Page 60 of Hunted By Wolves and Shadow
“What if Ruby’s curse is anchored by more than her blood? What if we trigger something worse by trying to end it?”
Amber squeezed my arm. “If we don’t try, then we’ve already lost. Anterra is dying in the Mist, Emi.”
“I know. I just hope this is enough.”
She didn’t answer beyond walking close and lending me her comforting presence while we trekked across Aglonbriar forest to the enclave. When branches rustled and twigs snapped, I barely had time to worry about what monsters might be nearby before Amber made shrubs sway and close together, protecting us. I could only aspire to control like that. A sudden rush of gratitude flooded me for the more experienced witch’s presence. I’d take all the help I could get.
At the towering wall of brambles, Wolf stepped through the gap to shed his furry form, and then turned back to address us.
“I’ll get Bear and Lynx to help me. We don’t know what might react to you trying to break the curse, but we won’t let anything attack you. I smelled a few beasts nearby, and more might get drawn to the noise as you work, but I won’t let them touch you, I swear.” Wolf’s mercurial gaze held mine. “Robin and Hawk can scout from the air, too.”
When Wolf returned, he had willing recruits at his side. They looked eager to help, glad to be included in his plans this time. Robin reached for the green fabric of my hood with a relaxed smile that affirmed my choice. There was no need to bring Ruby’s red into an already fraught situation.
“I like this one. Much better for camouflage,” Robin said with an approving nod.
“I understand why you hate the red, but I hope after today, it will lose meaning. Hopefully this all will become a bad memory, as hazy as the Mist that caused it.” Surprisingly, I could say itwith my head held high. I wouldn't be like Ruby. It was time to change what being a witch meant in this place.
Robin shrugged. “Just saying. Green is a better color. I'd wear this one.”
Wolf chuckled. “You're just saying that because we all try to make you wear red. Because, you know, a robin's red—”
Robin hit him before he could finish. “If you say one word about my breasts, I'll have your girlfriend here make your guts come up out of your nose.”
Laughing, I offered an alternative to disemboweling Wolf while deliberately ignoring that other word Robin had called me. “How about this? If this works, I'll give you this green hood. I can stick to the red once it doesn't have the pall of the curse hanging over it. I look better in red anyway.”
Robin grinned. “Deal. Now get your boyfriend in line so we can break this curse once and for all.”
“He's not—”
Robin left me stuttering when she whisked away.
We hadn't talked about what we were, Wolf and I. It felt inevitable, but also delicate and breakable with so much unsaid. Wondering what we might be to each other after this was over was a pointless spiral of what-ifs.
If I failed, they’d all hate me again. They’d be stuck here, and even if Wolf didn’t blame me, he’d resent me on some level. Plus the Mist would keep taking from them until they were all gone, one by one, reduced to their monsters.
But if it worked, then what? Would Wolf go back to whatever his life had been before? Would he leave here with Robin and Lynx and the others and never look back? I wouldn’t blame him for wanting to leave the awful memories of this place behind him, and me along with them. He deserved to seek a better life after this, and I wasn’t part of that. My family was the reason for all his suffering.
There was no reason for Wolf to want me around once he was free. Life had taught me that people didn’t want me around for long, not once I outstayed my usefulness to them. I was always too much, or not enough. I was too tall to be inconspicuous, too awkward to be elegant, too quiet to be social, or too bold to be ladylike. I was never right in a world that had no place for me. The old void yawned inside me to claw at whatever happiness I’d felt in the past few days.
This time, for right now, I was in the right place doing the right thing with people relying on me. What happened after didn’t matter. What happened to me didn’t matter.
Yanking my green cloak around me, I squared my shoulders and forced a confident look. My own inner monsters could wait. All that mattered were the people inside these enclave walls, and I couldn’t let them down. It was time to undo the damage of my family on Aglonbriar forest and all its inhabitants. Then maybe I could work on my own damage.
Chapter 28
Emi
Robin stepped through the gap into the forest and fluttered free from her clothes to soar up through the Mist. For a heartbeat, I sympathized with Wolf, because she did indeed have a rather impressive red breast.
“That's my cue,” said Hawk, following suit and emerging with golden wings and a stunning red tail. His severe nose as a man translated to a deadly curved beak, and his wingspan surpassed that of any bird I’d ever seen. With a shiver, I recalled the shadow that had ghosted over me the day I first ran to the cottage and crashed into Wolf. So much had changed since then.
The rest of us ground-dwellers made do on legs, and soon Amber and I were being escorted by a wolf, two lynxes (because Bob had refused to let Lynx go alone), and a rather enormous brown bear. We spread all but one of my emeralds around the enclave walls, and with Amber’s guidance, their locations became a tingling presence my magic reached for. With a bit of experimenting, I started to get a feel for how channeling magic might work for me.
“I think you’re ready,” Amber encouraged.
The birds circled high above us and Robin sang a sweet trill that settled my nerves and left me more determined than ever.
When we reached the spot Amber decided would work best, I drew in a deep breath and tried to remember everything I’d learned so far about my magic. This time, I had someone with me to coach me and ground me.
