Page 9 of Plus-Size Mate

Winter's body fired all over again. She felt like a trapped animal, wondering what was coming her way next.

“Here,” Jack said, seemingly having found the page he was looking for. Delicately, he handed the book over to Winter.

“It is a spell that would strip any wolf outside of the pack of their animal abilities, were they to cross town lines,” Jack explained as Winter took the book. “It would be an annoyance,I'm sure. But I do not believe it would cause anyone any lasting damage.”

Winter took the book and began to scan the spell he was talking about.

“There is a catch to this spell,” Winter pointed out. The words on the page in front of her, the consequences outlined, were shocking to say the least. What Jack was asking of her, of a member of her coven, was quite unimaginable.

Jack nodded, his lips pursing into a hard, straight line. “And that is rather why I was hoping your mother would be here for this. I was hoping she might speak with your coven and determine if any one of your sisters would be willing to complete this spell.”

Winter's stomach twisted. Her hands grew even sweatier than before.

“What you're asking is next to impossible,” she admitted, looking over the spell again. “No witch worth her powers would accept a consequence like this.”

“So, what you are saying is you won't take this to the coven?” Jack asked, his face growing paler.

“What I'm saying is,” Winter said, closing the book once more, “no witch alive would be willing to mate with a werewolf.”

Quickly, before Jack could respond, she added sheepishly, “No offense.”

“None taken,” Jack said, shaking his head. The corners of his lips twitched upwards as if he actually found her comment funny. “It is the exact reason why I was hoping your mother would come. I had hoped she might hold a little sway in suggesting the ritual to your coven.”

Winter's heart skipped a beat. Perhaps her mother might have been able to convince one of their sisters to do such a thing, but she was nowhere near as good as her mother at motivational speeches.

“I'm sorry, Jack, I just don't think this is a feasible plan.”

His face fell before hardening once more. Straightening up, he placed his hands on the arms of his chair and said in a pointed manner, “This town belongs to us all. We have spent a long time now trying to protect it, first from Karl Ryker, and then from the others who took over as alpha to those who chose to leave town rather than join under my new leadership.”

Winter didn't need to be reminded. She knew well what the civil war between the werewolves was doing to the town. Every other week, there seemed to be some kind of attack.

“It’s only a matter of time before the scale of these things gets out of control unless we are willing to do something drastic,” Jack continued, gesturing to the book in Winter's lap. “This may very well be our only option.”

This time, it was Winter who pursed her lips. She glanced down at the open pages before her again, reading words such asmatingandritualandwitchandwerewolf, all in Latin, all very familiar to her.

“Surely, there must be another way,” Winter insisted, closing the book with a heavy thud. The book’s pages were so heavy, in fact, that she almost trapped her fingers right between them.

“If you have any other suggestions, then I am all ears,” Jack insisted, raising his brow as if he actually hoped she might have a plan that didn't involve one of his men marrying into her coven.

Winter scoured her mind, searching the deepest, darkest corners for an answer.

Yet, she didn't seem able to pluck one from thin air.

Glancing down, she ran her thumb over the rough leather of the grimoire's cover.

“I'll take this plan to my coven and see what they make of it,” she promised, knowing that was exactly what her mother would do in this kind of situation. Her sisters were, after all, free spirits, and one of them might come to surprise her.

Though she doubted it.

“Thank you,” Jack said solemnly, dipping his head.

“In the meantime, do I have your permission to search for another option?” Winter asked, still running her fingers over the cover.

“Take the book and anything else you might need,” Jack insisted. “If you can come up with something else less awkward, I shall be all ears.”

Winter pursed her lips again. He couldn't have been fairer than that, and yet there was still an odd sensation in Winter’s gut, one she'd had many times before, one that told her things weren't going to go the way she would have liked.

Stroking her fingers over the grimoire, she said, “Do you truly believe this spell might be the only way to save the town?”

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