Celeste’s POV

*****

Beach house, 9:20 Am

"W–Where are Azrael and Silas?" Even though I had a slight headache, I ignored it, bringing my feet to the floor.

It felt so good to be back in my body.

"Celeste," Luther was the first to grab my shoulder. "You need to rest. Seriously, what you went through was scary."

Atlas agreed without hesitation. "Yes. Here," he handed me a glass with a thick yellowish liquid. It smelled sweet, fruity and spicy all at once. "It’s a smoothie. It’ll help clear your mind and assist with sleep."

With a smile, he added. "There are mangoes in it."

Hearing that made my eyes light up.

But... How did he know I liked mangoes? Silas or Luther probably told him, I guess.

Finally, I took the glass off his hand, sipping slowly through a straw. "Mmhm. I still wanna know where Azrael and Silas are though."

They both exchanged looks that made my brows knit.

Whatever was happening did not look good.

"A few minutes ago, after heading out for some air... Azrael rushed back in." Atlas was the one who explained. "He seemed oddly shaken. Then he questioned if Luther and Silas had seen any peculiar-looking old woman around."

My frown only deepened.

Peculiar?

Old woman?

"Of course," Luther sighed, taking over, "Silas and I did come across an old woman earlier today. A witch who sells metaphysical items. Mama Dominique."

I squinted at the name, eyes flickering carefully between Atlas and Luther. Then, "That sounds—"

"Like a hooker’s name, right?" Luther snapped his fingers like that was supposed to be some bright idea.

I shook my head. "I was going to say that sounds made up."

Where could this be heading?

"Anyway, Azrael said he spotted this old woman close to the house." Atlas placed a hand beside me. "According to him, she didn’t say or do anything. Just stared before disappearing."

Chills travelled down my spine.

’That doesn’t sound creepy at all.’ I swallowed, finding myself already handing the glass back to Atlas. "I’m guessing they went to search for her store."

Luther grabbed my wrist. "Yes. And? Don’t tell me you’re going to—"

I yanked my arm out of his grip, straightening my posture when I got on my feet. "You guys obviously didn’t follow them because of my condition. Well, I’m better now and I say we go help."

Just when I took a couple of steps toward my room door, Atlas blocked me.

"Celeste, they don’t need our help," his golden eyes locked on mine, tone calming. "But you need rest and to stay stable. I don’t know or understand what happened to you... But it affected all of us. Exerted us physically, mentally and magically too."

Guilt swelled in my chest.

My fists curled and uncurled as I looked between them. Atlas and Luther.

’Hello again, Celeste,’ the silvery hum of my wolf cut my emotions short. ’Remember what I said. Share all that happened with your mates. Don’t keep things from them.’

I heard her. I really did.

Yet for some reason, that felt wildly unfair.

’They keep secrets too so why should I be an open book?’ I questioned. ’Azrael and the true meaning of his eyes and nature as a whole. Then there’s Silas and that damn tattoo on his left chest.’

’You’re sounding really petty right now...’

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

She’s only been awakened for a few minutes and was already making me think being wolfless wasn’t so bad after all.

’Unlike those secrets you mentioned, yours affects them,’ my wolf cautioned. ’Keeping it all to yourself will only do more harm than good.’

"Celeste?" Luther’s baritone made me remember I wasn’t alone. "You spaced out. Are you okay?"

Shit!

Panicking, I hurried past them, glancing over my shoulder. "I promise, we’ll be fine. Let’s just go help them. For all we know they might’ve walked into a trap."

This time neither of them was able to pull me back. I heard them rushing after me as I turned down the hallway. ’Something tells me that woman has something to do with those damn sigils. I’ll need to find her—the boys can know what happened later.’

’Well, I do hope this doesn’t blow up on your face, hon.’ My wolf withdrew as well. ’Our first hunting together. Oh, this should be exciting!’

Yeah... Exciting.

Or a total nightmare.

.

.

With Luther leading the way, we trailed through the tarred streets of Montecito.

He occasionally looked back at me, his eyes saying what he couldn’t say with his mouth:

This was a bad idea.

Still, the more we walked, the more I began feeling we would be in for a surprise. Perhaps that was my witch intuition—or all my senses actually.

One thing I noticed as we walked was how sharper my senses were.

Food from restaurants hundreds of meters away reached my nose. Tiny details like a fly on a golden retriever’s snout or a wrinkle on a neatly ironed suit caught my eye. An argument between a woman and her cheating husband came from another part of town.

It was... Overwhelming.

I rubbed my forehead discreetly, trying not to break down from the sensory overload coming in. "Are we getting any closer to this store?"

"Really close," Luther assured. "Just around the corner."

"Ugh—" my complaints died in my throat when another scent hit me.

Not food or the ocean’s salt air.

Two familiar colognes.

Azrael and Silas!

"Here we are..." Luther spread out his arms at that same moment, pointing ahead of us.

Sure enough Azrael and Silas were heading toward us—both their expressions unreadable.

Was that... Disappointment? Confusion?

"What happened?" I queried when we got to them, ignoring their shock when they saw me. "I woke up not too long ago and insisted they take me to you."

Silas blinked once, turning to Azrael.

The latter kept his face angled at me, his sunglasses hiding his eyes as usual. However, he soon regained his composure. "You won’t believe it if we told you."

Unease swept through me. "Tell us what? Did you guys find the woman? Did she say anything unsettling?"

Silas was the one who spoke this time. "No. Because when we got there... We couldn’t find either her or the store," he dropped the dreadful bomb. "Like none of it ever existed."