Page 10 of Blue Moon Mistress

And that’s why any ritual requiring hallowed ground leads me back here.

It helps that I have the key to the gate.

I locked it behind me. Wolves don’t need to take the road.

It’s started to rain, but the hood of the cloak I’m wearing keeps the worst of it away as I make my way up the long path from the tiny parking lot.

The mausoleum was added at the top of the hill approximately seventy-five years after the last body was interred. A spooky showpiece to watch over the dead.

I have the key for this too, and when I unlock it and throw the heavy doors open, everything is just as I left it the night before.

Throwing the hood back, I catalog the space one more time.

Preparation is nine-tenths of any binding spell, and with four new participants for this ritual… I needed a little extra time.

Tall candles line the single room space, evidence of their prior use in the long trails of dripping wax down their sides.

Tonight’s moon might be rare, but it’s not the only celestial event I’ve used these grounds for. And my mother and mother’s mother used it for decades before I had even considered setting foot inside it.

I pulled a flame from the air, split it, and sent it to every wick of those tall white pillars. Electricity had never found its way to Hillgate, and for good reason.

As I set my bag down on the ground in front of the stone altar my great-grandmother had carved, a tiny shiver courses through me. And then thunder cracks the sky. Lightning flashes outside a moment later.

The clouds are rolling in, and by the time the moon is at its zenith, it will not be visible from anywhere in the small town. But like any faith. I don’t need to see her to know she’s there. I only need to believe to call upon her magic.

On either side of the altar, I’ve placed two enormous pumpkins. A silly aesthetic choice, but one that gives me a little thrill as I pat the hard flesh and hear the hollow thunk inside.

The witches in my old coven were too fixated on superficial rules, and fully ripe gourds like these… using them in anything other than fertility rituals was out of the question. But the idea I want to give birth to tonight, has nothing to do with children.

These also hold candles, the wax of two nights’ burning run down their sides in long drips.

I grab another, smaller flame from the air and with a snap of my fingers, send it to light these.

It’s a showy, basic spell that most witches learn before they’re ten. And it’s always been one of my favorites.

A simple joy.

The jars and ingredients I need are already in place, save for the two items I need from living beings.

A sharp howl breaks through the silence of the night and I flinch. As soon as my muscles relax, I let out a sigh.

Even though I hoped they were coming… you never really know with supernatural beasties.

The first to arrive is a wolf with deep black fur and the barest hint of a brindle to his undercoat. He looks at me with intelligent eyes before scanning his surroundings.

If I was a betting woman, I’d put all of my money on this wolf being Joshua.

He’s here, checking the safety for the others.

The pack hierarchy might not be exactly what those books he accused me of reading too many of would have you believe, but it was clear from my observations, that he’s not only in charge, but he’s also the most cautious—illicit meetings with horny witches aside. The one least likely to let the others run into danger… if he can stop them.

So I take the chance.

“Good evening, Joshua. Blessed Samhain.”

He looks up at me again, eyes clear but still cautious. And then… he smiles.

A single bark over his shoulder, and the other three wolves come in. They’re each similar in color—as most werewolf packs tend to be. The mimicry is a marker that they belong. But one is smaller than the rest, no doubt Chase, who is smaller in his human form. And I would guess the differences in the others based on their behavior. Johnny is at the back, not shy, but somehow more cautious than the others, and Thomas… he rushes right past Joshua and begins smelling everything.

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