True Knight - Patricia Logan Page 0,48

as the proprietor of the general store in town but I’m also the resident witch in Prosper Woods and I’ve been protecting this town and the people who live in it for the last hundred years.”

I wasn’t that shocked. In my experience witches lived for centuries. When I felt Romeo squeeze my hand, I turned to him, noting the surprised expression on his face. He spun around to look at me.

“Witches are real too?”

Sid chuckled but I ignored him, nodding at my lover. “Yes, witches are the most powerful of all the supernatural beings in nature. He claims to be one and I believe him.” I glanced away from Romeo and at my broadsword lying on the couch beside me before looking back at him. “He says he’s here to protect you from the werewolves outside.”

“Those howls I heard came from werewolves and they’re outside your house right now?”

I nodded. “Yes, they’re here to kill me though I suspect if you get in their way, you’ll be killed as well.”

“It won’t happen,” the witch said, drawing our attention to the old man, relaxing back in the oversized easy chair across from us. “The sheriff’s magic is stronger than yours and mine combined,” he said, glancing at me.

“Why do you say that? I’m not magical. I’m human,” Romeo replied.

“No, you’re not,” the witch said. “I need you to trust this to be true. You can kill every living thing in this town with your magic but apparently no one ever taught you to use it.”

“You’re a fucking liar,” Romeo said, stiffening beside me. “If I was a magical creature, don’t you think I would know it?”

“Not if it’s a recessive gene,” I said. Romeo looked over at me, frowning. I liked it much better when he smiled. “You probably have an ancestor somewhere back in your line and you aren’t even aware of it. I sensed the magic in you. Remember when I told you that I knew you were special?” I reminded him.

“Yeah,” he said, hesitantly. “That’s what you meant? That I was one of the supernatural creatures in this town?”

“Yes, Romeo, I scented it on you the moment we met. Then, when we touched, I knew your magic was very strong.”

He just stared at me.

“He’s right,” the witch said, drawing our attention again. “When we shook hands in my store, you felt the jolt of electricity going up your arm though you dismissed it as your imagination.”

Romeo frowned. “How do you know that?” he asked.

“I’m a witch. I know things,” Sid said.

A howl interrupted our conversation and I felt Romeo’s hand tighten on mine for the second time. Other howls joined the first until a cacophony of sound seemed to surround my house.

I glanced at Sid. “I have to go out there. Will you protect Romeo?”

“You’re not going out there!” Romeo shouted, standing and pulling me up with him. He grabbed both of my biceps and stared into my face. “You told me those werewolves are here to kill you. Do you think for one second that I would let you sacrifice yourself for me?”

“The werewolves can be reasoned with,” the witch said.

We both turned to look at him.

“How?” Romeo asked.

“The ones who killed poor Buck Walters in the forest and then left him as a warning to you are not that difficult to defeat,” the witch said to me. “If you don’t already know this, the alpha in Prosper Woods is Floyd Reardon. If you convince Reardon you mean no harm to him, the rest of the pack will listen and obey their alpha.”

“Hang on a minute,” Romeo said, vibrating with rage. “You’re saying Floyd Reardon, the owner of the saloon, is the leader of a pack of werewolves who are in turn responsible for the murder and dismemberment of a human who happened to wander into their proximity last night?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” the witch said. The howls started up again, and I felt a chill race down my spine. “He must have gotten his drink on, wandered too close to the border of Frederick pack lands, and ended up as their answer to your presence. They sliced him and diced him, leaving him as a warning just the way the vampires did to the Frederick pack a hundred years ago.”

“So, what you’re saying is that Prosper Woods is in the midst of a fucking hillbilly hick-town feud?” Romeo was practically shouting.

The witch smirked and pointed a gnarled finger at his nose. “Right on the