Keeping Secret (Secret McQueen) - By Sierra Dean Page 0,60
cracked both Eugenia and me in the head with her cane. Witches didn’t appreciate being compared to a nine-hundred-year-old Jedi, apparently. It wasn’t an insult. Yoda was a total badass.
Be a wicked smartass, I will not.
Yeah, right. That would be the day.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I awoke the next night in Holden’s arms under a tight canopy of mossy trees, and my first thought was, Oh, I must be dreaming.
A gentle clanging drew my attention to the corner space of the tree house where La Sorcière was stooped over a cauldron whispering words that definitely weren’t English while breaking off sprigs of fresh herbs into the bubbling broth.
So, not dreaming after all then.
When I tried to leave the root bed, Holden protested by snuggling me closer and nipping at the back of my neck. I elbowed him. “Wake up,” I demanded.
“Oof,” he replied. After he took a moment to chase the sleep away, he added, “Oh.”
The memory of the previous two days came back with the force of a physical blow, and I shuddered violently. Being able to sleep without fear for my safety or Holden’s had been the greatest gift these women could have given me.
Eugenia came through the door, her arrival announced by a sigh from the tree, and dumped a stack of dry wood next to the witch. The old woman asked a question by lifting her white eyebrows a fraction of an inch. “No, no problems,” Eugenia responded.
Amazing what kind of understanding formed between people when they were alone together for five years.
Seeing we were awake, my sister’s expression broke into a wide smile. She snapped her fingers once, and whatever phantom light had illuminated the space the previous evening lit itself again. It shouldn’t have surprised me that Eugenia had picked up a thing or two during her time with La Sorcière, but I still had trouble understanding how the girl could be both a werewolf and a witch. The two were such different forms of magic they shouldn’t be allowed to peacefully coexist in one body.
“Mémère told me who you were,” she said excitedly.
“What did she tell you?” I wasn’t sure how much the old woman knew, and I wouldn’t be tricked into confessing something the girl didn’t actually know.
“That you’re my sister.”
I nodded.
“How long have you known?” Eugenia asked.
“Do you have a watch?”
I explained my chat with Callum, touched briefly on my mother abandoning me and why Grandmere worried it wouldn’t be safe for me, which was why I hadn’t been with the pack when Eugenia and Ben were born. I told her everything, figuring she had earned my honesty. If not for her and La Sorcière, I wouldn’t be alive to tell the story. I admitted, finally, I was only there to take her back to the pack.
After I was finished I felt exhausted all over again. I needed to feed soon, and there weren’t a lot of options out here unless I wanted to hit an alligator up for a donation. Holden must have sensed the building tension in me because he reached out and stroked my hair.
“You want me to go back to Callum?” Eugenia asked, but from her tone she knew the answer to her own question.
It wasn’t an outright refusal, so I continued. “I know you left for a reason, and believe me when I say I understand what a bunch of uptight assholes the werewolves can be. But I’ve started to think Callum might have our best interests in mind. I don’t think he means to do us harm.”
“But he isn’t the only reason you’re here.”
“No. Without his blessing I can’t marry my mate. If we don’t get married, then the entire Eastern pack could be crippled by in-fighting and uncertainty. I’m pack protector. I can’t let anything jeopardize the pack.”
“And?”
“And someone is trying to kill me. Once Lucas and I are married, I think they’ll stop.”
“You think by bringing me back to Callum you’ll be able to get married, save your pack and save your life?” She had been sorting through bundles of dried herbs, tying them with bits of twine, but she stopped to ask me one last question. “That’s an awful lot of pressure, don’t you think?”
“I suppose it is.”
“Do you know why I left Callum’s compound in the first place?”
“I don’t. He said you became difficult after you were Awakened, and not in the typical teenage ways.”