by Kat Bostick
In sleep, he dreamed of his forest, as he usually did. This time the smell of it was mingled with the floral sweetness of his witch. She carried the scent of his forest because she belonged there.
The mustiness of fertile soil wafted from the earth where Mari’s bare feet disturbed it. She giggled and pranced with a basket of wild herbs in the crook of her arm, Jasper trotting patiently at her side. In the distance, familiar howls filled the air with the piercing song of the hunt. The pack was here with them too. Wolf and witch came together in his forest.
Mari discarded her basket with a grin and took off in a playful run, dodging some of his nips and purposefully catching others on the soft flesh of her thighs. Finally she tumbled into a silky patch of grass, breathless and burbling with glee. Night had fallen but the sky was filled with the largest moon he’d ever seen. Opalescent light trickled through the trees and shimmered across Mari’s skin as she stretched out naked on a bed of blooming violets, her dark hair fanning out on the dewy ground.
She beckoned him with a wordless song trilling in her throat. Jasper came to her, his wolf skin slipping from him like water. He could see tendrils of magic grow from her fingertips, lengthening like wispy golden vines. They twisted and coiled around him but he didn’t fight them. This magic was pure. She summoned it for him alone and he gladly let it take root in his soul.
Then he took root in her with his magic, which was primal and animal and fleshly. The witch’s power that encompassed him was incorporeal. The power that he embraced her with was the strength of his muscle and the ferocity of the hunter, restrained. Mari buried her song in his heart and Jasper buried his seed within her. They were bound in flesh and in spirit. He gazed down at her in rapt adoration, memorizing every inch of her face, worshipping her.
I belong to you. I am yours, honeysuckle witch.
A lone owl broke the silence of night with a melodious cry, ripping Jasper unwilling from his dream. He felt a forlorn howl gather in his lungs to mourn the loss of that vision of home. But another noise reminded him that it was not all lost. A sleep purr vibrated in Mari’s throat as she snuggled against him. Her breath left light clouds of moisture in his fur and her cool skin combatted the sticky heat of the sweltering summer night.
Jasper tilted his head to draw in the scent of her and wished he could drown himself in it. If wolves were capable of tears, he would have wept. He was trapped. Jasper couldn’t walk from his wolf skin as he had in his dream. That meant he could not yet embrace his witch. He could not come into her and truly claim Mari as his own.
And every fiber of his being needed to.
Mate. The wolf proclaimed. Yes. The man agreed.
Chapter 14
Lyse
Was it true? Lyse had to see for herself before she could be certain. It was certainly possible, she was proof that not all of her kind were lost, but she was doubtful. The members of her coven were inexperienced or weak. Their word could only be trusted as far as their magical skills could be utilized, which wasn’t far.
Wizards, whether they offered her loyalty or not, were largely useless. Like any mundane man, they thought too narrowly and short-sighted. They had their place, though. And more importantly, they believed in her cause. She could use more magic folk on her side.
That was why she sat low in the front seat of her SUV, cloaked in the shadow of a linden tree and aided by a touch of glamor magic to keep curious eyes away from her. The house at the end of the cul-de-sac was dark and empty but it wouldn’t be for long. Sooner or later the young woman would return, hopefully with the prize Lyse had been seeking for months.
Perhaps it would have been easier to find another wolf, a rogue wolf with no pack to inquire about his whereabouts, but it would be difficult to find another with such distinctive power. Lyse was also not eager to hunt a hunter again. She scarcely escaped with her life when she trapped the first one. Witches were not built for the hunt; that was what wolves were for. And that was why she needed her wolf back.
Lyse could hardly be bitter about losing the creature if the underlings she sent to search for him were correct. The prodigious reward that would accompany him back to her coven would make nearly a year of fruitless searching worth it. Besides, in the time the beast had evaded her scrutinizing eye, she recruited six others into her coven. The magic they possessed was humble compared to hers but in time she could remedy that.
Especially when the wolf was back under her full control.
Headlights reflected in the rearview mirror, temporarily lighting up the interior of the SUV. Lyse slid further down in her seat and held still as a sleek black jeep rolled down the street. Once the driver completed their turn into the neighborhood they switched off their headlights. That was odd. The uninspired suburban sanctuary was fairly dark and the hour was late—or early as according to her watch, it was three in the morning—but headlights were hardly going to disturb the sleeping neighbors.
Lyse sat up once the jeep passed, anticipation spiking her heartrate as the driver pulled into the driveway of the Sowka house. A lithe young woman slipped from the driver’s seat and gave the neighborhood a sweeping glance before carefully shutting her door and moving around to the passenger side. Lyse didn’t need to see the colossal creature that leapt out of the car to know that the report Henrick gave was correct.
Swirling around the young woman like an impending thunderstorm were thick clouds of green and gold magic. For those that were trained to see auras, green was not an uncommon sight on elemental witches. The potency and intensity of that magic, however, was incredible. Lyse hadn’t seen that much power since her grandmother passed away. Even she would not be able to match a well-practiced witch with such a concentration of magic.
