Once they had made it over the bridge, Donovan set Lily down, and she slugged him in with every ounce of strength she had in the arm. Donovan was an extremely large individual made of little, to no, body fat. When her fist connected with his arm it felt like her fingers had been crushed against a brick wall. Her ire rose when he didn’t even flinch at her assault. With a frown she gently shook her hand, trying to get the blood flowing back into the extremity. As soon as her fingers began to tingle with feeling, she bent her knees and tried to take deep breaths.

“I'm sorry, miss. I just do what I'm told," Donavan said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. He struck her as a shy young man despite his immense size.

"Why would you listen to anything he told you?" Lily knew it wasn't fair to assume anything about Jeremy since she didn't know him at all, but she was still shaken up from being manhandled.  Being angry about it was her only defense mechanism.

The beast of a man lifted a meaty shoulder in a shrug. "He saved my life once. I owe him everything."

"Really? Tell me about it," Lily demanded. She was suddenly fascinated by the fact that little Jeremy could have saved this sweet giant’s life. Okay, giant was a stretch, but he was bigger than her dad, and that was how she judged every man’s size.

Donovan’s lips parted to speak. Lily liked him, he was a genuine person and in the world of the werebears, and other mystical creatures she’d come across, that was a rarity. Once when she was a child she’d let a water nymph talk her out of her favorite necklace. She was playing on the shoreline, and a very beautiful blond woman came out of the water and complimented the necklace she was wearing. It had been a gift from her mother, and she cherished it even before she had died. The nymph had asked to hold it, and when she finally let her after much persuasion, she had gone to the bottom of the river with it. Just like that. She didn’t know it had been a river nymph because when she was eight, in her mind such things didn’t exist. Her mother had somehow known it would happen and gave her another necklace just like it before she died.

Losing the necklace had been a hard lesson, but it taught her that you couldn’t trust everyone. She waited excitedly for Donovan’s story, pulling herself from her thoughts.

He didn’t get to tell her anything because Jeremy burst in on their conversation just then, and walked up to them. His eyes traveled from one to the other before shaking his head with disapproval.

"We don't have time for any of that. Right now we need to figure out who killed your husband, and why you thought I did.” He sneered. “Or have you forgotten about that already? I'm still not sure you didn't do it, but I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt for now.”

"How kind of you," she said dryly, rolling her eyes.

Of course, she hadn’t forgotten about it. It was all she’d been able to think about since it happened. Leaving her husband lying dead in a pool of his own blood had been the hardest decision of her life. She’d sifted through the events that led her to the office to find him there over and over again.  Still, nothing made sense. Had she missed something? Had Harold been acting out of character and she just hadn’t noticed? Did he know or fear his life was in danger?

Endless questions with absolutely no answers continued to swirl around in her head like a blender set on high. There were too many scenarios, and not a single one of them made a lick of sense.

Jeremy reached forward and pushed open the massive door guarding the entrance. He gestured for her to enter.  Standing proudly he shot her a genuine smile. “This is my main home.” “Main home? As opposed to your summer home?” Lily teased, trying to lighten the mood.

“No, just my second home. What’s a summer home? Never mind, don’t tell me. Let's retrace my steps.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I left my house to go hunting. I was walking through the woods. I believe it was morning. Next thing I know I'm standing over a dead body in your house, and then running for my life. What happened between walking in the woods, and running for my life?”

"Maybe somebody put a hex on you," Donovan said, trying to sound helpful. He made an x in front of him with both arms to illustrate his point.

Jeremy tilted his head to the side as he contemplated Donovan’s suggestion. He then tapped his index fingers to his lips and frowned. "You know what old boy, that may just be a possibility."

“A hex? Like magic? Like by a witch?"  Lily had never met a witch. She knew witches existed, but she never had the opportunity, or the need, to meet one.

"How would you even know if magic was used against you?" She asked.

Lily was very intrigued by the whole concept of magic. One story her father told over and over was about a beautiful witch who used magic to help an ailing town. She’d memorized it.

“The only way I know is to go see a witch," Jeremy said.

“You know a witch?" Lily didn't even try to hide her excitement. The thought of meeting a real life magic maker left her feeling a bit giddy, despite her current dilemma. 

