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Curse of the Hybrids, Book 1: Ch. 7-10 · & I am your Storyteller: Fantastic Fantasy one hour at a time

• 0:07
  Hello. You’re back. Excellent. Last week, 14-year-old
• 0:12
  Honey escaped her parent’s awful fate only to be captured by a local wolf pack. To her surprise,
• 0:20
  she managed to score a full-ride scholarship. Today her college adventure begins. Let’s dive
• 0:26
  in. (chime) And I am your storyteller. Chapter 7
• 0:35
  Honey It wasn’t until she was in the shower that
• 0:39
  she remembered she had used her magic when she was darted. Had Brayton and his bully squad noticed?
• 0:46
  Surely he would have mentioned it if he had. Maybe the breeze had been strong enough to waft
• 0:51
  the smell of magic away, or perhaps they thought it was something else. Her dad said magic reminded
• 0:58
  him of the ozone smell some printers made. Her mom’s magic didn’t smell like that though.
• 1:03
  Hers smelled like spring sunshine and warm earth when you could almost see the plants growing.
• 1:09
  Someone banged on the door. “Hurry up in there. If you want to drown
• 1:13
  yourself, I can take you to the pond.” Sharing a bathroom with Brayton for the
• 1:17
  next two weeks was going to be an adventure. “I’m waiting for my conditioning treatment to finish,”
• 1:23
  she yelled back. “Your what?”
• 1:26
  “Your mom gave me some conditioner to try. I have to wait two minutes before rinsing.”
• 1:33
  “It’s already been thirty!” “No it hasn’t.” She checked her watch.
• 1:38
  “I’ve only been in here ten minutes.” “Well, hurry up. I have plans tonight.
• 1:43
  I have to get ready.” “Going to torment more
• 1:46
  homeless people?” she yelled. “None of your business.”
• 1:51
  She didn’t hear him stomp away, but she was pretty sure she felt it,
• 1:55
  either that or there was an earthquake. She got out as soon as she washed the
• 1:59
  conditioner from her hair, dried, then wrapped herself in the fluffiest towel she’d ever used.
• 2:06
  Brayton was leaning by the door of her assigned bedroom with his arms crossed when she opened
• 2:11
  the door of the bathroom with her dirty clothes scrunched tightly in one hand.
• 2:15
  She stepped to the side. “It’s all yours.” He pushed himself off the wall, but instead
• 2:21
  of going into the bathroom, he stepped right in front of her. “We need to talk.”
• 2:26
  “About what?” “You and how you disappeared for two hours.”
• 2:31
  “Two and a half,” she corrected automatically. He didn’t look impressed. “You disappeared. You
• 2:38
  were there one moment and gone the next. How did you do it?”
• 2:42
  “I ran.” “Ugh,” he pulled at his hair, then poked
• 2:46
  his finger into the bare skin above her towel. “I don’t know how you won over my mom and my dad,
• 2:52
  but I know you are a rogue. Did you use a spell?” “A spell?”
• 2:58
  “Yeah, you can’t play dumb. You got a freaking 1600 on your SAT, unless you somehow spelled that
• 3:04
  too.” He squinted his eyes. “Did you?” “Your score wasn’t bad. I’m sure you’re
• 3:10
  smart enough to know wolves can’t do that kind of magic.”
• 3:14
  “But. They. Can. Buy. It.” He poked her chest aggressively with each word.
• 3:20
  “Why does that make you upset? You buy and use things from humans all the time,
• 3:24
  like tranquilizer darts.” “You admit it was a spell
• 3:28
  then. Where did you get it?” “What difference does that make?”
• 3:32
  “Because it’s illegal to use spells on wolves!” “Even if a wolf used it on his or herself?
• 3:39
  What about healing spells?” “Wolves don’t need healing spells.
• 3:43
  We can heal without them.” “Usually,” she agreed.
• 3:47
  “Where did you get the spell?” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
• 3:51
  “Ugh!” He pushed her backward into the doorway with his finger, then shook it at her. “Stay
• 3:57
  away from me and my friends and I don’t care what Mom says, I’m not going to be your babysitter.”
• 4:04
  “Excellent. We agree. Enjoy your night.” She stepped around him and into her new room.
• 4:10
  Lynn had tried to put her in the blue room next to Brayton but he’d protested so much
• 4:15
  she ended up putting Honey across the hall from the bathroom. Lynn had called it the yellow room,
• 4:20
  but other than the pale-yellow walls and slightly darker yellow pillows on the creamy bedspread,
• 4:26
  it wasn’t that yellow at all. She wondered what Brayton’s color theme was – black maybe?
• 4:32
  She put on the spare clothes from her backpack and started working on her hair with the brush
• 4:37
  Lynn had given her. The conditioner did help. There was a soft knock, clearly not Brayton’s.
• 4:44
  “Are you decent?” “Yes. Come in.”
• 4:47
  With her pastel clothes and the bright light above her head, Luna Lynn looked like she
• 4:52
  was glowing. “Feel better after the shower?” Honey hadn’t said anything about feeling bad,
• 4:58
  but maybe Lynn could see the headache on her face. Her mom had always been able
• 5:02
  to tell. “Yes. I’m much refreshed.” “Wonderful. I know it’s getting late,
• 5:08
  but I was wondering if you’d like to go shopping. You need some clothes and supplies for college.
• 5:14
  Brayton is, well I love him to death, but he’s about as much fun to shop with as a toddler.”
• 5:20
  A vision of an eighteen-year-old Brayton having a temper tantrum in aisle one filled her head
• 5:25
  and Honey burst out laughing. Brayton chose that moment to poke his head into her room with another
• 5:31
  scowl. The scowl morphed onto the Brayton in her head and made her laugh even harder. His mother
• 5:36
  looked between the two of them and smiled. “What?”
• 5:40
  His mother waved him away. “Go get ready for your date.”
• 5:44
  Another image popped into Honey’s head. A random female and the tear-stained Brayton looked at
• 5:49
  each other, then turned their heads forward in unison and started screaming together.
• 5:54
  She had tears coming from eyes – happy ones this time.
• 5:58
  “What is wrong with her?” Brayton asked. “She’s had a long day. Go.” Honey felt a
• 6:05
  hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right?” Lynn asked, watching her with concern.
• 6:10
  “Maybe I should let you get some rest.” Honey erased the picture from her head and
• 6:15
  made herself calm down. “I’m fine.” She waved randomly. “He’s just so…” She almost said, ‘full
• 6:22
  of himself’, but decided she shouldn’t say that to his mom. “I’d love to go shopping with you.”
• 6:28
  She’d never shopped with anyone other than her mom and only very occasionally her dad. It was
• 6:34
  dangerous to be in public with Dad since he might be recognized, and people would wonder
• 6:39
  about the teenage girl he was with and would definitely wonder if he was seen with a witch.
• 6:46
  Luna Lynn took her to a mall. Honey had been in a mall maybe once in her life. She
• 6:51
  remembered endless walking and a store with some really odd but cool gadgets.
• 6:57
  She would have liked to explore another gadget store, but there wasn’t time to look around at
• 7:01
  the speed Lynn visited the clothing stores. Honey had never tried on so many outfits in
• 7:06
  her life. She was worn out after the second store, but Lynn just kept going. After the fifth store,
• 7:13
  Honey collapsed onto the first bench she saw and decided she was sleeping there for the night.
• 7:19
  Luna Lynn sank gracefully onto the bench facing hers. “That store did leave a lot to be desired,
• 7:26
  but there are several more on the second floor we haven’t hit yet.”
• 7:29
  Honey glanced beseechingly up at Bernadette. The woman had been with them the whole time,
• 7:34
  mostly standing around, but she had to be tired of shopping too. Honey hoped she was anyway.
