Chapter Twelve
Henrietta
I'm sitting cross-legged on the grass outside the Shadowpine Pack leader's house, talking to a rose bush. I still ache from our love-making session last night, and it’s the sweetest ache I’ve ever felt.
I can’t think about how badly our attempts at bond-breaking are going, or I’ll spiral into despair.
So right now I’m focused on plant healing and nothing else.
"There you go," I murmur, running my fingers along a glossy leaf. "All those nasty Japanese beetles are gone now. You're going to feel so much better."
The rose bush’s chewed leaves are filling back in. The beetles are currently scattered across the lawn, their tiny corpses glittering green and gold. My rose pruning shears and my gloves are lying next to my canvas tool bag. I’ve deadheaded the bush and trimmed it too.
"No need to thank me," I say, patting a branch.
"Talking to plants? Do they ever answer back?"
I look up. Kieran Holt is walking toward me with his twin sister Amaryllis at his side. He's tall and broad-shouldered, with dark hair, a beard, and an air of cool disdain. Amaryllis shares his facial features, with the same full gray eyes and thick brows.
I get to my feet and brush the grass off my jeans. "No, but they're good listeners."
Kieran smiles faintly. "I'm hearing good things about the job you're doing with the Moonstone Pack."
"I’m so glad to hear that!" I say brightly. There’s something troubling about his smile.
"When do you think you'll be done?"
I swallow hard. "Well. By the end of the summer when the crop is ready to be harvested, we'll get the remainder of our payment."
Kieran nods slowly. "Have you and your uncle given any thought as to where you'll go once you've been paid?"
And, there it is. I suck in a breath.
"I was not aware there was any kind of rush. Is there a problem?" I say carefully. We’ve done nothing wrong. The Romero clan members have been roaming Shadowpine lands looking for ways to help – fixing fences, painting an old barn, weeding, planting…
Kieran glances at his sister, then back at me.
"If we're being honest, you're still a political liability.
Your father was a drug dealer, and shifters have very long memories.
Our pack members are already overhearing some muttered remarks from other packs whenever we're in town. It will only get worse over time."
I should not talk back to an Alpha, especially the one who holds our future in his hands. I can’t help myself, though. Years of hurt and humiliation rear up inside me. "He was not a drug dealer! He was a plant mage who dealt in healing herbs!"
Kieran gives me a look that's half pity, half contempt. "Is that what he told you?"
I'm furious now. "He found herbs that would enhance healing powers so much that he'd be a threat to the strongest healer family in your pack!”
I'm referring to his twin sister. All the women in Kieran's family are healers, and Amaryllis is the best of them. I know it the second the words are out of my mouth, and I regret it immediately.
Kieran's expression goes cold. "Your father was gathering plants that caused euphoria and wild, violent hallucinations among shifters, and he was selling them to drug dealers who travelled throughout the country visiting different packs and ruining lives.
His talent was identifying the properties of plants, including healing properties, but he chose to use his powers for evil. "
"You're lying!" My voice comes out too loud. "If you'd found that kind of plant on him, he'd have been put to death!"
My pruning shears and gloves rise through the air, float over to the bag, and plop down into the bag. The bag zips itself shut, silently telling me, you’re done here.
A wordless show of dominance from Kieran, whose mage power is telekinesis. When there are pack fights, he can lift a rival wolf through the air and hurl it a hundred feet.
His cold gray gaze fixes on me. "Your father fled when Andrew walked in on him in the middle of his drug deals. We found an empty bag that smelled of the forbidden plant, and had your father's scent on it. Your father had obviously returned to the scene and discarded the herbs in the bag.”
“Well, that makes no sense,” I say scornfully. “Why wouldn’t he have destroyed the bag completely?”
Kieran’s narrows his eyes at me. “We gave him the choice of being compelled by a truth mage, or leaving. He chose to leave. What does that tell you?"
I open my mouth. Nothing comes out. Then again, he didn’t have an answer for my question, either.
Kieran tilts his head slightly. "By the way, Roderick has expressed his interest in you.
I told him that you are currently working for the Moonstone Pack, so interfering with you would cause major problems with them at the moment.
But once that contract is up, you will no longer be our guests, and any negotiations for a mating contract would have to be held between him and your uncle. "
He turns to go. Amaryllis moves with him, then stops.
She looks at me for a long moment, then points at my hand.
I glance down. There's a long red scratch on my forearm from the rose bush thorns. I hadn't noticed it.
Amaryllis’s finger is extended towards me. Warmth spreads across my skin. The scratch closes. The skin knits together. In three seconds it's gone, not even a scar left behind.
"You want to watch those rose bush scratches," Amaryllis says, her tone cool and even. "They can cause nasty infections. Good luck."
She and Kieran walk away.
I stand there in the grass, staring at my arm where the scratch used to be.
* * *
"And that's how I ruined the entire pack's lives." Tears run down my face.
My uncle had been so happy when I walked up to him minutes ago, gesturing at the crop and enthusing about how after we were done, we could move on to the apple trees.
And now I’ve just dropped a bomb that’s going to blow up our entire pack.
Uncle Silas's face goes grim. He stares off into the distance, jaw tight. I wipe tears from my face with my sleeve. The silence stretches out.
Finally he says, "It's not your fault. It's my brother's fault. He's left us with a stain on our reputation all these years."
I stare at him. "What are you saying? You believe Kieran Holt?"
Silas heaves a tortured sigh. "He's an asshole with no ability to be tactful, just like most Alphas, but I've never known him to lie. And why would he?"
"The women in his family were threatened by the plants that my father gathered! It was a threat to his family!"
Even as I say it, I picture Amaryllis's cool, confident gaze. She didn't strike me as someone who'd be threatened by anyone or anything.
Uncle Silas frowns, avoiding my gaze. "I wasn't there in the forest with your father, so I don't know. I'd had my suspicions for years, though."
The words hit me in the chest. Hurt and humiliation rise up hot and choking. Why is everyone attacking my father when he's dead and unable to defend himself?
"You're lying!" I yell at him. “How could you betray his memory like that?”
I turn and storm off.
As I run, the rows of corn next to me wither and die.