Chapter 9 The Witch's Education (Ember's POV)
I stood under the shower spray until the water ran cold, scrubbing at my skin like I could wash away everything that had happened. But Trey's scent clung to me, mixed with earth and pine and something indefinably wild.
When I finally emerged wrapped in a towel, Sage was sitting on her bed, watching me with barely concealed amusement.
"So." She drew out the word, grinning. "How was it?"
Heat flooded my cheeks. "How was what?"
"Oh, come on. Don't play innocent with me now." She leaned forward, eyes sparkling with curiosity. "You just had sex with Trey Jarred in the middle of the forest. I want details."
"Sage!" I grabbed clothes from my dresser, keeping my back to her.
"What? I'm your best friend. This is what best friends do... share intimate details about their sex lives." She paused. "Wait. That was your first time, wasn't it?"
I pulled on underwear beneath the towel, my face burning. "Maybe."
"Holy shit, it was." Sage bounced slightly on her bed. "Em! Your first time was with your supernatural mate in a moonlit forest clearing. That's like, romance novel level dramatic."
"It wasn't romantic. It was..." I struggled to find words while pulling on jeans. "Confusing. Intense. Kind of terrifying, actually."
"But good, right?" Her grin softened into something more genuine. "Please tell me it was at least good."
I turned to face her, pulling a shirt over my head. "It was weird."
"Weird how?"
"Like..." I sat on my bed, across from hers. "Like my body knew what to do even though my brain had no idea. Like something was guiding me, pushing me, making me want things I've never wanted before." I met her eyes. "Is that normal?"
"For humans? Probably not. For supernatural mates?" She shrugged. "From what I've read, mate bonds can be pretty overwhelming. Especially during the first claiming."
"The first claiming?" I repeated. "That sounds ominous."
"It's just what they call it when mates consummate their bond. It's supposed to be this huge deal in wolf culture." She tilted her head, studying me. "Did it hurt?"
"At first. Then..." I trailed off, the memory making my skin flush again. "Then it felt good. Really good. Like nothing I've ever felt before."
"And Trey? Was he gentle? Considerate? Or did the wolf thing make him all aggressive and possessive?"
"Both?" I laughed despite myself. "He kept asking if I was okay, if I wanted to stop. But there was this edge to him, like he was barely holding himself back. His eyes kept flashing gold, and when he..." I stopped, suddenly embarrassed.
"When he what?" Sage pressed.
"When he finished, he bit my shoulder. Not hard enough to break skin, but hard enough that I'll probably have a bruise." I touched the spot, feeling the tender flesh beneath my shirt.
Sage's expression shifted from curiosity to concern. "Em, that's a claiming mark. Wolves bite their mates during sex to mark them as theirs. Every supernatural in this school will be able to smell that you belong to Trey now."
"Belong to him?" Anger sparked in my chest. "I don't belong to anyone."
"I know, I know." She held up her hands. "Poor word choice. But that's how they'll see it. You're his mate now, which means you're under his protection. But also under his authority."
"That's bullshit."
"Yeah, it is. But it's also supernatural law." She stood up, moving to her closet. "Which is why we need to get you educated. Fast. Before someone tries to use your ignorance against you."
"What do you mean?"
She pulled out a dark jacket, tossing it to me. "Put that on. We're going somewhere we won't be disturbed."
"Where?"
"You'll see. Just trust me."
Twenty minutes later, we were standing in the library's basement level, a section I'd never noticed before despite three years at Thornfield. Sage led me past rows of storage shelves to a wall that looked like every other wall.
She pressed her palm against a specific stone, whispering words I couldn't quite hear. The wall shimmered, then split down the middle, revealing a narrow passage.
"What the hell?"
"Whitmore family secret." She gestured for me to follow. "Come on."
The passage opened into a room that shouldn't have been able to exist beneath the library. It was massive, with vaulted ceilings and walls lined with books that looked older than the school itself. Glass cases displayed weapons—silver daggers, wooden stakes, ornate swords with symbols carved into their blades.
"Welcome to the Whitmore Archive." Sage's voice echoed in the vast space. "Seven generations of supernatural record-keeping, all stored right here."
I moved to the nearest bookshelf, my fingers trailing over leather spines embossed with gold lettering. Some were in English, others in languages I didn't recognize. "This is incredible."
"It's necessary." She moved to a large table in the center of the room, where several books lay open. "The supernatural world doesn't have libraries or museums. Knowledge gets passed down through oral tradition, which means it gets distorted, lost, or deliberately altered. My family's job has been to record the truth. All of it."
"Why?"
"Because power comes from information." She pulled out a chair, gesturing for me to sit. "And because someone needs to remember what really happened, not just the version that serves whoever's currently in charge."
I sat, staring at the open books. One showed anatomical drawings of werewolves in various stages of transformation. Another contained what looked like family trees, with names and dates going back centuries.
"I've been researching all night." Sage pulled over another chair, settling beside me. "Trying to find everything I could about the Silver Wolf prophecy. And Em, there's a lot more to it than what you read at that assembly."
She flipped through one of the books, a massive tome bound in black leather, until she found the page she wanted. The text was handwritten in fading ink, the language archaic but still readable.
"Read this part." She pointed to a specific passage.
