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“It’s not a place for a girl like you. You deserve to find that special someone, to settle down and have your own family. Because that’s your path, not mine. Timothy knows that.” my voice cracked as the words spilled from my tongue. Because he does, and I knew he did, even if he didn’t want to admit it and tried to get me to change paths. We’ve both always known where I belonged.
Mallory shook her head, but her eyes were void of light and instead shimmered with unshed tears. She knew it was pointless to argue against me; we both did. I’d win, no matter what it took. She’d be on the ride home in the morning because, in her heart, Mallory knew I was right. Turning from her, I surveyed the scene around us. Groups were huddled together, voices drifting through the night air, disrupting the sound of the waves lapping on the beach as they always did in the calm of the night.
My eyes rose to the moon, the silver disk dangling in the sky. It controlled the tides and the creatures of the night. In its wake, I felt energized, which shouldn’t have been possible. My village wasn’t Lunar Witches. Our ancestry was a mixture of garden, healers, and solar witches. But mom wasn’t part of the village growing up, was she?
Not for the first time, it occurred to me that I knew little to nothing about my mother. I knew the love and adoration my father had and still did have for her. I knew how much he pined over his loss and refused to take another woman in my mother's absence. I knew that she was a top healer, talented in her craft. But what else did I know? In my bag, I shielded her grimoire, a forbidden book that wasn’t allowed even long before my mother would’ve been born.
My eyes flickered to Valencia and found her watching me once more. Her lips were pressed together in a thin line, and her head held up. If I was closer, I would probably see her nostrils flaring in the anger that was just steaming from her. She wanted what I had. She just didn’t know how to get it.
Tearing my gaze away from her again, I turned and came head to toe with Olga. Reaching out, she grabbed my arm and wheeled me out of the crowd and toward the grove of trees. What was it with people wanting to meet in those damn trees? My feet stumbled, catching on one another as she led me away. When we were just within the line of trees, Olga spun to face me, planting her hands on her hips as she glowered at me.
“You have a grimoire,” she hissed, her voice low to keep it from drifting through the air and catching the hearing of someone – or something – that shouldn’t be listening in.
My jaw set. “You do too.” I shot back, mostly accusatory without factual evidence.
But she didn’t deny it. Instead, her face went ashen, and Olga swallowed, holding her chin up. “So what?”
Glancing up through the canopy of trees, I found the moon peeking through the sliver of openings in the branches. “So, neither of us says anything about them, right?” I questioned, drawing my eyes back to her. “Right?”
“Right. One for one.”
“Done.” With that, I spun on my heel and returned to my friends, with the wolf soldier at their side.
When he saw me, his eyes sparked with anger, and he snarled. “Where the hell did you go?”
“None of your business,” I shot back, my nerves suddenly frayed. “You aren’t my boyfriend, so I don’t have to tell you.”
His jaw ticked, and at my words, he stepped forward, grabbing hold of my bicep as he pressed his face into mine, letting out a guttural growl that sent my insides into a flurry. “If I was your boyfriend, I wouldn’t let you wander off like that. Pretty little witches don’t fare well in times like these.”
Yanking my arm away, I clenched my teeth and turned to my friends, deciding it best to just ignore him for now.
ChapterThirty-Four
The shotty roads made our vehicles bounce, forcing us to cling to whatever we could find that wasn’t about to fall out the back that only had half a door. It was deliberate; I swore it was. But at least we got to see the sunrise and the glow of the periwinkle sky light up. We’d been in the back of the vehicle for hours, having left at the top-notch of the witching hour. It was too chaotic to even try to sleep, for me anyway. A few others, like the wolf soldier, dozed off easily, snoring. It should’ve bugged me, but it didn’t. I hated listening to his gentle snoring and watching his chest rise and fall. He sat across from me, but we were in such close parameters that our knees still touched.
My eyes swept to the gun he propped next to him. Sure, he was a wolf shifter, but he still needed protection for himself and others around him. He couldn’t always rely on the wolf side, just like I couldn’t always rely on my powers.
My fingers twitched at the thought. I wasn’t supposed to use my powers for extraneous things such as protection, only healing. It was the rules, however aggravating they were. I could only hope that rule also didn’t follow me onto the war field. Anything could happen, which included being attacked in the medics' place. I had to be able to protect myself. A soldier wasn’t always going to be around, now were they?
My eyes flickered to Carli, jealousy boiling in the pit of my stomach all over again. Like me, she was wide away, but her eyes were on the opening of the back door, watching as our home grew further and further behind us the closer we sped toward wherever we were headed. Not that it had even been in close range before, but it was more prominent now than ever before. Her wings were splayed behind us, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d noticed them. She had to by now. They were much more visible, and anyone looking at her could see them. Somebody had to have said something, or she saw them in the mirror. We didn’t talk about it, though.
I was pretty sure she knew my feelings, however crappy they were. Not that I meant to have them. But it was unfair; she had the opportunity I desperately wanted and wanted nothing to do with it. I knew Carli would switch places with me if that was an option, but it wasn’t. So here we were, she got to be a part of the war, and I would be stuck in some stuffy building waiting for some soldier bleeding out to save.
Ack.
Turning my eyes away before she could even glance in my direction and take notice of the anger boiling inside of me, I watched as the greenery turned brown. Molted homes dotted the area here, and burned fields greeted me, some with smoke still rising. Leaning toward the opening just a bit more, I gripped my bag tightly, astounded by the sight falling behind us.
“Rules are different on this side. Where you come from, war isn’t so pronounced for a reason. To keep witches and the likes of you from seeing the truth. You’re told stories, but that’s all they will be for most who aren’t brave enough to venture out or aren’t drafted. The witches on this side follow a different lifestyle than what you’re used to. Humans don’t hide out like you’ve been taught. They fight back, trying to reclaim what they lost so long ago.”
“And what about vampires and…. Well, you’re kind?” Olga asked, and I swore I heard a waver in her voice for the first time ever.
I didn’t turn to look at her, though. We were in a weird place with our relationship. Normally at each other’s throats, we stood at the edge of something else. Not friendship, we’d never be friends, and we both understood that. But – perhaps, civility? It was possible.
“The vampires who don’t volunteer for war are snug tight in the cities, high up on the chain. After all, they do rule. They are royalty. My kind, the wolves, are second on the ladder. But unlike those bloodsuckers, we prefer the wilderness and stick to that. Most of us also volunteer to fight, not all but most.”
My fingers clenched up, nails digging into my palms. “My father, brother, and boyfriend didn’t volunteer. They were drafted,” I pointed out, gritting my teeth. “Why do you get to volunteer?”
Something flashed in his dark eyes, and his jaw ticked, but no other amount of emotion showed on his face. “Warlocks are powerful, so they are needed. Just like the Fae.”
