Page 15 of Shared With The Pack

He'll always be my mate. He'll always be part of the pack. Nothing and nobody can change that, but the choice to live in the woods with us needs to be his own.

Still, I hope he stays. I really fucking hope he stays.

Chapter 14

Wren

Ifeel their bites with every breath I take and ache from their claim with each step. A pleasant reminder that I marvel at again and again as I walk. With my borrowed clothes, the white leather boots from that wedding outfit no longer feel tainted.

They feel like my boots.

Heath leads the way, guiding me through the trees until there's a break which slopes downward into a glen. I breathe in deeply, enjoying the sun and blue sky. Weather like this won't last for much longer...and I don't know how much longer I'll be here.

No. I push the thought out of my head and focus only on the present. I hear the flow of the river before we come across it. The current is strong and pushing fast. While Heath laps at the water's edge to drink, I walk along it. The ironweed and jewelweed are on their final blooms, almost too late in the season for it to be growing, but they still attract bees.

The bees are exactly what I'm after.

I keep walking until the buzzing of bees clashes with the rushing river. Finally, I spot their hive. But it's not their honey I'm after. I leave their home alone, interested only in the flowers that'll be near.

Bumblebloom is a small, but brilliant flower. A puffy burst of gold and black with a few spots of amber on the petals. I find them growing along the riverbank. One by one, I pick until I have a full bouquet.

"Let's go back," I tell Heath, "take me...home."

The word is so sweet I feel it stick in my throat. It hurts to swallow. We leave the river behind and take a different path, trudging up a hillside. Heath is so much faster. He zooms forward only to dart back, checking to make sure I don't fall behind. As we climb higher, I get winded. My lungs burn from the exertion, but Heath pushes me on, gently nipping at the sleeves of my flannel.

Once we're at the top of the hill, I discover why.

Heath is showing me the scenic route.

The mountains here are ancient, covered in old-growth trees with blue tinted peaks. I set down my bag, stretching out my legs as I let my breath catch up with me. Heath isn't tired at all. He sits down next to me and licks my cheek with his coarse tongue.

I rub his ears between my thumb and forefinger while I stare off into the distance. Something out-of-place catches my attention. That isn't a tree reaching toward the sky. That's...I gasp, my eyes widening and my heart almost lurching from my chest.

Nestled far off in a valley between two mountains lies a place I never thought I'd see again: St. Salem Academy.

My shock causes Heath to shift back into a man. I sit frozen in place and watch. I've seen nothing like this before. There's a sick crack of bone as the change overcomes him, but what happens next is difficult to make sense of. As if my brain can't fully process what's in front of my eyeballs.

Fur becomes flesh. Four legs become two arms and two legs. But I struggle to hold the image. It's like taking a watercolor painting and running it underneath water: just a beautiful but muddled mess of color.

Heath is a beast one moment and the next he's a man.

What happens in-between might as well be a hazy dream.

I sense the magic, but it's different from the magic found in spell casting, potion brewing, or enchantment. There's no rhythm in it. No plan or order. It's wild and free, the purest form of magic that magic can be.

Heath takes a seat behind me, pulling me into his lap and dropping his chin over my shoulder. "What is wrong, hm?" he asks, teeth playing with the shell of my ear. "My pretty mate is upset. Tell me why."

"I...know that place. I went to school there."

A few months ago, I was a student at St. Salem. I never graduated. My family pulled me out right before the Midsummer break. Instead of going back to school, they kept me at home while plotting their alliance with vampires.

"Hm, such an eyesore," Heath grumbles. "It will not bother you for much longer. Will be gone tomorrow."

That's right. The barrier around the academy briefly goes down around this time of year. Witches live in two worlds: the mundane one, which we share with humans, and the magical one. The latter is the one we create for our own kind. It's all ours. Behind barriers of magic, we make our own communities so we can practice our craft in the open.

Both small family communes and bustling small towns are secreted behind these domes of protective magic. Humans can't see them. They're blissfully unaware of what goes on in the shadows.

Heath holds me tighter. "You...want to go there?"