Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Elise was pretty sure that her coven sisters knew she was hiding something.
Serena had come to lunch about an hour after her little interlude with Nico at the zoo, and Elise had spent the entire time hoping desperately that her cheeks weren't flaming red or that Serena couldn't somehow tell what she and Nico had done.
Why had she worn a dress to the zoo that day? She never wore dresses, but it sure had been convenient.
She pulled Nico's shirt tight around her chest. She knew that she should have gotten rid of it by now. There were probably trace elements of him that could be used to track him down or perform magic against him, and she didn't want to put him at risk.
But there was still a faint smell of his cologne on the shirt. It was the one she had been wearing when he dropped her off at the university. And she'd been sleeping in it ever since.
She had to get rid of it, or at least throw it in the laundry so that any magical trace of him disappeared, but she couldn't make herself do that if it meant the last of his scent would disappear too. Though at this point, she might have been imagining the scent, she wasn't sure.
She couldn't have him. If he got anywhere near her again, she was going to send him away before he got into kissing distance because she couldn't trust herself if he was within arm's length.
But she was allowed the shirt, she decided. And she would clean it soon to protect him.
For a second, she considered going to the mall and testing all the colognes until she found one that smelled like him. Would that make her even more crazy?
Someone banged on the door and yelled, "Come on! We're supposed to be heading out now."
"I'm coming!" Elise tore the shirt off and threw it in the laundry basket. She put on a regular shirt and ran down the stairs to find her four coven sisters waiting in the kitchen. She wasn't exactly sure who had banged on the door.
"You good?" Serena was leaning against the counter and raised an eyebrow. Elise gave something she hoped was a convincing smile and nodded.
"We definitely need this," Serena said. Delainey was nodding along with her.
They were planning to perform a spell to invite good energy back into the coven and banish the negative. No one had quite accused Elise of ruining the vibe, but Elise knew they wouldn't need to be doing this ritual if it wasn't for her.
She needed to get her head on straight. She needed to make a decision about EMT programs, and she definitely needed to stop wallowing in her feelings for Nico.
She decided she was allowed one more day to feel sad and then she was putting him out of her mind for good.
On the street, they piled into Briana's Jeep, and Elise was ready to take her normal spot in the middle seat in the back, but Delainey held the front passenger door open for her. "How about you sit up here?" She gestured to the seat with a tilt of her head.
It was probably because Delainey and the others felt sorry for her, but Elise wasn't too proud to turn down the clearly superior seat.
Briana drove them to a place on the border of witch territory. Unlike with the werewolves, territory among the witches was much more fluid. They didn't get hung up on certain street corners or forests or anything like that. They all had some level of freedom of movement.
There were unofficial territories. It might be an issue if another coven moved down the street from Elise and her sisters.
But there was no need for bloodshed. In general, it made it easier to protect themselves from the wolves, which made the spot they were doing their spell a little bit complicated.
It was right at the edge of coven territory near Brody Creek, beyond which was Iron Runner Territory. The unfortunate thing was the clearing at Brody Creek was in a zone of magical confluence that made it incredibly easy and powerful to cast spells there, and the covens couldn't resist it.
It also meant that as soon as the Iron Runner pack figured out they were doing magic, and with their witch hunters keen on the scent of magic, they always did, they would send some wolves over to harass them. Usually, it was just verbal sparring and a bit of intimidation.
Elise hoped they acted fast enough to avoid the confrontation. She couldn't deal with wolves today.
The five of them piled out of the Jeep and into the clearing, reaching out for each other's hands and forming a circle. Briana called down magic and sent it through her hands and into each of them until they were all linked together physically and magically.
Elise could feel her muscles starting to loosen with the connection.
When Briana started to chant, Elise was the first one to pick it up with her.
After only a few minutes, once all of them were chanting in unison, she could feel some of the negativity she'd been holding onto since long before the kidnapping start to dissipate.
Briana was right. They did need this.
"Look who we've got here!" called a masculine voice from across the stream.
