by Helen Scott
Though she’d stopped, she never looked back as she answered Blake. “What I want is for order to prevail.” The witch’s cryptic words rang in my ears as she started walking again, and I felt like I couldn’t move. Order over chaos. One side winning against the other, a power shift. I felt like I’d heard that somewhere before recently, or maybe it was just the concept. I wasn’t sure, but it felt important.
“And us being on your land is chaotic?” Blake pushed.
The witch still didn’t turn, and I still couldn’t move as she said, “Something like that. I just want to help you get on the right path and be healthy when you do so. You’ve been through a lot, or at least it seems that way.” The last part almost seemed like an afterthought.
“I’m sure we can find some way to repay you,” I said as Micah nudged me into moving once again.
“Just catch up so we can get this done. I don’t have all day.” She sounded grumpy all of a sudden, and I wondered why offering to repay her had upset her, but I didn’t want to make it worse by asking.
I decided to take a chance and instead of focusing on repayment, I asked, “We’re actually looking for the oracle. We were told she lives on this mountain and we really need to speak with her. It’s super important. Do you happen to know where we could find her?”
The witch snorted. “That old bat? Why do you need to speak with her? She’ll just tell you nonsense, at least that’s what everyone says.”
“Even if it’s nonsense, I need to hear it. My life is in shambles because of something she told an alpha shifter. I just need to find out what it was, please, it would mean the world to me.”
“Let me patch you up first, then if you haven’t pissed me off any more, I’ll tell you. She’s not worth all this trouble though. You’ll find your way. You’re a smart girl clearly, since you trust random witches that stumble across you in the woods while you’re twirling around in their lavender field like a fairy.”
“Ouch. That was a bit unnecessary,” Tate said, sounding offended on my behalf.
Irritation flared through me, and I bit my cheek, trying to decide whether or not to stay silent. My mouth seemed to have a mind of its own though, because I found myself saying, “The reasons why I decided to trust you are my own. I don’t believe that you’re just some random woman though. Not for a second. So let’s cut the crap, shall we?”
“So she does have some bite. I was starting to get worried.” The witch’s shoulders shook with silent laughter.
The irritation I’d been feeling was condensing into anger. I tried not to let it overwhelm me, but I was already on edge after her startling us in the lavender earlier, not to mention, oh, I don’t know, the events of the past few weeks. I didn’t mean it to sound as sharp as it did when I said, “Oh, I can bite. Have no doubt about that. So can my mates if necessary.” I paused and focused on where I was walking as I took a breath, trying to calm myself down before I continued. “All I’m asking for is your help finding the oracle. I’ve offered to repay you however I can, but I don’t know what you want or need. I know we don’t know each other, and I’m sorry I was dancing in your lavender, but if you knew what we’d been through recently, you’d understand that a simple pleasure like feeling the sun on my face while being surrounded by beautiful flowers and trees was worthy of a celebratory dance.”
“Dancing in my lavender? Is that what you’re calling what you were doing?” She snorted with laughter, clearly unaffected by my little ramble. “We need to get you some dancing lessons, girlie.”
“Hard to know how to dance when all you’ve been able to do for the last few years is fight,” I muttered.
“True enough, young one, true enough.” The witch stepped to the side as we cleared a row of bushes and trees, and I felt a wave of magic pass over me. My guess was that it was some kind of perimeter spell since we’d clearly arrived at her cabin.
Before I even took in the cabin, I was in awe of everything that surrounded it. Of course I noticed the large structure itself, but the witch had all kinds of vegetables, herbs, flowers, and things growing in specified areas. There was also a hut off to the side with what was possibly a forge in the back? It was hard to see, but needless to say, I was overwhelmed with how self-sufficient this woman was.
