Without giving me a chance to change my mind, she rang up the clothes and shot me a toothy grin. “I’ll pay for these in exchange for a fortune.”
I shrugged, but my lips quirked upward. “That works.”
One thing I liked about the people around here was that they valued me. I’d set up different tables on the edge of the forest to make money a few times. I’d sold herbs and healing potions, given fortunes, read auras, and given love advice. I offered magical services in exchange for money because I still wanted things from modern society, like clothes and food, for example.
She held out her hands with a big grin, wiggling her fingers until I grabbed them. I closed my eyes and called on my magic. A flutter in my chest spread down my extremities as a warm light enveloped me before burning so bright it burned out, leaving me cold.
I dropped her hands with a small gasp.
Deb was a witch, and she didn’t know. A coven I hadn’t heard of was searching for her. Their magic felt warm, unlike Hollows Coven—but it didn’t matter. They felt powerful. Doing her fortune sent a beacon to them somehow, and now they knew where she was, because of me.
Her mouth pulled down in a frown. “What’s wrong? What did you see?”
I cleared my throat. “I didn’t see. I felt. Deb, did you know you were a witch?”
Her mouth dropped before she began laughing. “A witch? Come on, Harlow. I’m not a witch.”
My eyes flickered to her neck. A yellow crystal pendant hung from a gold necklace. I could sense a faint trace of energy that I hadn’t noticed before. “Where did you get that pendant?”
She reached up and gripped it. “My parents gave me up for adoption. This was the only thing they left me with.”
“It sounds like they were running from something. You have a coven searching for you, and me doing that fortune sent your location to them.”
She shook her head. “But—that’s impossible.”
I reached out and grabbed her hand. Dormant magic was residing within her. I’d never thought to check before, but it was definitely there. “Your magic is bound.”
“What do I do?” Her wide eyes met mine in fear.
I took a deep breath, letting my intuition guide my words. “You don’t have to be afraid. Your coven feels… warm. I don’t sense any mal-intent from them. You can stay and let them seek you out—that option is what the spirits tell me is best. Or you could run. They won’t find you again unless your magic awakens.”
She nodded, absentmindedly handing me my bag. “I trust you, Harlow. You’ve been nothing but kind and honest. I will stay here and let them seek me out. Any idea when they will come?”
I shook my head as I grabbed the bag. “No. I’m sorry. Just that it will be soon.” My eyes drifted toward her pendant. “Can I see that?”
She nodded, unclasping it and giving it to me.
Energy pulsed from it to me, warm and comforting. I didn’t like other witches, I hated them, but Deb hadn’t known she was a witch. I was blind to it for the couple years I knew her because of the protection spell around her neck.
I’d hoped she wouldn’t change when she unlocked the power that dwelled inside her. Power could turn the sweetest people into monsters. A shiver wracked through me.
“Put this on, and don’t take it off.” I handed it back, and she clasped it back on her neck. “It’s been blessed with a protection spell.”
She toyed with the crystal and smiled. “So, I guess my parents must’ve cared after all.”
I nodded. “Whoever did that spell cared a lot about you, Deb. I hope when we meet again, you will be as bright and happy as you are now.”
She waved me on, her mind preoccupied with the fortune I’d given her. I wasn’t too fond of another coven poking their noses in the village I frequented, but it couldn’t be helped.
As I left the shop, my mind drifted toward a certain werewolf. My heart and intuition told me he was good, but I couldn’t let myself fall for him.
He was a werewolf, and I was a witch. What kind of fated match was that?
SIX
Xavier
I’d found my way back to her place by her alluring scent, but she wasn’t there. I didn’t know whether to stay and wait or get the hell out of dodge. I wasn’t even sure pursuing her was the right thing to do.
But she was my mate, my second chance mate. Soulmates were destined. The Fates had everything planned out from the moment we came into existence. Everything happened for a reason, to mold someone a specific way.
The Fates gave my friend, Sophia, a second chance mate two years after her first mate rejected her, and her second chance was it for her. She was nauseatingly in love with her mate, but would a second chance work the same for me? My first mate was killed in front of me, and I had already accepted her. Even if she had a fear of completing our bond, I held out hope that we would’ve been soul-bound.
How could I move on from Olivia? And why the fuck did I want Harlow so bad?
Whatever happened, I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist the pull toward Harlow. I had to figure her out. I fucking wanted to, and if that made me a shit person, so be it.
I stretched out on her twin mattress that my feet hung over the end and decided to wait for her to return home. I needed answers, and she was the only one capable of giving them to me.
A chuckle reverberated through the room as I covered my naked body with a throw blanket. She’d
