Page 56 of Protected By the Wolf

“You know exactly why I didn’t. We need to find where this flower is,” Mod said, glaring at Piya. “Now, did you see anything, Lira? A flower of some sort?”

“A flower? Not particularly. It was a barrage of information.”

“It looks like a white lotus flower,” Mod said. “Think, Lira. It’s very important.”

“Yes, you’ve told me this before. I think I saw?—”

“Yes?” Mod asked.

I looked at all three girls, and they were all clenching their hands together, expecting me to spill the whereabouts of this flower that everyone wanted. But it was the determined look in Mod’s eyes that made my decision. Something felt off, and a tug from my heart told me to keep what I’d seen a secret. “It was just a poppy. Maybe a forgotten love that one of the spirits wanted to share with me.” I shrugged.

Mod groaned, then turned and stomped out of the room.

“It’s okay,” Trixie said. “Mod’s got it in her head that this flower is somehow going to save us in this impending war.”

I nodded. “Sorry. Guess I wasn’t much help.”

“Nothing you can do about it. Mod is just an angry witch,” Trixie said. “She’s been like that since we met.”

Finn

“Did you get it?” I asked the girl with pink hair. She never gave me her name; said it was for my own safety.

“Of course not. You’d think I’d be coming to you for help if I did?”

“Well, there’s no help here. Pac is tied up getting all the packs together. We’re planning on attacking them a week earlier, before they can properly form a defense.”

“But I haven’t gotten the flower yet!”

“There’s no time now. There’s no need for you to hunt for it anymore.”

“What? Esmi tasked me with this job personally! You and Pac can’t take me off the mission.”

“Pac and Esmi are the ones who moved the timeline up. You want to argue with her? Especially after your failed attempt at framing Bruno?”

“The old lady woke up earlier than expected,” she hissed.

“Well, we’ve managed to slip the tonic to Bruno to make him crazy twice now; he’s not going to let anyone near him a third time.”

She huffed and crossed her arms across her chest.

“That’s what I thought. You are to stay with the girls and make sure anything they attempt fails. Continue to befriend Lira.”

She grunted and stalked out of the room.

I didn’t trust that witch. She was a ticking bomb ready to explode.

“Did she get the flower?” Pac asked me.

“No. She said Lira is too much of a novice, and she can’t make Lira find it, or she’ll blow her cover.”

“Forget it. Esmi has made me something to use instead. We will revert to Plan B.”

“Yes sir.”

I stood there for a bit, afraid to ask the question I wanted to ask.

“What is it, Finn?”

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