“I shifted at 10.” He shrugged nonchalantly, his eyes returning to the road.
The younger werewolves shifted, the stronger they were –and vice-versa. Ten was most definitely not the usual age, even for alphas, I knew that much. And since they aged slowly when they were unmated, he had had more than enough time to learn a thing or two about life.
“How many times did you have to go through school?” The question just popped in my head and wouldn’t settle for anything but tumbling out of my lips.
“I’ve only been attending high school for four years,” he readily admitted, “I transferred a lot in my search for you.”
“Your mate could have been a college student, you know,” I commented, eyes narrowed slightly in a rather suspicious manner.
“Only The Oracle told me you were in high school the second time I went to see her,” he explained smugly, his eyes not leaving the road, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“The Oracle?” I all but squealed. “You met The Oracle?”
The Oracle was a witch that lived in a supposedly unknown isolated place and whose clairvoyance ability was off the charts.
“Pretty cool, huh?” It didn’t feel like he was rubbing it in, but he sure sounded a little bit proud.
“Damn right it’s cool!” I was so excited to hear the rest of the story, it was all I could to remain seated in the car, “What is she like? Is she old? Is she beautiful? Does she live really far from here?” I couldn’t stop babbling even if my life depended on it. I was just that excited.
“My little finger’s telling me you want to meet her,” he teased, obviously amused.
“What kind of witch would I be if I didn’t want to?” I repressed the urge to roll my eyes at him because the matter didn’t require any confirmation, “Never mind my earlier questions, what did she tell you the first time you went to see her?”
“She told me my mate was a witch.” He turned towards me and unbuckled his seatbelt, making me frown momentarily, “we’re here.”
I hadn’t noticed he had parked the car and I wasn’t even spacing out.
Damn it, girl, focus! The Oracle!
“This conversation isn’t over,” I muttered as I got out of the car, without waiting for him to open the door, making him purse his lips in brief dismay.
“I should hope so,” he drawled good-humoredly, “I want to know you better after all.”
Chapter 27
Restroom Rendezvous
The Italian restaurant wasn’t quite as small as I imagined it. The store front might have been admittedly a bit small and the first floor not that spacious, but the atmosphere was really agreeable, jolly even. We followed a waiter upstairs and I was surprised to find out that the 2nd floor’s dining room was noticeably bigger. There were only 3 couples already eating and that made the atmosphere somehow more intimate – the dimmed lights played their part well too.
It was love at first sight and I was sure I would be revisiting many, many times.
“So, what’s she like?” I asked as soon as we had sat at our table and the waiter had left us with the menus, “The Oracle, I mean.”
“Is that all we’re gonna talk about?” How he managed to sound half annoyed, half amused was beyond me.
“Hey, you brought her up,” despite my defensive tone, I was impossibly excited to know more about her and I could barely keep still.
The Oracle was a legend, had only one apprentice and no child of her own, not to mention that very few witches got to meet her. Needless to say, she was shrouded in mystery. When I had searched for information regarding her a few years back, there was close to none.
“Okay, okay,” he raised his hands in defeated surrender, a small smirk tugging at his lips, his eyes twinkling in amusement, “what do you wanna know?”
“Everything you can tell me,” I flashed him my most encouraging smile while mentally begging him with my best puppy dog eyes.
“Well, she lives in Canada, in a small cabin in the mountains.” He stopped as the waiter came to take our order and then carried on with his little tale.
By the end of it, I had not learnt much really – but it was still better than what I had managed to find out at the age of 12. The Oracle only took a request every decade from the same person. And, even then, she would ask them to do something in return beforehand... and one should always expect the unexpected with her requests.
Jonathan had had to accept, the first time he went, the role of her guinea pig in some mind-control spell she had devised. Naturally, to relinquish such control, they had to make a blood contract in which it was stipulated that she wouldn’t, in any way or form, make him do something that went against the well-being of the werewolf community, or that went against any supernatural or human law. And all he got in compensation was to learn that I was a witch.
When I let him know I felt like he didn’t get much, he defended her. Clairvoyance abilities weren’t easy and using the blood of someone to find out something about their mates was by no way easy. I found myself agreeing with that. No normal witch could do that, clairvoyance ability or not.
He also explained that knowing his mate was alive, and neither a werewolf nor a vampire, had made it slightly easier for him. Not all supernatural beings got that kind of clues in their search for their mates, no matter how much it was needed. And werewolves needed it most since, according to their laws, they had to be mated by the age of 100 –true mate or not.
The second time, she had only requested he found a special spider and bring it to her –alive.
Okay, I do not wanna know what she did with it. Repulsion filled