"Maybe she can cast a spell that would make everyone forget," Lily said hopefully.

"You want them to forget that your husband ever existed?" Jeremy asked twitching his finger at her.

"I guess when you put it that way, it sounds terrible," Lily felt that knot in her stomach again.

"I'm sorry your husband died lady," Donovan said kindly. Being the strong silent type—for the most part—he was very perceptive of people’s feelings and emotions. His kind words confirmed what she’d already assumed about him. Donovan was a nice guy.

"It's okay, I'll survive," she felt cold and uncaring every time she thought about what happened, but the truth was while she cared about Harold she wasn’t devastated. There wasn't a part of her that could feel the devastation she would have felt had she lost her father or what she’d felt when she lost her mother.  Her father was the whole reason she'd been married to Harold in the first place. Lily had three little sisters, and they needed to be taken care of too. Her father had been trying to find work for a while.

When he couldn't find the work he needed to make ends meet, he decided he would take from somebody more fortunate than them. It was a poor decision. He’d let a moment of weakness almost cost him everything.

Lily still couldn’t believe he had been so reckless. When the then alpha, Harold, rode through town on one of his many ventures into the community, he made his move. Harold liked to call it 'speaking with my people.' Once they were married, he insisted she always come with him to do the same. Her father had stolen something from him of all people. He’d chosen the most heavily guarded and important man to rob - in front of everyone. Lily understood her father's desperation but always thought there could have been a better way.

What her father had stolen was a pair of golden daggers. The alpha had been carrying them with him. Lily had assumed they were to be a gift for someone. When Harold realized they were gone, he had the whole town searched. Lily's father had already been trying to sell them to people he thought he could trust. Those people betrayed him, and therefore he was going to be killed. There was no honor among thieves.

A war in the were-world was a lot different than a war in the human world. People had been leaving the werebears alone. The fact somebody had dared cross them was big news. Not only had he crossed the bears, but he'd insulted their leader by stealing from him.

To save himself, her father brought Harold to the house to meet his daughters. He wanted to show the alpha that he wasn't stealing from him for no reason. When Harold saw Lily, he decided he could reach a compromise. Her father had begged her not to do it, but looking into her sister's eyes, she knew she had to. They needed their father at home, and she would be able to provide them the money they needed now.

She missed them every day. She missed getting up early, cooking them breakfast, and hearing about their dreams the night before. Before her father had become a criminal, he would get up a little later than them and come tell stories of the enchanted forest. She knew they were better off now that she sent them money for food and clothes.

She had gone home for a while to teach her oldest sister how to fix all of her father's favorite dishes for supper, and how to get her youngest sister to bed when she was being stubborn. It gave her peace of mind to be able to help them.

"You can't go with us,” Jeremy interrupted her thoughts with the force of his statement.

Her brows drew together with consternation. "The hell I can’t! I want to meet this witch."

Lily loathed being told what she could and could not do, especially by men who held themselves above her. It probably was because both her father and Harold just let her do whatever she wanted. 

"There are guards looking for you. You can't go out into the open again. The people will turn you in. You have no idea how noisy the people are around here. I’m sure they already have a bounty out on you by now. They won’t even think twice about turning you into the guards the first chance they get.”

“I’ll just wear your weird cloak again," Lily snapped.

"That didn't work last time because of your clumsiness." Jeremy moved closer to her.

 What was it about this man that made her defiance run rampant?  Never one to back down from a challenge, Lily stepped closer to him. "I'm going to meet that witch. Bucket list check mark is happening." They were almost touching noses. Lily could tell Jeremy was fighting some hurtful words. How gentlemanly.

"Fine." Jeremy walked away, grabbing the cloak and throwing it at her. The weight almost knocked her down. He headed off down a small hallway to go sulk, she assumed.

She wasn't convinced he hadn’t killed Harold, but if he had would he go to this much trouble to prove he didn't? He could have very well left her behind to fend for herself, but he hadn’t. Had that been the case he would have gotten away. There was no doubt in her mind that she would have been the one to take the fall.  In a twisted sort of way, she had to thank him.

“Donovan, do you think your friend Jeremy here is capable of killing someone?” She saw Jeremy poke his head out to glare at her. After she had glared back, he moved silently back into the hallway.

