Yeah, I am. I forced myself to inhale, and pain throbbed slightly in my chest. Luckily, I’d be healed in a few minutes since it wasn’t a serious injury.
What the hell were you doing?
He better be glad he’d asked with concern, or I would’ve been pissed off right now. I was trying to smash him into the perimeter wall. Okay, it sounded stupid when I actually said the words.
Footsteps pounded as nine witches headed in our direction.
A woman in her forties stepped in front of the other eight, and her sable eyes focused on the wolf. Her caramel hair cascaded down her shoulders and back, emphasizing her forest green sweater. Her face turned pink with anger. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“We needed to talk to you.” Amethyst straightened her shoulders as she met the priestess head-on.
“You’re Beatrice’s kid, aren’t you?” The lady frowned as she took in the wolf. “We told you we couldn’t entertain you on this visit.”
I couldn’t let Amethyst go down for this. “Look, we didn’t mean to come here.”
“Oh, really?” The lady turned her attention to me. “You just happened to stumble upon us?”
“Actually, yes.” Here it goes. “We were led here?”
“By GPS?” She crossed her arm as sarcasm laced every single word.
“No, by my …” I wasn’t sure what to call it. “… magic?” That had to be the best word for it. I was drawn to these girls, but it was nothing like the mate bond. It was as if we were all interconnected, and hell, we were.
“You don’t seem so certain about that,” a younger version of the head guard hissed. She stepped up next to the other lady, and I was positive she was her daughter.
Aidan opened his mouth, but considering how much anger was rolling off him, I knew it wasn’t wise for him to speak. I grabbed his hand, getting him to help me back to my feet.
“I’m kind of new to magic.” If I wanted to be treated as an equal, I had to play the part.
The older witch glared at me. “Obviously. You allowed a mutt to come through the perimeter with you.”
“Can’t you tell, Mother?” The daughter stepped closer to me. “She’s a mutt herself.”
“We prefer the term wolf shifter,” Logan growled as he kept the wolf’s head locked in place.
“Not only did we not welcome you here, but you brought wolves with you?” The older witch’s hands shook with rage.
“Look, Tabatha, we aren’t here to cause any problems.” Amethyst’s face was drawn, which I’d never seen before.
“Like Emma said, we didn’t purposely come here.” Coral stood next to her friend, ready to take the coven on. “We were brought here.”
The older lady laughed. “The Hallowed Guild? You had to bring them right to us?”
Samuel looked at her like she had two heads. “What? No.”
“I have reason to believe you have a hybrid here.” This whole situation was getting worse. I took a moment to think of something to calm the hostile atmosphere.
The wolf growled and began fighting to get out of their grips.
“Look, you need to leave.” Tabatha crossed her arms and glanced over one shoulder and then the other. “Now.”
Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best way to go about it. I hadn’t meant to make them feel threatened.
“We came here in peace.” Aidan lifted his hands and moved toward them as the seven witches behind them lifted their hands, ready to use magic.
“Then why are you here?” Tabatha narrowed her eyes at Aidan. “You have five seconds to tell us before we unleash our magic.”
“I’m one of the prophesied girls.” I decided to lay it all out on the table before I lost my chance.
Emma, that wolf could be part of The Hallowed Guild. Aidan turned his head so the wolf was in his view. He could be relaying everything back to his other pack members.
I get it, but what the hell are we supposed to do? We couldn’t leave here empty-handed. They wouldn’t listen to us again. We’ve come this far. We have to finish it.
Fine.
The daughter rolled her eyes. “You really expect us to believe that?”
“Salem, let her talk,” Tabatha scolded.
Salem’s mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?”
Salem? Really? Aidan’s voice held a chuckle. That’s so fucking unoriginal.
I mashed my lips together, trying not to smile.
“Let them talk.” Tabatha’s words were short and direct as she pointed to me. “Proceed.”
“Gabby,” I said as I motioned to Gabby, who was holding the wolf’s back two paws, “and I are two of the five.”
Logan growled, making it quite clear that he wasn’t happy that I’d included Gabby in my story.
“Those are some ballsy revelations.” She flapped her hands. “How do you plan on proving them?”
“May I show you my mark?” I lifted my hands in surrender. “I promise as soon as you’re satisfied, I’ll come right back over here.”
Emma …Aidan’s warning rang clearly.
Stay ready in case I need you. I didn’t say that to comfort him. I really meant it. I was taking a risk, but I had to.
“Fine, approach slowly.” Tabatha glanced behind her at the witches. “Keep an eye on her.”
“Why the hell do you think we would attack you?” Coral wrinkled her nose.
“Because you brought three witches, apparently two wolf-witches, and four wolves”—Salem pointed at her—“after we said we couldn’t host you.”
“In all fairness, we didn’t mean to bring him.” Beth lifted the wolf’s paws as if to prove her point.
If a witch coven hadn’t been semi threatening us, I’d have burst out laughing. The poor wolf looked ridiculous.
“I’m not sure if that helps our case,” Coral huffed.
I slowly walked over to the witches, head bowed slightly to look less threatening. I stopped a foot away and forced myself to turn my back to them, moving my hair to the side. I moved my lobe for a clearer view, so hopefully, they could see my birthmark from where they stood.
“Holy shit,” Tabatha breathed, her body tense and jaw set. “She has the whole damn pentagram.”
“Are you sure it’s real?” Salem stepped up next to her mom to see for herself.
“It looks just like Ivory’s … except hers is only one point.” Tabatha blinked like she was still in denial.
“I bet the girl you’re protecting has the lower right side of the star.” If Gabby’s was the upper right, it made sense for us to be finding the girls in order.
The older witch beside Tabatha gasped. “How do you know that? That’s not possible.”
“It’s going in clockwise order of the pentagram vertices.” In order to gain their trust, I would be open with them so they would take me to the girl.
“That makes sense.” Tabatha nodded as she rubbed her thumb along her bottom lip.
“Last question. If he isn’t with you,” Salem said, gesturing to the detained wolf, “why the hell did you bring him in here with you?”