mother now, and the sight of my callous sister set off all my protective instincts.
I thanked Igaluk for Mia being safe at school.
With any luck, she would never meet Marissa.
With that thought in mind, I gritted out, "What do you want, Marissa?"
Marissa stopped short in the center of the room by my display of frostvine products. “Imagine my surprise when I heard from a friend that my Alexis had seen you while he was here."
Her Alexis? Bullshit.
I knew Marissa all too well not to catch the desperation in her eye despite her feigned confidence as she stared me down. The mention of a friend didn’t track either; Marissa didn’t have friends, only followers.
She plowed on, “Believe me, I take no pleasure in coming to this backwater place, but I thought I’d warn you to stay away from Alexis. Our father sanctioned our union, and apparently, you still need telling not to sniff around what doesn’t belong to you.”
I noticed, for all her feigned composure, Marissa’s hands were fisted at her side as if she couldn’t conceal the anger roiling off of her. She seemed to realize it, too and drew her hands behind her back.
A surge of old hurt slammed into me, but I stood resolute.
I recalled Alexis’s struggle to break free from the dark magic Marissa had bound him with—every effort he made to distance himself from her grasp.
The last thing Alexis wanted was Marissa.
Besides, I knew from Leah and Kyle, the Luna and Alpha of the Moonlight Pack, that Marissa and Alexis’s relationship, as well as his alliance with my father, Lucien, had been dissolved years ago.
My eyes flashed with anger, possessiveness suffusing my voice.
“You can’t play games with me, Marissa. Alexis fought to be free of you.
” My voice trembled slightly with a mix of anger and protectiveness.
“What’s between him and me is none of your business.
But you won't succeed in manipulating him or me again.”
Anger seared through me that once again, she dared to walk into my town and my shop and talk down to me. I came out from behind the counter and, with purposeful steps, strode toward her. “Get out of my shop.”
My words seemed to hit home as her dark eyes became like black ice. The air thickened, chilling me to the bone, and my heart hammered as I drew myself up. I was determined to do whatever I had to, even if it meant fighting Marissa.
Her lips twisted into a smirk, and she stepped back. “Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. Besides, it’s not like there’s anything worth hanging around here for,” she added, her gaze sweeping over me and my boutique as if it were all so beneath her.
She walked out the door and out of sight. Finally, the breath left my lungs, and I wondered what she’d meant by coming here. Was it really to warn me off Alexis? The tightness in my chest returned as I clutched my necklace, desperate for guidance from the Moon oddess.
Just then, the sense of dread I had been battling was momentarily drowned out by the welcome flurry of customers—witches and shifters eager for their supplies. The morning chatter buzzed around me like a beautiful cleansing spell, wrapping me in a cocoon of normalcy.
But my reprieve was short-lived. Two days later, as I opened the shop, Helen—a local witch—walked in, her countenance clouded with discontent.
“Morning, Helen,” I called out, but as her gaze fixed on me, heaviness fell on me.
“Selina, we need to talk,” she declared, dropping a brown paper bag with vines patterning the material that looked achingly familiar.
My frown deepened. “Is something wrong?”
“Yes, something’s very wrong.” She crinkled her nose with disapproval. “These frostvine leaves are contaminated.”
“Contaminated?” My pulse quickened as I reached for the bag, the scent that wafted toward me now morphing into a noxious weight. “But I’ve used these leaves in all my creams and never had any— ”
“They’re tainted with dark magic,” she interrupted, gravity in her tone.
Shock rippled through me. “What?! Dark magic?”
“When I used them at my altar last night on the new moon, the rebounding magic drained my energy. I could barely get out of bed today,” she continued, urgency lacing her words.
“How?” The violence of despair clutched my heart. "But I’ve crafted numerous products with these leaves and never had any complaints..." I trailed off, unsure of how such a thing could have happened.
Helen’s eyes narrowed, suspicion twisting through me like a knife. “If I find out you’ve sourced these from the Black Moon Pack, I’ll never shop here again and will tell everyone not to either.”
I shook my head, panic surging. “Please, let me investigate this. I swear I sourced them from Tom, as usual! I’ll get to the bottom of this—I promise. In the meantime, I’ll give you a full refund, of course.”
As she exited, a sense of dread curled in my gut, and I knew this mess wasn’t going to disappear.
My heart pounded unsteadily as I cleared the shelves of frostvine leaves and products made with them before placing them on the kitchen table.
Horror spilled through me as realization hit—a realization that felt like ice in my veins.
Marissa.
She had been hovering near the display when I opened the tester pots and lids, the proximity likely the catalyst of this darkness seeping into my stock. It had to be her—she’d used dark magic on Alexis, hadn’t she?
I dialed Lyvia, my heart racing. “Lyv, I think Marissa poisoned my herbs. Helen says the frostvine is laced with dark magic. I made numerous sales yesterday—what if others are affected?”
“Steady on, Selina. Slow down. I’ll be there in a moment. Okay?”
I nodded, forgetting in my panic that Lyvia couldn’t see me. But before my heart could calm, another figure stepped through the door—Penny, a shifter who had purchased one of my frostvine face creams, her expression pale and panic-stricken.
“Selina! I think I'm having a reaction to the face cream!” The distress on her face pierced my heart, the veins on her skin looking discolored and inflamed.
“Shit,” I breathed under my breath, urgency radiating through me. “Penny, I’m so sorry, but I’ve just learned the frostvines are tainted with dark magic. Please, come to the kitchen and sit down.” I took her trembling hand, guiding her into the kitchen, my heart hammering out a frantic rhythm.
A moment later, Lyvia entered. Her presence was a soothing balm. She was calm and composed, her midnight hair in a long braid that framed her determined amber eyes as they flicked between Penny and the frostvine products on the table.
I felt the weight of fear and uncertainty trying to drag me down as if into murky water, but with Lyvia’s presence, I was able to keep afloat. This was my battle now. I would do everything to save them, and I would unravel the dark magic that threatened my shop and community before it was too late.
And in that moment of clarity, as I faced the storm gathering on the horizon, I realized how deeply I loved this place—my shop wasn’t just a business. I had poured my heart and soul into it, and nothing was going to make me give it up, least of all Marissa.
With newfound resolve, I turned to Lyvia, gritting my jaw. “Let’s get to work.” I would try anything and everything that I had to to ensure Marissa’s damage was undone.