Chapter Fifteen
I didn’t sleep at all that night. But I rose the next morning with far more energy than usual, my body buzzing with a mix of adrenaline and fear.
Alone in the darkness, stuck in my wolf form with my mind running wild for hours on end, I had come to a logical but horrifying conclusion. The cage, the muzzle, the secret meetings with the strange man at night… there could only be one reason why.
Rowena was a werewolf hunter.
The more I pieced the facts together, the more it made sense.
It explained not only why Rowena had the tools to imprison magical beings, but why she had a powerfully enchanted necklace to keep her safe during hunts.
And the man she’d been talking with? Most likely an accomplice. Possibly a human one.
Werewolf hunters, witch hunters, and other such murderers were common among humans.
They were the beings that struck the most terror into the magical community, more so than even the biggest, scariest werewolf.
Images of the witch burnings in the town hall came to mind, and I shuddered.
Whenever conflict arose, humans were inevitably the greatest monsters of all.
But some witches were known for hunting other magical beings. Magical bounty hunters were rare, but they did exist. They often lived a life of seclusion, traveling nomadically from place to place since they weren’t welcome in most magical communities.
Because despite all the conflict between witches and werewolves, they still shared a common bond, being the two magical races most persecuted by humans. Being a bounty hunter was treasonous. They were seen as traitors to the magical community.
Which explained why Rowena was treated as an outcast by Wisteria Grove.
But she hadn’t been exiled. She was still allowed to remain in the village, living in her cottage and running her business just like any other witch. Which implied that while the villagers disapproved of what she was doing, it wasn’t a heinous enough crime to kick her out.
And I knew why the witches would be willing to live with a werewolf hunter.
Aster.
Years earlier, Juniper’s mother had been brutally killed by a werewolf during a full moon frenzy.
Based on the powerfully enchanted necklace around Rowena’s neck, she was close to Aster when she was young.
I wondered if she and Juniper had also once been close, but Aster’s death and Rowena’s descent into forbidden activities drove them apart.
I understood Rowena’s motives. I couldn’t imagine how much pain Wisteria Grove had suffered, both with losing Aster and living next door to beings that turned into killers every full moon.
But that didn’t erase the fact I was one of those beings.
If Rowena, or anyone else, found out I was a werewolf, I would be dead.
Rowena. My heart ached at the thought of her.
Every smile, every touch, every embrace came flooding back like a tidal wave, drowning me in both longing and misery.
I knew she wanted me as much as I wanted her.
This wasn’t just some hormonal fling – we had truly bonded in the short time I’d spent in Wisteria Grove.
A future with her had once seemed so palpable, so limitless.
I imagined us spending our days together in the café and going home to a little cottage at night.
Maybe we would’ve taken a few trips, going to see the world like I’d always dreamed of.
But no matter what happened, no matter where we had ended up, we would’ve always had each other.
I could’ve come home to those deep brown eyes and that dark-lipped, sly smile every night.
If I weren’t a werewolf, it could’ve happened. It could’ve been possible.
But I couldn’t change what I was. And even if Rowena could somehow look past my monstrous identity, I wasn’t willing to risk her safety every full moon.
Which only left me with one option.
I had to leave.
As soon as possible.
The sky was a deep indigo, and it was time for me to head to the café and get started on the day’s pastries.
I was still lying on the floor, with my blanket crumpled over my lap and my pillow lopsided beneath my head.
After a few hours of panicking during the night, my anxiety had calmed enough for me to shift back into my human form.
Although it had taken another hour after that for my ears and tail to go away.
I rose, lifting my head and upper torso from my pillow.
Going back to the café was an enormous risk.
I’d already had my ears and tail pop out several times while working there, and I was fortunate enough to have my cloak over my head during those outbursts.
It still seemed like a miracle Rowena hadn’t noticed by now.
I’d toyed with fate the entire time I’d been in Wisteria Grove. I lulled myself into a false sense of security, believing Rowena’s feelings for me would override the truth. That she cared for me enough she wouldn’t turn on me when she found out what I really was.
