Lorcan & Evette

Chapter Thirty-Two

Evie stared out the window in curiosity as the driver directed them through one of many wolf towns. Apparently, each town was a separate pack. Something about wolf order. Evie didn't care. If it wasn't coven talk, then she didn't give a shit.

She was sure she'd mark the first witch to have ever seen any of this. The first witch to enter the Lupine Territories and not be killed on sight.

If Lorcan hadn't stopped them, she didn't doubt those guards would've done a whole lot worse to her than claw up her hands.

She was vaguely aware of the werewolf watching her as she took in the streets. She didn't know what she'd been expecting. Perhaps something madder than this.

It looked like an old English town. Buildings were made from stone, some with thatched roofs. They were Victorian looking with the black and white tops. There were plants and trees everywhere with old fashioned streetlamps and cobbled streets. Evie sensed that was for the aesthetic. There were signs of modernity dotted all over the place.

"What do you think?" he asked her as she turned her head to assess one of the old pubs. Werewolves sat in and outside of it, sloshing their beers and drinking merrily.

A part of her was surprised that he was even asking. Another part knew that he sought the approval of his mate.

"I think I want to go home now."

"Just a little while longer and we'll be there."

She turned to him with a stark look. "When I say home, I'm referring to my room in Castle Solum. Not here. Understand this werewolf, this will never be my home."

"It's always been your home, even if you don't want it."

Impossible wolf.

If it was her home, then surely he'd have no problem with her renting it out to a school of gnomes. One could never have enough money.

Out the window, she saw a duck pond with an old bridge stretching across it and frowned.

None of this was what she'd been expecting. It was certainly a far cry from Veneficus.

The only thing that did meet her predictions were the trees. Werewolves were creatures guided primarily by the wild. Around the village, the trees seemed to stretch on for miles.

"Ask your question, witch."

"Why are there no wolves walking around? You said people can change when they get to 700."

"People tend to change in the woods. Shifting in the streets is bad etiquette."

Etiquette! Ha! She didn't think the wolves had an understanding of etiquette.

"And why's that?"

"Some of us prefer to strip before we change into our wolves, otherwise our clothing is destroyed. A lot of mates don't want their other halves to see another person nude." He unclipped his seatbelt as quietly as possible, edging towards the middle seat. "I know that if you saw another man naked, I'd be driven to kill him."

"I've seen plenty of men naked before. And women."

"Aye, and if I ever meet any of them, know they won't be living for long."

She was still convinced this werewolf was mad. He'd given her every reason to believe so.

She turned her gaze out the window once more.

She saw scenes she'd never seen before in Veneficus. Teenagers meeting for sneaky dates, parents showing their kids around, friends meeting up for a pint and mates meeting for the first time.