(SHILOH)
"Where is Mira?" I demanded as I looked down at my tea. It was a surreal moment. The small tea parlor had plenty of sun streaming through the windows despite the fact that there were no windows outside.
Five minutes ago, I was fighting for Mira's life. Then, I was here, in a fucking tea parlor, with a dainty little teacup in front of me.
Witches. Whatever was in this cup of tea could kill me.
Three strangers were in the room with me. A short and rounded older woman with long thinning gray hair set the rest of the cups of tea down and eyed me through thick glasses.
A young woman who looked no more than twenty with long red hair and a beautiful smile accepted a cup of tea and sat across from me at the table.
In the corner, on the bench where an unconscious Mira lay, a middle-aged woman with a blonde messy bun and a permanent scowl on her face sat next to her and waved her hands up and down Mira's body.
The maiden, mother, and crone. Were there really only three witches of Darkwyn coven? Did they always take on this appearance?
And what the hell were they doing to Mira?
Since they were the ones who'd pulled us free at the last minute, I had to believe that they didn't want to kill us, but I still didn't drink the tea.
"It's just peppermint," the crone sighed. "To help settle your stomach."
My stomach was definitely queasy. I sniffed cautiously at the liquid and sipped.
The crone beamed. "Feel free to add some sugar and honey, although I have a feeling you don't mind bitter things. Otherwise, you wouldn't have mated with Mira. To answer your earlier question, Mira is fine. She had a head wound, but she will awaken soon."
"Why don't you use magic to heal her?"
"What we had to say to you is meant for your ears only," the crone said as she sat and stared at me.
What the hell did that mean? Were they expecting me? "Is that why you kidnapped my witch? That seems extreme."
"We did not kidnap Irene."
My heart sank. If they were telling the truth, and I was inclined to believe them, that meant Irene wasn't here. I'd made this trek, endangered my wolves, and left my pack for nothing.
"Not nothing, Shiloh Wade," the mother snapped. "You've learned of your heinous mistake. At least, I hope you have."
Great. She could read minds.
My gaze strayed to Mira. She looked so helpless on the bench, her honeyed hair spread out, her chest rising and falling. If they tried to hurt her, could I protect her?
I'd try. I'd die trying.
Putting my cup of tea down, I straightened and stared at them. I didn't have the upper hand here, but I would be damned if I allowed them to play me like a damn puppet. "Mira put herself between me and you. She was protecting you."
"Was she?" The maiden said with a small smile. "Perhaps you have not learned as much about your mate as we had hoped."
"If she had said something…"
"She asked you what you were doing here. You refused to answer. We know. You do not trust her and you expect her to trust you. Have you not figured out that it's a wonder that girl trusts anything?"
Despite looking the same age, the maiden spoke as if she was decades older. "I suspect your mate feels some sense of duty toward us. When she came here the first time, she was at the brink of death. We healed her."
At the thought of Mira near death, my gut twisted. "She nearly died trying to get refuge from her father. Helping her was the least anyone could do."
"And yet nobody else did it," the maiden said softly. "No one has ever breached our sanctuary before. She fell, a broken wolf who just wanted to die. We did not let her. We asked for nothing in return."
Her implication was clear. Mira trusted them. Mira was willing to die to protect them. She was loyal to someone. Just not me.
Except in the end, she had chosen to save me. It had almost cost Mira her life.
The maiden continued. "A week ago, I tried to warn her away. You know what she is, and you know how people could use her."
There it was again. That accusation that I knew Mira's deep dark secret. "Why? You knew I was coming?"
"Not you, Amber Wound alpha. There are others coming, and soon, they will learn why Mira is so special." The mother smoothed a hand over Mira's forehead. My wolf growled, but the mother smiled. "We would never hurt her."
"Except that we did," the maiden said flatly as she stared at the crone. "After what we did to her, we owe her everything."
"And what did you do?"
"We sent her back to him," the mother said hoarsely. "We sent her back so she could meet her mate, knowing she might very well die before you came along, knowing full well that you might reject her."
Furiously, I stared at them. They knew the torture that Mira was in, the torture that she would endure, and they didn't say anything? "Why? Why would you put her through all that?"
The crone narrowed her eyes. "We did not. Most of that blame is on a dead man, and some of that blame is on you."
"For fuck's sake, why do you even care that we met?" "Because, Shiloh Wade, you will not survive without her."
At the rate we were going, she was the one who was going to get me killed. I stared at the three witches coolly. "Explain."