“Oh, my goodness, Mateo. It’s huge. Can you manage moving it by yourself?”

“It’s not as heavy as it looks.”

That was a lie. It was crazy heavy with the amount of steel used to render her sculpture. But I was a werewolf and capable of lifting ten times what a human male could.

She didn’t seem to realize that and walked slowly ahead of me into the garden. “It’s not too far. This way.”

We passed the water fountain, which definitely caught my eye. The sculpture in white stone at the center was the Greek gorgon Medusa, her snake hair writhing, her bare breasts jutting up proudly, her body transformed to a snake tail from the waist down. What was most surprising was that she held the head of a Greek man in one hand and the water trickled from the base of his severed throat as though it were blood. Her beautiful face expressed triumph. Strangely, it looked like the famous sculpture of Perseus holding the head of Medusa, except it was the other way around.

“Weird,” I muttered to myself. Sandra was eccentric like all artists, but it was really odd.

A low, deep, primal growl rumbled in my gut, the kind that raised the hair on my own arms, even though I was the one to make it.

“Right through here,” said Sandra, already disappearing around a wall of shrub.

Settle down, I told him. But he didn’t answer. Still, I could feel him crouching, as if to attack.

Maneuvering around the trickling fountain, I followed her into an open square of topiaries and shrubs shaped like mythological creatures. I caught sight of a dragon and a fawn before I focused forward. There was an empty stone slab at the center of the square.

Sandra stood just beyond the slab and gestured. “Right in the center. I can’t wait to see it.”

I’d grown accustomed to Sandra’s excitability over the years. She often raved about my works when she’d stop by the gallery. But today, she practically radiated with glee. It was almost off-putting.

“Which way do you want her to face? Toward the entrance, I assume?”

“Yes. That sounds perfect.”

She remained quiet while I maneuvered the dolly around then pulled the sculpture from off the dolly’s flat shovel at the base. I hauled it to the side, then started the work of unlatching the bungie cords.

“I really hope you’re happy with it.”

“I know I will be,” she gushed.

“If not, I’ll have to sculpt the replacement right here to avoid another big haul.”

She laughed, moving closer as I pulled off the last bungie cord. Part of me wished she wouldn’t like it so I could take it back home with me. I hadn’t realized how attached I’d be to this recreation of Evie.

“You ready?”

“Ready!” She clapped her hands together.

With a whoosh, I jerked the tarp off the top and revealed what her money had paid for.

She gasped, her hands going to her mouth. “Mateo,” she whispered on a throaty gasp that made my skin prickle for some reason.

“You like it?” I backed away, hands in my jeans pockets, and watched her circle the sculpture.

She laughed in a way that made my hackles rise. “I knew you would make her.”

“Sorry?”

“The girl you were with in the coffee shop.” Her gaze flicked to mine before she stepped closer, running her fingers along the sculptured Evie’s hair.

“Evie.”

“I knew you loved her when I saw you together.” She studied the sculpture more closely, trailing her hand down the outstretched arm. Then she leaned over and pressed her mouth to the billowing sleeve. “I can feel the magic you used to make her.” Then she whispered so low only my werewolf hearing could pick it up. “So perfect, my darling. Though it did ruin my original plans.”

“Excuse me?”

Alpha growled so fiercely it rippled out of my mouth and filled the square in the garden. Sandra didn’t even flinch. Actually, she smiled. What the fuck was going on?

Kill her. Or run. Now.

I stood frozen for a millisecond too long. Sandra levitated backward off the slab in a blink and shouted, “Lantul lui!”

I recognized the Romanian tongue but not the words. It didn’t matter. I felt it immediately. Invisible chains locked my feet in place. I roared at the same time she called out another enchantment. I didn’t hear what she said because my mind, my mouth, and my wolf were all bellowing and snarling at the same time.

A circle rimmed with ethereal orange fire wreathed me inside with the sculpture. Sandra waved a hand, and the dolly flew out over the shrubs and out of sight, thudding with a clang.

“You’re the fucking witch?” It came out as a question and deafening exclamation at the same time. “How?” I shook my head. I’d never sensed magic on her. Ever. I’d known her for years. Fucking years and hadn’t known.

“My darling Mateo, I let you see only what I wanted you to see.”

