Hunter's Moon (The Witch Who Sang with Wolves Book 1)

by Kat Bostick

  “So it’s my fault? I did this to us?” Mari glared up at the sky. “Mother freaking ghost witches and their mind control!”

  Jasper howled with laughter and if she wasn’t trying to keep a serious face, she would have laughed along to that melodious sound. “You can’t blame your ancestors for that.”

  “Oh hell yes I can.”

  “They were only guiding you in the direction that you were meant to go.”

  She scowled at him, mostly because he was echoing her own intuitive voice. “And how can you know that?”

  “Because they brought you here. They brought us home.” He caressed the back of her hand with his knuckles.

  “I think we have a lot to talk about.” Mari said to avoid responding.

  “Yes, but first I have a question.”

  “Okay, shoot.”

  “Do I give you sparks?” Jasper asked.

  “Sparks?” Mari wrinkled her nose. “What do you mean?”

  “Do you feel sparks for me, like in those books we read?” He shifted to face her and she blushed before she even opened her mouth to answer. One corner of his lips quirked and she considered not speaking at all since he obviously got his answer from her expression.

  “You give me total firework explosions.”

  “Total firework explosions.” He repeated slowly, pressing his lips together to suppress a grin.

  “Yes, okay? I melt into a helpless puddle every time you give me that ridiculous smile of yours. What business do you have smiling at me like that?”

  “What smile?” He asked, smiling the exact smile she knew that he knew she was talking about.

  Mari huffed and turned her back to him. “You were going to tell me about the hunter’s moon.”

  She should have known better than to give her back to a predator. Jasper’s teeth clamped down on the side of her neck. It was only a nip and would probably leave little more than a hickey but it surprised her into a yelp. He pursued the curve of her neck with his lips when she shied away. Since she wasn’t exactly unhappy with the apologetic kisses that followed the bite, she decided to let him catch her.

  “Hunter’s moon.” She breathed, only half interested in bringing him back on topic.

  “It’s the full moon that comes after the harvest moon.” His breath whispered over the sensitive skin behind her ear. “When the deer are fat and the night air hints at the coming winter.”

  With his words Mari could taste the sinewy flesh of deer. She felt the sharp chill on the breeze and the animalistic excitement for the hunt. In her dreams she hunted with the pack through Jasper’s eyes. She knew the thrill of the chase and the kill and most importantly, the bond that the pack shared when they hunted as one. The sensation stimulated a desire in her that, to her knowledge, she had never experienced before. Mari craved blood and the scent of fear and the satiation of the crazed hunger that came with the change from man to wolf.

  “You can feel it.” Jasper hummed with the same pleasure she felt. “That’s because you’re my mate. What I feel, you feel.”

  Mari pulled away from him so fast it made her dizzy. “Can you please refrain from using the ‘M’ word?”

  “But you are—” He cut himself off with a frustrated growl. “Fine.”

  She felt the emptiness in the space behind her like an icy wind when he put distance between them. “What happens to me on the hunter’s moon?”

  “You make your decision.” He said coldly. “Stay as my mate and join the pack or leave to find a coven.”

  “You’re not happy about this.” Mari twisted to look at him but his back was to her.

  “I promised you patience so I will do my best to give it.”

  “How long?”

  Jasper sighed sadly. “The hunter’s moon is in three months.”

  Three months. That was how long Mari had to decide if she was going to spend the rest of her life with him. Her entire future was riding on what happened in the next ninety days.

  “You were right.” Bitterness infused her last words before she stood and marched back to the house. “I do feel like I’m losing my choice again.”

  Chapter 33

  Mari

  Getting a job in Humble Springs turned out to be harder than anticipated. Make that impossible. With summer in full swing, the seasonal jobs were filled. And in a town as small as Humble Springs, seasonal jobs seemed to be the only ones that had regular openings.

