Chapter 51 — Bree

Emily-Rose drives me to the bookstore. It’s only been two days since I was last at work, but it feels like a lifetime. So much has happened.

“Are you planning to ask Sheri what she knows?” Emily-Rose asks.

I tear my eyes away from the buildings and trees of Clear Ridge outside the car windows. “Aren’t you curious?”

“I am,” she says thoughtfully. “It’s uncanny that she knew you would need my presence to help you shift. I wonder what it’s like to be a seer.”

I chuckle. “Don’t tell me you want to see the future.”

“I don’t know.” She sighs. Her fingers tap on the wheel. “It would be nice to see how Derek feels about me.”

“Derek?” My eyes widen. “What’s going on and why am I in the dark?”

“Nothing is going on,” she protests. “That night we spent together, alone, at the dorm…” She looks at me. “Things got a little heated, but nothing happened. Not everything…at least.”

I stare at my roommate. “Wow! I’ve been so focused on myself. How could I not notice something?”

“It’s okay.” She smiles tightly. “I think he’s still stuck on you. I hope I’m wrong.”

“You’re wrong,” I assure her. “Me and Derek…We’re just friends who thought we loved each other because we didn’t know better.” I remember Derek instinctively covering her with a blanket, carrying her to her room, taking care of her in ways that I should have noticed these past two days. “I think he likes you,” I say confidently.

“Yeah.” She grins with her usual bravado. “If he doesn’t, it’s his loss, right?”

I nod. “Right.”

Outside the store, the Happy Mystic sign hanging over the entrance is familiar and welcoming. The bell announces our arrival, and Sheri looks up from behind the register where she’s going through the mail. She studies me for a long moment, her eyes seeming to take in everything about me all at once.

“So, you and Rainn,” she says, not taking her eyes from me. “It’s happened?”

“Yes.” I take a step toward her, frowning. “How did you know?”

She shrugs. “I know things. Sometimes, I see them like daydreams. I knew you would come to me. I knew Rainn was your mate. I knew in a moment of danger, Emily-Rose’s presence would give you the strength to defend both yourself and her. I don’t know everything, obviously, and sometimes I confuse my own wishes for knowings, but…” She sighs.

“You were right about a lot. All of it, actually.” I pause. “So, you’re a seer?”

She laughs. “Not really. I wish.” The bell at the door dings, and a long-haired guy walks into the store. He doesn’t look much like our usual customers, like someone who’d be interested in mystical texts or gothic novels. He adjusts his studded jean jacket and gives us a quick smile before disappearing into the shelves.

“What’s the difference?” Emily-Rose asks Sheri.

“Seers are stronger, and the things they see are more concrete, not the vague metaphors I see sometimes,” Sheri replies in a lowered tone.

“Vague metaphors.” I frown. “Like my dreams. They point toward things, like Rainn being important, but they never tell me anything for sure.”

Sheri nods in agreement, then her eyes widen in horror. Emily-Rose screams and lunges forward, but not quickly enough. I feel a stabbing pain in my back, and a moment later, something cold pours into my bloodstream from a needle. Behind me, the long-haired guy has a look of feral satisfaction in his eyes. A wolf, I realize. A suppressed one, probably. That’s why even though I could sense something off about him, I couldn’t sense anything else.

I try to shift, to defend myself, but to my horror, I realize my wolf is gone.

The bell dings as the door opens again. Hugo enters first, his eyes red and angry, followed by Leonidas Gage in an expensive black suit.

Gage grins at Sheri, his malicious glee at odds with his distinguished appearance. “Bet you didn’t see that one coming, seer.”

Sheri rushes out from behind the desk. I don’t know what she thinks she can do. They’re both wolves, bigger than her, even in human form.

Gage grabs her hand before she reaches him and plucks a pair of scissors from her fingers. “Oh, someone likes to stab,” he says in his cultured, elegant voice. “How would you like to have those fingers broken, seer?”

His fingers tighten around hers, and she screams. I hear bones cracking.

“Please!” I scream. “Please. Leave her alone.”

Gage releases Sheri and smiles at me, then at Hugo.

“Take them all back to Falling River.” He looks at me. “This one’s mate I have business with. The other will be good for entertainment.” He looks Emily-Rose over, his disgust barely concealed. “They breed easily, these humans, and we have wolves to make.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she spits at him.

Hugo cracks a hand across her face, and she falls against me, bleeding from a cut on her lip.

“You won’t get away with this,” I hiss.

Gage laughs, and the sound is like torture in my soul. “Young one. I already have.”