I turned and hurried on, almost running. Whatever had taken Granny might still be out here. When the cottage came into view, I breathed a sigh of relief and slowed my pace. There was nothing in the woods. I was perfectly safe. Hurrying forward, I refused to be distracted, even when I heard a twig snap followed by a painful silence, as if someone had frozen when they’d made a sound. I would not even dignify my fear with a response. A little magic could take care of anything in those woods. I marched straight up the steps of the stone cottage and threw open the door.
Inside, darkness swallowed me completely. Holding out my hand again, I lit a small flame. The cottage, usually toasty and full of some wonderful aroma, stood silent and as cold as the night outside. No welcoming scent greeted me—not baking bread, drying herbs, or apple sauce bubbling on the stove. The cottage felt as empty as if it had been unoccupied for years.
Calling Granny’s name, I hurried to the bedroom and felt for the light switch, flicking it up and down several times before giving up. The electricity was off. This in itself wasn’t so unusual. Granny Golden constantly forgot little things like paying her electric bill. But combined with the cold and empty house, it only made the abandonment more complete. It made Granny Golden’s disappearance real and urgent.
“I’m going to find you,” I whispered to the empty bedroom. “I promise.”
At least my parents wouldn’t worry. They’d assume I was staying with my grandmother, something they always encouraged. Like most parents, they didn’t think I could get into much trouble staying with an aging, magic-stripped witch. I had until the eclipse the next night to hunt down my grandma and get her back.
So I’d better find her quick.
With that thought, I pulled my cloak tight around my shoulders and stepped out onto the porch. Stifling a scream, I fell back against the door as a shadow loomed over me.
3
“It’s me again,” a deep, gravelly voice growled out of the darkness. “Don’t light me on fire.”
Producing a flame, I could make out the muscular form of the man from the mountain. Closing my hand around the flame, I snuffed it out.
“What the hell?” I said. “You can’t just jump out of the dark at someone.”
“Sorry,” he said, not sounding at all sorry. If anything, he sounded like he was trying not to laugh.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded, my back still flat against the door.
“I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said. “You seemed upset when you stormed off the mountain.”
“You’d just told me my grandmother had been abducted. So, yeah, it’s safe to say I was a teeny bit upset.”
“And that’s why I came to make sure you were okay.”
“Then I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not okay. You’re right. She’s gone. It looks like she’s been gone for a while.”
“I don’t know how long,” he said. “But I know where she is.”
“Who are you?” I asked, pushing away from the door to glare up at him. “How did you even know where I lived? Why are you the one telling me this? And how do you know my grandmother?”
“I know who has your grandmother because I’m…a wolf. Sometimes.”
I swallowed hard, my eyes scanning him again, as if he might have some outward tell. But werewolves didn’t look any different than normal people—until the full moon.
“Then why would you tell me?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.
“Because it’s sick to hurt an old woman.”
“You’re betraying your own people to tell a total stranger about it, out of the goodness of your heart.”
He cracked a smile. “I’m not really one of them. I’m a shifter. I can be a wolf when I want. I was a member of a pack for a while, but when they found out I wasn’t a ‘real wolf,’ I was shunned.”
I planted my hands on my hips and tried to make my tiny frame look bigger. “What are you really?”
“I told you, I’m a shifter. I can be a wolf, or a bear, or anything I want.”
“Yeah, but what’s your natural form? Even I know that shifters really have two forms—human and animal. What’s your animal?”
“I’m a wild boar.”
A snort escaped me that was, shall we say, less than ladylike. “When they say men are pigs, they usually don’t mean it literally.”
“I’m not a pig,” he said, stiffening. “I’m a wild boar. It’s a fearsome, dangerous animal.”
“If you say so.”
“I’m a very gifted shifter,” he said. “I can take any form just as easily. Right now, I’m a lone wolf.” His chest swelled with pride at those words. His pecs strained against his T-shirt, and in the cold starlight, I could make out the tiny points of his nipples through the thin fabric. I tried not to stare. I’d never noticed a guy’s nipples before.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, tearing my eyes away from his chest. “I don’t care what form you take. What matters is getting Granny back.” With that, I turned away and stepped off the stone porch. I paused a moment, almost expecting something to burst out of the nearest bush and set upon me. But then I realized that all those sounds I’d heard might have been him. He’d followed behind to make sure I was okay, to make sure nothing grabbed me the way it had grabbed my grandmother.
Warmth spread in my chest knowing that he’d been watching over me, even when I didn’t know it. It was the kind of thing Malik would do. But he’d been my best friend all my life, while this guy had no obligation to me, no reason to protect me. And yet, he had.
Just as I was giving him credit for all this kindness, he stepped in front of me, blocking my path, and crushed my goodwill with a skeptical look. “How are you going to get her back from an entire pack of wolves?” he asked.
“I have magic,” I said, pride swelling my own chest.
“That’s cute,” he said. “But they captured her for a reason. They’re not going to let her go just because you rush in there, wave your wand around, and sing your little song.”
“It’s not a song. It’s a chant,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Yeah, okay, Little Red,” he said with a smirk. “You’re going to need more than a chant.”