Good, let him pout like a child.

“No, he’s the nicest man I know. Works for our alpha, and still looks out for us little people.” He grinned.

“Nothing about you is little Donovan,” Lily teased lightly.

A smile split Donovan’s face as he looked down at her. His cheeks were turning pink. “No, I know. I meant that he looks after those less fortunate than him. He cares.”

“That’s good to know Donovan because my life is in both your hands.”

“You know he built most of the houses in our town too. Jeremy’s a very talented guy.”

“All that beautiful woodwork, with the trees?” Lily couldn’t hide the fact that she was impressed. She couldn’t even draw a straight line, let alone create beautiful images and houses right in the trees. She would have to pay more attention to the town and its beauty if she ever got a chance to see it outside of the cloak.

Jeremy came back with a wallet and a phone. He tucked both in his pockets, his mouth set in a grim line. “Cloak up. Donovan, you need to stay here. We’ll be back.”

“Do we have to go over that insanely frightening bridge again?” Lily wanted to know. She wasn’t sure she could stomach it.

“No, we have to jump down the waterfall.” Lily’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. He moved out the door and licked his finger sticking it into the sky. “No wind, so we won’t swing under the water.”

Donovan followed them outside grabbing his own rope and gear.

“You’re joking. Why on Earth would we do that?” Lily had never been exceptionally fond of heights even though she’d never had the opportunity to be high up on anything before. Something in her gut told her that she wasn’t going to enjoy it. Not one bit.

“That’s where the witch lives, beyond the bottom of the waterfall,” Jeremy said sternly, pointing outward in the witch’s direction.

“And there is no other way to get there? Like riding a donkey, or I don’t know, walking like normal people?”

“Nope,” he said, a grin finally splitting his face as he grabbed some rope and straps from the side of his house. “Come on Princess, live a little.”

“Of course not,” she grumbled. “I think I’d rather take my chances on the bridge from hell. And don’t call me Princess.” Princess made her think of someone spoiled, and she wasn’t that girl.

“You could always just wait here. Donovan doesn’t mind keeping you company. Do you buddy?” Jeremy said as he patted Donovan on the back. The force he used would have made any average person stumble over. Donovan didn’t even flinch.

“It would be my pleasure,” Donovan said placing his hand over his heart. Lily couldn’t help but smile at how nice he was. He was a genuine person, and that was hard to find.

“Thank you, Donovan,” She said as she reached up and placed a hand on his arm causing him to blush again.

“However,” She shot a glare towards Jeremy. “You cannot get rid of me that easily.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” Jeremy shrugged.

“Ah! What is that?” Lily let out a shriek suddenly as a reptilian head poked out of the front pocket of Donovan’s shirt. It looked at her, blinked, and then slunk back down into the soft folds. “Tell me that’s not a snake.”

“No, it’s my pet lizard,” Donovan said patting his pocket gently.

She blinked, unsure if she’d heard him correctly. “P-pet lizard?”

He nodded proudly, reminding her of a little boy that had snuck a pet into school without his parents knowing about it. The lizard poked his head out again and blinked at her. She’d never really been a fan of reptiles, but somehow this one looked almost cute.

She chuckled. “Oh, he’s kinda of cute, isn’t he? What’s his name,” Lily asked, simply relieved it wasn’t a snake.

“His name is Wal,” Donovan was interrupted by Jeremy’s annoyed huff.

“We need to go now. We can play with pets later,” Jeremy said, not bothering to hide his annoyance anymore.

They made their way back to the edge of the canyon, and she peered over the edge. Immediately, she wished she hadn’t. It was a long way down. The waterfall was massive, something Lily had not noticed before because she’d had her eyes squeezed shut as they crossed the bridge. Her stomach lurched and sank to her feet as she looked at Jeremy, praying that he’d changed his mind about this jumping down the waterfall business.

No such luck.

“Arms up,” Jeremy commanded.

“Arms up? What for?”

“Do you always ask this many questions?” Jeremy huffed.

“Are you always such a pain in the ass?” Lily fired back. It was amazing how she could go from being completely calm, and one word from him would set her off like a match to gasoline.

He glared at her.

