Chosen Wolf Page 12

  Victoria: 2 much 2 text

  Toby: Come over. We can do our work 2gether

  Victoria: Hard to say no

  Toby: Then don’t

  I smiled, hoping I’d convinced her. I felt partly bad, knowing how much she had to do, but between what we’d both found out, we may have learned something big.

  Victoria: OK. S & I’ll b over asap

  Toby: Victory!

  Victoria: Haha. Cu soon <3

  I found a bunch of kissing emojis and sent them. She sent a bunch more.

  Grinning like a fool, I leaned back in the chair and sighed. I loved having her back—it was like we were young again. Better, actually. We weren’t stuck living under the thumbs of our respective fathers, scared for the day we might be caught and killed for our defiance.

  I got up and added a log to the fire. Then I walked around the office and thought about what I needed to get done before she arrived. Once she arrived, we’d get no work done, despite our best efforts. I picked up my bag. It had ended up stuffed under my desk when I’d thrown it in.

  It took a couple minutes to get everything set up, then I got to work. I reminded myself to take on a TA, who could handle grading papers. That was what upperclassmen were for, after all.

  I went into my notes app and wrote myself a reminder in all caps. I had plenty of responsible students to choose from. It was a matter of finding one who needed an easy elective credit.

  I’d only made it halfway through my first stack of papers when a knock sounded. My head snapped up toward the door.

  Victoria stood there, smiling. She looked tired, but as gorgeous as ever. I scrambled out of my seat and wrapped my arms around her. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you. I’m not scheduling any more lunch appointments—that’s reserved for you.”

  She planted her soft, sweet lips on mine. “I’m not going to argue with that.”

  I pressed my mouth over hers. She tasted citrusy. “Good.” I scooped her up and brought her over to the loveseat that faced the fireplace.

  Victoria held my gaze and ran her fingers through my hair. “This is nice.”

  “I switched to a different conditioner.”

  “Not your hair.” She laughed. “Being here with you.”

  I gave her a playful pout. “You don’t like my hair?”

  “You’re impossible, you know that?”

  “I do my best.” I grinned.

  She gave me a quick kiss. “What did you guys find out about the body?”

  “You want to talk about that now?”

  “I thought I came over to do homework and discuss what we found out.”

  I kissed her in front of her ear. “I wish we could sip wine and stare into each other’s eyes all night.”

  “You’re really hard to say no to, you know that?”

  “I am impossibly adorable.” I batted my eyelashes.

  She burst into laughter.

  “You don’t think so?” I brought my hand to my heart. “I can’t believe this.”

  Victoria kissed my nose. “I do think so. That’s the problem. I’d rather spend all my time with you, but the full moon’s coming, and I’m no closer to shifting.”

  My mouth curved down. “Oh, sweetness. I didn’t mean to make light of that.”

  She ran her fingertip along my stubble. “I know. It’s hard to think about anything else when you’re around, but I hate thinking of going through another full moon unable to shift.” She shuddered. “I know I’m going to take pain pills, but I can’t shake the feeling it might not be enough.”

  I held her close. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this. Since the witches are having such a hard time finding the answers, I say it’s time we look for another way to get to the bottom of this.”

  She sat back, her beautiful eyes wide and full of hope.

  “What did you learn about the jaguars?”

  “Soleil discovered that they know the cure to my curse.”

  My heart skipped a beat. “What is it?”

  “We have no idea, but at least we know we’re on the right track.”

  Chapter 17

  Victoria

  We gathered around the mostly-dug up grave, the wind whipping my hair around my face. Gessilyn handed me a hair band.

  “Thanks.” I pulled it back into a loose bun.

  Johan came over beside me. “Just stand still until I say we’re done.”

  I nodded. He reached one hand out over the body and aimed the other one at my back, near the mole. My skin warmed, though he was at least a foot away.

  “Do you feel that?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “The magic is interacting. Did you notice anything before when you were near the body?”

  I shook my head.

  “Maybe it needs something to activate it,” Roska said to her father. “It could be you.”

  “No, I’m just a vessel. It’s not me personally—it could be any of us witches.”

  My skin warmed more, feeling like a hot iron was moving closer to my back.

  “What’s going on?” Toby asked, his eyes wide.

  “It’s just heating up. I’m fine.”

  He shook his head. “Look at her.”

  The others turned to me. Gessilyn gasped.

  “What?” I exclaimed.

  “You’re… you’re…” She stepped back, stumbling.

  “What?” I begged.

  “Glowing,” Toby whispered.

  My mouth dropped. I glanced down at my hands. They weren’t illuminated.

  “Your face.” Roska moved closer, running her fingertips along my hairline.

  “We should take her inside,” Toby said.

  “No,” Johan said. “This is the closest we’ve come to discovering anything.”

  Toby took my hand. “Do you hurt? Are you uncomfortable?”

  I shook my head. The wind picked up, blowing soggy leaves against us. The area around my mole warmed even more. “I’m fine. Let’s see what we can learn. I’ll do anything to be able to shift again.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” he mumbled. “If you get the least bit uncomfortable, say so.”

  “Okay.”

