Chapter 20
Heading back to the house, we first make a stop at a clothing store where Spencer buys me some clothes. I stay in my wolf form, waiting to change until I’m in the backyard of Kasha’s place.
Everyone is inside as I go into the shed and dress quickly. When I come back out, Spencer is looking up as if she’s inspecting the sky.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her, adjusting the waist of the jeans that are one size too small.
She keeps her gaze up for another second before facing me. “Just wondering if we’ll know when Kel shows up.”
My chest tightens at the mention of the witch. I have to tell Spencer what happened after I first shifted, but I don’t regret the extra time we were able to spend together in our wolf forms.
I trace my fingers over the two puncture marks on her shoulder from my beast. “Didn’t that one shifter say we should head North? I wouldn’t worry about her coming here.”
“Lia. I almost forgot about that little interaction.” Spencer sighs, then grabs my hand. “Later today, we can go back to town with the coins I’ve traded for so you can get some proper clothes and a ring like mine. I have plenty of magic to trade that isn’t just from Natalia.”
My hand intertwines with Spencer’s as I nod toward the house. “Let’s go check on Cara and Peter, then we can figure out the rest.”
A crease forms between her brows. “You wanted to tell me something.”
“It can wait until later,” I say honestly. “Nothing is going to change right now.”
At least I hope so.
I didn’t much care for our run-in with the unknown shifters last night, but with my wolf back, I’m thinking a bit more clearly.
Lia had mentioned us heading north, and as soon as Natalia has what will hopefully help us, that’s exactly what I intend to do.
Whatever plans Kel has, I can’t let them come here.
“Pence!” Peter calls out from the house. “You’re back.”
She bends down as the little boy runs toward her. She scoops him and hugs him tightly. “I am. Now, tell me all about your morning.”
He wiggles out of her hold but grabs her hand. “We’re making grilled cheese for lunch. Kasha let me help flip them. Come eat with us.”
As if on cue, my stomach growls, making everyone laugh as I say, “I think my stomach accepts.”
I follow the two of them inside, and a heaviness weighs down on me when I see Kasha at the stove, Cara setting the table, and allow Peter’s excitement to consume me.
This is what a home should be like, and it’s nothing I’ve ever had, but looking at Spencer, I know I’ll do and give whatever I have to in order to make that happen for us.
Not only because I crave this future with her, but because we both deserve peace and happiness.
After lunch, we played a game of something called “Go Wolf.” It wasn’t hard to catch on. All I had to do was try and match as many of my cards to those in someone else’s hand. If I guessed wrong, and they didn’t have the card I needed, they’d tell me to “Go Wolf.”
The statement makes no sense but made Peter giggle every time someone said it.
Now, we’re headed back to town. Only we don’t go the way we’ve been using the last couple of times. Spencer leads the way through a few more residential streets and stops at another house before turning toward me.
“There is another witch that lives here,” she explains. “I don’t know her like I do Natalia, but I’ve heard she makes rings for shifters like the one I have.” She holds up her hand and wiggles her middle finger with the silver band and white stone that has flickers of a fiery orange through it.
“And that’s why you weren’t naked like I was?” I ask, just making sure I understand why we’re here.
“Yep.” Her eyes drift toward my pants. “Now, nobody else will need to see your goods except for me.”
That makes me chuckle. Jealousy is adorable on my mate.
“Whatever you think is best,” I tell her as we step toward the walkway of the house. Before we get very far, Natalia materializes in front of us on the sidewalk.
“Are you seriously going to another witch for something after all I’m doing for you?” Her tone is laced with equal parts disappointment and shock. “I can’t believe you, Spencer.”
My mate’s brows raise high on her forehead. “I thought I was being considerate by not putting more on your plate. You know, because I do understand how much you’re doing for us.”
That has the witch calming down, but not by much. She crosses her arms with a huff. “What do you need?”
Spencer nudges me with her elbow. “He needs a ring to make sure he doesn’t keep losing his clothes when he shifts.”
Natalia snickers. “Wasn’t really a problem before, huh?” I snarl and she holds a hand up. “Too soon for jokes. Got it. Well, I have some premade on my shelves. I just need to soak in his blood, which any witch would need to do, and if I were you, I wouldn’t be giving anything of the sort away to just anyone.”
She makes a good point, one Spencer seems to comprehend quickly. “I didn’t think about that.”
“And that’s why I’ve been tracking him.” Natalia gestures toward me. “Well, part of the reason. I knew you’d want to be able to find him in case his wolf went feral and took off without you.”
I hadn’t even questioned how she knew we were here, but I guess I should have.
“My wolf is in perfect control, thanks to Spencer,” I tell the witch, so she doesn’t try any other magic shit with me just in case.
An odd noise leaves the back of her throat. “Right. Now, come with me.”
She grabs both of our hands and, without any other warning or explanation, teleports us back to her shop.
Rematerializing takes my breath away and I have to bend forward, resting my arms on the counter in front of me before I can feel my lungs working the way they should.
“Don’t do that again,” I say with a growl.
“Don’t cheat on me with lesser witches.”
This witch is getting a little too comfortable with us now that she knows we need her more than she needs us.
Spencer recovers quicker than I do and places her hand on my back. “She means well.”
“And that’s the only reason my wolf hasn’t bitten her head off.”
While I meant what I said about my inner animal being in control of his rage, that doesn’t mean he isn’t murderous within my mind right now.
