Bruja (3 page)

That thought instilled a little more confidence in me as I started off toward the fruit station. As long as Cosette had our backs, we should be okay.

Raphael grabbed my arm, stopping me before I got very far. He was still following Cosette with his eyes. “Shouldn’t we all stick together?”

As much as I agreed with the safety in numbers defense, I didn’t want to show the wolves any weakness. Cosette had set the tone, and now we just needed to maintain it. “I’m grabbing some fruit. Why don’t you get some food, too and then we’ll find a table? Teresa is bound to be here soon and—”

“I’m here!” she said from the doorway. Her long hair hung in loose waves down her back. I’d swear her skin glowed, and her body… I’d kill for that. She liked to say that it was because she was a wolf, but she’d liked running long before she got bitten. I was curvy. I’d never get rid of my hips, even if I starved myself. And why go through life being hungry all the time? Life was too short to care that much. Still, every time I saw her, I felt a little twinge of jealousy. Seeing Dastien hovering behind her only compounded the feeling.

I pushed away all those green-tinged emotions, and focused on my brother. “See.” I shoved Raphael in the direction of the food. “Go get your breakfast.”

The one thing that St. Ailbe’s did amazingly well was food. From the hot and cold stations to the short order cooks, there was enough here to feed the entire state of Texas, and all of it was delicious. Still, I was always surprised that with as much food as they put out, none of it seemed to go to waste.

These wolves can definitely eat.

Shane and Elsa stuck close as they navigated the food lines, but he kept looking around, probably searching for Adrian. I wasn’t sure what was going on with them, but Adrian was the only wolf who actively sought us out. He had a little bit of
brujo
blood and said he wanted to learn more about his magic lineage, but the way he and Shane kept exchanging looks…

If my gut was right, I was sensing definite chemistry between the two of them.

“You sleep okay?” Teresa said as she came up to me. She wore a T-shirt that was brightly printed with cover art for a band I didn’t recognize.

“Sure.”

She sniffed. “That was a lie.”

“Good job,” Dastien said.

I grinned up at him. His dark brown hair curled around his ears. His smile showed off two way-too-sexy dimples. Not to mention that he was tall enough, big enough to make any girl feel taken care of. Add to that his bright amber aura, and he was too much. In the category of completely drool-worthy. Plus, he treated my cousin well. There was nothing better than a man who wanted to coddle his lady, yet gave her all the power in the relationship. It was infinitely more sexy than the guy I was supposed to be with.

I allowed myself another split second to envy what my cousin had before moving on to admiring it.

“Don’t be condescending,” Teresa said.

“Tessa. I’m honestly telling you that was good. You’re using your nose.”

She sighed. “It wasn’t all nose.”

I had no idea what they were talking about. Trying to follow along their conversation was extremely difficult at times. It was like I was missing pieces of it.

“I’ve been trying to get her to be more like a wolf,” Dastien said when he noticed my confusion. “She should be able to smell people’s emotions. Especially lies.” He said the last looking at Teresa.

I glanced between them. “You can smell a lie?”

“Dastien can. Me… I rely more on hunches. But I’m getting better at it.” She paused. “Nice deflection. I’ll ask you about the sleep stuff later. If I don’t eat soon, I might die.”

“
Cherie
. You’re not going to die.”

“You tell that to my stomach.”

They bantered back and forth almost faster than I could keep up with. Their auras glowed brighter as they walked. Meshing together. Bouncing off each other. I could see the deeper connection that their bond provided. That little bit of green envy eased its way back up my spine, and I headed to grab some fruit before the feeling could take over. I was happy for my cousin. Not jealous. Happy.

By the time I found the table, people were staring again. I didn’t mind speaking to people or being friendly, but some of the stares felt more than a bit hostile. That, I didn’t like at all.

I sat down next to Cosette, who was already exchanging not-so-subtle smiles with a table of
Cazadores
across the room. At least
someone
was enjoying the attention. “Anyone else feeling like you’re living in a glass bowl?”