• 7:42
  Bernadette raised an eyebrow, then to Honey’s great relief said,
• 7:46
  “Luna, I think you’ve worn her out.” “Nonsense. We’re just getting started.”
• 7:53
  A whiff of something sweet and spicy floated under Honey’s nose and her stomach let out a roar.
• 7:59
  Lynn frowned at her like she should have controlled the noise, then looked at her
• 8:03
  dainty white and gold watch. “Oh my, look at the time. I didn’t realize it was so
• 8:09
  late. Sorry. I bet you’re hungry. The fare at the food court is passable at best. There’s a
• 8:16
  nice restaurant down the street we could try.” Honey swallowed but it didn’t do much good. Her
• 8:23
  mouth quickly refilled with saliva. She couldn’t remember ever being so hungry “I don’t think I
• 8:28
  can make it to the restaurant,” she groaned and stumbled to her feet. Between using her
• 8:34
  magic for hours and not having a proper lunch at all, she could barely think straight.
• 8:40
  How she got food, she couldn’t recall, but when her brain started working again,
• 8:45
  there was an impressive pile of trash on the tray in front of her. She wiped her mouth with a napkin
• 8:50
  and was embarrassed to come away with a sandwich worth of mustard and ketchup, especially when she
• 8:55
  realized Bernadette and Lynn were on the other side of the small table watching her warily.
• 9:01
  “Sorry. I’m usually not so messy. I was really hungry.”
• 9:06
  Lynn looked around then covered Honey’s hand with her own and said in a low voice. “Did you
• 9:11
  transform today?” “No.”
• 9:14
  “Did you have lunch?” “I had a bag of trail mix.”
• 9:18
  “Huh. Maybe you’re having a growth spurt. You went ravenous and almost attacked a food court worker.
• 9:26
  That usually only happens if someone has shifted a couple of times in one day. I better sign you
• 9:31
  up for the full meal plan. We can’t have you wolfing out in front of the humans at college.”
• 9:37
  Honey was pretty sure her hunger had been caused by using her magic most of the day on top of the
• 9:42
  lack of food, but she didn’t tell her that. Chapter 8
• 9:48
  Honey Move in day.
• 9:51
  Honey couldn’t remember ever being so excited except on her first and only day of high school.
• 9:57
  That hadn’t turned out well. “Be careful with those Brayton. It
• 10:02
  took me years to find suitcases I liked,” Lynn scolded when Brayton half-slid,
• 10:07
  half-threw one of the two large suitcases Honey had borrowed from Lynn onto the rack of the SUV.
• 10:13
  “Yes Mom.” Honey was positive Brayton rolled his eyes, even though she couldn’t see his face.
• 10:20
  “Make sure you tie them on well.” “I know what I’m doing Mom.”
• 10:24
  “Put the straps through the handles so they don’t slip out.”
• 10:27
  “Mom!” Lynn patted him on the back. “Better
• 10:30
  safe than sorry. You ready Honey?” “Yep.”
• 10:34
  “Climb in then.” “Wait, I have another
• 10:38
  box to load first,” Brayton said with his arms still holding up one of the suitcases.
• 10:43
  “There’s barely room for Honey as it is,” his mother scolded.
• 10:47
  “Well, if she didn’t have so much stuff, there would be more room.”
• 10:51
  That was rich considering she only had the two suitcases and her new backpack.
• 10:56
  Everything else in the SUV was Brayton’s. She didn’t point it out though. There was no point
• 11:01
  in picking a fight right before they had to sit in a car with each other for an hour,
• 11:06
  especially when Brayton was driving. About thirty minutes after the time Brayton
• 11:10
  had declared they were going to leave, they rolled out with a fleet of vehicles
• 11:14
  carrying Brayton’s main bully friends and a few others who had all treated her like an annoying
• 11:20
  little kid the few times she’d run across them. It hadn’t been bad really, staying in the alpha’s
• 11:26
  house. Honey hadn’t seen much of anyone other than Lynn, who kept her busy shopping and doing
• 11:32
  college-related things, and the construction workers at the lodge, whom she’d volunteered
• 11:36
  to help. She’d always wanted to try her hand at home repair and the rogue had damaged a lot
• 11:42
  of drywall and flooded a bathroom when he tore out a sink. She didn’t know what she was doing,
• 11:48
  but the construction workers didn’t seem to mind teaching her and she was good with a hammer.
• 11:53
  The day was clear and sunny and the drive wasn’t bad because Lynn took control of
• 11:58
  the radio after Brayton played one too many rap songs, meaning one. A little over an hour later,
• 12:04
  the campus buildings rose up out of a field like the pale cores of ancient mountains.
• 12:10
  It was beautiful. Honey was so excited, if she’d been standing, she probably would have
• 12:15
  been jumping up and down. As it was, she had a hard time keeping her knees from bouncing.
• 12:21
  “You need to take the left-most turn around the traffic circle,” Lynn said.
• 12:26
  “I remember Mom. I’ve driven here before.” “Yes sorry, I forgot you know everything
• 12:32
  now that you’re eighteen.” To Honey’s surprise, Brayton bypassed
• 12:37
  the brand-new seven-story dorms and parked in front of a much shorter, much older building just
• 12:42
  down the street – her dorm. It was even nicer in person. Unlike the smooth facade of the new dorms,
• 12:50
  her dorm had decorative brick work around the windows and the edges of the building,
• 12:54
  gabled dormer windows, and dentil molding under the edge of the roof. It was one of the oldest
• 13:00
  dorms on campus and therefore offered only shared rooms and a single, large bathroom on each floor.
• 13:06
  Lynn had apologized for not being able to find her anywhere else to stay so close to the start
• 13:11
  of the semester, but Honey had assured her it was fine. After two weeks of Brayton’s
• 13:16
  off-key singing after each late-night date and whiskers all over the counter and her toothbrush,
• 13:21
  she suspected on purpose, she was looking forward to sharing a bathroom with females.
• 13:27
  While she was gawking, Brayton unceremoniously dragged her suitcases off the SUV and dumped
• 13:33
  them beside her. She turned to thank him, but he was already driving away,
• 13:37
  leaving his mother frowning after him. Had he unloaded her too or had she unloaded herself?
• 13:44
  “He’s excited,” Lynn said when she realized Honey was waiting for her. “He said he’d have his
• 13:50
  friends help him unload. We can walk over to his dorm when we’re done here. It’s just next door.”
• 13:56
  “You can go help him if you want. I don’t have much. I know you must have been looking forward
• 14:01
  to helping him move in for a long time.” “I’ll help you carry your stuff in at
• 14:06
  least. Besides, I want to inspect the dorm. There’s been some discussion
• 14:10
  about tearing it down and rebuilding.” “But it’s so nice. Look at all the details.”
• 14:16
  “You think? You haven’t seen the inside yet. I’ve heard it’s quite dated.”
• 14:22
  Lynn grabbed one of the suitcases and charged toward the front door. The entrance desk was
• 14:27
  only a few feet from the front door, but to the left, down a short hallway,
• 14:32
  Honey could see a large lobby with multiple couches and a tiled path right through the
• 14:37
  middle like a red brick road. “Can I help you?” the curly-haired
• 14:43
  red-headed girl at the entrance desk asked without a trace of a smile.
• 14:48
  “Yes, we’re here to check in,” Lynn said, also without a smile. “Honey Smith.”
• 14:54
  The girl looked down her nose at Honey. “Can I see some form of identification?”
• 14:59
  Honey flipped her backpack around and pulled out the College ID she’d
• 15:03
  received in the mail two days ago. “Here.” She grinned just like she had when Bernadette had
• 15:08
  snapped the photo while the girl looked between the ID and her. With a stoic face, the girl
• 15:14
  finally handed the ID back, then slapped a key on the counter along with a colorful box slightly
• 15:20
  smaller than a shoebox. “Here’s your key, and your welcome package. The room is 302. Your roommate is
• 15:27
  already there.” She pegged Honey with a fierce glance. “We don’t want any trouble, wolf.”