But now, I knew the truth. If my ears and tail popped out, I’d end up in that iron cage, muzzled and chained, awaiting my inevitable death.
I couldn’t just flee. I convinced myself that disappearing would make Rowena suspicious, and she’d track me down with her werewolf hunting accomplice.
But I knew the real reason I wanted to spend one more day at The Lone Wolf café – I wanted to say goodbye.
To have some semblance of closure, so leaving this town wouldn’t completely tear me apart.
I could tell Rowena I was ready to move on. Collect my last paycheck. Say goodbye to Fritzi and Mavro, and to the villagers of Wisteria Grove.
And after that?
I had no goddamn idea where I’d go.
A light breeze prickled my arm. Aria was awake; she had been most of the night. But now that I was back in my human form and it was time to leave for the café, she wanted to know what happened.
“I promise I’ll explain it all later,” I sighed, lovingly patting the little elemental’s airy head. “But I have to leave. Tonight, after work. I…”
My words caught in my throat. I’d bonded so closely with Aria. We believed in each other when the rest of the world didn’t. She had chosen me, back when I didn’t even know what bonding was.
She was my companion. My friend.
“…I understand if you don’t want to come,” I continued, sadness thick and heavy in my throat. “I know this is your home. You can break the bond and stay here. No hard feelings.”
I swore Aria’s non-existent eyes narrowed. She gave a defiant squeak, grabbed my finger with her little paw, and squeezed it tight.
“So… you’re staying with me then?”
Aria nodded.
I let out a surprised, relieved laugh. Even when everything was falling apart, Aria was still there for me. Like she always was.
“Okay then, little mouse.” I sat upright, tucking Aria into my front pocket. “We need to go to the café and say our goodbyes. We’ll work one more day, collect our final paycheck, and head out.”
From within my pocket, Aria poked her head out and looked at me expectantly. I knew what her question was. She wanted to know where we were going after we left Wisteria Grove.
“I don’t know, girl.” I chewed my bottom lip as I rose to my feet. On the other side of the cottage, the old front door loomed eerily in the darkness. As if there were some horrific monster waiting on the other side, like the old faerie tales my father told me when I was a child.
I could even see faint, pale lines etched in the wood from the night before. When I desperately scratched at it with my wolf claws, trying to turn the lock that didn’t even work.
“We’ll have to figure it out as we go. But for now…” I stepped toward the door. As I went to open it, my palm landed on the teeth marks gouged into the metal handle. “We need to get to the café. Or else we’ll be late.”
Rowena’s smile when I walked through the back door of the café nearly tore me in half.
I was ten minutes late, and was panting steaming breaths into the chilly morning air by the time I arrived. My hair was a mess, my face was blotchy and puffy from not sleeping, and even Aria seemed concerned about my bedraggled state.
But Rowena? Her smile was as bright and warm as it always was, laced with a hint of affection and what I’d always hoped was attraction.
It was a far cry from the shy, polite smile she’d given me on my first full day at the café.
I remembered the way she hid behind it like a mask, her dark eyes curious but her facial expression hard as stone.
I knew the pumpkin carving contest had changed everything.
I’d chosen to find her instead of spending time with the rest of the witches.
It was the first time we’d opened up about our pasts.
I remembered her fingers running through my hair, how she admired it like spun silk.
How she made me feel like being a redhead, which kids had teased me for on Hollenboro, made me unique. Special.
Beautiful.
Rowena had just emerged from the Mount Katahdin portal — I could tell because there was a container of cream in one hand. She’d fetched it for my coffee like she did every morning.
I felt my throat closing in on itself. She didn’t know what happened. What I had seen inside her cottage. Which was good, because getting caught could have resulted in my death. But it still made my stomach boil with nausea and guilt.
Why are you like this? I scolded myself. You’re feeling guilty about discovering the truth? That she’s a werewolf hunter? That she kills your kind? It’s a good thing you snuck into that cottage and found the cage. Or you could’ve ended up in it.
Tortured.
Dead.
“Nettie, are you alright?”
I snapped out of my sickening panic and locked eyes with Rowena. Her affectionate smile had morphed into doting concern.