Wendy
I’m on my way! Hang tight, E.
Rina
Copy that. Grabbing my broom.
I snorted at the mental image. Most witches didn’t use brooms to get around anymore, but even I had to admit that it was quite a handy mode of transportation.
Unless, of course, you had a wolf to take home with you. Luckily, my car was parked on the street outside.
I busied myself doing some organization and prep work for tomorrow, making notes of what I needed to order next time I did inventory. Though we’d hired a new baker, Luna still loved to pop in occasionally and make a random batch of something, andI liked to make sure the bakery was always well stocked just for her.
Staying busy was the only way to keep my mind off what I was going to do with the wolf in the kitchen.
Less than ten minutes later, my friends walked in. They couldn’t have looked more different if they tried—Rina was a brunette with longer hair, a tan complexion and hazel eyes, while Wendy had shoulder-length blonde hair and bright blue eyes.
Witch magic manifested differently in all of us, giving almost every witch a different ability and affinities. While I knew Wendy was clairvoyant, I also knew she resented her powers. The ability to see, and speak to, spirits couldn’t have been easy. She was also incredibly perceptive, a skill I definitely needed now. Rina, on the other hand, had been extremely secretive of hers. Almost every witch in their coven—thirteen total—possessed a different ability.
I gave them both a guilty smile as they stood in front of me.
“Alright, we’re here. What’s up?” Wendy asked, smoothing her hands down her red velvet overall dress. She had a white long-sleeved t-shirt on under it as well as star patterned tights and a pair of short black booties.
Rina, on the other hand, was wearing a pair of black ripped jeans and a deep purple flannel shirt over a black corset top. She’d probably come from the Enchanted Cauldron, if I had to guess.
“It’s probably better if I just show you.”
I led them back into the kitchen where I’d left the beast. Thankfully, he hadn’t moved.
“Eryne.” Rina propped her hand on her hip as stared between me, Wendy, and the wolf currently on the floor. “What did you do?” The wolf responded with a rumble in his chest, like he was clearly not happy I had brought others around. “You brought awolfin the bakery?”
“He was hurt!”
Wendy just blinked. “And we were your first call, because?”
I scrunched up my nose. “Because I trust you both. And I’m a little terrified of Olive.” She was in the coven too, but we weren’t close. Olive ran the vet clinic in town, made easier by her affinity with animals. I couldn’t explain why, but I didn’t want to lose my furry patient. “So… yeah. He’s heavy. Probably close to two hundred pounds. He was in the alley and I couldn’t just leave him there. Something attacked him, and I just?—”
Wendy shook her head. “You and your bleeding heart. How’d you even get him inside?” She looked out the back door, her skin looking even paler than usual.
“It wasn’t easy.”
“Those look like teeth marks,” Rina said, unfazed, crouching down and inspecting his wounds.
“You think somethingbithim?” Wendy asked, incredulous.
“It looked that way to me, too. I have no idea what could cause this sort of damage, though. It seems like it just… tore through the skin. Maybe a bear?”
“That would have been one hell of a fight. What wolf would go after a bear?”
I shrugged. These were all questions I didn’t have answers to, since, unfortunately, wolves couldn’t talk. “So what attacked him? I’m open to theories.”
“Or maybe the better question is…who?” Rina asked.
“Sabrina.” Wendy shot her a look. Rina hated her given name, saying it didn’t fit her.
Our brunette friend shrugged. “What? It’s plausible. Demons exist, after all. Who knows what else is out there that the elders never told us about?” She picked at her black manicure.
“I was just thinking the same earlier,” I said. “There’s no way they didn’t know, right? If it wasn’t for Willow and Damien?—”
