Page 55 of In the Light of the Moon

Josie snorted and dipped a french fry into the extra aioli she’d ordered with her panini. Luckily, my new doctor’s office was close to her apartment, so the appointment gave me an excuse to ask her to lunch afterward. Not that I needed one, per se, but I’d been avoiding broaching the topic of witchcraft with my best friend. Each time I tried to hint at my wish for a fellow student or for her to try reading my cards again, she got all fidgety and changed the subject.

But, as I felt my own abilities growing, I started to notice them in others as well. Just a few people in town, one in mycreative writing class, carried the whiff of witchcraft. To me, it smelled like berries and sage.

Josie smelled,verymuch, like berries and sage.

She snorted, “Uh,no, I was just joking. What’s with you?” She dropped her fry back on her plate, “Are you feeling funny from the appointment? Should I take you home?”

I took a worried sip of my water. “No, nothing like that. I… I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

“Like…?” she drawled.

Like not knowing how to approach you about your super cool powers or the fact that there is a wolf shifter pack that most likely has something to do with Kara’s death—not to mention the two others that were missing (probably dead)—or that the man I love is probably a wolf shifter, too.

Because, yeah, I’d figured that much out as well.

The territorial nature, the sounds he sometimes made, especially in the throws of ecstasy. How when he took me from behind, he seemed to let go even more, to the point that I could feel prickles of what felt like claws on my back. The marks and how mine warmed every time he was around. How Orion shivered every time I touched his that had now healed to a dark scar. Among his organizing and tapping, I noticed him rubbing over the mark for comfort when he was stressed.

I’d be foolish to write them off as a meaningless gesture—the bond I felt in my chest appeared the night he’d let me mark him. It was different from the pull, like it was always seeking him out, pointing me to him. And when we were together? It felt like my soul was singing. Over the weeks, I’d caught Orion purring in his sleep while he had his arms wrapped around me, and my own chest rumbled in kind. If I weren’t who I was, it would’ve been strange.

But, I was still whispering with the mushrooms who told me about a gray wolf that walked around near the house, though itnever got too close. They spoke of snow coming. They mentioned the white wolf visiting the house.

Unlike Josie’s berry and sage, Orion was a wildly good scent of earth and wind and warmth. Last Monday, after spending the previous evening at his place, Orion watched me dress with smug satisfaction and helped me pull one of his sweatshirts over my head. Did I complain about the cold that didn’t really bother me to justify my stealing his sweatshirt for the day? Maybe.

When I argued that it was because whatever cologne he used smelled too damn good, he gave me a funny look, brows upturned in confusion, and stated that he didn’t wear cologne because it was too overstimulating. Even with what Granna told me, I asserted that he was joking with me. I even chuckled while rifling through his bathroom to find the hidden bottle of whatever expensive scent he wore. However, I really did find nothing, and when I emerged from the bathroom to admit defeat, he wasn’t meeting my eyes again. As if doing so would allow me to see too much.

But, I’d already been starting to suspect. And I would bet good money that Orion didn’t spend his camping trips sleeping in tents. Really—how had I not thought about it before? Maybe because I was so in love with him that his hypothetical ability to shift into a wolf didn’t matter.

What mattered was his lack of trust in me to say anything. What was I doing wrong? What had I said to make him hesitate? I would never try to wrestle the secret from him, but dammit, I was going to show him that he could trust in me.

Over the past few weeks, I’d opened up to him more about my writing and studies. I asked his advice on my works in progress, and I showed him my practice in Granna’s garden. That, too, was more evidence. When I demonstrated my growing powers, Orion didn’t sputter or run away. He just kissed me silly, smile wide and praising after he watched me ripen and maturethe okra and peppers Granna had growing in her vegetable garden. Two days ago, I’d even shown up with a basket of all my harvest spoils, and he’d made it into a delicious meal before fucking me into oblivion before his fireplace.

That time, while my legs were on his shoulders, I begged him to come in me, so far gone that I couldn’t hold back my desire to feel even closer to him. The request made him arch his neck and groan while he pounded into me even harder, but when the time came for him to finish, he pulled out and spilled over my labia and inner thighs. Before I could initiate a conversation about it, let him know that I could always just get on birth control so that it wouldn’t be an issue, he bent forward, started lapping at his own cum on my clit, and then proceeded to eat me out until I came twice more.

The next morning, though, I was determined. I made an appointment to get the implant. To eliminate another barrier between us.

I tried not to think about the thing under my skin, rationalizing that there was no way I’d be able to keep up with a pill or stomach something being lodged inside my uterus. There were other options, I knew, but I’d been too anxious to weigh them all.

I shoved a forkful of salad into my mouth and forced myself to chew, swallow. “Well,” I took a deep breath and let it rush out, “I’ve been working on my craft with Granna, and I’ve been learning a lot, and I kind of, um, have reason to believe that you’d be good at it, too, and it would be so, so cool to have someone learning with me…” I looked up, and, though Josie’s shoulders were drawn in trepidation, her eyes were still with me. So, I continued, “And, okay, please don’t freak out, but,” I lowered my voice in case the near-vacant restaurant had listening ears, “I think you might… be like me.”

After a long, long pause, wherein she started to nervously swirl her french fry in ketchup, she answered. Her shaved hair was a neon, tennis ball green, and it seemed even brighter under the restaurant lights. She lifted a glance toward me, “Like, bisexual?” Josie tried at a lame joke, and I felt my shoulders relax. Okay, so she wasn’t mad.

“You know what I mean.”

Josie worried at her top lip, then abandoned her fries completely and dropped her hand to rest beside her plate. Her heavily lined eyes searched mine, and I caught the shimmering of emerging tears. I took her hand, and, following the pull I felt in my chest, I focused on Josie’s calm. On her rest.

Her features softened, bleached brows no longer pinching, “I… Sylvie, I,” she shook her head but then pressed on, “do you remember that summer where I went… M.I.A.?”

We’d been sixteen at the time. After daily texts or phone calls, Josie’s end suddenly went dark just a week before I was set to visit with Granna. Neither she nor her mother answered the phone when I tried to call, and when I’d driven to her house, no one answered the doorbell. It clouded the rest of my visit with Granna and incited not one, but two panic attacks.

I didn’t say that, though. I’d never told her how worried I’d been. Now, with her hand in mine, I just nodded. “My mom, she… I’ve always… seen stuff. Sometimes known about things before they happen. It scared her, and so it scared me, too. To the point that she checked me into a hospital.”

I sucked in a breath, calming energy stuttering for a moment until I regained my composure. How could she not have said anything? “And whenthatdidn’t work, she tried priests and homemade remedies, and then…” Josie sniffed and rubbed at her nose. “I just couldn’t take it anymore. So I pretended it went away.”

My thumb rubbed gentle passes on the back of her hand, and she held me tighter. “Oh, honey,” I whispered softly. How could I not have seen this? Josie had moved back to Antler Pointe and cared for her mother through her sudden stint with breast cancer.

I’d always wondered why she stayed after her mother passed away.

“Josie, I don’t want to bring up traumatic memories for you. I’m so sorry.”

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