Before Dawn

by Olivia Hutchinson

  Natalie may not understand precisely what it meant, but she at least recognized it was a big deal. Declan pulled his hands through his hair and looked up at the ceiling. "It's permanent, Nat. No undoing it. No divorce. None of that."

  “I’m confused.”

  He dropped his hands and met her squarely in the eyes. “Others – werewolves, witches, all of them – don’t usually marry, they mate. It’s different. It’s for life.”

  “How—”

  “They bite each other during sex. It’s a blood exchange.”

  Natalie was frowning, her arms wrapped around her waist. “I can’t imagine Lila biting someone, especially not hard enough to draw blood.”

  “It’s instinct for a werewolf to bite when they feel they’ve found their mate. I’ve heard it’s almost impossible to resist. Gabriel was probably putting off all kinds of pheromones.”

  “You’ve never done it.”

  "I haven't found my mate, and like I said, it's permanent. One mate can't survive long without the other. That's how Kaleb and Gabriel lost both of their parents."

  “Oh…” Natalie closed her eyes for a long moment. Slowly, she opened them again and sucked in a long, steady breath. “What does that mean for Lila?”

  "I don't know. There's something in the blood that changes a person and binds the two together. One person may get some traits from the other. That's why matings between the factions go before the Council for approval. I imagine Lila would adopt some of Gabriel's traits. The healing, the more sensitive hearing and sight." He shrugged. "I don't know a human who's mated an Other before."

  She nodded. “Okay, okay. What does this mean for us?”

  “We’re fucked.”

  Natalie sat on the couch, her phone in her hand, waiting for Declan to come back from the jail where he went to talk to Zachariah. He’d been gone most of the day, leaving her safely alone in the apartment to entertain herself. He texted once, asking if she was all right, to which she replied with a poop emoji instead of the thumbs up like she’d been trying to. She quickly sent the latter.

  Hannah came by for a little bit, bringing lunch with her. They ate at the kitchen table and talked about Hannah’s plans for the evening. She had a date, which she was excited about, although she didn’t say who it was with. Natalie prayed Red Bowinger hadn’t texted, asking for forgiveness or anything like that.

  Worry gnawed at her gut once Hannah left her alone again in the apartment. Natalie took a shower and put her hair in curlers while it dried, and now she was sitting in the quiet of the apartment, staring down at the black screen of her phone.

  She texted Lila with no response. None. Nothing. Zilch.

  Declan laid out in not such pleasant terms what would happen if the Council found out about what Gabriel had done. Malcolm couldn’t protect his nephew. No one could. The CE would take him and make an example out of him, especially if they figured out Lila was human and not a witch.

  She prayed they never did.

  Natalie opened up a new text message and sent a message to Beth. I miss you.

  She worried about Beth going with Kaleb. She seemed to despise the man, despite not really knowing him. Beth hadn't handled the news of the warlocks and the werewolves quite like Natalie had. There was a text from her the night before that she’d missed as well. It was just a simple hey, but she hadn't seen it until that morning.

  Her phone beeped a minute later. Beth: I miss you, too. Are you okay?

  Natalie: Yes. Are you?

  She kept the screen open, so she saw Beth's incoming text without having to hear the beep that generally came with it. Beth: I’m my normal miserable self.

  Natalie smiled and typed out what she wanted to know. Natalie: Is Kaleb kind to you? I know you weren’t thrilled about going with him.

  A few seconds later another message popped up. Beth: I wasn’t but we had some history that I may have forgotten to mention.

  That was news to her. Natalie: What history?

  Beth: Remember a few years ago when you dropped me off at my car and I told you my tires had been slashed?

  They were supposed to be going for breakfast, but when Natalie came by in the morning to get her, Beth told her about what happened the night before at the Wolf's Den. Kaleb drove her home the previous night, so they had to go back to the bar to get her car straightened out, only to get there and find her car's tires had all been replaced.

  Yeah. He’d changed them out for you. Send.

