“Now come along.”
The Alpha who stood behind me never let his hand off my shoulder. It loosened a little but it was still clamped there steering my direction. We followed the woman into the other room and fear wrapped itself my stomach.
I tried to wrap my head around the fact that these two, a werewolf Alpha and a witch, were talking to each other like they were friends. Not to mention they were in the same room not trying to kill each other.
We entered the open space of the other room. The archway leading to it almost spanned the room in an open concept. There was a long wooden table that took almost the width of the room as well. The chairs surrounding it were tall and elegant. The woman sat at the head of the table and I was more than certain something was not right here. The Alpha should have been at the head of the table. He pushed me into the seat to her right while he moved towards the other side.
I watched him. He was tall, with broad shoulders, and trim waist. His blonde hair was slicked back, and his hazel eyes were lit throughout with green. The wolf looked about in his thirties, and he had an air of dominance about him that made me avert my gaze down.
Were’s weren’t the largest community. I couldn’t say that I knew all the Alphas in the United States, but I was aware of most of the Alphas in the Midwest, where I grew up. He didn’t match any of the descriptions I knew. His face as all sharp and clean cut. This Alpha was dressed in a suit and looked well put together.
“Now Colette, love,” the woman started. I stared at her, trying to figure out how she knew my name. She seemed to know what I was thinking and laughed lightly. The sound was airy and brief, sounding more forced anything else. I shifted in my seat.
“There is so much for you to learn my dear. But first we should feed you.”
“No,” I whispered. I gathered my courage and looked her right in the eye. “No, first you tell me what the hell is going on.”
I had to be stupid. What sane person demands answers from witch. And an Alpha. I wasn’t here because I wanted to be here, but so far they were being kind. I shouldn’t push. I shouldn’t do anything but comply until I knew what I had gotten into. I also had to find out what happened to Hunter, and that scared me the most.
I breathed heavily through my nose, trying to calm down. The rising force was building while my wolf was pushed back even farther. The terror that something was happening to Hunter was driving me insane. I shut my eyes. The force, power, whatever was inside of me was becoming unbearable.
“I will not tolerate disobedience, Colette,” the woman’s voice turned hard. I turned away from her. I had to remain calm for Hunter’s sake.
The Alpha watched me. He had been quiet this whole time. He made me uneasy. He sat across from me. The whole situation was getting weirder as more time passed.
“Now for introductions,” the witch said satisfied when I said nothing else. I was biting my tongue, literally, otherwise I would say something else that would probably result in horrible consequences, which was a bitter thought. That and the stress of not knowing what was happening to Hunter was starting to eat at me. I had to calm down in any way I could.
“Colette this is my husband, Jackson.”
The Alpha looked at me with pale green eyes and I felt a shiver go up my spine. There was something unnatural about this wolf. I lowered my gaze from his, but kept my neck hidden from his view. I felt safer, but fear of punishment for disobedience weighed heavily on me.
“I am Aradia, my husband and friends call me Aria, easier on non-Greek tongues,” she slipped a slow wink at Jackson who looked at her with the same stony expression he gave me.
I instinctively sneered at her. A witch. I couldn’t hold back. I was eating with a monster. I peeked at her, her dark brown hair, and dark eyes could be seen as Greek. But I only saw her as a witch that was holding me here against my will.
“Why am I here?” I couldn’t help but ask. I didn’t believe they were protecting me, if they had been, they wouldn’t be treating me like a prisoner.
“In time, dear. First, let’s eat.”
With that, three people came out of the kitchen. They were dressed the same and kept their heads down. When I pulled in their scents my confusion only increased. They were humans.
I watched a medium built male move around the table, his dark blonde hair was cut short, and his eyes never left the ground. His white shirt was neatly tucked into black dress pants. They looked like waiters. But I knew waiters. I had a few human friends in high school, and two of them worked as waiters for their uncle’s company. They didn’t like how people treated them sometimes. But they told me they always kept their heads held high.
One of the waiters put a plate of food in front of me, and they filed out of the room quietly. Aradia didn’t even see to notice them. She watched me, instead. Jackson, on the other hand, watched them with a close eye. Uneasiness soured my stomach, and started to crawl up my throat.
As soon as the last waiter disappeared into the kitchen, Jackson started to eat. Aradia didn’t seem interested in the food on her plate. And me? I couldn’t even think about eating without fear of throwing it back up. I pushed the food around on my plate and kept my attention on the other two in the room.
Aradia started to pick at her food lightly. She ate delicately, cutting it into small pieces, she sat with her back straight. My eyes slid over to Jackson who was eating a little less delicately than Aradia, I was amazed at his restraint. Most wolves I knew didn’t feel shame in indulging in food. They dug in like starved animals, even though they were usually very well fed. It came with the territory of being at the top of the food chain.
The only sound for the next painful thirty minutes was silverware against the plates, and quiet chewing. I was going insane, my leg was restlessly bouncing, I kept thinking about what we still hadn’t talked about. And I hated the sound of silverware scraping against plates, it made my eye twitch. The other two acted like this was so natural.
