A Week Later
It was going to happen soon, and my last phone call to Darryl had him scrambling to get up here in time. Halloween was just around the corner, and every day my body felt a little heavier. I kept to myself more since even the slightest noise would have me snapping at everyone. Why did I feel so empty?
Instead of a white van, a brand new black Mercedes SUV pulled into the driveway. Mosavi was actually driving it in his werewolf form. Most of the town knew about him now, but he still kept up the human facade during public events. It was strange not seeing him in a suit, and he rarely wore them as a werewolf now, opting for denim jeans and no shirt at all. The only thing adorning his upper body was a gold chain necklacewith a pendant hanging off it. It was an otherworldly jagged symbol enclosed in a circle, much like a pentagram.
He walked up to the door and opened it without knocking, as he usually did. Darius and Willa would come over every other day, bringing expensive booze and cigars. I’d thought he would want nothing to do with us again after last Christmas, but he was changing as well. While he was still aloof and at times, downright mean, he’d become more social after that visit with his brother, especially with me.
Mosavi closed the door behind him and turned, holding a black felt box in his right hand.
“Willa wanted me to give you this for when it is time.” His tone was the usual deep, but his inflection seemed almost sentimental.
I took the box and opened it. Inside was a similar gold chain affixed with a different jagged symbol pendant, also encircled.
“Wow, it’s beautiful.” I picked it up and fastened it around my neck. “Thank you. What is this symbol?”
“It’s a mark of the elder. We are both eager to see what you become.”
I placed the empty box on the end table and looked away. “I still feel kind of useless.”
“Useless?”
“It’s funny. When we first formed this dysfunctional family, I thought I was the only one that had a goal in mind, but it all disappeared. Everyone else found their success, but I’m just sitting inside this house.”
Darius dropped a hand onto my shoulder, his claws digging in a bit. “When I met you, I sensed ambition. It was what drew me to you—more than the vironoct. You have not lost those parts of yourself. Your priorities are simply shifting with the times and circumstances. What was important to you as a human ischanging, and that is why you feel the way you do.But those feelings will change as well.”
“I don’t know what I want to do with my life, Darius.”
“That is not something you have allowed yourself to reach for as of yet.” He walked over to a liquor cabinet and standing humidor he’d gifted us after the remodeling was complete. No one usually dared drink what was in there without Mosavi present, and I’d actually grown fond of the cigars. We were the only ones that smoked them.
He pulled out two Cuban cigars, then shifted his attention to the alcohol before letting out a snarl. “All right, who the hell polished off the scotch?”
I walked over to the cabinet, examining the empty bottle next to the other fancy liquors. “Well, your culprits are probably the usual suspects.”
The scowl on his face shifted with quiet laughter. “I am proud.”
“Huh?”
He turned to me, placing a cigar into my hand. “Do you really think these unruly, undisciplined, wild animals would have ever found their true potential without you guiding them?”
“I didn’t have anything to do with that.”
“You’re not an idiot. You were living in luxury at my mansion, but you weren’t content with that. You could have stayed but didn’t. You came back to this dump and whipped it into shape. You were the one that worked out the deal for Roscoe’s restaurant. You were the one that forced Austin and the others to get the state licensing required to start a contracting business. You were the one that encouraged Adam to actually make money off what he loves doing. And I know for a fact that none of them have the brains to keep it all running smoothly.”
He had a point, though I’d never thought of it being anything more than a natural next step. All I’d done was push them while keeping the finances and clients in order. They did the rest.
“You made this house a home,” Mosavi added. “You brought warmth into our home as well. Willa talks so much about you, it gets on my nerves at times.”
“She’s still trying to seduce me.”
“Once a witch, always a witch.” He grinned for a moment, but it faded. “We are close to Samhain again, and I have been giving your ambitious suggestion a lot of thought. We need to do something about the coven, because Willa and I cannot leave to start over until the threat to Norwich is gone.”
“You still want to leave?”
“No. But I need to. There are other towns we will build into werewolf sanctuaries, and we have attracted a lot of unwanted attention from those who are trying to segregate us into communes.”
I turned back to the window. “You can’t just leave the pack, you know.”
A white van pulled into the driveway.