  That didn’t mean Mari was going to stop trying. She couldn’t. Driving across the state and feeding a werewolf in the process depleted her savings. Even buying the essentials to replace what she’d lost in the fire had her cringing as the measly numbers in her account continued to drop.

  Clem was kind enough to take Mari into town to replace some of her clothes. Apparently Clem had quite expensive taste, which might explain why her brothers each owned several pairs of designer jeans despite their requirements for clothing being anything that came off quickly and didn’t rip during a brawl. Mari had to feign disinterest in most of the high priced boutique items that the she-wolf suggested because she knew she couldn’t afford them.

  Jasper offered to buy her anything she required and then some but she quickly and vehemently turned that offer down. Where was he going to get the money, anyway? Did it count as him buying it if he borrowed cash from Charlie? Not really. Besides, Mari wasn’t interested in feeling more beholden to Jasper or the pack than she already was. They gave her a place to stay, fed her, and were working diligently to find more information about her kind.

  Whether or not it benefitted the alpha in the long run, she didn’t care. It was too much and Mari felt like a mooch.

  That was reason number one that she was searching for a job. Reason number two was obvious. If—or when—things didn’t work out with the pack and she had to go back out into the world, Mari needed a safety net. She might not be able to return to Klein, which meant she would be on her own with no means. The more optimistic version of option two was Mari finding a coven and needing the resources to support herself when she sought them out. Somehow, that version of option two didn’t make her feel any less pessimistic.

  After their conversation about the hunter’s moon, Jasper helped Mari move her meager belongings into a guest bedroom directly across the hall from him. She’d expected to feel relieved to have her own space, happy to be gaining some semblance of her usual freedom and independence. If anything, it felt weird. Weird to be in a strange room in a strange house, even weirder to be alone.

  That part bothered her the most. Mari loved solitude. Nothing satisfied her more than a quiet weekend with a good book. Sure, her reluctance to go out was the cause of the slow growing rift between herself and her friends. Sure it made her lonely. Sure it started as a way to bide her time while she patiently waited to join Gran’s coven. But it was her normal. It was what she’d come to know.

  Now, the nights she spent alone in the pack house were inexplicably empty. Alright, maybe it wasn’t so inexplicable.

  Attraction, however, was no reason to give up her dream. Mari hadn’t successfully convinced herself that was all there was between her and Jasper but she was trying her damnedest. She wanted it to be nothing more. That would certainly simplify her situation. Unfortunately, simple was far from what the divine had in store for her.

  The first action Mari took when she was in the privacy of her own room was to switch her cell phone back on. Much to her dismay, the screen immediately flooded with missed calls. Only one of them was from Dad. The rest were from Henrick and another unknown number. Mari had a few guesses about who the caller could be and none of them were good.

  For more than a minute her finger hovered over the delete button, ready to hide anymore evidence of her crime, but for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to. Mari didn’t agree with what Lyse did to Jasper, not at all. Did that mean she was truly evil? The world of magic was not nearly as black and white as Gran made it out to be. Now that she’d met werewolves and found
them to be civilized and kind creatures, Mari had to wonder if perhaps a witch practicing unethical magic was not inherently bad.

  Plenty of people made poor decisions for the right reasons. Mari was a prime example of that. If she wanted to consider joining a coven then shouldn’t she leave her options open? Was there really that much harm in hearing the luminary out? Lyse might be the only other witch of her kind. She could be the sole opportunity Mari would have to learn about her power right from the source.

  After deliberating for half the night, quietly pacing the rug in the guest room, she gave in to curiosity and played through the voicemails. The ones from Henrick sounded the same; beseeching her to give him a chance to explain, wondering about her whereabouts, insisting that he meant her no harm. Surprisingly, he signed off each message wishing for her to be safe and well. It could easily be another part of his charming façade but now, Mari wasn’t so sure.

  She wasn’t sure of anything.

  The final message was from a woman with a throaty, pleasant voice and a soft German accent. At least Mari thought it was German. She’d heard this voice before in a much grimmer setting.