“Oh, yeah? Then tell me, since you know so well. What do I need?” I tossed my hair back, defiantly refusing to cover it with my cloak just because he teased me about it.
“I could tell you exactly what you need,” he said, meeting my smirk with one of his own. “But what do I get out of it?” His eyes traveled down my body, and a quiver started deep within me. I didn’t want to cover myself with my cloak, though—I wanted to throw it open so he could see more of me, admire more of me.
“Let me guess,” I said. “I need a big, strong man like you to protect me when I go rushing in there with my wand and my silly little chant?”
“Exactly,” he said with a grin, undeterred by my defiance. He was missing a tooth behind his canine, and I’d have bet my own familiar that he’d lost it in a fight. He looked like the kind of guy who enjoyed a good brawl.
“Okay, tough guy,” I said. “What are we waiting for?” Pushing past him, I strode back towards wolf territory.
The man caught up with me seconds later. “I can’t go rushing in there, either,” he said. “I’m not one of their pack, remember? They’ll kill a lone wolf for invading their territory.”
“But you’re so brave and strong,” I said, batting my eyes at him.
“I’m also not a fool.” His hand closed on my upper arm, his grip like iron.
I opened my mouth to speak, but for once, I held my tongue. My eyes met his, which were serious now. Something flickered in his gaze, but I didn’t know him well enough to identify it. This was new to me. I knew everyone in the First Valley, had seldom met anyone from outside my own coven. I didn’t know how to read strangers.
“Then who are you?” I asked at last.
“Efrain,” he said. “And I may be willing to find you and warn you, but I’m not will
ing to die for someone I don’t even know.”
“Fine,” I said. “But I’m willing to die for my grandma, so I’m going on.”
“Wait,” he said. “I can’t let you walk into a death trap.”
“Why not?” I asked. “You don’t even know me, remember? Why do you care?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged, turning to face the mountain ahead. “But I do.”
His straightforward answer caught me off guard, took the edge off my certainty. “What do you suggest?” I asked.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to have someone point out the way, tell me a bit about the wolves before I barged in. How many times had my mother told me to stop being reckless before someone got hurt?
“At least make a plan,” Efrain said. “I can help you with that to ease my conscience before I send a naïve little girl into a werewolf lair, can’t I?”
“Naïve?” I asked incredulously. “Little girl?”
“You look pretty little to me,” he said with a shrug.
“I’m eighteen, thank you very much. I happen to be quite skilled as well. In fact, I’m probably stronger and more dangerous than you, even if I am a little girl.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. I’m a very dangerous man,” he said, stepping closer, until our bodies were just a breath apart. The animal warmth of his body leapt across the space between us, racing over my skin.
I shivered.
He chuckled quietly in the darkness. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
4
We stood on the path arguing until I was shivering from the driving wind. Efrain had nearly convinced me that invading wolf territory in the middle of the night was not just suicidal, it might be dangerous for my grandmother if they figured out who I was.
“Let me draw you a map at the very least,” Efrain said. I could hear his teeth chattering together when he spoke.
“Fine,” I said, turning back. “Let’s go back to my grandma’s cottage, and I’ll build a fire.”
“Thank all the gods,” he said, rubbing his arms as we trekked back along the path. “It’s colder than a witch’s…well. It’s cold out here.”
“Just to warm up,” I warned. “You are not staying the night with me in my grandmother’s house.”
“Hey, you brought it up,” he said, holding up both hands. “But now that you mention it…”
“Absolutely not.”
“You going to make me sleep on the porch like a dog?”
“You are a dog, aren’t you?” I shot back.
“I bet I could change your mind,” he said, a haughty smile playing across his face.
“I’m sure you could,” I said. “But it’s not going to happen, so there’s no point in trying.”
“But you’re sure I could?” he asked, still smirking. “What does that mean? That I look like the kind of guy who could make a girl say yes to anything?”
“You look like the kind of guy who’s used to having girls say yes to anything,” I said, stomping the dirt off my boots before stepping onto the stone porch. I turned the knob, and Efrain reached over my head to pull the door open for me. I rolled my eyes at the silly gesture—covens were well aware that women could open doors as well as men, and they didn’t bother with such things. In fact, I could have summoned the wind and blown the door off its hinges if I wanted. But I felt a little dainty as I stepped through the door, which wasn’t entirely unappreciated. No one had ever treated me like a delicate flower before.
“Let me get the fire started,” Efrain said, approaching the stone fireplace. He laid the logs on, but as he bent to strike a match along the stones, I summoned the charge and snapped my fingers. Fire roared up around the logs. Efrain turned a scowl on me, and I smiled serenely back at him.
“Got anything to eat around here?” he asked, stalking over to the couch. Before I could protest, he picked up an apple and took a huge bite out of it.
“What did you do that for?” I asked, rearranging the basket to fill the gap. “These are for my granny.”
“I’m hungry,” he grumbled, taking another quarter of the apple in one bite.
I shook my head. He was an animal, after all.
“Fine, eat the apples,” I said, pushing the basket towards him.