Teresa sat on my other side. She had four plates filled with food balanced on her tray with one giant glass of orange juice. “I’ve been stared at most my life. Before people didn’t like me or thought I was a weirdo. Now everyone’s more interested in a friendly way. Mostly.” She paused and looked around. “They’re curious. Just don’t let it get to you.” As she spoke—still glancing around the room, a wave of golden energy passed from her to the gathered wolves. Everyone starting moving—going about the day—in an answering ripple.

“Thank you.” The list of things I owed her for was growing by the second. I wasn’t sure how I’d ever pay her back. Especially after what Luciana had done to her…

“No problem.”

“I don’t like the stares,” Elsa said. She was so petite that even with her striking brown eyes and dark brown pixie cut she usually managed to get overlooked. But she liked it that way. “It’s impossible to stay hidden.”

A few more wolves sat down at our table—all of them Teresa’s friends. I liked Christopher the best of the boys. He was really fun and easy going. Talking to him was effortless.

Adrian sat down next to Christopher, and I nearly groaned. It wasn’t that I didn’t like him, but he was so desperate to learn from us that it made it hard to talk about anything but magic. I liked to think I was more than just a
bruja
. More than just the sum of my abilities.

Admitting that even just to myself felt rude. Here I was, taking protection and hospitality from the wolves, and then begrudging them for wanting to learn more about me. It was the lack of sleep. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to start being openly cranky. Not acceptable.

Meredith was hilarious. I wished I had the guts to dye my hair fun colors. I’d met her a while ago, before Luciana shut down all relations between the young wolves and coven members. I’d always wondered what happened to her, so getting to know her again was nice.

Christopher threw a biscuit at Teresa, shocking me out of my reverie.

She caught it and looked at it almost like she was surprised it was in her hand. “Don’t throw food at me.”

“I just find it funny. All you witches think it’s such an adjustment being here.”

She threw the biscuit back at him a little harder. “Shut up. It was a hell of an adjustment and they’ve all gone through some rough things to get here. Don’t be an asshole.”

I felt my cheeks heating at her language.

“I think you’re embarrassing your cousin,
cherie.
”

“Sorry,” she said to me.

“No. It’s nothing.” I cleared my throat and handed Cosette a bowl of fruit. In exchange, she slid half the omelet across to me. I took a bite and nearly moaned. It was delicious, filled with asparagus, avocado, onion, and cream cheese. Not a combination I would’ve ever picked, but it was great. “Now this is amazing.” I drank a sip of coffee—which was brewed to perfection—and energy started coming back to me. I was going to have to carry around a cup of this all day to stay awake and alert.

“Knew you’d like it,” Cosette said.

“It’s a perfect omelet.”

“Are there veggies in your breakfast?” Christopher said. “That’s just wrong.”

“You’re awfully cheery for this hour,” Teresa said.

“I got up earlier and went on patrol with Adrian and Dastien, so I’m much more awake than usual. This is my second breakfast,” Christopher said proudly as he shook his long blond bangs out of his eyes.

Teresa snorted. “What are you? A hobbit?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. I covered my mouth with my hand. If anything, being with the wolves was interesting, and the constant banter kept me from thinking about Luciana…

Great.
Now I’m thinking about her again
.

I dropped my fork with a clank and took a long drink of my coffee. When I set it down, everyone at the table was looking at me. “What?”

Teresa cleared her throat. “You know, if there’s anything I can do to help—”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” Raphael muttered something but I didn’t need to hear it to know what he was saying. “I’m going to try a few spells to break our oaths. I was reading a book before bed last night, and it mentioned a combination of ingredients I haven’t tried yet. That could make the difference we need.” I took a bite of my omelet, but it suddenly had no flavor.

“Do you think you can break it?” Teresa asked.

“I think so.” I cleared my throat, trying to sound confident and probably failing. “I’ve only tried a few spells, so there’s bound to be one that works eventually.”

“I wish I could help,” she said.

