Hexed Hearts

by Becca Vincenza

  “Yes, I have been a little preoccupied, but I’ll call him with an update later.”

  Hunter’s response made it clear he didn’t want to elaborate on their mission. A look of annoyance passed over Isaac’s face. Between wolves, it basically came down to dominance. This was Isaac’s land, and he was lacking knowledge, therefore lacking power.

  “I’ve been respectful enough, I think, Hunter. But I’m losing patience.” His voice took on that low octave that I knew demanded obedience.

  Hunter’s jaw tightened and his eyes flashed golden yellow.

  “We are here because of a witch.”

  My breath caught in my throat. Keith squeezed my knee as if to reassure me. Instead I felt like he was holding onto me, keeping me from bolting from the table.

  “Well, not exactly. More the warlock who attacked some of our pack mates.”

  Keith, Griffin and I seemed to share the same relief, but in a different way. Griffin tore his gaze from mine. Keith released his grip and I let out a slow breath. A new hand touched my other knee. It was gentle. Almost so faint that I was sure I imagined it. I stole a quick look over at Hunter who watched subtly.

  “I have decided that given Colette’s past it would be best for her to wait here until we either retrieve our man, or dispose of him completely. We will pick her up after we have completed our mission.”

  “And when exactly did you decide that you were going to take a member of my pack away?” Isaac’s frame straightened a little.

  “We know who she is. She isn’t technically part of this pack. As Hunter is her mate, he has every right to take her home.”

  Jude stated, watching Isaac. Calculating. Seeing the influence of his words.

  “That’s an old law. No one follows that and you know it. Colette has been in my Beta’s care since she was a child. She belongs to this pack. She has every right to stay if she doesn’t want to leave. It is her decision, not yours.”

  All eyes turned to me and I tried to swallow the lump of food in my throat. I thought about it. What did I want? Truthfully at the moment I just wanted their ever increasing curious stares to move away from me. I wanted to bind my other half. I wanted to know for sure who I was. My past. Griff looked upset but… in time he would learn to live without me.

  Griffin was strong, he always had been, when we were children in those cages he was the one who told me never to cry while the men were in the room. I knew one day, maybe even sooner than later, he would find his mate. He would eventually stop looking at me like he was now. Like I was his world. I no longer felt the same way about his loving gaze. My heart didn’t skip a beat at the thought of him kissing me. Instead I felt the love of a best friend, but he would never be everything I needed him to be.

  And I would never be that for him.

  I shyly looked over at Hunter. He seemed so uptight. Even in the morning Griffin, would still be playful, even if he wasn’t a morning person. Hunter on the other hand looked like a person who might not enjoy mornings but he was still awake because he had work to do. I had rarely seen him smile, and one thing I learned from my time in that cage was a smile was a gift. To be happy was not a privilege everyone got to enjoy. Maybe he was worth trying to make smile. I would never know if I didn’t give us a chance. Fear would keep me here for now, until I could destroy my other half. When he was away on his mission, I could complete my own.

  “Hunter deserves a chance. I would be willing to go with him after his mission, given some terms.”

  Chapter 9 — Terms and Conditions

  Half of the breakfast table practically exploded. Well mostly it was Griffin, he stood so fast that he knocked back his chair, aiming a glare at me. There was a snarl on his lips. He was livid, the hatred burned from his eyes. Isaac turned to look at his son, but Rose and Keith both stared at me. Rose’s eyes filled with unshed tears and her lip trembled.

  I couldn’t bear to look at her any longer. Keith’s brows were pinched, and his eyes were glossy with the pain that I had caused him. The food that I ate was merging into a ball of steel in my gut. I wasn’t hungry anymore and excused myself from the table after Griffin had stormed off.