The whole place was bigger than I had expected, and that included the cabin itself. It almost looked like some kind of elongated version of the place I’d been staying in with Micah and Roman when I first met Blake. It was a true log cabin, but not in the way I expected. It wasn’t put together with whole logs that were lying horizontally on top of one another, instead, it was planks of wood that were standing vertically. Every six feet or so, there was an extra plank that jutted out at an angle, supporting the roof and bracing the top of the wall, which as we approached, I realized was actually quite short. The whole thing was fairly squat and seemed to be trying to blend with its surroundings.
The roof seemed to curve over the top of the wall, like the bottom of a ship. It was shingled, I could see the rough-hewn rectangles in places, but it was also covered in moss and even some grass growing at one end. It was so enmeshed in the area that it was hard to pick it out of its surroundings if you didn’t know what you were looking for.
A small entryway jutted off the side that the witch led us to. A keyhole shaped door swung open as she pushed on it, and I felt the warmth of the cabin wash over me as we stepped in.
“Shoes off. Don’t need you tracking your mud and dirt in my home,” she said as she took her own shoes off. She hung the shawl that had been wrapped around her shoulders over a peg and disappeared into the cabin proper.
We followed her in once we had all removed our shoes, leaving them and our packs in the entry area. It seemed a lot smaller on the inside, like the walls were much thicker than I had originally thought. Each end of the cabin must have had a storage area, because they were boarded off. On one wall, tapestries hung, and I longed to go over and see what they depicted. The scent of roasted meat caught in my nose though and drew me toward the fire.
Dried flowers and herbs hung from the rafters, and in the center of the cabin was a fire, burning brightly, and I realized that it was the main light source for the whole place. A vent in the roof let the smoke escape, and when I looked at the flames again, I saw the oracle from my dream standing on the other side. I blinked, and when I looked again, it was the witch. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was seeing things or if there was more going on here than I first thought.
3
Nina
“Shall we get to it?” The witch hung a pot over the flames, a metal pyramid with a hook hanging from the center acting as a stand to hold it.
“You’re talking about healing, right?” Blake asked.
“Well, I’m certainly not talking about playing Scrabble,” she replied with a huff as she stirred whatever was in the pot before going and plucking different flowers and herbs from where they were drying. She pulled each bunch down, selecting some specimens before hanging them back up. She clearly had a system, but I was surprised that her healing was plant based. I’d expected actual magic. After she’d gathered what she needed, she continued, “Sit, all of you. You’ll all get a tea to help with everything, and then I’ll work on the actual injuries and poison.”
She grabbed a large stone bowl and dropped the items she’d collected inside before adding some of the hot water from the pot and mashing it all together until it was almost a paste at the bottom.
“This place is incredible,” I said after a while. The silence was uncomfortable to me since we didn’t really know who she was.
“I’ve been here a long time, turned it into a home.” Her words were tired but terse as she worked the paste in what was essentially a giant mortar and pestle.
It was pretty clear from her tone that she didn’t want to talk, so I kept my mouth shut and looked around, taking in the cabin. When she was satisfied with whatever it was she was judging, she picked up a clay jug and put a piece of c
loth over it before pouring the mixture over the cloth so the liquid seeped through but the chunky bits didn’t. Once it was all strained, she lifted up the corners of the material and pulled it all together like a little sachet or something. Then she squeezed until all the moisture from the material on top and what had soaked into the fabric itself was emptied out into the jug. She poured us each a cup and handed them out.
“Drink up. Once that’s in your system, then we can get to work.” She watched with eagle eyes as we all sipped from our mugs. I, for one, was surprised with how sweet and mild it tasted. I expected to be hit over the head with the flavors of the flowers and, to be honest, dirt, but I wasn’t. I had to wonder if she’d somehow slipped some honey in there or something.
The guys all drank theirs differently. Roman took careful sips, Micah downed it in a few gulps, Blake took it like a shot, and Tate just drank it like it was something he had every day. After my first few sips, I took long pulls from my mug until it was empty. The sweet, warm liquid made me feel cozy and content as I sat next to the fire.
