Force of Attraction

Chapter One

My hands kept on shaking as I reached for the next piece of biscuit in my jar, my heart racing with every bite I took.

War or wives - the only reasons werewolves cross into our world. In either case, they come for death, and they come today.

My solace and calm are hidden somewhere among the sweet, honey-filled biscuits that I make and stack on my kitchen shelves.

I frantically search for calm within the familiar rhythm of mixing and baking, but time is running out.

There are three more ingredients to add to the biscuit batter, one more spoonful of baking powder, a strengthening potion, and another teaspoon of vanilla extract…about three hours of work and only forty minutes to do it all. My mind slowly calms down as I measure out the remaining ingredients and mix them.

The weight of our survival rests on the werewolves picking one among the women of Azrael. They say its for a sacrifice and for atonement of the throne. We have to select ten females for the taking, if not, war will ravage our world, and humanity will succumb to the werewolves' merciless might. Taking her would fulfill the treaty and secure the safety of humanity for another century. But if you are here, you might as well be dead. It’s the lack of a queen that has the whole town on edge, myself included.

The chime of the bell above the door to my shop door steals my attention from the meditation of my work, and I turn to face the entrance “I’m sorry, I'm only open for emergencies today—” My words trail off as I set the heavy jar of biscuits on the counter, my hands trembling with every tick of the clock.

There’s a familiar reflection on its surface—a man with dark brown hair and warm brown eyes, carrying a large bag. I look up quickly, my suspicion confirmed.

“John! What’re you doing here so early?” John is dressed in traditional attire, a stark contrast to his usual practical clothing as a Keeper of the Gateway. His dark trousers are freshly pressed and his bright blue tunic which doesn’t have a trace of dirt hints at a special occasion.

The Keepers of the Gateway are responsible for safeguarding the bridge and forest at the edge of town, at the foot of the great mountain. They’re the ones who traditionally deal with the Werewolves, and keep anyone in Azrael from accidentally crossing over the Gateway—the barrier that splits our world from the land of the Supernaturals and wild magic.

But today, his presence here feels different.

I abandon my work, rounding the counter and stepping over to the other side to greet him.

John drops the bag with a heavy thud and sweeps me into his arms. The embrace goes on a little longer than typical for mere friends greeting each other. His grip loosens, but he doesn’t fully release me. His arms loosen around my waist but don't release me, and I don’t know what to do with my hands. They finally settle on his shoulders. Though what I want to touch is his chest.

“I had to come to see you,” he whispers, his knuckles grazing my cheek.

I tilt my head upward, my pulse racing as I swallow thickly. I want to kiss him. I’ve wanted to kiss him for at least six months now, likely more. I knew it when he came with me on my excursion to find ginger roots deep in the frigid forest. The desire still simmers, now more potent than ever.

I knew when he told me that the lack of Human Queen meant his duties as one of the Keepers of the Gateway would triple, preventing him from spending as much time with me. I have wanted to kiss him before I really even understood what kissing was—back when we were small children playing games in the woods at the start of our lifelong friendship.

But realizing you have a desire makes everything agonizing. If I still thought we were just friends, I could’ve kissed him several times over on a dare, or a whim, or if he asked. I could’ve kept his company without my stomach doing flips.

But this wanting makes every movement between us unbearable. Especially because I can’t kiss him. Doing so would be cruel…to both of us.

“Well, you’ve seen me now.” I finally break away, smoothing out my apron, and trying to compose myself. Every second hurts. I want him to sweep me up in his arms again. But I can’t want that. I know I can’t, deep in my bone marrow. I don’t have time for him; duty calls me. He’s already too distracting as a friend.

“I’m sure you’re busy with the Keepers today, preparing for the arrival of the Werewolf delegation this evening. We can go out to the forest tomorrow.” Assuming there is a tomorrow.

“I want to take you this morning,” he says in a tone I thought was reserved only for my dreams. “But I want to go farther than the forest.”

“What’re you talking about?” I ask, returning to the other side of the counter, where I continue adding various ingredients to one of my most prized possessions—a gold kettle.

It’s one of two gifts from John. The kettle was a gift when I graduated from my herb studies at the academy in Lanover across the narrow straight to the mainland. The other gift, a necklace, he gave me when I was just a girl and it’s never left my person since. Both are breathtaking.

But werewolf goods usually are stunning. And extremely rare. I generally keep the necklace hidden to avoid drawing attention to the fact that I have two items of supernatural make in my possession. I don’t want to get John in trouble for any favoritism.

“I want to take you away.” He motions to the bag at his feet. “I’ve prepared traveling supplies. There’s a boat at the harbor ready for us to go.”

I scatched my hair as if I can jostle his words enough that they’ll fall into an order that makes sense. “Traveling? A boat?”

“We’ll start in Lanover, obviously. I believe you still have connections from your academy days, right? Maybe we could stay with some of your old friends as we make our way,” John suggests casually, as though we’re talking about strolling up to the bluffs to the south of town. He doesn’t break eye contact with me though—that’s how I know he’s serious.

Dread tastes as metallic as fear. “And then who knows where from there? Do you want to explore the vast southern deserts? Or perhaps the Slate Mountains to the west?” I force laughter.

I wish I could pretend like he’s joking. “What has gotten into you? We can’t just leave. I have obligations here—and so do you, for that matter. Who will make bread, heal the wounded, and ensure the Weakness is kept at bay if I leave?” Though there’s little even I can do on that last one.

