‘I didn’t take that long.’
‘That long? We already made it around all the booths again, not playing at a single one because Cas insisted on waiting for you.’
Cassie turned back to the table and ignored them as they talked. The fortune-teller smiled at the two boys who were now bickering and pulled out a third cup.
‘Well, obviously you did one. I found you guys in here,’ Nate continued to complain.
‘Cassie didn’t want to miss her turn.’
‘Ignore them. I usually do once they start arguing,’ Cassie told her.
The lady laughed again. She poured a liquid which was dark in color into the glasses, then motioned for each to take one.
‘I’m not supposed to take any drink without seeing them made. My uncle would kill me if I went against his orders,’ Cassie informed the lady.
She smiled at Cassie. ‘Wise words of wisdom from John’s niece. I promise you there’s nothing harmful in this. It’s a homemade concoction I like to use that makes things easier to see with. If anything happens to you, tell him to find Sarah to blame instead of you. He has my phone number.’
Cassie stared at her. She was telling the truth. Why did her uncle have the phone number of the seer in the booth? That was odd. Cassie was going to ask, but Nate reached down and didn’t hesitate to drink the liquid.
‘It’s actually kind of good,’ Nate remarked.
Jared reached for one and did the same, not to be outdone by Nate.
Cassie glanced between them. Nothing was happening to either of them. It seemed safe enough, and if John knew the lady, then that had to be safe. Cassie was allowed to eat and drink other stuff at the festival. This booth was part of the festival and hence safe. At least, Cassie hoped so. Grabbing the drink, she tried to down it as quickly as the guys, but sputtered and gasped for air. The stuff was horrible. Jared and Nate began laughing. They had set her up on that one. Cassie turned and smacked each of them in the chest.
‘Some best friends you guys are.’
The fortune-teller seemed to be enjoying the show as she waited.
‘What is it you come here asking?’ she finally asked Cassie.
‘Me? Oh, I’m here for these two. They always are fighting. I think they want to know who’s going to be stronger,’ Cassie explained.
‘I don’t care,’ Jared sputtered at the same time as Nate spoke.
‘I don’t need to know,’ Nate added.
Cassie smiled at the fortune-teller. The lady turned back and took a box from behind her.
‘My fortunes come from touching objects and transferring your essence to them. Each of you young men chose something from my box. Hold it in your hands for at least five seconds before putting it back.’
Nate gave Cassie one of his famous “you’ve got to be kidding me” looks before Jared beat him to it by picking something. Jared closed his hands around the small object and then returned it to the pile. Nate reached in and obviously chose the largest item in the box. His eight-year-old hands didn’t even come close to closing around the metal object, but Cassie had no idea what it was. Nate tossed it back in the box.
‘You too,’ the lady prompted Cassie.
‘But I didn’t ask a question,’ Cassie complained.
The fortune-teller smiled. ‘Questions don’t have to be spoken out loud. You heart knows your question.’
Cassie shrugged. She had tons of questions. Who was her father, for one? Where was her mother? Why hadn’t they come back for her? What was it like to be an adult? When could she join the coven like Aunt Maria? Would Jess finally invite her to a sleepover? Did Cassie really even want to go to a sleepover with all girls? Sometimes they were nice at school, but other times they said stuff when they didn’t think she could hear. Jared and Nate were all she needed, no matter what Uncle John and Aunt Maria tried to tell her. Cassie just wanted to spend the rest of her life with her two best friends. They were a team. All three of them. Together. Couldn’t it stay that way forever?
