Matefinder

by Leia Stone

  It felt like a lightning bolt had struck me. I was knocked forward on the blanket and my eyes began to water. Electricity ran down my spine. My nerves were on fire. White mist flowed out from my pores; it was everywhere. It climbed across the grass, up the trees. Sylvia watched in fascination.

  “My stars. I haven’t seen this much magic come from any one person in my entire magical life.”

  I was panting, my palms out flat on the grass.

  ‘What’s wrong? I’m coming,’ Kai sent.

  I couldn’t let him see me like this. He would kill Sylvia for hurting me.

  ‘No. I’m fine. Stay where you are,’ I told him. I could feel his hurt through the pack bond. He didn’t reply.

  Sylvia bent down to my level. “Just breathe. I’m so sorry, I didn’t know it would be like this. You have been storing so much magic, it all just… exploded when I released it.”

  I breathed in and out, slowly. I felt less dizzy now and sat up. “Why do I have so much magic? I’m a half breed. Shouldn’t I be half as powerful?” I queried between ragged breaths.

  Sylvia chewed on her nail, deep in thought. “I don’t think you were born this powerful. I don’t remember this much magic in you when you were a baby. Now that my memories have been given back to me, I have spent a lot of time thinking.”

  “So what is this?” I gestured to the mist surrounding us.

  “We have never seen a witch who is turned into a werewolf. Yes, we are immune to werewolf and vampire bites. We just die but we don’t change. Because your mother had you turned human before the first full moon of your life and because she had your witch powers hidden, you were simply a human. Then Kai changed you. Changed wolves, as you know, have a very different power structure than wolf-born. I think when Kai changed you, it ignited and enhanced your witch powers, only we couldn’t see it because they were still hidden but never truly went away.”

  I put my head in my hands. “I’m such a freak.” I pulled my long hair into a high ponytail just to busy my shaking hands.

  “You’re not a freak. You’re special.” Sylvia smiled.

  Same thing I thought, but she was trying to be nice so I returned her smile.

  “The fact that you can see the mist, which is what magic looks like, tells me you are already a very strong witch. That day in Kai’s study when you saw the mist, I was a bit in shock, really. Only very trained witches can see magic. Most witches just smell or sense it half the time. That will give you an advantage in defending yourself against magic users.”

  “Great,” I said sarcastically. I had been wanting to ask her something since my conversation with the Shaman. “Sylvia, why do witches do business with vampires if they are so bad?”

  She smoothed her long auburn hair over one shoulder. “There are white witches, like me, and dark witches. White witches do spells to help people, this sometimes requires vampire blood. In return, we help the vampires with simple spells. Spells to increase their strength, to heal their human blood slaves, to find a lost object. Dark witches do very bad things in return for blood payment. But witches are neutral, we serve all. We do business with humans, vampires and werewolves. That’s our place.”

  “If there came a time to choose between being on the side of the vampires or the side of the werewolves, do you think the witches would choose?” I asked her, trying not to let the fear show in my voice.

  Her eyebrows pinched in concern. “Is there something I should know, Aurora?”

  I shook my head. “Not yet.” I was trying to be truthful.

  “Humans have persecuted witches for hundreds of years. They fear what they do not know. They have always been the weak race and yet there is something beautiful about their short and passionate lifespans. They are so helpless. I guess if something ever happened to where witches had to choose, my clan would side with the humans and whoever protected them.” She placed her hand over mine and I nodded. That’s what I needed to hear.

  “Call me if you have questions about your new abilities. Think about what I said, about joining my clan. We do a weekly spell casting and meditation that I would love for you to be a part of. But I understand this is all overwhelming. Just take some time.”

  I wasn’t sure time would help. I helped her gather her things and made my way back to the house.

  I saw Sylvia off and then I walked inside. Kai was sitting in a reading chair with an old book. He took a deep breath. “You smell different.” He quirked his head to the side.

  I smelled my arm. “Should I shower?”

