I would hope that Hunter would agree to some of my terms. I tried to see it from his point of view, too. We were on shaky ground and trying to figure each other out. I hoped this wasn’t a good bye forever. But deep in my gut I knew that things would never be the same. I wouldn’t be coming here as often as I would like. I wasn’t even sure how long it would be before I came back. I treasured those dinners and I knew I would savor the few we had left.
****
“That is what you are going to wear?” I asked eyeing Griffin’s light blue t-shirt and dark washed jeans. He looked down at himself then looked at me.
“Why? What’s wrong with it?” he asked.
I narrowed my eyes. I crossed my arms and pressed my lips together. My nose scrunched a little. I looked down. I thought I was the epitome of a stealth mission we were going on. There was a lot of digging in my drawers and closet, but I finally found my black yoga pants and long sleeve shirt. Sure, the shirt was just a pinch too small. It rode up sometimes and the sleeves stopped just before my wrist. Unfortunately, it also stretched over my chest snugly. I saw Griffin take a couple peeks. Sometimes even he was a pig. I was seconds from slapping him. I grabbed the combat boots that I had owned for years and slipped them on.
“You don’t understand covert mission do you?” I muttered as I pulled on my last boot. I looked over at Griffin and he held in his laughter.
“Ass.”
“I heard that.”
“You were meant to,” I said with a smug smile.
Griffin clapped his hands together and I looked over at him. He had a huge smile on his face, the smile I had seen many times in our youth. I was glad for Griff, Liam and Nick. They knew how my childhood wasn’t a happy one so they made sure our childhood was full of adventures. Many of those adventures were not sanctioned by Keith, Isaac, or Rose. Most of the time, they were our secret, though as I got older I began to doubt Isaac hadn’t noticed our antics.
Griffin had the same look on his face as he used to when we would sneak out as children. I held in my own laugh now. It was nice to see the Griffin that I had grown up with, the one that kept me sane for years.
“Alright sir, let’s do this.”
Most of the bedrooms were on the second story of the house. Griffin could make the jump easily enough. I had more strength than a human but I didn’t trust myself not to break or at the very least strain something. I waited for him to go first and Griffin stood outside my window.
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!” Griffin yell-whispered up to me. I rolled my eyes as I climbed out my window. I was going backwards and I could feel his eyes on my backside. I turned and stuck my tongue out at him.
“Why my prince I didn’t realize you were such a gracious ass.”
“Well when I see one, I see one.”
I turned slightly to see Griffin winking at me. I rolled my eyes and pushed off knowing that he would catch me. The air whistled past my ears. It was a strange sensation. I had done it so many times in our youth. The fear of it was gone, but the detached feeling of freedom was exhilarating. I felt almost like I was floating when I closed my eyes. Then Griffin’s arms snagged me before I could hit the ground.
Griffin’s arms tightened around me and I opened my eyes. He looked down at me but not with the look he used to. Maybe I was oblivious to it then, but I saw the change. The look of acceptance and sadness. I wasn’t his. And he wasn’t mine.
“Thank you,” I whispered wiggling softly from his grip. He set my legs down but his arm remained and he held my eyes. I wanted to look away, but for some reason it felt wrong to turn away from him.
“I always got you.”
I swallowed hard and finally broke eye contact with him. With the most awkward move on my part in my whole life, I punched his shoulder lightly.
“Got you too.”
I felt like an idiot doing it. I couldn’t even believe I had done it in the first place. I wanted to run away and hide until the burning in my face went away.
“Alright that was extremely awkward, are we doing this thing or what?” Liam’s voice broke the silence. I looked at our friend my eyebrows bunched together. My eyes shot to Griffin.
“I didn’t tell him,” Griffin said, putting his hands up in surrender.
“Well hurry up, now, little children. Nick can only keep the real adults busy for so long.” Liam said.
I rolled my eyes and we headed off towards the woods. I looked back at the house that had been my second home for most of my life. It didn’t look different, but it felt different. The beautiful back of it was made of stones. The backyard which was huge was made for entertainment. It had always felt like home. Now though I felt detached from it. It felt like I was really saying goodbye.
Griffin grabbed my hand and I turned to him the familiar warmth of my pack-mate filling me. I gave him a forced smile and headed into the woods with him. Liam had shifted to his grey wolf form and moved onwards. I knew Griffin wanted to shift, but he stayed human with me. We ran through the forest. When we got to the edge of the forest and Nick was already there in his car waiting.
I shook my head. It was seldom these two didn’t join us on an adventure. But this was Griffin and my last exploit together. Nick got out of the car and handed Griffin his keys.
“You break her I will destroy you.”
Nick looked at me.
“You can do whatever you want with Lettie. I don’t really care, but my car, she comes back intact.”
With that he winked at me. I shook my head with a small smile. I slipped into the front seat and waited for Griffin.
Nick transformed into his wolf form. It looked so flawless from where I was sitting. I felt a stir of longing in my gut. I had lived with werewolves for almost my whole life. Even when I was supposedly living with humans, my rouge wolf father was there. I had told myself for years that maybe I would shift one day. It wasn’t unheard of for half-weres, it was just rarer. When I hit puberty I gave up the hope. But it didn’t stop my heart from longing to have what I could never have. Griffin talked to the guys for a bit more and came around.
