Chapter 49: Violet

Time was cruel. When you didn’t want it to fade fast, it would. And when you wanted it to fade fast it wouldn’t. It would tick by slowly mocking you as you tried your best to distract yourself. The thing about it was, I couldn’t distract myself. I was too excited. This was my first date. Even though Simon may have just said date in as a passing term, I wanted it to be a real date. If I got there and he acted differently, I would know he didn’t think of it as a real date. I would be crushed but would survive. Then I could focus on getting my coven to safety.

I looked up at the clock, five twenty. It was safe to leave now. I pulled the last wine bottle from the basket to take as a gift. My mother always told me when you visit anyone always bring a gift. I walked out the back door and jumped down the stairs.

“Calm down, Violet.” I took a deep breath. The butterflies in my stomach went crazy. Ready to be released out into the wild. I took the trail that hugged the edge of the lake. The sun was going down and it was twilight. Still enough light to see to walk, but not as bright as it was earlier. The rain from earlier made the forest smell alive. Even though fall was upon us, I could still feel life bursting beneath. The smell reminded me of Simon. I smiled, I would soon be in his presence and be able to breath him in throughout the evening.

I slowly walked along the trail. The clearing that had the big stone that looked like an altar was coming up. I stopped at the clearing and looked out across the water. The falls were agitating the water on the far end, but only making small ripples to where I was at. I could see Simon’s house more clearly. People were darting in and out carrying things. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked at the time. Five forty-five. I was doing well. I fought every urge to run to the house. I could just see it. Me running like a bat out of hell to his front door, looking disheveled out of breath and handing over a bottle of wine. He would look at me like I was psychotic.

I took in the calming movements of the lake one last time before I started to continue my way to Simon. The forest got dense, like a natural barrier to unwanted visitors that may come across the pack house. A branch from a tree slowly drooped down to brush against my face. As if it wanted to touch me. To make sure I was real.

“Hello.” I said as I took the branch in my hand and held it. I could almost feel the tree shudder under my touch. Another branch bent down and brushed against the other side of my face, more eager than the previous branch. “Ok, now. Be gentle.” I laughed. “I promise I’ll spend some more time in the forest, but I cannot right now.” The branches slowly lifted to their natural position.

I continued, the forest line broke and I was now in the yard of the packhouse. I hesitated. It was bigger than I remembered. Last time I was fueled by rage and didn’t take the whole house in. Ivy grew on it like it was some sort of east coast college. If Simon wanted to, he could host one hundred people in here and there would still be more room.

I took another breath. “OK, let’s do this.” I made my way to the door. I looked at my phone one last time, it read five fifty-nine. “Perfect timing.”

I knocked on the door and stood there. I tried not to bounce with nervousness. I looked across the lake, I could see my house. It looked so small compared to this mansion. I could hear someone turning the knob. I turned and watched as the door swung open. Simon stood there smiling at me. Eyes gleamed. He looked as excited as I was.

“Hi.” He smiled.

My heart jumped into my throat. My stomach clenched. “Hi.”

“Long time no see.”

“Yeah right.” I laughed.

“It was too long for me actually.”

“You’re just being silly.” I looked down as I tried to hide my blushing face. “I brought you this.” I handed him the bottle of wine. “It looked so lonely without the other hundred bottles you bought.”

“Ha ha, very funny.” He took the bottle and came in for a hug. It almost felt like he was hesitant to give me. I could feel the electricity bounce off of us, it caused a jolt of energy to pulse through me. “Thank you. Come on in.”

He turned and I followed. He was wearing a tight-fitted button-down shirt, with the sleeves rolled up. His hair looked washed and back in a bun. He smelled like the forest, bonfire and some spice. He wore cologne.

I looked around the big front room. Before I didn’t really have a chance to look around. I was too angry to take it all in. The big windows in the front would normally bring in a lot of light in the daytime. But now, it made the room look darker. The big chandelier that hung in the center had yellow lights that cast shadows across the room. The dark wood moldings encircled the room, it created a hunter’s cabin feel. The stairs ran up the right side of the room and there was a hallway next to them, the hallway that he came down when I first met him.

