Chapter 3 - Eddie

What was it about this witch that kept her in his thoughts even after she had left the manor? Why was he so disappointed when she refused his offer to walk her back to town?

It was ridiculous. That a witch could disappoint him was the most absurd thing he had ever experienced. He ought to have been relieved that she had declined his offer. Besides, he had better things to be doing than babysitting some witch that Jack had decided to ask for help.

He had a patrol to do later, for one, and he could think of about a million other things he would rather be doing than spending time with a witch. And yet, he found himself turning his nose up, trying to catch one final trace of her sweet scent.

It lingered in the air, following him even as he headed up the grand wooden staircase towards the bedrooms of the manor.

Yet, as he turned in the direction of the west wing where his own room lay, another scent overwhelmed it. He stopped dead in his tracks, hearing the all too familiar tinkling laughter that came from just around the corner of the hall.

Even before he crept up to peer around the corner, he knew what he would find. He knew all too well what that laughter meant. And the deep voice that followed told him that Will was Carly’s latest target.

“What is so funny?” Will asked, and bile rose in the back of Eddie’s throat as he caught sight of him standing in the doorway of his room, leaning languidly against the door frame. His arms were crossed over his chest, his ankles crossed, too, as he reclined against the wood.

Carly, dressed in a short summer dress though the autumn winds had begun to blow, was leaning in towards him, her hand raised towards his chest, her palm landing just above his crossed arms.

“You, silly,” she said, her voice flirtatiously sweet. “You’re so cute when the others aren’t around.”

Eddie saw the way that Will tensed up. No werewolf liked the idea of being called cute. Eddie almost laughed himself. He bit his lip, determined not to let on that he was there.

“Cute wasn’t exactly what I was going for,” Will admitted, cocking his head.

“Well, either way, it suits you,” Carly said, playing with the buttons on Will’s shirt. The way she drew closer, how she practically rubbed herself up against him like a she-wolf in heat, made Eddie feel sick.

There was a time when she had tried all those tricks on him and, foolishly of him, they had worked.

Trying to find a mate in such a small town was bad enough, but when there were she-wolves like Carly throwing themselves at the latest guy in front of them, it was even harder.

Eddie bit back the urge to scoff all over again.

“What exactly is it you're trying to do here, Carly?” Will asked, but Eddie was already turning away. Whatever her answer might be, he was certain he didn't want to hear it.

Heading back in the opposite direction, he returned down the stairs. Likely, Carly was about to tell Will she had strong feelings for him, that she was intrigued by him. That was her agenda with many of the wolves in the pack. She had flirted her way through a few of them now, claiming to be in search of her fated mate, and yet it seemed she was throwing herself at anyone she could.

And to think, Eddie had blamed Hanson for catching her eye, for the fact that she had lost all interest in him. It was only now, with Hanson mated off to his sister Elena, that he saw the truth.

Carly was the worst kind of she-wolf, the kind who would take anyone to mate so long as they could provide for her and give her a high rank within the pack. She had targeted him because he was close to the alpha. She had targeted Hanson because he had been the hero who helped them rescue the pack from Karl Ryker when he had seen that Jack Blackwell could be much more beneficial to the people of Nightstar.

What was her interest in Will now? Was she simply trying with him in order to make Eddie jealous?

If she was, he wasn't about to let her succeed. At least, that was what he told himself as he headed out of the front door, picking up the witch's scent again.

Stopping on the porch, he closed his eyes and lifted his chin, drawing in that sweet aroma. What was it about her scent that had him so entranced?

It was much like the smell of the apothecary, and yet it wasn't nearly so overbearing. It was inviting, welcoming, warm.

Cinnamon and honey with notes of lavender and chamomile, a thousand different herbs upon her skin, every one of them more delicious than the last.

The scent was so beautiful it made his mouth water. The soles of his feet itched with the urge to run, yet run to where?

Run to her?

Perhaps he had been looking in the wrong place all along. Going after she-wolves had never gotten him anywhere. Maybe his mate wasn't one of them at all. Maybe, instead, she was a witch.

That’s ridiculous! he told himself firmly, yet there was no denying the urge he felt to return to the apothecary, to her…

“Eddie? Ed?”