  I headed up to my room to change clothes. In my room all I could think about was how in a few weeks things would be different. I shut my door. And pressed my two fingers against the pounding headache that was forming right behind my eyes.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  I almost screamed. Instead squeak left my lips, my hands going out into an awkward combat mode. Something rushed in my veins, a deep burning sensation. It moved through my chest to my arms and out through my hands. Griffin fell back against the wall and stared at me with wide eyes. I looked down at my hands.

  Shit. I had done that with my…magic, I guess it wasn’t a fluke. My eyes were as wide as they could get when they connected with Griffin’s. He looked pissed. I apologized to him, though I knew my magical reflex was like salt in an open wound. If that’s what it was. Why the hell did it do that?

  “It’s fine. We’ll just get your powers bound as soon as possible. You’re unstable as you are now,” he said. His words hurt when delivered by the biting tone. It was more than just his hurtful words. I thought if anyone would be somewhat understanding about this it would be him. Yet he seemed almost as bitter and hateful to my new addition as I was.

  “I didn’t mean to do that Griffin. Don’t be an ass. Can you just stop thinking about you for a second? Think about how I feel. I have to give up everything for him,” I bit back.

  “No, but you sure as hell meant what you said downstairs. What the hell was that? You have been telling me how scared you are. Was that all lies too? Just trying to make me feel worse about having to see the best damned thing in my life walk away?” Griffin said stomping toward me. His fists had tightened at his sides. His eyes burned with his rage.

  “You’re a bastard if you think I did that I just to mess with your head. You know that I would never do that to you. Everything. But if I stay here, one day you will find your girl, you will find your mate, and I will be alone. You’ll be willing to give up everything for her. I know you will, because if you loved her half as much as you claim to love me, you’d never hurt her. I am doing this for you. I can’t love you the way I might love him someday. And you can’t love me like that either.”

  Griffin had grabbed onto my upper arms keeping me close. I tried to pull away from his desperate hold, but he held me close.

  “Don’t say that, please.”

  Griffin pressed his forehead to mine.

  “I can’t do this, Griffin. Please try to understand.”

  Griffin pulled away and dragged his hands through his hair. He gave me a determined look that promised he wasn’t done with this, with us. I hated to think how that could have been me months ago that he had turned 21. His mate could have been there. And she would have taken him from me. We let our feelings grow into something we shouldn’t and, while my heart didn’t automatically belong to Hunter, my attraction for Griffin had faded. My love for him as anything more than a brother or friend, was gone.

  “So then you’re just going to leave?”

  “I don’t think Hunter would keep me prisoner down there. I am sure I can come home. This won’t be goodbye forever. And we probably still have at least a week. There is no way they’ll be able find their warlock that quickly.”

  At least I hoped so. I needed to find a witch that could seal my powers in that time.

  “Griffin, I am asking you to help me. Please.”

  It was selfish of me, but I needed him. I didn’t think I could be able to find a trustworthy witch, or a witch at all, without his help.

  “I will start looking into binding your powers, but we need to talk about whatever the hell your terms will be.”

  I huffed out a breath.

  ****

  “You have terms and conditions?” Hunter repeated looking at me like I was crazy. Truthfully it was a little crazy. I knew most of the other wome
n in my pack wouldn’t hesitate to claim their mate, or shy away like I was. Of course I had a perfectly reasonable reason for my insanity. I just wasn’t going to share it with him.

  “I do.”

  I had knocked at his door after breakfast to find him wrapped in a towel. I gawked for a while, staring at his very masculine chest. His pecks were covered in a light shading of his dark hair, and trailed down and into his towel line. I kept staring there until I realized he was watching me back. I lifted my eyes to quickly darkening yellow ones that held no shame. Instead it offered a silent challenge. I tsked my dry tongue at him. As snarky as I could, I told him to go put on clothes, then answer the door.

  Hunter was in his doorway, me on the outside, too scared to go into the room. I realized it was an irrational fear as I had spent the night there, but things were different. I had practically said in wolf terms, “take me, I’m yours.” In reality, I was more thinking I was willing to give this a shot. I thought of Hunter especially, and it wasn’t fair to him for me to reject him before I even knew him. In all reality, it wasn’t him that cursed werewolves all those centuries ago. He was caught up in this, just like I was.

