Page 65 of Magic's Rise

“Sometimes, but so far, no one has won.” Haut rubs his cheek against mine. “For the most part, no one in Hartford Cove really wants the responsibility of being Alpha. They’re happy to let someone else deal with the headache.”

“But surely some of the pups, when they grow up, want to cut their teeth on a challenge?” Levi’s bewildered tone makes it clear that a pack without challengers is a foreign concept to him.

“We don’t have many pups.” Haut’s hand absently strokes my stomach before I slap it away. “That’s part of what the yearly festival is about. Anyone lucky enough to have their womb quicken usually stays in Hartford Cove until the pregnancy comes to term. It’s the Alpha’s duty to keep them calm and not change form during that time.”

“Huh.” Levi drums his thumbs on the steering wheel. “Maybe werewolves and wolf shifters are more different than I thought. We don’t have any in Silver Hollow.”

“Why not?” Tris asks.

“Cats and dogs don’t get along.” Levi chuckles. “We discourage it as best we can, but any time a wolf shifter visits, the cats and crows make sure they move along.”

Aspen turns his head to look at Levi. “But they’re okay with the werewolves?”

“We’re human, most of the time,” Levi says. “And there’s a curfew during the full moon.”

“When you’re forced to shift?” I wait for Levi’s nod. “But then, how do you have so many pups? Do they all have human mothers?”

“Most do.” Sadness tinges his voice, and I remember how Levi said the human moms ditch their babies at the compound. “And we have the necklaces for when a female werewolf gets pregnant, though it’s rarer.”

“For good reason.” Aspen looks out his window. “The curse isn’t meant to spread through procreation.”

“Well, now, that’s just rude,” Levi drawls, a growl of warning underscoring the words.

“My apologies,” Aspen says to the passing trees.

Tris reaches over the seat to clasp our mentor’s shoulder. “Aspen’s got his wand up his ass about these things, but we’re working on it.”

He lets out a long sigh. “Yes, werewolves are on the council watch list, for a reason.”

“The maiming and killing.” I nod along like a good pupil. “Which has proven now to be circumvented with very little effort, should any witch choose to do it.”

Aspen turns in his seat to glare at me. “That is an untested theory at best.”

“Only because we didn’t have anyone else to test it on.” I spread my hands to encompass the woods we drive through. “But hello town of test subjects!”

“What are you two talking about?” Levi interrupts.

“Rowe injected her blood into Owen, and it suppressed his curse long enough for him to reason with it,” Tris eagerly explains. “Which is how Owen now has control over his werewolf.”

“Owen already shared a mate bond with Rowe,” Aspen says in exasperation. “His werewolf was predisposed to not want to hurt her.”

I lift my chin. “It worked with Deputy Arden, too.”

“Who is part of your pack.” Aspen pinches the bridge of his nose. “You can’t cure curses simply by opening a vein.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “It works for Ros every time he feeds.”

“He’s a vampire. That’s the natural order of things.” Aspen leans against the headrest. “Mucking about in magic is how we get creatures like vampires and werewolves in the first place.”

Haut stiffens with surprise. “Are you saying vampires started out as a curse?”

“It’s a theory.” Aspen rolls his head from side to side. “Dark magic, power stealing, and a backlash resulting in a being who can no longer survive without stealing power.”

Ros had said that people could be cursed to become vampires, but now I wonder if he’s heard this theory before. It makes my fingers itch to call him up and ask, but I don’t know where my phone is.

Hopefully, it’s back at the compound and not lost somewhere in the woods.

As we pass the turnoff for the werewolf compound, I straighten in Haut’s lap. “Aren’t we dropping Aspen off?”

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