Wolf Spell: Shifters Bewitched #1

to us.”
“All women at the school are subject to the law,” I snarled.
“She only arrived at the school today,” Hart continued, infuriating me with her calm, unspoken plea.
New.
That made perfect sense. It was why I had not picked up her intoxicating scent until today.
“Can you choose another?” Hart asked hopefully. “This one does not even know the law yet.”
“No,” I growled. “But we’ll do this by the books.”
I gazed down sorrowfully at the object of my desire.
She blinked back at me in terrified wonder and my heart wrenched in my chest. I did not want to leave her, even for an instant.
“Be sure she knows the rules by the time I come back for her,” I said, wrenching my gaze from Bella’s to fix the headmistress with my most ferocious stare.
To her credit, Winifred Hart didn’t even blink.
“We know the rules, Lord Protector,” she said calmly.
I nodded to her, drank in one last glance at the trembling girl, and walked back into the maze, my mind pulling to pieces as if I were leaving part of it behind in the courtyard.
The beast howled in my chest.
Soon, I promised. Soon.

8
Bella
The beast, the Lord Protector, disappeared into the darkness and I strained my eyes trying to memorize every detail of him.
My heart was being crushed in a vice.
I feared him. But somehow, I needed him, too. His absence made me feel like I was drowning…
“Bella, are you okay?” Cori’s voice came from far away.
I blinked my eyes and tried to focus on her.
The world slammed back into my consciousness and I looked around.
Every single woman at the whole school was staring at me.
I wished I could disappear into the stones of the courtyard.
“Come, Bella,” Headmistress Hart said quietly. “Cori, Anya, you can come too. Help me get her inside.”
“Circle up, ladies,” Eve’s familiar voice called out. “Everyone focus on me. We’re finishing the chants and then you’re all going back to your rooms.”
The headmistress had me by one arm and Cori by the other as the groans of protest drifted up from the other students.
“She’s in the upper west wing, right?” Headmistress Hart asked. “Bellwether?”
“Yes, headmistress,” Cori said as Anya dashed forward to open the doors. “With me.”
“I-I’m okay,” I managed, even though that was the last thing I was. “You don’t have to hold onto me.”
“You’ve had a shock,” the headmistress replied.
“I’m fine,” I lied.
She gave me a look, then let go.
Cori slid her hand from my arm down to my hand and squeezed. I squeezed back and let her keep her hold on me.
Our group continued in and up the stairs, the plush carpet cold under my feet after the heat of the stones.
At last we reached the room I would be sharing with Cori.
“I’ll go back for your stuff,” Anya offered.
“I’ll send it up with another student,” the headmistress said dismissively. “What Bella needs now, more than clothing, is the companionship of friends. Are the two of you ready to be that for her?”
“Yes, headmistress,” Cori said quickly.
“Of course,” Anya added.
I swallowed loudly.
“Bella, please sit,” Headmistress Hart said.
I complied automatically, dropping heavily onto the edge of my bed, grateful for the chance to get off my feet before they betrayed me.
Cori and Anya seated themselves on either side of me.
“Our ceremony must have seemed most unusual to you, Bella,” Headmistress Hart said.
I nodded. Uh, yeah, it had been unusual in a lot of ways.
“First you must have noticed the way we spoke about the library, the school and the women who study and teach here,” she said, setting a very deliberate pace for a conversation she clearly didn’t want to be having.
“We protect the library,” I said.
“Indeed,” she replied with a warm smile. “The school is home to a very special library, Miss Hawthorne. It’s not just a collection of lifeless books. We have artwork, magical artifacts, and even the texts themselves are alive with magic. Studying here is a privilege.”
I agreed. That was why I was here. Library or no, I wanted to learn to heal, to help my brother. She was looking at me like she expected something, so I nodded.
She buttoned her lip and began to pace.
“Our relationship with the library is symbiotic,” she continued. “It shares its magic with us, and in turn, we protect it from any who might breach the castle walls.”
I wondered if that was a likely threat. I didn’t remember seeing anyone around for miles on the way in.
“But who will protect the castle?” she asked out loud.
I assumed it was some kind of rhetorical question that she was about to answer herself. I had no clue who would protect the castle.
“The castle is located on this very mountaintop in a very precise spot, and for a very important reason,” Headmistress Hart went on. “A portal deep in the forest means the veil is thin here.”
“The veil?” I echoed.
“The barrier between our world and the other,” she said. “The library can thrive here, but so can other, darker things. We provide protection within the castle. The guardians provide protection from the things outside these walls.”
The other?
I blinked at her. I had seen a bit of magic - a something occupying a suit of clothing, a few vines growing fast and branches reaching out.
But what she was talking about was beyond anything my mind could grasp.
Another world? Things in the woods?
“The guardians protect the castle, but there are no females in their number,” she said crisply. “In exchange for their protection, they choose mates from among our students.”
Mates?
I blinked at her, unbelieving.
I wasn’t sure what I thought was going to happen to me, but I would have been less surprised to hear that the man in the courtyard planned to hunt me for sport.
“They have not come forth in many years to choose,” Headmistress Hart went on. “The ritual has become empty ceremony for most of us. I am sorry that this happened on your first day here. But the law is the law.”
“What law?” I asked.
We were still in Pennsylvania.