Читать книгу Belong To The Night - Cynthia Eden - Страница 6

From the day the first one stumbled into the middle of town, beaten, tortured, and branded, witches had been a part of Smithville County. The first one had escaped her captors, religious fanatics determined to find out the names of the females in her coven. The elders of that town sent their strongest men to find her, tracking her right into Smithville. They found her, too…and the seven hundred pound tiger cautiously sniffing her. They’d started to back away, praying the beast wouldn’t notice them. He didn’t, since he was too focused on the pretty little thing passed out in the middle of the street. But the pride of lions noticed the men. So did the clan of hyenas. And then there were the wolves…

None of them liking strangers in their territory. Liking full-humans even less.

Although that witch was the first, she would not be the last that came to Smithville. When each coven grew too old or too weak to continue protecting the town from the evil outside its borders, another stepped in to take the old coven’s place. Most came willingly, the powers they worshipped giving them the map to a place where they could feel free and protected. They’d show up one day, confused and lost, wondering how they got there and sensing that they’d never want to leave. They never did either. Most never bothered to try.

Each coven was unique, their particular strengths needed at that particular point in time. But they were also very similar. Good, simple women who wanted a safe place to worship their gods and raise their children. They’d chant happily in the early evenings and dance naked under the full moon.

It was all simple, beautiful, and very “We are one world, love everyone, save Mother Earth.” And for nearly four hundred years, none of that had changed.

Until now. Until the day the Coven of the Darkest Night came into town and changed absolutely everything.