“I’m fine,” I said, but I felt so hot I wanted to take all of my clothes off and jump into the lake. Sweat was rolling down my face and my breathing was labored as I tried to orient myself again. My first vision. Wow. It kinda sucked. I wasn’t sure I liked this gig.
“She’s burning up,” Jax told my mom, who put her hand on my forehead and recoiled.
“This isn’t normal,” my mother told me.
Great. That makes me feel better.
My dad looked alarmed. He turned to address the pack. “Alright everyone, head to my house and start up the grills. I will meet you there in a bit.”
Max and Avery hung back as everyone departed.
I looked into Aunt Emma’s eyes. “I’m sorry I ruined Uncle Devon’s remembrance.”
She smiled. “You didn’t ruin it, sweetheart. You made it interesting. Devon loved interesting.” She winked at me and walked away with Tara and Chelsea.
Shit. This was getting crazy. I never thought these visions would be so debilitating. What if I got one when I was driving or in the middle of a sparring session or something?
My dad reached down and helped me up. “What happened?” he commanded.
I chewed my lip and recounted the vision to him but left out the part that the guy was shirtless and insanely sexy.
At this point, I was pretty much hoping hewasmy mate because … God damn.
“Help me,” my mom said, replaying the dream guy’s words to me.
“No location? No name? I always got that in my visions,” my mom offered.
I glared at her and shot back, “Guess I’m not as talented as you.” My whole life I had to endure people telling me stories of how amazing my mother was and how she matched them up with their mate and it was so great. I know she didn’t mean to, but it made me feel pressured at being as good of a Matefinder as she was.
She rolled her eyes, dismissing my attitude. “That’s not what I meant. Come on, let’s go see the witches. I don’t want to wait one more second. We need to figure this out.”
My dad and Max simultaneously bristled. “Why do we have to involve them? This is a wolf matter. The Matefinder is for werewolves only,” my father stated and Max nodded his head in agreement.
Dad didn’t exactly like witches. He hated the fact that we all smelled like them and sort of chose to ignore that we were half witch. Uncle Max didn’t care for witches either, but the majority of his hate was reserved for vampires, even the nice ones, which is about all that was left after the race war. My mother simply growled, glaring at Max and my dad.
“Good idea,” Jax said, standing up and getting a snarl from my dad for agreeing with Mom. I snickered. “But one thing first.” Jax ran off into Emma’s house and came out with a handful of lemon squares.
Men. The real way to their heart was through their stomach.
Chapter Two
Mom, Jax, and I pulled up to the coven’s house, which was only a short twenty minute drive from the mountain. Once we were sure no one had followed us, we exited the car. I loved the coven house. It was an amazing grand blue and white Victorian with the biggest wrap-around porch you ever saw. So many protective spells surrounded it; the second you crossed the entrance, you felt a blanket of safety saturate your being.
As we were walking up to the house, my mom pulled my hand and I turned to face her.
“You know I don’t expect you to follow my path. You will find mates however it works for you. You’re a unique, independent woman, and I raised you to do things your own way.” She was staring at me with those intense blue eyes, and dammit, she always knew the right thing to say to make me feel better.
“I know, Mom.” I pulled her in for a tight hug.
Jaxon called out to us from the porch. “What about me? You raised me to be a unique, independent woman, too.”
We both chuckled. Jax was such an ass; the guy could never be taken seriously. Like EVER.
Mom and I joined him on the porch, and after knocking we were met by our coven leader, Gretchen. She was a healing witch and she adored Jax and me. A woman in her sixties with long, silvery hair and green eyes, she wore a bohemian dress and flower crown that made her look like she just stepped out of a Grateful Dead concert. Gretchen had a shit ton of magical power. Head of the coven basically meant ‘Don’t eff with me.’
“My babies!” she crooned, pulling Jax and me in for a hug. We chuckled at her term ‘babies.’
“You do realize we are twenty years old, right, Gretch?” Jax peppered her with his favorite pet name.
