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“Permission?” Payton asked, frowning.
“The packs up north practice a more secular way of life. They try to live as their wolf ancestors did, shunning the outside world, believing they are communing with the High Luna. They go back to the dens to have their pups. Women are subservient. You get the picture.”
“Weren’t you from Canada?” Payton asked.
“Yes,” Esmeralda replied softly. “From the Moondust Pack.”
Brinnah gasped.
“I was like you,” she went on. “Had the ears. Worked in the kitchens. Thought I had to wait until the alpha gave me permission to do anything.”
“What happened?” Brinnah asked.
“I fell in love with someone, and our love was considered … abnormal.” Esmeralda shook her head. “The alpha kicked me out of the pack and I had to leave the person I loved behind. I thought I was going to die. It took me a long time to get from that moment to this one, but I survived and so will you, Brinnah. Tell me how I can help you.”
“Elder Agnes said you would know where I could find an enchantress.”
Confusion filled Payton’s gaze. “Enchantress?”
“There are other magical blessed races,” Esmeralda explained. “Not just us shifters, but enchantresses, warlocks. Fae. You get the idea.”
One of Payton’s eyebrows rose. “Huh. Well. How do you know all this?”
Esmeralda sighed. “Because I had to make everyone forget that Agnes and I had been together.”
Brinnah’s eyes widened. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”
“I didn’t want her to suffer like I was suffering without a pack. Folklore stories were about Others so I went searching for one, and found her. The enchantress granted my request. No one in the Moondust Pack remembers I was ever there. Except for Agnes, obviously.”
“Why didn’t she go with you?” Payton asked.
“We just weren’t meant to be, I guess.” Esmeralda smiled sadly. “Others like to keep their distance, maintaining a non-mingling of the species. So, Brinnah, why do you need to find an enchantress?”
Brinnah took a deep, fortifying breath, suddenly nervous and ashamed. “My moon-fated mate has rejected me.”
Both women gasped and Payton’s jaw dropped. “What the fuck? Why would he blatantly give the finger to the High Luna?”
Brinnah balled her hand in a fist and hit the spot on her chest over her heart. “Vadin made it very clear my omega status is beneath him, and it aches something fierce. I want—no, I need—for it to go away. To dissolve it. Somehow. Elder Agnes said the enchantress could help me.”
Payton looked at Esmeralda. “As soon as we break Brinnah’s mating bond, we can get the enchantress to voodoo his ass.”
“Wrong religion,” Esmeralda said. “I do know an enchantress, but she doesn’t do anything for free. Are you prepared to pay a price?”
“Oh.” A sinking feeling filled her. “I-I don’t have anything of value. How much will it cost?”
“It won’t necessarily be money. It’ll be something more meaningful.”
She looked at Payton, and the luna gave a nod. “Okay. Yes. I’ll pay the price to be free.”
Esmeralda smiled. “I’ll contact her. Might take a while, though, so be patient. Do you have somewhere to stay?”
Brinnah shook her head.
“Don’t worry,” Payton said. “I got this.”
She pulled out her cell phone and placed a call as she walked away.
Esmeralda patted Brinnah’s hand. “You can’t go back to that pack, you know that, right?”
