by D. N. Hoxa
Speaking of werewolves, Finn was alive, too—minus his left leg. He lost it in the fight against Galladar, and from what Bender heard on the street, he was thinking of retiring. I highly doubted it, but I was going to pay him a visit when I got back and find out. I also wanted to tell him about Lynn, and ask him if he could help me with her training. His training areas, for starters, would make a huge difference. I’d never used them myself, but people said they were one of the best out there.
While I thought of Lynn, something else occurred to me. “How did she find Dena Waldorf’s things?”
Bender shook his head, laughing. “She wouldn’t say. I think she’d tell you if you asked, though.”
“I will.” I was curious as much as impressed. “I definitely will.”
“So Julian Walker, huh?” Bender asked and turned my stomach into a thousand knots.
“What about him?” I mumbled.
“Don’t play that game with me, Wayne,” he said. “I was there.”
“He’s a fairy Prince who lives in the fairy realm,” I said, though a part of me wished I never remembered that. It was easier to think he was there, living on the same planet as me.
“Are you saying you’re a witch first? Because you’re also a fairy.”
“I was always a witch first, and I always will be.” I was my mother’s daughter, a Bone witch through and through. The fairy part was just added spice.
“Does that mean you won’t go to the fairy realm and lose your head over him?”
Oh, hell. That was a question I’d been avoiding for a long time.
“I don’t think so.” It was the honest truth. “Any news on Powell and Waldorf?” I asked because Bender was the closest to the ECU and the people who’d picked up the work where they left it off—at least those who survived Galladar. The old cases were being investigated again in an attempt to get back to normal faster. We’d already buried the dead. What else could we do?
“Nope. Not a word,” Bender said reluctantly.
I didn’t get it. Blake Powell, the man who’d stolen the dragon blood powder from Dena Waldorf, was found dead in the middle of the street in my neighborhood before Julian even came to Earth to find me. How the hell could nobody find out who’d done it?
And Dena Waldorf, too. We’d been there when the ECU found the body in Newport. It just made no sense that the killer was still not caught.
I didn’t say it out loud, but this just made me think about Jane Dunham more.
Bender didn’t really like to talk about it so I held off voicing my concerns until I saw Julian again. Maybe he was right and I’d been in shock after killing Galladar in the fairy realm, and maybe I hadn’t really seen her, but there was something in my chest, something that made me almost a hundred percent sure that I hadn’t just gone temporarily insane. It had been really her, no matter that it didn’t make any sense for her to be in the fairy realm—or alive. And something about Galladar calling out to Sofia right before he died upset me. Could Sofia be Jane? I had no idea yet, but I’d already vowed to myself that sooner or later, I would figure it all out.
“What about Xander Ramos? Is anybody admitting to anything?” Xander had died, and I’d seen his body. He at least hadn’t come back from the dead yet. The ECU had killed him—I’d seen it myself. The problem was, nobody was taking the blame. Nobody was even mentioning him now. Everyone was focused on what had happened with Galladar, and they had already let the werewolf’s death slide under the rug.
“Not even close,” Bender said with a sigh. “I guess there’s no time like the present to tell you that I’m moving to New York.”
I almost broke my neck when I turned to look at him. “What?”
“Yep. Lynn is going to live with me, too,” he said, keeping his head down, his eyes to the ground.
“You’re leaving Bloomsburg?” It just didn’t seem possible to hear him say that.
“I am. There’s not much for me here. Everybody I care for is in New York.”
Something hard fell on my chest and took my breath away. “Bender…”
“Just so we’re clear, I don’t expect anything from you except friendship,” he said. I held myself from shouting out as relief calmed my racing heart. Until he added: “Yet.”
Fuck. I was so screwed. “Bender, I really don’t—”
“There you are!” Amelia called from the other side of the garden, as if she just saw that we were there. “Come on, I need some help. Both of you!”
I didn’t want to run away from a conversation like that, but my body did. My legs took me all the way to her running. I didn’t want Bender to think of me in any other way than as a friend, but how the hell could I tell him that without being a bitch?
So of course I ran to my aunt. I’d keep running until I figured out a way to tell him. For now, I just enjoyed the sunny Sunday and every few minutes looked at the door, hoping to see Julian walking towards me.
He was in another world, yes, but no matter how much it sucked to wait, I knew he’d be there eventually. He made a birthday wish, and birthday wishes just have to come true.
_________________________
Would you like to know when the next books in the Winter Wayne series are released?
Sign up HERE to be the first to know about it! No spamming, ever.
If you liked Bone Magic, please consider leaving a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Reviews are an author's best friend!
Also by D.N. Hoxa
———————————
Morta Fox Trilogy
Heartbeat
Reclaimed
Unchanged
Starlight Saga
Assassin
Villain
Sinner
Savior
Chronicles of the Demon Hunter
A Soul's Worth
Book Two (Coming Soon)
Book Three (Coming Soon)
Water Wielders
Trapped
Book Two (Coming Soon)
Book Three (Coming Soon)