  “Hello Mariella. My name is Lyse. I am the luminary of a newly formed coven. We have no roots. We have no name. We are what remains of the witches and wizards in this crumbling world. I know that your first introduction to my coven was unsettling. I hope you can forgive our mistakes. I’m new to leadership.” She chuckled softly, then her tone turned serious. “You may feel alone now, but you’re not. You are not lost, Mariella. We’re here with you, we’re here for you.”

  Mari settled onto the edge of the bed, a hand clutching her chest as that sentiment wheedled into her heart despite her best efforts to remain objective. There was a hint of wonder in Lyses’ final words. “I am the last of the Bavarian Wolfbann coven of old. I thought I was the last of our kind. I’m thrilled that I was wrong.”

  The message replayed in her head like a broken record until she was once again pacing the floor. Lyse was wrong. Mari was lost. Lost without the only home she’d ever known. Lost without what little family she had. Her eyes made an involuntary journey to the bedroom door.

  Lost without Jasper.

  No. She wasn’t. Jasper shared in the wildest few months of her life, survived a chaotic storm with her. They’d become fast friends, closer than she’d been to anyone in some ways. That didn’t mean Mari was helpless without him. They were tied to each other but she wasn’t yet convinced it was inextricable.

  Charlie claimed he had no knowledge of a situation like theirs before. That meant he also couldn’t be positive that there was no way to break the link between them. All magic could be reversed. If a curse could be broken, so could a binding spell. Then Mari’s decision could be made without fear of destroying him. Perhaps they could even come out on the other side as friends, sharing a more distant but solid bond.

  Mari glanced at the phone in her hand, weighing her options yet again. Her decision led her to the bathroom, where she slid to the floor and tucked her knees to her chest. There was no one on the other side of the bedroom wall as far as she knew but this was the quietest spot to make a call without being overhead.

  Belatedly she realized it was nearly midnight, far too late to call anyone, even an eager luminary. Just as she was about to hang up, there was a quiet click and a soft answer.

  “Mariella?” Lyse repeated, not sounding the slightest bit perturbed or drowsy.

  “It’s Mari.” She whispered.

  “Mari. I’ve been awaiting your call.”

  It was a struggle to keep her voice low when she asked “Why? Why are you doing what you’re doing? Why are you so persistent?”

  “Witchcraft is fading. Our brothers and sisters are scattered and weak. They are dying.” She paused to make a sympathetic noise. “As you have seen firsthand.”

  “Gran had a heart attack.” Mari cleared her throat. “Unless you had something to do with her death.”

  “We grieve for your grandmother. Her sisters and I.” Lyse blew out a breath. “When can I see you, Mari? When can we speak? There is much to discuss and much you don’t understand.”

  “You’re right. I don’t understand what you want with Jasper, why you did what you did.” Mari’s volume rose with her anger. She couldn’t forgive the luminary that. Lyse needed to understand how wrong it was to deny him his freewill.

  “Ah, Henrick said you had an attachment to the wolf.” There wasn’t exactly disdain in her words but Mari felt like a reprimanded child. “The wolf is our strength. Our kind created them to make us powerful. To strike fear in our enemies. They are ours to wield.”

  “Wield?” Mari croaked. The words sounded strikingly like Charlie’s when he first discovered what she was. “He’s not yours to wield.”

  Whatever else Lyse had to say, Mari was not capable of hearing it then. Her fingers shook with rage when she punched the power button on her phone, switching it off and leaving it on the tile floor as she marched barefoot and pajama clad to the bedroom door. The house was heavy with silence when she slipped down the hallway but Mari knew the stillness was deceptive. Undoubtedly one or more pack members heard her and were quietly observing her movements.

  That was fine. She wasn’t up to no good. Mari simply couldn’t breathe with the pressure of anger pushing against her ribs.