  Beth: The night before we made out in his truck when he drove me home…and then he rejected me.

  “Oh!” Natalie said aloud to no one. That explained a lot of Beth’s odd behavior the other day. Her fingers moved over the screen of the phone. Natalie: Had you been drinking?

  Beth: Of course. I guess I was still pissed at him when we were at Lila’s.

  Natalie laid out across the couch, her phone on her belly, and stared up at the ceiling. Beth was obsessing over Kaleb, Lila mated Gabriel, and here she was, trying to make-out with Declan. And like Beth, she'd been shot down. Sort of. The biggest difference was that she held no ill will about it.

  All her feelings for Declan were confusing. She realized the relationship was fake, but she didn't have to fake the way she felt about him. She liked him. Really, really liked him. He was a good man. She knew that from when she met him initially in Lila's living room and he told them about what he found at Andrea's.

  It bothered him. It had bothered him probably much more than he let on to anyone.

  Even now he was with Zachariah, trying to find Everleigh. Trying to protect his own. She admired him. Admired his strength, will, and determination. If there was anyone she wanted to be like, it was Declan. He even opened doors and did all that manly-man shit that gave her butterflies.

  He was the best fake boyfriend she ever had, and they were only a few days into their relationship. That said some serious stuff about both her and him.

  And it sounded to her like Kaleb was cut from the same cloth as his cousin. Natalie: Let me get this straight. He fixed your car, paid for your tires, gave you a ride home, and then didn’t take advantage of you when you’d been drinking? Why aren’t you stalking him? Send.

  Beth: Damn, Natalie.

  Her irritation flared. Natalie: It’s been what? Two years? And you’re still mad because he’s a good guy? I’m sorry, but get over yourself. She only halfway regretted her words after she sent them. They were honest and frankly, Beth needed to see them.

  Beth: It doesn’t matter now. Like you said, that was two years ago.

  Natalie: You’re still interested, otherwise you wouldn’t have said anything.

  Natalie knew Beth well enough to know she would end up stewing over what Natalie said to her. She needed to. She needed to know what she wasn’t appreciating.

  A new message flashed over the screen. Beth: I love you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.

  Natalie smiled. Beth was okay. She was okay, and everything was going to work out. It had to. She typed out and sent one word: Ditto.

  The doorknob jostled, and Natalie jumped up from the couch. Declan came inside a second later, and Natalie met him in the kitchen. His shoulders were slumped in exhaustion, and his mouth was curved downward in a slight frown, but as soon as she saw her, he perked up. His brows scrunched together. "What's in your hair?"

  She touched the pink, twisty rods self-consciously. “They’re curlers. I’m making myself pretty.”

  He chuckled. “You’re always pretty.”

  Natalie's cheeks burned, and she looked away from him for a moment before asking, "How did it go?"

  Declan sighed and tossed his keys onto the table. “Not as good as I hoped. He doesn’t know where she is, where she went, or even what direction she took off in.”

  “What are you gonna do?”

  “I called in one of my best trackers. He’s going to see what he can find.”

  “You trust him?”

  “Absolutely.”

&n
bsp; “Good,” Natalie said, leaning against the counter.

  She didn't doubt he'd only send his most trustworthy people after Everleigh, but hearing it from him was just another vindication for her that participating in this little ruse was the right thing. She wanted Everleigh and the baby found safe. Not that Declan would ever willingly do anything to jeopardize that, good man that he was.

  "Also, the Council ruled that he will sit in the cell until Everleigh and the child are found."

  “They won’t release him?"

  "No. I submitted my testimony this afternoon, as well. Everleigh didn't mate the human and the father of the child hasn't given anyone any indication he knows Everleigh was anything other than human. Their relationship is over, and his name isn't on the child's birth certificate. They accepted the information, so that's good."

  She grinned at him then to take his mind off his day. "I'm gonna finish getting ready. You probably want to leave soon."

  “You have thirty minutes,” he called after her as she headed toward the bedroom.