“Now, let’s see about healing you,” the witch said as she approached Blake first. “You were the closest to death other than your mate, so you’ll go first.”
“How do you know that?” he asked, surprise raising his eyebrows and making him a little nervous.
“Witch, remember? It’s my job to be able to sense this kind of thing.” She glanced up at him and shook her head like he was asking her how she knew she had brown hair.
Blake grumbled something under his breath, and it was quiet enough that I couldn’t make out what he said.
She did though, because she said, “Not a good idea to offend a witch, wolf. I could turn you into a Chihuahua. Or a dung beetle. If I were so inclined, that is, but since I’m trying to heal you, I’ll refrain. This time.”
I glared at Blake, who just shrugged when he noticed my expression.
“It’s okay, little wolf. When you’re as old as I am, it takes more than a few words to offend me,” she said, glancing at me over her shoulder. “Now if you wouldn’t mind letting me concentrate.”
We both shut up, and when I glanced at the others, Roman rolled his eyes at me as though he didn’t believe any of this was going to work. I hoped like hell he was wrong. We needed some help finding the oracle, and we needed to be completely healed, if that was even possible. A concern that I hadn’t voiced to the guys was that the gunshot I took to the stomach plus the silver poisoning had done some irreparable damage.
A low humming or maybe singing started up, and I watched with fascination as a glow began to diffuse from the witch’s hands. Blake hissed as though something was hurting, but when I made a move to get up, he just waved me off. The witch made a satisfied sound, and the glow began to move from her hands into his body. At first, it looked like some kind of liquid flowing over his skin, but then his skin seemed to absorb it.
Blake leaned back and twisted to the side as though he was uncomfortable, but he didn’t get up or ask for help so I sat on my hands, literally, determined not to interfere if he didn’t want me to. I wasn’t sure how long we all stayed like that, but when the glow finally stopped flowing from the witch to Blake and the last of it was absorbed, it was like a collective breath was released.
She moved over to Tate and repeated the process. It only took about half the time, and when she was done, she said, “I need to rest a moment before I tackle the poison. It’s been a long time since I treated anyone with the remnants of severe injuries like these, let alone multiple people one after the other.”
“Would you like me to go and catch some game for dinner?” Roman asked.
“That would be lovely, thank you.” She smiled and seemed to gaze into the flames.
I watched with my jaw dropped as Roman got up and left to go hunting. It wasn’t that hunting was unusual for Roman, hell, sometimes it felt like that was his primary form of stress relief. But to have him walk away and leave us with a woman who was essentially a stranger was unlike him, so I got up and followed him out.
When I caught up with him outside, it was just in time to see his naked behind before he shifted to his wolf. I knew he wouldn’t shift back so soon, since not many wolves could pull that kind of rapid transformation off. In fact, the only ones I’d ever seen do it before were the Shadow Pack wolves.
“Roman,” I called before he could take off into the woods. When he turned and faced me, he looked alert but not worried, his silver coat gleaming in the low light. “Are you okay? I don’t understand why you’re going hunting now of all times.”
Just as I suspected, he didn’t shift back, but he let his tongue loll out of his mouth in what was usually a happy expression before I felt a wave of reassurance come through the mate bond. I opened my mouth to respond but didn’t know what to say. When nothing came out, he ducked his head and slowly turned toward the forest without breaking eye contact.
Finally, I just said, “Please, be careful. You know how the Shadow Pack wolves are. Don’t make me start a pack war because you got hurt.” It had started as a plea but ended as something that was close to scolding.
He swished his tail at me before darting away. I stared at the trees for a moment and waited, part of me expected the Shadow Pack to attack as soon as one of us was vulnerable, but no snarls or howls came from the trees surrounding the cabin. After a few minutes of silence, I admitted that he was probably safe and went back inside.
“Here she is,” the witch said. “Thought I’d lost you for a moment. Let’s start with you since your silver poisoning was worse.”