Carefully, Cassie picked up a small silver-colored charm from the mixture of metal objects. She grabbed it thinking it was a flower, but it turned out to be a turtle. A cute little turtle. Cassie closed her hand around the charm and began to count to five. One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Instantly she felt the world around her pause. Everything just stopped. Then as quickly as it stopped, it fast-forwarded. Cassie saw how the festival would end. John was going to step forward and ask some lady Cassie had never met to be his mate. Everyone was going to celebrate, but Cassie had no idea why. Months passed, and Cassie saw tidbits. Soon enough it was another fall celebration. This time, John was being named the next alpha. Mikel, Nate’s father, was stepping down to raise Nate. John was taking over until Nate came of age. Again time fast forwarded to the next celebration. That year Cassie was the center of it all. They were naming Cassie the new seer for the clan. She had absolutely no idea what that meant, but everyone was happy about it. In a way, she was, too. She was finally joining the coven just like she wanted. But as she stood on that stage beside her uncle, she saw the faces of her two best friends. Nate and Jared were both appeared to be saddened by it. Cassie didn’t understand. Why were they sad?
Time continued forward, and Cassie saw moment after moment pass. Their disappointment came because the seer could never have a mate. A teenage Cassie was finally part of the coven, but set to be alone her whole life. When Nate announced he had chosen his mate, Cassie was sad. Their days as the three musketeers were going to end on his seventeenth birthday. She had to pretend to be happy for him. There weren’t any other options.
Time continued to a specific spot where it stopped. Cassie was a teenager. Part of the coven, but very much alone. Nate had chosen his mate and moved on with his life as his father had ordered. But Jared wasn’t that easy to sway. Cassie had tried to set him up with the friends she had made over the years, but Jared refused all of them. This one was too tall. This one was too sweet. This one had blond hair and the other not blond enough. He found a reason to reject every girl that had their eye on him.
Time slowed even further. It was like watching a movie now. Everything moved in real time.
‘Jared, come back here,’ Cassie called to her friend as he raced ahead on the path. They were out hiking the trails since Jared had offered to help Cassie collect the herbs she wanted for a new spell she was going to try.
Jared disappeared ahead of her. Cassie huffed, but she wasn’t going to stop going. It was already getting close to dusk. She knew how to get to Shay’s lookout, a hill that had the best views of the forest and hills along with the best spot to find Stonecrop in their area. Cassie kept going on the trail. It would be harder to get back in the dark, but that didn’t matter. She needed the plant and didn’t have time the rest of the week to go get it.
Cassie climbed ahead as the path took an upward slope. She was getting near the top, and there was just enough daylight to see by still. Cassie reached the spot and found the herbs to tuck into her bag. She turned to leave, but Jared jumped out of his hiding spot. Cassie didn’t even startle.
‘I knew you’d be there,’ she told him. ‘Seer. Remember?’ Cassie tapped her own head. She hadn’t actually seen he would be hiding there, but she had spent most of her time with Jared—lately, even more than normal since Nate ditched them for his new mate.
‘You did not,’ Jared called her bluff.
Jared ran past Cassie, disappearing in a whirl. Standing still, she listened to the world around her. He was there. She could hear a movement every now and then, but he was sneaky, almost as sneaky as Nate. Cassie opened her eyes and sighed. Nate was no longer part of everything. He was moving on with his life, just like Jared was supposed to be doing.
‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ Jared asked as he slowed down to look at her, grasping her hands in his own.
It was a simple gesture and one that he had done a million times, but Cassie felt now it meant more. Jared had become even more of a presence
in her life, and she hated that she liked it. As seer, she could never have a mate. The coven and clan were her mates. Jared could never be. He was supposed to be moving on. If the clan found out, they would kick him out. Cassie had heard talk. Mikel was suspicious. Everyone was.
‘You have to stop,’ Cassie told him, pulling back her hand and turning away from him. He was on the pathway home. The only way she could go was up to the lookout spot.
Jared walked around her and took her hand back.
‘I’ve told you before. I’m not going anywhere,’ he told her, serious as ever.
‘And as I’ve told you before, you need to pick a mate. Do you know how many girls in school watch your every move? They are waiting for their chance to be with you.’ It hurt to say it, but Cassie needed him to understand. Everyone was waiting for him to choose someone. He was already eighteen, a year older than when Nate took his mate.
‘I don’t want a mate if I can’t have you.’