  My skin continued warming until it started to feel hot. I held my breath and glanced over at the body. Its skin had a slight glow—probably similar to what I looked like.

  “Are you all right?” Toby asked.

  I nodded, not trusting my voice.

  “Maybe we should stop.”

  “No!” I exclaimed. If this was all I had to deal with in order to turn at the moon, I would take it.

  “Do you feel that?” Johan asked.

  I turned to him, but he was talking to his family. Nora nodded and put her hands out toward the body and me. Gessilyn and her siblings did the same.

  The heat grew unbearable. I cried out and threw my head back.

  “Stop!” Toby demanded.

  “We almost have it,” Keran said.

  Toby grabbed me and pulled me toward the house. “I’m not going to let this continue.”

  “I want to shift.”

  “There has to be another way.” He brought me inside and lay me on the loveseat in his office. “We’ll figure something else out. Hopefully they were able to read enough into the magic.”

  “I’m going back out there.” I tried to pull myself up, but my back hurt with each movement I made. It felt like the skin had been horribly sunburned.

  “Let me look at the mark.” He brushed my hair, which at some point had fallen out of the bun, out of the way and pulled on the collar of my shirt. He gasped. “Your back is bright red. If you go out there, you could cause permanent damage.”

  “Not to mention possibly killing me,” I muttered.

  “There are other options.”

  “Not if my mole is connected with the body out there.” I ran for the doorway.

  Toby grabbed my arm and spun me around. “I won’t let you get hurt further. We’re going to have to
do something about your skin as it is. It looks burned.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “There are six witches here—one is the high witch over all. They can fix my skin.”

  He held onto me. “No.”

  “No?” I exclaimed. “You’re telling me no?”

  “We need to think rationally about this.”

  “Now I’m not being rational?”

  He took a deep breath. “That’s not what I said.”

  “Actually, it is.” I squirmed to get out of his hold. “Let go of me.”

  “Your emotions are on overdrive right now. Carter’s missing and—”

  “They can help me. That’s why you brought them, right?” I pulled out of his grasp and ran outside.

  “Victoria!”

  I ignored him and ran back to the field. Gessilyn’s whole family was still gathered around the body. “I’m back.”

  They turned toward me.

  “Did you get what you needed?” Toby asked. “Her skin is burned. I hope you have a spell for fixing that.”

  Johan turned to him. “Do you want us to focus on a cream or this mess? I’d think a cursed body and a werewolf who can’t shift would be the priority.”

  “So is her overall health. I want to introduce her to Darrell.”

  I spun around. “Who’s Darrell?”

  “He runs a spice shop.”

  “I don’t need tea!” Tears blurred my vision. I turned to Gessilyn. “Do you need my mark again?”

  Toby stepped between us and narrowed his eyes at her. “If you do that again, I’m sending you all back home.”

  “What?” I gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Oh, I will. We can get to the bottom of this one way or another.” He glanced over at the body. “For all we know, burning it will break your curse.”

  I shook. “I can’t believe you.”

  “If you think I’m being unreasonable, show them your back.”

  Tears spilled onto my cheeks. “Fine.” I pulled my hair over my shoulder and turned my back toward Gessilyn.

  Several of the witches gasped.

  “We need to do something about that,” Nora said. She looped her arm through mine and led me back into the mansion.

  Behind us, I could hear Toby discussing the curse with the others.

  “Why didn’t you say anything about the burning?” Nora asked.

  “It isn’t that bad.”

  “I beg to differ.” She led me into the main bathroom and dug around the medicine cabinet. “Nothing I can use here. I didn’t bring anything, either. Are you up for a quick trip?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We’ll travel by runes. Toby won’t even know you’ve gone anywhere.”

  “It’ll make my back stop hurting?” The pain was growing by the moment.

  “Not the rune travel, but I know a lake whose mud will cure any skin ailment, even burns.”

  “Let’s do it.”

  She took my hand and led me to an antique full-length mirror in the front room. “Close your eyes and don’t open them until I say to.”

  I nodded and then closed my eyes.

  Nora spoke in a foreign language. I felt a tugging sensation. It was hard not to open my eyes, but I managed to keep them closed.

  “Open them.”

  I opened my eyes. We stood in a bathroom I’d never seen before. It was painted in brownish-orange tones and decorations that seemed like it was from a time long gone, yet the sink, shower, and toilet all seemed modern. “Where are we?”

  “It’s hard to explain, and chances are, you’ve never heard of it. Let me grab a jar so we can bring some of the mud with us.” She opened the cabinet under the sink and pulled out a fat jar. “This ought to do it. Let’s hurry, before Toby realizes we’ve left.”

  She led me through a dimly lit home.

  “Is this your house?”

  “Not so loud,” she whispered. “And no, it’s not. It used to be my mirror, though.”

  “Wait—what?”

  “No time for questions.” She pulled me along until we came to the front door. We ran down a sidewalk for a couple blocks until we reached some woods.

  “Now can I ask where we are?”

  “Yeah, but we need to hurry.” She darted off the path and I struggled to keep up because of how much my back burned with every step. “I built a rune for traveling into that mirror. Though my old home was destroyed long ago, many of my things were salvaged, including several mirrors marked with runes. Wherever the mirrors are, I can go.”

