“Okay,” Cicely stated slowly still bewildered at what he was telling her.
“Dave was his name,” Jed said lifting his head to meet Cicely’s eyes. “The same council member that was able to locate Caden’s mate in a few days when Caden hasn’t been able to find her in three years.”
As the implication of what Jed was revealing, Cicely’s eyes went wide with shock. “Do you mean to tell me…?”
Jed nodded his head and he said, “And what’s worse is that I think there is an ulterior motive as to why Leana is back now although I can’t figure out what it is.”
Jessa was worried about Abella as she tried to call Caden again only for it to go directly to voicemail and she couldn’t reach him through the pack link either which she found odd because if she couldn’t get him on his cell then the pack link was normally always available. It was almost as if someone had put up a block unless Caden did it himself.
Her eyes narrowed at that idea because if Caden had then it would piss her off.
“Jessa, I was thinking,” Asilynn said as she and Natalee came in the kitchen. “Caden gave a direct Alpha order for no one to talk or say Abella’s name and yet…”
Before she finished her sentence, Jessa’s head lifted surprise readable on her face. “With the exception of Natalee, we shouldn’t have been able to talk with her without feeling immense pain,” Jessa conclude.
She moaned putting her head in her hands as she said in frustration, “I’m so confused right now.”
Asilynn and Natalee looked at each other because they were in the same state. When an Alpha issued an order, then it has to be followed or the pack members who disregarded it feel immense, and sometimes deadly, pain.
“I think I may have an answer to clear up that confusion,” a voice said, and the three young women turned to see the gentleman who showed up suddenly last time his white eyes looking over them but there was a smile on his face.
“Sir,” they said standing up and he waved them back to their seats.
“I hear that congratulations are in order Jessa,” he said walking over to them slowly.
“Thank you sir,” Jessa said a blush staining her cheeks as the Natalee and Asilynn giggled.
The man turned his head at the sound his eyes brightening with humor at hearing the giggles from the two young women and sighed in contentment, “Its good hear to young women giggling even at a time like this.”
They all looked at him as their mates came through the doorway.
“Sir,” Timothy said with a slight bow of his head. “I will go get Leana for you.”
He had turned to do so when the man waved his hand and told him as settled down in a chair at the table, “I came to speak with you children, not her.”
Everyone looked at him in astonishment as what he said reverberated through their minds because even though Caden hadn’t marked Leana, she was his mate and technically the Alpha Female.
“What if I tell you that Caden is going to be a father?” The man said suddenly a grin crossing his face as the three women gasped and the men sagged as surprise went through them.
“Leana is pregnant?” Jessa asked in dismay her eyes going over to Timothy who had closed his eyes and shook his head.
“Oh, she is,” the man assured them leaning forward clasping his hands. “But I will tell you a secret; it isn’t Caden’s baby.”
“I think I need to sit down,” Gregory murmured walking over to the table where he lifted Asilynn from the chair before taking her place and settling her in his lap. Asilynn was too stunned at what they were being told to protest much less react to his sudden handling.
“You and me both,” Timothy said opening his eyes and walking over to Jessa who tilted her head to look at him her eyes wide with shock.
Timothy sat down on the floor next to her as Briac walked over and leaned on Natalee’s chair eyes on their visitor.
“I’m confused,” he said. “Leana is pregnant but not by Caden. Yet Caden is going to be a father.”
He shook his head as Jessa suddenly gasped loudly and their visitor’s smile widened as he turned his face toward her as the others glanced over at her wondering about the excitement on her face.
“Abella,” she breathed grinning from ear to ear. “Abella is pregnant with Caden’s pup.”
Both Asilynn and Natalee’s face went pale as they whispered, “But we can’t find Abella.”
The man sighed closing his eyes as he said, “It had to happen.”
All eyes went to him as he looked over at them a thoughtful look on his face. “Have any of you heard of the witch prophecy?”
At the bewildered looks on their faces, he chuckled. “I didn’t think you would as many consider it a myth and no,” he shot Jessa a look as she opened her mouth, “the rumor about a pack’s destruction because an Alpha fell in love with a witch is just that a rumor. One started to create trouble in the pack and it isn’t the first time that it has happened.”
He chuckled again sensing their looks of bafflement as he sat back in his chair and began to tell them about the witch prophecy even some things that were never written down something he learned from his father who in return learned it from his grandfather, one of the original council members established by the first werewolf.
Jed was pacing in the kitchen when his cell rung as Cicely walked through the door.
“Any change?” He asked as he opened the phone and she shook her head as he spoke in to the phone.
Jed’s face lifted with surprise before he said hurriedly, “Are you sure that you find a way to reverse it?”
He was silent for a few minutes before he sighed and said, “Well, it’s better than anything else we have at the moment. I will meet you in twenty minutes.”
He hung up and Cicely asked in a rush, “Did you find something to help her?”