  Kai smirked. “No, your natural scent. You smell like a witch.” The way he said it didn’t sound like a good thing.

  “Oh, yeah, about that.” I sat on his lap as he played with the texture on my jeans. I told him what happened with Sylvia and that she invited me to join her clan.

  “You want to be a witch and a werewolf?” His voice was deadpan but I knew he wasn’t happy about this.

  “I want to be who I am.”

  His resolve broke. “I love who you are. If that means you are a witch, then so be it, just don’t do any weird magic on me.”

  I kissed him, running my fingers through his thick hair.

  “And don’t steal my hair,” he added.

  We both laughed at that. There was a knock at the door.

  “Come in, Max,” Kai bellowed. I inhaled through my nose. Yep, it was Max. I was still amazed at my new werewolf abilities.

  Max peeked his head in. “Ready?”

  Kai looked at me. “Yes.” He stood. “I’m running an errand with Max. I’ll be back in a few hours.” He winked at me.

  “Okay, I’ll go check on Emma.” I followed them out and headed over to Emma’s. Even though she wasn’t that far along yet, the entire pack had been going over to Emma’s to help her cook or clean so that she didn’t strain herself. She didn’t argue but I could tell she didn’t want to be babied too much. We couldn’t help it. Our first pup would be born to one of our most cherished and submissive wolves. The instinct to protect her was overwhelming.

  Yes

  Today was the grand opening for the new Gresham location of Safe Haven. Now that we had the Portland territory, it didn’t seem necessary, but Kai assured me he still wanted to invest the money in the cause. I had hired my mother to manage the Portland location and offered her a nice salary. This should get her out of that crappy trailer. Kai was a genius when it came to running a business. He had paid for billboards to attract donations and now we had blankets, clothing and water bottles flooding our two sites. We also had large businesses donating money and volunteers. The center was practically running itself on donations.

  As Kai exited the freeway to the new Safe Haven location, I could see a line around the block. Woman and children clutched pillow cases and teddy bears.

  “My God.” Kai breathed.

  My heart hammered in my chest. There must be thirty families waiting on the street. A few were peering in the glass doors. A large sign above the converted high school read, ‘Grand opening, Safe Haven.’ There were news vans and reporters. Seeing the little girl with her teddy bear brought back too many haunting memories. I shook them off. These women and children needed us.

  A few cars full of pack members followed us. I didn’t expect such a big turn out the first day. Before Kai had put the car in park, I jumped out of the car and headed towards the door. Kai was right behind me and some of the woman backed away and looked down, fearful of his large stature.

  “Welcome to Safe Haven, everyone!” I shouted to the crowd as a news camera was shoved in my face.

  “You are safe now. You may stay here as long as you need to and there is no charge. Please come in.” Kai began to open the doors.

  The camera went to capture a shot of the crowd entering when Kai plucked the camera out of the man’s hand and pointed it towards the floor.

  “Some of these women have left abusive situations and that abusive person will be looking for them. You are not to film the women and children
’s faces, only the volunteers and the facility. Do you understand me?”

  The reporter had caught up to the camera man and they both nodded nervously to Kai.

  The pack helped the women and children get settled into their rooms and began handing out water bottles, hygiene kits and welcome packets. This was so much bigger than I had ever imagined. I was overwhelmed with joy. This was good work.

  Kai had warned me that the upcoming elder’s conference would be hard. There would be a lot of dominant males and very few women. Also, I was technically unmated so that would play a part. But today I didn’t care, in this moment, as I saw the little children jumping on the bunk beds in their new rooms, the mothers trying to cover their bruises with their hair, I knew I was doing good. If I died now, I would have left my positive mark on the world.

  Logistics were set. The pack would take shifts guarding Safe Haven from any abusive persons looking for their family. We would all rotate teaching self-defense classes, to whoever wanted them, in the multipurpose gym. Kai had also set up a job fair for once a month for the jobless women to try to get back on their feet. It was more than my mother and I had when we tried to leave my dad dozens of times. In the end, it was death that parted us from my father. Luckily, not mine or my mother’s. I shivered thinking of that night.

