Wolf Magic

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

TIFFANY

I stepped into Ruby’s new backyard and stroked my dad’s fluffy head, running my fingers through the gray fur with a sigh. I was impressed with the health of his thickening pelt. He was healing so well since coming home and living at Jackson’s house, no longer in the wild fending for himself.

“I brought you guys some chicken and vegetables.”

I walked over to the porch and took out my supplies from the basket I’d brought. Mom had sent me with Tupperware tubs full of warm food. I laid out three porcelain plates and served their food before stepping back to stare at their lunch. I hated the fact that our fathers had to be fed like, well, dogs.

I sat on the porch step as two of the wolves stepped forward and began to eat.

My father stared at me, seeming almost embarrassed. I didn’t really know how he felt, but I could guess. I don’t think he liked me watching him eat.

“Can I feed you, Dad?”

The gray wolf shifter that was my father, a man I’d never actually met, crouched down in front of me.

I picked up the plate I’d set out for him, took a piece of cooked chicken breast, and held it out to him. He took the meat carefully, and gulped it down.

The other two wolves were inhaling their lunch, so I kept feeding my father, holding piece after piece out to him until the need to speak into the silence overwhelmed me.

“You’re gonna think I’m so vain to say this, but I literally have no-one else to talk to,” I said. It was a strange admission for me. Once upon a time I’d considered myself the luckiest girl alive to have two best friends who were closer to me than sisters. I’d always been able to tell them anything.

But things were different now, and in this moment, I’d never felt so alone.

My dad tilted his large wolf head in a way that I took to mean, ‘go for it’.

I smiled and went on. “I’m so... angry. Like... all the time. I don’t know what to do about all these stupid feelings rolling around inside me. I shouldn’t be mad, but I’m just so... lonely. And surprised! I thought I would be the first one to find my soul mate, and I still haven’t found mine even though the other two have.”

My dad tilted his head the other way and I groaned.

“Yeah, I know. I sound like a spoilt brat. But I don’t mean to. It’s just that...” I sighed. This was going to sound terrible, but I was going to say it anyway. “Everyone’s always told me I’m the prettiest, the sexiest, of the three of us. You know? I’m certainly not the smartest, or the kindest. But I thought that if anyone was going to find their man, or in this case men, early, it would be me. I’ve been ready and waiting since my sweet sixteenth!”

The night I’d tried to lose my virginity, but the warlock I tried to seduce hadn’t been ‘up’ to the task. For the one everyone called ‘the blonde one’, like I was some cheap Barbie doll, I certainly wasn’t having much luck finding someone who’d have s*x with me.

Not that I was going to share that with my dad.

I was down to the mix of vegetables and the small remnants of chicken. “Here you go.”

I placed the plate down in front of him and he ate the remaining food. Then all three wolf shifters came to sit near me, staring at me as though waiting to speak.

I sighed. “I know it sounds like I think I’m the prettiest, but I don’t! Ruby’s just... beautiful. And Bella... She doesn’t know it, but she’s so striking, no matter what she wears. It’s just that... I thought someone would want me. At least as a wife. But... I can’t even find one mate. The humans are scared of being with us. The warlocks have never liked us. I used to wonder why. Now that I know I’m half wolf shifter, I know why they don’t find us attractive.”

Humans and warlocks had a natural fear of wolf shifters, unless they were our mate.

“But I...”

I knew I sounded like an impatient little b***h so I stopped talking, frustrated even more now than when I’d begun. I needed to just get over myself, but I was sick of feeling like I wasn’t special.

I stared at my father, a man who’d shifted into a wolf twenty-three years ago and had never been able to shift back. The moms and us believed it was because of a curse the high warlock had conjured before we were born, but we weren’t totally sure on all the details.

We only had our suspicions and what Tabitha had told us, but that b***h would say anything to hurt us. She would have lied about everything if it had suited her.

We would find out the truth. Somehow.

It saddened me so much that my father had lost the chance to see me grow up. They’d all lost the chance to be married, have more children, know the one daughter each of them had. And I was complaining because I was twenty-two, and still single. At least I could eat with my hands!

I sobbed into those very hands. “I’m sorry I’m being so bitchy.”

My dad put his head on my knee, growling a little.

I laughed at his expression, though there were tears in my eyes. “Who did this to you? To us? I spent my whole life without a father... and I could have really used one.”

Not that I was complaining about my mom. She was great. There were times when a girl wanted a dad, though. A man to talk to. To give her a hug when things were rough. And now was one of those times.

My dad moved so that he could lie on his side, then sighed heavily.

I chuckled again. He had such a great way of communicating, without words.

“Hey, Tiff! Didn’t realize you were here,” Ruby called out from behind me, walking out the back door of her huge house.

I glanced up as she stood beside me. “Yeah. Sorry. I thought I’d deliver the food, then come in, but got stuck talking.”

Ruby grinned, her hand straying absently to her still-flat belly. “I come out here and talk to my dad all the time. We’ve told them to come and sleep in the lounge, but they don’t seem to want to come inside, so yeah... Trying to make up for lost time, yeah?”