“They’ll call us if someone notices we’re gone.”
I nodded. I watched as Nick and Liam leaped into the woods. Liam nipped at Nick playfully and they took off. It had been a very long time since I had dwelled on not being able to shift. I wondered briefly if it was my witch side that was stopping my wolf from coming out. I sighed. If that was my hope, I was only going to be more disappointed later.
I felt terrible for Hunter, he would never have the mate I am sure he wanted. A wolf he could run and play with. Griffin was silent during the drive. Music droned indistinctly. I barely heard it.
“If he is half the man that you deserve he will love you no matter what,” he said, knowing what I was thinking.
I looked over at Griffin wanting to stick my tongue out at him to lighten the mood, but instead I scooted over. The armrest between us blocked my movements, but I got as close as I could. I pulled my legs up and leaned over and rested my head on his shoulder.
“I hope that is true.”
It took another hour of complete silence until we got to our destination. I guess I expected a witch’s house to look, well, different than the classic modern house we pulled into. It was in a subdivision where the houses looked almost exactly the same, with that one difference necessary to call them “unique.” I guess I was expecting to see a house that was seated on an overgrown lawn, vines climbing the walls, and an old cast-iron black gate.
I looked over at Griffin my eyebrows raised.
“Not what I was expecting,” I whispered.
Griffin let out a loud laugh. He didn’t stop laughing until we were almost to the door. I wanted to punch him, but I was too nervous. My fingers kept fidgeting, my heart hammering in my chest. The only time I had faced a witch or warlock was the one who had taken me. I was terrified, and I knew Griffin could smell the fear emanating from me. He grabbed my hand, sobering quickly when he too
realized where we were. What we were about to do. While Isaac had pack-laws in place to prevent actively attacking witches and warlocks like Hunter’s pack did.
We didn’t usually associate with them.
“Here we go.”
Griffin took the extra step and knocked on the door. It was late at night, and I was surprised to see most of the lights off in the house. The two lights that were on was the one spotlighting us and one right in the entry way. I knew why Griffin wanted to do a late night meeting, but I was suspicious of the witch. Griffin and I though both had our phones close by and if we didn’t call Nick or Liam within the hour they would come after us with the pack.
The door opened and a young woman with bright platinum blonde hair stood there. She looked a little irritated as she pushed her hip out hand landing on it and popped her chewing-gum. I met her brown eyes and saw the intelligence there. She knew exactly what we were or rather what Griffin was. She gave him a slow once over never even looking in my direction.
“Can I help you wolf?” She sounded bored and emphasized it as she leaned heavily on the doorjamb.
“Get out of the way Patricia you can’t help them any more than you can do your own laundry,” a new voice said from behind her.
The girl named Patricia rolled her eyes, popped her gum one more time before she walked away. I shifted my gaze to the little woman who stood probably not taller than five feet. She was a little stout, but had an adorable, grandmotherly feel to her. Her weathered brown eyes looked at us and I knew instantly that Patricia had to be her granddaughter.
“Ignore Patricia. She is upset with me because I wouldn’t let her go to the Gathering.” The old lady made it sound like we should know what that meant. I had no idea, and I looked over at Griffin out of the corner of my eye. He shrugged his shoulders.
“Well come on in. You must be Griffin, and you must be the one he spoke about on the phone.”
Neither one of us moved too quickly into the house. I felt sick to my stomach at the thought. I knew realistically, and from what I could see, it was a plain old house. There was nothing super special about it that screamed “I am an evil witch, and I am going to torture you.” Yet even Griffin hesitated walking in.
“I’m Luce. Oh come on in you are the only ones who would be likely to bite.”
We moved forward. Neither one of us made it farther than the entrance way. I could see now that the kitchen light had been on but it was on the other side of the house and it wasn’t visible from the outside. I looked at Griffin, wanting him to take lead, but for once he looked completely out of his element. I guess I had to do it.
“Well, let’s get this over with,” I whispered. I gathered my hidden courage and started forward. I stopped and grabbed Griffin’s hand towing him along. We headed toward the kitchen. There were herbs of all different kinds hanging from the ceiling. I looked at them when a little explosion sounded and made me jump.
Explosion? Maybe not explosion. But in the utter silence of the house, that is what is sounded like. I looked at Luce, she stood on what I assumed was a step-stool, because now she stood a little taller than me. In front of her was a pot that was overflowing with smoke. I wanted to move forward to see what it was but I was rooted in spot.
“What, what is that for?” I asked. I watched it closely like it would attack me. Luce looked up at us. She gave us a big toothy smile.
“Oh this? This is some soup. I am afraid I am a terrible cook. My husband, bless him, usually did the cooking.”
She winked at us.
I wasn’t sure if she was kidding or not so I gave her a forced smile. She got down from her step stool and came around. She sat at the small table in the kitchen. She gestured toward the two other chairs.
“Well come have a seat. I am a white witch – we do no harm.”
Griffin and I looked at each other both our eyes mirror the same confusion.
“Excuse me?” I asked. We moved closer to her.
