Page 67 of The Lone Wolf Café
I bolted through the entrance and heaved my furry shoulder into the door, slamming it shut. My paws scrambled for the lock, but even if I had been able to turn back into a human, there was nothing I could do. The lock was still broken.
If only I had gotten it fixed when I first arrived. Like Rowena warned me to.
My four legs gave out, and I collapsed to the floor. My entire body, from my fluffy red tail to the tips of my canine teeth, trembled uncontrollably.
If I had been a human, I would’ve been screaming. Crying. Howling out awful sobs of terror. Fear.
Regret.
Instead, I screeched out long, ear-piercing whines, burying my large wolfish head between my paws. I didn’t know how long Rowena would be gone, but I needed to stay quiet. I was too panicked to shift back into a human, and if Rowena saw me like this, I feared I’d be chained up in that iron cage with the muzzle bolted to my face.
I had no idea why Rowena had such monstrous devices in her cottage.
But I had theories. And none of them were good.
In between whines, I heard a faint squeak from across the cottage. I looked up and saw Aria perched on her little doll bed, ears perked up and her two front paws in the air.
It’s okay, girl.I whimpered again, this time softer. She knew something happened, and I couldn’t speak to her in my wolf form to explain things. Even if I was able to shift back, I couldn’t bear the thought of telling her. I didn’t want to relive what I’d just seen.
Instead, I hauled my lanky wolf body off the ground, plodded over to my blanket and pillow, and curled up in a tight ball with my tail touching my nose.
Aria squeaked again, but I didn’t respond. All I wanted to do was close my eyes and forget. Maybe if I curled up tight enough, I’d disappear entirely.
Aria was silent after that. But within a few minutes, I felt a cool breeze, followed by the soft thumps of mouse paws on my furry back. I lifted my head and saw Aria settling just behind my shoulders, curled up as tightly as I was.
You bold little thing, I chuckled.A tiny mouse atop a wolf’s back.
But I knew she wanted to comfort me. I wished I had my human fingers so I could pet her. So I could talk to her, and tell her everything would be okay.
But as I closed my eyes, I knew it wasn’t.
It never would be again.
Chapter Fifteen
Ididn’t sleep at all that night. But I rose the next morning with far more energy than usual, my body buzzing with a mix of adrenaline and fear.
Alone in the darkness, stuck in my wolf form with my mind running wild for hours on end, I had come to a logical but horrifying conclusion. The cage, the muzzle, the secret meetings with the strange man at night… there could only be one reason why.
Rowena was a werewolf hunter.
The more I pieced the facts together, the more it made sense. It explained not only why Rowena had the tools to imprison magical beings, but why she had a powerfully enchanted necklace to keep her safe during hunts. And the man she’d been talking with? Most likely an accomplice. Possibly a human one.
Werewolf hunters, witch hunters, and other such murderers were common among humans. They were the beings that struck the most terror into the magical community, more so than even the biggest, scariest werewolf. Images of the witch burnings in the town hall came to mind, and I shuddered. Whenever conflict arose, humans were inevitably the greatest monsters of all.
But some witches were known for hunting other magical beings. Magical bounty hunters were rare, but they did exist. They often lived a life of seclusion, traveling nomadically from place to place since they weren’t welcome in most magical communities.
Because despite all the conflict between witches and werewolves, they still shared a common bond, being the two magical races most persecuted by humans. Being a bounty hunter was treasonous. They were seen as traitors to the magical community.
Which explained why Rowena was treated as an outcast by Wisteria Grove.
But she hadn’t been exiled. She was still allowed to remain in the village, living in her cottage and running her business just like any other witch. Which implied that while the villagers disapproved of what she was doing, it wasn’t a heinous enough crime to kick her out.
And I knew why the witches would be willing to live with a werewolf hunter.
Aster.
Years earlier, Juniper’s mother had been brutally killed by a werewolf during a full moon frenzy. Based on the powerfully enchanted necklace around Rowena’s neck, she was close to Aster when she was young. I wondered if she and Juniper had also once been close, but Aster’s death and Rowena’s descent into forbidden activities drove them apart.
