Four, five, six.
Seven.
Eight.
Half the pack ringed us, their golden eyes fixed on Saint, their upper lips curled from their teeth.
“He’s my guest.” I frowned at their open hostility. “He won’t harm you. He’s a witch, like me.”
“He’s nothing like you, Vonny.”
A tall boy emerged from the stalks, naked as the day he was born.
Phillip.
The alpha’s son.
The use of another nickname, a more intimate one, caused Saint’s jaw to set in a hard line.
“He’s my friend.” I got to my feet. “Phillip, please don’t make a fuss.”
“Vonny.” His eyes softened. “You have the largest heart of anyone I have ever met, and you’ll let anyone walk right into it.”
“I’ll go.” Saint touched my arm. “Stay.” He glanced around the gathering. “Enjoy yourself.”
“Wait.” I latched on to his arm. “Don’t leave.”
“Let him.” Phillip stared down Saint. “He’s poison, Vonny. I can smell it.”
Warg noses were to be trusted, but jealous boys were not. Meg didn’t have the keenest senses, obviously, or we wouldn’t get caught half as often. But if there was a sickness in Saint, she would have picked up on that wrongness.
“Thank you for your hospitality—” I kept my hold on Saint, “—but my new friend and I will be going.”
The pack had never turned me away. They always accepted my otherness with a smile or a yip. They understood the wildness in me, that it had to get out, one way or another. They provided me with an outlet, albeit an unconventional one.
Walking away, their eyes drilling into my spine, I realized how much I depended upon that release.
For that reason, more than any other, turning down Phillip’s advances had weighed heavily on me. There was a boy who would accept me for who and what I was, who cared for me, who I was fond of. He had roots in the area, and a marriage between us would strengthen ties between coven and pack, which would protect us for generations, but…no spark leapt between us.
Ironic how Saint, who could offer me none of those things, was the one who set my heart racing.
“I’m sorry I ruined your fun.”
Plopping down on a soggy hay bale well away from the pack’s games, I patted the musty spot beside me.
“It’s not your fault.” I tipped back my head. “The pack has to be careful, the same as us. I should have asked the alpha for permission first. He’s a good man, but a cautious one. He’s a close friend of Papa’s, actually. That’s the only reason my parents have looked the other way in this regard for so long.”
Curls plastered to his forehead with sweat, he joined me in moongazing. “I understand why you do it.”
“I doubt that very much, you being a man.”
“Restrictions are placed on us all.” He slanted me a glance. “Your friend, Phillip. You trust him?”
“We’ve known one another all our lives. He was the first person to suggest I strip naked under the moon with the rest of them, and I did it.” A grin tugged at my lips. “On a dare.” I exhaled. “I was eight at the time, and it hadn’t occurred to me the others would be clad in fur.” I relished the memory. “I ran faster than I ever have that night. I had to, or else I would have frozen to the ground. As it was, Papa fretted over my toes for days, convinced they were frostbitten.”
“How old was Phillip?”
“Six.” I chuckled. “He’s always had a thing for older women.”