• 15:33
  “Are there a lot of witches in this dorm?” Honey asked. That would explain why she smelled
• 15:38
  so many different kinds of magic. “We’re all witches, except you.”
• 15:43
  Honey grinned. She couldn’t help it. “Really? That’s awesome! I love witches.” She stuck
• 15:49
  her hand over the counter. “It’s nice to meet you,” she squinted at the name tag, “Gerry.”
• 15:56
  The girl didn’t smile, but she did squeeze Honey’s hand. Suddenly, instead of a serious college girl,
• 16:03
  Honey was shaking hands with what looked like a cross between a troll and a wolf. She blinked and
• 16:08
  the girl was in front of her again. “You can do illusions! Cool!”
• 16:13
  The corner of the girl’s mouth twitched. “You’re like an eager little puppy.”
• 16:17
  Honey flashed her an even bigger grin. “Thank you!”
• 16:21
  The girl shook her head. “Just don’t chew up the furniture. It’s new.”
• 16:26
  “Yes, Ma’am.” Still grinning, Honey
• 16:29
  tucked the gift box under her arm and headed down the hallway past a frowning Lynn. Honey pretended
• 16:35
  not to see the nasty looks the witches waiting for the elevator gave her when she turned into the
• 16:40
  stairwell. She smiled at everyone that passed her going down although most didn’t smile back. That
• 16:46
  was okay. They didn’t know she was a witch too. Lynn grabbed her arm and pulled her into the
• 16:52
  hallway just outside the stairwell when they reached the third floor, then said in a low voice,
• 16:57
  “Honey, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize this was a witches’ dorm. You can’t stay here.”
• 17:04
  “Why not?” “It’s too dangerous.
• 17:06
  The witches might take exception to you being here and find some way to harm you.”
• 17:11
  “Where will I stay then?” Lynn started rubbing her chin
• 17:15
  with her index finger – a sure sign she was thinking. “I could ask around and see if any
• 17:21
  of the other members of the board could house you, or you could wait a semester to start.”
• 17:26
  “No. I don’t want to wait. It will be fine Luna.” “Honey, as your guardian, I am responsible
• 17:33
  for your safety. This isn’t safe.” Why was she so worried about witches? “Lynn,
• 17:39
  witches aren’t any more dangerous than wolves. They are people just like us. My best friend
• 17:45
  growing up was a witch. It will be fine.” “You had friends?”
• 17:50
  She’d meant her mom, but she wasn’t going to tell Lynn that. “Occasionally.
• 17:55
  I did take a lot of extracurricular classes.” Lynn let out a long sigh and looked down the hall
• 18:01
  where a couple of girls were carrying on a very animated conversation. “It would be easier if you
• 18:07
  can stay here. I’m sure a room will come free in one of the other dorms by the end of the semester.
• 18:13
  If you can last until then…” “I can.”
• 18:16
  Lynn lifted a finger and shook it at her. “But if they start picking on you, I want
• 18:20
  you to call me. I’ll rent an apartment and live with you myself for a few months if I have to.”
• 18:26
  “I’ll be fine Luna, I promise.” Honey grabbed the suitcase and started
• 18:31
  moving down the hall before Lynn could change her mind. In just three steps she
• 18:36
  was in front of room 302. A girl was standing in front of the open door in the middle of the
• 18:41
  room contemplating one of the desks. Honey knocked on the door. “Hello?”
• 18:47
  The girl whirled around and Honey realized her hair wasn’t black – it was dark blue.
• 18:52
  “You’re a wolf. Why are you here?” The girl asked with wide eyes.
• 18:57
  “I’m Honey, your roommate.” “No. They said I didn’t have a roommate.”
• 19:02
  “Who said,” Luna Lynn demanded behind Honey. The girl swallowed. “The dorm people when
• 19:08
  I called a month ago to ask. I wanted to coordinate sheets and
• 19:12
  see if my roommate was bringing a mini-fridge.” “I did not bring a mini-fridge,” Honey stated,
• 19:18
  “and my sheets are blue.” “That will work then. Mine
• 19:22
  are also blue,” the girl said cautiously. “Is that your favorite color?” Honey asked.
• 19:27
  The girl flicked her short hair. “How could you tell?”
• 19:31
  Honey liked her already. “What is your name?” Lynn demanded.
• 19:37
  “Blaze Underwood,” the girl squeaked. Lynn was scaring her. “This is Luna Lynn,
• 19:42
  my guardian. She is pleased to meet you, but her son is also moving in today and she wants to be
• 19:48
  there for that, so she will be on her way.” Honey grabbed Lynn’s arm and gave her a not-so-gentle
• 19:53
  shove toward the stairs. “Honey,” Lynn started.
• 19:58
  “I’ll be fine Lynn. I’ll bring over your suitcases once I’ve emptied them.”
• 20:03
  Lynn looked doubtful but she said, “Okay.” She took exactly one step to leave,
• 20:09
  then spun around and produced her cell phone. “Blaze, can I have your number in case I can’t
• 20:14
  get a hold of Honey for some reason?” “Of course Mrs. Lynn, I mean Luna,
• 20:18
  I mean Luna Lynn.” “Luna is fine.”
• 20:22
  “Wow, she’s fierce,” Blaze noted after Lynn had left.
• 20:25
  “She’s just protective.” “Because she’s a wolf?” Blaze asked.
• 20:30
  Honey shrugged and nodded toward the cluttered bottom bunk. “Did you claim the bottom?”
• 20:35
  “If you don’t mind.” “I don’t.”
• 20:38
  She unzipped one of the suitcases and pulled out the sheets. Moving around so often had
• 20:43
  taught her to always pack the first things she’d need on top. She wanted to ask Blaze
• 20:47
  what kind of magic she could do, but she didn’t know if that was considered rude.
• 20:52
  Other than her mom, she’d never met another witch. Mom always kept her well away from them.
• 20:57
  She caught a whiff of lemon while she fought to put the sheet over the far corner of the mattress.
• 21:03
  She dismissed the random smell as room freshener until she turned around and saw a small cactus
• 21:08
  floating toward the window. “You can do telekinesis!”
• 21:12
  The cactus fell to the floor and the little pot shattered.
• 21:16
  “Oh, I’m sorry.” Honey jumped off the bed and scrambled to help Blaze clean up the mess.
• 21:21
  “You can jump off beds without breaking anything,” Blaze commented.
• 21:26
  Honey looked back over her shoulder to make sure the bed was as short as she
• 21:29
  remembered. “I was standing on the ladder.” Blaze scooped up the little cactus and started
• 21:35
  fussing over it like it was a precious pet. Honey focused on collecting the pieces of the clay pot.
• 21:41
  She wished she could try and fix them with her own magic, but she knew better than to reveal herself.
• 21:46
  “I have a water bottle we could cut in half and make a temporary pot if you can move the dirt into
• 21:51
  it with your magic, or I could find a broom.” “I can move it.”
• 21:56
  After she’d set all the broken pieces of pottery on the windowsill,
• 22:00
  Honey dug out a pair of scissors and started cutting her empty water bottle in half. It was
• 22:05
  the first thing she’d bought at a gas station the day after she’d run away from the fire.
• 22:10
  “You’re nicer than I thought a wolf would be,” Blaze commented.
• 22:15
  “Have you met many wolves?” “There were some in my high
• 22:18
  school but we didn’t really interact.” She gave her new roommate a big grin. “Well,
• 22:23
  I’m truly glad I got to meet you then.” “I’m surprised they put a wolf
• 22:28
  and witch together.” Honey jammed the top of
• 22:31
  the water bottle upside-down into the bottom so the ‘pot’ had a way to drain and offered it to
• 22:36
  Blaze. “How would they know?” “You have to specify on the
• 22:41
  residential application form.” “I don’t remember seeing that form.”
