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CHAPTER 1
Winter
Achill shotthrough me, but it had nothing to do with the snow falling outside. I rolled over, squinting at my cell phone. Three o’clock in the morning. The witching hour. A figure glowed at the foot of my bed.
As a child, the apparitions used to terrify me. Today?
It was all part of my so-called gift.
The ghost appeared to be a woman, cradling a baby in her arms. She lifted her head and met my eyes. “You have to save her.”
I could communicate with the dead in my mind, but other than Mouse, my white cat, the house was empty, so I asked aloud, “Who?”
The infant faded as the woman dropped her hands to her sides. “Ashley. They’re looking for her. They’ll hurt her.”
I cleared the sleep from my throat. “Your baby is alive?”
“Yes. We kept her hidden.” Her form flickered. Projecting their image so the living could see them took massive amounts of spiritual energy. “Please help her.”
With only a first name, the chances of finding her child inside of social services was slim. And why me? She didn’t look familiar. “I’ll try.”
She came closer to the foot of my bed. “You must.”
I arched a brow. “I’m not a detective.”
“But you’re a witch.” She started to disintegrate in front of me. “My daughter has witch blood too. That’s…why…they want her.”
And she was gone.
I sat up, wide awake, pulling my hair back from my forehead as Mouse hopped up on my bed and walked across my lap, dragging his long white tail under my chin.
“I’m too busy tomorrow to be up at three in the morning,” I whined to my cat.
Mouse answered with a meow.
Maybe some tea would help. I got up and grabbed my robe off the back of the door before heading into my small kitchen. I refused to call it a kitchenette; who even came up with that word? I put the pot on the stove and went over to my laptop on the table. Ruby asked me to head up the planning for the joint Christmas party for the Coven of Light and the Salem Pack. Our previous coven leader, Lillian, started the tradition with the previous Salem Alpha, Mathias, over a decade ago. It had been their attempt to unite our supernatural groups as allies. Lillian had visions with flashes of the future, and she’d seen a new coven conjuring blood magic.
In the past two years, the Coven of Shadows emerged and werewolves were being hunted. We needed allies.
This year’s Christmas party was going to be a little bigger than usual. This year Ruby was leading our Coven and Zeke was the new Alpha in Salem. Not to mention they were a couple. Wolf and witch romances had been forbidden, but Ruby was Zeke’s one true mate, so apparently fate had another plan.
Now he and Ruby were raising two little werewolf boys, Carson and Cade.
And they both carried their mother’s witch blood. Shifters with magic.
Life didn’t usually change so fast around Salem.
The kettle whistled and I poured it into my mug, adjusting my little silicone kitty steeper hanging on the edge. Mouse circled my ankles as I sat in front of my computer. This year we had reserved the Howling Wolf Taqueria restaurant for the night. It had been pricey, but Mathias insisted. He wanted to celebrate the new life in the pack and the coven, and he was willing to cover the cost.
As long as he was footing the bill, I didn’t care.
The holidays were usually tough for me. That’s why I agreed to organize the party. Anything to keep busy. I lifted the steamy mug to my lips without thinking. The hot tea burned my lips and my gasp froze the liquid inside.
“Damn it.”
I set the now cold mug on the table with a sigh. The joys of being an ice elemental.
If only my mother had been around to raise me, so I had better control over my magic. I shoved the thought aside and tried to focus on the quotes from the deejays.
