The Witch and the Wolf ✔️

Wolfsbane

"We can't do this."

There was panic in his blue eyes as he pulled away.

"What?" My mind was still reeling from the kiss, and the fact that he'd been on board seconds ago. "Huron, what are you talking about? I removed the spell— for you, for us!"

He shook his head, moving away from me. "I was so selfish—"

"And so was I."

He shook his head again. "No, you don't know everything about me—"

I folded my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow. "In case you haven't noticed, we don't know a lot about each other, Huron. And we don't get much of a choice in the marriage and all of that. So instead of moping about it, let's actually try to change things."

I was surprised by my own boldness, about the words tumbling out of my mouth. It was like a dam had been removed and all the floodwaters came rushing out.

"I've done bad things, Lorna," he muttered. "Some of it I can't remember— it's a part of our protocols— potions that keep us obedient and minimize any of our guilt when we return."

"Maybe that's for the better," I murmured, trying to comprehend this new level of horror.

"I never wanted to be a soldier, Lorna," Huron said. "I wanted to be a doctor, a healer. I don't want our territory to grow through violence. I know far too much about war and strategy for my hands to ever be clean."

His voice was steadily rising in despair.

I thought to what Bennett had said, about how Huron could be cruel. As doubt rose yet again in my chest, I gathered up the strength to ask:

"What do you mean?"

He met my eyes again, and they glowed silvery blue. "I'm good at war, Lorna. I know every dirty strategy, and how to use it. There was a time when I looked at it all like a game, one I wanted to win at any cost, in my father's name. I was excited by it. I still know how to win the war in the dirtiest way possible and I help him. I help my father come up with what cruel, awful things we'll do— and for what? For the rumors, the reputation, a few more wolves, money, and a scrap of land!"

I wanted to flinch, to recoil— but I had a feeling he wanted me to. He was testing me. If I wanted to love him, I'd have to face his dark side. And he'd already seen far too much of mine.

Instead, I sat up straight. "But you changed, Huron. You turned to healing, you learned compassion and empathy. The past is the past. But we have to move on."

He shook his head. "You'd know how the past stays around, wouldn't you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The way he looked at me then reminded me of the way his father, Alpha Lamar, looked at me the first time he ever saw me.

"Why did you visit the Hunter Sanctuary in Star Falls, Lenora?"

I was Lenora, now. Detached.

Deny.

I wrinkled my nose. "What are you talking about?"

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Did you really think we were so stupid as to not leave a spy with our new Luna, from enemy territory, who didn't feel any loyalty because of the bond?"

"Minty." My eyes were wide. "I didn't tell her about that."

"No, not Minty," Huron said. "Kaia Wilder followed you secretly. Minerva didn't know about it."

Hecate— no. No. No.

"I— I didn't see her, I looked," I stammered.

"A cloaking spell might've done better," Huron said. "But she's one of our best trackers. A silent spy, who simply reports and tracks. I've never been able to spot her, when she didn't want to be found."