Winter: A time for love and revenge

“Be on the lookout for them,” Selene said as she pulled more supplies from her bag and began preparing more spells. “Now that I’ve made my presence known, a winter cunt will be here soon. I’ll need you to watch my back as I prepare.”

We stared out into the surrounding trees, listening for anything out of the ordinary—other than the fucking snowstorm. It would’ve been easier in wolf form, but we needed to be able to communicate with Selene for the time being.

It took what felt like ten minutes for us to hear anything. During that time, Selene prepared spells and what I assumed were magical traps around the clearing. Her previous spell was going strong—even with the blizzard, no snow dared to stick to grass or flowers, melting the instant it landed.

Not only did I hear shifting snow that sounded like something was moving through it and fast, but the weather picked up exponentially, which could mean only one thing. A winter witch was here.

“Shift,” Leon said as he stripped off his shirt, throwing it to the side.

I followed his lead, fumbling with the laces of my boots and swearing under my breath at how big of a pain in the ass they were. Normally, I wore clothes that were easy enough to strip out of in case of an emergency. It wasn’t like I could just say fuck it and shift, destroying my clothes in the process, not when I didn’t have more, and it was fucking cold.

Letting out several more strings of swear words, I was finally able to rid myself of my clothes and was in wolf form. Not only was it nice to know we had a witch on our side, but being able to stand on grass instead of snow was a whole lot easier. Based on the animalistic growls coming from the trees, we’d have multiple shapeshifters to fight.

Leon was closest to the trees and was the one to intercept the arctic fox as it leaped toward him. Soon, a polar bear and another fox came into the clearing. I aimed for the fox, snapping at its side, my teeth grazing its fur when it moved at the last second. They lashed out at me with their outrageously sharp claws—seriously, they were several inches long—and grazed my front leg, drawing blood. It wasn’t deep enough to cause concern since I moved back at the last second, but it stung like a bitch.

After several more maneuvers, I managed to clamp my teeth into their shoulder when a fucking snow leopard slammed into my side, yanking me away from the fox and knocking me to the grass. Their claws dug into my side, but before they could do more damage, they were distracted by the sudden sleet that began pelting us as the light-haired winter witch faced off against Selene.

How about that? The winter bitch distracted her ally, allowing me to not only get out of the leopard’s hold but gain the upper hand. Unlike the leopard, I didn’t let the shitty weather distract me and killed them.

The fox was back on their feet when I finally made it back to them, dodging my attacks. Not only was the fox fast as hell, but the weather grew worse. The frigid winds were a nightmare to endure and nearly knocked me over multiple times.

Ice pelted my fur, and it would’ve been way more painful had I been in human form. My fur was a bit of a barrier, but it still stung.

At one point, there was an explosion somewhere behind me that left my poor ears ringing, but I couldn’t take my focus off this fucking fox for one second. I would just have to hope that it was one of Selene’s spells and that she had everything under control.

Every once in a while, I glanced at where Leon and Aspen were fighting the other shapeshifters, checking to make sure neither of them was at risk of being killed. Despite Aspen doubting Selene’s skills based on her age, she was holding her own against the tall and slender witch. The few times I glanced their way, it looked like she had the upper hand.

I earned several more bites and scratches before the end of the fight, but there was no time to focus on them. ‘The others have taken out their witches and shapeshifters. Shift back. We need to meet them at the epicenter of the storm.’ Before I could respond to Leon, he began shifting back into human form.

Following his lead, I shifted back and sought out my clothes that were now coated in snow, as was the clearing. I only pulled on my jeans and coat, zipping it up halfway and carrying the rest. I’d end up having to shift again, and I was in no mood to deal with those damn boots or too many unnecessary layers.

Leon put the truck into drive before I was fully seated or able to close the door, making me fall into Aspen.

Selene started back up with her spell, chanting in the low and hypnotic-sounding language. While the blizzard was still raging, it was nowhere near the level it was earlier. But even so, we were still forced to stop almost half a mile away, the truck skidding and sliding every which way.

I left my clothes in the truck and shifted, as did Leon and Aspen.

