Selena POV:I walked through the front door in a bit of a daze after Duncan dropped me off. Before I could walk upstairs, I heard my name being called from the back of the house. I made my way slowly to the kitchen where I knew I would find Meredith. Meredith was at the small table, sorting through kitchen supplies. She looked up at me with a tired smile. “How was your day?” she asked. I noticed that she looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Her eyes were bloodshot with dark circles underneath and she also showed signs of crying. “It was interesting,” I told her, trying to keep the emotions out of my voice. I wanted to know what had happened to her while I was gone but she didn’t look like she wanted to talk about it. “Oh? Did you learn anything new about werewolves or humans?” she asked, getting back to her unpacking.“Yes. I learned about human behavior and stuff like that. I realiz

Selena POV: The rest of the lunch was relatively quiet. I noticed that Duncan was nowhere to be found. And Neo wasn’t bothered that he had to take up this urgent role to train the kids in place of the Alpha. He took it in stride. Ruth kept giving me sly looks when she thought I wasn’t looking. She was making me extremely uneasy as I wasn’t sure what was going on in that crazy head of hers. I was relieved when Neo asked her to follow him back into the woods. Ruth seemed to want to follow. But even though she was coming along, at least I would be busy with training, so any further interaction would be minimal. I wondered if I could skip on the meal from tomorrow so that I wouldn’t have to sit with all of Ruth’s hostility directed at me. It was wearing at my appetite. Walking into the clearing once again, I found that Duncan was already there. He was setting up a board and writing stuff on it. Various stretchable bands lay on the floor and the instructions on

Selena POV:Ed was the first to arrive, striding into the kitchen looking severe, but it was only because he was worried about me. He came over and looked me over, placing his hand on my shoulder for a reassuring pat. He told me that he heard a little of what happened during the lesson, but not the details.“When everyone gets here, I will retell it, but not until then,” I explained. “Okay,” he said, taking the seat beside Meredith and me. We stayed close to each other until the door opened once again. A group of voices could be heard coming from the entryway as the three of us made our way into the dining room. Duncan, Neo, and another man walked in at the opposite side of the room moments later. Duncan came in, talking in lowered voices with the older man. Neo seemed to notice me and came over quickly. “Are you okay? I was so preoccupied with what happened that I didn’t check in with you,” he said quietly.

Selena POV:“Alright, it’s time for Selena and me to go to the forest,” Meredith announced, walking us out of the house. “I am coming along. Are the plants being infected at a rapid rate?” Argon asked calmly as Meredith led us into a smaller forest path. As I stepped through the narrowing path and through the thorns. I could only gasp in horror to see all the rotting trees, fruits swarming with flies, and bushes withering away from the very entryway of our primary destination. Again, I was hit with the feeling that the energy in this place was polluted. I looked down and saw that the area was barricaded by a large magic circle. “Meredith, why are their two circles?” I asked. “The inner circle is the heart of the ritual, needed to prepare and repair. The outer circle is the containment circle. So that the rotting doesn’t spread and the things outside it are protected from being infected,&rdqu

Selena POV:It had been a week since. Lessons with Argon and Meredith varied during that time. Some days, it involved circle casting and others involved working directly with the elements. I enjoyed my time spent with them. Meredith was my teacher and confidant in either new healing techniques or new plants, or even if I wanted to have a heart-to-heart conversation. Argon, on the other hand, was the harsher one. The questions I found were too personal and embarrassing to ask Meredith, I would ask him. I found myself asking him what a mating of witches was like. If he had known any half-breeds who had gone through it. I personally didn’t think it would happen to me, not to mention that I didn’t want to think about who my possible mate would be. But Argon was calm and explained with clinical precision. He had a mate back home whom he missed dearly. And though he rarely gave details about her, the wistful look in his eye told me that a part of the reason why