Ivy's heartbeat now mimicked water that had turned to ice. Each step she took down the stairs reminded her far too much of slow motion in ancient cartoons, but this was real. Inviting Penelope to join the retrieval mission had been a gamble at best and courting disaster at worst.
Still, there was no way to turn back now. Penelope was already in her house.
Red-rimmed eyes stared at Ivy as she finished her descent. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't walk towards me like a woman who had been sentenced to the guillotine."
It was those eyes that caught Ivy's attention first. Their rich coffee brown color and thick lashes were bewitching, but their redness and puffiness surrounding them spoke volumes. Penelope might have been a vengeful witch, but she was also a grieving one.
"Sorry. Why don't we go to my office?" Ivy forced a smile. She had already started this meeting off on the wrong paw with her body language. She had to find a way to recover. "Do you like chocolate chip cookies? My grandmother just made a batch earlier."
Penelope ran her fingers through her raven colored hair as if amused by the offer. "That sounds like a fine idea and I suppose as far as olive branches go, chocolate chip cookies are a rather sweet one. I meant what I said, there's no need for you to fear me. You're neither Jared, nor Kendra. You've done me no wrong."
Well, that was somewhat of a relief. Penelope's fury was at least a semi rational one.
"Glad to hear it." Ivy gestured for the witch to follow her through the beaded doorway. "Have a seat and like I said, feel free to have some cookies."
Penelope nodded, sitting down and devouring a cookie with a polite efficiency. "I'm fully aware of what those two have likely said about me. That I'm an evil, jealous witch who goes around scarring the faces of innocent werewolves."
So much for pleasantries.
"Something like that. I'm not here to play the judge and jury of the Supernatural Love Court, though." Ivy still winced when she thought of a wolf's claws scaring another wolf's face, but Jack needed them. "I know you're not a coldblooded killer. You had Kendra on the ground by the throat. Had you wanted to, you could have killed her."
Penelope gaze flickered to the crystal ball. "You're right. I could have killed her. It was still far from my finest moment." The lavender sphere magnified the image of her eyes, displaying a thousand emotions hidden in those coffee irises in all their tragic glory. "I shouldn't have attacked her. I just got so angry. Jared and I dated for three years before she came along. I thought we had a future together and suddenly, I didn't matter. Nothing else mattered, but her. He even accused me of using my magic to make him like me."
Ivy flinched. That was brutal and a far cry from the tale the happily Mated pair had told her.
"I know how hurtful such an accusation would be." It had been levied at Ivy more than once when a break up went wrong. Each time made her heart feel as though it was an onion that her ex had decided to chop up. "At least you admit what you did was wrong, but Mating can be a tricky business even with supernatural elements involved. Sometimes you just can't fight biology."
Penelope crossed her arms, her eyes seeming to peer into Ivy's very soul. "You know what it's like to be a witch trying to find love. You also know what it's like to be a werewolf. You've got one paw in each world. I want to know what made her...better. Was it really just because we're different species?"
This was not a conversation that Ivy ever wanted to enter. Still, the imploring look that Penelope had just sent her couldn't be denied.
"Mating for werewolves is an odd mixture of love and chemistry. It's the same way for humans, but the difference is the intensity." She paused, struggling to find the words that would provide the best balm on Penelope's broken heart. Words that wouldn't further paint Jared and Kendra as callous villains in the witch's mind. "It evolved as a way to preserve the werewolf gene. Nature is the ultimate matchmaker, though. When a werewolf encounters a good potential Mate, they're flooded with feel good hormones. Romantics view this as love at first sight. The cynics boil it down to mere chemistry or animal attraction."
Penelope raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You said a potential Mate. Are you saying a werewolf could have more than one suitable Mate?"
"It's complicated. The short answer is yes. There's more than one person that you're genetically compatible with." Ivy didn't want Penelope to get the wrong idea, so she pressed on. "Wolves and werewolves are both monogamous creatures. We Mate for life once we've found the right person, but our species wouldn't have survived very long if there was only one person in the entire world that we could be happy with."
The witch shook her head, sadness adorned her face as if it were a second skin. "Thank you for being honest. I'm not sure if knowing that makes it better or worse, but at least I have some degree of closure now. That's better than not knowing and we do have a kid to save." Penelope handed Ivy a sheet of paper. "Have look at that and tell me what you think."
Ivy nodded, scanning the outline with all the determination of a pup on their first hunt. Penelope was a genius.
"I think it's perfect and our best shot of rescuing Jack." Ivy rose to her feet with delight, throwing the paper into the fireplace. "Better not to leave any evidence. I'll let the others know we're ready to move out."
The flames devoured the paper with effortless ease. Ivy could only hope that the rest of their mission would proceed half as smoothly.
Eerie. Except for the occasional shuffling sound of some animals moving, the zoo now as quiet as death. Save for the agitated band of supernatural misfits who were plotting a rescue mission, of course.
"As much as it pains me to say this, that's actually a good plan." Jared clenched his fists, frustration evident on his face. "Figures the witch would know how to be sneaky."
Ivy's lips curled back in a subtle snarl. "You realize three of the four women here are witches? Never mind. That was rhetorical question. Let's get started." Ivy held out her hands for her grandmother and Penelope to join in the circle.
Alone the chances of any of them taking out the power for the entire zoo were minimal to moderate at best. Together was another matter. There was power in the strength of the pack or in a coven.
"You know what I meant." Jared growled, even his human teeth looked menacing.
Ivy ignored him. At the moment Jared's greatest assets were his black fur coat and brute strength. The former would be perfect for camouflage at night and the latter might get them out of a tough spot if things went south.
"For the love of the Moon, shut your trap and shift, boy." Willow huffed, before casting a wary glance at Kendra. "That goes for you and Ivy, too. I will stay in my human form as a distraction. No one will ever suspect an old lady. Penelope can cast more magic if need be. We're counting on the three of you to get Jack out of there quickly. So stop bickering like a bunch of overgrown teenagers and wolf up."
It was amazing. Jared was two or three times the size of Willow Winters, but he had been cowed by her scolding. So much so that the mountain of ebony muscle morphed into a black wolf almost instantly with Kendra following suit.
"Oh for Moon's sake woman, act your age." Kendra scoffed, beginning her transformation. "Stop baiting my Mate."
Ivy never got tired of watching transformations, especially Kendra's. She might not like the other werewolf, but there was something mesmerizing about watching those strawberry blonde curls transform into silver fur. Scars and all.
Willow rolled her eyes. "Ivy, remind me again why we brought this one along?"
Penelope chuckled, watching the entire spectacle unfold with undisguised mirth. "I think I like you, Willow."
"All of you, knock it off. We need to take out the power if we want to get out of here without being spotted." Ivy took a deep breath and summoned her magic.
Shifting had always come easier to her, but there was something enthralling about feeling the green energy blossom into life. Even more so when Willow's yellow and Penelope's blue magic appeared alongside it.
All of it flourishing, growing, and spiraling onto the nearest electrical poles. It was beautiful to witness the wonders of the supernatural world, but also terrifying. One wrong move could do some serious damage when you were tempering with forces as temperamental as electricity.
Chapter 5 Wattpad Word Count Excluding Notes 1550.
Total Novella Wattpad Word Count Excluding Notes 9070.
Second milestone, 8000 words, met somewhere during the first scene.