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He knew I was a werewolf. I didn’t know how, but he did. I clenched my jaw, struggling to come up with a reply. “It might help if I knew what I was looking for.”
“It’s a bronze broach with a raven on the front.”
My brows pinched together. “Why would my abilities make it easier for me to find it?”
His voice dropped an octave. “It will reek of magic.”
I pulled my hair back from my forehead with my free hand. Zeke was counting on me to get on the inside with this guy so we could find out why they were looking for Ruby, but I couldn’t shake the feeling this guy was two steps ahead of me and I wanted out.
“Magic doesn’t have a scent.”
“Oh, but it does.” He hissed. “Ask your Alpha.”
The line went dead. Fuck.
I stormed off the boat and down the dock. This guy was playing us.
And I needed to find out why.
By the timeI got to the Crow’s Nest, Winter was just turning the sign in the window to “Closed” and locking the door. She pointed to the side of the building, and I went around to the back. She came out and smiled, and I almost forgot the conversation I’d just had with my Alpha about my client somehow knowing that he could smell magic ever since he ascended to lead our Pack.
“Did you find the guy you were looking for?” She asked as she locked the back exit.
“Nope.” I put my hands in my jacket pockets. The cold was already sinking into my bones. “Did you find out your ghost’s identity?”
She turned around, her green eyes meeting mine. “Sadly, no, but I do think I found a connection. Can you get into social services records to find surrendered infants?”
I nodded slowly. “I know a guy who might be able to help me with that. Why?”
She broke eye contact, heading for the street. “It’s complicated.”
Okay I was getting fucking tired of clients not giving me the whole story. Not that Winter was a client, but she was holding her cards too close to her vest for me to be able to be much assistance. “I need to know what or who I’m looking for.”
She peered looked over her shoulder, her features tight. “Me.”
Before I could ask what the hell that meant, she was already walking down Essex Street. I caught up and matched her pace. “Hate to break it to you, but…you’re not lost.”
She glanced at me, but she wasn’t smiling. “I was abandoned. And I think this Ashley person the ghost wants me to find was too.”
I wanted to respond, but it took me by surprise. We went to the same high school and even though we’d never been formally introduced, I guess I assumed she had parents and a family like I did.
Winter had more secrets than I realized. We crossed the street, and I opened the door to the pub, waiting for her to step inside before I took refuge in the heat of the bar. I followed her to a table in the back corner and slid into the booth, facing her. “I didn’t know you were adopted.”
Her lips curved into a sad smile. “Not quite. I grew up in the foster system. And I had no idea I was an elemental witch.” She turned her hands palms up on the table. “I nearly got adopted a few times, but things would get frosty when I was upset, so I got returned like a broken toy.”
My chest tightened at the thought. I reached across the table to take her hand, and the room blurred. I blinked hard, struggling to bring her face back into focus as the wolf clawed his way out of the shadows of my soul and howled until my ears rang. A chill shot through my entire body as my nostrils flared, taking her scent into my lungs.
Mine. My mate.
I squinted until I could see her face clearly again. This was too much. I’d given up hoping to find my mate years ago, and although Zeke had encouraged all of us to start the search again, I hadn’t.
Yet here she was.
“Jackson?” She frowned, leaning in closer. “Are you all right?”
My sensitive ears caught the racing of her heart as I shook my head. “I…” I let go of her hand and straightened in my seat, rubbing my forehead. “I’m…okay.” I stared across the table, memorizing every curve of her face. “I…”
My brow furrowed as I struggled to find words to describe this invisible web binding my soul to hers. But she was a witch, not a werewolf. She didn’t have the same one-mate-for-life instincts that I did. Would she run when I told her? We barely knew each other. I couldn’t just blurt out that she was the only woman I would ever love.
