Page 5 of Wolfsbane

At least, it was gone for me.

I gasped, desperate for oxygen she’d already stolen, and grappled at my throat. She’d closed it. She’d⁠—

Fuck, I didn’t know, but the world was going dark at the edges, and I didn’t know if that was because I couldn’t breathe, or because she was so angry. Nightmarish tendrils of shadow played across my vision. They curled around her pale face and sharp cheekbones as she leaned closer. The way my vision swam, she had too many eyes. Six or eight.

“How dare you use that tone with me,” she growled through her teeth. “I am your mother.”

As if I might’ve forgotten. But the terror that coiled in my gut was too familiar.

The shadows combed through her hair like they were part of her.

“I’m sorry,” I mouthed, but no croak of sound came out.

Her lips pursed, and she held me there, like that, another second or two before she flicked her fingers out and clean air returned. I gasped, chest heaving as my body struggled to make up for going without, and I slumped against the steering wheel.

“What was that?” she asked.

I sucked in one more deep breath, struggling to master my desperate gasps before I sat upright and stared ahead.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured.

She hummed, and I hesitated to turn, to see if such a short apology would be enough. I could feel her eyes on the side of my face. Nervously, I swallowed and glanced in the rearview mirror, but Tristan was looking out the side window, pretending not to notice what was going on in the front.

“Then all is forgiven,” she said after a moment of letting me twist. “What I have done is given you a future. You are our promised one. You’ll see us through our ascension.”

Right then, we’d be lucky if I saw us through the whole ride home, but I nodded. I wouldn’t shake.

It was just a moment of holding my breath. That was all it’d been, and there was no sense falling apart about it. That’d only make her angrier.

“Thank you,” I said when I could, keeping my eyes trained ahead, because that was easier than holding her gaze while I admitted wrongdoing.

I put my hand on the gearshift to take the car out of park, but her hand closed on top of mine to stop me.

“Daire?”

Her voice had returned to normal, soft and sweet.

Still, a shivering cold ran through my belly as I dragged my gaze away from the windshield and the trees around us to force myself to look at her.

“Yes, Mother?” I whispered.

Her smile softened, and she leaned across the center console and touched my cheek, but her thumb stretched beneath my jaw. A second later, and her smooth fingernails were pressing little moons into my face as she dragged me closer.

“Darling,” she purred, holding me so tight I couldn’t look away, “don’t you ever forget, I brought you into this world . . . ”

And you can take me out of it.

I struggled to nod in her grip. “Yes, ma’am.”

Satisfied, she dropped back in her seat and let me go, only to wave her hand vaguely in front of her.

“Good. Then drive. We have work to do.”

When I pulled back onto the path, the witches in their own cars followed us out. Our whole world turned on my mother’s whims, and whatever work she meant to do, I had a sinking feeling that what she’d already done to me was irreparable.

CHAPTER 3

Viktor