Chapter 14
I sat on my bed, at least ten books spread out before me, and rubbed my tired eyes.
It had taken all night of searching, but at last I’d found what I was looking for.
The rays of morning were already beginning to shine through my window.
Duchess lounged in the light on her back, batting at a piece of string I'd tied to a drawer on my bedside table.
Her ghostly translucent figure became highlighted in the sun.
I swiped up on my phone and pulled up the chat that had me begging Frank at least twenty times not to turn himself in.
Please listen. This wasn’t your fault. One of the potions that can create memory loss is the possession potion. I think someone possessed you. They drugged you and forced you to attack Isabella.
Frank might have done it, but he wasn’t the murderer. But who was and why?
I bit my lip, afraid he’d silenced me by now.
Three little dots appeared on the screen and tears of relief came to my eyes. They never were so lovely.
So you’re saying it’s Lydia?
My sister claimed she was innocent, but could she have lied to me? She definitely knew how to convert a love potion into a potion of possession. And she’d delivered it to Frank.
But why? Why would she do it?
No. Idk. I need to look into it more.
Either way, I should turn myself in for the safety of the town.
According to Isabella’s diary, there are five other werewolves who might change tonight.
There was a long moment where those three dots blinked on and off on the screen.
They won’t have the potion either… the town could be in danger.
Everyone could be in danger.
I thought of the poor werewolf child who’d transform without the potion, my heart doing an anxious little beat in my chest.
You won’t turn until the moon has fully risen at around 7:00 p.m. At least wait until 6:00 p.m. before turning yourself in. Give us a chance to come up with a solution.
Frank could get locked up forever for just being a werewolf.
But would they do something worse to him if they found out he was the one who killed Isabella?
Would they even care that he was possessed?
I held my breath as I awaited his answer, watching Duchess roll on her back and then flip over and stare up at me, her tail swishing and her ears twitching
What did you have in mind?
Air expelled from my lungs. Thank goodness.
I have an idea. Meet me outside the shop at 2:00 p.m.
I’ll be there.
I jumped to my feet and rushed over to Kitty’s room.
“Hey.” I knocked on the door while easing it open. “Are you awake?”
Kitty groaned, rubbing her eyes and blinking up at me. “I am now.”
“I need your help to make a potion… or at least to mess it up. I have to brew a possession potion.”
She stared at me. “You can’t be serious.”
I gave her an awkward smile. “I’m actually quite desperate.”
She sighed. “Is there any chance that someday soon you will revert to the quiet, never ask for favors, always reading a book, Mary?”
“Do you really want that?”
“If it lets me sleep,” she muttered. She sat up and put her feet in her calico cat slippers before eyeing me. “I suppose you do seem more… engaged in life than normal.”
“Not more engaged. Just engaged differently,” I corrected.
“More connected with those around you.” She stretched, rising. “Okay, what is so desperate that you must wake me up before my alarm clock and force me to spoil a love potion before even Mom can get after me?”
“Frank,” I said. “It’s the only way I can think to save him.”
Kitty looked at me before grabbing her orange fluffy robe and throwing it on. “Let’s get started.”
At 2:00 p.m., I waited outside the bakery with a potion clutched in my hands. I prayed that Frank agreed to go along with my plan.
My heart did a little leap when I saw his Mercedes pull up. Without thinking, I rushed over and slid into the passenger seat. The heater blasted, warming me and bringing out the sage-like scent of his car.
“Okay so my idea,” I blurted as soon as I shut the door. “It's kind of just part of one.”
His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “There’s no time for half of an idea—”
I held the brewed elixir out to him. “Kitty helped me make this. It’s a possession potion. If I take over your mind, I can keep you from hurting anyone.”
His eyes grew round. “That’s the same potion that forced me to kill Isabella.”
Taking a breath, I nodded. “I thought that if I took you over, we could somehow lure the other werewolves to you. Get them to chase you using some method…” Hex, this plan sounded so convoluted.
Frank thoughtfully touched his chin. “Scent,” he said. “Werewolves have amazing senses of smell. They’re drawn to strong scents of…”
“Of what?”
“Meat and blood.”
Of course. It couldn’t have been daisies and rose petals.
He checked his phone. “I might be able to… it would be close…”
“What is it?” I asked, dying of curiosity.
He started the car. “We have to wait until my aunt’s perfume factory closes and we’ll need to make a stop by the grocery store.”
A few hours later, we’d filled Frank’s trunk with what felt like every package of raw meat from the local grocer, The Olde Orchard Market.
We drove out to Fable and Fleur, the perfume factory owned by Frank’s family that resided just beyond the town line.
I watched as the sign marking Austen Heights’ border passed us by.
The Unmarked who lived in the town forgot all about magic once they crossed out of the town but instantly regained them once they returned.
Frank and I were both Marked, however, so that wasn’t an issue.
The factory shut down at around 6:00 p.m., and we waited for everyone to leave, then unloaded the meat.
Large vats of sweet scents surrounded us inside.
I drew a nervous breath. Possessing Frank wasn’t just a means to protect the town, it was to protect him.
I didn’t know who possessed him last month or why.
What if they tried anew? I’d ensure nobody attempted to control him again… by controlling him first.
A Bunsen burner with a small bottle sat on one side of a table. And on the other was lots of open raw meat we’d bought at the store.
“Are you positive this is the best way?” I asked.
Frank nodded. “This is what I do. I create the scents for the company, and then they figure out how to mass produce them. But tonight we only require this one scent and we need it strong.”
