“I don’t believe in that stuff,” Blaire murmured, pulling her hand away.
“Hmm,” Odine said, her eyes tightening in the corners. “Perhaps someday you will. You’ve only recently learned that monsters exist, yes?”
Blaire swallowed hard. “Are you a monster?”
“Not the kind you’re thinking of. I’m human, like you. Also like you, I fell for a wolf, which is why I have the answers you will likely never pry from Gentry. This town is a hub for the supernatural. Something about Rangeley attracts them. Maybe it’s the low human population in the winter months, or the miles of woods that surround this place. Maybe it’s the ample game or the rich history of supernaturals in these parts.” Odine gave her a conspiratorial grin and leaned forward, lowering her voice. “Or perhaps it’s the stuff you don’t believe in that attracts the nightmares.”
“Gentry isn’t a nightmare.”
“I wasn’t speaking of your mate.”
“His brothers?”
“To be decided. Roman and Asher are on the fence. Good on one side. Evil on the other. Which way will they jump? I don’t know that answer yet, but they won’t stay on the fence much longer. Gentry has always been on the right side of the fence. He has his father’s moral compass, and it points due north. It causes…tension…between him and his brothers. They are more like their mother, but he is his father’s child. It bodes good for you.”
“You called him my mate.”
“You were his mate before he even laid eyes on you.”
Unsure, Blaire laughed. “But…I was married.”
“And how did that work out for you?”
Anger blasted through her. “That ended because we were broken, not because I belonged to someone else.”
“You always belonged to Gentry,” Odine said sharply. “Your ex was preparation for what you will go through in Rangeley.”
Blaire shook her head and inhaled deeply. This was crazy. Odine was clearly insane.
“You don’t believe in destiny either?” Odine asked innocently. “You will.”
Blaire scooted to the edge of her chair to leave, but Odine reached forward in a rush and plucked a few strands of hair from Blaire’s head. She turned them over in her hand, where they hovered, caught fire, and turned to ash in an instant. There was a heaviness to the air that clogged Blaire’s throat.
Odine’s eyes never left hers as she removed her palm from under the floating ashes and let them drop to the snow. “No, I have the right person. You felt a deep connection to him the second you saw him. You wanted him to touch you, body and soul. You knew on a cellular level that he could repair the damage that’s been done to you.”
“Stop,” Blaire pleaded, terrified.
“I’m not telling you this to scare you, child.” Odine’s eyes softened. “I’ve been there, right where you are. I’ve been there with my wolf, and it was scary, it was beautiful, and I wish it had been different for me.” Odine pitched her voice louder. “It can be different for you and Gentry. Change is needed in this town. You. Are. That. Change.”
Blaire looked around, panicked, because she could feel eyes on her. Three men had stopped on the sidewalk and were watching her with angry, glowing eyes.
“Why are you telling me this here?” she whispered to Odine.
The softness in Odine’s eyes left in a flash and was replaced by anger. “Because we’re gonna stir up the hive, you and I, Blaire Hayward. Piss off the queen bee who fancies himself a demigod here. He took something precious from me. We’ll put pressure on him to react and force Gentry to step up for this town. Force the other Strikers to pick a side and jump the goddamn fence either way.”
“You said you were a friend,” Blaire said on a horrified breath.
“You won’t see it for a while yet,” Odine said, leaning back into her rocking chair, “but I am.”
She sure as heck didn’t feel like any ally Blaire wanted. Furious, she stood and slammed her empty hot chocolate cup into the trash before she jogged down the stairs and past the werewolves glaring her down. The closest one was growling, and fear pushed her legs faster to the driver’s side of her rental car.
Blaire had wanted a relaxing day in town, but that woman had just exposed her to a black, pulsing vein of supernatural shit in this town. Worse than that, Odine had exposed Gentry, and that made Blaire angrier than anything.
She backed out of the parking space in a rush and kept checking the rearview mirror on her way down Main Street. The three men with the glowing eyes were gathered in the middle of the road talking and watching her speed toward Hunter Cove.