Chapter Ten
“I Seem to Have a Thing for Hybrids”
The second she regained consciousness, Nora knew that something was very, very wrong. It wasn’t just the fact that she could no longer hear the fireworks—or much else, for that matter. It was the smell of blood. It flooded her nostrils, almost overpowering her.
She was back in human form; she knew that much even before she opened her eyes. Her senses had dulled, but the smell lingered. It was so overwhelming, she almost wished she would lose consciousness again.
“She’s awake,” said a voice. It was familiar, nearby yet distant. “Be careful.”
When she opened her eyes, she was lying on the ground.
It took Nora all of two seconds to realize she was in the woods.
The clearing? Yes, it certainly felt like it.
The earth was hard and rough against her cheek.
She forced her eyes open a little wider.
A couple of feet away, crackling gently, was a flame.
Definitely still in the clearing, she thought. What the hell happened?
Judging by that smell, nothing good. She blinked, trying to clear her vision, and other shapes came into focus. A full moon. Trees. And...people.
The witches stood just beyond the fire in a tight semi-circle, all eyes trained on her. Through the flickering flame, Nora caught sight of Isobel in their midst, an unreadable expression on the coven leader’s face.
With a grunt, she propped herself up on her elbows. She was naked as far as she could tell, her clothes lying in tatters a few feet away, just before the dead body.
It took her mind a couple of seconds to register that last detail. With a jolt, she got up, staring at the ground with wide eyes. It was a body, alright. One of the witches lay on the ground in a pool of blood, her silver robes ripped to shreds. She wasn’t moving, not even a bit.
The stench of blood seemed to grow stronger in Nora’s nostrils. Horror wrapped around her like a cloak, and she staggered backward. What...what the hell happened?
“She’s dead,” she gasped, pointing at the body as though bringing it to the other witches’ attention. “She’s dead!”
Why were they all standing and staring at her like that?
“Yes,” Isobel said finally. “She is. You killed her.”
Nora blinked. “Wh-what?”
Overhead, there was a whistle and a burst of blue light. The fireworks display wasn’t yet over, it seemed. The other coven members continued to stare at her. Nora thought she saw distrust and resentment flicker across their faces.
Isobel gave a sigh that filled the entire clearing. “I was in the middle of the ritual when it happened. You started shifting.”
Nora definitely remembered that. She’d felt that tingling sensation in her body and believed it was part of the spell.
Only when she began to shift all of a sudden had she realized something else was going on.
The details replayed themselves in her mind.
She’d been unable to reverse the process.
And the next thing she knew, she’d blacked out.
You killed her, Isobel had said.
She shook her head slowly, almost choking as she glanced at the corpse on the ground again. No, no. It couldn’t be. This had to be some sort of sick joke.
“There was nothing I or the others could do,” Isobel went on, and Nora thought she saw the witch shiver. “We tried to stop you, to defend ourselves, but there was no stopping what was happening. The rest of us managed to get away in time, but Martha...Martha wasn’t so fortunate.”
In the firelight, her face looked even more eerie than usual, shadows cast across her features. As she spoke, her eyes widened slightly with disdain, and Nora felt herself shrink under the coven leader’s gaze.
“We couldn’t stop you. We couldn’t save her.” Isobel shook her head. “Thank the moon and stars the rest of us didn’t share her fate. You shifted back before you could hurt us.”
A collective shudder rippled through the semi-circle of witches. Nora turned her gaze to the body once again. She’d done that?
It couldn’t be true. It wasn’t possible. She would never hurt anyone. She’d never even killed anyone before. Not to mention she’d never shifted against her will. But wasn’t that what had just happened? If what Isobel was saying was true, she’d shifted and killed one of their own.
If. She might’ve scoffed at herself, if she wasn’t so overcome with horror.
There was no if. The proof was lying dead only a few feet away.
Nora considered approaching the body but immediately thought better of it.
The bloody stench alone was enough to make her want to throw up.
She remained where she stood, a tremor making its way through her body.
“No,” she said. “I don’t...I don’t remember any of this happening.
” Why couldn’t she remember? She’d never lost awareness when she shifted.
She’d always been in full control of herself, of her wolf.
But tonight, something had changed, and horribly so.
Not only had she shifted against her will, but she couldn’t even remember a second of what had happened afterward.
“The ritual has failed because of you.” Isobel’s tone was even more accusatory now, and there was no mistaking the disgust in her voice. “You disrupted everything. Now, not only have we lost the opportunity to augment this coven’s strength, but one of our own is gone.”
