Page 25 of Family: Posy 4

"The curse she used on you - Warm Hands, Cold Heart - came with a few bells and whistles," Maria took over explaining. "One tricked you into believing she was your mate."

"We reviewed your memory as well as alphas Ash and Wyatt," Ariel went on. "If you had touched her, that part of the spell work would have dissipated immediately, so she was running a risky game there. Also, you wouldn't have felt the mate sparks, and that would have been a dead giveaway something was fishy."

"Can you remember if you picked up a special scent that day?" Poppy asked. "Something that smelled so good, it was all you could focus on? All you could think about?"

"No," Landry mumbled with a frown. "I don't know. Maybe, but I can't— I can't remember."

"What about your wolf?" Sara asked. "Did he act crazy excited that day?"

"No, I don't think so, but I can't—"

"Remember?" the witches said in unison.

"That's part of it," Poppy said with a nod. "Mental fog during and after."

"Why?" Landry's face twisted with hurt and confusion, and his eyes welled up. "Why did she do that to me?"

"Only she can answer that," I murmured, only a little sorry that we'd killed Nia Hashimoto so quickly.

Well, it wasn'treallyquick, now was it?Quartz smirked, and I hushed him.

"Thank you for taking your time to look into this." Landry scrubbed his hands over his face, then stood. "I can't understand why it had to happen to me, but it's a relief to know that bitch wasn't my real mate."

His eyes suddenly brightened and he swiveled his head to look at me. I raised my eyebrows in question, and he grinned broadly.

"That means my Goddess-given mate is still out there somewhere!" he crowed. "Doesn't it?"

"It sure does, buddy." I pounded him on his shoulder. "Now you just need to find her."

"About that." Ariel raised one finger. "Another little bonus with the curse was that no other female could touch you or love you. We believe that may have interfered with you finding your mate."

"Now, you should have no problem sensing her," Maria summed up.

"So I could have been around her while I was cursed and not know it?"

"That's right. So if there's any girl in the pack who's turned eighteen since January, you may want to go say howdy and take a surreptitious sniff," Poppy teased him.

"Wait a minute!" Landry jumped to his feet. "Oak has been going wild all day today. Do you think that might mean—"

"Your mate is somewhere in the pack right now," Sara said simply. "That's why we knew we had to tell you today. We're still trying to find the dark witch—"

Landry didn't stay to hear anything more. Shifting on the spot, he shredded his -our- joggers and t-shirt into ribbons and lit out of the conference room.

"Good thing we installed a doggy door," I chuckled as I heard the flap slap open, then shut.

"As I was saying," Sara continued, "we're still trying to find the dark witch who crafted and cast that spell. That kind of karma-tempting work had to cost a pretty penny, and Nia was only a senior in high school without a job. We are very curious to learn how Nia paid her and with what."

I shivered a bit. I didn't know a lot about magic, but I knew enough about dark witches to know their services had price tags beyond the realm of dollars and cents. What had Nia gotten into? And why was she so determined to destroy Landry, who never did her any harm?

I assured the witches we'd support and fund their efforts one-hundred percent, then chatted with them about how their new shop was coming along. They liked the location next to Roger's Diner, which was only about half a mile from the Busted Knuckle, so they'd get a lot of shifter notice. Plus, as Poppy said, word of mouth spread fast among those who needed or wanted what the witches stocked and sold. Needless to say, all of them were looking forward to their new enterprise.

Finally, they bustled off to their individual destinations, and I went to join Mase only to find that Dad and Papa had also left. We talked for a bit about what they found and who to send to track down the dire wolves' lair and clean it out.

You can guess which wolf spoke up right away about wanting to be a part of that.

Then Cole came back from fighter practice with the White Pelt female we'd rescued with Konstantin and the other prisoners.

Mase and I looked at him in surprise, then greeted her and nodded at her polite reply.

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