  “I’ll be done in twenty!”

  7

  Natalie's cheeks hurt from smiling so much, her belly was mad at her for eating too many mini quiches, and she had to pee like a racehorse, thanks to the two glasses of very expensive champagne she drank.

  Her arm was laced with Declan’s as he introduced her to someone else she didn’t care to know, but she made another mental note of who they were because this one seemed important: Celeste Scanlon, witch faction leader.

  Celeste was a beautiful woman with a dark complexion. Her black hair was long little springs that bounced this way and that. The woman had a full-lipped smile that lit up her face. When she held her hand out to Natalie, Natalie took it.

  "You're from the Cantor area?" She may be smiling, but Natalie got the sneaking suspicion this woman didn't miss a thing.

  “Yeah.”

  “You’re familiar with Ruby Tremblay?”

  "I've known her for years."

  Celeste tsked. “I’ve never met a more difficult witch to work with. I don’t know how Declan can stomach keeping her in his territory.”

  Any thought that Natalie had about Celeste being nice was gone in an instant. Grandma Ruby was eccentric, yes, but she was her best friend's grandmother and had always been good to Natalie. Maybe it was the way she immediately stiffened, but Declan covered her hand with his. She was playing a role, and it would serve her right to remember that.

  Forcing her body to relax, Natalie blinked twice and looked up at her fake boyfriend with a broad smile on her face. "Declan is a good man, if I do say so myself."

  He laughed, a deep sound that soothed her soul.

  “He is,” Celeste agreed, “and I respect him, which is why I’ll say openly to the both of you that I will veto a mating request between the two of you if you bring it before the Council. I hope that’s not what you had in mind, Natalie?”

  “We’re just having fun.” Thank you, Ruby, for that head’s up, Natalie thought. She wished now she’d been warned a bit more about Celeste.

  “Hmm.” Celeste pursed her lips for a moment before someone called her name. She waved at whomever it was before saying, “It was nice meeting you, Natalie. I hope to see you in Salem at the next witch’s council. There have been so many witch disappearances lately, so if you do decide to venture outside of your territory without Declan, be careful.”

  Disappearances? “Oh, I will.”

  “Declan, how are you?” There was a loud slap on Declan’s shoulder that vibrated through to Natalie. The big man she recognized as the dragon leader, Collum, stood there smiling at both of them.

  If she was going to find a bathroom, it had to be now. “Excuse me,” she said, “I’ll be right back.”

  Declan turned away from Collum. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “Perfectly. I’m just gonna find the ladies.”

  “Down the hall, take the second left, then go right and it’s down there.” He hesitated. “Do you want me to go with you?”

  “Your girlfriend can’t go pee by herself?” Collum asked, his eyebrows raised.

  “I don’t want her to get lost and wander around the Council House.”

  “Don’t be silly, I’ll be fine.” She leaned up and pecked Declan’s cheek. “Be back in a minute.”

  She left Declan and Collum in the middle of the full room as she weaved her way to the double doors they came through when they first got there. As soon as she was outside the room, she felt as if she could breathe again.

  Natalie followed Declan’s directions exactly, weaving through darkened hallways, until she came to a hallway lined with six identical doors

  Her heels sank into the luxurious carpet. The sconces on the wall were her only source of light, but there were no signs outside of any of the doors to indicate what sat on the other side. Figuring out which one was a bathroom was going to be nearly impossible without trying them all, she realized.

  For a second, she debated going back and getting Declan. He could point out which door held a toilet, but she could figure this out without him. Plus, she didn’t want to see the look on Collum’s face when she came back in there to get him because she really couldn’t go to the bathroom without help.

  She started at the first door. Locked. Door two contained a broom closet. She shut it quietly and moved onto door number three. When she swung it open, the first thing she saw was a big, hulking male with one hand on his massive dick.

  Ack!

