Page 44 of Reclaiming His Lost Mate
She walked out the door and out of sight. Finally, the breath left my lungs, and I wondered what she’d meant by coming here. Was it really to warn me off Alexis? The tightness in my chest returned as I clutched my necklace, desperate for guidance from the Moon oddess.
Just then, the sense of dread I had been battling was momentarily drowned out by the welcome flurry of customers—witches and shifters eager for their supplies. The morning chatter buzzed around me like a beautiful cleansing spell, wrapping me in a cocoon of normalcy.
But my reprieve was short-lived. Two days later, as I opened the shop, Helen—a local witch—walked in, her countenance clouded with discontent.
“Morning, Helen,” I called out, but as her gaze fixed on me, heaviness fell on me.
“Selina, we need to talk,” she declared, dropping a brown paper bag with vines patterning the material that looked achingly familiar.
My frown deepened. “Is something wrong?”
“Yes, something’s very wrong.” She crinkled her nose with disapproval. “These frostvine leaves are contaminated.”
“Contaminated?” My pulse quickened as I reached for the bag, the scent that wafted toward me now morphing into a noxious weight. “But I’ve used these leaves in all my creams and never had any—”
“They’re tainted with dark magic,” she interrupted, gravity in her tone.
Shock rippled through me. “What?! Dark magic?”
“When I used them at my altar last night on the new moon, the rebounding magic drained my energy. I could barely get out of bed today,” she continued, urgency lacing her words.
“How?” The violence of despair clutched my heart. "But I’ve crafted numerous products with these leaves and never had any complaints..." I trailed off, unsure of how such a thing could have happened.
Helen’s eyes narrowed, suspicion twisting through me like a knife. “If I find out you’ve sourced these from the Black Moon Pack, I’ll never shop here again and will tell everyone not to either.”
I shook my head, panic surging. “Please, let me investigate this. I swear I sourced them from Tom, as usual! I’ll get to the bottom of this—I promise. In the meantime, I’ll give you a full refund, of course.”
As she exited, a sense of dread curled in my gut, and I knew this mess wasn’t going to disappear. My heart pounded unsteadily as I cleared the shelves of frostvine leaves and products made with them before placing them on the kitchen table. Horror spilled through me as realization hit—a realization that felt like ice in my veins.
Marissa.
She had been hovering near the display when I opened the tester pots and lids, the proximity likely the catalyst of this darkness seeping into my stock. It had to be her—she’d used dark magic on Alexis, hadn’t she?
I dialed Lyvia, my heart racing. “Lyv, I think Marissa poisoned my herbs. Helen says the frostvine is laced with dark magic. I made numerous sales yesterday—what if others are affected?”
“Steady on, Selina. Slow down. I’ll be there in a moment. Okay?”
I nodded, forgetting in my panic that Lyvia couldn’t see me. But before my heart could calm, another figure stepped through the door—Penny, a shifter who had purchased one of my frostvine face creams, her expression pale and panic-stricken.
“Selina! I think I'm having a reaction to the face cream!” Thedistress on her face pierced my heart, the veins on her skin looking discolored and inflamed.
“Shit,” I breathed under my breath, urgency radiating through me. “Penny, I’m so sorry, but I’ve just learned the frostvines are tainted with dark magic. Please, come to the kitchen and sit down.” I took her trembling hand, guiding her into the kitchen, my heart hammering out a frantic rhythm.
A moment later, Lyvia entered. Her presence was a soothing balm. She was calm and composed, her midnight hair in a long braid that framed her determined amber eyes as they flicked between Penny and the frostvine products on the table.
I felt the weight of fear and uncertainty trying to drag me down as if into murky water, but with Lyvia’s presence, I was able to keep afloat. This was my battle now. I would do everything to save them, and I would unravel the dark magic that threatened my shop and community before it was too late.
And in that moment of clarity, as I faced the storm gathering on the horizon, I realized how deeply I loved this place—my shop wasn’t just a business. I had poured my heart and soul into it, and nothing was going to make me give it up, least of all Marissa.
With newfound resolve, I turned to Lyvia, gritting my jaw. “Let’s get to work.” I would try anything and everything that I had to to ensure Marissa’s damage was undone.
Chapter 21
Selina
The chaos unfolded around me like a dark storm as I fought to compensate my customers and heal the poisoned ones. Lyvia was a goddess, working steadily throughout the morning, her hands weaving a cleansing spell within the hour and clearing Penny of the dark magic afflicting her.
But soon, a dozen shifters and witches congregated in my kitchen. Each of them presented with the same feverish symptoms, the inflammation etching pronounced lines on their faces from the frostvine creams meant to nourish and rejuvenate the skin. The dark magic made a mockery of all the hard work I’d poured into lovingly crafting this new product. The sight of my customers like this made my stomach churn with nausea. Guilt gnawed at me. I hated that my products had done this.
