by Kassie Cox
“Where’s the Witch?” I question, having not seen her leave the packhouse. Adelina gives a short laugh.
“She’s hauled up in my room, her face is busted up pretty well, but she doesn’t seem to be angry. I think she’s waited for much worse to come to her, and by not killing her you’ve actually surprised the old woman.”
An understanding Witch, that didn’t sound like the woman I’d heard of. Mirela had told me so much about Adelina, about all her kind. They held magic at their fingertips, they had no need to ask for forgiveness. They could destroy those who meant them harm with a snap.
“I may owe her an apology.” Audra looks at me, obviously surprised.
“Did you not try to kill her?” My eyes narrow at the question.
“It’s incredibly hard to come to a sure conclusion when you are unsure of how you feel. I go off what I believe to be right and wrong, but I don’t understand why she did what she did. I’ve done horrible, unforgivable things. The only difference is I can’t feel the consequences. There is no guilt, no regret. She lives with that. I don’t know what I think about her, but I know she came and faced me, and I should’ve reacted more rationally. Instead,” I throw a finger in the direction of the male, “someone projected my own emotions onto me in some weird experiment. I lost control, when all she did was tell me the truth.”
I shock myself with the words. Surprised at how downright truthful they are.
Audra gets a strange smile on her face before taking a step back and gesturing for me to come into the pack house. As If the brute behind me wouldn’t have forced me inside, one way or another.
“Food, and then a few more questions for the Witch?” She laughs as we walk into the home, Elias follows closely behind me. His fingers brushing mine every few steps, and I do not stop him. “The poor woman may need another bottle of liquor, if she plans on getting through another conversation with you.”
Chapter 17
“Would you prefer I leave you out in the hall?” The sass in Audra’s voice bring a smile to my lips, but the feeling of a certain male pressing his side into mine threatens to steal my attention away from the argument. Elias had been disturbingly close to me for the past ten minutes. His warmth seeping into me, making me struggle to keep myself from him. I should pull away—do everything in my power to not give into this incessant bond they insisted we had.
I didn’t fight, however. My body giving into his easily, as the contact brought me more pleasure than a man’s hands ever had. A travesty really, that a man I wanted so much turned out to be someone I’d most likely never be with.
“Bring me an animal, a better blanket, and then I will happily leave once I’ve healed myself!” Adelina does not like the she-wolf. The way she speaks to her would lead you to believe I wasn’t the one who pummeled the Witch into seclusion. I wanted to laugh at the hilarity of the two women, probably head to head in the bedroom.
I refused to look however, one reason being she deserved to think she had privacy. The second being I didn’t want to leave the comfort of Elias. His touch addicting, even if in such an innocent manner.
There seemed to be a buzz of electricity that always ran between us, and when we finally connected it sparked into oblivion. Never ending pleasure between the two temples housing souls that were supposedly meant for one another.
“What are you thinking about?” Elias whispers, the low sound of his voice bringing a chill down my spine. I don’t hide the reaction, as I know he wouldn’t have asked that without a reason. The man seemed to be keeping in constant check of how I was feeling, using the knowledge against me in a way I didn’t care for. I could respect it, however.
He did what he felt was needed to get what he wanted.
Dedicated was certainly an attractive trait.
“I’m thinking about that food I was promised, but never received.” He laughs at me, a deep sound resonating through his chest. I look at him then, wanting to watch as the happiness overcame his features. Showing me a picture that I’d probably dream of for the rest of my life. I enjoyed his happiness, knowing he could receive something so positive from me. Even if I couldn’t get the same effect.
“You feel mighty strongly for food.” He jokes, eyes alive with amusement. A spark of something else lay behind them, a hunger. This time when he passes the feelings into me it’s softly, as if he’s sprinkling it into me. It’s overwhelming, no matter how small the amount. It’s so much more than I was used to. This was beyond attraction. It was enjoyment, a gut-wrenching need for the being standing there in front of me. What a hopeless romantic I seemed to be, deep underneath this curse.
“I suppose I do, Elias.” The beast flares up at the sound of his name from my lips. His stance going from open and comfortable, to that of an animal preparing to devour its prey. I happened to be in his sights.
“Keres, get your ass in here and tell this woman to stop sulking.” I practically sprint into the room. The haze around us quickly dissipating at the command from his Beta. His soft groan tells me his dislikes the interruption, and from the way my skin burns I know I would’ve preferred it stayed quiet a little longer as well.
Adelina looks at me from the bed, puffy faced and clearly unhappy with everything that’s happened since her visit. Audra has given her an outfit to wear, which practically drowns her in cloth as her small frame tries to hold everything up right.
“What do you need the animal for?” I question, slowly making my way to the bed. I had expected the woman to flinch at my approach, or at least seem intimidated. Instead I can tell she knows I won’t try to hurt her. Things have changed, not much—but a bit. Enough for me to no longer crave her death. She must sense that, or simply does not care.
“I will use it to heal the wounds, as I am not as strong as I once was. I can’t do it without taking another’s life source.” The woman is not happy to reveal the information. I wouldn’t be either, as it admits to a weakness. A Witch who used to strike fear into others, her power almost unimaginable, couldn’t heal a few cuts and bruises anymore. A sad realization.
