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As tears spilled down my cheeks, a vision took shape in the fog of my mind. I didn’t have the strength to push it away. I was physically and emotionally exhausted. A massive red wolf snarled in the center of a ritual circle. He was chained to a rock table with hooded figures surrounding him. He swung his large head toward me, and his eyes were bright green. My heart raced. Zeke. It had to be. There was a table beside him with a small iron cauldron, a jeweled dagger, and a single black candle.
My spirit lingered within the vision. Over the years, Lillian had coached me to hold the connection and search for anything that might give me a time frame for the glimpse of the future.
We were in the woods. No newspapers with dates. There must’ve been a full moon since Zeke was in wolf form, and there was snow on the ground. Maybe this would come to pass during the ice moon later this year. When I shifted my focus to the hooded figures around the circle, they dragged a woman forward.
I flinched, popping my eyes open as I scrambled to my feet. It was me. They hadme.My hands trembled at my sides as I reached up to run my fingertips down my neck. I raced to the cash register and picked up a pen, writing down notes before the vision softened and faded.
It was the final line I wrote that had my heart racing.
They slit my throat.Myblood filled the cauldron on their table. The witches chanted around the circle over and over. “The blood of fate. The call of destiny.”
My stomach twisted as I set the pen down.
I’d just witnessed my death.
CHAPTER 8
Zeke
Iput ona pair of sweatpants and stepped into my fleece-lined slippers before leaving my room in search of coffee. It was cold again this morning, making me rethink my choice not to take the time to grab a shirt, too. Werewolves ran at hotter body temperatures than humans. I’d be all right.
By the time I’d gotten back to Munroe Manor Farms last night, the house had been dark, and I’d been relieved. I hadn’t been in the mood to talk to anyone. I had this huge, life-changing news, and I couldn’t share it. Fucking fate. Why hadn’t Mathias ever mentioned this rule about wolf and witch unions being forbidden? It didn’t make sense.
It should’ve been the best night of my life, but it had ended with me talking to a door after blurting out something without thinking, which was rare for me.
I went through the motions, filling the glass pot with water and putting coffee into the filter while I replayed the conversation with Ruby again. I’d mentally replayed it hundreds of times since I’d left Essex Street last night. I’d told her finding my mate hadn’t been what I’d imagined it would be, which was true, but she’d thought I meantshewasn’t what I’d imagined. And by the time I’d realized my fuckup, she had already locked herself inside the Crow’s Nest.
Ruby had mentioned she was a water witch and that her magic was tied up in her emotions. I was the opposite. And while I usually prided myself on being a thinker, when I was around Ruby, I kept speaking without mulling over possible outcomes first. It was easy to talk to her. Maybe too easy. For some reason my heart was doing the talking, and now I was facing the consequences.
It had been a relief to head straight to my bedroom last night. The quiet gave me time to piece together how everything had turned to shit. I had a large bedroom on the first floor. It was on the opposite side of the house from the kitchen and gave me some privacy, considering I wasn’t the only werewolf living under this roof.
I wondered where Ruby lived. I hadn’t gotten a chance to ask her. There was still so much I didn’t know about her, but the wolf had already started pulling the bond between our souls even tighter. The animal didn’t care that we barely knew her. She was his. Our mate.
And I wasn’t sure she’d even speak to me today.
I grabbed a mug from the cupboard and turned around as Wyatt came down the stairs. He walked into the kitchen rubbing the back of his neck. “Hey, Zeke.”
“Morning.” I lifted my cup. “Want coffee?”
“Sure. Thanks, man.” He looked at the gray sky outside and shook his head. “Wicked weather out there. Ground’s gonna be frozen. Too hard and cold to plant the strawberries.”
Wyatt’s Boston accent was a little thicker than mine. I credited my mother for my annunciation. She was from California so the northeastern accent had never gotten its teeth into her. Wyatt and his twin brother, Wes, were townies, born and raised in Salem. They’d never stood a chance.
“Hopefully it’ll warm up next week.” The coffee started to dribble into the glass pot. I grabbed him a mug and then faced him again, leaning back against the counter. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him I’d found my mate, but just as quickly, my promise to Ruby came back to me. We couldn’t tell anyone. I crossed my arms. “Lillian was in the hospital last night.”
“From the coven? She looked okay when she came by to see Mathias yesterday.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Apparently, she used some kind of spell that transferred her energy into Mathias. Gave her a mild heart attack.”
“Fuck.” He shook his head. “She going to be all right?”
“They think so. She’s having some tests today.”
Wyatt arched a brow. “How do you know all this?”
“She forgot her healing crystals here. I took them back to the Crow’s Nest last night when the text came that she was in the hospital.”
“The witches sent you a text?” He narrowed his eyes a little. “When did you join the coven?”
