Page 118 of The Lone Wolf Café
“Wait…” I paused as the family walked past us. “Are they… trick or treating?”
“It looks like quite a few families are.” Rowena pointed at another group of costume-clad children, happily bolting down one of the pathways while their joyous shrieks filled the air.
“But…”
“I mean, it makes sense,” Rowena continued. “Your mother is no longer frenzied, which means the other werewolves can’t get through the barrier. For the first time in a long time, Wisteria Grove is safe during a full moon.”
For the first time in a long time. Those words hung heavy on my heart. I peered up ahead at my mother, who was watching the children with a small, sad smile on her face.
She had fled Hollenboro, making her way back to the Mount Desert Island pack, when I was six years old. Meaning she had lived here, unable to control her empath powers and her shifting, for fifteen years.
Fifteen long years, where the witches of Wisteria Grove locked down their homes every full moon. Fifteen years of living in fear.
If only my mother had gotten the help she needed.
“I wonder if the other witches are setting up the altar at the town square,” Rowena pondered, peering up at the night sky and the full moon that glowed as bright as faerie fire. “It is a beautiful night for a celebration.”
I smiled, watching more children weave around the cottages in their costumes, eager to hoard as much candy as possible.
That was when it truly occurred to me what I had done. Because of my actions, Big Red was no longer terrorizing the town. And now, I could get my mother help. I could get both of us help.
And Wisteria Grove would never have to worry about the werewolf frenzy again. They’d be safe inside their wards, and the local pack could frolic and run and hunt on the full moon without fear of harming them.
Maybe this could be the beginning of a better relationship between the werewolves and the witches. Having the two communities see each other as allies instead of enemies.
“It’s a beautiful sight,” I acknowledged, and Rowena nodded eagerly.
So did my mother.
I’d felt so many mixed emotions that night. But watching the children run around, trick or treating without fear, I felt nothing but pure joy.
We had done it.
We had saved Wisteria Grove.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Itook a deep breath as I knocked on the door to my own cottage the following morning.
I heard a faint rustle and the rusty click of a lock that didn’t work. The door swung open, and my mother’s considerably-less-tired-looking face poked through the entryway.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” she greeted with that same sad smile, though it was a tad less heavy than the night before. “Come on in.”
I stepped timidly through the doorway, my mind still feeling conflicted over a woman I barely knew calling me pet names. But I knew how strong a mother’s love was – I practically felt it for my own sisters. And despite all those years apart, I would always be her daughter. Her child.
She wanted me to tell you that she loves you.
She. Loves. You.
I allowed my mother to take over my cottage for the night. I cringed when I first led her inside and saw the blanket and pillow on the floor, sincerely apologizing for the lack of a proper bed. My mother simply chuckled and reminded me she’d spent her entire life as a werewolf, and it was far from the first night spent sleeping on the floor.
And of course, with my mother sleeping in my cottage, I spent the night in Rowena’s cottage.
Specifically, in her bed.
My mind was still clouded, my stomach swirling with conflicting emotions. But sleeping in my beautiful witch’s arms, knowing we no longer had our secrets pulling us apart, was absolute heaven.
I awoke a few times during the night, as I had almost every night since I’d arrived in Wisteria Grove. So much had happenedover the past few weeks, and my mind was still struggling to keep up.
