Page 35 of Brutal Alpha

To her credit, she didn’t tell me it was impossible. Her gaze lingered over my blind eye, and she smiled.

“You’d be the first in a century.”

“So I’ve heard.”

Eve parked herself on a rickety wooden chair, looking up at me expectantly.

“Go on then,” she said, “show me. I’ve always wanted to see this.”

It felt strange, wrong, to do magic in front of someone who wasn’t Ethan. Of course, half of Arbor had seen me do magic now, but they hadn’t been watching me do it, hadn’t been examining me with expectant eyes.

I breathed in, trying to calm my racing mind. I had done this before. I had cloaked whole rooms, a whole bridge, in shadow. I could do a simple trick. Closing my eyes, I let the shadows come into focus; the room was crowded with furniture and knick-knacks, so many of them overlapped, warping each other’s shapes where they met physical obstacles to the shape they wanted to take.

Reaching out, I gently pulled every shadow in the room, letting them stretch out the way they wanted to. I heard Eve gasp, and I smiled, knowing that it must have worked. Sure enough, when I opened my eyes, the room was far darker than ithad been before, full of long, drawn-out shadows that refused to be hemmed in by the physical space. A blink, and they snapped back into place, the room becoming warm and cozy once more.

“You can really do it.” Eve’s eyes were wide, her ever-smiling mouth slack with shock. I didn’t know why that simple proclamation held more weight than any of Ethan’s amazement or Arbor’s accusations, but suddenly the truth of it landed on me like a ton of bricks.

“I honestly don’t knowhowI’m doing this,” I blurted. “I have no idea what I’m capable of, if it’s just a few tricks or—”

“Honey, you’re capable of far more than a few tricks,” Eve assured me, her voice low and calm despite her evident surprise. “A fully trained Shadow Witch is more than a match for someone like me.”

“And who’s supposed to train me, if I’m the only one?” I asked. Eve shrugged.

“Me, I suppose.”

“But you’re not a Shadow Witch.”

“I’m not,” she acknowledged, “but I do have a book kicking around here somewhere that details how Shadow Magic works. I can loan it to you so you can make sense of it yourself, or I can guide you through it. At the end of the day, magic is magic, and I’m sure I’d have something of use to add.”

She was probably right, and I hated that I wanted her help so desperately.

“Why?” I asked. “What’s in it for you?”

Eve smiled.

“Call it professional curiosity mixed with more than a touch of vanity. To be the first witch to witness Shadow Magicin a century is one thing, but training the first Shadow Witch is quite another. I’ve always wanted to have my name in a niche history book.”

Would Alyssa forgive me when I got home? She probably would; she’d never ask me to give up on the chance of understanding my own magic for her sake. I took the plunge.

“Fine.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, and I couldn’t help blushing a little, embarrassed by my lack of manners. “I’ll come into town tomorrow at dusk.”

“I’m staying at the Alpha’s residence,” I told her, and she raised an eyebrow.

“Friends in high places.”

There were so many things I wanted to say to that: “Yes, my brother is Alpha over on Lapine. You’re familiar with Lapine, right?” I wondered what would happen if I did. Would she kick me out of her little cottage, forbid me from returning, and slam the door closed on me and all my chances of developing my magic? For once, I kept my mouth shut.

“I know you’ll be excited to try things out,” Eve continued, “but please don’t do any extra magic today, and nothing until I come and meet you tomorrow.”

“Why not?” I asked. I’d been doing magic without any disastrous consequences for at least a week now. Did she really think my magic was so dangerous?

“You need to rest. I don’t know what you got up to before you came here, but it clearly wiped you out. You have to be careful, in your condition.”

I frowned, confused.

“What condition?”

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