Page 24 of Queen of Vengeance

Lea snapped around in her chair, hearing the voice but hardly believing who it was. “Why? Do you have a project you’re struggling with?”

Zane could hear Jax’s teeth gnash against each other as he tried to keep his composure.

“Nope, just wanted to chat with a good friend.” Jax soothed whatever nerve she had struck and continued.

“What about?” Her eyes looked nervously between Jax and Zane.

The intense way they looked at her made her fearful of their “friendly chat.”

“We heard that you’re good at writing potions.” Jax leaned over the chair beside her, bringing himself closer than she was prepared for.

Zane was irritated by their proximity, but he knew that if anyone were going to convince her to join them, it would be Jax.

Lea glanced at Zane knowingly. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with someone glancing at my potion book this morning, would it?”

“You’re a sharp one. Lucky for you, he did, or else we wouldn’t have known the full extent of your talent. You see, we are trying to form a little potion business of our own, and I think we could make something beneficial for all of us with your writing skills, Zane’s mixing skills, and my connections.” Jax’s charm didn’t waver one bit despite Lea’s interrogation.

Lea’s face was still contorted; she was unsure if this was a good idea for her.

“Imagine how wonderful it would be if we were a team. We could win competitions together and maybe one day have our own company.” Zane chimed in, drawing Lea’s attention to him. He could see in her eyes that she trusted him more than Jax, but he knew she wanted to look at Jax, not him. “Team Mandem Lunair.”

She winced, trying to put together why he chose that team name.

Zane quickly scrambled to defend himself. “Lunair because we’re all werewolves, and Mandem because we are a group of unsavory lower-class citizens seeking a better life in this world.”

This explanation at least elicited a small chuckle from Lea.

“That’s not too bad.” She shook her head, covering her smile with her hand.

“Come on then. Join us. Then we can spend all the time together that we want.” Jax tapped Lea’s chin with his pointer finger and pulled her face back to him. He was laying it on thick for her and didn’t need to.

Lea was intrigued from the beginning and said, “Alright. Let’s do this then.”

“Excellent. Let’s make the pact right here, right now.” Jax produced a small metal quill. He first pricked his finger, and the pen gobbled up the blood droplets into the quill’s clear part. Then he passed it to Zane, who did the same.

Lea gave it one last thought before reaching out and pricking her finger. Suddenly, she leaned over herself, feeling a burning sensation in her shoulder. She pulled down the sleeve of her dress to reveal a werewolf sigil that she didn’t recognize. “What is this?”

She tried to make sense of the details within the sigil, but the thorny Rose vine that lined a circle around the sigil and the complete Lunaire symbol in the middle weren’t enough to conclude.

“It’s just the marking of our pact. This assures us that we will stay a group no matter what.” Jax explained as he tucked the quill into his coat pocket.

10

LEA

Excitement and uncertainty swirled in my belly as I rushed home after school.

I couldn’t believe I could secure such a secret pact with Jax—even Chika wasn’t a part of it! I rubbed my sore shoulder as the marking settled into my skin. I couldn’t wait to tell my parents what happened.

The road was long and quiet, but the summer breeze made the trek home a dream.

I was sure I was practically floating home to my village. If I weren’t wearing my shoes, I might have very well floated away!

My village came into view in the distance.

The merchants were slowly moving their items inside for the night.

I only realized something was strange when not one of them looked up to greet me as they usually did.

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