Page 60 of Supernova

“I don’t talk to dear old mumsy very much these days. The time difference in Japan and their busy schedule running the academy there makes it difficult. Plus, they just keep pestering me to move there.” She shrugged. “That’s beside the point. Don’t distract me. I need to know everything.”

Billie chuckled beside me, plopping a few more oils and herbs into the mixture that we were creating together. “We are curious,” she stated sweetly with a gracious smile.

The academy had found a way to reverse engineer the venom in a wolf’s fangs into a poison that could be used against them to stop their ability to shift while the formula was in their system. Having witnessed the pack in their beast form, I could understand how that would be helpful to have on our side.

I had only ever known the wolf gene to be hereditary. But while that was the most common pathway, it apparently wasn’t the only one. Wolf shifters had the ability to turn humans into one of them if they bit their victim on a full moon. The bite would have to be gentle enough not to kill but strong enough to penetrate their skin and give the venom time to enter their bloodstream. It would turn the human rabid and animalistic, giving them hallucinations until they either eventually turned or died, depending on how strong they were. This was yet another thing that River conveniently forgot to tell me. Maybe because he thought one day I’d risk it for him. And who knows, when I was ageing and he wasn’t, at least not at the same speed, I might have—in a past life. We called the formula Deviators.

Just as I finished stirring the concoction and was about to start talking, Carter slid into the chair beside Kit.

“I can tell you what happened between the love birds.” He grinned, slinging his arm around our friend who stopped attacking the wolfsbane long enough to smile back at him. Turning towards her, he greeted her with a kiss. “Hey, babe.”

“Where have you been?” Her brow raised. She was looking extra cute today with her lab coat and short platinum hair plaited into two braids.

“I tried to skip but Thea caught me on her way to the meeting and told me to get my ass back here and make myself useful.” While Griff and Kit excelled at weapons and combat, and Billie was talented at parkour and acrobatics, Carter was a wizard when it came to potions. He was naturally gifted in alchemy. In fact, he was often roped into running these workshops with Colonel Lennox or Major Harper.

“Car,” Kit scolded.

“What? I can do this shit in my sleep. You know it’s my thing. Anyway, I’m here now. So, what do you losers need help with?”

“You can fill us in on all the juicy details.” Kit’s eyes lit up mischievously.

“I was just about to tell you,” I protested.

“Finally.” Kit’s eyes went wide with excitement. “Well go on then.” She looked at me expectantly while Carter fiddled with his rings, a stupid smile on his face. Meanwhile, Billie leaned over the bench, waiting to hear my story. Whenever we had these workshops they added extra portable tables in the Diner that we used alongside the concrete benches as workstations. We just had to make sure we cleaned up extra carefully after so no one accidentally got poisoned when we ate in here later. But hey, we were hunters. We lived life on the edge. Apparently if the wolves didn’t kill us, toxic potions and plants would.

With their full attention, I began to explain what happened with Sienna, keeping my voice as low as possible so no one else would overhear.

Kitana was the first to lose her shit. “That’s it. I’m going to kill her.” She stood up, hands slamming on the table. Her gaze skimmed over the room, looking for Sienna. The blonde bombshell was on another bench in the far corner with Lola, Megan and Stacey. Bret, whom I’d fought at the Tangle, was also in their prac group today. Thankfully, they were far enough away that they were out of Kitana’s danger range.

“Kit, will you sit down!” I whisper-shouted, trying to console her. People were used to her dramatics around here but that didn’t stop them from looking, including Sienna’s group. I didn’t need more trouble from her.

Major Harper glared at us as she approached. The female was scary, but nowhere near as scary as Thea. She was tall, like her fierce leader. But unlike her, she had light brown skin, green eyes and medium length jet black hair that was shaved on the side. She also had multiple black piercings that covered her ears. I didn’t run into her too often but she occasionally helped with training. Most of the time she was strategizing with Thea and Commander Lennox. Other than that, she maintained and updated our arsenal, ensuring our weapons were equipped with the latest compounds, from silver-coated to wolfsbane doused or Deviator infused.

She stopped right before us, her heavy boots thudding as she halted. “Is everything okay here?”

“Perfectly fine, Major. I was just excited that I’d finished my wolfsbane bullets. Ready for my next patrol.” I cringed at the tinge of sarcasm in Kit's tone but thankfully nothing consequential followed, the official choosing to ignore it.

“Alright.” She didn’t seem like she bought it but she also didn’t question it further. Like I’d said, they were not too strict around here. Turning to Carter, she frowned. “Carter, can you make yourself useful and help recruits that might actually need it. These girls are fine.”

He scowled. “Why does everyone keep implying that I’m useless today?” Grumbling, he got up and headed over to another table, the chains around his neck clanging with the movement.

The girls and I exchanged looks as we struggled not to laugh until Harper was out of earshot.

“Seriously, Kit. We could have avoided that all together,” Billie chastised in the motherly tenor she often used.

“What?! I was mad.”

Billie sighed. “I know. Me too. That’s just too far. Even for her.”

“Guys, it’s fine. Honestly.” I tried to calm them. “Griff actually ripped into her pretty badly.”

“He did?” Billie’s dark brows arched in question.

“Yeah.”

“And then what happened? After you were interrupted, how did things … uh … proceed?” Kit probed.

I laughed. “Well, I was pretty distraught and extremely embarrassed. I was going to leave. But Griff took me outside. He attempted to wipe my dress, which was super cute. And then he asked about River. And one thing led to another, and he told me that he can help me forget. And well, I finally had my opportunity. So I said yes.”

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