“If there came a time to choosebetween being on the side of the vampires or the side of the werewolves, do youthink the witches would choose?” I asked her, trying not to let the fear showin my voice.
Her eyebrows pinched in concern.“Is there something I should know, Aurora?”
I shook my head. “Not yet.” I wastrying to be truthful.
“Humans have persecuted witchesfor hundreds of years. They fear what they do not know. They have always beenthe weak race and yet there is something beautiful about their short andpassionate lifespans. They are so helpless. I guess if something ever happenedto where witches had to choose, my clan would side with the humans and whoeverprotected them.” She placed her hand over mine and I nodded. That’s what Ineeded to hear.
“Call me if you have questionsabout your new abilities. Think about what I said, about joining my clan. We doa weekly spell casting and meditation that I would love for you to be a partof. But I understand this is all overwhelming. Just take some time.”
I wasn’t sure time would help. Ihelped her gather her things and made my way back to the house.
I saw Sylvia off and then Iwalked inside. Kai was sitting in a reading chair with an old book. He took adeep breath. “You smell different.” He quirked his head to the side.
I smelled my arm. “Should Ishower?”
Kai smirked. “No, your naturalscent. You smell like a witch.” The way he said it didn’t sound like a goodthing.
“Oh, yeah, about that.” I sat onhis lap as he played with the texture on my jeans. I told him what happenedwith Sylvia and that she invited me to join her clan.
“You want to be a witchanda werewolf?” His voice was deadpan but I knew he wasn’t happy about this.
“I want to be who I am.”
His resolve broke. “I love whoyou are. If that means you are a witch, then so be it, just don’t do any weirdmagic on me.”
I kissed him, running my fingersthrough his thick hair.
“And don’t steal my hair,” headded.
We both laughed at that. Therewas a knock at the door.
“Come in, Max,” Kai bellowed. Iinhaled through my nose. Yep, it was Max. I was still amazed at my new werewolfabilities.
Max peeked his head in. “Ready?”
Kai looked at me. “Yes.” Hestood. “I’m running an errand with Max. I’ll be back in a few hours.” He winkedat me.
“Okay, I’ll go check on Emma.” Ifollowed them out and headed over to Emma’s. Even though she wasn’t that faralong yet, the entire pack had been going over to Emma’s to help her cook orclean so that she didn’t strain herself. She didn’t argue but I could tell shedidn’t want to be babied too much. We couldn’t help it. Our first pup would beborn to one of our most cherished and submissive wolves. The instinct toprotect her was overwhelming.
Yes
Today was the grand opening forthe new Gresham location of Safe Haven. Now that we had the Portland territory,it didn’t seem necessary, but Kai assured me he still wanted to invest themoney in the cause. I had hired my mother to manage the Portland location andoffered her a nice salary. This should get her out of that crappy trailer. Kaiwas a genius when it came to running a business. He had paid for billboards toattract donations and now we had blankets, clothing and water bottles floodingour two sites. We also had large businesses donating money and volunteers. Thecenter was practically running itself on donations.
As Kai exited the freeway to thenew Safe Haven location, I could see a line around the block. Woman andchildren clutched pillow cases and teddy bears.
“My God.” Kai breathed.
My heart hammered in my chest.There must be thirty families waiting on the street. A few were peering in theglass doors. A large sign above the converted high school read, ‘Grand opening,Safe Haven.’ There were news vans and reporters. Seeing the little girl withher teddy bear brought back too many haunting memories. I shook them off. Thesewomen and children needed us.
A few cars full of pack membersfollowed us. I didn’t expect such a big turn out the first day. Before Kai hadput the car in park, I jumped out of the car and headed towards the door. Kaiwas right behind me and some of the woman backed away and looked down, fearfulof his large stature.
“Welcome to Safe Haven,everyone!” I shouted to the crowd as a news camera was shoved in my face.
“You are safe now. You may stayhere as long as you need to and there is no charge. Please come in.” Kai beganto open the doors.
The camera went to capture a shotof the crowd entering when Kai plucked the camera out of the man’s hand andpointed it towards the floor.
“Some of these women have leftabusive situations and that abusive person will be looking for them. You arenot to film the women and children’s faces, only the volunteers and the facility.Do you understand me?”
