Pack Magic

Prologue HALLOWEEN NIGHT. ONE year and one month ago Bella The day had come, the day I’d dreaded for so long. My twenty-first birthday, and the night I’d promised my friends I’d join them in a spell that could destroy us all. Not that they knew it. I was the one that read the labels, looked into the warnings, heeded the wisdom of the generations before me. Not Ruby and Tiffany. I loved them to death—they were the closest thing I had to sisters—but they had to know there was a reason this spell book had been hidden from us. The magic inside it was powerful and would demand a payment if the spell was successful. “So, are we going to do this, or not?” Ruby asked, then stared at Tiffany and me individually. “Because there’s no going back after this.” Her grin made my stomach drop. Don’t I know it. Growing up fatherless, the only children to three heartbroken witches, had been hard on all of us. So, years ago, when Ruby had found an ancient spell book her mother had hidden under the stairs, we’d read it. Of course. Which teenage daughter wouldn’t? In its pages we’d found an incantation that would guarantee we would avoid the heartbreak of our mothers before us. Like my best friends, I’d readily agreed to do it together, when we were old enough to want our soul mates to find us. And powerful enough to pull it off. After that night, I’d done my research and realized that terrible things happened to witches who used this particular spell. It was a complicated incantation and required a lot of power to bring to fruition. Which was why all three of us would need to do it. Together. There was no way we could do this spell by ourselves. But my friends believed the risk was worth the benefit. I had my reservations. The wind moved through the trees around us, rustling the leaves. A fall storm was on its way and if we were out here much longer, we’d be rained on. I’d asked my parents if Tiffany and Ruby and I could use the cabin for our birthday. It was my grandparents’ old house, set out in the middle of nowhere. Perfect for secret nights like this one. No one would be able to see us here, and as long as we never said a word about what we did tonight, nobody would ever know that on this Halloween night, our joint twenty-first birthday, we conducted a spell to call our true love to us. Tiffany nodded fiercely, agreeing that it was time to start the spell. I bit my lip. s**t. I couldn’t be the one to pull out and disappoint my two favorite people in this world. Ruby rolled her eyes at me. “Come on, Bella. You know we can’t do this without you.” She meant that quite literally, unfortunately. Despite my personality falling toward the quieter, more bookworm type, I was a powerful witch and without my magic, Tiffany and Ruby couldn’t manage a spell of this magnitude. I frowned and swallowed hard against the worry that tightened my chest. I narrowed my eyes at her. Ruby pouted at me. “Come on, Bella. Please.” I sighed. We’d been talking about this spell for years, planning every part of the complex incantation. Waiting until the night we were old enough... powerful enough... gutsy enough, to pull it off. I couldn’t disappoint my two friends now. “Okay, Ruby. I’m in. Let’s do this.” Ruby grabbed our hands and Tiffany reached for my free hand, forming a perfect triangle of strength. We were three witches born on the same day, the most powerful day of the year for our kind: All Hallows’ Eve. We’d grown up together, strong, bonded, loyal to each other. We clasped hands and glanced down at the ancient book that lay on the ground between us, the spell book Ruby had found years ago, hidden amongst her mother’s things. Fear whistled through me, and I pushed it down and away. This spell would take everything I had, and for these girls—my sisters—I would give it. As a small coven, a trio of witches, we began to chant in the ancient language of the warlocks and witches that had come before us. I concentrated hard on my lines, reading from the book. I hadn’t memorized the spell out of fear. I spoke my part and my friends said theirs. Each section of the spell called to the magic that rippled in our veins, to Fate, and most of all, to the unconditional love that we all desired and craved. Over and over, we chanted the words, the magic in our blood, in our ancestry, simmering and bursting at the seams. The stress of the spell pummeled down on us and I glanced at my best friends. Tiffany’s lips were turned down into a frown and Ruby had sweat rolling down her face. I couldn’t stop the spell now, and I didn’t. In fact, I pushed more power into it, feeling the words draining my energy, but pressing my heels into the grass beneath me, grounding myself and pushing up. I could handle more than my share of the load. So, I did. I hoped that Tiffany and Ruby would make it to the end of the spell if I took most of the pressure. We couldn’t stop now. There were too many risks associated with