  It was no surprise that the door in the kitchen was unlocked. Mari stepped out into the lush grass and audibly sighed her relief. The soothing energy of Earth Mother travelled slowly from her soles, easing some of the tension inside of her. She glided forward into the trees, reveling in the darkness that cloaked her. It was nice to feel invisible, to feel like she was no more than another shadow, fleeting and incorporeal.

  The trees sang wordless greeting to her when she was encircled by their wise and long-lived trunks. Once more Mari was struck by how vibrant the power was here, how unbridled the magic was within pack territory. Was it because of the wolves? Or was it simply isolation, keeping the Goddess of Flesh and Blood free from the tainting influence of humans?

  Mari let the witch emerge from within and opened her eyes to the ebbing and flowing currents of magic around her, something she was learning she could do with growing ease when she concentrated. It drained her power just as casting did but she tried to imagine it as a muscle that became stronger with use. Varying shades of green swirled around her, tributaries of power gushing to one of Earth Mother’s many hearts, the forest.

  Hairs prickled on the back of Mari’s neck as she became aware of another form of magic, silent and lethal. Maybe it wasn’t the gilded aura that she could almost see in her peripherals as much as it was the weight of his gaze. Mari would always know the feel of those eyes. Even if, by some slim chance, she could find a way to erase the magic that tied her to him, Jasper would never truly be erased from her soul. Nor from her heart.

  She knew it from the moment she dreamt of his green eyes, so sad yet so resilient. The ferocity of his spirit was untarnished by his pain. Whatever wounds Jasper suffered, the traumas the pack alluded to, he was unbroken. His heart was sewn with the blood of a hundred warriors past. His very being was unbreakable strength, ferocity, and power.

  So much power.

  It lived in the flourishing summer of his bright irises. Even as she witnessed his despair, Mari saw his blazing life-force too. Nothing could douse the fire that burned in his belly. She wanted to take that essence into her in every way possible. No matter how she denied him, denied their connection, she could not deny that. The need to immerse herself in the heat of his power was a barely stoppable force.

  It was only fear that kept her feet rooted to the ground like the surrounding trees. Only fear that stopped her from calling out to him, begging him to come closer and wrap those reassuring arms around her. Mari couldn’t surrender to Jasper’s draw. That would be surrendering to inevitable torment of the heart. There was no way this had a happy ending for them. Life didn’t work that way for Mari.

/>   With time she’d found that what she longed for most was the most evasive. She dreamt of joining Gran’s coven only to be shunned. She wished to be powerful and once that power was granted to her—or thrust upon her—the rest of her life crumbled. What purpose was there in power when she had no one to teach her? No one to practice with?

  And now there was Jasper. Jasper who claimed to care for her. Jasper who wanted to shower her with the affection and unyielding support that Mari was never offered by her own family. He seemed the perfect solution to everything amiss in her world. So how would he grow to resent her? To believe her unworthy? Mari didn’t doubt that he would probably hate her if he knew that she was speaking to the luminary that cursed him, considering her offer of tutelage and companionship.

  Yet none of that quelled the yearning to seek out his warmth. He knew of her yearning too. Mari could feel it humming gently along those thin threads that bound them together. Jasper knew and still he didn’t break his furtive vigil. Because that was what she asked of him; space. Even as the same ache of longing throbbed at his heart, he held steady to his promise.

  Mari wished he wouldn’t and she was pleased that he did. That seemed to be her greatest problem. She was two things at once, two conflicting voices trying to shout over each other, two different sides that could never find compromise. She was the witch that craved sisterhood and belonging and she was the lovesick girl that already felt a sense of belonging in the most unexpected place.

  The sough of a breeze through the canopy caught her attention. The forest itself appeared to be breathing, gentle exhales of tranquility. It wasn’t until that moment that Mari realized how truly quiet the night was here. No distant buzz of roads accented the subtle thrum of the midnight symphony. Crickets played their songs undisturbed, trees groaned in pleasure at the caress of the wind, and the waning Blue Goddess painted the sky in hues of silver and grey.