• 22:45
  Lynn must have filled it out, but why would she put down that Honey was a witch? It must
• 22:50
  have been an accident. “How would that work anyway? Wouldn’t the humans think it odd if
• 22:56
  there were options for wolf and witch?” “I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe
• 23:01
  there’s magic involved.” “Must be,” Honey agreed.
• 23:05
  It only took her a few minutes to unpack everything. She was eager to explore the
• 23:10
  campus and visit the bookstore. Mom’s stories about her time on campus had
• 23:14
  always intrigued her. She knew she could find used books for a good price in the bookstore,
• 23:19
  but that the supplies were always overpriced. Lynn had offered to buy her books online,
• 23:24
  but Honey had told her she wanted to look in the bookstore first. Lynn had shaken her head, but
• 23:30
  then she’d given Honey a cash card with several hundred dollars to buy whatever she needed.
• 23:35
  “Do you want to explore the campus, Blaze? I need to go to the bookstore.”
• 23:40
  Blaze was placing the pencil holder in different locations on her desk using telekinesis. “Everyone
• 23:46
  and their dog will be there.” She looked up and slapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh,
• 23:51
  I didn’t mean it that way.” “What way?”
• 23:55
  She gave Honey a puzzled look and shook her head. “Never mind.”
• 23:59
  Honey suddenly felt very overwhelmed. She hadn’t realized how much Lynn’s support meant until that
• 24:05
  moment. She was on her own again. “I guess I’ll go by myself then.” She turned away to hide the tears
• 24:13
  in her eyes and collect the empty suitcases. Blaze reached out and grabbed Honey’s arm,
• 24:18
  then almost immediately dropped it as if she was going to attack
• 24:21
  her. “I didn’t say I didn’t want to go.” “Really? Let’s go then. Oh,” Honey lifted
• 24:29
  one of the empty suitcases. “I need to take these to my guardian first and I wanted to
• 24:33
  sneak a peek at the suites in the new dorm.” “Ooo. I do too. They looked so elegant online,
• 24:40
  not like these,” she waved her hand around, “jail cells.”
• 24:44
  “Yeah, but ours is a lot cheaper and has more character.”
• 24:48
  Blaze rolled her eyes. “Whatever makes you happy.”
• 24:52
  Blaze took one of the empty suitcases. The new dorm wasn’t far at all – just up the sidewalk.
• 24:58
  Unlike the colorful vehicles of all makes and sizes unloading in front of their dorm,
• 25:03
  most of the vehicles in front of the new dorm were large, dark SUVs which were slowly losing their
• 25:08
  contents to a bevy of exuberant males. They were so busy clowning around with each other, Honey
• 25:14
  didn’t think they’d noticed her and Blaze at all until they turned to go into the dorm. Then the
• 25:19
  wolves started elbowing each other and shooting them grins like they’d never seen girls before.
• 25:24
  Honey noticed several sniffing the air, then she realized why. She stopped and turned to Blaze.
• 25:31
  “Calm down. They can smell fear.” “You didn’t tell me this was a dorm for wolves.”
• 25:36
  “Is that a problem?” She looked around. Blaze was small and there were a lot of big
• 25:42
  guys around. Maybe she felt intimidated. “They won’t hurt you. I promise. I won’t let them.”
• 25:50
  “No offense, but all of them have about twice as much muscle as you.”
• 25:55
  “But not at much brain.” She snickered, but still smelled afraid.
• 26:00
  Honey leaned forward so the wolves trying to eavesdrop wouldn’t hear. “Besides, can’t you just
• 26:05
  throw them across the yard if they try anything?” “Maybe, but they’re big and
• 26:10
  there’s so many of them.” “Seriously, don’t be afraid. I read the rules. If
• 26:15
  anyone hurts you they’ll get kicked out. They’re just full of energy because they get to move in
• 26:19
  today. Think of them as a bunch of puppies.” “Very muscular puppies,” Blaze said as a
• 26:26
  particularly chiseled specimen sauntered by. Blaze said it loud enough that he heard her,
• 26:31
  but by the way the corner of his mouth lifted, he wasn’t offended.
• 26:36
  Honey turned around and started walking again. Blaze moved up to her side and
• 26:40
  leaned over and whispered, “Why are they all so muscular? Is it because they are wolves?”
• 26:46
  “It’s because they exercise a lot because they are wolves.”
• 26:50
  A tall boy stopped to hold the door for them. Blaze rewarded him with a smile and
• 26:54
  earned a lopsided one back. She still smelled nervous, but the acrid scent of fear was gone.
• 27:01
  Inside it looked like a hotel lobby instead of a dorm. There were wolves everywhere tossing balls,
• 27:07
  sprawled out on couches, wrestling. Blaze fanned herself. “Oh my gosh,
• 27:13
  this must be what it’s like to walk into a Chippendales’ show.”
• 27:16
  There was furniture around but it was all contemporary. Honey had a feeling Blaze was
• 27:21
  referring to some other kind of Chippendales but before she could ask, a haughty voice made
• 27:26
  every head turn in their direction. “Honey, what are you doing here?”
• 27:31
  “Is he your boyfriend?” Blaze asked in a stage whisper, which would have been fine if it wasn’t
• 27:36
  suddenly so quiet Honey heard someone’s pen drop. “Him? No!” She pushed the suitcases at him. “Here,
• 27:44
  these are for your mom. Tell her I’m going to the Student Union with my roommate to look around.”
• 27:50
  Brayton’s demeanor suddenly became much friendlier. “I think Mom wanted to go with
• 27:55
  you. Didn’t you say you wanted to see my suite?” Honey squinted her eyes at him, trying to see into
• 28:01
  his devious brain. She’d lived across the hall from him for two weeks and he’d kept his door
• 28:06
  firmly closed when she was around. He’d even slammed it a few times when she got close.
• 28:12
  “Please. She’s driving me crazy.” He lowered his voice almost to a whisper. “She’s talking about
• 28:19
  repainting the walls and going with a nautical theme. If you can pull her away, I’ll owe you.”
• 28:26
  “You should ask him what he’ll owe you,” Blaze said in Honey’s ear.
• 28:30
  “I don’t want anything from him, but I will help him.” She grabbed the handle
• 28:35
  of one of the suitcases and started toward the elevators, “Come on, we’ve got a mamsel to save.”
• 28:42
  “Mamsel?” Blaze asked. “Male damsel in distress.”
• 28:47
  Blaze laughed. Brayton was behind her so she didn’t see his
• 28:51
  reaction, but Honey thought she heard a growl. Unlike her dorm, his dorm had a whole
• 28:57
  row of elevators. Even with all the people moving in they barely had to wait,
• 29:02
  and the elevator was fast. A few seconds later they spilled out onto the second floor.
• 29:08
  The hallway had a custom-designed carpet just like the fancy hotel Honey had been to once.
• 29:14
  Brayton’s room was just a few doors down from the elevator. The bigger-than-normal door opened
• 29:20
  into a living space larger than some of the apartments Honey and her mom had lived in.
• 29:25
  “Wow,” Blaze said. Bag-dumping bully,
• 29:29
  whose given name was Malcolm, was sprawled all over a couch. Rhys, the not-so-quiet bully,
• 29:35
  was humming tunelessly in the kitchen while he put things away in the over-counter cabinets.
• 29:41
  “Who’s your fourth roommate?” Honey asked. “He’s not here yet. My room is this one,”
• 29:47
  Brayton walked over to the first door on the left and pulled it open. “Mom, Honey is here.”
• 29:53
  Lynn was holding a light blue pillowcase up to the wall. “Honey, what do you think of this color?”