“I’m not giving you a defenseless-” I cut the wolf off, smiling to the best of my ability.
“Elias, go fetch the woman a rabbit or something.” It is not a question; it is a demand. He listens. NO back talk, no questions as to why—the man leaves the room quickly, and I suspect when I hear the front door close, he’s already in his fur. My male was so good it is listening today.
Audra looks almost shocked at the event, as if the Alpha had never done as told in his life. I held a different kind of power over beast, plus if he was anywhere as curious as I am, he would want to watch this Witch work her magic.
“You kill and eat innocent animals all the time, how is this any different?” No response, just an unamused glare. I slowly sit on the edge of the bed, my eyes glued to the woman who held so many things inside of her. Power, guilt, and secrets.
Adelina looks at me with an emotion I don’t understand. It could be hatred, or despair. A strong face with a broken soul is what I see, and I wonder if the crimes she committed against me have brought her to this point. She’d spent hundreds of years growing with power, using her abilities to escape death. Something had changed in her life, made her weaker.
I wish I had been able to see the woman in her environment. Watch as she brought the dead back to life, read the future of those around her, created incredible things with a snap of her fingers or a few words from her once promising lips. She was a picture of misery and bad decisions.
“Is there something else you’d like to know, Keres?” My name is spit from between her lips, as if it’s painful for her to speak. A reminder of her sins.
I shrug, in no hurry to get answers to questions that I haven’t thought of yet. My mind always travels to the man who brought me forced emotions when I am silent. Most of the time I wanted to find ways to distract myself from the thought of him, a solution to the incessant need to have my eyes on him.
Not today. T
oday I want him near me, wrapped around my body while looking at me with those darkened eyes. His hands running along me as he makes me feel more than anyone ever has. It gives me some type of sick hope that although I was missing out on so much, perhaps Elias could help me get a little bit.
“Your hope is almost inspirational.” Adelina scoffs, pulling me from the dream of a better life. I wonder how long it takes to catch a damn rabbit.
“Have you ever used a human being to achieve this same effect, instead of an animal?” I can tell it throws her off a bit. My question of her lacking morals has her slack jawed, and in the corner of my eye I see Audra with the same expression. We’d all killed people in this room, so I don’t understand their shock. It’s a fair inquiry.
“Is there anything you’d like to know that doesn’t make me seem completely like a monster?” Adelina questions with narrowed eyes. I think for a few moments, wanting so many things to be said but not knowing which to choose. I suppose she wasn’t going anywhere so I was not limited.
“Show her mother, you can do that can’t you?” My heads snaps to Audra, a small tug at lips shows my excitement for that idea. I did wonder what she would look like. Could a Witch show you a memory? The woman bites her lower lip, questioning the option but eventually giving a nod. She motions for me to come near her, and I scoot across the soft bedding.
I wonder how this will work, as I’ve never seen it done myself.
“When I was younger, I could’ve sent it to you without being in the same room, sent it into your mind from miles away.” She sounds far away with the words, her hands quickly gripping mine. I sense something moving beneath her skin, a current of power that seems to spark. She is working to give me this, and I wonder what it will take from her.
What more will she lose because of me?
My eyes slowly close, then I’m sucked into a darkness.
When the world opens around me, I am thrown off. Legs that are not my own carry me throughout a small town, one I recognize to be outside the walls of the Kingdom. I’d ventured there a few times before I’d become head of the Guard. It was nothing special then, but in this memory it is alive. People bustle around with buggies full of fruits and vegetables, people in finer clothing roam. They’re happy now, but when I’d visited no one had smiled.
It seemed to be a waste land, a poor man Kingdom in all honesty. The shacks had been full of people who’d had to many children. Mouths that hadn’t been fed in days, and bodies barely covered in clothes. What had happened?
Adelina’s slender hand reaches out, grabbing for a fruit and bringing it to her lips as she continues her way. The larger sized shop stands out among the mass of buildings, even though the inside seems almost deserted she heads in. The door makes a noise, alerting anyone inside that someone has arrived.
Many things sit around the store, mostly different herbs and a few little books. I’ve never had use for anything in here, but I am interested in what the Witch has come for.
“You’ve come!” The voice startles the body I’m in, a quick whip of the head has us facing a smiley red-haired woman who is severely shorter.
She’s beautiful. An almost unrealistic glow coming from her as she grins and laughs at the reaction she’s received from the most powerful Witch.
I’m a spitting image of the lady standing before Adelina. The shape of our lips, the point in our chin, and even the way she raises her brows.
Her build is different, more feminine and I’m sure that she’d be astonished to learn her child has grown to be a killer of many men. The murderer of the man she conceived me with.
“Of course, I did, I need to keep the connections around these parts strong.” Adelina sounds lighthearted towards the woman. “Plus, when I heard news of the pregnancy, I couldn’t not come see how you were doing.”
