Chapter 65

Gretchen's heart started to race as she stood in the entryway of Vita’s home. She began to get nervous. How did he know her name? She had never seen the man before although there was a slight familiarity in the air like she could trust him. She reached down to scratch a mark that rested in the curve of her hand. Whenever she was nervous she would scratch that spot. She had had the mark for as long as she could remember.

“What seems to be the problem, Zachary?” Madeline asked as she walked down the hall. Madeline sucked in a breath and dropped the cane that she had been walking with down onto the floor. Her heart raced as she stared at the girl standing awkwardly in front of her. The girl was the spitting image of her daughter whom she'd lost years ago.

Zachary rushed over to his mother to catch her before she fell. She was not building her strength back from the spell she’d performed. He helped walk her into the parlor room that was just off the entryway and sat her down on the couch. Ruby rushed in with a glass of water for her to drink. Madeline smiled at Ruby as she took the drink from her and took a sip.

“Thank you, dear,” she told Ruby.

Gretchen and Vita had been quiet the entire time and walked slowly into the parlor room.

“Zachary, how did you know Gretchen’s name?” Vita asked.

Madeline rested her hand on Zachary’s hand and looked at her son. Zachary knew what his mother was going to say and just nodded. Madeline sighed as she took in a deep breath before she started.

“Zachary had an older sister named Bethany, who was in love with a boy from another coven and ended up pregnant with his child. There was a fallout with the family and she ran away. I had written her dozens of letters apologizing and begging her to come back, but she never did. One day, I received a letter in the mail that was a picture of a baby and her name was Gretchen.” Madeline looked at Gretchen will tears built up in her eyes, “You look exactly like your mother.”

Gretchen’s hand went over her heart. Her mother had died years ago when she was a little girl and her father, not wanting to raise her on his own, married another witch from the coven. A woman so driven to be one of Persephone’s trusted few, she’d do anything the woman asked her to do. She had very few memories of her mother, but the few she had she’d always treasured.

Madeline pulled out a small pocketbook that she had tucked into the pocket of her dress and pulled out an old photo that had been held many times over the years. She handed it to Zachary who walked it over to Gretchen.

Gretchen looked down at the photo that was being shown to her and sucked in a breath. It was the woman from her memories.

Her mom.

Gretchen started to shake as the tears rolled down her cheeks. Zachary pulled her into his arms and held her. “Oh, Gretchen, you’re finally home with us.”

Vita shivered as she heard a howl in the distance. “I’m going to go wait for them out front,” she said softly.

Ruby nodded. “I think I’ll join you.”

Vita and Ruby both quietly left the room so that Zachary, Madeline, and Gretchen could have some time to themselves.

Vita’s stomach started to get flutters as she sensed Deak getting closer to her house. There was a part of her that missed him and was curious to see him in his Lycan form. At the corner of the property, she saw a tall, hairy figure. She sucked in a breath as she watched him shift back into his human form.

Deak was walking back to the house in just a pair of shorts. Vita leaned against the railing as she watched Deak move toward the house. She bit down on her lower lip as she enjoyed the view she was getting. As Deak got closer, Vita could feel her cheeks burning and lowered her head to hide her blush.

Deak walked up right to where she was leaning against the railing. “Like something you see?” he asked with a smirk on his face.

Vita shook her head and headed back inside before he questioned her further.

“Deak?”

Deak turned to look over at Ruby. He could sense that she was worried about something.

She continued to look out at the view from the front porch, trying hard to not make a scene. “What do you know about this girl Gretchen?”

“Vita knew her when she was dating a guy in that coven a few years back," he said. "She got mixed up with Ophelia, and Ophelia’s been using her for her magic.”

Ruby looked at him in bewilderment. “Is she the one who put the spell on his bracelet?”

Deak shook his head. “I think that Tristan guy helped Ophelia with that one,” he snarled. “What I’d do to him if I had the chance.”

Ruby rubbed his arm gently. She looked around as she waited to see the rest of the wolves show up. “How fast did you go to get here, Deak?”

Deak shrugged. “Practically jogged at Lycan speed.”

Ruby rolled her eyes as she continued to look over the property. Something didn’t feel right. They should have been here by now.

***

Artemis was having a heck of a time trying to run as he had to deal with a temperamental Hudson riding in the back seat. Too many times Hudson wanted to the control back and shift back into human form to run the rest of the distance. Artemis would let out a ferocious growl reminding Hudson who he was dealing with.

The distance between them and Deak had grown farther and farther apart. Tabitha hadn’t run to Vita’s before so she wasn’t sure if they were going the right way. It seemed like they’d been circling for the last twenty minutes.

Tabitha started a mind-link among her, Marco, and Hudson.

Tabitha: Do you even know where you’re going?

Hudson: Of course I do.

Marco: Something’s wrong. We should have been there by now.

Artemis slowed as he started to sniff the air. The hair on his back was raised as he let out a defensive growl.

Hudson: Tab, stay close to Marco. We’re being followed.

Artemis turned and started to growl at Colson. Colson shifted back quickly into his human form. “I swear, I had no idea,” he said before he shifted and ran off like a coward.

Hudson, Tabitha, and Marco bunched together as wolves started to circle them.

An older man walked out of the forest. Hudson could tell that he was the Alpha of these wolves.

“Well, look who we have here,” Samuel chuckled. “My little girl is going to be so happy to see you.”