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She grumbled. “That’s what I thought.” She put on the little glasses that hung around her neck and gripped my face with her hands. As she stared into me, she tugged on the skin under my eyes.
I blinked and jerked away. What was that about?
“Hmmm. Interesting.” She pulled the glasses off.
“What?” Had someone spelled me again? Because if so, that totally meant I could leave. Didn’t it?
“Let’s talk inside.”
“Okay.” I followed her back to my cousins’ house. “Would you like something to drink?” I asked as she settled down on their floral couch.
“No, mijita. Sit next to me.” She patted the cushion.
We sat on the couch together in sudden silence. I didn’t know who was supposed to talk first, but she already knew what I wanted to hear, so I waited.
“The things that they have you doing, those are distractions.”
Not what I was expecting. How did she know what I was doing here? “What do you mean?”
“Spells and incantations and parlor tricks are not worth your time. You need to be working on growing your visions. Becoming more aware of the lines in the future.”
Was it just me, or was she being incredibly…crazy? It was like I was missing half the conversation. “Lines?”
“Up until this point, you’ve seen past and present. You’ve gotten feelings and premonitions of the future, no?”
“Yes.”
She wheezed a little as she talked. It made my lungs ache in sympathy. “You need to have more than premonitions.”
I shook my head. That was impossible. It wasn’t how my visions worked. “How?”
“By finding that place within that’s the source of your power. Then, you will be able to lead this coven.”
I couldn’t contain the shocked gasp. “No. I can’t. That’s not what I’m here for. I need to find the next leader.”
“Your Grams—my sister—found the next leader.”
“She found me, but I’m in the pack. I’m an alpha. I don’t know where I really stand yet, but I’m stronger than most. I can’t be in two places at once.”
“No, mijita. You are of two places and you will always be in two places. You think your Grams didn’t know what would happen? You think she made a mistake?”
Honestly? Yes. I kind of did think she made a mistake.
“She knew what would happen to you. She knew that your path would be hard, and she prayed over it, but you cannot change what is meant to be.”
“Rosa,” I said to her, pleading for her to understand. “It’s not just me who doesn’t want to be here. The coven doesn’t want me either.” Luciana didn’t want to give me to the wolves, but she hadn’t paid a visit since my first day here.
“Now that is a useful way to spend your time. You need to be going around and making friends here, getting to know what these brujos really think.”
She’d lost her mind. It didn’t matter if I had friends. This wasn’t my job. “I don’t even want to run the pack.” I wasn’t sure if that was the road I was heading down, but I was a strong alpha and it could happen—it almost certainly would happen to Dastien—so at the very least, I was bound to end up the Were version of a first lady. But Tia Rosa was talking about a whole other level of leadership. “Why would I want to run the coven on top of that?”
She grasped one of my hands. Her skin was so soft and papery thin; I had to be careful with her. She was human, both old and fragile.
“As you grow, you learn that life is rarely about doing what you want. We all do what we must, and that is even more true for the powerful ones like you. My sister saw the times changing. To stop war, you must be the link that unifies the pack and coven…and eventually, all supernaturals. When the time comes for the world to know the truth, the people will need someone to look to. A trustworthy leader who knows what it’s like to be human.”
I couldn’t breath. There wasn’t enough air.
No longer able to sit still, I pulled away from Rosa to pace the small room. “I can’t be that person. I’m just me. I’m a normal girl.”
