That could only mean one thing.
She was actually in a stranger’s truck while he drove at top speeds through a residential area.
“Where the hell are you taking me?” Her voice echoed through the small cab of the truck.
Her captor played with the radio knob and the music lowered to a hum in the background. He looked at her for a few seconds, but his eyes returned on the road.
“Who are you?” Selene demanded.
For one wild second, she thought about opening the truck door to throw herself out, but that was a little bit too crazy. She could die or get seriously hurt. Instead, she plastered herself to the door, trying to stay as far away from the man who had taken her as possible.
Selene blinked at him a few times and she was really hoping he wouldn’t turn into a wolf again. They’d crash and die. She didn’t want to be his captive, but she didn’t want to die either.
“I’m Jett Arrowood. I just saved your life, so maybe try not to yell at me.”
“You didn’t save me,” she shouted, “you kidnapped me. And before I was able to get my cheese Danish.”
“You passed out, so you missed what happened back there.”
Selene shook her head. At least she had passed out. That explained why she hadn’t had the chance to defend herself against her attacker.
“Well?” she snapped, hoping her fake courage was enough to intimidate the man, “are you going to tell me what happened?”
“Do you know who the Order of Salem is?”
Selene shook her head. It sounded vaguely familiar, but she didn’t know why. “What does the Order of Salem have to do with anything?”
“Right. They’re a group of witch hunters. They have it in their heads to kill off the Salem witches in the same order in which they were killed back in 1692. And the Bishops…”
“Were the first to die,” Selene interrupted. “Yes, I know. But witches aren’t real.”
She tried to inject confidence and assuredness in her voice. It wasn’t easy. She was still shaking from having passed out. And she was still half-expecting Jett to turn into a wolf and drive them off the road. Shit, what kind of morning had she stumbled into?
“Just like wolf shifters aren’t real,” Jett shot back, giving her a side glance.
“Wol-wolf shifters?”
Well, fuck. That explained why Jett had turned into a wolf in the cafe. He was a wolf shifter. Selene had never seen one in person, but she had definitely heard of them. She felt silly for not catching on earlier that she had witnessed a shifter transform into its animal. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.
“I know it’s a lot to handle,” Jett said. “But we exist.”
“Right. You’re a shifter and you stopped the Order of Salem from killing me. I have two questions. First, why the hell did you save me? I’m a witch, not a shifter. And second, how in the fuck did you learn about their plans to kill me?”
Selene didn’t even want to know what would have happened to her if Jett hadn’t intervened and shifted into his wolf.
“How did you save me? I didn’t see. You said guns, and then I—”
“Whoa, Selene. I can only do so much talking, and you’re talking way too fast for me to catch up. Let me just get through this, okay?”
Selene nodded, and Jett went on to explain how the Order of Salem had a member who had ratted out the others to the sheriff. Selene was surprised to know the Salem sheriff’s office was comprised of mostly wolf shifters. But at least the wolves had decided to help and intervene on the witches’ behalf.
No one had done that during the witch trials that had nearly decimated Selene’s ancestors.
“We’re four wolves, two alphas and their enforcers. Each one of us has one of you. Your sister and your two cousins.”
“Are they okay?” She felt very shaky again, and the edge of her mind began to slip as she thought of what could have happened to her family members.
“Far as I can tell, yes. We can give my alpha, Blaze, a call when we get back to the pack lands up in Marblehead.”
“Marblehead?” Selene was shocked. “Why would the Marblehead wolf pack be involved?”
“Because you and your sister share a house on the border between Salem and Marblehead. And also, because back after the witch trials, a lot of the Salem witches came to settle in Marblehead. We figured it would only be a matter of time before the Order of Salem came onto our lands.”
With another nod, Selene focused on the fast moving scenery outside the window. It was a lot to process is such a short amount of time.
“And how exactly do we plan on taking down these witch killers?”
Jett tightened his grasp on the steering wheel. “The sheriff's deputies are taking care of it, both in Salem and Marblehead. Both wolf packs are also helping out because this is a paranormal problem. The only issue is that the threat is human, so both alphas want to deal with it in the perimeters of human laws.”
“Your tone is telling me that you would have handled it differently.”
“Absolutely. These judgmental people want only to destroy witches because you’re different, right? Way I see it, they don’t even deserve to breathe air.”
Selene bristled. “That’s a bit harsh. I mean, they haven’t hurt anyone yet, right? Maybe they would chicken out?”
“They had three people come to kill you, heavily armed. If it hadn’t been for that kid throwing boiling water on them, you and I would be lying dead on the floor of that cafe. They’re not innocent until proven guilty, Selene. They are definitely guilty. The intent was there.”
She didn’t want to think about that or believe it. How could strangers want to kill her simply because of her last name? Simply because she could do a little bit of magic?
If she was honest with herself, it made sense. The Bishop witches had been killed before. Her ancestor Rebecca had been a great healer, but when her magic had failed to heal the right people, the town had turned on her. On all of the witches.
It was just history repeating itself.
Suddenly, all Selene wanted to do was hug her twin sister and watch a bunch of movies to forget that the real world was real. Her vision was swimming, and she clutched her head. She really didn’t want to pass out again.
“Oh shit. You’re kind of pale.” There was real concern in Jett’s voice.
“I haven’t eaten in a little while and I have low-blood sugar.”
“Fuck. Don’t pass out again. I don’t want to have to take you to the emergency room. What do I need to do to help?”
“I usually have a granola bar or something in my purse to…” she looked around the cab of the truck. “I don’t seem to have it with me, though.”
“Fuck. That’s my bad. I didn’t even think to grab it. I don’t usually think about purses.”
“It's okay. You wouldn’t happen to have something I could quickly nibble on, do you?”
Jett shook his head, but Selene didn’t miss the way he accelerated his driving speed. He pulled into a grocery store parking lot in Marblehead a few minutes later.
“Stay here,” he instructed. “Don’t pass out again. I’m going to get you some food.”