“Very strong.”
Frank’s eyes narrowed in concentration. He reached out a hand and a deep blue magic sparked at his fingertips. He directed it into the meat as a long, thin blue line of magical energy. “First, we enhance the scent.”
The dull smell of the meat heightened, ripening to a savory cacophony in my nose.
“Then we capture it.” The direction of the magic reversed, flowing into Frank’s hands as if pulling something from the meat itself. “Then transfer it.” He turned and the magic again flowed from his hands into the bottle. The water inside the perfume glass became blood red.
I watched with my mouth open. He made it appear so easy. “That was amazing. You’re amazing!”
Frank groaned, leaning forward, his knuckles pressed against the table. At first, I thought he was worn out, but then I glanced at my phone, sucking in a breath. It was two minutes past 7:00.
I yanked the bottle of potion from my bag and ran my palm over it, muttering the last words needed to activate it. “Here, take this. Take it now.” I gripped his hand and pushed the possession potion into it.
His gaze flashed with uncertainty and fear, but his jaw clenched, and his shoulders squared. “Anything to keep you safe.” He downed the bottle’s contents.
Frank leaned against the workbench, clutching the empty bottle.
His back was to me, but I traced the tautness of his frame.
The full moon glowed through the top windows, casting long shadows on the polished wooden floors.
A shift came in the atmosphere, something deep and primal, and my pulse quickened with every passing second.
He turned, his gaze locking onto mine, but they weren’t the soft brown eyes I loved.
They were glowing—an intense, amber gold—and they seemed to pierce through me.
He looked almost… incomplete, as if the man I knew was only a shell of something else.
His fingers twitched, curling into fists, the first hint of change—a shimmer of dark fur sprouting along his arms.
My breath caught in my throat, my mind racing as I withdrew instinctively. But I didn’t look away. I couldn’t. There was a magnetic force about him, something that held me in place even as his body began to shift before my eyes.
His bones cracked, loud enough to echo in the silent factory, and his form grew taller, broader, fur covering his skin in thick waves of deep brown and silver. As his back arched and his face twisted in pain, my heart ached at the rawness of it—the rawness of the creature he was becoming.
His face elongated into the fierce muzzle of a wolf. His teeth sharpened, gleaming white against the shadowed light. Massive, clawed paws scraping the floor replaced his warm, familiar hands.
For a moment, he lingered there, towering over me, panting softly. His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, but the moonlight gleamed off his fur. His form was strangely beautiful—raw, untamed, and powerful.
My heart beat wildly, but I didn’t run. Instead, I stepped forward, drawn to him.
When he turned to me, I paused. There was only a hungry thirst in his eyes. Frank was now a predator. A low growl escaped his lips, and he came toward me.
“Stop,” I said.
Frank stopped mid-step. He stood there growling but not moving.
There was a haziness flashing through my brain. I saw me, staring at my own pale features and large eyes behind my wire spectacles. But I also saw Frank’s snarling face, that was only a few feet from mine.
I tried to command him from my mind. Back up. Pick up the perfume.
He took a step backward, and then another and another, until he turned and lifted the perfume bottle from the table.
Take it out into Fairwood Forest and douse yourself in it. When the other werewolves come, run deeper into the trees, keep going and don’t stop. Avoid any people, any sign of civilization. Whatever you do, you can’t let the other werewolves catch you.
He released a long howl and then took off, bursting out the rear door of the facility and into the night. I sank onto the floor, my mind awash with the sensations of buildings and street lamps rushing by, giving way to the darkness of the forest.
The distant sounds of howls reached my ears, and then scenes of the woods came into my vision, along with the feel of the hot breath of other werewolves coming, running, racing, chasing.
It went on like this until the early hours of the morning, and instead of the animal instincts, I had the flash of a man’s hand. I whispered to the dark. “I release you from my power.”
Then the strange visions ended, and I drifted off into a fitful sleep.
“Mary.”
I was awakened by Frank’s gentle call. He stood in the doorway, nothing but torn pants cladding his body. My blood warmed at the sight of his shirtless torso, but I frowned at the scratches running across his upper chest.
“You’re hurt.”
“Another werewolf must have gotten too close.” He shrugged. “I barely feel it. I’m fine.”
He sat next to me, his warm arms coming around me and pulling me near.
My pulse pounded, my whole body warming.
Touching a shirtless man’s upper body was new to me, but with Frank, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
I leaned against his broad muscled chest, my fingers lightly tracing over the scratches.
“That tickles,” he chuckled.
“You don’t smell like raw meat and blood.”
“I took a little dip in a lake on my journey back. I think I washed most of it off.” A serious expression passed over his face. “You saved my life tonight. And the lives of the other werewolves, and the town.”
“You came up with the scent thing. It wasn’t me.”
“But if you hadn’t brought the possession potion and if you hadn’t talked me down from turning myself in… I was ready to give up, but you never gave up on me.”
“I’ll never give up on you. Besides”—I flashed him a sly smile—“the town bake-off is coming up. My mom would’ve been heartbroken if I’d let werewolves ruin it.”
He raised an eyebrow. “My aunt loves selling her fragrances at the event. Your mom wouldn’t be the only person devastated.”
I sighed. “We still haven’t discovered the actual killer.”
He pulled me closer. “How about we rest,” he murmured tiredly against my hair.
The killer’s identity and Frank’s connection to the murder remained mysteries. If I were to ever feel at rest, the culprit would need to be found. But for now, I allowed Frank’s warmth to envelop me and pull me back into slumber for a short time.