• 30:00
  “It’s nice.” “It would look good on the walls,
• 30:03
  don’t you think?” “Mmm.”
• 30:06
  What did Brayton expect her to do? Maybe she should just say it. “Luna, Brayton doesn’t want
• 30:12
  you to decorate his room. He’s eighteen and he feels he’s old enough to decorate it himself.”
• 30:18
  Lynn lowered the pillowcase. “Is that true Brayton?”
• 30:23
  Brayton stopped glaring at Honey and faced his mom instead. “Yes.”
• 30:28
  “Well why didn’t you say so? Do you have a theme picked out?”
• 30:32
  “Mom, I don’t need a theme.” “But you’re going to live here
• 30:35
  for the next year at least. You need an environment that’s conducive to studying.”
• 30:41
  Conducive to studying – she could work with that. “Luna, I have lived in many places decorated and
• 30:48
  painted many different ways. None of them aided my studying. In fact,
• 30:53
  some of them were distracting. This room is fine, in fact, it’s more than fine.
• 30:59
  All he needs are a few strings of fairy lights and a maybe a plant or two.”
• 31:03
  “Fairy lights,” Lynn said contemplatively. “How many strings?”
• 31:09
  “No. Just no!” Brayton exclaimed. Ha. She’d made Brayton worried. “I
• 31:14
  was kidding. Luna, you are great at room design, but don’t you think Brayton needs
• 31:19
  to find his own style? He might prefer the hunter cabin theme like your husband’s
• 31:24
  office over a nautical one. Did you ask?” The look of horror on Lynn’s face was priceless.
• 31:30
  “Oh, not that. Please not that.” “I promise Mom, no hunter cabin,”
• 31:36
  Brayton said, stepping forward to gently tug the pillowcase out of her fingers.
• 31:41
  “Why don’t you go shopping with Honey while I unpack? You can come back by when I’m done.”
• 31:47
  “Are you sure? I can help you unpack. I promise I won’t try to decorate.”
• 31:52
  “Mom.” Honey wanted to explore the
• 31:55
  Student Union by herself, or with Blaze at least, but she didn’t mind shopping with Lynn. In fact,
• 32:01
  when she wasn’t trying to hit every store in the mall, Lynn was fun to shop with. “Come on,
• 32:07
  Luna. We’re going to the Student Union. Maybe you can find him a first day of school gift,
• 32:13
  like a fancy new pen or a notebook.” Lynn had already bought him at least
• 32:18
  ten such gifts, but that never stopped her from buying more.
• 32:22
  Lynn frowned. “That’s right. You don’t have your books yet.” After hesitating another moment, she
• 32:29
  marched to the desk and picked up her purse. “Come on. We better get there before they’re all gone.”
• 32:36
  Brayton waved his hand to get Honey’s attention and mouthed a ‘Thank you’ behind his mother’s
• 32:41
  back. Chapter 9
• 32:45
  Honey Five am. Monday morning Honey
• 32:49
  turned off her watch alarm five seconds before it started beeping. She’d been awake since four,
• 32:55
  but she didn’t want to get out of bed too early and wake Blaze. Blaze had gone to a coven meet
• 33:00
  and greet and hadn’t gotten back until 11 pm. Honey couldn’t stay in bed any longer though.
• 33:05
  It was finally time to get ready. She climbed down off the bed as quietly as she could and
• 33:11
  grabbed her shower caddy. Since she’d worn her exercise clothes to bed, she only had to run to
• 33:16
  the bathroom, brush her teeth, and put on the new running shoes Lynn had insisted she buy.
• 33:22
  Outside, it was still dark, but the campus was well-lit by functional yet unimaginative light
• 33:27
  poles all around the dorms. She set out on a jog along the course she’d plotted on Saturday
• 33:33
  when she’d located all her classes. The training field was half-way around campus, but she still
• 33:38
  managed to be fifteen minutes early. She wasn’t the only one there early, but most people didn’t
• 33:43
  start showing up until about two minutes before it was time to start. By then, she’d already
• 33:48
  stretched and was finishing her warm-up lap. Brayton showed up exactly one minute before
• 33:54
  they were supposed to be present. He looked like he’d been awake all night. To Honey’s surprise,
• 33:59
  he plopped down next to her on the bleachers where everyone had been instructed to sit. She hadn’t
• 34:04
  seen him since she’d dragged Lynn away. Maybe her act of kindness had softened him up a little.
• 34:11
  “Good morning, Brayton.” He slowly turned his head
• 34:14
  and focused his sleep-blurred eyes on her. “Why are you so chipper?”
• 34:19
  “Why do you look like you haven’t slept?” “I didn’t. I think.”
• 34:24
  “Party?” “Uhh.”
• 34:27
  “Good Morning! Welcome to WOLF. I’m Captain Young,” a medium-sized man said from in front
• 34:34
  of the bleachers. “Most of you look like you had a pretty rough night. You guys feeling okay?”
• 34:41
  He received a collection of moans and grunts in response.
• 34:44
  “Aw, you poor little freshman babies. Can’t handle your liquor. Well too bad! Get up. Start running.
• 34:53
  I want two miles out of you in less than 16. Go.” Sixteen minutes? This class was going to be easy.
• 35:01
  Honey popped up and followed the guy with the green headband who’d stood up just ahead of her.
• 35:07
  He’d been as early as she was. Keeping to his pace, she finished in fourteen minutes and had to
• 35:12
  stand and wait while the rest of the group slogged over the line where Captain Young was waiting with
• 35:17
  a big stopwatch. Brayton stumbled over the line just before Captain Young started shuttling people
• 35:23
  into another group. The last person to cross the line immediately hunched over and threw up.
• 35:30
  Captain Young shook his head at the sick one. “I’ve separated you into turtles and hares.
• 35:35
  The turtles here are going to give me sixty perfect push-ups. The hares, you,” he nodded
• 35:41
  at Honey’s group, “only have to do thirty, but any of you slower than the turtles will join them and
• 35:47
  you do not want to be a turtle today. Go.” Green head-band guy and her were again two
• 35:53
  of the first to finish. The instructor kept barking out exercises until about half of
• 35:58
  them were turtles and half of them were hares. Brayton somehow remained a hare.
• 36:03
  “Hares over here. You get to be the first people to try out the new obstacle course. Turtles,
• 36:10
  start running. You’re going to run for the rest of the practice. Maybe next time
• 36:14
  you’ll get to bed on time and bring your A-game.” The turtles groaned. Green head-band guy and Honey
• 36:20
  grinned at each other. Captain Young led them to a monstrosity of beams and walls and bars and ropes.
• 36:27
  It wasn’t as colorful as the obstacle course in a show Honey had watched in a hotel one time,
• 36:33
  but it still looked fun. Captain Young led them around it and gave a brief explanation
• 36:38
  of what they were supposed to do. “All right, who wants to go first?”
• 36:43
  Honey raised her hand as high as she could. Brayton tried to pull it down. “What are you
• 36:48
  doing? You don’t volunteer for something like that.”
• 36:52
  “Girl with the gray shirt. Yeah, you,” Captain Young said when Honey pointed to herself,
• 36:57
  “and the guy next to her. You’re up. You can race each other.”
• 37:01
  Brayton groaned. Honey flashed him an excited grin and got into position.
• 37:06
  “On your mark, go!” The first obstacle was a tall
• 37:10
  wall. Honey ran at it and used her speed and her wolf claws to get to the top, then threw her legs
• 37:16
  over and made a perfect landing on the other side. She launched herself out of her crouch directly
• 37:21
  toward the monkey bars. Four rungs in, she heard a thump that could only be Brayton reaching the
• 37:26
  ground. She swung from the last bar to the first set of tires they had to step through,
• 37:31
  high-stepped her way through them as fast as she could, then shimmied up the climbing rope and hit
• 37:36
  the bell. Brayton’s grunts had turned into a continuous growl behind her. Grinning, she
• 37:42
  slid down the rope, ran across the balance logs, and swung over the mud pit. After nailing that
• 37:48
  landing with a flip, she ran forward to another balance beam that led to some bars that they were
• 37:53
  supposed to go over. She flipped her legs and hips over them like she’d done in gymnastics,
• 37:58
  then worked her way over a series of logs like they were pummel horses, and she was done.