We didn’t run at full speed since Selene wouldn’t be able to keep up. She could run faster than humans, especially if she used magic, but I had a feeling she was conserving her energy for the winter witches.

It came as no surprise when we came across more shapeshifters. Leon Aspen and I dealt with them as Selene continued racing toward the epicenter. There were only a few shapeshifters, easy enough to dispatch, and soon we were running again.

We came across Cass and Aaron as we ran, both of them showing signs of their fight, with blood matting a gray patch of Cass’ fur, and Aaron was limping slightly.

As we neared the epicenter, the worse the weather became. A particularly strong gust of wind knocked me into a tree, a sharp ache taking up residence in my side. It was at that moment more shapeshifters attacked, with nearly three times the numbers as earlier, and these were more aggressive than the last.

The polar bear I was fighting had bitten me in my shoulder and refused to budge when all at once, the blizzard and whipping winds halted. Not only did the polar bear get distracted by the change in weather, but they released their hold on my shoulder, giving me the chance to finish them off.

When were these shapeshifters going to learn not to get distracted by the damn weather?

‘It’s over,’ Aaron said, even though I’d already gathered it from the lack of a storm.

We hadn’t gotten all of the shapeshifters like we previously thought, and by the time we realized it, it was too late. The leopard leaped from a nearby tree and before any of us could react, landed on Aaron, clamping their powerful teeth around his throat and snapping his neck.

Before I could even move, Cass leaped into action, slamming into the snow leopard and raking his claws down its side. Leon jumped in to help, and soon, the snow leopard was dead.

I hurried toward Aaron, as did Aspen, shifting into human form as I neared him, even though I knew it was too late. His bones snapped as the auburn fur receded, leaving him in human form, his light blue eyes unseeing as they looked up at the sky.

Aaron may have been an asshole and had annoyed me during the car ride, but he was a member of our pack, and his loss had my wolf upset. This shouldn’t have happened, especially when the fight should’ve been over.

“Would it be insensitive of me to say he got what he wanted?” Leon asked, kneeling next to me in the snow. I looked up at him, raising my brows in a silent question. “Before you guys left, he kept complaining that this mission would be boring. He wanted action, and he got it.”

I clamped my hand over my mouth as a snort came free. It wasn’t funny, not really, but my options were to cry or laugh, and I wasn’t the type to cry. “If there’s a hell for us, you’re going there—along with me for laughing,” I said, and Leon shrugged as if this didn’t bother him.

“Your Alpha is going to have a shit-ton of paperwork to deal with,” Selene said as she helped me toss another body onto the pile. It was a rule of the council: if you were going to kill someone in retaliation, you had to dispose of the bodies. Not only would humans be suspicious if they found over fifty bodies, over half of them animals, but if they examined them, they’d notice differences and inconsistencies in them.

Selene wasn’t kidding about the paperwork. If Sebastian went through the right channels, alerting the council about his father’s murder and our evidence of who did it, he’d still have an outrageous amount of paperwork and meetings with the council. My mom always said that was the council’s way of trying to deter us from taking matters into our own hands rather than letting the hunters bring in the accused and have a trial.

“Do we know why they killed Mitchell?” I asked, aiming my question at the nearby witches, wiping my hands off on my jeans.

If we hadn’t been in almost knee-high snow, we wouldn’t have doubled back for the truck and our clothes, but since it was still freezing, we figured it would be for the best. I’d nearly froze to death earlier, and I didn’t need a repeat.

“The winter witches were hired to kill your former Alpha and brought in the shapeshifters as the muscle and to take the blame,” Selene’s aunt said as she began preparing the ingredients for a spell. Since we had witches with us, they’d perform a spell that would help make the bonfire burn hotter and faster so the bodies would be ash within thirty minutes. It was much faster and more efficient than what we’d have done if we were alone. A couple of the other coven members were doubling back to where the other bodies were to dispose of them. It was a tedious thing to have to do, but something that had to be done.

