Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Aneira

I narrowed my eyes.

There should not have been anything living this far into the mountain passes.

My wolf stirred uneasily beneath my skin and that alone was enough to concern me.

Still, freezing to death on a mountain path seemed significantly worse than investigating suspicious lights, so I pushed myself unsteadily back to my feet and followed the glow deeper into the trees.

The forest changed almost immediately.

The air smelled strange here.

Small charms hung from tree branches overhead; carved bones, silver thread, dried flowers tied together with symbols I didn’t recognize. Some moved despite the complete lack of wind.

The golden light grew brighter ahead.

Then the trees opened.

I stopped walking.

A small cottage sat hidden between the mountains as though the forest itself had grown around it protectively. Warm light glowed through circular windows while herbs and strange plants hung drying from the wooden porch. Wind chimes made from bones and crystals clinked softly overhead.

My instincts screamed at me to leave.

Instead, I limped forward carefully toward the porch.

The door opened before I touched it.

I froze instantly.

A young beautiful woman stood inside the doorway wrapped in deep green fabric embroidered with silver thread. Long grey braids hung over one shoulder while dozens of rings glittered across dark fingers resting against the doorframe.

Her eyes landed on me immediately.

They were pure gold.

“Well,” she sighed dramatically before looking upward toward the ceiling as if personally offended by the universe. “That ridiculous mutt finally found his mate.”

I blinked.

“…Excuse me?”

Her gaze sharpened slightly.

“Oh dear,” she murmured. “You rejected him already.”

I stared at her.

She stared back.

Then she clicked her tongue softly.

“That explains why the bond feels like it’s trying to rip itself apart.”

A long silence followed.

“…Who are you?” I asked carefully.

“People usually call me Morvena.” She paused. “Though significantly less polite people have called me worse.”

“That does not answer my question at all.”

“No,” she agreed pleasantly. “But it was still informative.”

I considered leaving immediately.

Unfortunately my legs chose that exact moment to nearly collapse beneath me.

Morvena caught my arm before I hit the ground.

“Oh, there it is,” she said calmly. “I was wondering when the severing would start trying to kill you.”

“…The what?”

“Yes, that was an extremely reckless thing you did, by the way.” She guided me farther inside the cottage before shutting the door behind us. “Rejecting an Alpha under a full moon? Very dramatic. Terrible for the nervous system.”

My head was beginning to hurt.

The inside of the cottage smelled overwhelmingly of herbs and smoke. Shelves lined the circular walls covered in glass jars, strange books, dried plants, crystals, and objects I deliberately chose not to examine too closely.

A black cat lifted its head from near the fireplace and stared at me judgmentally.

Rude.

Morvena pointed toward a chair near the fire.

“Sit.”

I hesitated.

The woman looked unimpressed.

“If I intended to harm you,” she said dryly, “you would already be unconscious.”

The windows rattled violently.

I sat immediately.

“Good choice,” she said approvingly.

I watched carefully as she moved around the cottage.

“You’re an enchantress,” I realized slowly.

“Unfortunately.”

“You say that like it’s a disease.”

“In many ways, it is.”

Before I could respond, dizziness slammed into me hard enough that my head nearly slammed against the table.

The woman caught my arm effortlessly and cold power rushed through her fingers instantly.

I gasped.

The sensation spread through my body unnaturally fast; silver light flashing briefly beneath her skin as warmth surged through my chest and outward into every aching muscle. The pain beneath my ribs recoiled violently before slowly settling into something quieter.

Magic.

Actual magic.

My wolf stirred hard beneath my skin for the second time that night.

The enchantress noticed immediately.

Of course she did.

“Hm.”

I stiffened slightly. “What?”

“That is interesting.”

I hated when mysterious magical people said things like that.

“What is interesting?”

Instead of answering immediately, Morvena stepped closer before placing two fingers briefly against my forehead.

The reaction was instant.

My wolf surged forward so suddenly that silver flashed across my vision for half a second.

Morvena went still.

Then slowly, very slowly, she smiled.

More like someone discovering a secret they had not expected to find.

“Oh,” she murmured softly. “You are going to become everyone’s problem.”

Before I could demand clarification, she stepped back and released my arm.

The weakness in my legs had vanished completely.

I stared at her.

“What did you do?”

“Kept you from collapsing on the mountains and dying dramatically in the snow.”

“That was possible?”

“Oh, very.”

The enchantress turned away from me then and moved calmly toward a nearby table covered in herbs and strange glass bottles.

“You can stay here.”

I blinked once.

“…What?”

“The cottage,” she said simply. “You may have it.”

Suspicion hit immediately.

“You don’t even know me.”

“No,” she agreed. “But Nythera does.”

That explained absolutely nothing.

“I can pay eventually,” I said cautiously.

The enchantress laughed softly at that.

“No, little hybrid. Money would be far too easy.”

My stomach tightened instantly. Very few people knew what I was.

Every instinct I possessed immediately disliked where this conversation was heading.

“What do you want?”

She glanced toward me then.

Moonlight spilled silver through the cottage windows behind her, illuminating the strange symbols carved into her skin which I hadn’t noticed before.

“When the time comes,” she said calmly, “I will ask something of you.”

My stomach tightened.

“And if I refuse?”

Her smile deepened slightly.

“You won’t.”

That was somehow worse than a threat.

Silence settled between us for several long seconds.

Then, before I could ask another question, the enchantress moved toward the door.

“Wait,” I said immediately. “You’re leaving?”

“You require sleep. I require significantly less conversation.”

“You’re just giving your house to a stranger?”

“You’re not a stranger,” she replied lightly but confidently.

She stepped outside into the moonlight before pausing once more near the edge of the porch.

“Oh,” she added casually, “and if the Alpha eventually finds you, do try not to let him destroy the forest. The mountains are already insufferable enough.”

“…What?”

“Also take care of Hex. He can be a bit of a handful.”

Then she disappeared.

One second she stood beneath the moonlight and the next, the forest was empty.

Silence filled the clearing again.

I stared at the place she had vanished for several long seconds before looking slowly back toward the cottage behind me.

Warm firelight flickered softly through the windows.

Safe.

Mine.

For the first time in years, I stood somewhere that did not belong to Ashfang.

And somewhere far beyond the mountains, the mate bond pulsed once beneath my ribs like a reminder that freedom was never going to come easily.