  “You okay?” Kai asked me. We had been driving home in silence. I was reflecting on the day. I reached over to grab his hand.

  “I’m more than okay. I’m happy,” I assured him, smiling.

  He grinned. “Good.”

  He cleared his throat. “I knew opening Safe Haven would bring in women and children that came from abuse but… I don’t think I was prepared for what I saw today. I wanted to make them all a part of our pack so that I could take care of them and protect them. That one little girl had a bruise in the mark of a hand on her arm. Did you see that? I could kill whoever did that to her!”

  I nodded. “That’s why I opened Safe Haven in the first place. So many women are dreaming up the day they can walk out of their abusive situations but they don’t have the money or the guts. At least we can give them a place to stay and some food on their tables.” I shrugged.

  “We will give them more than that.” Kai turned to look at me. I held his gaze. “We will give them futures.” That’s when I knew, without a doubt, this man was made for me and I for him.

  By the time we pulled up to the house it was dark out. I jumped out of the car and was halfway to the door when Kai spoke behind me.

  “Wanna go for a run?” he asked.

  I spun around grinning. “Yes.”

  Kai looked nervous. He was fumbling with the buttons on his shirt.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah.” He brushed me off and shifted quickly, dashing into the forest. Okay. Weirdo. I stripped down and shifted, taking off after him. He had confided to me earlier that he was nervous to take me to the council meeting. Hell, I was nervous myself! If my suspicion was correct, I was going to have a pretty crazy time there having visions of hundreds of mates and revealing my gift to the werewolf community. But Kai had become my rock, not just my Alpha but my mate. I needed him not to be weird. I needed him normal. To think of it, he had been weird all day.

  I couldn’t see him anywhere. I picked up his scent near a cluster of pine trees and darted between them. I went around the back side of our property near Emma and Devon’s house. None of the pack members had backyard fences. We all roamed each other’s property freely. I was about to call out for Kai when I came out into a clearing and saw hundreds of tea lights. A soft blue blanket covered the ground and a picnic dinner had been set up. Kai had shifted to human form and changed into clothes. I gave him a wolfish grin. Music played softly from a cd player.

  “Shift and then change. I brought you some clothes.” He had turned his back to give me privacy. This was super romantic. I thought he was acting weird and he was trying to surprise me with a picnic date. I shifted and slipped into the short red dress he had picked out from my closet. I walked barefoot over to him and wrapped my arms around him from behind. He spun around and I saw a small navy blue velvet box in his hands. My heart started pulsing wildly. My breath hitched.

  “Aurora, that night that you got into the car accident was the worst and best night of my life. When I saw you lying there on the road bleeding out, you looked so innocent and beautiful. I couldn’t imagine you dying. When I changed you, I feared you wouldn’t survive. When you survived, I feared you would be someone else’s mate. I have felt pulled to you since I first saw you and now I know why. You are my soul mate. I know you haven’t had the best view of men but I will never hurt you. I will always protect you. Your passions will become mine. I will support you in whatever you do. I respect that you want to take things slowly but I will go crazy if you don’t say you will marry me. Marry me now, marry me in ten years, but please tell me you will marry me?”

  Tears were streaming down my face. I looked down at his hands which held a large circle cut diamond ring.

  “Yes! I will marry you,” I croaked out and then laughed. He picked me up and spun me around. He kissed me then sat me down.

  “Not in ten years, right?” he prodded.

  I smiled. “How about three months?”

  Alpha

  I woke up the day of the council meeting and immediately my eyes flew to my left hand. There it was. Oh my God, I was getting married. I heard a light snore next to me. Kai looked so calm when he was asleep, almost submissive.

  His eyes opened. “Morning, fiancé.” He smiled.

  “How did you sleep?” I queried.

