Page 77 of The Unbound Witch

Rolling my eyes, I moved past him, avoiding the water. Avoiding the reminder that I’d never feel it again. Not a single drop. “What do you possibly know about wraiths?”

“You… er… I mean, no. They… them. They hang out in the Fire Coven because no one gives them grief.”

He wasn’t wrong. I’d seen several wraiths in the Fire Coven. I didn’t know if he was teasing about the gossiping or not, but it was more of a plan than I had. It also possibly explained my growing curiosity about every little thing. I turned back to the door without a word and surged through. The others stopped mid-conversation to stare.

Torryn lifted a brow, and Atlas shrugged. “Nothing to see here. Carry on.”

The snort of laughter from the captain was not lost on me as we slipped out of the shop again.

“Well, that was awkward,” Atlas said.

“Don’t care.”

We stood on the ground of what I’d known the Fire Coven to be. Ash and rock. The ground was pure black as far as the eye could see, with scattered dead trees on the horizon. The door we’d arrived through became a mirror, hardly visible to the naked eye if you weren’t looking for it. Everything about the Fire Coven felt sinister. Even the clouds carried a hue of gray. As if standing in a place marked with such undesirable history would somehow stain you, turn you against the world if you let it. And I wanted to let it, until I remembered that beautiful black witch with arms ringed in gold, waiting for me to save her. Somehow.

Atlas spun in a circle one way and then the opposite, bringing his hands to block the sun that was already hidden behind the clouds. “We’re not far away from the main village.”

“Which of these dead trees gave that away?”

He smirked. “That one.”

Before I could even pinpoint which tree he was talking about, he shifted and began running. The pads of his paws, the fur rimming his claws, stained black from the barren lands of the Fire Coven. I soared ahead of him, turning back to wave delicate fingers. The long neck of the wolf extended as he pushed himself harder and harder. The glint of humor and challenge in his eyes was enough to really start the race.

The ground flew beneath us. I’d never pushed myself to see how fast I could soar. I felt like a bird. Like I was flying inches above the ground, the beauty of a giant wolf pounding the ground beside me as we moved. We were on the outskirts of the village in minutes. Atlas shifted back to his normal form, winded, but exhilarated.

“Needed that,” he panted. “Same time tomorrow. Got to keep my slim figure.”

“I was hardly trying,” I lied.

“Me… too.”

I couldn’t help my laugh, but when he stopped short, his head whipping toward me with large eyes, dread fell over me.

“What?”

“I’ve never heard you laugh before. Not like that.”

My shoulders sank with relief. “Don’t get used to it, Pup. There’s no place for happiness in my world anymore.”

“Well, that’s not true, is it? You’re not alone and suffering. You’ve got Nym… and the rest of us.” He turned, leading the way toward the town square.

I slowed, watching him walk away as I thought about what he said. I did have them. But only until they died. And I’d have to suffer the death of each of them before I was left behind. I caught back up, trying and failing to brush away those horrid thoughts.

“Do you want to stop and see her? Before we find a wraith to ask?”

Every single part of my soul wanted to. But I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to leave her and Scoop behind again. Even if the creature didn’t feel our bond, I did. And I missed him desperately. I wondered what that said about me. I mostly felt sorrow and sadness, a bit of pride and a dash of anger. But as I slowly became more, beyond what we knew the wraiths to feel, I realized that the rift between the shifters and witches wasn’t the only problem in our world. We’d closed ourselves off to everyone.

“No. I don’t think so.”

Atlas came to a full stop at the edge of the cobblestone path, rounding on me. All sense of his usual light humor gone from his piercing blue eyes. “I know what it’s like to watch someone die. I know what it means to feel a loss so strongly you want to give up on this world. She felt that. But now she has more time with you. I’d give anything to have Laramie back, no matter what she looked like. I’d be willing to bet your witch feels the same.”

“You don’t know anything about me.” I moved away from him as if I could put a wall between us.

“Wrong. I watch. I listen. You’re afraid. You’re so afraid of your own future, you’re hiding from it. You want to save her, but that doesn’t mean you’ve let yourself believe you can actually be with her. You’d rather run. You’d rather use insults and anger to reinforce those barriers you’ve built between yourself and the world. You’re mad. You’re so fucking mad, you can’t stand being around anyone most of the time. I see you, Kirsi. You suffer. But you are not alone.”

I sank a little closer to the ground, stripped bare. “I hate me.”

He put a hand between us, his palm facing me. I stared at those callused fingers for several seconds before I pressed my own palm to his and looked up into his eyes as I made sure he could feel me.