A potential one anyway.
A fact I’ve known for a while now.
When Clementine was seventeen and I first realized how delicious she smelled to me, I raged against the knowledge. Reminded myself that werewolves could smell more than one potential mate in their lifetime. And a person didn’t have to smell like a mate for them to be a good partner for a werewolf.
But now Clementine is back, and she’s not a rebellious teen anymore. Sure, she still has a snarky bite to her, but with an underlying maturity and confidence. She’s finding her way through the world, and this trouble she stumbled into is not her fault.
She’s just suffering the consequences—and doing so with a bravery that’s admirable.
And fucking hot as hell.
“Damn it.” The curse fuels my next punch that lands so hard that it splits the bag. Sand pours in a steady stream, collecting in a miniature mountain on the floor. “Curse The Clawed One’s trail.”
“Look at that. Little Griffy has stepped up his game.”
I turn, realizing that, in my distraction, I didn’t even register the scent of a new arrival. Bo Folan grins at me from the open barn door, his tall stature and broad shoulders taking up more of the entrance than most would.
“Not so little anymore.” I huff, thinking back on the scrawny kid I used to be. A runt of the litter other pack mates picked on until the summer I finally filled out in an impressive way. Thought my parents would finally take notice of me then, but it didn’t work out that way. Still, didn’t have to deal with the bullies anymore, and was able to step in between them and Carl.
Bo found himself on the wrong end of a curse a couple of decades ago and spent years trapped as a statue. He was only freed recently by Mor Shelly, and the monster is still getting used to the modern world—and the kid he once knew who’s now an adult.
“You want to spar?” I ask, hoping for a true distraction.
“Normally, I’d love to knock you around.” He smiles wide, his words full of good humor. “But Mor sent me to find you.”
Oh yeah, did I mention he fell in love with the witch who saved him and now they live together in bliss in her library?
I grab a roll of duct tape off a shelf and perform a quick patch job of the sandbag, making a note to order a replacement one for the gym. “Y’all need another researcher?” Hopefully, I’ve worked off enough excess energy so I don’t start fidgeting as I try to read.
“They think they found a fix.”
I pause, all my attention on Bo. “A fix?”
He nods. “Mor thinks she can heal Clem.”
18
CLEMENTINE
It’s notuntil Mor shows me the potion in the grimoire that I start to believe we might cure me.
When Carl suggested going to the library to help the witch search, I agreed only because I knew my brother needed to feel useful. But sitting down with a stack of books, studying for hours, was never my strength. School always made me anxious, and text would sometimes blur on the page because I was so in need of movement. I don’t experience the same distraction when working on a screen, likely because I can move the words around, adjust things, and manipulate what is in front of me.
Still, even more than giving my brother a purpose, I agreed because I didn’t want him to think that I was starting to give up hope. When Violetta had said that there wasn’t any sign of poison, I’d felt a sense of excitement for just a brief moment because it was new information.
But then despair eventually set in because if not poison, then what?
Still, maybe I don’t need to know what is causing the wound to stay open. All I need to know is what will fix it.
An answer that Mor has found for me.
Carl practically vibrates in the driver’s seat next to me as we navigate back to Griffith’s house. Not only did Mor locate a potion for what she described as a regeneration spell, but she was able to concoct the magical mixture for me. Turns out, the Shelly witches have more than just books on hand. They’ve also been creating their own miniature apothecary. Ame is also not the biggest fan of sitting and reading dusty old books. She works the front desk at Zara’s veterinarian office in town, and on her days off, she will sometimes go out into the forests surrounding Folk Haven and forage for herbs and plants that supplement spells that exist in the books that Mor reads.
Plus, because of the vast wealth of knowledge the Shellys have amassed, their library is a popular spot for the local witches to visit. Mor and Ame have connections. When they needed the ingredients for this regeneration potion, whatever they didn’t have on hand, they were able to call in favors in order to gather.
I forgot what this felt like. Or maybe I never took the time to know it in the first place.
Community.