I nodded and sat in front of her. When the humming started up, it sounded slightly different, and I was surprised that it wasn’t the same glow that had emitted from her hands earlier. This hum was higher pitched, and the light had a purple-blue quality to it with green tints, like the northern lights, or at least like the photos I’d seen of them.
It was cold as it washed over my skin and felt like it was drilling into my stomach in all the places the silver had been. It might’ve seemed strange to still remember where exactly the bullet fragments had been within my body, but the searing pain combined with the residual tightness from the injury meant that I was still very much aware of where I had been hurt. I just tried not to think about it.
Now it was impossible not to though, not with the cold stabbing through me like needles. Each second that passed meant that the needles of icy energy felt like they were getting bigger, spreading through my whole body. Each needle felt like it was swelling within me and becoming a piece of frozen rebar or something that was impaling me.
I tried not to make any sound, not a peep, but I could hear the wood of the bench I was sitting on splintering under my white-knuckled grip. My head was buzzing, and there was a ringing in my ears as I felt the blue and purple light spread through my entire body. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, it stopped. When the cold feeling receded, I didn’t feel any of the tightness or internal scarring from the silver.
It was like it had never happened.
My eyes flew open, and I stared at the witch, who just looked smug and pleased with my reaction to her abilities. After a moment, when she was sure I wasn’t going to faint or something, she moved on to Micah.
I wasn’t sure how long we sat there or how long she worked on Micah, but I knew I was in awe. My body felt renewed, like I’d been on a vacation for the last month or two and was coming back well rested and refreshed. I wished everyone could feel like this at some point in their lives, that was how good it was. I also didn’t want Roman to miss out since he’d gone hunting. I’d have to talk to him about it when he got back.
For the first time in a while, it felt like I was seeing things clearly, like my mind was working at full capacity. When the blue light finally faded and I knew she was done, I asked, “Do you know what the witches put in the serum that’s supposed to force the mate bond? The blue one?”
She shook her head. “I don’t mess with that sh
it.”
“Could it have had any lingering effects though? Make me feel drawn to the person I first saw after it was administered?” I hoped she said yes, that the feelings of being drawn to Jax were just residue in my veins from the mixture he’d given me.
She watched me carefully, and my heart plummeted with each second that ticked by. “I don’t think so,” she said finally. “You feel the potential for the mate bond with him, don’t you?”
I swallowed thickly.
“No matter what happens, you must not give in to it. Promise me, Nina. Promise me right here, right now, on your mate’s lives, that you will resist that call with every fiber of your being.”
I didn’t remember ever telling her my name, but maybe one of the guys had used it and I’d missed it or wasn’t remembering. Either way, the ferocity with which she spoke had me agreeing without pause. It wasn’t that I wanted to mate with Jax. I didn’t. She was right though—I needed to do a better job of resisting, to paying attention to the darkness I saw so often in him. Finally, after she’d been staring at me for a while, even though I’d nodded, I said, “I will, but how do you know anything about this?”
“You have your destiny, and I have mine. It’s all written in the stars. All of our fates are already decided, we just have options to choose from. Your options are between him and these men, mine are different as are theirs,” she said as she gestured to my mates. “I know what you were feeling when he was trying to convince you to join him. That’s exactly what you must resist if you want to stay with these men. If you give in, then you’ll never get them back, never get this life back, never get your pack back, and will always be stuck with him.”
“I don’t want that, but it’s like my brain stops working properly when he’s around. I resist, but it feels like he’s slowly wearing me down, even though I become more and more sure of who he is with every interaction. He’s vile. When I’m away from him and with my mates, I know that, but when he’s there in front of me, telling me he has all the answers, that’s when I struggle. It’s why I need to meet the oracle so badly,” I finished, bringing it back around to why we were there in the first place. I knew she wasn’t about to deny my need in that moment, and hopefully, it would be the push she needed to put us in touch with the oracle herself.