• 38:04
  Captain Young was waiting for her at the end with his big stopwatch. “Nice job. What’s your name?”
• 38:10
  “Honey.” “What pack?”
• 38:12
  “Mooney.” “Ten points for Mooney
• 38:15
  both for doing a good job and for volunteering. Give me two more miles and you’re free to go.”
• 38:21
  “Yes, Sir.” At least a minute later,
• 38:24
  Brayton staggered across the line and fell over into a muddy heap. Captain Young squatted down
• 38:29
  in front of him. “Hello Mr. Turtle.” Despite taking a shower and dropping
• 38:35
  by the cafeteria to grab a muffin and a banana for breakfast, Honey made it to her
• 38:40
  eight-o-clock calculus class with plenty of time to spare. She only had four classes on Monday,
• 38:46
  not including WOLF, three before and one after lunch, so she was done by 2. Her homework was
• 38:53
  done by 3. Blaze came back from her classes at 4. They went to dinner together at 5.
• 39:00
  The cafeteria was packed and noisy and full of smells – some delicious and some not-so delicious.
• 39:06
  It was a warm day, but by the aged smell of the sweat, she guessed some of her classmates
• 39:12
  had not made it back to their dorms in time to shower after WOLF. On top of the body odor and
• 39:17
  the food smell, there was a hint of magic which teased her nose and made her want to sneeze.
• 39:23
  After ten minutes in a very long, very boisterous line, she and Blaze finally reached the front.
• 39:30
  Honey was so tired of all the meat she’d been served the last two weeks that she
• 39:35
  piled her plate high with salad and some kind of Chinese-like stir-fry with lots of vegetables.
• 39:41
  “Where do you want to sit?” she asked Blaze when they stepped out of the line
• 39:45
  and paused to survey the rowdy tables. “Um, I was going to sit with some of the
• 39:50
  people I met last night. It’s probably better if we don’t sit together. It might cause a scene.”
• 39:57
  The excited, giddy feeling Honey had had all day deflated like a popped tired. “Oh. Okay.” Blaze
• 40:05
  was the only person in the whole room she knew. The chaotic scene before her suddenly
• 40:10
  turned from a room full of people having fun to a room full of strangers she’d have to pass
• 40:15
  to find a seat. If she wasn’t so hungry, she would have dumped her tray and left.
• 40:20
  Blaze nudged her elbow. “You know what? Who cares. No one will notice in this mess. You
• 40:27
  are my roommate and if they have a problem with that then they’re not worth knowing.”
• 40:32
  “Are you sure?” “Absolutely.”
• 40:35
  Her roommate’s smile looked genuine. Honey decided to take her up on her offer. “Thanks Blaze.”
• 40:43
  “Well, I couldn’t leave you standing there looking like a lost puppy. Hah. Get it?”
• 40:49
  Honey rolled her eyes. “Very funny. That’s not going to get old or anything.”
• 40:55
  She let Blaze take the lead. Her roommate had skills. She shimmied and twisted through the
• 41:01
  crowd like a slippery superhero. She even managed to avoid three wolves who spilled
• 41:06
  onto the ground in front of her seemingly on accident. At long last they made it
• 41:12
  to a table in the back of the room where the light was dimmer and the people were
• 41:16
  calmer. It also smelled a lot better – less sweat and more magic. All flavors of magic.
• 41:23
  Honey took a deep breath and nearly gagged on the scent of skunk. It disappeared even
• 41:28
  while she sniffed her sleeve to see if she needed to find some tomato juice.
• 41:33
  “Hi,” Blaze said. She turned enough that the three people at the table could see past her
• 41:38
  to Honey. “This is Honey, my roommate. Do any of you mind if she joins us?”
• 41:44
  “She’s a wolf,” said a boy with dark hair that was sculpted to
• 41:48
  stand in a peak at the top of his head. “No kidding,” Blaze said, sliding into a seat
• 41:54
  and kicking the leg of the empty chair next to her to indicate where Honey should sit.
• 42:00
  “Demon dirt. My repelling spell didn’t work,” the peaky-haired guy said.
• 42:05
  “You’re a spell-caster?” Honey asked as she sat. He slumped in his chair. “Apparently not.”
• 42:12
  “I did catch a very strong smell of skunk,” she said encouragingly.
• 42:18
  “But you’re still here.” “Honey, that’s Daegal,” Blaze said,
• 42:23
  pointing at the spell-caster. “The blond girl is Sabine and the rainbow head is Panas.”
• 42:30
  “It’s nice to meet you.” “Really?” the blond girl said suspiciously.
• 42:36
  She wasn’t just blond, she was white-gold blond with just enough wave that her hair caught the dim
• 42:41
  light perfectly, making her hair shimmer. “Really. I love your hair.”
• 42:46
  “I’m not giving you a makeover.” “Okay?”
• 42:51
  “That’s a lot of salad,” Panas said. His hair was a stripy mix of blue, green, purple, and red. “I
• 42:58
  thought wolves just ate meat.” “Nope. I like salad.”
• 43:02
  “Why are you sitting with us? Don’t wolves always stay in a pack?” Daegal asked.
• 43:08
  Honey shrugged and picked up her fork to have somewhere to look. “I don’t know.”
• 43:12
  “You don’t know why you’re sitting with us, or you don’t know about
• 43:16
  wolves?” Sabine asked sharply like she was an investigator and Honey was the lead suspect.
• 43:22
  Honey lifted her head and told her the truth. “I’m sitting with you because I like witches.”
• 43:28
  “You like witches?” Daegal repeated as if he’d never heard of such a thing.
• 43:33
  “Yeah, my best friend was a witch.” She quickly looked down again so they
• 43:37
  wouldn’t see the tears in her eyes. “How is that possible?” Panas asked.
• 43:43
  The wolves had accepted her ridiculous explanation without question. Maybe the witches would too.
• 43:50
  “I was a lovechild. My parents hid me from the pack, so I made friends outside of it.”
• 43:56
  “Is your friend here?” “No, she’s…” She couldn’t
• 44:01
  finish and barely held back a sob. Blaze squeezed her shoulder. “It’s okay Honey.
• 44:07
  You don’t have to say anything else. Guys, Honey isn’t like the rest of the wolves. She’s nice. She
• 44:14
  helped me re-pot my cactus when I dropped it.” For once she had a napkin. Honey wiped her nose,
• 44:21
  then lifted her head to smile up at them and change the subject. “So, what kind of magic
• 44:26
  can you guys do? My friend was a healer. Her magic smelled like spring sunshine. Blaze’s
• 44:32
  magic smells like fresh lemons.” “You didn’t tell me my magic
• 44:36
  has a smell,” Blaze frowned. Honey shrugged. “It smells nice.”
• 44:41
  Panas threw out his hand and a small flame appeared.
• 44:45
  Honey scrunched her nose. “Smells like hot asphalt.”
• 44:49
  She suddenly got very cold and smelled fresh snow, but there was something else. She’d smelled
• 44:55
  it along with the skunk smell too. “Throw a different one at me Daegal.
• 44:59
  Each spell smells different, but I think I can smell your magic too.”
• 45:04
  “Why are you not frozen?!” he grunted. Now she was very hot, like beach on the
• 45:10
  equator hot. The spell smelled of hot sand and, she sniffed again just to be sure. “Popcorn. Your
• 45:18
  magic smells like unbuttered popcorn.” “You were supposed to melt.”
