Chapter 3
Sammy
After dropping Livvie with Wes and telling him the whole story about what we’d encountered in Grove Holler, I headed home. As soon as I appeared on my front porch, I knew Anthony was inside.
This was why I had kept my house hidden for so long. Inviting Anthony over that one time had been a big mistake. Now he knew where to find me anytime he got a hair up his ass.
My cottage was my happy place and reflected a part of me I rarely showed to the outside world.
I kept the gardens lush year-round with just a smattering of magic, and I’d decorated the inside very feminine.
Why not? I hadn’t expected to ever share the space with a man.
I mean, I’d been alive quite a long time without the first hint of a man strong enough to date me, much less a mate. Nobody had ever had the cojones to try.
“What do you want?” I asked grumpily as I stomped inside to find the clan alpha stretched out on my sofa. Rolling my eyes, I walked past him and into my kitchen. I needed tea to calm my frazzled nerves.
“I got an interesting call,” Anthony said as he jumped up. “From a clan alpha in Tennessee.”
“Yeah?” I said as I waved my hand at the tea kettle, making the water boil.
“Gage Matthews.” He sat at my table and stared at me. Anthony had gotten pretty used to me, which I didn’t mind. I liked him. He was allowed to pretend I didn’t faze him.
But Blaze had looked at me like a kitten he’d wanted to play with. Me! I could’ve killed him with one snap of my finger.
“Alpha Gage Matthews from the Tennessee clan seems to think that his second-in-command is your fated mate.”
I snorted. “Pack. Not a clan.”
“What?” He leaned back. “What are you talking about?”
“I sensed several different shifters,” I said. “Definitely wolves and dragons, and I’m pretty sure a bear or two.”
“That’s…” Anthony shook his head. “What?”
I laughed and poured the boiling water over the tea strainer.
“I know. I’ve never heard of mixed shifters cohabitating, for lack of better word.
But I sensed no danger or distress. I never once felt like I was being threatened.
” Well, not really. Gage thought he could order me around, but he’d learn.
“Why didn’t you come straight to me?” he asked. “Since Gage asked you to bring one of his clan members back.”
“Pack,” I repeated. “And because I told him no.”
Anthony grunted as I handed him the teacup. “Thanks. I told him no as well. Well, I told him I’d discuss it with you but that I didn’t care for the idea.”
He watched me as I sat across from him. Maybe this would be the end of it. I had no idea what I’d do about having a mate, but for now I could pretend it hadn’t happened.
“So,” Anthony said as he stirred some honey into his tea. “Blaze?”
Fuck. “What kind of stupid name is Blaze?” I asked. “I mean, really. For a dragon?”
Anthony chuckled, but I wasn’t done. “How am I supposed to take him seriously? I can’t call my mate Blaze, for cripes’ sake!” I sucked in a deep breath. “Were his parents on drugs?” I stirred honey into my tea and tried to calm myself.
“So, he is your mate?” Anthony sipped his tea and looked at me over the cup.
My emotions went on a roller coaster. What a hot damn mess.
“I think so. I don’t know. I keep hopping from shock to denial to hope to relief to denial.
Mainly denial.” I paused. “Though, the hope and relief are quickly squashed because this isn’t something I’d ever thought about, much less hoped for.
Hell, I never knew it was possible until a couple of months ago. ”
But the visions I’d had the last few months flashed through my mind. I’d been happy in them, blissfully happy. And his smiling green eyes, oh, damn it.
“Well, I’m genuinely happy for you,” Anthony said. “It’s about time you got a taste of the happiness we’ve been having around here. Hopefully, you’ll get to enjoy it without the bullshit that seems to accompany a mating bond, but still, even with the drama, it’s totally worth it.”
I sighed and pushed the surprise away. “I don’t even have time to fool with that right now, anyway. I’ll put a pin in it.” I rolled my eyes at the silly expression. “I’ve got to deal with the ex-high priestess of my clan. She’s still out there, somewhere, and she can’t be allowed to roam free.”
