1. Coral

Chapter 1

Coral

D on’t go over there. It’s where that faerie woman lives.

You’d think that I would be used to this by now. I definitely thought that I would be. I’ve lived here on Oakwood land, but not as part of Oakwood pack, for a long, long time.

But when I overhear the wolf shifter saying this to her cubs, it still hurts. I wish it didn’t. It really shouldn’t.

But it does.

“Coral?”

I glance up at my friend Lyra, who is sitting across the outdoor table from me. We’re at my little cabin, the one that Thorne and the wolves let me stay on once they bought the land. My magic has claimed it now, leaching into the soil and saturating all the plants that grow nearby. It’s my haven. My paradise.

It’s where I’m safe. Safe from those who would harm me. Safe from the lion shifters who destroyed my family.

But definitely not belonging to the pack.

I’m okay with it. I am. I have to be. I don’t need to be part of the pack to be safe.

Lyra, however, is at least kind to me. She and Iris, the Alpha’s mate, are my only true connections. Iris is busy a lot, though, so I’ve appreciated Lyra’s visits. She’s been coming around for a while now, ever since Iris introduced us at the Blue Moon Bash, and I can say with a little bit of hope that she’s someone that I might consider a friend. Bringing my total friend count to two.

It should be a lonely number. Two friends in the whole world? It isn’t many. But I think of those two friends like diamonds.

Today, she brought over some cookies, and I decided to pair that with my newest herbal tea, and well… We were having a nice time. Until now.

“I don’t think she means it disrespectfully,” Lyra whispers.

I tap my finger against the glass of my cup, tracing small patterns against the side. The cup chills under my touch, and I pull back. Ugh. Apparently I’m leaking magic right now. Clearly, I am definitely not over it.

“Even if she means it respectfully, it… brings up a lot.” I wrinkle my nose.

Lyra tilts her head. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Magic sparks from my fingers again, and the cup freezes under my touch.

This is why I might consider her a friend. While I’m sure she’s trying to help, I don’t know if I want to tell her everything. I can’t.

“It’s not anything different. I just don’t feel quite like I fit in with the pack sometimes. Which is on purpose… I know I’m not part of the pack,” I clarify.

Lyra smiles brightly. “Well, I’m sure that if you came into town a little more?—”

“No,” I cut her off. “Um. Sorry. No. I just don’t really like people, you know?”

It isn’t completely true, and it’s close enough to a lie that my tongue starts to itch.

Faeries can’t lie. It’s one of the things that we keep very, very closely guarded. I physically cannot tell an outright lie; the words won’t come out.

But in the context, Lyra understands the implication, which is that it’s hard for me to get to know people. It’s not that I don’t like to socialize. I do. Before everyone I knew and loved was murdered, I enjoyed being around my hive.

I would like to know more of the wolves in the pack. But it’s safer this way. For all of us, I guess.

Lyra looks at me, her eyes searching mine. I trace a pattern in the air, directing a tiny puff of wind toward our feet. I smile at her.

“I’m perfectly happy here. And I enjoy being around you.”

She sighs, leaning back. “If you say so, Coral. I support you, and I’m always happy to listen if you ever decide that you want to talk about your past.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.” I do.

Lyra sips her tea, her eyes closing. She smacks her lips and shakes her head. “I swear, you somehow manage to take herbs that I’m really familiar with and turn them into something else.”

I wiggle my fingers at her. “Magic.”

She laughs. “Okay. That’s fair. Do you really add magic to this?”

“No. But I am really good with plants.” I raise my glass.

“How does that work?”

This, I feel fine sharing. There are some things that the fae guard closely, and while I’m not about to tell her that I can never lie, I’ll happily divulge how my magic works. “They kind of… speak to me. It helps me to decide if they’re ready to pick, or if they need more time. Also, if they need something like water or sunlight, I can easily make an adjustment. I never have to guess.”

Lyra sighs. “That’s so cool. I wish that I could do that.”

“You turn into a wolf. That’s pretty darn cool if you ask me.”

She sips her tea again. “I guess it’s one of those things. The grass is always greener, right?”

Yeah. I guess.

I’m leaning forward to pour her some more tea when a presence crosses my furthest boundary. The plants around the edges of my property are attuned to tell me when someone is near. In this case, it’s familiar.

Lyra must notice my wince, because she furrows her eyebrows in concern. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Just the day patrol at the edge of my… just thought I sensed the day patrol,” I rephrase.

I like that Lyra thinks my magic is cool. I don’t want her to think that it’s weird that I can sense the plants at the edges of my control, and that they can tell how different people walk. I could see that being a weird fact, and not a cool one.

“Oh, Nolan?”

I perk up at that. I’ve been aware of the day shift wolf who patrols the edge of Oakwood pack territory for a while now, but I never had a name for him. It’s not like I go into town to get to know the wolves, after all.

I look toward where he’s loping towards us. “Who?”

“Nolan. He’s one of the pack members, but I don’t know much about him. Really great guy, though.” Lyra smiles. “At least, according to his sister. There’s been a lot of unrest lately, and so Thorne doubled the patrols about three months ago. Nolan’s the one who was assigned to this sector, so that’s probably who you’re sensing.”

