Page 42 of Dawn Unearthed

I sputtered. “You have a mate?” I asked, confused.

Laurel’s eyes widened, and she shook her head. “No, but I have friends with mates and have watched the guys get all dominant yet sweet and caring at the same time. And bears are the worst of them.”

“I think the bears would say the wolves are the worst,” Rowen muttered.

“Maybe, but there are a lot of bears in this town, and they do get growly. The fact that Rome is nowkissing you? It’s remarkable. It takes his alpha strength to hold himself back and not woo you, make you see who he is. I’m honestly surprised that he hasn’t kidnapped you, simply taking you to his den to try and make you fall in love with him so he can mark you and make you his.”

I ignored how heat lashed at me at that image. Rowen and Laurel gave each other knowing looks, and I cleared my throat. “What was that look for?” I asked.

“You got all blushy, and you bit your lip when I said that. Maybe youdowant Rome to take you to his den and mark you.”

“No. I mean, I don’t even know him.”

“You do. You know Rome. You might not know everything he’s ever said or done, but you know the man he is. He’s kind, alpha, and you’ll learn more about him. Deep inside? You know. Maybe it’ll take you some time to understand who he is and what he could be, but that attraction? That’s not going away. It might not ever.”

“What are you saying?” I asked Laurel.

“I’m saying that maybe you should let yourself believe.”

“That’s all I’ve been doing since I got here.”

“Maybe. But have you believed in yourself?” Rowen asked, her voice soft.

“I don’t know. I need time to think. And, honestly, I need to figure out what I want. Before I can do any of that, I need to catch up on everything else. Like magic.”

Rowen nodded, set the book down. “Then let’s begin. I am going to teach you a spell that will help create shapes with water. You won’t need to recite the incantation each time, but the first few times, it’ll help narrow the focus of your power.”

“So, we’re going to brush over the wholeshe’s going to mate to a bear thing, right?” Laurel asked Rowen.

Rowen rolled her eyes. “Magic first. Mating will come. And we’re here if she needs us.”

My gaze bounced between them as they spoke to each other as if they’d done this a thousand times before. It felt comfortable. As if I’d always been meant to be here.

Laurel raised a brow. “We’re not going to talk about Faith?”

Rowen threw her hands into the air. “What is there to say about Faith? She’s a necromancer. We’re going to find her. But we need to figure out what the hell she wants and who she is.”

“I had never seen her before in my life,” I added.

Laurel nodded. “We are going to find her. All of our trackers are on it, and I’m looking, too. I can’t help you with magic, but I can help you find her.” Laurel growled, and I knew why she was so uncomfortable. She couldn’t do magic. At least, not directly. I didn’t know the full story behind it or why she called herself cursed. I only hoped she would be okay.

“Why don’t you go talk with Trace and Jaxton?” Rowen said softly. “Go over the hunt for Faith and check the wards.” Once again, I saw the exhaustion on the witch’s face. She was using her life-force to keep the town safe. What would happen if or when she used too much?

I needed to help. And that meant I needed to learn magic. So, that’s what I would do.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stick around to make sarcastic comments, at least? I can’t do much else.”

Before I could say anything to try and calm the storm, Laurel moved away, grabbed her sword, and walked off.

After a moment, my heart finally stopped racing. “I wish I could help.”

“Maybe you will, little sister,” Rowen said. “For now, we need to train in what we can, so you can help her in other ways. I honestly think that it’ll be Laurel who helps herself.” And at that cryptic comment, Rowen began. “I need you to repeat after me. I will say the entire incantation, and you need to repeat it, word for word. You will feel the power of your element within you. All we’re going to do here is make a sphere and hold it within your hands without touching it. Like this.” She reached out her hands.

“Guardians of the west, lend me your strength. Lord and Lady, lend me your ear. Shape this element into a sphere. Great Undine of water and sea, this is my will, so mote it be.”

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and magic sparked across my arms as Rowen whispered the words, and a ball of water floated up from the pond in front of us. She created a sphere with it, her hands outstretched as she looked at me and winked before letting the water sprinkle back into the pond.

“Your turn. Now, I mostly use air, so that spell should work even better for you.”

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