Chapter 4 #2
Taryn leaves the house first, followed by a man old enough to be her father.
If he is, he’s a shitty one. He keeps her in the basement while he lives upstairs in luxury with his wife.
Maybe I’m misreading it, and Taryn chose to live in the basement, but I can’t understand why she would.
A house this size should have plenty of space for three people.
I shift quietly in the back yard. It’s harder to follow the car than the bus, especially this early when there isn’t much traffic. I have to run faster than I normally do, but once they get closer to the diner, a few red lights work in my favor.
There’s an old man who looks to be in his sixties waiting when they arrive.
He walks over and opens Taryn’s door, which makes the possessiveness inside me flare until I’m growling.
The mating bond is definitely getting stronger.
If he touches what is mine, he might be clutching for his throat before he even realizes it’s been separated from his body.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” the old man says. “You’re the best part of waking up.”
“Thought that was Folger’s coffee,” Taryn replies dryly.
“Wish you two would just go on a date instead of flirting all the time,” the other man chuckles, taking a drag from his cigarette before flicking it into the parking lot.
I don’t think he’s Taryn’s father. Surely not.
Why would a father try to set his daughter up with an old man who looks like a fucking vagrant?
Even from here, I can tell he hasn’t bathed in a few days unless he bathes in garbage, sweat, and grease.
A father shouldn’t want this horny old fucker anywhere near his daughter.
But instead of protecting Taryn, the man who drove her here walks into the diner, leaving her in the parking lot to fend for herself. My anger rises in my throat, and I growl when the old man blocks her way. If he puts a hand on her, he’ll lose it.
“Yeah, how about that? A date?” the old man says, grinning enough for me to see he’s missing more teeth than he has. “Saturday night? I’m not working and you’re not on the schedule either.”
“Um, no. Joe, look… I’m just not interested,” Taryn says, quickly moving past him.
“Not interested yet,” Joe chuckles. “That just means I haven’t tried hard enough.”
Joe doesn’t block her way once she gets past him, so I relax. He gets to keep breathing for now.
I watch the diner until customers start arriving, then I peel away and shift into human form. The sun is coming up, which means fewer shadows for me to hide in. It’ll be easier to blend in if I’m not a seven-hundred-pound wolf.
I also need to call Saul while I’m not overwhelmed by the presence of my mate. He’s the oldest member of Silver Pack and knows Alphas even older than him. If anyone can help me understand this spell, he can.
I climb to the top of the building across from the diner. It gives me a good vantage point, and the building appears to be deserted, so I shouldn’t have to worry about anyone noticing me. I put my backpack down, remove my phone, and sit down on the roof as I dial Saul’s number.
“Victor?” Saul asks. “I didn’t expect to ever hear from you again. Did you find your mate?”
“Yeah, I found her,” I growl. “But there’s a fucking problem.”
“Trouble? If you need us, just say the word,” Saul offers.
“It’s not that kind of problem,” I snarl. “Mother Fate didn’t bring me to my mate. Some sort of spell did it.”
“Magic? Really? Where are you?” Saul asks.
“Covington,” I say.
“Hold on, let me find my old maps,” Saul mutters, and I can hear him stomping through the bunker.
Paper rustles for several minutes before he speaks.
“Covington was full of witches and warlocks centuries ago. That’s where a lot of them fled after the Witch Hunters started burning them at the stake in Salem.
But eventually, the Witch Hunters made it to Covington, too. ”
“That was a long fucking time ago,” I grumble. “My mate is no witch. Not a real one, at least. Just a foolish little girl playing with magic.”
“Well, the good news is that if the mating bond was created by magic, the spell can be broken,” Saul says. “I’m assuming you want to break it?”
“Of course I want to break it,” I snap, my stomach tightening in protest. “I thought Mother Fate finally remembered me, but she had nothing to do with this. How do I undo this bullshit?”
“There are many types of spells. If it was one powerful enough to create a mating bond, then it’s old magic. Is there any bitterness in her scent? You can usually detect bitterness when a mate bond is magical,” Saul says.
“Yeah, her scent is fucking bitter,” I growl. “Sweet, but bitter. It got a lot stronger when I got to Covington.”
“If the bitterness is that strong, it sounds more like a curse than a spell,” Saul sighs.
“A curse?” I snarl angrily. “She put a damn curse on me?”
“Not intentionally. When people who are too weak to control real magic try to cast old spells, the magic curdles. It becomes a curse,” Saul explains. “Believe it or not, that’s a good thing, too. Weak curses are even easier to break than spells.”
“Glad something is finally going my way. What do I need to do?” I ask.
“Is there any way you can find the spell she cast? I need to see it,” Saul growls.
“She mentioned it was from an old book she found at her grandmother’s house,” I mutter. “I don’t know if that’s where she lives now, but I can find out.”
“Okay, call me back as soon as you find it.”
I end the call and consider my options. Taryn is at work.
My instincts demand that I stay close. Watch her.
Make sure she’s safe. But if I’m going to find the spell, I’ll have a better chance while Taryn isn’t home.
That’ll be easier than forcing my mate to tell me.
I might lose control before I can finish interrogating her.
I hurry through the streets of Covington until I can safely shift and finish the rest of the trip on four paws. Every mile I put between us makes my chest get tighter. My instincts want me to turn around, but I ignore them.
Once this spell is broken, I’ll be free from the madness. Free from her scent. Free from the images burned into my mind that are keeping my dick semi-hard.
But first, I have to find that fucking spell.