“I’m not sure but it’s the best lead we have gotten so far,” Jed told her sticking his phone in his pocket. “Contact me if there is any change.”
Cicely nodded her head and Jed, with a hopeful look, disappeared from the room. Cicely clasped her hands together before she went over to the phone and picked it up.
“Hi,” she said as it was answered at the other end. “We’ve had a development here that no one foresaw” she began explaining what happened. Her eyes widened slightly before she said, “I can’t…”
She stilled for a second before she said “I know what to do and I will be with you in a few hours.”
She hung up the phone and with a look upstairs she closed her eyes and disappeared as Jed had.
In the room at the top of the landing, Abella laid in the bed her eyes still wide open eerily staring at the ceiling and yet the grey eyes that normally had a light of warmth even when blank were black as night. Just for a moment though there was a flicker as if something was trying to come through only to dim as the house around her grew quiet.
“We have been waiting for you, Cicely,” the man said as Cicely walked in to the room.
“Sir,” she said in shock as she bowed her head. “I came here to see if…”
“The ladies will go and take care of Abella while you do what you have to,” the man said turning his head to her. “It has been long overdue, Cicely.”
She flushed slightly at his words as the others looked on in shock.
“Did you know that Abella was pregnant?” Jessa asked her eyes filled with a thin sheen of tears.
Cicely’s look of surprise was more telling than words as her head swung around to the gentleman who sat at the table sipping a glass of water that Briac had given him.
“No I didn’t know,” she said slowly her face paling. “Did Abella know?”
The others looked at each other questioningly but before they could answer, their visitor said, “No, she didn’t. She believed that the reason for her sickness was stress because of the test and what happened with Caden.”
Cicely turned around fear on her face as she said hurriedly, “Right now, Abella is i
n a state of the living dead. I don’t know how that will affect the pup.”
“At the moment, Cicely, the pup is fine because although Abella is in that state her body is still nourishing the pup in her womb,” the man said looking up at her. “The state of the living dead affects the mind more than anything else as you know Cicely.”
Cicely hesitated for a minute before she nodded her head as she said, “But the pup…”
“Will be fine,” he assured her. “We just need to find a way to bring Abella out of the state, and unfortunately, even I don’t know how to reverse her condition.”
“Jed had someone call him about twenty minutes ago that may have an answer for it,” Cicely told them as she ran a hand through her hair.
“Aunt Cicely,” Jessa said standing up in worry.
Cicely looked over at her and gave a small smile. “Congratulations, Jessa. As for Abella, my house is open so you can go straight there.”
“Wait a moment,” the man said as Jessa went to pass him.
She looked at him oddly as his hand went out and rested lightly against her stomach, and he smiled a few seconds later.
“Even with all the worry you’re going through at the moment,” he said removing his hand. “Your pup is fine.”
Jessa couldn’t help her sigh of relief neither could Timothy as they followed her after she gave the man a quick kiss on the cheek.
As they heard the front shut behind the six of them, the man turned to Cicely and said, “Are you going too?”
Cicely nodded her head as she said softly, “Yes.”
Before she left, the man said one more thing, “I will wait here until everyone returns but I have one question. Whose suggestion was it to send Jed to watch over Abella, yours or Caden’s?”
Cicely turned to him sharply but he had already turned back around sipping his water and she didn’t answer after giving him a narrowed look, she hurried out of the room vanishing as she reached the hallway.
“Hey,” she heard Leana yell out but she ignored her as she disappeared only to reappear a few minutes later in a smaller house.
“Hello, Cicely,” a deep male voice said, and after all this time, pleasant shivers went down her spine at his voice.
She turned and met the eyes of the man she could never forget no matter what happened.
“Hello Oden,” she said softly as he stepped forward his green eyes vibrating with unsaid emotions.
Chapter 51
“Go check on Caden, honey,” Stone’s mate said with a smile as she finished dishing out lunch.
He nodded his head as he made his way through the pack members who were coming in for lunch and headed up stairs to the room they given Caden when he showed up at their house almost a week ago.
Caden hadn’t said a word, but Stone could see that something was bothering him although he wouldn’t talk about it.
“Hey Caden,” he said reaching the door and knocking on it. “Lunch time, buddy.”
When he didn’t get an answer, he opened the door to check on him and the first thing he noticed was the book that lay on Caden’s chest.
That’s odd, his wolf told him.
What is odd, he asked as he closed the door silently as he turned and headed back downstairs.
His wolf was the one who made him go to sleep, his wolf told him.
Stone was surprised because he never heard of a wolf putting their human half to sleep and he wondered why his wolf forced him to sleep.
“He’s asleep,” he told his mate absently as he walked back to the kitchen.
His mate nodded her head and said, “That’s good. He needs it because he hasn’t been sleeping properly since he arrived here.”
Stone didn’t respond to her comment neither did he tell her what he learned from his wolf, but as he ate lunch he wondered what purpose Caden’s wolf had for doing what he did.
