Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Five

He stayed in my room until the milky moonlight traded places with the hazy dawn, his body wrapped around mine. While he slept, I stared at the windows, wide awake the whole night. I couldn't tell him the truth. Whatever I said, however I pitched it, the fact was I'd killed his brother. How would he ever be able to look at me again once he knew? There were other reasons, I told myself. He needed to concentrate on the change. I needed to keep my focus on the Becoming. If we got distracted, either of us, there was no telling how badly things might end. But they were excuses and I knew it.

Wyn stirred in my arms and outside the window, the birds began to sing.

‘We'll figure this out,' he promised as he crept out of my room, lingering on the balcony for too long, exposed by the early sun. ‘We'll find someplace safe where my family won't find me.'

‘What about Lydia's house?' I suggested, pulling my phone out of the backpack under my bed. ‘Her place has a bunch of outhouses they don't use, old stables, I think.'

‘You wouldn't have to explain why you need it?' he asked and I shook my head.

‘She's not the kind of friend who needs an explanation,' I replied. ‘Let me talk to her. If you can stay hidden for a while, I'll text you the address and meet you there later.'

He caught my wrists in his hands and leaned forward, his lips touching sweetly, softly to mine.

‘I love you,' he said, his ever-changing eyes tearing me apart.

‘I love you too,' I said, because it was true and I wanted him to hear me say it.

Because after he found out what I'd done, he wouldn't want to hear me say anything ever again.

‘Happy birthday, Emily!'

When I finally found my way downstairs, Catherine was waiting for me. She looked beautiful, her hair was glossy and her skin shone, making her vivid green eyes leap out even more than usual. The coffee table in the parlour was covered in extravagantly wrapped gifts but I barely even noticed them.

‘Everything is ready for tonight,' she said, clapping her hands together as I took in the scene. ‘It's all prepared. Your dress is being delivered this afternoon, I've had the most beautiful archway crafted by a local artisan, that should be here very soon, and whatever could be so wrong to mess up that perfect face with such a sad expression? Honey, what's wrong?'

‘Where's Ashley?' I asked. I couldn't sit down, I couldn't stay still.

‘Ashley is outside. Emily, really, whatever is the matter?'

There was no time left to lie. I didn't know what to believe anymore, my dad's version of the truth or Catherine's, but it didn't matter much now. Dad wasn't here and my grandmother was.

‘I need your help,' I said, my bottom lip quaking. ‘Do you remember my first day here, when I left the Powell house? I met someone. You met him too, the boy in the square.'

‘Can't say I recall,' Catherine replied. ‘That was a while ago. I've had a lot on my mind lately, you know.'

It was a fair point.

‘His name was Wyn,' I reminded her, clutching her hand and trying to let her know how serious this was. ‘You said no dating until after my birthday so I didn't tell you that we saw each other again. As friends.'

‘Friends? Is that right?'

She looked about as impressed as any grandmother who had just found out her sixteen-year-old granddaughter had been sneaking around with a boy against her wishes.

‘Maybe more than friends,' I confessed. ‘But he's so wonderful, Catherine, you would love him. I know keeping it a secret was wrong but he's in a lot of trouble and you're the only person who can help us.'

‘What kind of trouble?'

I bit my lip and cast my eyes downward.

‘Wyn is a Were.'

Catherine looked as though she might faint.

‘You couldn't have fallen for something as straightforward as a petty criminal,' she muttered. ‘No, that would've been too easy.'

‘I didn't know, he didn't even know.' The words were falling out of my mouth so fast I could hardly keep up with myself. ‘He's been gone but now he's back and he's going to phase for the first time tonight and I don't know what to do.'

‘You send him away.' Her order boomed around the room, all the happy birthday excitement gone from her eyes. ‘Emily, this is the most important night of our lives, yours and mine, and you brought a Were into this house?'

She looked at the door as though she was expecting to see him standing right there and I shook my head so hard my vision blurred.

