My Mate and Family's Choice novel · Chapter 9 of 24
Chapter 9: The Thread
The thyme smoke curled up and stung the back of my nose.
"Breathe it in," the old woman said. "Slowly. Three times."
I breathed.
It was green and sharp, and it scoured out the inside of my head.
"Now tell me what Dalton Henshaw smells like."
"Cloves," I said. "Cinnamon. Warm cider."
"Always?"
"Always."
"In July?"
"Yes."
"And you never wondered why a man smells of winter drink in the middle of summer."
"I thought it was him."
"It was the thread," the old woman said.
I heard Junie draw a breath behind me.
The healer set down the thermos and folded her hands.
"The Henshaw family's healers know an old craft," she said. "They spin a wool thread, and they steep it in mate-thorn, and they drop it into a cup of hot cider. One girl drinks it once, and the cider ties her to the person who gave her the cup."
"Ties her how?"
"Her wolf goes quiet. And she starts to feel a pull toward whoever holds the thread." The old woman's black eyes did not blink. "She will say she loves him. She will mean it. She will smell the thread on his skin and call it his scent, and she will defend him to her own mother."
I thought of the east room at Henshaw Hall.
I thought of how I had waited for the heat, and how I had told myself I was tired.
"It fades," the old woman went on. "A thread has to be renewed, a fresh cup every few weeks, or it frays. That is why a man like that smells of cider in July. He is drinking it with you. He is feeding it to you every month of your life."
"Four years," Junie whispered.
"Four years of cups."
Keep reading free with an account. Start My Mate and Family's Choice from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 8 · All chapters · Chapter 10 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend