Page 63 of Witch's Wolf

“You want me to send her away,” the words are bitter in my mouth. My throat tightens as reality sets in. “That means permanent breakup, Helena. I’ve already thought I’d lost her once. I can’t do it again.” I stare across the burn scars the fire left behind in the forest, the deeper reason sitting there unspoken. “You know what it would mean…”

I whisper the last. Hating to say it, but it’s the truth. If I lose Erica… Helena exhales, but there’s no pity in her eyes, only resolve.

“It won’t be a breakup,” she argues. “You can find a way to keep seeing each other if that’s what you both want, but you need to talk to her. Please, do this for me.”

For her? No. For the pack. For Erica. For the town that depends on us to keep it safe.

I nod, but my heart feels like it’s splintering apart.

35

ERICA

What a mystical place…

Sam’s grandfather’s retreat is a living relic, filled with vintage lamps, rusty picture frames, and the echoes of a love so deep it lingers in every room. Letters and carefully wrapped presents, preserved like treasures, whisperI love youfrom every corner. If things were different, if my life wasn’t unraveling at the seams, I’d let myself sink into the warmth of it, savor the proof that love like this exists.

But I can’t. Not when my mother, my ownmother, is the one who tried to kill Sam.

And she didn’t stop there. Failing in her first attempt, she escalated and took the lives of two of his pack as if they were nothing. Then she set the forest on fire. All to make her point. To scare him into compliance.

And if Helena’s silence is any indication, she succeeded. I steal a glance at the redheaded witch. Her usual sharp confidence is gone. She recounts what happened in a voice that’s too controlled, too measured, like she’s afraid of what will spill out ifshe lets it crack. My mother nearly snapped her neck and Helena knows it. I know it. And for the first time, I see something I never thought I’d find in the stoic woman. Fear.

My mother has won the first battle. Planting fear in the heart of the pack, in all of Dawson. Now we’re on edge waiting for her next strike. Heavy footsteps echo outside the library, a steady rhythm that I don’t have to see to know who it is. The warmth of yearning suffuses my chest, creeping onto my cheeks alongside sadness.

Sam. Oh Sam.

The door creaks as it opens and Sam steps through. His expression is as dark as the storm building inside. I slide the book I was obstinately looking at back onto the shelf and take a deep breath, trying to brace myself.

“We cremated Porter and Locksmith,” he says, his voice breaking the quiet like a rock thrown into a still lake.

Of course, they did.

I swallow hard. I want to go to him, wrap my arms around his strong neck, try to take at least some of his pain away. But I don’t move. I can’t. All of this, in part at least, is my fault. My mother is the one who did this. If it wasn’t for me, none of this would have happened.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, lowering my head. I’m frozen with understanding.

He’s hurting so much and needs me, but at the same time I’m the problem. The silence is heavy. Even Helena says nothing, standing with her back to the two of us, leaving us to sort this out on our own.

“Erica…”

He raises his hands, almost reaching for me but stopping himself and dropping them to his sides. His chest is heaving, his shoulders are hunched, and the storm is breaking across his face.

“That’s not why you’re here, is it?” I ask, heart in my throat, stomach sinking to the floor.

“No,” he says, jaw tightening even as his hands convulse into fists, “it’s not.”

“Sam,” I say, but I’ve got nothing.

Only a painful longing, this need to reach him but being unable to. He’s so close, yet so far. My heart thumps loudly in my ears. Slow, measured, waiting for the next beat, knowing that soon it will shatter.

“I have to send you back,” he says, glaring at the floor, not me. “To the city. For good.”

My heart slams against my ribs. This is it. He said the words. My mother is getting all she wanted, for whatever sick, twisted reason of her own. Sam is sending me away. And how can I blame him? He may not be the alpha, but this is his pack. His town. His family, and my presence alone puts them all in danger.

“Oh,” I say, the sound echoing the breaking in my chest.

“I don’t… want to,” he says, shaking his head and stepping closer. “You and I… we’ve got something… something good Erica. I know that if you leave, it’s going to be damn hard to keep it…”

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