Page 24 of Blue Moon Mistress

“Need help?” Johnny asks and I shake my head.

“Sadly this is not a group project. It’s a Carraway Plot.”

“Is that a witch thing?”

“Yes. It’s where you put things thatreallyneed to stay buried.”

Two

Gettingout of the house was more difficult than I’d anticipated. Not because I still had nothing but my cloak from the night before to wear (that was easily taken care of with a glamor), but because Thomas was thoroughly distracting.

In the end, it was Johnny who got him to let me go—even ifhethen held me up at my car for another five minutes before Chase called him back in.

Joshua was the only one who was able to behave himself, but I had a feeling that was because he had every intention of coming back to visit me again.

In the car, it almost feels like the night was a fever dream, but I look at myself in the visor mirror, and can see the shadow forming from one of their bites. A half dozen others exist under my cloak.

A bath tonight will take care of those. The lingering consequences of the night… I’ll be interested to learn what those truly turn out to be.

My house is on the way to the Carraway plot—thankfully—and I needed to trade in these kitten-heel boots for something with tread when I put on real clothes and rejoin the real world.

But when I get to the drive, I stop just before the weather-worn plank that marks my address numbers for the postman.

My wards are still up. I can see the faint slick and shimmer of them in the mid-morning air, but theyfeeljust a little off.

The rock that stands to one side of the lane is missing a larger chunk of moss than I’d expect from an animal. But if someone tried tampering with the boulder struck through with quartz veins like hard lightning… they didn’t succeed.

I glance at the others I can see from here. None of them look damaged.

Driving through the wards helps put me a little more at ease. The spell is still intact, and there’s a ghostly flicker waiting for me on the porch.

Four ephemeral wolves sit—two on the wood planking, two on the swing—watching me with their dark, ghostly eyes.

“Good Morning,” I say as I step out of the car and lock it. “Did you have a fun night running through the county?”

They nip at each other as I cross the gravel, standing and hopping away from each other.

Like pups playing.

Trapped inside of the four men I just left, they’d been caged for twenty-seven days of every lunar cycle. They know they’re free now, and they know I’m the one who gave them that freedom.

I run my hand over the head of the closest. I can’t touch them, of course, but he leans toward me, wanting.

These wolves can only interact with the physical… to damage it.

There’s no need to feed them, no need to bring them inside when it’s raining…

“Go play.” I tell them. “Just stay within the markers of the property. I’ll let you know if I need you.”

With silent barks, they race away, disappearing through an enormous Himalayan blackberry bush. I watch the spot where they vanished for a moment.

Having them is stranger than I expected… maybe it’s because I have the potential to have their human counterparts too…

Brushing that thought aside, I let myself into the house and set about getting ready for some dirty work.

There’s a new message on the ephemera glass. Dark purple letters on smokey gray glass.

Elaria wishing me a blessed Samhain.

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