Aradia finished her food a few minutes after Jackson. She looked down at my plate then looked back at me. I could see annoyance flash in her eyes, but still said nothing. I wasn’t going to eat. I couldn’t even force down the food.
“Colette,” Aradia said quietly, trying to get my attention. I reluctantly looked up at her. “We know what you are. You are, what? Twenty one now? That is a big year for a witch. We mature and get our full abilities.”
She sat a little straighter and spoke with pride. All I felt was fear coursing through my veins.
“I am not a witch,” I snapped. It was sort of the truth, if Luce had really bound my powers, then I shouldn’t have any. They should be locked up. Hidden away.
“Now you don’t honestly believe that, do you?”
Aradia gave me the biggest “you’re shitting me” smile.
A chill crawl up my spine. She knew more than she was letting on. I could feel it in my bones. I had to be careful because, while she knew I was lying about my heritage, it felt like there was more behind her smile. Something was going on here.
“I had my powers bound. They should be nonexistent,” I stated. I hoped if I offered some truthfulness, I could pretend I was working with her. And maybe then she would offer up more information. It was obvious she knew that I was part witch, but the question remained, did she know about my other half? It wasn’t undetectable. If Jackson paid attention earlier, he surely would have smelled the wolf in me. It was already in my favor the fact that the house smelled like other wolves to begin with. My initial thought that there were possible captives here as well was obviously wrong. This pack didn’t have problems with witches.
Well good for them, but I wanted the hell out of here.
Aradia leaned back in her chair, her eyes roamed over me as if assessing my worth. I didn’t like the small tugs on the corner of her lips, nor did I care for the gleam in her eye.
“My dear, didn’t you know? You are not bound at all.”
Fear and utter horror crashed into my gut at r
ocket speed. I thought for sure whatever I had in my stomach would come spilling out of my mouth in seconds. I looked at the table. The witch I had seen those months ago had lied to me. I had this power inside of me the whole time. Worst of all, I didn’t know who else I could ask to bound my powers.
“Please bind them.”
I looked up at Aradia, desperate. All I could think was that I would never be able to go back to the Lowe pack like this. They would kill me rather than have me around. I was sure of it.
I had made real friends there. I thought of Jen and her brothers. They made me feel at home even at the beginning, when the place felt so foreign. And Hunter…I had fallen in love with him. Falling for him was a long, involved process but even without our bond I would have loved him.
“Why in the world would I ever do that?” Aradia cackled. Not figuratively, she literally cackled. I knew without a doubt they didn’t ‘rescue’ me for my own good.
“You are something very special, Colette. No, I will not be binding your powers any time soon.”
****
Jackson ushered me back to my room after Aradia’s announcement. Her words her still stinking in. I didn’t know what she meant when she said I was something special. It didn’t surprise me that my heritage would make me unique, but her words felt more direct. We retraced the steps I had taken with Aradia earlier, up the stairs, back through the hallway. The doors were there for him already. I was curious to if he had magic inside of him as well. After he returned me in my room, and I went to the door thinking it would still be there. It was missing just like last time I had tried to open it.
I stared at the wall. If I had my powers and they weren’t bound, what was stopping me from getting the hell out of here? I placed my hands on the wall and thought of a door. I didn’t know how my magic worked. I had never used it before. Not purposefully at least. I stood there for what seemed like ten minutes muttering “spells” and “magic words.” Nothing worked. I stepped back and searched for that static electricity feeling. There was nothing. I searched for my wolf. I still felt nothing.
Exhaustion of the day and the dread of what was to come led me to bed. I stared at it for a moment, hating being here. I sucked in a breath. There was nothing I could do right now. Tomorrow hopefully would present a better solution.
Chapter 24 — That…was Unexpected
The next week followed the same pattern. Aradia would come get me for dinner. It was painfully quiet. I stopped asking questions the second day. She never answered me anyway, asking me questions in return instead. I didn’t like speaking with her, and I had a feeling I was starting to piss her off. Jackson joined us for most of our meals, but he was usually silent. I wanted to know exactly what they were planning and how the hell I could get out of here.
One thing became painfully obvious: if I wanted to escape I would have to learn how to control and use my powers, or I would have to earn their trust. Neither seemed like they were going to happen anytime soon. I never usually saw anyone else around when I went to dinner or lunch with Aradia. Who else lived in this mansion? I knew there were other people – I could smell them. Tonight I wanted things to change. I had to make them change.
Aradia showed up at around the same time. I caught a few glances out of windows as we walked from my room to the dining area, which is how I noticed the time seemed almost the same. Not quite evening but getting there. And two days after I had arrived she came to me to eat lunch with her and Jackson. I didn’t question it, just enjoyed the few extra minutes I got to spend outside of the small room that had become my new cage.
Aradia motioned me out of the room and I followed behind her. I looked to the window. It was darker outside than usual when she showed up. Something was different and it set my teeth on edge. I wish that I could feel the comforting presence of my wolf, but she remained hidden inside me. I was anxious without her company.