“I’ve got eyes out,” he said. “I’ve put out feelers with all the packs we’re friendly with.” He tapped his fingers on the table. “I promise, we’ll find her.”
But I waved him off. “I don’t need promises. Now that I know the bitch is alive and that she’s the one who is responsible for the slaughtering of my coven, Livvie’s coven, I’m going to make sure she pays.”
He sighed and nodded. “Well, I’m here to help if you want or need it.”
I smiled my thanks.
“What do you want to do about Blaze?”
Chuckling at his name, I shook my head. “I don’t think we can avoid it, not really.” Gage’s words popped into my head. “Oh, get this. The alpha called you my alpha. Like I report to you.”
Anthony threw his head back and burst out laughing. “How quickly did you correct him?” he asked.
“I didn’t. He can think whatever he wants. I thought it was funny.”
We both chuckled for a moment at the thought of Anthony ordering me around, then I sobered and caught his eye. “Let him come.”
A slow smile spread over the clan alpha’s face. “I’ll look forward to seeing this unfold.”
After Anthony left, I busied myself setting up my scrying spell.
I had no real way of searching for the high priestess except for scrying, which was imprecise at best. She could’ve been anywhere.
Until I got a lead, I set up automatic scries.
A crystal suspended over a map and kept moving.
If the high priestess turned up anywhere on that map, the crystal would drop onto it, then I could narrow the search with maps of the general area it fell.
Much of my time over the next few days was spent enforcing my wards to make sure nobody could break in again, and training Livvie.
With her being pregnant, I had to go easy.
Pregnancies could make magic unpredictable and wild, and I had no desire to overwhelm her before she really came into her magic.
A few days later, we finished our practice, and Livvie collapsed on a log, panting. “Shew. Still, after all this time, I can’t believe how physical magic is.”
“Your endurance is increasing,” I said. “You’ll get to where it’s nothing like this. Just like a runner eventually goes farther and farther. You’ll do things without expending much energy.”
She nodded and mopped her brow. It was almost chilly here in the Maine woods in October, but she’d been working pretty hard. “What do you think about what Gage said about how I was supposed to be their witch?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Hard to say. Have you asked your grandmother?”
She shook her head. “No. Want to?”
I had nothing pressing. “Why not?”
We popped over to Livvie’s Nana’s place and rang her doorbell.
“Come in,” Olivia said with a smile on her face. “How nice to see you both.”
Livvie led the way, and Olivia put her hand on my back as she ushered me in. “I’ve been meaning to ask if you girls would mind an old lady joining your little sessions. I’m horribly out of practice myself and maybe I know a thing or two you gals don’t.” She winked at me.
I doubted there was anything she could teach me, but I was game for her joining us. “That’s up to Livvie.”
Livvie plopped down on her grandmother’s sofa and sighed. “Sure, Nana. Any time.”
I sat a little more demurely in a high-backed chair, but then, Livvie had grown up here. She was much more comfortable. “You know,” I said as Olivia disappeared into the kitchen, murmuring about tea. “We didn’t tell Gage about your grandmother.”
Livvie snorted and lifted her head off the sofa. “Yeah. I wonder if we can hide her from Blaze when he gets here.”
“Why are we hiding me?” Olivia returned quickly with tea, likely making it with magic. She either had sensed us coming, which was unlikely, or she’d whipped it up the way I had the other day.
“Well, Nana.” Livvie sat up. “When we were in Grove Holler, a couple of things happened. Sammy found her fated mate, a dragon.”
Olivia gasped and turned to me. “No.”
With a sigh and an eyeroll, I nodded. “Unfortunately.”
She looked like she wanted to ask more questions but bit her tongue. “What else?”
“We met the new alpha of the Grove Holler pack,” I muttered. “Gage. Also a dragon.”
Olivia shook her head. “But they were wolves before.”