I leaned closer, my eyes scanning the text:
"When silver eyes meet crimson moon, the wolf-born child shall rise too soon. In blood and bone and ancient stone, she'll claim the power, stand alone. But power shared is power grown—the Silver Wolf will bear twins of mixed blood."
My breath caught. "Twins?"
"Keep reading."
"These children, born of two opposing lines, shall carry in their blood the choice of all wolfkind. Raised in wisdom, they bring peace. Raised in hatred, they bring destruction. The mother must choose their path, for in her choice lies the fate of all supernatural beings."
I sat back, my mind reeling. "This isn't about me destroying the Ravencrest Pack. It's about..."
"It's about your children." Sage's voice was gentle but firm. "Everyone wants to use you, Em. Ravencrest wants to control you so your kids will serve their interests. The Silvermoon Pack probably wants the same thing. You're not just a weapon to them, you're a womb. A vessel for the next generation."
Nausea rolled through my stomach. "That's disgusting."
"That's supernatural politics." She closed the book carefully. "The prophecy doesn't say you'll destroy anyone. It says your children might, depending on how they're raised. You're the key to the future, but not in the way either pack has been telling it."
"So they've been lying? Both of them?"
"Not lying, exactly. More like... interpreting the prophecy in ways that serve their interests." She pulled over another book, this one smaller with a red leather cover. "Ravencrest sees you as a threat because they're afraid you'll raise your kids to destroy them. Silvermoon sees you as salvation because they think you'll raise your kids to restore their power."
"But what if I don't want kids?" The words burst out before I could stop them. "What if I don't want any of this?"
"Then you're in for a rough time, because neither pack will care what you want." Sage's hand found mine, squeezing gently. "That's why we need to figure out how to protect you. How to give you choices instead of ultimatums."
I stared at the prophecy text, my vision blurring slightly. "I slept with Trey last night. What if I'm already..."
"One time doesn't usually result in pregnancy. Especially not..." She trailed off, looking uncomfortable.
"Especially not what?"
"Especially not for wolves. From what I've read, supernatural pregnancies require multiple matings during a female's heat cycle. You'd know if you were in heat, it's supposed to be pretty obvious."
Relief flooded through me, quickly followed by a different kind of fear. "But it could happen eventually. If Trey and I..."
"If you two keep having sex, yes. Eventually you'd go into heat and conception would be almost guaranteed." She squeezed my hand again. "But Em, that's a choice you get to make. Nobody can force you to have children. Not the prophecy, not the packs, not even your mate."
I nodded, but couldn't shake the feeling that everyone else had already decided my future. That my choices had been made before I even knew I was supernatural.
"There's more." Sage flipped through the black tome again. "This section talks about inherited memories. When a wolf comes into their power, they sometimes experience memories from their bloodline. Usually ancestors, sometimes parents. It helps them understand their heritage."
"I've been having weird dreams."
"That's probably the start of it. But it might get more intense as your power grows." She looked at me seriously. "If it happens, don't fight it. Let the memories come. They might show you things you need to know."
I turned my attention back to the books, trying to absorb everything. There was so much information, so many rules and traditions and dangers I'd never known existed.
My fingers traced the text of the prophecy again, lingering on the words about my hypothetical children. Unite all packs under one banner or burn the supernatural world to ash.
"What if I choose neither?" I whispered. "What if I just walk away from all of this?"
"Can you?" Sage's question was gentle. "Can you really walk away from Trey? From your heritage? From who you are?"
Before I could answer, pain exploded behind my eyes.
The library disappeared, replaced by images so vivid they felt more real than reality.
A woman with my face screamed, her silver eyes wide with terror. She clutched a baby against her chest as werewolves tore through wooden walls. Their snarls filled the air, mixing with her desperate pleas.
"Please! She's innocent! She's just a baby!"
A massive black wolf lunged, its jaws aimed at her throat. She twisted, using her body to shield the infant, and the wolf's teeth sank into her shoulder instead.
She fell, blood pooling beneath her. But somehow, impossibly, she managed to press the baby into someone's arms. A man. His face was twisted with terror and grief.
"Run!" she gasped. "Take her and run, Marcus! Don't let them find her!"
The man stumbled backward, the baby wailing in his arms. Behind him, another figure appeared. A young woman with pale green eyes and dark hair.
"This way!" the young woman shouted. "I'll hold them off!"
I came back to myself on the floor, Sage kneeling beside me. Her hands pressed against my face, and I realized with distant surprise that I was crying.
No. Not just crying.
I touched my upper lip, and my fingers came away red.
"You're bleeding." Sage's voice sounded far away. "Em, your nose is bleeding. What happened?"
"I saw it." The words came out thick, choked. "I saw my mother die. I saw my father run. I saw Ms. Silvermoon try to save us."
"Inherited memory?"
I nodded, unable to speak past the lump in my throat. The images were still so vivid, so real. My mother's silver eyes. Her blood on the floor. The way she'd used her body to shield mine.
"She saved me." My voice cracked. "She died saving me."
Sage pulled me into a hug, and I let myself break down. Let myself grieve for a mother I'd never known but had just watched die. For a father who'd been forced to run instead of fight. For a young Raven Silvermoon who'd tried to protect us and paid the price.
"It's okay," Sage murmured, rocking me gently. "Let it out. Just let it out."