Page 31 of Midnight Hunt

Then she spoke, “Well, all in all, not a terrible college experience. You really should have been there when I graduated.” She let out a low whistle, shaking her head, “They still talk about it.”

“Do they?” I retorted, arching a brow.

“Well, I mean, they never figured out it was me. They kept saying it was a necromancer, and never suspected I was the one behind all the deaths,” my mother grimaced, “My only regret was not taking credit for scaring the entire campus into a lock down. I got out right before the cleansed the campus. So much screaming…”

“Mom!” I huffed.

“What! That was before your time, things were different!” She tossed her hands about. “Anyway, baby, looks like you came out on top.”

“I still have to finish my degree,” I muttered.

“Psssha, what apothecary owner needs a degree? I mean, I hardly think it’s necessary at this point. You’ve got what really matters—reputation!” She smirked from ear to ear, hands spread out in front of her with her fingers wiggling.

I opened my mouth to counter only for my face to fall.Wait…what. I gulped, “What?”

“What? What did I say?” My mother narrowed her eyes on me suspiciously.

“Apothecary.” I stood up straight, letting my slightly damp tendrils slap against my back.

“You still want it, right?” My mother blinked.

“Of course,” I retorted, tightening the towel against my body.

“Well, good then,” She shrugged.

“But Grandma won’t allow it,” I countered.

My mother snorted, pushing herself off the counter.

“Now, now, that’s not the witch I raised.” I eyed her as she winked at me. Then my mother flipped her hair off her shoulder and sauntered to the door. “I’ll be out in the garden pruning branches off the crow tree to grow a new one in the woods.Don’t go into the library looking to pick a fight with your grandmother.That would be terribly rude.”

I smirked to myself as my mother left me there to dry off. The stains on my fingers seemed brighter as I stepped out of my bathroom to dress. By the time I had on a fresh Contempt classic black slip dress and my family crest necklace, I heard a certain bear roaring in the distance. I rushed to my back window, smiling as I saw a familiar, massive brown bear, barreling up the path. With a flick of my hand, the back gate groaned open, and I left to go greet my druid.

Then go pick a fight with my grandmother.

“There you are, I thought I caught a whiff… is that a bear?” My grandmother shrieked as I stepped into the library. Madam Contempt, my grandmother and current patriarch of our coven, stood petrified a few feet from me. She had one hand on the spine of the chair, and one on her cane. Her viper familiar shot up the length of her cane and loomed over her shoulders. “Valerie Contempt, why do you have a large brown bear and what is it doing in my house.”

“Grandmother,” I curtsied out of respect, but then shamelessly stomped forward into the room. Lochlainn stayed at my heels. My grandmother stood her ground, but her sharp, obsidian eyes watched my druid like a hawk. “I wish to speak to you.”

“We can do so once you dismiss the bear.”

“His name is Lochlainn, and he stays,” I countered.

“You named the beast?” She snarled, her eyes snapping to me. “I taught you better than that.”

“No, you didn’t. You didn’t teach me anything- my mother did. The only thing you taught me was to never come into a discussion without leverage. So, this…” I twisted to motion at the massive predator at my heels with a flippant hand, “is my leverage.”

“You intend to feed me to a bear?” She sneered.

“He’s a person!” I shrieked.

“Don’t raise your voice at me.” My grandmother stomped her cane, the room buffeted with a gust of cold, cryptic air.

I took a moment to regain my composure. Her casting a silencing charm on the room would do me no favors. If I rose too far up an octave, she would simply take my voice. Two summers back, I learned the hard way that my grandmother held grudges.All Contempt witches do, but she was the best at them.It took several weeks of wordless groveling to get it back.

Inhaling deeply through my nose, I calmed my boiling blood.Not good for the baby.My hand fell to the top of Lochlainn’shead and scratched it.It’s going to be alright.He nuzzled his face against my thigh. Warmth bloomed in my chest, a sweet, flutter of my heart.I have Lochlainn, and that’s all I truly need.

“This is Lochlainn, he’s a druid.” I managed to say with a level of cool that surprised even me.

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