Prologue- Rye. Present Day.
1294 Words
Present Day:
The witch’s hut was hidden deep in the pines, tucked behind a wall of twisting brambles that parted only when called. Smoke curled from a crooked chimney, thick with the scent of herbs, ash and something older, magic so heavy it made the skin crawl.
Rye stood just outside the threshold for a moment to gather his thoughts. He was holding onto Eira’s necklace like it might break apart in his hand. Taking a deep breath he opened the door and stepped over the threshold, shutting the door gently behind him.
An eternity seemed to pass before he mustered the courage to speak.
“She’s turning eighteen Bonnie”, he said quietly. “The signs are coming faster than I expected. I need more time.”
The witch looked at him. She was centuries old, yet ageless. Youthful beauty hiding secrets behind glowing green eyes. Bonnie studied him with sharp eyes over a steaming mug.
“You’ve had nearly fourteen years, Wolf. Time is a trick. You should’ve told her by now.”
Rye flinched. “She’s just a girl.”
“She’s not.” Bonnie muttered in a frustrated tone. “You know what she is. What her Mother was.”
“She’s mine.” His voice cracked. “She’s all I have. I can’t loose her too.”
Rye held open his hand and revealed the necklace he had been holding.
Bonnie sighed and rose from her chair. She picked up a dark green ribbon and tied her wild red curls away from her face. Chanting in a language Rye didn’t recognise, she walked towards him. Her long pale fingers moved over the necklace as she murmured the spell. Then silence.
She returned to her seat, untying her hair and picking up her mug once more.
Rye looked down at the necklace, an iron and silver chain was now laced with runes so ancient even he couldn’t read them. A flicker of ancient lightning pulsed across it before vanishing altogether.
He didn’t ask what the spell did. He didn’t need to; they both knew what he was asking for. Rye knew what magic looked like.
Bonnie looked up, catching his eyes and pulling him back from falling back into dangerous memories.
“She huns with power,” she said looking back down to her mug. “More than her Mother did at that age. You’ve kept her blind in ignorance and magic and still her light leaks through. This spell is a patch, not a cure.”
“I don’t need forever,” Rye said. “Just… another year. One more year so I can find something more permanent.”
He turned to the window.
Outside, Birdie sat in the passenger seat of the car parked outside in the clearing of the forest. The early winter sun casting a glow across her golden curls. She looked deep in thought, lost in the peace her art brought her. Her sketchbook rested on her lap, her pencil dancing across the page. Her cheeks were rosy. Her nose red from the cold. She looked carefree. Innocent. Normal.
She looked just like her mother. So much like Eira it made his heart ache. Gray whimpered inside him.
If Rye hadn’t had Birdie, he would have given up a long time ago.
He tore his gaze away.
“She knows our history. Wolf history, supernatural history. I told her the stories, all of them,” Rye said softly. “She thinks they’re fairy tales. Creatures that shift beneath the moon. Packs and bonds, magic, soulmates and fated mates. She doesn’t know it is all real. That I made her memorise survival stories dressed up as bedtime adventures. Spells as nursery rhymes.”
Bonnie joined him at the window, her expression unreadable.
“Fairy tales turn to nightmares, Rye. What happens when she wakes up screaming and you’re not there?”
Rye turned sharply. “I won’t let that happen.”
“She’s a ticking time bomb, a storm Rye. She will awaken and when she does, you won’t be there to catch her.”
“I’ll find something before then. A stronger charm. A deeper spell. Anything.”
Bonnie stared out at Birdie. “Eira wouldn’t have wanted this life for her. You know that. She lived for the pack. If she’d survived the attack, she would’ve forgiven them. Protected them.”
Rye stiffened, his eyes back on his daughter. His daughter who looked so much like the woman he lost it felt like punishment. The only reason he still breathed. He loved her more than he valued his own existence, he didn’t want this for her either but the fear of losing her won every time.
“I have to keep her safe, Bonnie. This is the only way I know how.”
Bonnie turned sharply, eyes gleaming the brightest green Rye had ever seen; there was something ancient and dangerous in her gaze. “You speak of safety like it’s something you can hold in your hands. But you know the consequences, Rye. You’ve always known.”
Rye’s jaw tensed, but he said nothing.
“She’s not just any girl. If she doesn’t find her mate…” Bonnie hesitated, the weight of what she was about to say thick in the air. “Or worse, if she rejects him before she understands what she is, what that means, she will destroy herself. Her power will burn through her body. Light turning to dark, twisting inside of her until it consumes everything in its path. Everything”
Rye’s breath hitched, the pain behind his eyes sharper now.
Bonnie stepped closer, softer but no less firm. “You think you’re saving her. But denying her nature… hiding the truth… it doesn’t protect her, Rye. It unravels her. Bit by bit.”
Bonnie sighed. “She should have known years ago. This.. this is not what Eira would have wanted for her daughter. Not in life. And not in death.”
Rye closed his eyes, pain threatening to crush him. “Please don’t speak of her. If I remember her death, I won’t be able to stay whole. I can’t let what happened to Eira, be Birdies fate. Please help me, I just need one more year”
The witch didn’t respond at first. Then she nodded slowly. She took the necklace from his hand and whispered another chant before placing it gently back into his grasp, her fingers lingering on the cold chain.
“It will suppress the shift. Her wolf will sleep for one more year. But you must understand, it may come at a cost. Her emotions. Her instincts. Her connection to herself. All of that is wolf. And Eira. Whether it scares you or not.”
Bonnie’s voice was quiet now. Firm.
“She isn’t human, Rye. No matter how hard you wish she was. Magic like this wasn’t meant to silence nature. Only delay it.”
Rye nodded, eyes hollow. “I don’t care what it costs me. I’ll pay it. I’ll pay anything.” He shrugged on his jacket and stepped toward the door.
“I wasn’t talking about you,” she whispered.
Rye froze in the doorway.
Then he sighed and slammed the door behind him.
Bonnie stood by the window, watching him open the car door.
“Think about Eira,” she said aloud, to no one. “Think about what she would have wanted for her daughter.”
Outside, Rye met her stare from across the clearing.
Then he got into the car and drove away.
Bonnie watched them vanish down the winding forest road and prayed the storm wouldn’t come too soon.
Because when it did, it wouldn’t just be Birdie who paid the price.
- Writer