  Hunter sighed he rubbed a hand over his face pressing on his closed eyes and letting out breath through his nose.

  “Fine, would you like to talk in the hallway or in private?” he asked pulling his hand away. Hunter opened the door wider not really giving me an option. I glared at him and strode forward acting like this had been my decision all along. I saw him in the corner of my eye shake his head.

  “My conditions and terms are pretty simple I want to be able to leave at any time I want to.”

  “No.”

  I glared back at him interrupting me. I gritted my teeth. “And why not?”

  “You said it yourself you are a halfling it would not be safe for you to wander around pack land you don’t know. Around wolves you don’t know.”

  His words were enunciated at the end as if he was trying to jab the words in my brain. I narrowed my eyes and scrunched my nose at him.

  “Fine let me rephrase that. I hold the right to call Keith – without any bounds or troubles – to come and get me so that I can leave your pack if I so decide.”

  I raised my eyebrows waiting for his rebuttal.

  “You have to at least give it a year,” he stated crossing his arms over his board chest.

  “Three months.”

  “A half a year and I am not going any lower.”

  I smiled like the Cheshire cat. I hadn’t thought I would even get that. I hadn’t had a lot of terms and conditions, but I expected that to be the hardest for him to agree too.

  “Alright a half a year. Moving on I get to keep my cellphone and I can call home. I am agreeing to get to know you better but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up my home and family,” I paused. I saw his eyebrows pinching together. He expected what was coming. I gathered my courage.

  “That means Griffin too.”

  “No,” he said. His simple answered shook me. I didn’t show any reaction. I knew this wouldn’t be easy but I thought he might weigh his options, think it through. In his shoes, I would have at least given it some thought.

  “Hunter.”

  He was breathing heavily, his hands pressing into the wood of a dresser. I swallowed hard. I stood up and moved over to him. I touched his arm gently to let him know I was there.

  “I am not trying to hurt you.”

  Hunter turned sharply towards me.

  “That seems like exactly what you are trying to do,” He said through clenched teeth. I breathed in.

  “I’m sorry. But I didn’t. This is hard for me. Imagine if I came into your pack told you one day you have to leave everyone you have ever known. Everyone that had ever shown you love. Try thinking of things from my perspective. He is my bond mate. We bonded over something that I hope no one will have to experience again. Hunter, when it comes right down to it, we don’t know each other. Not yet.”

  I moved away from him back to my sitting position watching him. I tried to remain calm, but my frustration leaked into my words. How could he not see it? How could this be so easy for him to accept?

  “Go on with your terms.”

  “If you leave I leave with you.” If there was anyone in his pack that I had to trust, it was going to be him. I didn’t want to be left behind.

  Hunter’s yellow eyes slanted. I could see a hint of smile gracing his lips. I knew what was coming and yet I was still somewhat shocked when he snorted at me. It wasn’t a laugh but more of a sound of disbelief.

  “You are joking right?” he said, some humor lacing his words.

  “Do I look like I am kidding?”

  “The answer is no. It will always be no. We don’t go chasing rabbits or wolves who might just need a slap on the wrist like I am sure your pack does,” he snarled.

  “Damn you’re an asshole.”

  I couldn’t stop my words from slipping past my lips. He turned to me so quickly that I am sure it was faster than a blink of an eye.

  “I am trying to protect you.”

  “And I am telling you I don’t trust your pack.”

  I gritted through my teeth.

  “Why not?”

  He eyed me. Fear slammed into me. Since we started talking today, not once had he scared me. I had to think fast I couldn’t tell him the truth.

  “Do you trust mine?” I questioned.

  “It’s not technically your pack,” he muttered. I was almost certain my eyes rolled into the back of my head at that. He was grasping at straws. I could tell he didn’t really believe in his argument.

