Page 36 of Snips, Snails and Werewolf Tails

"My apologies," Lucian says as he barges in wearing nothing but a pair of borrowed pants that look much too snug on him. "But I have something I need to give to Elspeth."

He walks up to me and hands me a giant yellow flower, looking at me cautiously, as if he isn’t certain which version of myself I currently am.

"What's this?" I ask.

"It's the flower that I told your lover to retrieve for you," the priest answers in Lucian's place. "This magical flower will remove all of the dark magic from you that you currently have control over."

"But you just taught me how to tame all of that magic so that I coulduseit," I say with a furrowed brow.

"Yes, I did." The priest smiles. He looks otherworldly now, as if he isn't quite human. "But I still believe that every witch should choose her fate. The choice is yours, Elspeth. You can take the flower from Lucian and be rid of the dark magic forever,oryou can choose to keep it and control it. But, if you decide to keep it, you will also be choosing to keep your dark eyes, and birdlike qualities—not as apricebut as agiftthat the dark magic has given you."

"What is he talking about?" Sybil asks.

I take a moment to tell them about the misconceptions surrounding dark magic. At first, the other witches have a hard time letting go of the outdated belief that dark magic is inherently evil, but after I show them a few things the priest taught me, they come around to the idea.

"But then why did it do those terrible things to you?" Isla asks.

"What terrible things? The changes in my appearance?" I ask. "To be honest, they're growing on me now."

"And your strange behavior?" Lucian asks, still holding the yellow flower in his hand.

"That was all because I was afraid of it and fighting against it. I created turmoil within myself."

"And now?"

"Now I don't feel that way anymore," I say as I reach up to touch my fingers to Lucian's face. "I feel peaceful, and happy, and in line with myself and my magic." I look down at the flower, and I get the feeling, based on both his disheveled appearance and the entourage that he has with him, that it wasn't easy to get.

"I don't think that I want the flower, Lucian. I want to stay the way I am. I don't feel consumed by the dark magic anymore. I feelgood. I want to keep the power that I have and use it to help the coven and the other supernaturals."

"Well, it's not as if I risked my life to get it for you," Lucian teases as he tosses the flower over his shoulder and onto the floor of the church. "But there is one thing that I would like to ask you."

He drops down onto one knee in right there in front of everyone and lowers his head, though his eyes still look up at me with longing.

"Elspeth, I can't and won't live without you. And I don't want to spend any more time looking through your window or trying to track each other down. I want to be with you always, so I want to ask you to be my mate and come to live with me on pack territory. You could lead beside me, even have a huge garden there, and still hold your place in the coven. Together we can merge our factions and lead by example, with strength and love. Because I love you, and you are so strong."

I hear Isla let out a small gasp as she pretends to swoon, and even Blair seems touched by Lucian's gesture. But above all, I am overjoyed and overwhelmed with emotion.

"Yes, of course I accept!" I exclaim. When Lucian stands back up, I throw my arms around his neck and kiss him—something I've been wanting to do since the moment he woke up from his brush with death.

The kiss is wondrous enough to make the ground beneath the church shake, although maybe that's just me and my magic.

"Sorry," I say to everyone as soon as Lucian and I let go of each other. "Here I just proclaimed that I have this great control over my magic, only to let a little bit of excitement throw me off. I promise that I actuallydohave control over my powers."

Sybil laughs and walks over to give me a congratulatory hug.

"We can't be in controlallthe time," she says. "And I'm very happy for you."

"Wait until the pack hears," Gregory beams. "We've been waiting a long time for the alpha to have a mate, and for a while there we were all worried that dreadful Tala might worm her way into the spot."

"Ugh,please." Renna grimaces as she smacks Gregory on the chest. "You're ruining the romantic moment."

Everyone laughs and I turn around to thank the priest again—only to find that he'sgone.

"Where did he go?" I ask in surprise. There is only one way in or out of the cathedral and we've all been standing in front of it the whole time.

Everyone looks around and no one has a clue where orhowhe disappeared.

"I still can't tell if that old priest was a foe or a friend," Lucian says.

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