“Fine,” she spat, reluctantly raising her arms above her head. As she did he strapped a thick harness made of leather around her waist and over her shoulders. A large metal clamp was attached to the front.

“I’m going to lower you down, then I’ll follow, okay?”

“I’m going to die,” she said while creeping up to the edge.

“I’m going to count to three,” he said, ignoring her and continued to talk. He put the rope around a tree and then tied it to himself. “When you get down there I want you to release the clamp so I can pull it back up.”

“Okay,” Lily’s whole body tensed. She was not prepared to make such a daring move just to meet a witch.

“One, two,” Jeremy pushed her, and she fell fast. Her stomach flew into her throat, and her hair whipped her in the face painfully.

“You asshole!” she screamed as she plummeted. 

“I know,” Jeremy yelled from the top of the falls. She could hear the laughter in his voice and bristled. If she made it out of this alive, she made a mental note to wipe the smug look off his face.

She felt sick and knew the ground was going to hurt when she hit it. It was flying at her fast, and she looked up to see the waterfall zipping by. Suddenly, with an enormous amount of pressure on her waist, Lily came to a stop.  Almost immediately, she started slowly being lowered to the ground. Lily was going to kill him. What kind of a man would push a woman like that?

When she hit the ground, Lily went down on her hands and knees. She had never been so happy to kneel in the dirt before. She took the clamp off and watched Jeremy pull it back up. A few minutes later he let out a whoop of excitement as he leaped off the side and slid down the rope.

Landing beside her, he laughed. “Wasn’t that awesome?”

She landed an open palm against his cheek, and like with Donovan, it hurt her more than it had hurt him. She pulled her hand back to her chest and frowned. “No, I did not like it.  You pushed me. What if you wouldn’t have stopped me in time? I’d be dead right now, and it would be all your fault. You’re such an ass.”

Jeremy chuckled as he unhooked the metal clasp from his harness. “Come now, stop being so dramatic. You’re fine. You didn’t have to jump . . .”

“I didn’t jump!” Lily screeched.

He held his fist to his mouth, pretending to cough to cover his smirk. “Sorry,” he chortled.

He didn’t sound sorry at all. Lily looked up at the waterfall which seemed to disappear behind the rocks that surrounded the bottom of it. The roar was relaxing, or it would have been if she hadn’t had a near death experience.

“Come on it’s time to go see if I’ve been spell jacked.”

“Is that a thing?”

“I just made it up,” Jeremy said.

Lily shook her head. “Lead the way.”

As they made their way past the rock walls, she noticed they were covered with intricate patterns of greenery. Everything was damp with the mist from the waterfall which was somewhat refreshing. Lily ran her hand over them, careful to watch where she was stepping. The sandals she’d worn with her dress for the day were ruined. They were dirty and wet from running and sadly weren’t made for the kind of work she’d already put them through.

“I need new shoes.”

“Maybe the witch can conjure some for you,” Jeremy said sarcastically.

“Could she?” Lily’s eyes rounded and she bounced excitedly. The idea of magical shoes thrilled her causing the incident at the waterfall to take a back seat.

“Maybe, just watch your step for now, okay.”

They continued into a thickly-vined part of the forest and Lily tripped right into Jeremy who caught her. She found herself looking into his eyes and quickly backed away.

“That’s why I said . . .” Jeremy started to say.

“Yeah, yeah I know.” Lily waved him off not wanting to hear I told you so.

“First thing we need to do before we see the witch is to visit my alpha, Walter. He will know what I would need to do to clear my name. Plus, I don’t want him to go to war with your clan because he doesn’t know the whole truth.”

“The witch and the alpha live in the same place?”

“They neighbors of a sort. It’s my understanding her mother worked for the previous alpha, and they built her a house to live in near the property. The witch resides there. No more questions, please.”

Lily followed him, stumbling under her cloak. She thought of four more questions she wanted to ask but really didn’t want to make him too mad.

“Can’t I take it off now? There isn’t anyone in these woods, and I promise to put it back on when we get to the alpha’s house.”

“No can do, we’re already here.”

Lily looked to where Jeremy pointed and saw a large house that would put her home in Cedar Falls to shame. There were columns on the porch and giant windows in the front overlooking a huge garden.

