“Two for one deal,” Owen said.
“Today only.”
“There’s a small problem.”
The thug raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“I don’t know where the bracelet is.”
The man nodded. “I find that hard to believe. Caught a glimpse of it only a moment ago. Gave it to your new girlfriend, did you? How sweet.”
He grabbed my arm and pulled up my sleeve. The bracelet circled my wrist, where it had been since leaving the house earlier.
Owen’s mouth dropped open with shock at the sight. “Brenda—”
“I got it yesterday after school,” I said. “Fixed the clasp last night.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was going to.” I bit my lip and felt the sting of tears threatening to fall. I wanted to give it back to him. And I was going to. This walk to the alley was only to buy some time. But I wanted to talk to him first, tell him that I felt going back to his pack was a mistake and wouldn’t get him what he was seeking. You shouldn’t have to buy your way into your family. Love couldn’t be bought.
The thug unfastened the bracelet and dangled it from his index finger. “Nice. At least a couple hundred grand, I’d estimate.”
“At least,” Owen agreed reluctantly. “So you have it. Now what?”
“I want something else, too.” The man raised an eyebrow and nodded toward me. “The girl.”
Owen flicked a glance at me. “What are you talking about?”
“She’s part of your entry fee. Give her to me, and we have a deal.”
Every part of my body went cold. I looked at Owen, but couldn’t see any expression on his face at the moment other than anger. I had a feeling it was directed at me for keeping the location of the bracelet a secret until now.
“There’s a problem,” he said. “She’s not really mine to give.”
The thug chuckled. “Oh, come on. You know that doesn’t really matter. All I want to know is if you’re going to give me a problem about it.”
I held my breath, waiting for his reply.
“You can have the girl,” Owen said flatly. “But you can’t have the bracelet.”
I gasped. “Owen!”
He didn’t look at me. The guy laughed out loud and held out the bracelet. “You prefer the jewelry to the girl? Interesting.”
Owen shrugged. “What can I say? I know what real value is. Girlfriends are a dime a dozen.”
“You’re a funny kid. Cold-hearted. You’ll make a killer addition to my pack.”
Owen grinned and took a few steps closer. “You think?”
“Definitely. Tell you what, kid. You can sell the bracelet for me. I’ll split the proceeds with you eighty- twenty.”
“Sixty-forty,” Owen said.
“Seventy-thirty. You want it?” The thug held it out. “If we have a deal, you can have it.”
“Sounds perfect.” Owen was only a couple feet away, and he reached out to touch the bracelet, flicking it with his index finger so it sparkled in the sunshine.
Then he knocked the gun out of the man’s other hand. It skittered across the pavement.
A split second later, he’d shifted to tiger form and pounced, taking the thug to the ground hard enough to knock him unconscious.
Even though I was shocked beyond words by what had just happened so quickly, I could barely register it. I reached into my shallow pool of magical knowledge and threw out the first thing I could think of. A confusion spell. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. The werewolves turned around in circles for a moment, not knowing which way was up or down. Two of them lost their balance and fell to the ground.
I stared at them for a moment, dumbfounded.
“
I ran.
The tiger bounded after me as I ran out of the alleyway and kept running for three blocks before I slowed to catch my breath. A glance over my shoulder showed Owen, again in human form, but now wearing tattered clothing, following closely behind me.
“Don’t stop!” He grabbed my arm and pulled me along with him until we found a safe place to hide, slipping into someone’s backyard behind a tall fence. My heart slammed against my rib cage, and I looked at him with confusion. He looked as if he was about to say something, but I spoke first.
“Why didn’t you grab the bracelet before you ran out of the alley?” I asked.
He stared at me for a moment before he started to laugh. “After what just happened, that’s what you want to know? Why didn’t I grab the bracelet?”
“Well? It’s all you’ve been wanting for two days.”
“I thought so. But I was wrong. That bracelet hasn’t brought me anything but bad luck. Hopefully it’ll be enough to keep the werewolves off my back—and yours—now that they have it.”
“But your pack—”
“Forget my pack.” He looked down at the ground. “It’s time I moved on. This just proves it once and for all.”
“But he was going to give the bracelet back to you.”
He raised his gaze to mine, a look of incredulity on his face. “Yeah, in exchange for you. No way that was going to happen. He’s lucky he got knocked out first, since I was in the mood to tear him apart. Must be the bonding spell. I feel a fierce need to protect you, no matter what.”
In a few moments, he’d made the decision that would shape his future. Without the bracelet, he wasn’t going back to his pack. And it was mainly because he didn’t want me to get hurt.
Don’t get me wrong, I definitely appreciated the gesture more than I could say. But it was a major deal.
“Owen—”
“And look at you with the witchcraft going on. I thought you said you sucked at it.”
“I do suck at it.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Just imagine what you could do if you studied hard like your mom wants you to.” He pulled at his ripped shirt in an attempt to straighten it out. “And you know what you need in order to do that, right?”
“What I need?” I frowned. “A nap so I can get over my near-death experience?”
“No. Well, maybe, but not right now. You need a proper familiar. And to get that we need to have this spell removed. I may be many things, but I’d make a lousy witch’s pet.”
I smiled despite myself. “Have to agree with you there.”
“Then let’s not waste any more time. We’ll go to Hocus Pocus right now.”
He held his hand out to me.
After only a moment’s hesitation, I took it.
“And that’s why you need to remove the bonding spell,” I finished. My words had tumbled out of my mouth since we’d arrived at the magic shop. We had Mrs. Timmons alone in the back room and were explaining everything.
I just hoped it made some kind of sense.
She pursed her lips, rocking back on her heels as she studied me and Owen one at a time.
“Let me get this straight, young man,” she finally said. “You broke into my store and fooled me into believing you were a cat. You said nothing about this. And you ate my food and used my protection wards to save yourself from those who wished ill on you.”
Owen stood very rigid next to me. “Yes. Yes, ma’am. That’s pretty much it.”