  He stared at her, deer in the headlights look in his brown eyes. His dirty blond hair was a mop on the top of his head. It was shaved on the sides, and the hair fell carelessly into his face. He shoved his dick into his pants and took a step toward her.

  “Oh! I’m sorry!” She slammed the door shut in his face.

  Praying he stayed inside, she went to the next door and jerked on the knob just as he came into the hallway.

  “What are you doing over here?” His voice was gruff.

  “Bathroom,” she spouted off. “I’m looking for the bathroom.”

  "That was it." He pointed at the door he just came out of. She was so stuck on what she saw that she hadn't even realized what room it was. He took another step closer, and Natalie couldn't help but back up until she was pressed against the wall.

  Oh, she didn't like this at all. She didn't know who this man was or even what he was. She never saw him before, and yet he was looking at her as if she were prey. Natalie's stomach dropped, making her feel ill.

  “Your Declan’s,” he said, inhaling sharply. “Right?”

  Slowly, she nodded. He was too close to her. His presence was nearly overwhelming in the empty hallway.

  He sniffed her again, this time the corner of his mouth lifted in a devilish grin. “Or are you? You smell like you haven’t been with a man in a while, little witch. Azarov not satisfying your needs?”

  “How about you mind your own business?” Natalie skirted around him wanting to put as much distance between the two of them as possible. She didn’t like how close he got to her in just two steps. He seemed to suck all the air out of the space. With a quick glance, she confirmed what she already knew. They were alone.

  The stranger's eyes darkened, and he stroked one hand over the thick but short hair on his chin. He propped one hand up on the wall, and the bottom of his shirt crept up his side. The deep grooves of the muscles of his hips and abdomen peeked out, showing a few inches of his tattoo-covered side. "If I can smell that, how many Others can, too?"

  The hair on the back of Natalie's neck lifted, and she hesitated, her hand hovering over the knob of the bathroom door. She wanted nothing more than to escape into the bathroom and get away from him, but she recognized the truth in his voice. Werewolves had a phenomenal sense of smell. She discovered that reasonably quickly. What if Council members figured out she and Declan were pulling off a stunt right under their noses?

  What if they discovered she was human?

  Her
heart thundered in her chest as she slowly met his dark gaze. Part of her felt as if he were trying to get under her skin for some unknown reason, but the other part? That small spot in the back of her mind was blaring like an alarm. Was he trying to warn her?

  "I'm sorry I walked in on you. Next time maybe you should lock the door. And also wash your hands because that’s just gross." As quick as she could, Natalie disappeared into the bathroom and engaged the lock as soon as the door clicked into place.

  She stood frozen, waiting just inside for some sound that told her he left, but she couldn't hear anything between the heavy, solid door and the plush carpet. Finally, she forced herself to relax and used the facilities before washing her hands in the sink. Leaning against the granite countertop, she sucked in a deep breath as she continued to let the water run in the sink.

  The noise drowned out her own racing thoughts. She felt as if she’d been caught. As if they – the CE, the Council, someone – would come for her. Would he relay what he suspected to anyone else?

  Declan had never mentioned being able to smell a lack of sexual activity. She guessed he could probably scent some changes in body chemistry, but this was big. This was something she should’ve known before she agreed to come with him.

  Knowing what she knew now, she couldn't admit she would have chosen to do anything differently. They were in Boston for a reason. She had a part to play, and she'd be damned if she didn't follow through. For her safety. For Declan's. For Everleigh. For her friends who would be in just as much trouble as she would be if they were ever discovered as human when the Netherworld believed they were all witches.

  She knew one thing for sure: she needed to get back to Declan.

  Natalie turned off the water and stood up straight, fixing the curl that had escaped the clip that kept the fat curls under control and out of her face. Her makeup was still in place except for her lipstick. The wristlet she wore was too small for the tube, so she left it at the apartment, but she still looked good. Poised. The opposite of how she felt internally.

  Taking a deep breath, she was ready to head back to find Declan. Her hand was hovering above the knob when there was a sharp knock on the door.