I can practically feel the tension move into Stella’s body. Rigid limbs as she leads the Witch towards the back of the store. I don’t think Adelina noticed at the time and had she it would not have mattered. She couldn’t have imagined that the woman standing before her was holding a child from her friends’ mate. A cluster fuck it was.
I take in the woman, trying to soak up every detail that I may never see again. It wasn’t surprising that she’d caught a man’s eye. Nothing about her was ordinary.
Just as quickly as the scene came, it left—but instead of being back on the bed in the pack house I am thrown into a different scene.
I am standing in front of Laura. Her face is stained with endless tears, lips shaking as she says the words that will ruin my life forever. Blood runs down the Witches body, from an animal sacrificed for the sake of this ritual. One life taken hadn’t been enough.
It becomes quiet once the she-wolf has finished her words. Rain and thunder begin, and just when I suspect to be pulled back to reality she begins again. This time it’s different. I can feel the Witch trying to take me from the memory, away from an answer I would need.
“The only way to break her curse will be to give up her-” It’s gone.
The forest around me dissipates, and my body jolt as I reunite with the temple. My eyes are teary, staring straight ahead at the Witch as she refuses to meet my eyes. Audra has her hands on me, trying to shake me back into existence.
“Go back, take me back!” I yell to the woman, moving my body towards hers in desperation I was feeling it, Elias was sending me everything. He was making a mistake, and I would be paying for it.
This wasn’t anger and I didn’t want to hurt the woman. I reach out, my hands finding the woman’s face as I force her hardened eyes to meet mine. She doesn’t fight this. There is no reason to, as she’d never get away. Her strength almost nonexistent. My body is shaking. Teeth clenched together so tightly I fear they will crumble.
I’m crumbling. No piece of me is held together properly in the light of this news, not when I know what she just took from me.
“Keres what happened?” Audra is trying to calm me down, but the wolf wants answers. I didn’t have any to give her. The Witch took it away from me.
I’m shaking her, the words leaving my mouth blur together as a wave of desperation racks through my body. I need it to end, I need the numbness to return so that I don’t try to steal the memory from this woman. I want to beat her until she gives me what I want, but I hold back. Everything in me holds back the violence I am so accustomed to.
“Please tell me—for the love of all things just tell me what I have to do!” The words are out of my mouth. The begging never ending it seemed until the feelings are taken with a quick jolt. Elia has ending the torment and I collapse into the bed with relief. Numbness becomes me once more.
Well, it almost does. A strange feeling in my stomach has me fighting to get to the door. Something was very wrong, and I needed to help.
Audra calls after me as I practically knock her over on my way to the door, I’m bounding down the stairs three at a time and yelling the name of a man I hated not too long ago. He wasn’t hurt, right?
The she-wolf must know something because she shifts and darts in front of me. Crashing through the door of the pack house without a care.
This pack couldn’t go one day without drama it seems.
I’m stopped in my tracks when I hit the grass, my eyes widening as I see Elias with his arms chained behind his back. My male is standing stark naked in front of us, but I suppose now is not the time to admire him.
“I told you I’d come for you.” Valor sit atop his white horse, his face a perfect picture of arrogance.
Chapter 18
When the urge to throttle the man, I’d pledged my loyalty to runs through me I know over the past couple of days I have changed. I’m unhappy with the thought, and I wish he’d shown up a few days later. I wish Valor had given me enough time to figure this out, to decide if I wanted to stay.
If what I was being offered on this land was worth the life I could give up at the castle. The Kingdom didn’t need me specifically.
They needed someone like me, and if I had any say I’d send Draven back in my stead. Have him teach those children how to fight, protect the King and make sure life ran smoothly. He could carry the blood of innocents on his hands.
I give the King one short look before I place my eyes on Elias once more, the burning moving through m rapidly. He seemed fine; in fact, the beast didn’t even seem angry. My feet move me towards him, the need to wrap myself around him strong. I wanted to be against him absorbing his warmth and hurt anyone who tried to hurt him. Elias was not meant to be bound and held back.
“Let go of him.” I say to the guard holding the chain, and the look on his face tells me just how confused everyone is by my demand. When I was at the Castle, he would’ve dropped the chain immediately, never asking a question. Now the man faltered, his lips falling into a frown. I glare, faster with my movements.
I was not done on this territory, and I refuse to leave until I get the answers I seek.
“Keres, what’s the issue? Get on this horse we are-” I hold my hand up to the King, not caring for his words.
“You will let the wolf go, or I will rip your fucking throat out. Do not question me.” Elias puffs up almost immediately, chest sticking out and a smirk on his face as he watches me take control. I’m in charge of these men. They do as I say, and he loves it.
I’m within five feet, my eyes completely focused on the man whose holding my male. The one keeping him from freedom. The Guard takes three large steps back, a yelp leaving his throat from my rapid approach and I spit in his direction before grabbing Elias. When our skin makes contact, I must stop the groan from leaving me.
Addicting.
“What are you doing?” Valor questions as he rolls from top the horse, his brows are furrowed, and I know this must be incredibly confusing for him. I shouldn’t have raised my hand to him. It was my duty to protect him and instead I was gripping onto a large, threatening man as if he was my life source. I was betraying my King.
