Page 1 of Wolf Spell

SAVERNAKE PACK

Face to face with a dangerous alpha was not how I’d imagined my Saturday night. Let alone being on his territory, which he’d see as an invitation to claim me and my friends. Uninvited and on werewolf land, we knew the rules. But we didn’t have time to wait to be asked.

We were looking for Josey’s best friend, Lisa, who we believed had run off, or worse, had been kidnapped by a werewolf. We knew his name was Nathan and we also knew it was forbidden for witches and werewolves to date. Lisa was new to coven life, but had been highly recommended by Josey, so throwing that away had shaken us to our core.

And as for the Savernake pack, they were one of the most brutal.

I resisted a shiver as dread gnawed at my stomach and fear caught in my throat. Against the wishes of our coven leader, we were at the edge of the forest, his forest at night, alone to face a ruthless pack.

Her hands slunk into her coat, Josey glanced at us. “I just can’t believe it, I’ve known Lisa all my life. She’s always wanted to be in the Badbury Rings coven. That’s all she’s spoken about since we were at school, and I would’ve invited her earlier but Mattie insisted Lisa waited until she was more adept at magic. I knew she had it in her,I don’t believe she’d throw that all away for a guy.Especially a stinky werewolf! Unless it was her magic that attracted this animal to her?” She frowned. “The Savernake’s are known to dabble with the occult.”

I bit my lip. I was one of the few, perhaps the only witch who didn’t believe we should be segregated. I didn’t see werewolves as evil, at least not all of them. Or all shifters for that matter. As witches, it was expected, if we wanted to pair up, to do that with mages. To keep the blood lines pure with magic. It was archaic to say the least. I had fought to get into the Badbury Rings coven, coming from a family where my mother was outcast as a rebel. My father left when I was young, all I knew was that he thought my mother’s ideas were too radical. She’d never dissuaded me from joining a coven, even though she’d been asked to leave the Badbury Ringscoven herself, always letting me make up my own mind. When I’d asked her about it, she’d shake her head. “It doesn’t matter, follow your own heart. It just wasn’t for me. A hedge witch through and through, I work better alone. I didn’t like being told what to do, what to think. You want to join a coven, see for yourself.”

And perhaps being more like her than I realised, I found myself disagreeing with my friends about their stifling beliefs. But I kept it to myself. Otherwise, like my mum, I’d be asked to leave, too. And I wasn’t sure I wanted that. They were pretty much the only family I had.Mum and me, we weren’t exactly close, I rarely saw or heard from her.

As we walked on the track leading to the forest, the ground squelchedbeneath my boots. Rich with the scent of rotten leaves and rain, the path was littered with burnt copper, red and yellow leaves. Their colours caught in the weak silver rays of the moon.Trees outlined the path, their shadows swaying on the breeze, the velvet night clawed in around us.

Pulling my coat tighter around me, my other hand tightened around my athame. I wasn’t planning on using it, it was more for show and the um, the illegal magic I’d imbued it with before dragging my two friends here.

As for mages,admittedly I didn't know many.The few I’d met were arrogant, from very rich families and would certainly look down on someone like me. I’m not from a wealthy family. It was expected, if you wielded magic, that you could at least be rich. Austin was the only mage I knew who was also from an ordinary family. He was great as a friend. But the rules were strict. But then so was our coven leader, Mattie when she said she would face the Savernake pack and we should stay out of it. Yet, here we are!

Becca grumbled. “For the goddess’s sake, Elsa, stop biting your nails, you’re making me nervous!”

Peeved, I slunk my hand away. Becca, who was picky and had more confidence than anyone I’d ever met, was a close friend to Josey. The two were almost inseparable. Becca was a hundred percent focused on coven life, and had been like a mentor to me since I’d joined. Apart from Lisa, I was still seen as the new girl. Becca gasped, “Josey, we should keep our voices down. At least until we meet Marrock. You know these wolves roam the woods. We should’ve let Mattie handle this, I can’t believe you two talked me out of a meal with Jamie! God, I could be sitting in a warm restaurant right now eating tapas!”

“Hey, Lisa’s here somewhere. I don’t know about you, because I only met her a few times but there’s no way I could think of her being here, and… God knows what’s happened to her! I don’t care if Lisa chose to come here,I only care that she’s alright.”

Josey’s stare bit through me, her teeth gritted. “That’s because you’re new. You don’t realise the repercussions if Lisaisshacked up with a wolf!”

Urgently I whispered back, “There are no repercussions. It’s made up. If she’s ok, and here out ofher own choice, then so be it.”

Now Becca stopped suddenly. “No. That’s not it at all. Aside from Lisa and all her associations, friends, all of us will be shunned by every coven on the planet,” she exhaled. “Mattie said the witches, even the mangy werewolves that had gone missing, it’s a result of the two species interfering with each other. As in, if you mix outside of your species, it makes all magic unstable.”

I couldn’t repress a giggle. I know it wasn’t appropriate. I do that though sometimes. Laugh when I’m scared.

“Interfering?You mean sleeping with each other. You really think vampires stick to vampires, demons with demons? Doyoureally know Jamie’s history? You think he only dates other witches?”

She fixed me with a mean stare. “Yes, he wouldn’t break the rules. He’d risk being kicked out. Of shaming his entire family. What would you know?”

I wet my lips, shaking my head. “Nothing.” That killed our conversation.

The cold moonlight barely lit our way as shadows stretched from the trees surrounding us as we made our way alongside the woods.

Aside from the crunching of our boots, the only other sounds were the thumping of my heart that clouded my ears and the occasional haunting cry from an owl.Bitter air stung my nose. I twisted my neck, trying to hunker down into the high collar of my coat, keeping any warmth in.

I ought to feel at home in an ancient forest at night. I am a witch after all.

But something far scarier lurked in these woods and though I couldn’t yet smell them, I knew they were here.Watching.I could feel their eyes burning into me.

But this couldn’t wait until morning. We had to do this now and the blood magic I’d used as protection, though highly dangerous, felt like smog around me.

They’d sense me for sure.

My fingers gripped tighter around my athame. I prayed to the goddess that they wouldn’t leap out to tear us to shreds. We were, after all, on their territory.

In the wolf’s den.

A vicious and bloodthirsty pack who feasted on the blood of humans. And vampires. And witches.

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