  “Better than I have in decades.” He rolled on top of me and we kissed.

  After a few minutes I pushed him off. “We have a plane to catch.”

  ***

  “And don’t look the council members in the eyes,” Kai drilled into me.

  “Okay.”

  “And don’t take your ring off. You are mine,” he lightly chastised.

  I rolled my eyes. “Okay, okay, okay.” Kai had been drilling me with rules for the council meeting. We were 10,000 feet in the air and I was nervous enough. I hadn’t had any visions since Diya and Trent’s mate vision. Still, the Shaman’s words echoed in my mind. Kai said the council members were made up of the oldest, strongest, most dominant werewolves in the world. Their word was law. Their packs were made up of enforcers that could wipe you out of existence. I shuttered. They better not come for me or my pack. My inner wolf agreed. Most nerve wracking of all, his father was one of the council members.

  ***

  ‘NAWAC’ – the sign read. We were standing at the entrance of a fancy four star hotel. Hundreds of werewolves were pushing past us into the revolving doors.

  ‘North American Werewolf Alpha Council,’ Kai sent to me. We entered the building and I noticed people started staring at me and were breathing in deeply.

  “Shit, I forgot,” Kai swore and put a protective hand on my lower back.

  “What?” I asked as more and more people began to look my way.

  ‘You smell like a witch. Werewolves don’t like witches.’

  Kai started walking faster until we were at the doors of the large conference room. Two large men flanked each side of the door. One inhaled deeply.

  “We don’t allow her kind in here, brother, you know that,” the man told Kai.

  Kai’s face took on a menacing look. I shifted part of my face to a werewolf and made a low growl.

  “She’s my mate,” Kai said with Alpha infused magic.

  The man looked at me confused but shook it off opening the door with his head bowed.

  The room was huge. Hundreds of chairs had been set up, all facing a stage where the twelve council members sat. Eleven were male and one was female. They all wore hardened expressions and sat a few feet apart. They radiated power. I could see mist hovering just above their skin like an aura. These were powerful wolves. As if they saw me looking, they glanced my way. I picked out Kai�
��s father immediately. Was that pride in his eyes? I quickly looked to the ground as I remembered Kai’s advice not to make eye contact but I could feel their eyes on me.

  “Hey strangers.” A familiar voice snapped me out of my trance.

  Shamus and his second approached Kai and I. When Shamus reached me he stopped.

  “Kai, with all due respect, why does Aurora smell like a full-blown witch?” Shamus looked around the room and almost every eye was on us.

  Kai started breathing heavy. “This was a bad idea. We’re leaving.” He grabbed my arm to leave when a voice boomed from the stage.

  “Kai, you dare bring a witch into one of our sacred council meetings? You know better!”

  Kai spun around and faced the council member. I stared at the man’s feet. “She is my mate!”

  “She smells like a witch. She has you fooled. She’s done magic on you! Guards!” the man yelled. Kai and I must have been thinking the same thing because we both shifted into our wolf form at the same time. I shook my fur quickly to crawl out of my clothes. This was bad. Why had I talked to Sylvia about unleashing my witch powers? Stupid. Now I looked like some imposter. If these people wanted it done, we would be torn apart right here.

  I could hear a gasp as people saw my wolf form.

  The female council member stood.

  “She’s a werewolf? Why does she smell of witch? She must have done a spell to take on a wolf’s form.”

  ‘Why isn’t your dad saying anything?’ I asked Kai.

  ‘Because I made him take the oath! He can’t talk about you without putting his whole pack at risk. We are on our own.’

  Shamus approached the council and bowed his head lightly. “She is a werewolf. One of Kai’s wolves, Sadie, recently joined my pack and I have seen her thoughts. Sadie was there when Aurora survived the change. Aurora has the protection of me and my pack. Look for another explanation of why she smells of witch.” There was a subtle threat laced into his voice. His second took up a stance in front of me as Shamus flanked Kai’s right side. The guards had shifted and were surrounding us.