Things only got more interesting when we sat down. Jackson wasn’t there. When her weird servants placed only two settings, I realized he would not be joining us. My stomach was wound tight. I had become more at ease with at least that routine, but now I was even more feeling jittery and uncertain. Adrenaline pulsed through me, keeping me on alert.
“Where is Jackson?” I asked. My fork trembled in my hand as terror pushed its way forward, but I forced it still.
“Jackson will not be joining us this evening. He and the other pack members are going out for their full moon run. The rest of the Coven is going to be basking in the full moon on a different part of the land.”
She took a delicate bite of her steak. Her perfect cherry red lips didn’t even seem to be effected by the food she ate.
“There is much we can learn about each other, Colette.”
She said it differently this time. Most of the time her words seemed airy, almost indifferent. Now there was weight to her words, a seriousness that she hadn’t used with me since the first night when I practically defied her.
I looked at her. She had her hair in her big curls, like she’d worn since I’d met her. Her make-up perfectly done. She seemed to sit even taller than usual, and her shoulders were set confidently. She seemed to have come to some sort of decision.
“My husband and I seek to better the relationships between wolves and witches. We have been separate for far too long. After all we are each unnatural creatures, according to humans. We are a both special breeds. It is time to put aside rivalries from centuries ago,” Aradia said.
I clenched my jaw.
“And what do you expect me to do?” I asked.
“There are many things you can help us with.”
Aradia’s lips quirked upwards and a shiver went down my spine.
“Like what?”
My voice sounded hollow even to me. My mind went right to the Lowe pack, to Hunter.
“I won’t let you use Hunter.”
Aradia let out a light, airy laugh that made me want to run out of the room. Her laughter typically had that effect on me. There was something so unnatural about it.
“Oh dear, no. I didn’t think that, but you are so much more than you realize,” she said as she watched me with that glint in her eye. “Years, many years ago. I sought out a way to change our positions with the wolves. Nothing seemed to work, at least not out East. They seemed to be completely against it. It really does not matter though. What is in the past, is in the past.”
I wanted to cut her off. I wanted to demand why any of this mattered to me. I didn’t care. I could hope that maybe someday Hunter and the other members of the Lowe pack wouldn’t look upon me as the enemy I thought they would, but even that seemed impossible. The lunatic glean in her eyes danced as she told me lucidly of this mad plan of hers.
“I knew drastic changes had to be made. I made a sacrifice for my people. I thought I could find happiness with the wolf I had met out in the East. He thought I was his mate. I didn’t know better. We were happy with each other for a while. We even had a child together. But then he grew violent and dangerous. I had to leave him and return out here to the West where it was the safest for me.”
The pit in my stomach swirled and twisted. She must have tricked a wolf into believing she was his mate. I couldn’t imagine what it did to him. I didn’t even want to think about it. I continued to listen to her story.
“He soon decided that we were not mates. He was furious and I was terrified for my life. I wanted to smuggle my child away from him, but he took our child. In the dead of night he took my child away from me. When I came to this place, I found Jackson. He believed in the cause I had been fighting for my whole life. We decided to join together in order to find my missing child,” she choked on her last word. Aradia looked away from me and waved her hand. I didn’t believe her tears for one second. My mouth was dry, and I couldn’t really breathe correctly. She couldn’t…
No it wasn’t possible.
“This child, would be the first of its kind. A kind that could bridge our two races together,”
Aradia said as she turned her dark eyes back to me.
“Half witch. Half werewolf.”
My throat was tight.
“Fuck,” I whispered.
I mean it was in the back of my head, but I was an anomaly. An accident created by some sick pairing gone wrong. I didn’t want to be this science experiment. I did not want to accept what this woman implied.
“You are that missing child, Colette. You are my daughter. The daughter of largest Coven in the United States. My power is your power, and your wolf is your father’s. I have searched for years for you. I wanted to give you time to adjust, but time is short. And now that you are home, we can work together to change our world for the better.”
The world around me turned fuzzy. She had this conceited as hell smile on her face that made me tremble with anger. My breath would only come out like jagged glass. Short. Stabbing.
I clutched at my chest. Nothing was helping. It was just too much. I grappled with the table and pulled myself up. I tottered on shaky legs. Air. I needed fresh stuff. Not the stale, fouled with lies air I was breathing in.
I made it to door-like shapes. I pressed all my weight onto the handle and it swung outwards. I followed the path before me blindly. I stumbled into the air I needed. Maybe if I got enough of would stop the spinning.
I didn’t want to be a science experiment. I didn’t want to be the “bridge.” I wanted to be me. I wanted to be Colette. The stupid girl who had fallen in love with the wrong boy, only to find the “wrong boy” was a million times more than the stupid girl could have ever imagined. The girl who had never had friends before, but now did. The girl who was an anomaly.
Anomaly, but not an abomination.
Breathing in and out wasn’t doing the job. I was hoping it would calm me. The bile in the back of my throat was sharp and bitter, and I couldn’t stop it from coming.
Hexed Hearts Page 28