• 45:22
  “I don’t think you can melt a living thing. I did get very hot.” She shook herself and
• 45:28
  calmed her atoms so they cooled down. Shoot. Could they tell when she used her
• 45:33
  own magic? Her mom had never mentioned it. “I’m not going to show you what I can do. I
• 45:39
  don’t trust you,” Sabine said airily. “Hey, whoa, you’re a,” a voice came from
• 45:46
  somewhere above her. Honey looked up to see a tall boy with stylishly messy brown hair with
• 45:53
  bleached ends. Cool hair must be a witch thing. “Beautiful woman.” He crashed down into the seat
• 46:00
  beside her and leaned his chin on his fist to stare into her face. “I love green eyes.”
• 46:08
  “This is Esme,” Blaze said. “He likes girls,” Panas added.
• 46:13
  She tore her eyes from Esme’s mesmerizing gaze. “How can you
• 46:17
  guys tell I’m a wolf? Do you smell it?” Panas looked at Sabine who shrugged. “We
• 46:23
  feel it,” he answered. “You smell magic as different scents, we feel
• 46:28
  magic as different tingles. Wolves feel furry.” “You can smell magic?” Esme said. “What does mine
• 46:36
  smell like?” He placed two fingers on her temple. Abruptly she was in a beautiful park with golden
• 46:43
  sun streaming down on a blanket with a large picnic basket. Esme was laying on the blanket,
• 46:50
  propped up on his elbow and watching her with a strange smile that made her want to back away.
• 46:55
  Except for Esme, it reminded her of one of the many parks she’d visited with her mom
• 47:00
  and dad and how they’d never take her again. She thrust his hand away and caught a nasty smell.
• 47:08
  “Rotten eggs.” She looked down quickly, but not fast enough to prevent a tear
• 47:12
  from rolling down her cheek. “Ooo. She got you,” Panas teased.
• 47:17
  “I’m sorry I upset you. That was supposed to be pleasant,”
• 47:21
  Esme said earnestly, grabbing her hand. Honey squeezed his hand and pulled hers
• 47:27
  away. “It’s all right. Thanks for trying.” “What did you show her?” Sabine asked.
• 47:33
  “A picnic,” Esme replied. Honey could swear she felt Sabine’s gaze boring
• 47:39
  into her head. Was she able to read minds? Maybe sitting with witches wasn’t such a good idea.
• 47:46
  Two more girls came up to the table. One had lush fire truck red hair. The other
• 47:52
  had blacker-than-black hair that faded to green and the green lipstick to match.
• 47:57
  “Hi guys, how did your first day go? Did you see what happened in…” the redhead started but was cut
• 48:03
  off by a sharp elbow from her friend who nodded at Honey. The redhead’s smile morphed into one
• 48:10
  of horror. “O.M.G., who let the dog in?” In as flat a voice as she could muster,
• 48:18
  Honey said, “Ouch.” “She’s cool,” Esme
• 48:23
  said. “She’s Blaze’s roommate.” “Bad luck,” the redhead said at Blaze.
• 48:28
  “Come on Nimue. Let find somewhere to eat that’s a little less hairy.”
• 48:34
  Blaze might have said she didn’t care, but Honey saw the worry on her face
• 48:38
  when she turned to look after them. “I better go. I have homework to do.”
• 48:44
  “Liar,” Sabine said before Honey could stand. “You’ve already
• 48:48
  got your homework done, don’t you?” “Just the part that’s due Wednesday.”
• 48:53
  “Stay and finish your salad at least. We promise to behave.”
• 48:57
  “Do you mind,” Honey asked Blaze.
• 49:00
  Blaze turned away from watching the two girls now talking and pointing toward
• 49:04
  them from another table and shook her head with a reserved frown. “No. Stay.”
• 49:10
  “Those two aren’t our friends,” Sabine said. “They were being nosy. They’ll tell everyone
• 49:16
  that we had a wolf sitting with us so we’ll be ostracized, but there’s a good chance it
• 49:20
  will end up making us popular because we dared to cross over to the other side.”
• 49:25
  “Why is there so much animosity between wolves and witches?” Honey asked,
• 49:29
  finally taking a bite of salad. She knew her mom and dad had hidden her because hybrid children
• 49:35
  were looked down upon. But she hadn’t realized wolves and witches hated each other so much.
• 49:41
  “You don’t know?” Daegal asked. “No.”
• 49:44
  “It’s been this way forever,” Panas said. “All those witch hunts – the wolves started them.
• 49:50
  All the stories about how monstrous wolves are – told by the witches.”
• 49:55
  “But why? We’re both magical. The only difference is wolves all have the same power.”
• 50:02
  “Yeah, but we’re raised completely different. Wolves have tight packs and traditions. Witches
• 50:07
  are creative and often live alone,” Sabine said. “I think it’s silly.”
• 50:13
  “Honey!” a familiar voice snapped behind her, “What are you doing here?”
• 50:18
  She spun around and had to lean back to see Brayton’s face, he was so close. “I’m eating.”
• 50:24
  “They’re witches!” “So?”
• 50:27
  “You’re a wolf.” “So?”
• 50:29
  “Wolves don’t eat with witches.” “Says who?”
• 50:33
  “Says me.” “That is the stupidest
• 50:36
  argument I’ve ever heard. Go away Brayton.” She turned her back on him. All of a sudden, it felt
• 50:42
  like every hair on her head was being pulled out by the roots. The jerk had grabbed her ponytail.
• 50:48
  “You are a part of my pack. Stop embarrassing us. Get away from them.”
• 50:53
  As soon as he had pulled her clear of her chair, she grabbed the hand on her hair with both of
• 50:58
  her hands to prevent him from yanking it any harder, then twisted to face him. She kneed
• 51:04
  him as hard as she could where it counted, which freed her hair, then kicked him in the
• 51:08
  chest to send him flying across the room. Heart racing from the sudden adrenaline,
• 51:14
  she turned her back on the ensuing commotion and plopped back down in her chair. “Jerk.”
• 51:20
  Daegal’s mouth was hanging open and Esme’s eyes were wide. Panas was leaning back with a smirk to
• 51:27
  watch whatever was happening behind her. “Who was that?” Sabine asked.
• 51:31
  “Head bully, aka the alpha’s son.” “You just sent the alpha’s son
• 51:36
  flying across the room?” “He pulled my hair first.”
• 51:40
  “All right, which one of you did that? You know violence between the races is forbidden,”
• 51:46
  another familiar voice asked behind her. Great, she was going to end up going to
• 51:51
  college all of one day too. She spun around and stood. “It was me. They didn’t do anything.”
• 51:58
  Three beefy wolves were displaying their muscles behind her. She recognized the middle one.
• 52:03
  “Honey,” he said. “Captain Young,” she responded.
• 52:08
  “What happened?” “Brayton pulled my hair and I fought back.”
• 52:13
  “He pulled your hair?” “He grabbed her ponytail and
• 52:16
  dragged her out of her seat,” Sabine said behind her, “like a caveman, or cavewolf, I guess.”
• 52:23
  “Is he your ex or something?” “No.” She was tempted to call him a big bully,
• 52:29
  but she behaved. “I’m his mom’s ward and he thinks that gives him the right to boss me around.”
• 52:35
  “You’re Luna Lynn’s ward?” “Yes.”
• 52:38
  “And do you all agree that she was defending herself?” he asked the table.
• 52:43
  “Yes,” the whole table and a few people from nearby said in almost-unison.
• 52:48
  “I guess he deserved as good as he got then.” He pointed his finger at her nose,
• 52:53
  making her go cross-eyed. “No more fighting Honey, except on the field.”
• 52:58
  “Yes, sir.” She stayed standing until Captain
• 53:02
  Young had led a hunched and limping Brayton away, then slid gratefully back into her seat.
