Witchmate (Skeleton Key) by Renee George, Skeleton Key Page B

“Excellent, little thief.”
    ****
    Emma couldn’t hide her shock, and considering she’d been trained all her life to adjust to surprises, it was saying something that this one threw her for a loop. “I’m so confused right now.”
    “You know this witch?”
    “Well, a version of her. One where she’s blonde, rich, has a kick ass art collection, and a mean-as-hell vault.”
    “Now I’m confused.”
    “She was the woman I was robbing when I ended up in this world.”
    “Ah,” Keir said. “The mysterious door and key.”
    “It cost a lot of magic to gain access between worlds.” She danced her fingers along the braid. “Twice.”
    “You’ve only traveled to my world twice?” Emma shook her head. “I know that’s wrong. Lucinda Mowry is a billionaire who has her fingers in a lot of pies. I studied the shit out of her life, and the work she’s done cannot magically happen without someone driving the ship.”
    “I didn’t mean me, child,” The woman resembling Mowry said. “Technically, Lucinda is my golem. I have used her from time to time.”
    “Isn’t a golem a figure made from clay that is brought to life to protect its maker?” Emma asked.
    “Any inanimate matter will do in a golem’s creation. But I didn’t use her for protection. I created her so I could watch you grow. I gave her a piece of my soul to give her life, but I also gave her free will on earth for when I wasn’t projecting myself into her body, and she used it to our advantage. ”
    “You’re a psychic witch?” Keir shouldered forward, angling his body between Emma and the woman. “I saw you perform elemental magic.”
    “I’m psychic, elemental, and spiritual, wolf. I am all three and more.”
    “I’m more confused than when this conversation first started.” Emma stood up and stretched her legs. “First things first. You’ve been watching me? Why?”
    “I think that would be obvious.”
    “Hit me over the head with the knowledge stick, lady. I need a little more information.”
    “I sent you to that world, and it was time to bring you back.”
    “You… I… What? You sent me there?” Emma vigorously shook her head. “I was born there. Born in the small city of Columbia, Missouri. Moved around through the foster care system until Mike Bana took me in to raise. I can’t have come from this world.”
    “You are here now.”
    Emma opened her mouth then shut it. What could she say to the woman to dispute her? The fact that she was in a place with magic and werewolves were real pretty much spoke to the possibility that anything was possible. “Why?” Emma asked again. “If I was from this world then why send me there?”
    The woman’s expression softened. “You were born under a blood moon and named Emmaline Wallen Lockside. Your mother is Aerina Lockside and your father is Wallen Bodyn, San fe Sang ambassador of the wolfkind and best friend of Domiscin Luer D’San.”
    “Wallen Bodyn? His twin brother Willen raised me after my parent’s death.” He looked at Emma as if searching her for answers. “It can’t be. Aerina is the witch queen. No wolfkind would dare to mate with a witch.”
    “Have you not mated with a witch, Keir D’San?”
    Emma’s body went rigid. “None of this is true. How can it be true?”
    “It’s not,” Keir said. “Wallen was executed by the witches. He would never ally himself with the queen of our enemy. Besides, if it were a true mating, Aerina would have died with Wallen.”
    “The choosing, as you call it, is robust in your kind, and when Wallen’s biology chose me, we chose to make our mating real. The breaking of our bond with his death nearly killed me.” She shook her head, her eyes distant. “She often prayed it would. But she survived. Most likely due to her spirit magic.” The witch cast her pale eyes on Keir. “Self-preservation is a strong instinct. And you are wrong on another account. We weren’t always enemies.” Her brow pinched with sorrow.