“All right, let’s hear this master plan of yours,” I said as Efrain bit into his third apple.
“I said you needed a plan,” he said through a mouthful. “I didn’t say I had one.”
I sat back on the sofa and crossed my arms. “Great. I’m feeding you all her apples for nothing.”
“Apples are easy to come by,” he said. “A wolf who’s willing to help you? Not so much.”
I sighed and dropped my head back against the couch. “You’re right. I’m just worried about her. But we’ll find a way to help her. She’s…not well. I don’t understand what they want with her. She doesn’t even have magic anymore. She’s just an herbologist.”
Efrain cleared his throat and swallowed his mouthful. “There’s an eclipse coming up.”
“I know that.” Though witches didn’t worship the moon the way werewolves did, we would honor the eclipse.
“I probably shouldn’t be telling you this…” Efrain looked down at the gnawed apple in his hand, half of it gone in two bites. “Wolves don’t like to share their traditions with outsiders.”
“Is that why they shunned you? Because you tricked them into letting a shifter see their sacred ceremonies?”
“There’s a reason for their secrecy,” he said, glowering at his uneaten apple.
I straightened up. “Just tell me why they took my grandma.”
“They do a blood sacrifice at the eclipse,” he said, growling the word through clenched teeth.
“What?” I said, my eyes widening in horror. I must have heard him wrong. Sure, the coven told stories to warn the children from crossing into wolf territory. But if they did human sacrifices, surely I would know.
But then…maybe not. Everyone knew that a full moon ceremony in which the people changed into wolves was the most sacred and private of rituals. No one who wasn’t a werewolf was even allowed to witness it.
“It’s usually someone old or sick, someone they can help along…” Efrain’s eyes were glued to his hands.
“You mean someone helpless.” I found myself wanting to blast his face off with a fireball, so I curled my hands into fists. Sparks spit from between my fingers.
Efrain’s eyes widened.
“How do you know?” I asked, my tone harsh against the soft roar and crackle of the fire. “Why should I trust you, if you’re the kind of person who pushes an old lady into a fire, or eats her alive, or whatever the hell wolves do? If you’re not a part of the pack, how do you know what they took her for?”
“I saw them take her,” he said quietly, still not lifting his eyes to mine. “She was begging for her life, saying she had grandchildren…that’s how I knew who you were. She saw me and told me to go find you. In my old pack, when there was an eclipse, we considered it enough to donate our blood.” He held out the underside of his forearm to show me a long line of horizontal slash marks scarred into his skin. He’d done a fine job of tattooing up the rest of his arms.
“I thought you said it was someone helpless.”
“When we had a human sacrifice, it was a dying member of our own pack who chose to sacrifice himself to the goddess Diana that night, by his own hand. It was considered an honorable, sacred death for someone to die during an eclipse. But we didn’t sacrifice outsiders. We didn’t kidnap.” At the last words, his tone bit through the warmth in the room and his lip curled in disgust.
“We have to get her back tonight,” I said, jumping to my feet and snatching up the cloak I’d discarded as the room grew warmer.
Efrain held up a hand. “Tonight’s not the eclipse. We should wait until morning, when they’ll all be human and we can sneak in without them smelling us. They have wolves patrolling their territory at night.”
&nbs
p; “But Granny—.”
“Wouldn’t want you to get yourself killed for her,” Efrain said.
Everything in the room reminded me of Granny Golden, each memory hitting me like a punch to the gut. The woven rug in front of the fireplace with the two worn spots where Grandma knelt to start the fire each night. The needlepoint scenes hanging on the wall. The sofa covered in a throw my grandmother had crocheted.
“We should get some sleep,” I said as I stood before the fire, my eyes passing over the clay pots and vases my grandmother had made through the years, each sprouting bunches of dried herbs and flowers.
“All right,” Efrain said, heaving his giant frame from the sofa.
“You don’t have to go,” I said. “You take the bedroom, and I’ll sleep out here and keep watch.”
“Not a chance,” he said. “I’ll take the sofa.”
I started to argue, but he’d already moved the basket off the cushion and draped himself over the sofa. His bulk dwarfed the small thing, and despite my distress, I couldn’t help but smile at the way he seemed to be spilling off every edge of it. But I wasn’t about to move that mountain of a man, and I needed a good night’s rest if I was going to be fighting werewolves in the morning.
5
“Hey, wake up,” a voice said as I was shaken awake. “Someone’s outside.”
“What?” I asked groggily, staring up at the man standing over me.
“Someone came to the door,” he said. “One of the wolves.”
“Did they have Granny?” I asked, sitting up. The blanket fell around my waist, and Efrain stared at my chest, covered by one of Granny’s thin nightgowns.
“Uh—no,” he managed. “They were looking for you.”
“Me?” I asked. “How did they know I was here?”
“They must have been watching.”
I shivered at the memory of those twigs snapping in the woods. Maybe they hadn’t all been Efrain’s footsteps.
“Bastards,” I muttered, throwing off the blankets and exposing pale thighs. I jumped up and grabbed the dress I’d been wearing that day. “Let’s see what they want.”
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