this spell, and not finishing it was treacherous as well. The power of our combined words swirled around us like a hurricane, and I clung to the hope that this spell offered us. After this night, we were guaranteed to never end up like our mothers, abandoned and alone. That in itself had to be worth whatever payment the spell demanded. The ancient book floated in the air between us, glowing and powerful. I watched the book with a growing sense of dread. Ruby opened her eyes, and Tiff grinned. Relief shot through me. Obviously, what I was doing was working. They were handling the small part of the spell they were carrying. We began to speak louder, the words in our hearts building naturally as the spell came to a crescendo. I stared at our joined hands as white light built between our clenched fingers. There was a sudden surge of power. We were almost there. We uttered those last few words as a group. The white magic we’d conjured shot into the air above our heads, exploding into bright fireworks, sparkling against the dark night sky. The impact of finishing the incantation blew us back and apart. I landed with a thump on the grass, my magic draining away until I could barely open my eyes. I closed my eyes and rested. The spell had worked. It had to. I wouldn’t feel this terrible, this weak, if it hadn’t. I needed a minute. “Is that it?” Ruby asked. Before I could answer, the spell book that had been hovering in the air between us, landed in the dirt with a heavy thump. Tiffany jumped up and I took a deep breath, readying myself to stand. I didn’t want my friends knowing how much of the spell I’d taken on myself. They’d feel guilty if they knew. As Ruby began to rise, I forced myself to my feet, too. I staggered a little, but the other two didn’t seem to notice. Relief flooded through me. The moment I’d been dreading, casting this risky spell, was over. Now, all we had to do was wait for the spell to come to fruition. For the men—our men—to come to us. “So... back to the house for a celebratory drink?” Ruby asked. I sighed, needing sleep, but I couldn’t be a spoilsport now. It was our twenty-first birthday after all. “Sounds like a plan,” Tiffany said, flicking her long blonde hair over her shoulder. We turned and trekked back to the cabin. Once inside, we flicked on the lights and Ruby used her magic to mix up cocktails the color of the sunset—red, yellow, and a splash of purple. “Perfect,” Ruby said as she picked up her glass that had been resting on the counter. Tiffany and I plucked up our drinks as well, and clinked them with Ruby’s. “Happy birthday,” we said together. I’d always loved sharing a birthday with my two best friends. I didn’t like being the center of attention, but Ruby and Tiffany did. We all took a sip of our first legal drink and grimaced at the amount of liquor Ruby had poured in. I gasped, my throat burning. “Wow, that’s strong,” Tiff said, blinking rapidly. I gulped awkwardly, shuddering before I set the drink back down on the counter. I needed something to eat. My energy was about to disappear completely. With what little magic I had left, I took a quick breath and waved my hand over the table in front of us, conjuring up savory and sweet snacks. Chips, chocolate cake, cookies, and crackers with cheese littered the surface in front of us. I slumped, then slid onto a stool at the kitchen counter. I was done. “Oh, perfect. Thanks, Belle,” Ruby said, grabbing a handful of chips and stuffing them in her mouth. I sighed and forced myself to pick up some candy and suck on it. I needed the sugar. “What’s up, Bell-Bell?” Ruby asked me. I glanced at my friend. Her brow was furrowed. She was worried about me. “Do you think it worked?” I managed to ask, the only thing I could think to say. Ruby shrugged. “I don’t know. I hope so.” I hoped so, too. “So do I!” Tiffany said, her tone exasperated. “We’ve only been planning this forever.” The other two sat down with me, around our little birthday feast. We chatted and ate, drank and laughed, celebrating the fact we had our whole lives ahead of us. I was at college, the only one of the three of us, but still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my degree. I leaned forward and rested some of my weight on the counter, happy to let Tiffany and Ruby carry the conversation. It was kind of strange to think that somewhere out there, our magic was finding our soul mates. I’d never even dated a guy before, so what was I going to do with one that wanted to marry me? Would I know him on sight? Would he recognize that I was right for him straight away, or would the normal laws of dating apply? I had a ton of questions, and not a lot of answers. But what I did know was, I wasn’t dating anyone until my soul mate showed up. I wouldn’t end up like my mother, alone and still pining for a man who had abandoned her over twenty years ago. I wouldn’t. This love spell would see to it. Now all I had to do was wait.