If her source was to be believed, the Sowka girl barely knew she was a witch. She belonged to no coven and the only witch she had consistent contact with was her aging grandmother; a feeble crone with little more than her title as second to the coven luminary to prove she had a valued bloodline. Her nascent granddaughter needed to be taught the ways of her kind. Lyse would be the perfect teacher. She might be the last living charmer with the knowledge to share with an apprentice.
Hopefully granddaughter hadn’t inherited pride from grandmother. It was a shame that the old witch was so fearful and unwilling to consider the necessity of Lyses’ actions. Soon the poor crone would be coven-less, dying alone with no power and no sisters. What purpose was there for her stubbornness? Too many of the older generations had turned their noses up at her for similar reasons. They were afraid of power, letting inherited fear from history long past rule their pointless lives.
It was their loss. Lyse was going to bring about a new age for witches and she would do it with young blood like the Sowka girl.
Something caught her attention when the wolf and the witch approached the back gate. She hadn’t noticed it at first because the strength of the young witch’s aura was so blinding. Stretching between the red beast and the witch was a golden tether, a thin but sturdy strand of magic that bound them. How was that possible if this witch was untrained? If she knew nothing of her bloodline, how could she have begun to undo Lyses’ spell and replace it with her own?
This brought an unforeseen complication. Whatever the Sowka girl had done to bind the wolf was strong. By the pale look of it, the spell was incomplete. If there was time for the other witch to finish her work, Lyse might lose any ability to track her wolf and regain what belonged to her.
How dare she claim what is mine.
Well, once she joined the coven, Lyse would simply have to put her in her place. Powerful or not, the young woman would be outmatched if she didn’t know how to channel all of that magic. Lyse smiled to herself and flipped through the dimmed screen of her cell phone. The line only had a chance to ring once before an eager male voice answered.
“Luminary! Are you calling with good news?”
“Excellent news. You’ve done well, Henrick.” Lyse purred into the phone.
“Thank you for the opportunity to please you, Luminary.” Henrick replied seriously.
“Henrick, what have I told you about groveling? Wizards are the ones that want you kissing their toes. I seek to be respected and obeyed, that is all. Save your worshipping for the goddesses.”
“Forgive me, Luminary.”
Lyse exhaled her exasperation. Wizards could be so dense. “I have an important task for you and Alexander to complete. You were right about the girl and the wolf. I want both of them.”
“Would you like us to retrieve them, Luminary?”
“Not yet. It would be safer if she comes willingly.”
She considered her options. Lyse could simply knock on the door tomorrow morning and introduce herself but with the wolf not fully in her control, there was a great chance he would attack. Henrick was a familiar face to the girl and was excellent at charming the younger witches but it wouldn’t do for him to show up unannounced at her home. Unfortunately, both Alexander and Henrick reported that the Sowka girl was extremely reclusive so it was going to be difficult to arrange a chance meeting.
“Keep following her. When the opportunity arises, approach her again. Give her your very best.”
“She was understandably wary of me last time.” Henrick replied.
“Last time you didn’t use magic.”
“You want me to charm her? Are you sure that won’t drive her away if she finds out?”
“Yes. The potential consequences will be worth it if we can get her away from the wolf long enough to speak freely. I know that she’ll join us. We are sisters at heart already.”
“Yes, Luminary.” He answered, deepening his voice to cover the crack of uncertainty.
“Our brothers and sisters are dying, Henrick. We must do whatever it takes to bring them into the fold.” Lyse reminded him before hanging up.
Chapter 15
Mari
Jasper whimpered quietly, drawing Mari’s softened gaze from the bedroom ceiling to the side of the bed where he waited for acknowledgment. Mari didn’t know what to do with him after his rather shocking revelation. It was still dark when they arrived home thirty minutes earlier but it was technically a new day. A new day with a whole new outlook on the world. One that involved werewolves, among other things.
Mari tried to glean more from Jasper on the drive home but since the clearest way for him to give her a response was with body language, their conversation didn’t go well. After almost driving into a ditch they agreed that they could talk about his lycanthropic nature when they arrived home. As much as Mari was dying for answers, she was surprisingly nervous now that the opportunity to gain them was upon her.
Mostly because Jasper was a man. Well, no, he could be a man, which wasn’t quite the same thing. Did that make a difference if the brain behind those spectacular green eyes was the brain of a man? The answer was unclear. Before she knew what he was, she trusted him absolutely, something that was incredibly rare for her. Had that changed because there was a person under all that fur?
Even before Jacob robbed her of the miniscule amount of trust she had for strangers, Mari would never have invited a man into her house, much less her bed. Her home was her fortress and she didn’t take it lightly when she allowed someone behind those walls.
Or when she allowed them behind her emotional walls.
Mari never used to share secrets with anyone. Even her best friend didn’t know all of the inner workings of her mind. There was a time in high school when the teacher had them go around the room and talk about their plans for the future. She lied, because even that little scrap of information felt like giving away too much of herself. It was a vulnerability, a chink in her armor for someone to know her heart’s desire. Dreams could only be quashed if they were out there for the world to see. That was how she ended up rejected from Gran’s coven, in her mind.
