Page 44 of Wolves & Watercolors
“I can manage. I’ve got my phone with the flashlight app and I’ve walked the path between here and your cabin a bunch of times. I promise I won’t get lost.”
Heath opens his mouth to argue, but Jasper intercedes for me. “There’s nothing out there that could hurt her. She’ll be fine.”
I don’t mention the wolves I saw the other day because that won’t help my case. I’m not wandering through the forest, just walking between two cabins. It’s not far.
“Good night, everyone,” I say, pushing my way out the front door before Heath stops me.
The flashlight on my phone illuminates dirt beyond their porch and I step carefully. Once my feet are planted, I hold the light up and look back and forth. The trees are thinner to the left and I know I have to go straight forward and slightly to the left.
As I pick my way through the brush, the sounds of the forest at night surround me. Bugs hum and chirp, and a clicking sound makes me look up. Dark forms like small birds swoop past above the treetops, and I watch their journeys through the gaps in the branches. Bats. The clicking stalls as an owl hoot echoes around me.
With a smile, I pick my feet up and continue walking home. To my credit, I only stumble once, but when my palm braces against a tree trunk, my hand stings.
A sense of accomplishment fills me when I reach Heath’s cabin. I’m tempted to stay outside on the porch and enjoy the night, but exhaustion pulls me down. To compromise, I crack my window open an inch before washing up and curling up in bed.A red line crosses the inside of my thumb, but it’s not actively bleeding. I’m tired enough, the dull pain doesn’t bother me as I drift off to sleep.
VIII . Pothos Paroxysm
Cedar
Slate summons me to their cabin in the early morning hours. I was planning on a run to work more of that heavy feeling out of my chest, but when my Alpha calls, I come. Hazel curls up on the sofa with baby Timber sleeping in her arms. Heath sits in the arm chair and Sable stands in the kitchen.
“How are you doing?” I ask, dipping my head respectfully.
Hazel’s smile is tired, but she shifts her hold on her baby to show me the sweet girl’s squashed-looking face. “We’re great.”
“She’s adorable.”
Heath clears his throat. “So there was an incident with Aurora.”
My knees lock and I sway where I stand. “What do you mean?”
Slate motions for me to take the far armchair and settles beside Hazel. “She was in the room while Hazel was in labor.”
“She definitely saw my eyes glowing,” Hazel fills in. “We shouldn't have let her in. I don’t know why I didn’t realize what would happen.”
“All of us can bear that blame,” Slate says, placing a kiss on her shoulder. “But more importantly, something else happened.”
I land in the chair roughly, my hands gripping the arms. I should have been here. I kissed her and sent her off without thinking twice.
“One of my house plants fell off the window after it started to grow. It almost quadrupled in size. All the plants on the window at least doubled and that was enough to knock one of them off.”
It’s the last thing I expect. “What?”
“Something affected the plants,” Sable summarizes. Her mouth thins, irritated at my slow response. “Something supernatural.”
“And we think it’s Aurora? What about Timber?”
“We thought about that,” Heath says. “But the timing makes sense to be Aurora. You’ve spent the most time with her. Have you noticed anything strange?”
Leaning forward in my seat, I prop my elbows on my knees and rest my forehead against my palms. What have I noticed about Aurora? My exhale is slow and uneven. “She helped me plant some carrots and radishes on her first full day here. That was two or three days ago? And they’re almost ready to harvest.”
“Those are fast growers,” Hazel replies without looking up from her baby.
“Not that fast. They shouldn’t be sprouting until tomorrow or the next day at the earliest. I’ve already thinned them. It’s like they’re three or four weeks old and not three days.”
“So plants are growing like crazy around her,” Slate says, looking to Sable. “What does that mean?”
“It might be a coincidence. But perhaps we have a green witch on our hands.”