The garden was divided by a long walkway lined on either side by lilies. Lily was named after the flower which her father used to give her mother every day when they were dating. Her mother loved to tell the story of how she didn’t like lilies at all but didn’t have the heart to tell him she preferred roses. Eventually, she started to love them and then Lily was given her name. The memory made her miss her mother very much. The feeling of Jeremy touching her shoulder brought her back to reality.

“We have to tread lightly. We don’t know how fast word has traveled from your clan to mine about this incident. Perhaps you can just hang back, and allow me to go talk to the head guard.  I’ll make sure the alpha is here. If it seems they mean to arrest me, you should probably run, okay.”

Lily nodded although she wasn’t too keen on being left alone.

She watched with large eyes as he walked up to the front door and greeted the two guards that waited for him there.

"He's not here."  The first guard said in a deep voice.

The guard didn't move or make any indication he was going to let Jeremy into the house.

"Where is he?" Jeremy asked.

The other guard seemed to be a little more laid back since he was twirling a stick around in front of him. "He's not been here in four nights. No one knows where he is."

"Reagan, can't you keep your mouth shut for two seconds?"

"They didn't say it was a secret he was gone." The guard named Reagan snapped back.

"Why do you think we're keeping up appearances by guarding the door and and allowing the patrols to still do their jobs?"

"Oh, so the alpha is resting," Reagan said, stupidly trying to cover his tracks though it was too late. Lily hid a chuckle at the whole exchange and wondered what was going through Jeremy's head.

"Since my idiot comrade doesn’t know how to hold his tongue.” The first guard said. “I’ll tell you what’s going on. The alpha went somewhere four nights ago. He told us he would be back when all was clear and said he couldn't tell us anything more."

"That's strange behavior for the alpha, isn't it?" Jeremy asked, arching his brow.

"Who is that in the woods?" The one called Reagan pointed at her. She knelt down beneath her cloak.

"That's just my grandma,” Jeremy said impatiently, waving a hand in her direction as though he were wiping away a spot. “Pay her no mind." "Your grandma is just hanging out in the woods?" Reagan was now the curious one. He was staring right at Lily.

"Let's get back to what's important here.” Jeremy snapped, drawing Reagan’s attention back to him.  “The alpha, did he say anything that might lead you to believe he was planning a war?"

"What? We thought he just went to his summer home with the wife!" The first guard was now on full alert.

Way to go, Jeremy, Lily thought with an eye roll. 

"Okay, maybe he did," Jeremy said, backing away. “I don’t know, I was just asking dumb questions. Sorry to bug you two fine gentlemen.”

The guards were starting to get suspicious Lily noticed. Even Reagan who'd been twirling his stick and wandering around straightened his back and returned to his post by the other guard.

Jeremy was moving quickly back towards her.

"Let's go granny, get it into gear."

Lily didn't even take the time to argue with him about being called granny and booked it to get out of sight. Once they’d ran far enough to know no one was chasing them, they stopped to catch their breath.

“The alpha never leaves,” Jeremy said. “There’s something very strange going on. I don’t know how your husband was, but Walter rarely leaves his house.

“What exactly do you do for him, Jeremy?”

“I’m a woodworker. I craft things from wood and provide wood to the village. I have a little shop in town. Well okay, it’s a huge shop, but that’s what I do for him.”

“So, it’s safe to say you would see him regularly?” Lily was a little more wary of her partner as they fled. The thought crossed her mind once again that she didn’t really know him, and she’d been fooled in the past by nice people hiding their true intentions.

“Yes, I did.  However, I didn’t do anything with him, nor am I involved in his disappearance.”

“Okay,” Lily said, eyeing him thoughtfully. “I believe you. I think the best way to make this partnership work is for us to stop putting the blame on one another. It’s become quite clear that we’ve more than likely been set up. If you can set aside your suspicions of me and my credibility, I’ll do the same for you.”

“Okay, if you can bring yourself to stop being equally suspicious,” Jeremy said smartly.

“I’m serious about this.” Lily spat in the palm of her hand and held it out for him to shake. “From now on, we have to depend on one another. No more blaming.

He reached over and shook her hand firmly. “You’ve got a deal.”

 

PREVIEW END