“Well there are white witches and warlocks. Then there are the others. I won’t call the dark, because it’s a bit of a grey area. As you will find most life will be.”
“Oh come now, I know your Alpha would have told you the stories of the witches right?”
When we remained silent her eyebrow hooked upwards.
“Alright then, quick history lesson, then spell, then off with you. I am an old lady and I want my sleep. The curse of the mates – the spell the witches placed on you? I know most Alpha’s tell the story a bit differently but –”
“Wait, slow down, what are you talking about?” Griffin asked.
“Oh my, your Alpha never told you? Hmm, well it’s told by the werewolves that centuries ago the weres lived in peace away from the witches. Witches were being attacked by humans not having a separate form to hide in like the wolves. They held no real power over the fire the humans were using. Now that was way back when. So the witches pleaded with the weres for help and your lot refused. So a witch came up with a plan to bind them to a witch. Which was how the mating happened. The spell backfired. A witch’s power wasn’t meant to be used to control others, so instead the spell caused weres to start mating with their own kind. Anyways that is all in the past now. So you are the young woman who wanted her powers bound.”
I was taking all the information in. We had always been told it was a punishment that a witch put on us, but knowing the truth was worse than what we had been taught. They were trying to force the wolves to work for them. My hatred for witches and warlocks grew. I looked over at Griffin. He looked none too pleased either.
“Yes, can we please do this so we can go?” I asked.
“Hmm you’re not quite all witch are you?” Luce looked a little closer at me. I don’t know what those brown eyes were seeing, but they lit up suddenly.
“Ahh well you are one of a kind aren’t you. Half wolf, half witch. I never thought I would see one of you. Are you sure you want to do this? Binding half of who you are will not be a pleasant thing.”
I swallowed hard. This was something I had to do. Not only would I live in fear of what I might accidentally do, but Hunter might do something terrible if he found what I was.
No. No matter the discomfort, this had to happen.
“I’m sure.”
Luce gave me a sad smile and put her hands on the table. She told me to place my hands in hers. I did and waited.
“Know only the person who puts the binding spell on can take it off. If your magic is strong enough you might be able to break it yourself. If I were to die the binding would remain but it would weaken and any flare in your own magic could break the spell. Are you ready?”
I nodded. She clasped her hands around mine in a grip I didn’t think she was capable of. I wanted to rip my hands back, but I stayed steady. She shut her eyes and started to move her lips silently.
I looked at Griffin. I didn’t feel anything and I waited. We sat like this for another two minutes and nothing happened. Then, right before Luce opened her eyes, a shock went through my system. It was like getting hit like a taser, if I had hazard a guess. My body shuddered and I slumped back at the same time that Luce did. Griffin caught me and held me close.
“Is it done?” He asked his voice sounded gravelly.
I looked up and I saw the wolf pushing forward. I knew Griffin was worried about me so I tried to pat his arm.
“That should do it. Now I am in need of rest. So is she. Patricia!”
A second later the blonde appeared. She looked a little pale, but came out with her usual swagger.
“See these two out please.”
Patricia flicked her hair over her shoulder and almost made a tsking noise. She turned on her heel and headed towards the door. Luce went the opposite direction and I almost called out to thank her. But I decided against it. Instead we moved out of the door. I slumped onto Griffin. He was holding up most of my weight.
“Well that was fun,” Griffin whispered as we went through the threshold.
“Later.”
Patricia slammed the door shut behind us.
“She was pleasant,” I whispered, still feeling wobbly.
“At least her ass was nice to look at,” Griffin said, sounding completely serious.
“Oh gross! Get me to the car before I throw up on you.”
Griffin laughed and helped me into the car. I smiled. The feeling started to subside. On the way home I felt better about having my powers bound.
Griffin and I joked just like the old times on the way home. It was perfect. I couldn’t have been happier. Unfortunately the night didn’t end there.
We pulled up and glowing yellow eyes watched us from the porch. My stomach sank deep down until I was sure it was somewhere in my feet. I looked over at Griffin and swallowed hard. He snagged my hand under the dashboard and squeezed it. I wasn’t sure how the next few minutes would go, but I hoped like hell I could come up with a good enough lie.
Chapter 11 — We’re Going, Going, Gone
“Can you please not,” I moved out of Hunter’s way as he walked across the room. I knew he was seconds from exploding. His gait was a little too forceful as he moved. He hadn’t spoken a word to me since Griffin and I got out of the car. He grabbed my arm and dragged me upstairs to my room. Immediately he started to pack. I tried to stop him and actually organize what he was shoving in when he growled at me. I got out of the way and tried to speak to him. He would glare death every time I started to open my mouth. I kept pushing. I finally hit his breaking point.
His spine straightened. He turned to me, his eyes ablaze with anger.
“You wanted to give this a shot. I wasn’t even gone that long, Colette,” Hunter went back to shoving clothing into my duffle bags.
I went over to him and grabbed his arm before he could rip open my underwear drawers and shove those into the bags, too.
“We didn’t do anything,” I said as calmly as I could. His muscles tightened under my hand. Hunter’s head was hung low.
Hexed Hearts Page 11