Page 5 of The Witch’s Daughter

As the only natural born witch among my sisters, I was the one who was most drawn to magic. They knew basic spells, courtesy of our witch mother and grandmother, but neither of them had an innate gift like I did.

That was why being magic-broken hurt so damn much. Everything I was, all my power and the uniqueness that made me me, was just out of my reach.

I’m always here. My wolf tried to console me. I gave her a mental pat.

Not that she wasn’t great, but compared to my sisters’ sigma and alpha wolves, my beta wolf was just… average. And without my magic gifts, so was I.

“Are you three giving your ma a hard time?” Dad brushed wood chips off his flannel shirt on the porch, talking to us through the open door of the cabin. His salt-and-pepper beard still had bits of wood dust in it as he ducked his head to come inside, heading straight for Mom.

“Yes!” She growled in that cute little human way of hers. “The three of them are feral.”

“You make me feral.” Dad pulled Mom to her feet and planted a kiss on her lips.

My sisters and I gagged on cue. No matter how old we got, we would always be that immature.

Dad grinned as he looked around at the four of us, pride making his chest swell. Everyone in the pack knew him as the grumpy enforcer, but I never saw what they were scared of.

My scary dad was a total teddy bear.

His grin faltered as he sniffed. “What’s burning?”

Gods, no.

I turned in slow motion to see flames licking the door of the cast iron stove.

“I’ve got the water,” Alec said.

Dad grumbled, “I’ll get the towels.”

“Trish, you wait outside.” Meg pushed me toward the door, shaking her head at Mom. “What were you thinking, letting her in the kitchen?”

Mom smiled at me, trying not to let pity show on her face. “You’ll get it next time.”

Told you this was a bad plan.

I just wanted to make him cupcakes.

Smoke followed me out of the cabin as my family worked to save our childhood home from yet another disaster of my making.

Tears burned behind my eyes.

I moved as far away as I could and sat on a stump while I waited, knowing I’d only make it worse if I tried to jump in.

Not for the first time since the mysterious summons arrived in the mail, I thought about what it’d be like to go anywhere else, to be someone else. Somewhere I wouldn’t have to hide or be coddled like I was breakable glass.

Somewhere no one would recognize me—where I wasn’t the broken wolf-witch who couldn’t be trusted to do anything alone without my family breathing down my neck, waiting for my inevitable screw-up.

Maybe leaving wasn’t such a bad idea.

2

Jaxon

“Good morning, Alpha.” Her feminine voice and floral smell caught me off guard.

I clutched the towel around my waist, still blinking the sleep and water from the shower out of my eyes.

“Liz. Good morning.” What time is it? “You, ah… Don’t have to do that.” I tried to remember my manners, not wanting to offend the pretty she-wolf, but also wanting her out of my space.