‘He's not here, I sent him to the Powell house. Virginia is out of town for the weekend and I asked Lydia if he could hide in their old stables.'

Spurred into action, Catherine rose to her feet. ‘Those buildings won't be able to contain a first-phase Were. You need to bring him back here.'

‘Here?' I repeated. ‘But you just said—'

‘I know what I said and I was wrong,' she interrupted, squeezing my shoulders. It should have been reassuring but I was sure I heard my bones crack. ‘There's a woodshed in the garden, old but well built. We can't stop the phase but there are some herbs, some rituals that will help keep him calm if we can get to him before he changes. Once he is a wolf, he will not know you and we will not be able to help him.'

‘His family will be looking for him.' My voice dropped away into almost nothing at all. ‘And for me. The wolf I killed in Bonaventure—'

‘Was part of his pack,' she finished, breathing in as she planted her hands on her hips. ‘Oh, Emily, this just gets better and better. You couldn't have gone and messed around with the Powell boy?'

‘If we could control who we fell in love with, life would be a lot easier,' I reminded her and she laughed bitterly.

‘Touché, honey. That sure is true.'

She clapped her hands then pressed them together in a prayer. ‘Hiding the boy from his pack will be easy enough but if they sense your ceremony, they'll find us in a jiffy and I doubt they'll be so understanding about the fact you killed one of their own in self-defence. We can't have your wolf here and perform the Becoming ceremony at the same time. We need a plan B.'

My mind spun with possibilities, almost all of them ending in black flames and green skies. All except for one.

‘What if we leave?' I suggested. ‘If we're apart and I'm off Savannah soil, my magic won't manifest. If I leave for the airport right now, I could be two oceans away before the full moon rises.'

My grandmother stared at me in abject horror.

‘You would do that?' She was as white as a sheet. ‘You would abandon your Becoming, give up your magic?'

‘To save Wyn? In a heartbeat.'

If she didn't understand me before, she did now. I needed her to take me seriously and I knew there was nothing she took more seriously than our magic.

‘You would let it all go.' Catherine forced out the words as though she was in physical pain, both palms pressed to her stomach to stop her from doubling over. ‘Your heritage, your legacy, all the witches you're destined to awaken. You would sever our connection to the blessing, all to save a wolf?'

My entire being pulsed with conviction.

‘At least we'll still be here tomorrow,' I said, ‘even if we're not witches anymore. Wyn's life is more important than my magic. Catherine, I love him.'

‘I can see that,' she replied, softer now, more considerate. ‘You've got the same look on your face your daddy had when he came to tell me about Angelica. Nothing he wouldn't have done for her. Nothing you won't do for him.'

‘It's not just that.' I fished through all the things Wyn had told me, trying to remember the exact words. ‘He said his pack felt a darkness rising, something really bad. It has to be me. If I'm so dangerous Weres can feel it from hundreds of miles away, we shouldn't go through with the ceremony. If you're sure you can keep Wyn safe, I have to leave.'

Catherine moved and blocked my path to the door as though I might make a run for it right away. ‘That won't help now. The full moon is on its way, the Becoming has already started, I know you can feel it. If we don't complete the ritual, the chances of you losing control are increased tenfold. Our only hope is to secure your boy and keep his pack away until after your ceremony. Once the full moon is out of their system, perhaps they'll listen to reason.'

‘And if they don't?'

‘After your Becoming, you'll be strong enough to make them.' She kissed me on top of the head then pulled away with a determined smile. ‘My brave, selfless girl. Ready to give up everything to save someone she loves.'

‘Just like my dad,' I whispered, searching for the same determination he had shown.

‘You are your father's daughter,' she agreed. Her smile only wavered for a second. ‘Now, I want you to go clear out the woodshed and let me take care of everything else. We're all going to get through this just fine, do not worry.'

But as she drew me into her embrace, there was a look in her eyes I'd never seen before.

Catherine was afraid.