Page 26 of Wedded Witch

I’ve seen it. I’ve felt it in my bones. Swyn isn’t like the other wanderers passing through. There’s a light to her, something the darkness here will latch onto. And it will destroy her if we don’t stop it.

I lean back against the gnarled oak tree near the edge of the parking lot, my muscles tense. I can still see her inside, pacing back and forth behind the thin curtains of the motel room, a silhouette against the pale yellow light.

My instincts have been screaming at me to stay close, to protect her from whatever she’s unknowingly stepped into.

She has no idea what Spells Hollow really is. Most don’t. The town wears a mask – quaint, sleepy, harmless. But that’s just the surface. Beneath it, the ground pulses with something far more sinister. Old magic. Dark magic. And a gateway to the Underworld.

And the longer Swyn stays, the deeper she’ll get pulled in.

I followed her the night she arrived, slipping through the woods as a shadow. Shifting has always been easier than being human. Less complicated.

As a dog, everything is sharper, clearer. There’s no hesitation, no second-guessing. It’s just instinct. And that instinct told me to watch over her, to stay close, because something had drawn her here.

But she’s not ready for the truth. Not yet.

I replay the moment at the diner in my mind. The way she talked to me – so fearless, so sharp, her words cutting like glass. It made me smile, even if she didn’t see it. There’s a fire in her that I didn’t expect. Ri, the idiot, nearly blew it by acting like a jerk. He has no idea what’s really going on. None of them do.

But it’s not just Ri. Even Kel has noticed her, though he hasn’t said much. He quickly jumped in tonight to take her on a date though. And that kiss…yeah. Maybe I should be jealous of my brother, going round kissing my girl like that.

I’m not sure how my brothers will react once they realise who or what Swyn really is and what she’s doing here in town. I haven’t figured it out yet myself, but there’s power inside her.

Old power, maybe older than the town itself. And power like that attracts attention – especially the kind we don’t want.

My brother, with all his self-righteousness, doesn’t see what I see. He’s always treated me like the reckless one, the one who can’t be trusted with important decisions. But he doesn’t understand. Swyn isn’t just some outsider. She’s somethingmore, something that we need to protect. Not just for her sake, but for everyone’s.

There’s a storm coming, and she’s right in the centre of it.

I step back from the tree, my body aching for the shift. It’s easier, being a dog. The world makes more sense that way. Black and white, right and wrong. But right now, I need to think like a human, to plan and strategize. The darkness in Spells Hollow won’t give up easily, and it won’t let her leave once it’s gotten hold of her.

I wonder how much she’s felt it already. She doesn’t know it yet, but something else has been watching her since the moment she set foot in town. Something worse than my brothers or me.

We can protect her from most things, but not this. Not the thing that lurks beneath the surface, waiting for the right moment to strike.

As I glance one last time at her window, I sense it again, that tug deep in my chest. It’s more than attraction. It’s like I’m tied to her, bound by something I can’t name.

I don’t know what it means, or why I feel it, but I do know one thing for certain.

I have to protect her.

Because if I don’t, Spells Hollow will consume her whole.

OLAND

Chasingafter a runaway bride is not as thrilling as it sounds, especially when she manages to vanish into thin air like a professional escape artist. I barely blinked before Swyn was gone – no trail of breadcrumbs, no convenient spell to track her, just me, a strained magical bond, and the vague sense that I’ve been outwitted.

She didn’t just walk out. No, my newlywed wife decided to take off halfway across the bloody world with the precision and determination of an Olympic sprinter.

And here I am, speeding down a country road, not even sure where she’s headed next.

“Good job, Oland,” I mutter, squinting at the road. “Excellent start to married life. Losing your wife in less than twenty-four hours.”

To be fair, I knew the second I saw her walk down the aisle that she had a rebellious streak. Hell, it’s part of what made me actually decide to marry her.

Even as I stood at the altar, I was in two minds as to whether I could actually go through with the ceremony. But seeing her ina black wedding dress, that little spark of defiance, cemented my decision to go forward with it.

But hopping on a plane? To America?

That part I hadn’t expected.