She walked in her bare feet, feet that I noticed now seemed entirely too youthful for a woman of middle age. Her hair lifted in the breeze, her gauzy skirts billowing in a supernatural wind.

“You’re old, aren’t you?”

She laughed. “Quite. Far past expectancy, actually. You’re just a wee babe to me.”

For the first time, she let another accent slip from her Americanized tongue, an English one.

“What do you want?”

She stood in front of me outside her witch’s circle, a sinister look crossing her beautiful face. “I’ve had plans for you for a long time, darling. When we first met, I thought how perfect you were so moral.”

She frowned, her lip lifting with disgust. An ugly expression I’d never seen her make. She’d been a good actress.

“What are you talking about?”

“Influencer. If I’d thought I could break your moral code with my magic as an Influencer, I would’ve tried. But I knew that wouldn’t bring me the success I wanted. So I’d have to corrupt you with a darker curse.”

I couldn’t believe what I was fucking hearing. “I thought you were a genuine artist with the means to build our community. My friend!”

“I was. I am. I have the means to do many things. But after I realized my natural magic wouldn’t work on you, I knew you were meant for something more complex.”

Complex. The spell.

“What does this spell do? How can you benefit from caging my wolf?”

Meanwhile, Alpha was snarling and snapping in my head, ready to draw blood, rip her throat out.

“One thing you made me realize”—she lifted her hand in the air, palm flat, and glanced over her shoulder before returning her attention back to me—“is that my goal required a special hex in order to achieve it.”

The ice in her voice, the glacial fire in her eyes, and the superior tone she used all told me I never knew this woman at all. This woman who I’d thought was my friend, who’d helped me build my business, who’d shown me kindness over the years wasn’t my friend at all. A dark witch with unbelievable power. With my body completely immobile in her casting circle, I was in serious fucking trouble.

“What do you want?” I ground out.

“Everything, my darling. And you’re going to give it to me.”

Something small zipped from the air and slapped into her open palm. She flashed me my own phone in her hands. She’d summoned it telekinetically from the seat of my truck.

“Fucking hell.” To be able to move things telekinetically out of eyesight meant she was far more powerful than the average witch. “What does the spell do?” I asked while she tapped on my phone.

“Tell me, Mateo. What does your wolf need more than anything in the world?”

Blood.

I didn’t open my mouth, my heartrate skyrocketing as she tapped on my phone, a text message she seemed to be typing with her thumbs. She finished and lifted her eyes, now glowing blue in the semi-darkness.

“To kill. Your primal nature requires blood above everything else,” she answered her own question, grinning. “And your needs perfectly fit mine.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“Immortality comes at a high price, darling. Blood magic requires a special kind of sacrifice to consent to such a request.” Her voice vibrated with magic, an intangible darkness rippling in the air. “And a very moral werewolf killing the woman he loves is the perfect sacrifice.” She grinned with evil intent, punching the air out of my lungs.

“No.” I was panting now, chest heaving. Influencer.

“Oh, yes.” Her hair floated around her, billowing in a magical wind of her making. “I can’t achieve immortality entirely, though I’ve managed to outwit death so far. I know this kind of sacrifice will gain me another century or two.” She shrugged. “It did last time.”

I wrestled with what she was implying, that I’d kill Evie for her sacrifice, bile rising in my throat. “I’ll never hurt her. Never. You picked the wrong werewolf.”

She tossed her head back and laughed like the demon she truly was.

“Oh, yes, you will. I thought your wolf would have killed her by now the way you two have been spending so much time together. But when I saw you in the coffee shop, I realized your wolf needs a magical push.”

She walked the circle a little ways, glancing down at the phone in her hand.

“I’ve ensnared you with all manner of blood spells. And your wolf. He’s been caged for far too long.”

She raised her free hand not holding the phone, then drummed her fingers in the air. A witch sign made of gold appeared above her fingers, floating in a perfect circle. It was a key.

“As soon as I activate the spell, your wolf will need to tear someone’s throat out. I’ve made sure of it with my spell. There’s nothing that will keep him from the taste of blood.”

Yesssss.

The malevolent response from Alpha sent a shiver through my body. Sandra smiled, her eerie eyes now glowing red, shimmering with menace in the dark.