  “Gessilyn, too?” I asked.

  “Anyone with the magic of rune travel.”

  “Hold on. Are you saying any witch can use that portal in Moonhaven?” That left Toby and the entire pack in a vulnerable position.

  “Definitely not.” Nora ducked under a low-hanging branch. “Another witch would have either had to have been to Moonhaven first or brought in by someone who can use that particular rune—and that would only be us. Rune travel is one of those lost arts. Most witches today have never used it, much less know where to go to learn the craft.”

  Relief washed through me. “So, the pack is safe? No unwanted witches can get through.”

  She didn’t respond.

  “Nora?”

  We rounded a corner and stopped in front of a lake.

  “The pack is safe, right?” I repeated.

  “It’s more complicated than I explained to you—it would take months to get into all the nitty-gritty details. Rest assured we’ve placed protection blessings on the runes, making it hard for anyone with ill will to get through. For now, I need you to take your shirt off.”

  “Right here?”

  She unscrewed the top off the jar. “Yes.”

  For as many times as I’d stripped in other woods to shift into my wolf form, I shouldn’t have been surprised by the request. I was so out of habit, it felt odd. I was also used to having a pack around me and a full moon. The almost three-quarters moon that night reminded me I didn’t have a lot of time left before I needed to be able to shift.

  While she scooped mud into the jar, I pulled off my shirt slowly. Every time part of the fabric touched my skin, it felt like a jolt of electricity. Tears stung my eyes each time.

  “My bra, too?” I cringed. Just the thought of touching it hurt.

  “It might get muddy if you leave it on.” She pressed the mud down, making room for more in the jar.

  “I don’t care about it that much.”

  Nora twisted the lid onto the jar, set it on the ground, and scooped some more into her palms. “Turn around.”

  I squeezed the shirt in my hands and turned my back to her. The cold, slimy mud felt good on my sore, hot skin.

  “Looks like it’s all covered. Let’s head back. Toby’s going to get suspicious soon.”

  We made our way out of the woods. A bright streetlight shone down on the sidewalk. I slid my shirt on, knowing it would probably end up ruined. We hurried back to the house with the rune.

  “I hope whoever lives here didn’t wake up and lock the front door,” I said.

  “Don’t think like that.” Nora turned the knob, and the door opened easily. We stepped inside, locked it, and made our way back to the bathroom. She handed me the jar. “Hold this and close your eyes.”

  Footsteps sounded in the hallway.

  My eyes widened.

  “Close them!” Nora whispered.

  The footsteps grew closer.

  I forced my eyes closed. My heart thundered, threatening to break through my ribcage.

  Nora grabbed my free hand and squeezed, speaking in the foreign language again.

  The bathroom door creaked as it opened.

  I opened my eyes. We were back in Toby’s front room. Relief swept through me and my knees buckled. I stumbled, but Nora grabbed onto me, helping me steady myself.

  “We’re back,” Nora called.

  “There they are,” Dillon said from another room.

  Toby, Brick, and
a few others from the pack ran into the room. Relief flooded Toby’s face and he ran over to me, kissing me all over my face. “What happened?”

  “I had to get creative to find a salve for her burn,” Nora said. “How’s it working?”

  “It feels better already.” I reached around and patted the dried mud on my skin. It didn’t hurt in the least.

  He wrapped his arms around me, careful to avoid the burned areas. “I was so worried.”

  Gessilyn came in and smiled. “I told you she was in good hands with my mother.”

  Toby kissed my forehead. “Let’s get you home. We’ve kept you from your studies long enough.”

  “Be sure to apply the mud until the jar is empty,” Nora said.

  I smiled and nodded, but my stomach twisted. With everything that I already had to worry about, applying a salve almost felt like too much.

  What else could go wrong?

  Chapter 18

  Toby

  The next week and a half went by in a blur of student meetings, classes, and faculty meetings while the witches pored over scrolls and books to find anything about the body’s curse. I barely got to spend any time with Victoria—most days, I only saw her in class and at lunch. Beyond that, we had a few phone and text conversations, but nothing more.

  Now that the exams were over at last, I was finally able to relax. I locked my office and went through the quiet building. A lot of the staff had already left for the long weekend. Everyone was eager for Thanksgiving, and then it would be time to go over the final projects and tests and enter in all my students’ final grades.

  The following week would be busy, despite most of the students being gone until the new year. Then I would have to think about preparing for the following quarter’s classes. At least Victoria wasn’t going anywhere—we just needed to get her to shift.

  My throat closed up at the thought. Her burns had healed, but we were still no closer to finding her cure.

  The full moon would come that night.

  I pulled out my phone and sent Gessilyn a text.

  Toby: Anything?

  Gessilyn: No. Sry.

  Toby: We have 2 do something.

  Gessilyn: Burn it.

  The body.

  Toby: U sure u got everything from it?

  Gessilyn: Yes

  I frowned. Once we burned the body, there was no going back. If it didn’t get rid of the curse, we would no longer have the source.