Page 53 of Cage Me

The witch smirks. “I doubled down in my efforts after you left last night and sped up some of my tests while the spell I’m concocting brews. Most of my theories proved accurate, and you’re going to need to figure them out for yourselves if you have a chance in hell of taking down Kel. She’s already gathering her own power and asking about Crossroads.”

“How do you know?” I ask, hoping like hell that doesn’t mean she’s close by.

Natalia hands Spencer a vial of a clear liquid but looks at me. “I might not leave my shop much, but I have plenty of friends in places most would least suspect.”

I guess we were going to have to take her word for it. Well, maybe. Spencer might be changing her thoughts about trusting Natalia after this conversation.

“What did you do with my blood?” my mate says sternly, stepping forward and pressing her palms on the counter, the only thing separating the two women.

Natalia stands her ground and looks Spencer right in the eye. “Remember what you know, Spencer. I’m not the enemy, and I’ve been testing things with your blood for months now. I’ve never once crossed a line I shouldn’t, and I haven’t now. You know this. Until you remember that, I’m not telling you anything else.”

“If I didn’t already, I’d have already leapt over this counter and ripped your throat out,” Spencer says, only slightly calmer than a moment ago. “Tell me what you did.”

“Fine. You want things to be that way, then.” Natalia pulls a vial from her back pocket, then tosses it toward Spencer. “If you drink that, it will enhance your abilities and we can do live tests on my theories, but until you truly calm down, I don’t recommend taking it.”

Spencer raises the vial and inspects the clear liquid. “What the hell are you talking about? What are these abilities that you think I have?”

“I know you have the capability of camouflaging as you like to call it,” Natalia says, “but your wolf isn’t the only way you can do that. You can attract people to you, and you can also seem as if you don’t exist to others. There’s a pureness within your albino wolf that draws on the greatness of others, along with protecting you from those with ill intentions.”

Well, that’s new and something I’ve never heard of.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Spencer asks, eyes narrowed. “I spent the first twenty years of my life being plenty noticed by the evil that lived in my house.”

“Was he noticing you or were you making yourself known?” Natalia counters and, when Spencer fails to answer, it seems my mate has been rendered speechless.

Things just got even more interesting, and possibly not in a good way.

Chapter 21

SPENCER

Natalia’s question leaves me speechless. I might even be in a bit of shock with that revelation. My head begins to pound, and my heart races as I think back to all the fights that occurred in our home growing up. Worse, the more physical ones that transpired when I became more than just a pathetic pup.

Every single memory begins with me charging forward to stop my sperm donor from laying into my mother or keeping Peter out of harm’s way. Never once had I been the initial target.

Holy shit.

Something specific Lia said last night comes back to me as I try to level out my breathing…you just might find that you’ve attracted all the right people into your life.

I’ve attracted them. Had the unknown shifter used that word on purpose? Does she know what I am or what I can do? Suddenly, I want to go track her down and ask a few more questions.

“So, I understand what all that means on a surface level,” I finally say, “but something tells me you’re not just pointing out the obvious here.”

The witch leans forward on the counter and smiles. “You’re starting to figure me out.”

“More accurately, I’m realizing that the moment you stopped needing me more than I needed you, you decided to have fun with my life.” Not that I think she’s being sinister about any of this, but the more the scales tip in Natalia's favor, the more changes I can see in her.

Her grin remains. “Just be thankful I don’t intend to take too much advantage of that. Now, for your abilities.” She points to the vial still in my hand. “Drink that when you’re ready. It should enlighten you to the point that you’ll sense the varying levels of your energy. Your human form, your wolf form, and the magic that makes you who you are. Focus on the thrum of your power and, if you’re truly ready, the rest will make sense when it’s time.”

Her words don’t give me a lot of confidence as far as what I’m going to learn, but before I can ask any other questions, she dismisses us.

“Now, get out of my shop.” Natalia points to the front door. “I have work to do, lives to save, and spells to perfect.”

She isn’t wrong about that.

“We’ll see you first thing in the morning, then,” I say as I take Drake’s hand and head for the exit.

He squeezes my fingers as we leave Spells but waits until we’re in the alleyway again before speaking. “Are you going to drink whatever is in that vial?”

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