Werewolves Be Damned - By Stacey Kennedy Page 0,16
need for revenge, she was reminded of something that had been all hers, before this mess. “I came to this tree every chance I had.”
Sitting down next to her, Kyden ran a finger over a leaf. “How did you find it?”
The question wasn’t odd—the tree always stood a little out of place in this thick forest, the clearing even more odd. As if a patch of the forest had been demolished exactly for her willow to exist, with the creek planted behind to nourish it. “My family’s house is that way.” She pointed to the west. “I always played in the woods as a kid. One day, I stumbled upon this place.” She twirled her fingers in the leaves. “After that, I never stayed away for long.”
He hesitated, his eyes searching hers. “Why?”
“The beauty alone would bring me here, but it’s really more than that.” She fought to put her feelings into words, a bit surprised he held such a curiosity about her reasoning. Had he brought her here to get to know her better? “There’s always been something so special about this tree.” She shrugged, feeling a bit silly saying these thoughts aloud. “I don’t really know how to explain it.”
Lifting his chin, he stared at the branches above him. “You feel a deep connection to this tree?”
“Extremely deep.”
“You are half witch, and a willow is a sacred tree.” He looked to her. “Your connection might lie there.”
She glanced at the leaf around her finger, pondering. Did the tree draw her in because of its magical elements? Who knew, and who cared. Her willow was the only piece of her past that remained, and being here now comforted her.
Inhaling deeply, and with her free hand, she ran her fingers across the grass beneath her, relishing in the lush scent of her willow. While she could’ve allowed silence to take over and simply enjoy her time at the meadow, one thing Kyden had said brought up a point she’d been curious about. “Why am I a half-breed?”
One sleek eyebrow arched. “Say again?”
After awakening in the Otherworld, it took her at least a week to realize that no one she had met was a mixed supernatural. Even when she left the Otherworld, she hadn’t seen anyone else like her. Tonight at the vampire club, she was convinced she would’ve seen another mixed supernatural, but she hadn’t. “Why haven’t I seen anyone else like me, how I’m a mixed supernatural?”
“Has Drake not told you any of this?” At the shake of her head, his jaw clenched, making her wonder if she wanted to know the answer. Then he finally said, “Simple—there aren’t any.”
She blinked, processed, and blinked again. “There aren’t any in the Otherworld? Or none at all, anywhere?”
“Only you.”
He sounded way too casual, considering she wanted to shake him in a demand that he hurry up and tell her how that was possible. Luckily, she didn’t have to resort to those measures, since he added, “An offspring from intermixed supernaturals will be one or the other, never both.” He smiled softly. “Of course, that was the theory until you.”
“Why did it happen with me?”
He watched her intently for a moment, then he shrugged. “Zia looked into it when you were born—discussed your mixed heritage with witches and others—but everyone thought it was a fluke. Since it’s never happened again, that theory remains.”
A fluke?
She considered how she felt about such a label or being different, and after a minute, she settled on, What did it matter anyway? She was a mixed supernatural, or maybe she would be once her witch abilities came in. At this point, even if everyone knew from their super-senses that she was part guardian, part witch, no one knew if she’d be an Earth Witch like Haven or Spirit Witch like her birth mother, or maybe even an Air or Fire Witch. And who knew when her witch abilities would show themselves, so why dwell on something she couldn’t change.
A long but comfortable silence settled between them, until Kyden inhaled and asked, “Have you always lived in Carson City?”
Glancing away from the leaves dangling in front of her, she looked to him, and he didn’t watch the surroundings, he watched her. She couldn’t restrain her smile, since now it became glaringly obvious he had brought her here not only because she’d like it, but because he wanted to get her alone.
It surprised her that it didn’t seem like a bad thing. “Yep, born and raised in Carson City.”