Wolf Spell: Shifters Bewitched #1 by Tasha Black (i am malala young readers edition .TXT) 📕

the space, wishing any one of my brothers in arms could have been the one to hear the mating call instead of me.

It was lonely on this mountain, and while there were willing women in the village to scratch the itch for companionship, none of us could commit to more. It was our solemn duty to choose a witch for a mate when we heard the call.

Without shifter guardians here, where the veil was dangerously thin, the safety of the world would be at stake. It was bigger than all of us.

While the witches might think we just sauntered over and made our selection, like a TV housewife at a fifties butcher shop, the truth was much more complicated.

A bond could not be forced.

So the monthly ceremony might be quiet from the women’s point of view as they chanted without incident month after month on the courtyard. But there were always at least a few of our kind prowling the woods at the edge of the castle, praying to feel the tug of a potential bond mate.

Except for me.

I had never looked for a witch’s love. I resented the imposition of my brotherhood’s requirement, even though I understood it. Our kind was dwindling, and there was no chance of continuing our line by mating with an ordinary human. Only a mate with magic had hope of bearing another shifter to carry on our duty.

It had to be a witch.

But I sensed the danger in these woods, growing every day. This was no time to bring cubs to the world. Now was the time to defend it.

My brothers needed to know.

“A hellhound followed her to me last night,” I said.

The room went silent. I could read the emotions though, a blessing and a curse that came with my heightened senses. Shifters didn’t waste time with lies, at least not to each other.

There was some doubt washing off of Jonah. But I mostly sensed fear and anger. My brothers had my back. They believed me, always. I might not share their desperation to land a mate, but they knew I put duty first.

“Did you follow it to its source?” Reed asked, unknowingly cutting to the quick of my shame with his question.

“I pulled the girl into a cave,” I said, shaking my head. “To protect her. Then she used her magic to seal us in. By the time we left in the morning, it was gone.”

“So you didn’t take the girl, or take out the hellhound,” Jonah said mildly.

I clenched my fists by my sides, willing myself not to respond, but knowing he sensed my anger.

“It’s not the sixteen hundreds anymore,” Reed said vehemently. “These women are people, Jonah, not cattle. We can’t just take them. That doesn’t work anymore. Maybe it never did.”

“So you’re saying we should just let darkness take the world?” Jonah asked. “So the little witches can have roses and candlelight dinners?”

“Enough,” I said, my voice ringing out dark and deep in the small meeting room, in spite of my best efforts to keep my cool. “There was a hellhound following us last night. They’ve gotten too bold. The Order must be planning something. The witches are in danger.”

Everyone nodded. The Order of the Broken Blade was one of the many factions that wanted access to the library at the castle. They were the most likely to send undead minions like the hellhounds to do their dirty work. And if a group of ambitious warlocks like that ever got ahold of the kind of magic contained in the Primrose library, there was no telling what kind of hell they would unleash.

Protecting the castle and the library had always been my job. I had known since childhood that this was my special destiny.

But now that I had a mate at that school, I felt the danger more keenly. It was as if the most tender part of myself were naked in a blizzard, exposed to whatever might come.

As the others began to argue about what to do next, Reed leaned over and whispered in my ear.

“Remember she’s a witch,” he told me. “She can take care of herself.”

I pictured the vines exploding out of nowhere to shield us from danger and tried to let it ease the pain in my chest.

But it was like tossing a pebble into an abyss.

Whether I had planned for a mate or not, I had to claim her. Only having her close, where I could see her and protect her, would assuage this ache.

“Tonight,” I told myself as much as him. “I’ll claim her tonight. And we’ll never have to find out how tough she is on her own.”

21

Bella

After the night with Luke and the morning at the library, I had a hard time concentrating on the conversation at the lunch table. Everyone seemed to have a theory about who broke in, why they didn’t take anything, and whether or not the guardians had anything to do with it.

Meanwhile, my mind was fixed on my brother. I wasn’t sure if Luke was telling the truth about the night in the cave not counting, but at the very least, I had to resist the spell for two more nights. I just needed to stay strong tonight, and then again tomorrow night, and then I would be free to refocus my energies on school.

“You okay?” Cori asked, her dark eyes concerned, as we dropped off our trays on the way to our afternoon classes.

“Just tired,” I said.

“I’ll bet,” she winked at me, but it was half-hearted.

“You know nothing happened, right?” I asked her.

“Yeah,” she admitted. “Anya told me. “Do you really think you can resist for two more nights?”

“I have to,” I told her simply.

As we continued down the hall, something occurred to me.

“Hey, do you know of any magic that could help me?” I asked her.

She glanced over at me, looking shocked.

“I don’t,” Cori said. “But Bella, even if I did, using it would violate our treaty with the guardians.”

She had a point,