  “No one follows those laws anymore. I was adopted by Keith the human way. He is my legal guardian.”

  “You’re also an adult.”

  I sighed knowing this could go around and around for the next few hours. I was getting a headache.

  “When do you leave?” I asked as calmly as I could.

  “Tonight. We shouldn’t be more than a week. I want you packed and ready to leave as soon as the week is up.”

  I lipped the words behind his back with a snarky look on my face. He turned and I smiled a painfully fake smile at him.

  “How did I end up with the most immature mate?” he whispered.

  He didn’t intend for me to hear it, but I smiled all the same. His words didn’t hurt me. I had spent a lot of my childhood not smiling and I found I enjoyed it a lot more than scowling.

  ****

  Hunter, Jude, Billy, and Jameson, left that night to hunt their warlock. Dread slipped down my back. Not only did fears from my past come to haunt me, but also the knowledge that I shared the same type of blood as the warlock that they might be going kill.

  Griffin didn’t come to watch them off. I knew it was the right thing to do after having been so difficult. It was the respectful thing. Keith came with me, and Hunter looked at me for a long time as if coming to a decision. He asked if he could talk to me privately before he left and I went with him.

  “Look I know I told you I wasn’t going to be left alone with your pack but this is one mission I really, really don’t want to come on,” I said. Goosebumps ignited across my skin at the thought of going with them.

  “That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. You had terms and conditions. I do as well.”

  I waited. Nervousness wracked me.

  “Don’t kiss him. That is my only term.”

  Hunter searched my eyes and I knew that he was silently pleading with me. I swallowed the lump in my throat. It felt wrong promising that to Hunter when I wasn’t sure I could keep it. Griffin might not attract me as he used to, but that didn’t take away the years we had together. But looking into those yellow eyes I wasn’t sure I could deny him this.

  “Okay. Deal.”

  I guess I was hoping that Hunter would close the small distance between us and kiss me. Kiss my lips, forehead, cheek – anything. Instead he nodded once. His fists tightened and turned on his heel an
d was out the door a second later. Jude watched me a little longer, as if his glare would remind me also not to go against my deal. He slipped out the door with the others.

  “How about dinner, Lettie?” I turned to Keith with a huge smile. That is exactly what I wanted.

  Chapter 10 — Holy Boil, Toil, and Trouble

  “Finding her wasn’t easy. I hope you recognize that,” Griffin grumbled at me from across the island counter. We were in the kitchen I was making him lunch for helping me. It had been three days since Hunter and his group left. I felt a little nervous about the whole situation, but I shoved it back down, trying to convince myself that it was because I thought I was running out of time. Hunter was a big boy he could take care of himself. He was the one putting himself in harm’s way so if he got hurt it was his own fault. And part of me wanted to know if he was okay. I wish that I had his phone number so that I could call and check on him. That was silly though and I had my own problems to deal with.

  Griffin and I had worked up a plan after he griped a little more about having to actually find the witch. He told me about her. Apparently she was older lived with her granddaughter. Both were witches, though according to them they practiced only light magic. I didn’t trust a witch no matter what kind of magic they claimed to practice. They agreed to help us though Griffin didn’t go into details than we needed. Griffin and I would have to meet them later tonight after dinner. He, of course, set the time.

  I told him it all seemed too cloak and dagger to me, but he said he would feel better if we could do it on our terms. I agreed. I didn’t want Isaac or Keith trying to stop us. I was scared. I was scared of what this other half of me could potentially do. Not to mention what Hunter’s pack might do to me when they found out. If he found out.

  We had dinner with the immediate family. They came to dinner these past few days. It wasn’t just Keith, Griff, and I. Now Rose made sure that she and Isaac got their work done before dinner, John, Teddy, Liam and Nick and their parents all came too. I knew why dinner had suddenly became an event, though I tried not to think about it.