We explained the whole mixed pack thing.
Olivia blinked rapidly. “In my day, witches mated witches and dragons mated dragons. And wolves lived with wolves and the dragons hated the wolves. This new world is confusing.”
Livvie and I exchanged a glance. “Well, you know. Things change. And if the matings and mixed packs work for them, who cares?”
Olivia sipped her tea. “Dear, that’s a wonderful way to look at it. To each their own.” She sniffed. “As long as they leave us out of it.”
“Well, that’s the thing, Nana.” Livvie sat up and eyed her grandmother. “They say I’m promised to be their witch.”
Olivia waved her hands. “That’s some mess made by the old high priestess. You’re not obligated to be their witch in any way.” She chuckled. “Besides, the promise was made to Leonard. And he’s dead with a capital D.”
My magic went haywire suddenly, and a shock went through me. “Something powerful crossed my wards.” I sighed. “But not dangerous.”
Livvie arched one eyebrow. “Blaze?”
“Ugh, probably.” I set my tea down.
“What’s a Blaze?” Olivia asked.
“Sammy’s fated mate. The dragon.” Livvie eyed me as I sat and tried to decide what to do.
Olivia distracted me by bursting out laughing. “Blaze? What parents would name their dragon baby such a ridiculous name?”
I joined her in laughter and threw my hands up. “Thank you! That’s what I’ve been saying!”
My laughter faded, and my heart raced. I didn’t know why I was so bent out of shape that he was here. He didn’t matter, not right now. Blaze was a problem for another day. A day far in the future, when I had time to sit and think about how exactly I wanted to handle having a mate.
Geez. Of all the bullshit I had to put up with.
“Sammy?”
I jerked my head toward Livvie. “Yeah?”
“You’re muttering under your breath.” She leaned forward and peered at me. “You okay?”
That wasn’t the first time I’d gotten lost in thought because of that man. He was a problem, a needless distraction. The last thing I needed as I geared up to go after Joan, the high priestess, was to be set off balance and lose my well-placed composure.
A vision flashed into my mind; one I’d had over the years.
A young girl was being told she was evil. The vision changed, flashing to a young woman being institutionalized because magic wasn’t real. And the last vision was the girl lost in the woods. A woman approached her, looked into her eyes, and muttered, “Not this one.”
Shaking, I was knocked out of the vision.
The woman in the woods was the high priestess.
It was Joan. Somehow, she was linked to that vision.
I focused on the vision, committing it to memory before it slipped away.
I couldn’t tell where the girl was. I hadn’t seen a name on the institution, nothing that would help me find the poor girl!
I yelled in frustration, making both Livvie and Olivia jump. “What’s wrong?” they asked in unison.
“Nothing,” I moaned. “Let’s go.”
“I’m going to stay,” Livvie said. “You can go if you need to, but we’re here for you if you need anything.”
I appreciated their sentiment, but I couldn’t focus on anything but being upset about the vision. That poor little girl.
Popping back to my cottage, I ignored my upset, and tried to ignore my buzzing skin. Blaze was in town, but the last thing I wanted to think about was that man.
Rushing to my kitchen, I brewed green tea with peppermint to calm me and sharpen my mind. As soon as the water boiled, I steeped the leaves and hurried to my living room. It was set up for meditation, so I lit my candles and incense.
Sipping the tea, I grounded myself and found my center. And soon, I had the vision back in my mind. It didn’t always work. The ones I’d been having all summer, the ones about Blaze, had been too fleeting.
Without opening my eyes, I leaned forward and grabbed my sketchpad off the coffee table and began to draw out what I’d seen in my head.
By the time I was finished, I’d sketched out streets, including street signs and a town name.
And now I had a location for Joan. Smiling in satisfaction, I looked at the drawing. I was going to kill that woman and enjoy doing it.
My skin tingled, reminding me of Blaze, but I had priorities. My top priority was Joan. Not Blaze.
Not yet.