The voice behind him was so startling that he almost slipped off the top step of the porch. Whipping around, he found Kane staring at him with a furrowed brow.

“Is everything alright?” Kane asked, crossing his tattooed arms.

Eddie cleared his throat and shook his head to try and remove the thoughts from his mind. “I was just thinking.”

“About?” Kane asked, his expression darkening.

“Nothing,” Eddie said a little too quickly, and the suspicion on his packmate's face only grew.

“You know, if something is bothering you,” Kane said, reaching out to lay a brotherly hand on Eddie's shoulder, “you can talk to me.”

“Thanks, but I'm fine,” Eddie insisted, shrugging off his packmate's hand. “Did you need me for something?”

Eddie was relieved to change the subject when Kane responded, “Jack's called a meeting for the senior pack members.”

Eddie sighed. It looked like he wasn’t getting that run anytime soon, after all.

“We'd better get inside then,” Eddie said, intrigued. Whatever this meeting was about, he was certain it had something to do with Winter.

And just like that, she was on his mind again. Everything seemed to lead right back to her. And it was damn infuriating.

As Eddie followed Kane inside, the large, tattooed werewolf looked back over his shoulder and asked, “Are you sure there’s nothing you want to talk about? You don't seem yourself today.”

Eddie cringed. In truth, he didn't feel himself today. In fact, since he had first laid eyes on Winter in the apothecary, something within him had changed. He just couldn't put his finger on what it was, or why it had even happened in the first place.

He couldn't afford to think about it now. They had more important things to worry about. And as he joined his other senior packmates in Jack's office, he became determined to concentrate on the latest threat.

He was a black ops soldier—at least, he had been before retiring—and he was well-trained in putting his personal feelings aside to get the job done. Yet, somehow, it felt like the hardest task in the world right now.

“Close the door,” Jack instructed the last wolf in. Hanson clicked the door closed and slipped in beside Elena, wrapping his arm protectively around her.

Eddie's stomach clenched at seeing them together, no longer because he disapproved of their union but because it brought up a jealousy within him he would rather not have. If it had been up to him, Carly would have been the one—at least before he found out her true nature.

I dodged a bullet, really, he reminded himself. What he wanted was what Hanson and his sister had, a fated mate, someone to share the rest of his life with.

But that kind of thing wasn't easy to come across. Looking around the room might have suggested otherwise; Jack and Bonnie, Zander and Layla, Kane and Miley, Hanson and Elena…

Of the whole group, only he and Will were yet unmated. Of course, there were over a hundred werewolves besides in the pack, some of whom had found their mates long ago, but it still left Eddie feeling like an odd one out.

Glancing at Will, he wondered, does it bother him as much as it does me?

He couldn't really imagine so. Will was always the ladies’ man. He had been quite the conqueror during their war days. Eddie couldn't imagine him ever settling down with just one woman.

Why it was even on his mind so much, Eddie didn’t know, but since he had met Winter that morning, it seemed to be all he could think about.

He had to get his head back in the game and listen to whatever the hell it was that Jack had brought them here to say. Besides, he was almost certain it had something to do with her, anyway.

“I’m sure some of you are wondering why we had a visit from a witch this afternoon,” Jack said, as if he had read Eddie’s mind. The alpha looked around the room as many of his men started to nod, Eddie included.

He had been the one to deliver the message that had brought her here in the first place. He had every right to know why she had been summoned.

“Well, during my long search for a way to protect the town from Christopher and his pack, I came across something that I believe will be most helpful,” Jack continued, dropping down into his seat behind his desk.

Zander, sitting in one of the armchairs opposite him, said, “Does this have something to do with the book as I saw you mulling over last night?”

Eddie’s mind immediately went back to the memory of when he had last seen Winter. She had been carrying a heavy-looking leatherback tome; it seemed pretty reasonable that Zander was onto something.

And when Jack nodded, Eddie clenched his jaw. If there was something in that book that could help them save the town from the man who had been plaguing them since almost day one, why had he let a witch walk out of the manor with it?

Somehow, it just didn’t feel quite right.

“Within the pages of that book, I came across a spell that will protect the town from any werewolf that is not connected to our pack in some way,” Jack explained. His gaze darkened, and Eddie’s sense of impending doom grew. “The only problem is that the key ingredient in this spell is one that would require a great sacrifice of one of us to attain.”