At first Elise ignored it, but a second voice joined in. "Only five of them, and all little girls. What do they think they're doing? Don't they know where they are?"
Briana pulled her magic back, and the five of them turned to see two werewolves in human form flanked by two werewolves in wolf form standing on the other edge of the creek.
Aya planted her hands on her hips. "Which one's Scooby-Doo and which one's Scrappy?"
"Oh, I think they're more like Pound Puppies," Delainey said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "And no one wants to adopt them."
Serena wrinkled her noise. "They definitely smell like wet dog."
Briana kept quiet and so did Elise. Four wolves was more than the Iron Runner pack usually sent to harass them. She would bet these four had just been on a run and happened to scent their magic.
The coven hadn't been there long enough for anything more official. That put her on edge. A regular patrol from the pack would know the limits; they wouldn't want to get in trouble with their alpha for going too far.
Four regular wolfy assholes? Yeah, that was going to be a problem.
The first wolf who had spoken took a deep breath and then leveled his gaze on Elise. He stepped closer and closer until he was in the creek but didn't step out of it. He was still technically in Iron Runner territory, though usually neither side touched the water.
Elise was closest to the water and wanted to back up, but doing so felt like a show of weakness. All of these interactions with asshole werewolves were about projecting strength. She couldn't let the coven down by cowering.
The wolf leaned in, and he was only about three feet away from her. "Who are you?" His eyes narrowed and flashed yellow as he inhaled deeply. "And what wolf marked you? You smell like one of us."
Serena put herself in front of Elise. "And you are going to smell like burnt meat if you don't back off."
The wolf wasn't intimidated. He kept glaring at Elise. "Did you want to see what it's like?" He took another step forward through the water. "To feel what it's like to have a real wolf inside you? There's only one way you'd smell like that, little witch."
"That's disgusting," Serena's hands started to glow with magic.
Delainey shifted her weight like she was ready to throw down. "You're fucking gross."
Aya moved to flank Elise's other side. "She would never."
The wolf tore his gaze from Elise and looked at her sisters. "Are you calling me a liar?" he demanded, muscles tensing. He charged at them before Elise could come up with any sort of word that might diffuse the situation.
The wolf came for Elise, but Serena was there. Delainey was right beside her.
The wolf was officially on witch territory. It was an incursion, something they could fight back against without any fear of reprisal, and Delainey was already grinning.
She pulled her hand back and reared out, punching the werewolf straight in the jaw. "Get the fuck off our territory."
The werewolf grunted and punched her right back. He hit a lot harder. Delainey went down hard. But before it could turn into a brawl, Serena called down a burst of magic and sent it straight at the wolf, blowing him back across the stream and safely onto his own territory.
"Stay over there," she yelled, her hands crackling with residual energy. "There's five of us, and we are more than capable of shriveling your dicks off."
The other werewolf in human form spat at them, but the four wolves retreated, probably to get backup. They would be back soon, and then there would be more trouble than the coven could handle on their own. The Iron Runners didn't fuck around when it came to threats.
Elise knelt by Delainey's side and ran her hand over the already blossoming bruise on her cheek. She sent a zap of magic into her, quickly healing the burst vessels and ensuring that no further damage had been done. Delainey gave her a soft smile of thanks and took her offered hand to stand up.
They all piled back into the Jeep before the wolves could come back, and this time, Elise let Delainey have the front seat.
No one suggested trying to do the spell again at a safer location. Instead, the five of them sat on the couches at home and watched a movie. Serena got up every so often to bake some cookies, and Delainey helped her.
It was almost as good as the spell to fix the vibes.
But it was another reminder of all of the problems that came when werewolves and witches interacted.
Around midnight, Elise climbed the stairs up to her room and dug through her laundry pile trying to find Nico's shirt.
It must have gotten lost in the rest of the clothes she was supposed to be cleaning, and she settled for a regular shirt before climbing into bed and going to sleep, not giving the shirt another thought.