Page 5 of Enemy Wolf

“We have our sun witches, yes, but they’re of no use for this particular potion.” His reptilian eyes fixated on me. “The ingredients I need are in Vargmore’s forests.”

It took all of my energy to stay composed. All I wanted to do was writhe around and scream, maybe stick my arm in an ice bath for this burning pain. I could barely get my thoughts together, but I needed to. I needed to be smart about this.

Right then, it felt like the only smart thing to do was be compliant with his demands, and maybe this pain would let up. He couldn’t stay in the territory forever, so the moment he was gone, I would call up Howling Death.

“What’s the potion?” My eyes stung and I blinked, realizing just then how much I was sweating.

“Visakari’s Kiss.”

Oh fuck no. No, no, no.

“That’s impossible,” I said with a shake of my head. “The main ingredient is extinct.”

“I’m sure you have dried specimens somewhere. You moon witches like to keep your collections.”

“Even if we did, I’m not sure how viable they would be.”

“Then propagate them so you have fresh specimens. I don’t care what you do, but I need a gallon of it.”

“A gallon?!” I stared at him, wondering if he had any idea of the impossibility he was asking for. “No one has ever made that much. Even when the silver deadnettle wasn’t extinct, the most that could ever be extracted was maybe a tablespoon.”

“Then it sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you. Best get to it.” He leaned up from the bar as if to leave, then stopped. “Oh, and if you breathe a word of this to anyone, especially Howling Death, I’ll rain fire upon this whole fucking territory.” That creepy smile returned. “Just make the potion for me and all will be well, little witch. I’ll be back in a few days to check in.”

“A few days isn’t anywhere near long enough,” I protested. “That recipe will take weeks. And in the amount you want, it could take months.”

“I don’t have that kind of time. And neither do you, so make it happen.” He tapped his wrist. “Tick tock, little witch.”

He left with that, and only after his heavy footsteps crossed the room and the door closed behind him, did it become slightly easier to breathe.

Not by much though.

The pain in my arm ebbed slightly, like now that he was farther away, his mark had calmed down.

I stared at the long ugly line burned into my skin. Would he be able to sense me like this? Track my movement or even my emotions? Werewolves were said to be able to sense each others’ mates through mating bites. Was this the dragon equivalent of that?

Oh dear moon, if this dragon shifter had made me his fucking mate, I was going to be sick.

My first thought was I’d have to look for a spell to get the mark removed. But no, he would sense that, wouldn’t he? And if he was crazy enough to cross into enemy territory, mark me without consent, and threaten all of Vargmore?

I believed without a doubt that he would carry out his promise to set fire to the territory, and that was terrifying. So it seemed I had no choice but to make this impossible, and also incredibly dangerous, potion for him.

Fuck me.

One thought kept lingering as I cleaned up my spilled papers, my frazzled brain trying to return to normalcy in the face of the bizarre and terrifying evening.

As much I hated to admit it, I wished Orson hadn’t left so quickly.

Chapter 3

Orson

After that bar owner witch, Shiloh, kicked me out last night, I knew exactly what to do. She didn’t want security cameras inside? No problem. I’d just install them outside. She owned the business within the building, but not the trees outside of it.

I’d need slightly different equipment for the install, but all it took was switching some things out and I was golden.

Who knew what that witch’s deal was? Not me. I had a job to do. The alpha told me to do something, so I would do it. It wasn’t my fault that she got all bent out of shape because I didn’t call ahead first.

Granted, I didn’t know I was supposed to call ahead. Put that on the long list of things that I didn’t magically know beforehand.

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