He shook his head as after lunch his Beta came to him with some pack information that needed to be resolved.
“Hey, have you ever heard of a wolf putting it’s human half to sleep?” He asked him as he stood up when the man turned to head for the door and he hesitated looking back at him with a questioning look.
“I have never heard of it before but I can look in to if you would like Alpha,” he said with a slight grin.
“No, it’s okay,” Stone said shaking his head as he indicated him to go out of the room first and he would follow. What was going on with Caden and his wolf was up to them so he would leave it alone for now as he knew Caden would probably tell him about it later.
“So what is the matter?” Stone asked as they headed out watching as his Beta laughed before he proceeded to tell him what was going on.
Upstairs, Caden laid on the bed his eyes moving rapidly behind his closed lids the book lying on his chest.
Caden felt as if he was floating although he knew there was somewhere that he had to be.
“Soon,” he heard, and he glanced over to see his wolf standing next to him tongue hanging out of his mouth.
“What is going on?” He said in shock as he sat up looking around him. “How is it possible that…?”
His wolf gave him a wolfish grin before another voice said, “We wanted to see both of you.”
Caden turned around and his eyes widened as three figures drifted over to him.
“We welcome you Alpha Caden,” they said in unison bowing their head.
Caden bowed his own head unsure of what was going on as his wolf said, “I was asked to bring you here.”
“Huh,” Caden said looking toward him with a bewildered glance.
“We wanted to speak with you, Alpha,” the figures spoke again. “You have learned about the first werewolf and the woman he loved.”
Caden’s face suddenly became animated as he said, “A witch.”
“Yes,” they said nodding their heads. “When we originally decided to give your species mates, we didn’t know how it was going to be abused.”
“So Alphas had to pay the price,” Caden said no judgment or anger in his words.
They nodded their head again before they continued, “We knew what we did was harsh, but we had to make a point although over the years Alphas haven’t divulged that information so only the Alphas suffer.”
Caden nodded his head as his wolf next to him leaned against his leg. Caden put a hand on his head as he asked, “So I have to choose my mate?”
“You read the book, and you know the answer to that question,” they told him. “We didn’t give the first werewolf a choice but we saw how he lost some of his zest for life after his witch left. He could’ve still chosen the witch before we…”
“But the connection would’ve never been the same, would it?” Caden asked in a knowing voice.
“Yes,” they nodded their heads giving him small smiles.
“The connection we develop with our mates is important so those of us who spend our life waiting for our mates, we don’t want to lose that connection” Caden said softly. “But after Leana left, I felt as if a piece of me had disappeared and I decided that any women would do in place of her. Only in the last five months did I start to feel differently.”
“Before Abella arrived,” they said quietly.
Caden nodded his head as he said slowly, “I felt…I don’t know how I felt.”
They smiled at his words before they said, “You felt as if someone was going to come in to your life and change it although you didn’t want to admit it or face it when she arrived.”
Caden sighed looking around before he admitted, “From the moment I saw her something went through me that I hadn’t felt before even with Leana.”
“It was meant to be,” they told him. “It was the reason we created the prophecy because we saw how he changed after he met her and how even when his mate returned, he didn’t seem to have the same joy in his life. We weren’t sure if another werewolf would suffer his fate or not, but we hoped the prophecy would enable that individual to choose freely when, or if
, it did happen.”
Caden saw the sadness that filled their eyes before they said, “Unfortunately over the years, the prophecy was spoken of as if it was a myth and so when it happened again, the werewolf chose to do as the first and chose his mate. It was a mistake that cost him more than he ever thought possible.”
Caden looked at them strangely for a minute before understanding flickered through him and he said on a short breath, “Oden.”
They nodded their head. “He understands more than anyone else can in the given situation.”
“I have to speak with him,” Caden muttered the hand on his wolf’s head tightened briefly but his wolf didn’t flinch.
The Fates waved their hand and said, “There is something you should see first.”
He glanced in the direction that they pointed and froze when they showed him a room where Abella lay on a bed eyes wide open.
“It is called the living dead,” they told him quietly. “It is a dangerous aspect to the powers she has because if her concentration is broken before she is out then it sends her into the world between life and death.”
“Abella waited a little too long to bring herself out of her trance,” they told him as he continued staring at her. “We don’t know if it was on purpose or if she wanted to make sure that the spell worked as she never done it before. We do know one thing though if she had known she was pregnant we don’t think she would’ve held on to the trance as long as she did.”
Caden felt his knees go weak as he asked without taking his eyes from Abella, “She is pregnant with my pup?”
The three smiled as they said, “You don’t have any doubts that it is yours which tells us that your trust and faith in her are absolute.”
Caden turned his head slowly and met their eyes without flinching. “Abella has never lied to me even though I will contend that she has omitted some things, but that was to protect her.”
The Witch Prophecy Page 50