Jared had been presenting that argument since the first time Cassie told the guys what being seer meant. Nate was prepared for it, and his father wasn’t going to let him disappoint anyone, but Jared didn’t care. He wasn’t giving up.
‘Jared,’ Cassie began, but his lips were already on hers. Cassie wasn’t expecting him to do that and wasn’t prepared to push him away. Her hands and mind betrayed her, and they held on tight to him.
It wasn’t their first kiss and wasn’t even the first that week. Jared was getting more and more bold. If the coven found out he had been trying to court Cassie, they would banish him, but he didn’t care. Jared wasn’t giving up.
Finally, Jared pulled back and sighed. ‘It’s almost night.’
Cassie looked into the sky. The moon was already out, but he was right. He was soon going to have to change.
‘You have to give up on me,’ Cassie begged him. ‘I don’t want you to be thrown out of the clan. I’d rather see you every day with someone else than see you turn into one of them.’
Everyone who had left the clan only had one place to go: the wendigo. Cassie didn’t know about them when she was little, but over the past four years, she had learned a lot. Her clan had a rival one—the wendigo—and they hunted down and initiated every cast out skinwalker to their cause. Cassie was still unsure if they were willing or not, but no matter what, the wendigo were bad people and Cassie didn’t want Jared anywhere near them.
‘I will never give up on you.’
Leaning down, he softly brushed his lips to Cassie’s. Just that simple gesture made her stomach flutter. No matter how she tried to stop liking Jared, it would never happen. He was the last thing in her world that was still real, still hers and only hers.
‘Shoot. Time’s up.’ Jared stepped back two steps. Black fur erupted around him as he changed into four legs instead of two. His clothing lay shredded at his feet.
‘You know how your mother hates when you do that,’ Cassie scolded him.
Cat Jared jumped at her and knocked her to the ground, expertly pinning her beneath him without harming a single hair on her body. Cassie huffed at him while humor twinkled behind his eyes.
‘Let me up,’ she complained.
Cat Jared leaned down and licked her with his large, wet, cat tongue.
‘Ew, come on,’ she whined more.
Cat Jared smiled at her. While a normal person would be afraid of a pure black leopard holding them to the ground, Cassie was still giving him a stare down. Cat Jared opened his mouth to lick Cassie again.
‘Okay, okay, fine. I get it. Don’t scold the huge, scary cat.’ Cassie knew exactly what Jared wanted her to say.
The large cat moved back and let Cassie stand. She turned and contemplated sticking her tongue out at him, but he would tumble her to the ground again. She was never going to win against Jared in his cat form. Cassie turned back to grab her bag and head back. Jared stood on the path, blocking her. Cassie moved to pass him, but he just countered.
‘What now?’ she asked him. ‘You know this always goes a bit better when you talk to me before you become a cat.’
Jared lowered his cat head and butted Cassie’s leg. She wasn’t going to get past him unless he wanted to let her. Cassie turned around, and cat Jared walked beside her, urging her to go to the cliff. Cassie walked along with him, making it to the overlook in time to see the lights turn on in the houses in the country. Jared sat down, and Cassie did the same. There weren’t many houses, but it was fun to see the little sparks of light here and there. Jared moved behind Cassie, and she leaned back to use him as a pillow. He hummed beneath her like always. She looked up at the sky. She wasn’t cold with Jared keeping her warm.
Silence was hard with anyone but him. With Jared, it was easy. She was used to sitting around with him in his cat form as he had been stopping by since he first changed. She didn’t feel the need to talk. Instead, she watched the sky, hoping for a shooting star to wish upon. Her wish would always be the same. She would wish for a different life, and one where she could have a mate and a future. She didn’t want to be the seer. She didn’t want to see the future. All she wanted was a future. A real one. Beside Jared.
CHAPTER 7
Cassie broke her connection with Jared and caught her breath. Everything had seemed very real. It felt real. She even found herself trying not to stare at Jared’s lips. The kiss was even more real than the one she had with Nate even a moment before. It was just a version of the future that never happened, but she knew what it felt like. She glanced up and caught him staring at her.
