Witch Blood

Two

           

She is back again.

This thought races through Odin Evanders mind as Cole Yazzie and Rodyn Nez tell a raunchy joke about the cute girl with purple hair who works at the supermarket in town. Odin pretends to laugh as his eyes search for her.

He can always sense her before he actually sees her. His hands shake and his heart races as if his body knows she is close by, anticipating the sight of her. Odin sets his plate of food on the floor before pushing himself from his too small chair. He stretches his long body, his eyes searching the edge of the woods for her.

Their eyes connect. She ducks low on the ground, Odin can hear her heart hammering in her chest from here.

Odin smiles to himself. Her white fur stands on end, her pale golden-brown eyes on edge. The wolf from Odin's dreams. Bellatrix Fay.

The first dream Odin can remember clearly of her is from when he was an eight-year-old boy. In this dream he was in a vast field full of bellis perennis; daisies. Odin felt so smart knowing the technical name of the common weed. He'd spend hours upon hours making bracelets and crowns for his little sister Thalia and his mother.

The other boys in the pack would laugh as they passed by him making his bracelets, calling him a sissy under their breathe. Of course, they would never say this to Odin's face. Even at that young of an age they knew who Odin was, they understood his importance and power by the way the adults talked about him, watched him.

Odin was their Alpha's son. One day he would take over as Alpha. You don't disrespect the Alpha, no matter how far away from the title they are, unless you have a death wish.

Odin didn't like being called a sissy, he didn't like feeling anymore different from the others boy than he already did. So, the only place he could pick bellis perennis was in his dreams.

The white wolf appeared to him then. Standing across the field. Odin could almost see the smile in her eyes. She wasn't judging him like the others did, so he made her a bracelet. When he got up to give it to her she disappeared, evaporated into nothing as if she was never there.

From then on, the white wolf was always in his dreams in some form, even if it was only in the background. And every time he got close to her she would disappear. He learned to become content with just seeing her, even though he wished to touch her, talk to her, so badly it physically hurt.

The day he turned sixteen Nordi, the tattoo artist of the pack, tattooed the white wolf on his back, capturing only a fraction of her beauty.

Odin was taken aback when she started showing up at the reservation shortly after he dropped out of school. He didn't think she was real, he thought she was only a dream, something he made up for comfortable. Seeing her for the first time was like seeing a ghost. That same day he realized who the white wolf was, Bellatrix Fay.

The girl with bright pale green eyes and hair the color of midnight. Odin always knew what she was, he could feel her wolf lurking close to the surface. His father always warned him away from her, he would say she was the kind of trouble they didn't need to invite into their pack. He knew his father said she was trouble because she was different. She didn't quite smell right, at least not like the other wolves in his pack smelled. The witch blood in her veins was strong. He'd often hear his father call her a half blood when he thought Odin wasn't listening, venom and anger leaking from his words.

Odin never made the connection between the white wolf and Bellatrix Fay until the day she showed up at the reservation. He could see Bellatrix in the wolf's eyes. He almost felt foolish for not realizing it was her sooner.

Odin could feel her loneliness, the sadness in the way she watched them. He pretended not to see her, remembering his father's words. Knowing what would happen if he disobeyed him. It felt wrong leaving her out in the woods alone when she gave him so much comfortable in his dreams for years. He wished to give her the same.

Whenever Odin felt her near he would do his best to ignore her, hoping just being around him, around his pack gave her some peace of mind.

"It's the same wolf from last time," Rodyn says, nudging Odin back to the present. The pack took notice of Bellatrix shortly after Odin, her presence making them feel uneasy. No one was sure if it was the wolf or witch who was interested in their pack. But Odin always knew it was the connection between them that drew Bellatrix to his home, even if it was unconsciously.

"Should I go over there?" Odin asks, knowing he wouldn't, knowing they would say no but still wanting a reason to. Odin hears Bellatrix turn and run back the way she came. His heart sinks, he likes the way he feels when she is near. Bold, strong, excited.

"Nah, she's gone." Cole says with a shake of his head. Odin picks up his plate and plops back down into his chair. "Think Officer Ruben would let us take out a restraining order on her?"

"Shut up," Odin says with a grin that doesn't quite reach his eyes.

"What do you think she wants?" Rodyn says, his voice is hard and protective, his wolf shining through. "Shouldn't someone do something about her? For all we know she could be cursing our land or some witchy shit like that."

"I'll talk to her." The words are out of Odin's mouth before he even realizes what he is saying.

"Your dad is going to kill you, dude." Cole says with a shake of his head, a grin on his angular face. Odin hates that everyone assumes he listens to his fathers every order, like an obident little pup.

"He isn't here." Odin says in a sharp voice. "I'll talk to her."

"Fine," Cole says raising his hands in surrender. Cole has been on the end of Odin's rage enough times to know not to piss him off unless he was ready for a fight. "Ask her if she did cast a spell on us. Maybe that's why I haven't gotten any ass these last few months. Every time I even look at a girl she runs in the opposite direction."

"You haven't gotten any ass because Jade told everyone you have herpes." Rodyn says with a chuckle. "You really pissed her off this time, brother."

Odin drowns out the rest of their conversation. He was going to talk to her. Maybe she will have answers as to why he can't shut his eyes without her making an appearance in his dreams. Does she dream about me? Odin wonders. Does she feel the connection between them that is almost tangible to him?

For once Odin doesn't care what his father thinks nor the consequences he knows he will have to face. He is going to talk to her. He can't help but think this is the kind of trouble he will gladly invite in his life.