a few other pack members had followed, drawn by my scream. No sign of Ben or Callum though, so they couldn’t have been too worried.
Magnolia’s cheeks were flushed, and when she reached me, she placed a hand on each of my arms, her eyes grazing over me to make sure there was nothing amiss.
“I’m okay,” I promised.
“We heard ya scream.” Randall, a middle-aged werewolf I’d known most of my life, came up behind Mags. He looked rattled, but seeing me in one piece made him soften visibly, like letting his guard down took physical effort.
I felt terrible for frightening them, but I was glad they were here. The mere presence of other wolves calmed my nerves.
“An’ I saw yer little light show,” added Marshall, Randall’s younger brother. At least by now everyone was used to a fireworks display every now and then. They’d all come to accept the magic as a part of who I was.
Once I’d assured them I wouldn’t be blowing up any more cabins, that is.
Not having to explain or deny my powers was one of the nice things about being at home as opposed to being in Tulane. Cash had enough trouble with the werewolf stuff, so I’d decided to leave witchcraft on the back burner for the time being. And there were still religious groups out there who associated being a witch with being a devil worshipper.
Being a were-witch would probably put me on a lot of top-ten lists for biggest monster in America. I’d be the poster child for why the world was suddenly in a handbasket on its way straight to hell.
No thank you.
So I kept my powers on the DL unless I was around people who already knew about them. The pack, my sister and her colleagues. It was a short list, and I intended to keep it that way.
“I thought I saw something and came out here to check on it. Turns out I was wrong.”
A shrill popping sound grabbed all our attention, and we watched as a spray of glittery red light rained down a couple hundred meters away, near where the old manor house was.
Panic tightened my chest. The lights had found something, but now that I had the backup I’d been craving before, I didn’t want to take them out there. I also didn’t want to go alone.
“An’ what was that all about?” Marshall asked.
Instead of telling them what the seeking orbs were really doing, I fibbed. “Guide lights. I thought if I was going to keep walking around, it might be a good idea to see where I was going. That’s all.” I was a terrible liar, but it was close enough to the truth they might buy it. The truth was, I’d seen the face of the thing following me, and even though I wanted to know what she was, I was afraid to face her again, with or without them.
“You sure you didn’t see anything?” Randall asked. “With those Church freaks gunnin’ for us, maybe we ought to send folks out to check.”
“It wasn’t the Church.” I glanced back in the direction of the raining light, feeling woozy.
Mags must have sensed my nerves because she put her hand over mine and squeezed gently, bringing my attention back to them. “Let’s go back.”
“Okay.” I was going to have to accept that I’d lost the woman for now. Until the next time she came after me, that is. I let Mags get a couple steps ahead of me then whispered the closing incantation of the spell. “Your job is done.”
The glitter faded, and the other orbs blinked out into nothing.
But not before I saw the faint red shimmer of sparks in my bedroom. The seeking light had found something else.
Something a lot closer to home.
Chapter Twelve
I walked up from the veranda with Magnolia, wanting someone with me in case the creature from the woods was in my bedroom. Magnolia might not be the toughest wolf in the pack, but she was my friend and the fastest runner I knew. If things went from bad to worse, she could get to help in a hurry.
I expected to be hit by the smell of sulfur the minute I got up the stairs, but there was only the familiar scent of aging wood from the house basking in the sun all day, and the constant aroma of werewolf that was as pervasive as the trees around us.
Maybe I’d imagined it. I paused with her outside my bedroom, peering in through