covencraft 02.5 - carnival moon Read Free Page A

Jade opened the door with a question.
    “What about a coat? My note didn’t say anything about a coat. Is that yours?” she pointed to his wool coat.
    Paris was dressed similarly to her in black slacks and Jade could just make out a hint of a black top peeking out from underneath his coat. “Your own coat should be fine. You used all the products the weres sent along?”
    “Yep.” She slid her arms into her own down jacket. The days were cold now and the nights cooler, the sun setting early and taking its limited warmth with it. “Although, I spent most of the day down in the sewer so here’s hoping I don’t smell like that.”
    “I hear you did quite well down there,” Paris replied, leading Jade to his car. He made a motion like he was going to get the car door for her, but she beat him to it, sliding into the passenger seat easily.
    “I will be so glad when we get someone newer than me and I’m no longer on Rookie Duty,” Jade said wondering how many more times she’d be sent down into the sewer. Yuck.
    Paris laughed softly as he got in and started driving. “They do like to put the rookies through their paces. But it’s good work. I hear you’re learning quickly and doing well.”
    Jade preened a bit under the praise, feeling proud of herself. She liked learning, and she thought she was doing really well, too. But it was still nice to hear Paris say it.
    Earlier in the week, Paris had let Jade know the Wolf Moon ball would be held at the Pack Estate. Technically, their host would be the Alpha, a woman named Lucia, but Jade and Paris would be considered guests of the entire pack, around thirty wolves and fifteen human members. The humans were part of the pack through birth, marriage or close ties. Jade was still a little fuzzy on what that meant. Paris had indicated that sometimes, humans who had done a service for the pack or perhaps were close friends with someone in the pack, could be considered pack by association. Paris and Jade would be the only non-pack members in attendance. To Paris’ knowledge, no one from any of the neighboring covens had attended a wolf ball in many years, not since Paris’ mother attended one when Paris was very young.
    Paris had given Jade a crash course on werewolf etiquette. Jade was to monitor her stance and posture, focusing on keeping aggression out of her body language. Jade wasn’t quite sure what that entailed other than she couldn’t go in there with her chest puffed out and her hands on her hips. Paris assured her that simply her intent at staying calm and focused would keep the aggression out of her scent and aura.  The weres were very sensitive to magic, and Jade was not to use any at all while at the estate, unless explicitly asked by the Alpha - apparently it was sometimes customary for a witch to perform some magic for the wolves. Jade got the feeling it was like going to a party and showing off that you were double jointed in your thumb, or that you could do a handstand and walk on your hands - fun, but only if you were invited to do so, otherwise you were just being an asshole and showing off.
    The strangest thing, the thing she was most worried about, was The Scenting. Every time Paris mentioned it, Jade could hear the capitals. The Scenting. When Jade and Paris first arrived, they would be invited in to see the Alpha and perhaps another higher ranking pack member; Jade and Paris would then be scented - the pack members taking in and cataloguing their scent as well as marking them as guests of the pack for the evening.
    “But no one’s going to bad-touch me right?” Jade asked, unable to stop herself as they pulled up to the large estate house. It was in an affluent neighborhood where all the houses were set back from the street, each having their own long personal driveway. They’d had to be buzzed through a security gate and Jade had felt her nerves rising as they rolled slowly up the graveled way, Paris bringing the car to a stop in front of a