The Weakness has been a withering sickness plaguing Azrael’s people. It beats my attempts to combat it at every turn.

“Our work is what we do, not who we are. Nothing traps us here. We’re not like the old ones in town who are only kept alive by the Fade River. We can leave. We’ll make it out.”

“Even if that were true, the werewolves are coming today. I have to get my work done before the town hall; I can’t let everyone down. Mister Rae needs my help and Emma needs her strengthening tea for her heart—”

“Lana, we have to leave.” John walks over and leans against the counter with both elbows. His voice drops to a hush as he glances upstairs.

“They’re not awake yet,” I say of my parents. Their room is above my shop and it’s been quiet for the two hours I’ve been up working.

“The Keepers still haven’t found the Human Queen among the selected. The magic in the line has been fading for some time.” They say that the power of the Human Queen is passed from one queen to the next when the former queen dies. No one knows what would happen if there wasn’t a Human Queen to be taken. It’d be unprecedented. “Some of my fellow Keepers think that maybe she just isn’t here at all. Maybe the magic ran out and the wolves might just pick some random girl for the taking. Which is all the more reason to get out while we can.”

Since the treaty between the werewolves and humans was signed three millennia ago, there has been a Human Queen selected from Azrael every year on the wolf moon like clockwork. Finding her was never hard; she’s the only human with magic and wolfish attributes, after all. The wolves sighted her from the group of females that were selected by the elders.

“If she’s not here then I especially can’t leave. The Weakness is spreading through the town. People are dying as young as one hundred and ten. I have to do what I can to stop it.”

And if there is a war to come, healers and helpers will be needed more than ever. But I can’t bring myself to say that. I can hardly think of it.

“If there is no queen, you can do nothing to stop it. The town’s connection with the Supernaturals is dying and people will die with it. Their life span is reduced to nothing more than those beyond our island.” John grabs my hands. “The werewolves are coming, and I had a terrible dream about it. Please, let’s leave now.”

“John,” I say gently, reaching forward to caress the shadow of gold across his chin. The constant stubble is new. I can’t tell if he’s growing a beard, or just keeping it closely cropped. Either way, I think I like it. “You look like you haven’t slept. And you’ve been under a tremendous amount of stress with a long day ahead. Let me make a strengthening brew for you and then something for you to eat tonight to help you sleep.”

“I haven’t slept because I have been preparing for us to leave before war breaks out.” John pushes away from the counter and ducks underneath the thoroughfare. I’m cornered —counter on one side, shelf of baking items on the other, John before me, no exit behind. “I want to take you away. I want to keep you safe.”

“John,” I say gingerly, pleading. I want to pretend like he’s joking but I can tell he’s deathly serious. “I can’t just leave.”

“Yes you can, of course you can.” The tone of his voice gives me pause. The way he’s looking at me now leaves me breathless. I have to remind myself to breathe. “I want to take you away and spend time with you, and only you, Lana. Surely, you know…I’ve loved you for a long time.”

I open and close my mouth, several times. Yes, I knew. And I love him too. I love him enough that I dreamed of this moment. But in my dreams, I was wearing something nicer than my work smock and I didn’t stink of vanilla extract and lavender oil. His expression falls in the wake of my silence.

“Oh, I see… And here I thought that you might—”

“I love you too.” As soon as I get the words out, sensation returns. Tingling vanishes from my toes. My whole body bursts with laughter. “I’ve loved you since I was a child.”

“Then run away with me, Lana.” John grabs my hands. His thumbs run over my knuckles. My soul is soaring over the roof. Yet my feet are rooted deep in the land of the people I’ve vowed to serve.

“You know I can’t,” I whisper.

“But you love me.”

“I do.”

“Then let’s go.” He tugs at my hands.

“I can’t.” I’m unbudging. His expression falls into something I don’t recognize. “I want to, John. I wish I could go with you. But I can’t just leave. This town has invested so much in me; I must be here when they need me.”

The people of Azrael paid for my years at the academy when my parents could not afford them. They bought me room and board. They supported me at every turn with the hard-earned and scraped-together change at the bottoms of their pockets.

“Besides,” I continue, softer. “If the Human Queen isn’t found, and the council can’t sort things with the beasts, there’s nowhere we could run. All of humanity is doomed at that point. I would rather stay here with our people and face whatever may come.”

“We could find a way,” he insists. I shake my head. “If you love me, truly love me, then that’s all you need. Our love is enough.”

“But—” I don’t get to finish. In a wide step, he closes the distance between us. One arm snakes around my waist. The other cups my cheek. He tilts my face upward and I don’t fight him. I don’t want to. John’s lips meet mine as my eyes close.

The stubble that lines his lips is rough on my face. But I hardly notice; my sole focus is kissing him. How much movement is too much, and how much is too little, when it comes to kissing? Unexpectedly, I desperately wish I’d given in to the boys at the academy and allowed them to “teach me kissing” when they found out I’d never been kissed before. I had been waiting for this moment. I’d been waiting for these lips.

Yet…as he pulls away, I’m left awkward and unfulfilled. None of this is quite how I imagined it would happen. I’m not soaring. My heart isn’t fluttering. Something in me is detached and…sad. A soft ahem comes from the doorway behind us. John turns away.