Page 43 of Spellbound & Speechless
“All right. I’m sleeping.” She lapses into silence for too long. “Thank you.”
Her last words are so faint I hardly hear them, and even though I’m still fighting my urges, we’re merging. We’re becoming one. I know it’s not the wolf anymore. It’s all of me, and it’s changing me. My fear of losing her grips at my chest and threatens to ruin me. I need to let go.
Aspen is stillfast asleep when I sneak out of the room, desperate to escape what happened the night before. It was nothing—nothinghappened. Being close to her is something I might not be able to recover from.
Her perfume sticks to me even after I shower. My body still tingles everywhere she touched it. Every press of her body and brush of her fingers… they’ll haunt me for the rest of my shitty fucking life.
I step into the cool, gray morning. The house is quiet—rare, considering how many people live here. I need a moment and some fresh air. Being in nature always calms me. It calms the whining wolf who wants to go back to bed with our mate.
She’snotour mate. Not really. Our bond won’t solidify unless we choose it. It needs to be both of us choosing each other, and I can’t choose this.
I won’t chooseher. It’s for her good that I don’t.
There’s only one person who can ground me. She’s always grounded me.
I slip my earbuds in and amble through the backyard. The ringing phone fills my ears as I wait for the person on the receiving end to pick up.
What time is it on the West Coast, anyway? A few hours earlier, I think, but I know she’ll be up.
“Good to finally hear from you,” my mother says.
Some people go to their parents for emotional support, but not me. That’s not what I’m here for.
It’s not that my mother is cruel or that I have to pretend to be something I’m not. Our relationship is more complicated than that. She can’t bring me any comfort, but that’s becauseshe’snever known a moment of peace.
Not since my father died.
Why should she be happy? She watched her husband die and spent the rest of her life making sure I stayed alive. Now, I’m risking my neck, and she knows it. When I was younger, she tried to keep me away from it all. It didn’t work. It was too late. Revenge lived in my chest before I became an adult.
“Hey,” I say. “Sorry for taking so long?—”
“Youshouldbe sorry,” she snaps. “I’ve been waiting for your call. It’s been days.”
“Why didn’t you text?”
She scoffs. “You know I don’t like doing that…”
A small smile dances on my lips. As prickly as my ma is, I love her and know she loves me. If push came to shove, she would use all her power to protect me. She has done it before.
“Well… I’m here now,” I say. “And it’s worth the wait. Ma… I found her.”
She pauses. “You didn’t.”
“I did. She’s in a small town in Maine. She seems to be alone, but I’m keeping an eye out for a corrupt coven.”
It’s rare for the corrupt witches to run in groups, but it happens.
“I hope you’re being safe.”
“As safe as I can be. There’s another coven—normal witches—helping me out.”
“Good… good…” She sighs softly, and even though I can’t hear it over the phone, I’m sure her heart is racing. “Are you certain that you can trust them? No signs of corruption?”
“No signs. They would never. They seem very involved in the witch community.”
Corrupt witches aren’t as involved. Other witches can’t trust them, considering their habit of stealing magic.
“You better keep me updated now,” she says. “More than before. I mean it. Don’t go this long without calling.”