I pointed to her belly. “How are you feeling?”

She smiled. “Just hit eight weeks and feeling violently ill most days.” She laughed weakly, but I saw the truth on her face. She was pale and looked like she’d lost weight. “But I’ve been told it’s a good sign. Means it’s a strong pregnancy.”

I forced myself to my feet. “That’s great, Ruby.”

My best friend was mated to three men and pregnant, and I still didn’t have a boyfriend. Color me green.

Ruby tilted her head at me. “What’s up with you?”

I shook my head. “Nothing.” I indicated to the inside of the house. “You all ready for Christmas? Need any help with decorating or anything?”

Ruby’s magic still hadn’t returned, or if it had, she wasn’t using it. We didn’t know if it was due to the pregnancy, and her witch abilities would return after the baby was born. Or if her magic was gone forever after what she’d endured last Halloween night, removing the love spell we’d cast to find our soul mates.

“Come see,” she said.

I waved goodbye to Dad as we walked up the stairs and into the huge house.

I stepped into the open plan living area. “Wow. You’ve gone all out.”

The once all-white house was now splattered with color.

“What a tree!” I stared at the six-foot pine tree in the corner of the lounge room, covered in gold and silver baubles.

Ruby inhaled deeply. “Doesn’t it smell great?”

I couldn’t smell much, but assumed her heightened senses was a pregnancy thing.

“Did the guys help you decorate?” I asked, glancing around at the tinsel lining the doorways, the twinkling lights, and mistletoe.

“Yeah, the old-fashioned way—with ladders, and sticky tape, and lots of cursing when everything fell down again.” She giggled. “I’m sure Mom will come by later and magic things up a bit.”

I grinned. “Most definitely.”

I sat down on one of the bar stools next to her large kitchen bench and sighed, my tummy growling loudly.

“Was that your stomach?” Ruby asked, pulling open the fridge door. “You want something to eat? Or drink?”

I nodded. “A drink would be great. Thanks.”

Ruby poured me a soda, and I took a sip, the cold bubbles quenching some of my thirst, but not really doing much to bolster my mood.

Ruby grabbed a candy from a bowl nearby, shoved it toward me, then popped one in her mouth. “These help with the nausea, so I need to suck them constantly.”

I shrugged. “Go for it. Whatever makes you feel better.”

I traced an invisible pattern on the marble countertop, then stood up. “I probably should get going.”

“Why? You working tonight?”

I was a hairdresser, and had been working my a*s off leading up to Christmas. “No, I’ve got the night off. I’ve been doing overtime every day, and I might need to work tomorrow.”

Tomorrow being Saturday, but since I’d worked all week, they’d given me Friday off.

Christmas was on Monday, so at least I had a few days off after tomorrow.

“So, why are you rushing off?”

I shrugged, settling back down onto the stool. “You know. Just... Christmas stuff.”

Ruby stared at me, her gaze searching. “What’s going on with you, Tiff?”

“Nothing. What do you mean?”

Ruby rolled her eyes theatrically. “What do you mean, what do I mean? You’re sad! It’s obvious. Why won’t you talk about it?”

I frowned and glared down at my hand, where my fingers still traced patterns on the marble countertop.

I didn’t want to admit to Ruby that she was right: I was sad—and lonely.

I swallowed, not sure how to start that sentence.

I expected Ruby to take over the conversation like she normally did, and demand I reveal all. She was pressing her hands into the counter and breathing hard like she was in pain.

I leapt to my feet. “Hey, Ruby. You okay?”

She was getting paler by the minute.

She shook her head and stumbled sideways. “I... no...”

Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she began to faint dead away to the floor.

“Ruby!” I wasn’t close enough to catch her, but I threw out a spell and froze her, inches before she hit the ground.

I raced around the island and knelt down, putting my arms beneath her and releasing the spell, so she fell into my waiting arms.

She was heavier than I expected, so I called on my magic and used a carrying spell to carefully transport her into the large bedroom on the ground floor.

I pulled back the covers and used my magic to slide her into the bed, her head on the pillow.

I dragged the covers over her and touched a hand to her cheek, then to my own face as a comparison. She was too cool, though I didn’t know if that was a problem or not. Or was it only when you were too warm?

I pressed my hands into my temples, a headache pounding inside my brain. “What do I do? What do I do!”

I didn’t want to leave Ruby, but just sitting here and waiting for one of her mates to get home wasn’t an option either.

I pulled out my phone and checked the time. The guys wouldn’t be home for hours, and Bella was at college.

I stared at my cell screen and realized there was only one person I was comfortable calling.

I hit the name on my favorites list and the phone began to ring.

“Please pick up, please pick up,” I chanted.

She was at work, and I wasn’t sure if she’d hear the ringtone or not.

When her voice came through, I almost cried. “Tiffany. What’s happened?”

“Mom. You need to help me. Something’s wrong with Ruby.”