It’s a dangerous spell. Isobel’s words from a few days ago repeated themselves in Nora’s mind. And the risk is the highest possible: death.
This was it. This was the highest possible risk. When Nora heard those words, she’d feared for her own life. Not once had she imagined someone else would end up dead, or that she’d be responsible.
Her vision blurred slightly, and it dawned on her that she was crying. Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she made no move to wipe them away. It felt like her world was collapsing around her all of a sudden.
“I killed someone,” she said with a shuddering gasp. “I killed one of my own.”
The witches seemed to recoil at those words.
“Your own?” Isobel gave a scoff. Her eyes flashed with anger. “Your own? You were never truly one of us. Your mother was a true witch, but she broke our rules when she fell in love with that wolf shifter. And to add insult to injury, she had you.”
“No,” Nora breathed.
“I knew that your presence in this coven would only cause problems for us sooner or later, and I tried to warn her. I refused you as many times as I could. But your mother, foolish as she was, was insistent. She did not rest until I gave in and let you join us. I should have removed you the second she died. That was my mistake.”
The tears were burning Nora’s eyes now, falling faster down her cheeks. She wiped her face and made the mistake of staring down at her hand.
It was covered in blood.
“No!” she cried.
“I blame myself,” Isobel said. “I knew you were a danger to us, and I allowed you to continue to exist among us. I know better now.”
“Isobel, I—”
“Silence!”
The coven leader’s voice filled the clearing, drowning out all other sound. By the time it faded, the entire woods seemed to have gone completely quiet. Nora couldn’t even hear any creatures moving in the distance. Isobel might as well have stopped time itself.
The older witch took a step forward, and her silver hair seemed to glow brighter under the moonlight.
“You filthy hybrid,” she spat. “You’re a disgrace to this coven. And you’ll pay for what you’ve done tonight.”
***
By the time she was done narrating, the truck was completely silent. Henry’s head was turned in her direction, but his dark eyes didn’t seem to be focused on anything in particular. His face was unreadable, and Nora felt her chest tighten a little. What was going on in that head of his?
“I see,” he said finally.
Nora’s fingers clenched slightly in her lap. Did he have nothing else to say to her?
“You don’t believe I’m innocent, do you?”
Even she was starting to find it hard to believe herself.
Everything at that scene pointed to her as the culprit, from the dead body to the blood on her hands.
Not to mention the way the other witches had looked at her.
She’d expected to find a similar expression on Henry’s face, but he remained expressionless, which was starting to feel somewhat worse.
Outside, the sky had darkened a little. There was still no sign of Ergog. At least, for now.
“I shouldn’t believe you,” Henry replied. His eyes found hers then, and for a split second she thought her heart might stop beating. “But I do.”
He did? “You do?”
He shrugged. “Believe me, I’m just as surprised as you are. Maybe you did kill that witch. But even if you did, I don’t think you meant to do it.”
As far as votes of confidence went, that didn’t sound like much, but right now it was enough for Nora. She let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding, relief spreading through her.
“Thank you. And I really am sorry your first encounter with a hybrid didn’t go so well. We’re not all like that. I certainly am not trying to steal your shifting ability. Wait, why are you smiling?”
The corners of his mouth had turned upward, a slight gleam in his eyes. “It’s just something that occurred to me.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“I seem to have a thing for hybrids.” He shrugged again. “Not sure why, but the last time I was this attracted to anyone was over a decade ago.”
It felt as though the air had been sucked out of the truck.
His words hit her like a battering ram, completely out of the blue.
It was a bit odd, considering what they’d just been discussing a moment ago—not to mention the fact that they’d just barely escaped certain death at Ergog’s hands, but she felt a thrill race through her regardless. “You’re...attracted to me?”
He lifted an eyebrow, and Nora almost smacked herself in the forehead. Of course he was. Hadn’t he kissed her earlier?
“I guess I already sort of knew,” she said. She sucked in a breath, feeling heat rise into her cheeks as a memory filled her mind. “When you kissed me, back at the fair...it was such a random move. I couldn’t have imagined you’d do it.”
Henry’s gaze seemed to intensify as he replied, “Me neither. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. To keep the hunter from finding you, I mean. Not that I hadn’t already wanted to kiss you.”
His confession forced the breath back out of her lungs. The heat left her face, descending past her chest into her belly, and she immediately pressed her thighs together as it settled in her core.
“Do you...” She swallowed. “Do you want to kiss me again?”
His eyes darkened. “I do.”
And without another word, he leaned across the front seat, covering her mouth with his.