Silence filled the room for several moments. The weight of the air seemed to increase as everyone stared at their alpha, waiting for more information.

In the end, it was Layla who spoke up. “Perhaps I can help to get it?”

Of course, being the business partner of Wylla and so dedicated to her work with herbs and plants, she was bound to think so; yet the expression on Jack’s face told Eddie it wasn’t about to be that simple.

“Unfortunately, it isn’t something you can simply grow or buy,” Jack said.

“So what is it?”

Layla’s question hung in the air, growing sour.

Eddie’s chest tightened. The wolf inside him was awakening, his sense of danger bringing him forth.

“In order for the spell to be completed by a witch of the town, she must connect herself to our pack,” Jack explained. “This witch must be powerful, capable of wielding the spell, and also willing to mate with one of our own.”

There was a chorus of astonished gasps from the others within the room.

Even Eddie joined them, utterly shocked by the words that had just come from his alpha’s mouth.

“You want one of our own to mate with a witch?” Kane exclaimed, sounding just as stunned as the rest of them.

“No werewolf in his right mind would do that!” Hanson put in.

“Who said anything about it being a male wolf? There are male witches in town,” Miley put in, her eyes blazing with red anger that rivaled even her flaming red hair.

“The spell specially calls for a female witch,” Jack explained, sighing deeply before he turned his gaze upon Eddie and Will, who just so happened to be leaning on the same wall of the office.

“Hey, don’t look at me. I’m perfectly happy as a lone wolf,” Will said, raising his hands. “Looks like you’re up, Eddie.”

Will pushed himself off the wall and stepped away, looking at Eddie with a mischievous expression.

“You haven’t had much luck with she-wolves,” the golden-haired wolf continued. “Maybe it’s time you tried your charms on a witch instead.”

Eddie’s insides twisted painfully, and he let out a low growl, his hands tightening into fists at his sides.

“This isn’t about mating. It’s about protecting the pack and the town,” Eddie pointed out. “Where’s your sense of loyalty?”

“Hey, I don’t need to fuck a witch to show my loyalty,” Will said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “Who pissed in your cereal this morning?”

Eddie’s anger was rising, his wolf threatening to burst forward. It was one thing to joke about his lack of success in mating, and it was quite another to talk about fucking a witch as if she were nothing but a possession to help them succeed in protecting the town.

Winter is far more than that! Eddie thought, ready to pounce on Will, though why she specifically had been the witch to pop into his mind, he didn’t know. He told himself it was because he didn’t know many witches in town. In fact, he didn’t know many at all.

But his gut told him it was something more than that, something that made him want to rip Will’s head off.

“Eddie is right, Will,” Jack said. “This isn’t about the needs of any one wolf. It’s about the pack and the town.”

“I was just being generous,” Will said, smirking at Eddie in his usual amused way. Ordinarily, Eddie might have taken his words as nothing more than a joke. But today, after seeing Carly flirting with him, he was in no damn mood for jokes. “Eddie’s luck in the female department hasn’t been very stellar lately.”

“And yours has?” Eddie demanded, stepping up to face Will head on.

He could feel the eyes of everyone else locked on him. Were they laughing at him? Did they find Will’s jokes as funny as they always had? He was a funny guy, always making everyone laugh and smile. But today, Eddie wanted nothing more than to sink his teeth into him.

“Fuck this!”

Eddie turned on his heels and strode for the door, barging his way past Kane, who was standing close by.

“Hey, we haven’t been dismissed!” Kane called after him, narrowly managing to get out of the way before Eddie yanked the door open on him.

Eddie cringed. He was right. He couldn’t just leave a pack meeting without the permission of his alpha, but right now, he couldn’t stop his feet from moving, from carrying him away from the laughter.

“Let him go,” Jack sighed, as if he knew well that no good could come of dragging him back into the room.

Eddie felt no relief at his alpha’s words. All he felt was anger and frustration. He needed to get away from Will before he did something he might regret.

Why his emotions were so high today, he didn’t know. But his wolf was clawing at his insides to be free, and he couldn’t ignore that on his best of days. The safest place for him, and for his pack right now, was outside.