Teresa’s skin might be glowing, like every other wolf’s, but her eyes didn’t hold their usual lightness. “Are you doing okay?”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

Dastien reached over and grasped her hand as Teresa stared hard at the table. I’d always thought she was invincible, and she made it seem like everything that had happened to her was no big deal. But it was a huge deal. And it had only been a few days. I’d be stupid to think that she wasn’t still dealing with the repercussions.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “If this next spell doesn’t work, I might take a trip to see Tia Rosita later.”

“That’s actually a really good idea,” she said. “She’d definitely help. And it’d be good to see Axel.”

Meredith clapped her hands. “I’m liking this. I haven’t been off campus in forever. Let’s ditch class today.”

Adrian laughed. “You haven’t been to class in weeks. What’s the point in starting now?”

Teresa shrugged. “I don’t know. College?”

Christopher laughed into his cup of coffee. I guessed the wolves weren’t big on advanced degrees? I would’ve killed for the chance to go to college, but Luciana wouldn’t let me off the compound. I’d tried to convince her to give me Internet access for an online program, but that hadn’t flown either. After this I was going to have to figure something out. I had zero life skills and no home. The wolves wouldn’t let us stay here indefinitely.

“Well,” Teresa started as she pushed away from the table. “We’re going to need to take at least two cars. I’ll drive and who else?”

“I’ll drive,” Donovan said as he walked up to the table. “You won’t be leaving here without me.”

Meredith sighed. “I won’t die if I’m out of your sight.”

“Maybe, but I’d rather not have you in any more danger. All right?” Donovan was shorter than the average wolf, but for some reason that didn’t matter. He had so much power, it came off of him in waves, even in his human form. He commanded a presence that had nothing to do with the way he looked physically, and everything to do with what he was—one of the Seven. One of the most powerful werewolves alive.

Watching how these men treated their mates made me want a guy of my own.

But I needed a life first. My own life. Not one tied to Luciana. Or the coven. Or even my brother.

Most importantly, I needed to break ties with Luciana so that we could all get some sleep. “Give me a couple hours to try and figure this out. If I haven’t found a solution by then, we’ll leave for Tia Rosa’s.”

Teresa nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

I stood up, leaving behind my barely eaten omelet. My stomach was in knots and I couldn’t stand to eat one more bite. Even though it was involuntary, in a way I was still helping Luciana. No one really knew how bad it was except my brother. If I didn’t find some way to break the oath soon, the wolves would find out what was really going on and they’d have a whole new reason to hate me.

Chapter Three

Three hours later, I was standing in the closet that housed the pack’s spell supplies. They called it metaphysics, which was laughable. It was magic and had almost nothing to do with science.

Wolves.
I shook my head.

I scanned the shelves again, not believing that they could be missing sage. It was the base of almost every spell I did. I always had at least four bunches on had at all times. But there wasn’t a single solitary leaf in this so-called supply room. I hadn’t noticed it was missing before because I’d been trying crazy spells full of odd ingredients.

How was I supposed to break this oath if they didn’t even have the most basic supplies?

The shelves were carefully organized. Labels marked every vial and bottle. And it was alphabetized. I went back to the r’s and stopped at the t’s. Saffron. Safflower Oil. Sago Palm. Salamander. Salicin. Salsafy. Salt. Saxifrage.

“Son of a—” I cut myself off. I didn’t like cursing. Those words were too overused. Except in this instance, I couldn’t think of anything else that suited the situation better.

If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
I tried to live by the Peter Rabbit rule. But sometimes it was hard.

I stepped out of the room, and nearly walked into Cosette.

“Hi,” I said, trying not to sound suspicious. Mr. Dawson had loaned me one of the classrooms where the wolves attempted spells and the use of their supply closet. The others had been helping me, but Cosette had disappeared after breakfast without a word of explanation. Not that she owed me any, but something was going on with her. I had no idea what it was, but I’d seen her storming off, gesturing wildly as she spoke on her cell phone.

“I found this book.” She held out a leather-bound square without any other explanation.

She was helping me?
I realized my mouth was hanging open in shock, and closed it. Cosette had been with the coven for three months. In that time, I’d gotten to know her as much as she let me. She wasn’t usually helpful. Sometimes she seemed frustrated by it. Almost like she knew more than she let on, but couldn’t let us in.