“This hall is huge.”

“Yeah, it’s a little ridiculous. But works for the pack.” He turned and looked at me. “I have to say, I am so excited about tonight. I couldn’t sit still.”

“Really?” I didn’t believe him. He was excited for dinner with me. He was hot as hell, and I was just average, and he was excited.

“Yes, really. I had the pack running around like chickens with their heads cut off.”

“So that’s why there were so many people running around today?”

He looked at me and lifted and eyebrow. “You were watching the house?”

I looked at the ground, trying to hide my embarrassment. “Shut up.” I nudged his arm with my elbow.

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT!” I heard someone yell from above. “VIOLET IS THAT YOU?” Simon and I looked up to who was screaming. A young woman came darting down the stairs. She had a pixie cut, was petite for a wolf but was still larger than I was and had muscles gracing her limbs. She looked like someone from my childhood. But I couldn’t quite connect it until she was right in front of me, and I could see her eyes, they were full of mischief.

“Oh my god, Greta?!?!” I said, as goosebumps covered my body. I pulled her in and hugged her. Tears start to well up in my eyes. “It’s been what, a decade?”

“We thought you died. We didn’t know what to do. My parents didn’t want to get involved since it was witch business. But they were so concerned. Broke my dad’s heart when he didn’t hear from your dad.” Greta was full on sobbing, crushing me in her embrace.

“Shit went down. Pretty much everyone died.”

I could hear someone clear their throat. I pulled away slightly to look at who it was. Simon was stared in disbelief at what transpired here. “What is happening?”

“Oh, um, remember when I said that my family had witch friends with which we were really close. Well, it was Vi’s family.” Greta pulled away and pointed a thumb at me and wiped away the tears with her other hand.

“Yeah, you were like a sister to me.” I chuckled. “Or rather, magical cousin.”

“Why didn’t you say it was Violet?” Greta punched Simon in the arm. “I would have gone a totally different way with the gift basket.”

“You got help, huh?” I smirked at Simon. “Thought you picked it out yourself.”

“I did, but she reviewed it.”

“I would have added Cheeze-itz, Cool Ranch Doritos and Funyuns.” Greta laughed.

I guess I was in shock. I looked at her in disbelief. Greta, my friend from childhood, was standing in front of me. I thought the night was going to go a whole lot differently than how it was transpiring. “Oh my god, I have not thought about our junk food binge nights in a long time.”

“Now that you aren’t dead, we can still have them!” Greta said and pulled me into another hug.

“Yes!”

A cough came from behind Greta. She looked behind her. “Oh shit, sorry. Violet this is Jared, my mate.” The man that stood behind her was clean cut, with short hair and the only words that came to mind was ‘put together.’ He had his t-shirt tucked into his dark jeans. He looked the complete opposite of Simon. Simon looked wild but Jared looked tame.

“Hi, nice to meet you.” I held out a hand to him. He hesitated before taking it.

“You have to excuse him. He thinks witches are all old ladies that want to eat children.” Greta said.

“Who’s to say we are not?” I said with an evil smile.

Jared’s eyes widened in shock as he pulled his hand away quickly. Simon laughed under his breath. Greta and I looked at each other and started laughing hysterically.

“I have missed you, Violet. I cannot believe you are standing in our front hall and are mates….er.” Greta stopped her sentence. Simon stared daggers at her, his eyes were slightly whited out, as he talked to her through their link.

She stood there and looked down. I looked from Greta to Simon. He tried to keep a calm composure, but I could sense he was agitated.

“What? What did she say?” I was confused about what was happening.

“Don’t worry about it. Are you hungry?” Simon grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the hall leading to the back of the house.

“Starving. But I want to know what happened.”

“It’s nothing.” Simon looked over his shoulder. “Are you two coming? You might as well join us.”

I couldn’t help but think that Greta said something that should have meant something to me. But I didn’t get it. Simon acted weird. The smell of food distracted my thoughts. I hadn’t eaten all day, and now the smell of this food was making my mouth water. I wondered what the rest of this night was going to bring. I held hands with the Alpha of this pack as he led me through his house and seeing my friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was already turning out to be a crazy night.