Without Spencer, there wouldn’t be anyone safe from our destruction until we had our vengeance, but thanks to the mate bond, she has become our focus. Knowing that our mate wants to do this the safest way possible, utilizing the help of Natalia to lessen the risks, is the only reason he didn’t flee earlier.
Biting her helped to calm him as well. Her sweet vanilla tinged with a spicy cinnamon aroma now has a layer of my smokey amber scent weaved through it. I would have preferred to have her consent in the marking, but seeing as she doesn’t seem to mind, I try not to either.
“Let’s get you two sorted and out of my shop,” Natalia muses as she breezes through the curtains that block off the back of her shop.
Spencer and I stay in the front, but we’re not left waiting long. The witch is back in under a minute and sets a black ring with an orange stone in the middle on the counter. “Seems fitting, don’t you think?”
I honestly don’t care about the ring, but since Spencer is so eager for me to have it, I nod. “It will work.”
Natalia holds out her hand. “I need more blood.”
This time I growl. “Haven’t you had enough?”
“Enough to unlock your wolf, keep you alive, and continue working on something powerful enough to kill Kel, yes,” she says. “But I need every drop I already have. You want this ring, which I wasn’t counting on, then I need more blood.”
I give her my wrist when Spencer doesn’t object. Though, she does surprise me when she apologizes.
“I know this is a lot,” she says, standing next to me as Natalia cuts into my wrist.
“It’s fine.” I offer a smile, hating that she’s feeling any guilt and knowing it’s because of me.
She shakes her head. “It’s not fine. Not at all.”
Her words are sharper, and I want to console my mate, but not here. Not with an audience.
Natalia finishes and heals the cut before taking my blood and the ring with her toward the back room again. “Give me five minutes.”
I glance at the curtain, then at Spencer before lowering my voice. “Are you sure you trust her? I know she helped with my wolf, but going after Kel with magic we didn’t create ourselves could be dangerous.”
She doesn’t hesitate in her answer. “I trust Natalia. I didn’t realize how much until recently, but she hasn’t let me down yet and I don’t believe she will with this.”
One of the things I’ve grown to admire most about Spencer besides her love for her family is how sensible she seems. Once she decides something, she believes in that with her whole heart. There isn’t an in-between with her. People are either all-in in her life or they’re an outsider. It’s a trait I respect and hope to learn from.
“I do have something else for you to do while I’m working on this spell, Spencer,” Natalia calls from the back room.
My mate raises a brow at me as she yells back. “What’s that?”
The witch doesn’t reply, and Spencer shakes her head. “I’m going to see what she’s talking about.”
As she pushes the curtain aside, Natalia appears, eyes bright as she tosses the ring at me. “All done. The sunstone is linked to your blood and will keep you from being naked when you don’t want to be.”
“And what am I supposed to be working on?” Spencer asks, her foot tapping on the floor of the shop.
Natalia steps back, flicking the braid her dark strands are held in behind her. “I’ve been testing some things with your blood, and I believe you’ve been holding back. Not purposely, but I have a theory.”
Spencer’s teeth ground together, but she takes a deep breath before responding. “Another one? What have you done with my blood?”
“Nothing sinister, I assure you,” the witch says, “but I’ve come to realize that your camouflage ability extends beyond changing your wolf. That was part of my previous theory as well.”
“What does that mean?” I ask when Spencer seems torn between tearing Natalia’s face off and hearing her out.
The witch smirks. “I doubled down in my efforts after you left last night and sped up some of my tests while the spell I’m concocting brews. Most of my theories proved accurate, and you’re going to need to figure them out for yourselves if you have a chance in hell of taking down Kel. She’s already gathering her own power and asking about Crossroads.”
“How do you know?” I ask, hoping like hell that doesn’t mean she’s close by.
Natalia hands Spencer a vial of a clear liquid but looks at me. “I might not leave my shop much, but I have plenty of friends in places most would least suspect.”
I guess we were going to have to take her word for it. Well, maybe. Spencer might be changing her thoughts about trusting Natalia after this conversation.
“What did you do with my blood?” my mate says sternly, stepping forward and pressing her palms on the counter, the only thing separating the two women.
Natalia stands her ground and looks Spencer right in the eye. “Remember what you know, Spencer. I’m not the enemy, and I’ve been testing things with your blood for months now. I’ve never once crossed a line I shouldn’t, and I haven’t now. You know this. Until you remember that, I’m not telling you anything else.”
“If I didn’t already, I’d have already leapt over this counter and ripped your throat out,” Spencer says, only slightly calmer than a moment ago. “Tell me what you did.”
“Fine. You want things to be that way, then.” Natalia pulls a vial from her back pocket, then tosses it toward Spencer. “If you drink that, it will enhance your abilities and we can do live tests on my theories, but until you truly calm down, I don’t recommend taking it.”
Spencer raises the vial and inspects the clear liquid. “What the hell are you talking about? What are these abilities that you think I have?”
“I know you have the capability of camouflaging as you like to call it,” Natalia says, “but your wolf isn’t the only way you can do that. You can attract people to you, and you can also seem as if you don’t exist to others. There’s a pureness within your albino wolf that draws on the greatness of others, along with protecting you from those with ill intentions.”
Well, that’s new and something I’ve never heard of.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Spencer asks, eyes narrowed. “I spent the first twenty years of my life being plenty noticed by the evil that lived in my house.”
“Was he noticing you or were you making yourself known?” Natalia counters and, when Spencer fails to answer, it seems my mate has been rendered speechless.
Things just got even more interesting, and possibly not in a good way.