• 53:08
  “Sorry about that, and thanks for backing me up.” “Are you kidding? That was excellent. You just did
• 53:15
  what we’ve all dreamed of doing and got away with it,” Daegal grinned.
• 53:19
  “How did you kick him so far,” Blaze asked. She shrugged. “Martial arts classes.”
• 53:26
  “Ever play volleyball,” Panas asked contemplatively. “I bet you can really jump.”
• 53:32
  “I can.” “You’re on my team.”
• 53:37
  Chapter 10 Brayton
• 53:40
  His balls still throbbed even though they should be well on their way to healing. Malcolm, Rhys,
• 53:46
  and Cici were waiting for him when Captain Young finally allowed him to leave the study
• 53:51
  room he’d taken him to, to ‘cool down’. “Still hurting man?” Malcolm winced as
• 53:58
  Brayton limped out the door. “Can’t say you didn’t deserve
• 54:01
  it,” Cici said behind Malcolm. Brayton stomped forward and stepped
• 54:06
  into her space. “What did you say?” She stared him down unflappably. “You
• 54:12
  heard me. You pulled her up by her hair. You wouldn’t do that to a guy.”
• 54:17
  Cici was always going on about women’s equality. “Should have known you’d take her
• 54:22
  side.” He limped past her. “You know she’s right,” Rhys said.
• 54:26
  He did and that made him even angrier. He hated Honey.
• 54:30
  It was her fault he’d started off on a bad foot at practice. He’d been looking
• 54:35
  forward to training on campus for years and she totally ruined it by being so damn chipper and
• 54:41
  raising her skinny little arm like an eager six-year-old. He wasn’t sure how she cheated,
• 54:46
  but he knew she had. She not only beat him, but she made the best time of the day. There was no
• 54:53
  way. Out of all the wolves there, someone had to be faster. She’d used another spell, and now he
• 54:59
  knew where she was getting them from. “Hey, isn’t that her?” Malcolm
• 55:04
  nodded toward the volleyball courts. Without consciously deciding to do it, Brayton
• 55:09
  stepped off the sidewalk in her direction. Rhys grabbed his arm. “Let her be, man.”
• 55:15
  Brayton shook him off. “I’m just going to get a look at who she’s playing with. I think she’s
• 55:20
  getting spells from them to use against us.” “Why would she do that?” Cici asked.
• 55:26
  “Because she’s a rogue,” he said as if that explained everything. In his mind it did. He
• 55:32
  just couldn’t quite get the words together to explain it properly with his mouth.
• 55:37
  “I think you’re just peeved that she bested you twice today,” Cici said smugly.
• 55:42
  “She cheated.” “Not from what I saw.”
• 55:46
  Cici could be a real pain sometimes, but she was an excellent fighter and
• 55:50
  one of his best friends. That’s why he had picked her to someday be a beta.
• 55:55
  It was a beautiful evening with a cloudless sky, the perfect temperature, and a very light breeze.
• 56:02
  Several students were sitting on the benches waiting for their chance on the courts. He
• 56:06
  stopped downwind underneath a cluster of trees so his prey wouldn’t see him. The stench of
• 56:12
  magic was so bad it nearly drove him away. There wasn’t a single wolf there except for Honey.
• 56:19
  Why on Earth had her mother given her such a ridiculous
• 56:22
  name? Even thinking it made him cringe. “She’s pretty good,” Rhys commented when
• 56:28
  Honey dove for a ball and managed to not only save it from hitting the sand, but pop it up
• 56:33
  high enough for a rainbow-headed boy to whack it over the net.
• 56:37
  All of them were pretty good. Along with rainbow-head, she was on a team with a boy whose
• 56:43
  longish brown hair was bleached on the tips and a girl with blue hair who looked somewhat familiar.
• 56:49
  Everyone on the other team also had strange hair except one girl whose hair shone like white gold.
• 56:56
  “What’s with their hair?” Cici said. “That one chick has half-pink and half-blue. I mean,
• 57:01
  come-on, make up your mind.” Honey was intently watching
• 57:06
  the ball while dusting the sand off her front from the dive. She suddenly sprinted forward,
• 57:11
  only to trip and fall flat on her face. “Graceful,” Malcolm snorted.
• 57:17
  Instead of looking embarrassed, Honey lifted her sandy face and yelled to the
• 57:21
  pointy-haired guy on the opposite side of the court, “That one smelled like horse manure.”
• 57:27
  “Too bad it wasn’t real,” the guy yelled back. “Did he just throw a spell at her?” Rhys asked.
• 57:35
  Any other wolf would have known better than to let the witch get away with it,
• 57:39
  but Honey just dusted herself off. “We gotta do something about her,”
• 57:44
  Malcolm said. “She’s gonna have the witches thinking they can walk all over us.”
• 57:49
  Malcolm was right, but what could they do? He’d already tried talking to her. Okay,
• 57:55
  he may have lost his temper a little. He found talking to her hard. Any other wolf
• 58:00
  his age was appropriately submissive, but she didn’t know the meaning of the word.
• 58:06
  That was the problem. She didn’t know her place. His mom hadn’t helped by showering her with gifts
• 58:12
  and giving her a free ride to college. It was no wonder the girl thought she was a princess.
• 58:17
  The players changed positions. Honey was now close to the net. Someone on the other team
• 58:23
  hit a high ball right toward her. It should have been too high for her, but she went for it. Her
• 58:29
  piercing green eyes zeroed in on the pointy-haired boy a split second before her arm moved too fast
• 58:35
  for human eyes to see. Pointy-hair tried to dive out of the way, but the ball hammered him in the
• 58:41
  shoulder and knocked him flat. They heard his whimper all
• 58:45
  the way under the tree. “Damn,” Malcolm said in awe.
• 58:49
  As soon as she landed, Honey ducked under the net and ran to the boy’s side.
• 58:54
  Brayton didn’t hear what she said, but the boy nodded and she offered him a hand.
• 58:59
  “Oh, yuck, she touched him,” Malcolm groaned. Cici elbowed him and nodded to the blond girl
• 59:05
  who was retrieving the ball only a few feet away. The girl squinted at them suspiciously,
• 59:11
  then jogged directly back to Honey and nodded their way. When Honey looked up, Brayton jerked
• 59:17
  his head, politely, to indicate he wanted to have a chat. She turned her back on him.
• 59:23
  No one turned their back on him. He couldn’t eject her from the pack
• 59:27
  without his parent’s approval, but he could do the next best thing.
• 59:31
  “Let’s go. If she wants to play with witches, let her play with witches.
• 59:36
  My parents may have accepted her into the pack, but as far as I’m concerned,
• 59:41
  she’s shunned. Let the rest of the pack know.” “Brayton, I don’t think…” Cici started.
• 59:47
  He cut her off. “She turns her back on me, she turns her back on the pack.
• 59:52
  She needs to learn respect.” “Brayton, I’m not sure…”
• 59:56
  He turned on her. “I have made my decision Cici. Are you one of my beta’s or not?”
• 1:00:03
  “Yes, but part of my job is to keep you from making a mistake. She’s a rogue. She probably
• 1:00:08
  doesn’t know anything about how a pack works.” “You’re right. She is a rogue. She doesn’t
• 1:00:14
  belong with us anyway. Maybe she’ll finally get the message and leave.”
• 1:00:22
  That’s it for today. If you want your own copy to read,
• 1:00:26
  Honey’s story is available at all the major retailers in paperback and ebook form. Just look
• 1:00:32
  for The Curse of the Hybrids by Lisa Lagaly. If you liked what you heard, please share my
• 1:00:39
  story with your friends and leave a review. And tune in next week when Honey meets the guys.
• 1:00:46
  Thanks for listening. And I am your storyteller.