Chapter 3: Maeve

I watch as Beta Trevor leaves the shop. My heart is beating so fast I think I might have a heart attack. Meadow and Tate come rushing up to me, wrapping their arms around me.

“Are you okay?” Meadow asks.

“Did he hurt you?” Tate asks.

“Yes, I’m okay. No, he didn’t hurt me.” I say, pulling away.

My throat is sore and I’ll have to cover what I know will be fingerprint bruises tomorrow, but I’m alive and so are they.

I look at the mess in the store. “You two go back to bed, I’ll clean this up.” I say.

“We don’t have school tomorrow, Maeve. We can help you.” Meadow says.

“Yeah. We can help. Worst case scenario, I’ll sleep in tomorrow morning.” Tate says.

Meadow and I both snort. Tate sleeps in every day he can.

I see Tate’s lips twitch and I know he said it to make us laugh, and it did.

It’s early in the morning before we get everything cleaned up. “Okay, let’s get to bed. Tomorrow will be a long day and then you have to go to school the next day.

After I get Meadow and Tate back into their beds, I go to my room and look at my neck. Just as expected, I have black and blue marks surrounding my throat. It wasn’t long after my parents death that I realized that I would need things to cover the bruises that Beta Trevor leaves on me. He never comes to visit without hurting me. He threatens to hurt Meadow and Tate, but I won’t let him near them. I take whatever he gives me, knowing that I’m keeping them safe from him. Soon, someday very soon, I’ll take them and leave this place. Run as far from here as I can. And if I'm dead, then Meadow can take Tate and they can get away from this hell.

It's a dream of mine. Run to someplace new, open a new shop where I don’t flinch every the time bell rings above the door worrying that it’s Beta Trevor or Gwen. Then, maybe, I can get Meadow and Tate through school, and possibly find myself someone special to settle down with, maybe have a couple of kids together.

I snort in my head. Yeah, I’ll have a white picket fence and dog barking happily in the yard too. Those dreams aren’t meant for me. They never were.

I wrap a scarf around my neck. I’ve purchased ones that are thin and look decorative so that during warmer months, like right now, it doesn’t seem odd that I’m wearing one. I also only buy long sleeved shirts now, so the marks on my arms don’t show. I can’t afford to raise any red flags to my customers. While they might have good intentions, any focus on me and my family could mean Meadow and Tate ending up in foster care.

I get through the day and when Meadow wakes up, she makes breakfast bringing me some. We work well together. She’s learned many of the spells and potions that I knew at her age and at night, we practice together. She’s made many of the ones that we need for the real witches. Those are in the back, only available if you know to ask for them.

Sunday is the best day. It’s the day that we stay open the shortest amount of time. It’s the one day a week that I get to sleep in. Then Meadow and I make a huge breakfast and when we close the shop at 5pm, the three of us go to the park and enjoy the fresh air. It gives Tate a chance to run around and get rid of his pent-up energy. I get to sit on the park bench and enjoy the fresh air, letting all the stress of the past week and the upcoming week wash away for a short time.

Today, however, I get a call in the middle of the afternoon. Beta Gwen.

“You have to do something. The Guardian is pregnant, he won’t reject her, and he won’t let her leave the pack.”

I warned not to mess with the Guardians, but she’s so arrogant, she thought it would be a piece of cake to get her Alpha.

“There’s nothing more I can do. They either have to reject each other, or the Guardian has to reject both bonds, the mate bond and the Guardian bond.”

“What if he marks me?” She asks.

I know I told Beta Trevor that there wasn’t a loophole, but I put the very few that I could sneak in, into the spell. It was dangerous to lie to him, but over the years, I’ve realized he knows nothing of magic and neither does his daughter. So, I made sure that that even if she convinced the Alpha to mark her, that it wouldn’t last until the other mate bond was broken.

“Their bond must be broken before yours can be made.” She growls low at my response.

“Do you have any spells to get rid of a pregnancy?”

I know my mouth drops to the floor. It’s one thing to ask someone to make a spell to have someone forget something or to not recognize a mate bond. It’s quite another to ask someone to create a spell that will kill another human being. That’s one of the reasons my parents left their coven. Those witches were dabbling in dark magic. No matter the consequences, I refuse to become that kind of witch.

“I am not a killer.” I snap before slamming the phone down.

I lean over the desk in the back where I took the call. Meadow, hearing my raised voice rushes in.

“What happened?” She asks.

I fall into the chair, putting my head in my hands. This just got so much worse. There is no way the Guardians will let me live if they ever find out I had a role in this.

I look up at Meadow. “Is your bag packed? Do you have the bag for Tate as well?”

“Maeve, what happened?” She asks and I see real fear in her eyes. There’s no since in lying to her. It will only make her question things later, or keep her from understanding the real danger that I’m in.

“The Guardian that I had to create the spell for? The one for Beta Gwen to break their mate bond?”

“Yes?”

“The Guardian is pregnant with the Alpha’s child.”

Meadow’s eyes go wide and she sucks air through her teeth. I watch as her mouth moves but nothing comes out.

“So, I need to know that you are ready. I need to know that if, or most likely when, things go badly, that you will take Tate and you will run. Run as far away from here as you can.”

She nods.

That night, after I get Tate into bed, I go over all of the financials with Meadow. I make sure she knows how to access all our funds, all the passwords, everything.

My life is forfeit, I know that. But I’ve done everything I can to ensure that they will have a good life after I’m gone.