“Please tell me they revealed who hired them.” I didn’t think I’d be able to take it if she told me they didn’t know. Whoever hired the winter witches could just as easily get another supernatural species to come after us again if that had been their goal.

Selene’s aunt pursed her lips before looking at me from where she knelt. “We’ve already sent word to your Alpha and the council, so there’s no point in keeping this a secret. It was the Alpha of the St. Helen’s pack.”

“Why would they go through all of this to have Mitchell killed?” Leon asked, having overheard our conversation, and came over to stand next to me. “If they were nearby, I’d understand, but it’s not like they can take over our pack.”

The St. Helen’s pack was one of the packs that I never wanted to visit. The Oregon-based pack was known for its cruelty.

“From what the winter witch gathered, he only wanted Mitchell dead. They hadn’t cared about anyone else.”

“This will all work in your favor,” another witch said as she came to help with the spell, glancing at Leon and me. “After word spreads of what happened here and how your other packmates took down multiple shapeshifter packs, others will think twice about attacking your pack.”

I didn’t say anything else, figuring it was best to not distract them while they worked on such a spell, and moved away to stand next to Aspen. He wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me against his side and kissing the top of my head.

My attention was soon pulled to the tree line where Cass and Leon stood, speaking in whispers. “What were you thinking bringing Selene here?”

“What the hell is going on with Cass lately?” I whispered to Aspen, even though I doubted anyone was listening to me. Our fellow pack members were combing through the forest to make sure we had all the bodies, while the witches started the bonfire that threw off waves of heat and had us moving further back. Selene and another witch—I assumed was her older sister, based on their similarities—cast a boundary spell around the bonfire, ensuring it wouldn’t spread. The last thing we needed to do was set this whole damn forest ablaze.

Aspen sighed under his breath as he glanced at where Leon and Cass were still having a low conversation, having moved even further away out of earshot. Dammit. “Selene is Adalind’s other roommate.”

“Is this still about the human roommate?”

“Don’t act so surprised, Fay,” Aspen said, looking down at me as his hand trailed down my side. Even though my coat was an annoying barrier, I still felt the pressure of his hand. “We’ve always been careful to make sure humans don’t become suspicious.”

The look I gave Aspen told him how I felt about his bullshit answer. “It’s winter break, the human roommate—I’m sorry, what the hell is her name?” I felt rude to keep calling her the human roommate.

Aspen hesitated for a moment, wiping his free hand across his jaw before relenting. “Rhea.”

“Pretty name,” I said to myself before continuing with my rant. “Like I was saying, it’s winter break. How would Rhea know if Selene is here helping us? Does she live in town?” It just didn’t make sense.

“She would notice if Selene was suddenly dead.”

I arched an eyebrow, silently calling him out on his bullshit answer again. “I’ve never seen Cass this invested in making sure humans don’t find out about us, especially for one he used to know. Does he have a thing for her?” It was the only explanation I could come up with. Cass had been talking to Adalind more lately than he did in the past seven years combined. Not only that, but he now suddenly cared whether or not her witch roommate went on dangerous missions, simply because it might make Rhea—who was probably home for the break—ask questions. It was all very odd.

“And if he does have a thing for her?” Aspen challenged.

“Then he should just date her, fuck her, or do whatever he wants to do with her. Hell, he could tell her about us if he wants,” I said with a shrug. There weren’t any rules against us being with humans. Would some douchebag werewolves look down on him for dating a human? Yes, but that shouldn’t matter. Our pack wasn’t one to be a part of that—for the most part, there were a few assholes—so it shouldn’t affect Cass. He never seemed like the type to seek validation or approval from others anyway.

“He doesn’t want her to know about our world. He wants her to live a normal life.” Aspen was way too casual like he wasn’t talking about his friend self-sacrificing so Rhea wouldn’t know what lived in the shadows of our world.

“He’s fucking crazy and a dumbass,” I muttered, baffled at how moronic he was being.

“Come on, let’s go check to make sure we got everything,” Aspen said, guiding me away from the loud crackling bonfire and the horrible scent of the burning bodies that had me wanting to gag. I could go easily without having to smell that shit ever again.