Page 88 of Bewitching the Wolf

He kisses my lips, then winces as he struggles to stand. I support his weight, staggering a little as we find a chair and he slumps down.

Clem is on her knees, hugging her mom and cry/laughing hysterically.

Otis stands in the midst of the chaos, scratching his head. “Well, I’ll be danged.”

Sally goes to the kettle and fills it while my aunt calmly gets cups out of the cupboard. Traggar, meanwhile, is helping pick up bits of broken crockery and putting them on the bench next to the sink. It adds a weird normalcy to a scene that is otherwise completely surreal.

Jax’s strength is returning. I feel it in his grip as he stands up and leads me toward the seated woman. “Tippy, come and say hello to my mom.”

The woman is gently stroking Clem’s dark hair, soothing her, but when she turns her green gaze on me and Jax, her smile is full of warm curiosity.

“Mom,” I feel Jax’s arm tighten around me, “this is Tippy Honeywell.”

“Ah—a wixen, I can see by those pretty claws. Show me them, honey.”

I hold out a hand and flex my claws shyly.

“Ah yes, very beautiful.” She waggles her brows at her son. “Behave yourself Jax, don’t mess with this one.”

I am totally lost for words, so I just smirk like an idiot.

Within one minute of meeting me, Jax’s mom has sussed out the situation. Wow! That really says something about a mom’s intuition.

Then she looks around at the assembled party and smiles ruefully. “I guess I’ve got a fair bit of explaining to do.”

CHAPTER 26

JAX

Luckily, the kitchen is a big room, with plenty of spare chairs, so we drag them into a circle around Mom. The portal cape drapes itself around her shoulders.

Clem sits close to Mom, holding her hand as if she can’t let go. Otis is on the other side of Clem, cradling her free hand on his knee.

Me and Tippy sit opposite Mom, and Sally, Felicia and Traggar, having finally picked up the last pieces of broken crockery, take a seat too.

“There’s so much to tell you all,” Mom says now that we are all assembled. “It’s hard to know where to start…”

“Give it your best shot.” Otis smiles encouragingly. “I don’t think anything will surprise us after the happenings of these last few months.”

“Yes, when the magic quickens, it moves fast,” Mom agrees, then sighs. “I hope my children will forgive me for not divulging my true identity before now.”

“You’re still our mom,” Clem says stoutly. “But we’d love to know who else you are.”

“I am Aurora Summers, the second High Priestess of the Dawnwrought Coven.”

Clem and I blink in unison. It’s really hard to know what to say to this revelation.

It’s Tragger who speaks first. “Ah, yes. My texts have alluded to the Dawnwrought Coven. But it’s barely been whispered of since the rebellion.”

Mom nods. “After the rebellion, any monster who shared facts about our coven faced vaporization. But finally, the dark magic is waning, so let me reconnect you with the truth.” She takes a deep breath. “In the beginning, there were two witch sisters, Maeve and Roxanne, sent to Earth by the guardian angel of our planetary system, Ariel. The coven’s remit was to replenish Earth and make it a place where all folks could live in harmony once more. They had the three books of runes at their disposal, and formed partnerships with other magical beings—wolf mages, wizards, elves and,” she smiles at Tippy and Felicia, “wixens. We all worked together in those early days. Which is why we cared for the few humans who were left alive, barely able to breathe the air, their younglings not forming in the womb. Maeve was put in charge of helping humanity. Which is how she met a powerful and charismatic human, Garth DeVine.”

“Wasn’t this guy sick like the other humans?” I ask, surprised.

Mom shakes her head. “Garth had been a powerful ruler. He had advance warning of the apocalypse and hid in a sealed bunker with his entourage.”

“What? He just let other humans die around him?” Clem exclaims, aghast. “That’s horrible!”

“I’m afraid Garth didn’t care. But when Maeve found him, the bunker was running out of supplies and air that they could breathe. Garth hadn’t run out of charm, however, and Maeve fell madly in love with him. She became his devoted slave and sold out on the Dawnwrought Coven. While monsters worked tirelessly to help humans build the domes, Maeve was like a spider, weaving a web of spells that summoned demonic magic from the hell realms. It was those dark powers that forced monsters underground and kept them imprisoned in the Labyrinth for hundreds of years.”