I can practically sense the wolf now. He’s close enough to almost be within earshot. “Big wolf, very sandy looking?”

“Yeah, and in his human form, he’s also big. Hazel eyes, brown hair. He’s pretty cute,” she winks. “Do you want me to introduce you?”

Under my fingertips, the glass cracks, turning to solid ice. Panic floods me. “What? Me? What? Why?”

“Because your magic just leaked out and froze your whole cup and about a one-foot square of this table,” Lyra smirks.

I look down. She’s right; there’s a square patch of ice on my beautiful pine porch table.

Fiddlesticks.

I take a deep breath, and the cold radiating from my fingers dissipates.

“I’m happy to introduce you to a cute guy, Coral.”

“Uh. I… He… I mean, he is cute, but…” I pause.

He’s close. Like, within earshot close.

“That’s okay. I’m fine. I don’t really think I should be mingling with the pack, because you know. It’s not… um… I can’t…”

Lyra reaches forward and touches my shoulder. “Coral. It’s okay. If you don’t want to talk to him, you don’t have to.”

I really hope he’s not listening to this.

“I… um… I don’t think it’s that,” I huff.

Lyra pinches the bridge of her nose with her fingertips. “I really wish you’d share with me more about your past.”

Looking down, I gently touch the bundle of wildflowers on the table, their presence a reminder of the magic that lives just about everywhere.

“I know that you don’t want to share. I really do. And I know that whatever it is, it’s probably really painful. My guess is that it has to do with your family, and family is… it’s hard to talk about, especially if it’s complicated.”

I don’t react, but inside, my heart feels like it’s breaking. Again.

“It’s not really complicated,” I mutter.

Lyra freezes.

I shut my eyes, keeping my hands tightly clenched so that they don’t ooze magic and break more of my things.

“Tell me what happened,” she says softly.

I flare my nostrils. “It’s not complicated,” I assure her. “They… died.”

They were killed. That’s the part that I can’t bring myself to say. Remembering that my hive, my family, the faeries who I was born with, were killed is one thing. Telling someone else is another thing entirely. I felt it. More deeply than any of them.

All faeries are nature affiliated, meaning we’re born with special gifts or strengths that align us to nature in some way or another. Mine is plants, and in particular, wild plants. It’s even more specific than that—for example, if I lived east of the Mississippi, I wouldn’t have as strong of a connection to the plant life. Which means I wouldn’t have as much access to magic.

My hive is from outside of Seattle. The West is where I am strongest. So when it came time for me to choose somewhere to live, when I sought refuge after they were all killed, I had to balance.

Did I want to run so far that I would never be hunted by the shifters who might still be after me? Or did I want to be prepared to defend myself if I needed to?

Colorado was the compromise.

When Thorne and Oakwood pack bought the land, he accepted the bargain I offered. I would stay on the land, and he would call on me to support the pack with magic, from time to time. And now, here I am.

I feel gentle fingers on my wrist, and I open my eyes. Lyra is looking at me, her eyes filled with a kindness that makes me want to bury myself in the roots of the meadow that I’ve claimed as mine.

I don’t want pity. Pity makes me feel even more distant from everyone around me.

“That must have been…” She stops.

Yeah. That’s what usually happens.

There aren’t any words for the violence that I’ve experienced. Which is another reason I don’t like sharing it with people.

Lyra leans back, her head tilted as she looks at me. “I can see how that might make you wary of getting to know people.”

I narrow my eyes at her. How could she know that I’m afraid of being… different? I didn’t tell her…

“You must be worried about losing people again.”

Oh. No, I’m not really worried about that.

“It would be devastating,” I say instead. It’s another partial truth that makes my tongue itch. Too close to a lie.

“I’m here. I’ll be here. Today, tomorrow, whenever you need.” Lyra smiles that sweet, kind smile. “And I think that you should consider the introduction to Nolan.”

I look away, the blush creeping up my cheeks. “No. That’s okay. I’m fine, really. I don’t need to know him. I just appreciate that he patrols and keeps me safe and…”

I stop. If I say more, I’m going to reveal more truth than I want to.

Lyra winks at me. “Just think about it, okay?”

“Okay,” I murmur. “I’ll think about it.”

That, at least, is a full truth. I’ll definitely think about it. I’ll think about it way more than I should, because I’m going to perseverate on this for far longer than I should.

“Are you ready to get caught up with the latest pack gossip.”

Thank all the powers that be. I smile. “Yes, absolutely.”

Lyra launches into a long story, involving a pack member that had a baby he never knew about, and I listen and nod.

When I feel the wolf, Nolan, finally leave the cabin and the meadow I’ve claimed, I pretend that it’s totally normal—and pray, to all the powers above, that he didn’t hear our conversation.

I just want to be safe. Here, I am. I can’t jeopardize that. Not for anyone.

If I am a little lonely, then it’s the price I have to pay.

Better safe and alone, than surrounded by others… with a target on my back.