Secrets formed the invisible wall that guarded hearts. They were armor and yet they were also the piercing blades that cut hearts deepest; a paradox of risk and security.
Now Jasper knew every one of hers. Would she have told him if she’d known what he was?
Yes. He was her friend and he made her feel safe.
It was as simple as that. He was her really gorgeous friend that she had been fantasizing about ever since she first laid eyes on him. In a dream. And he knew what she looked like in the morning, pre-coffee. At least he wasn’t intimidatingly good looking now.
“Come on up.” She patted the bed beside her. Jasper didn’t need to be told twice. He happily leapt onto the mattress with a grunt. “The rules about cover hogging haven’t changed. And just so you know, you slobber in my hair. You should be embarrassed about that.”
Jasper grazed her chin with his front teeth. Mari returned the favor and pulled away with a mouthful of red fuzz. She stuck out her tongue to blow a raspberry and expel as much of the hair as possible. A snorting sound that could have been a wolf laugh made her narrow her eyes.
She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout but quickly sucked it back when Jasper licked it. “What does it mean when you do that? Would it be a person kiss if you were a person? I get that I’m your pack now but that doesn’t mean you can just kiss me whenever you want.”
He must have disagreed because he began bathing the side of her face in gentle licks. Mari shoved his snout away. Hopefully he didn’t notice how she blushed when she asked him about kissing. If he was a person, would she let him kiss her?
Hell yes. Mari scrunched up her face at her involuntary mental answer.
“Why does he have to be a pretty person?” She grumbled to herself. Jasper leaned over her and opened his mouth in a wolfish grin. Immediately the blush returned to Mari’s face and she rolled over to hide it in the pillow. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”
She took a minute to recover her dignity before rolling back over to meet Jasper’s eyes. “Does chocolate make werewolves sick?”
✽✽✽
“Edward is the vampire. The guy with the brooding face and the squinty eyes, see?” Mari pointed to the TV that was propped precariously on her chest of drawers. She’d lugged the wide thing into the bedroom so that she and Jasper could watch the many movies on her supernatural film list. They were tackling Twilight. If she wasn’t asleep by the end of the movie, she might start the second one. Or perhaps an episode of Teen Wolf.
Mari’s first course of action after putting a double batch of cookies in the oven was to dig up every popular book, movie, and television show that featured lycanthropy and the like. She even found a music playlist created specifically for werewolves.
When that task was complete, she got to work googling shapeshifters. Though she knew a handful of myths about werewolves, there was no way of knowing whether any of them were true. Not without asking one, anyway.
It turned out to be quite simple to communicate with Jasper. While the cookies were cooling, Mari settled on the floor with a notebook and a pen in her hand. Jasper sat across from her with two pieces of paper in front of him, one marked “yes” and the other marked “no.” Each time Mari asked him a question, he would tap a paw to one or the other. By the time they’d exhausted most of her preliminary questions she was kicking herself for not trying something like this sooner.
“Were you born a werewolf?”
“No.”
“So another werewolf bit you?”
“Yes.”
“If you bite someone will they become a werewolf too?”
“Yes.”
“Wait, so why didn’t I turn into a werewolf after you bit me?”
Jasper huffed impatiently. Mari’s inquiries slowly evolved into much more than “yes” or “no” questions and it was understandably frustrating to him. She gave him a sheepish smile and continued.
“Do you have to change on the full moon?”
“Yes.”
“Can you change any other time of the month?”
“Yes.”
“Does it hurt?”
> “Yes. Yes. Yes.”
“Is it at least fast? Some movies make it look instantaneous.”
“No.”
“Do you wish you weren’t a werewolf?” Maybe that one was too personal.
“No.”
“Were you scared when you became one?”
“Yes.”
“Are you still a man in there? Is your mind the same when you’re in wolf form?”
“Yes.”
Mari smiled shyly and focused her attention on scribbling down the answer to his question, trying not to dwell on all the awkward things she’d done in front of him. First impressions mattered and some of his first impressions of her involved stating her thoughts out loud and ugly crying. Hopefully she could redeem herself.
Getting to know Jasper the man while he was a wolf was kind of like getting to know someone online. Though they weren’t face to face—human face to face, anyway—his personality was still apparent. He had opinions and desires well beyond those of an animal. It was going to be a challenge not to bombard him with a thousand questions.
“Have you ever killed anyone besides Jacob and Kevin?” Jasper cocked his head to study her before reluctantly tapping his paw.
“Yes.”
“Why?” He grumbled at her and sank down onto his stomach. She cocked her head the opposite direction and said “they probably deserved it.”
“No.”
“Did you do it on purpose?” Her tone was gentle. Jasper set a paw down directly between the two sheets of paper. “You don’t know?”
“Yes”.
Mari ruffled the hair between his ears. “Well, we all make mistakes. Werewolves just make violent ones.”
Around that time she decided to throw on a movie. It was clear that he was growing tired of not being able to explain himself. There also appeared to be some notable gaps in Jasper’s memory. She prodded him for more answers but he was grumpy in his response. Eventually he took one of the sheets of paper and shredded it. Mari placated him with a raw lamb chop followed by a warm plate of cookies.