AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I was a lone witch in a strange place with strange people.
I’d never fit in anywhere.
Yesterday that would have been perfectly okay with me. So why was today any different?
It had to be this place and these people. That’s all that had changed in my life.
I curled my hands into fists as I walked up to a table and pulled out a chair, leaving a few empty ones between me and everyone else.
Even if I was extremely intrigued by them I wasn’t stupid enough to trust them. I wasn’t even stupid enough to ever trust anyone, even Plume and she was my sole friend in the world. Just stupid enough to let everyone abuse me because that seemed to be my role to play in life and I was just only becoming not okay with that.
Something about being tied to that tree changed things inside of me though and I no longer felt like I was going to be able to live my life in such a way anymore.
I wanted to be strong.
I wanted to be brave.
Perhaps today was the day to start on that journey. I was in a new place after all.
The man named Raven placed a steaming mug of coffee on the table in front of me. He then slid over a ceramic dish with cream and then another with sugar over in front of the mug. They had never been able to doctor up the coffee at camp and couldn’t wait to see if it tasted any less bitter with cream and sugar in it than it was originally rumored to be.
“Are you hungry, Autumn?” Raven asked in that incredibly deep but sexy voice of his that sent shivers down my spine.
I didn’t understand it. What a strange thing for a voice to do to me. I wasn’t quite sure if I liked it or it scared the crap out of me because he affected me so much.
What did he ask? Was I hungry? I took stock of myself. I hadn’t eaten in the whole time I’d been sleeping, obviously, and I’d lost a whole lot of blood before that. I was definitely hungry, practically starving.
I nodded my head as I carefully picked up my coffee mug and sipped from it. It was as bitter as the rumors claimed it to be. I sat it down and spooned in some sugar before pouring in the cream. The coffee immediately changed color to a lighter brown.
I picked up the cup and gingerly sipped from it again. And almost moaned out loud. Goodness. Cream and sugar made all the difference and I could easily drink coffee like this all the time.
“I’ll make pancakes and bring everything out to you.” a different deep, masculine voice spoke and my eyes shot around the table until they met with startling blue eyes set into a gentle face. He smiled at me sweetly before getting up from the table and walking away.
“That was Scout,” Raven helpfully informed me. “We’re missing Liam but he’s off doing research for you. He’s always researching something and you’re his most fascination subject he’s found yet. The big guy is Gunner. He’s a lot nicer than he looks, I promise. And the quiet, watchful one is Mason. He’s a lot less judgmental than he looks and he’s really only quiet because he’s shy. You’ll get used to him in time and then you’ll probably never get him to shut up again. And you’ve already met Rain. He’s just visiting and not a member of my coven.”
Why was he telling me all of this information about these people? A simple name worked just fine. I didn’t know why I needed to know a piece of information about them all. I kind of appreciated it though, even if it did leave me more curious than ever.
I didn’t like that I now felt the need to share something about myself with them in return. If it had been Rain I would have said it had been done deliberately. With Raven something inside of me told me he was just trying to be thoughtful.
I was betting he was always thoughtful and likely very sweet at times. I was going to like Raven a great deal if I wasn’t careful.
I had learned a long time ago that I couldn’t afford to like anyone because no-one was ever really my true friend in the end.
“So, Autumn,” Rain said conversationally but he wasn’t fooling me in the slightest. “Tell us something about yourself that we don’t already know.”
That would be so easy because all they really knew about me was my name and where I had come from.
Someone around the table snorted and muttered, “Subtle, Rain. Very subtle.”
They weren’t wrong in their sarcasm.
I got why Rain was so curious about me. I would be curious too. But my people were excellent secret keepers and secrets didn’t remain secret if you told everyone about them.
I cleared my throat. I had to give them something but it was going to be difficult to force myself to share. I licked my suddenly dry lips nervously. “Where you found me? In the forest? All I've seen in my whole life is there amongst those people. They weren’t really my people though, because I’ve always been different from the rest of them.”
I reached up and touched the markings on my face that I had memorized since such a young age. “But they were my people nonetheless because they were all I had ever known. That forest was my home because it too was all I had ever known. I should probably go back to it soon. Not that any of them miss me. I guess I don’t really miss them either. And, if I’m being honest, I don’t really want to be there any longer anyway. Am I going to have to go back there?”
Once I started speaking it was like I couldn’t shut myself up again.