“Hey, that wasn’t too bad,” Jared told her.
Cassie shook her head no. She didn’t finish the memory with him in it. She couldn’t. Cassie closed her eyes. She didn’t want him to see the tears she knew would come. He had shown her what she wanted to know. She had to finish her memory for him.
“That wasn’t all I saw then,” Cassie added quietly.
“Did we end up mated?” Jared guessed, more like hoped.
Cassie shook her head no.
“The day after that, you left home looking for a way to be my mate. You never returned. Your father found you later. You had been killed for not staying within the skinwalker borders. I never saw you alive again. You died because I never told you to go away. You died because I held on and didn’t let you go like Nate. You died because of me.”
The tears came as she felt the memory and saw him in a casket. It never came to be, but she knew deep down that was Jared’s fate. He was always going to die if he didn’t give her up. It was her fault. She led him on. She always kissed him back. If she hadn’t done that, if she had stayed away as she had from Nate like his father had asked, Jared would have moved on. Jared would have found a mate, and he would have been happy. Jared would have lived.
“That’s why I went right home after the festival and wrote you that letter. I was saying good-bye because I knew you wouldn’t let me go otherwise. I had to be strong enough. I had to let you go so you wouldn’t die. I never had a vision like that before, but I knew your fate was death if you stayed with me.”
“But that was just one version of the future. Obviously, there were other possibilities,” Jared tried to reason.
“Possibilities? Yes, always. But I knew that if I didn’t let go of you, then you would die.” Cassie opened her wet eyes to look at him.
The vision had felt real, and she remembered every detail. She could see his dead body. She remembered touching his dead face. It was too much to bear. Even just thinking of it hurt. She had loved him.
She finally understood the mating bond. She had truly loved both him and Nate at one time. She knew why she was able to bond to them now. Her mind might not have remembered, but fate did. Jared and Nate were once the most important people in her life.
“But I’m here now,” Jared added, wiping away a tear.
She nodded. “Yeah, but not all of you.”
Cassie thought of the great big black leopard he was. He was beautiful and fit in the nighttime
perfectly. While people thought black panthers were all black, Cassie knew that he still had spots, just dark spots on a dark background. His fur was soft, and even as a giant cat he could walk through the night unseen and unheard. He was a majestic animal. But it didn’t matter. He had been skinned, and his totem was gone.
“I don’t remember that much. It’s been years, and I only transformed a few times before my father took it from me.” Jared spoke like he didn’t care, but Cassie knew better. He cared more than he would ever let on. She had been in his memory, and she would never forget that.
Rising, Jared walked to the door.
“Twindar,” he teased as Cassie gave him a look.
He always called it ‘twindar’ when he could tell where Ryder was, but Cassie had a feeling it was more than being twins. Nate seemed to know where people were all the time, too. It was more like ‘night human-dar’, but that was a mouthful. Jared opened his bedroom door.
“Um,” Ryder said as he looked at Cassie. “Dad …” Ryder stopped like he was unsure if he should say anything else.
Jared shrugged. “She’s going to be my mate, bro, get over it,” he teased his tongue-tied brother.
Ryder shook his head and directed his gaze at Jared. “Dad insists you bring Cassie to supper to verify that she’s marked as your mate,” he quickly said.
“Shit,” Jared muttered as he locked his fingers together on his head, like he was stretching and relaxing, but that was far from the case.
“Yeah, I know. I told him I saw it and all, but you know how he is,” Ryder explained.
Jared shrugged. “Guess I expected he would want to see it, but I was kind of hoping he would just look at it through your eyes.”
“Umm.” Ryder stared back at Cassie again.
Smiling, Cassie shook her head. It seemed like the wendigo might have the same problem as the skinwalkers when it came to her.
“He tried, didn’t he?” Cassie guessed.
Ryder’s eyes got big because she’d guessed correctly.