by A Lonergan
Lucas snickered like he expected it.
Then it dawned on me. “If you are a witch, then why can’t you get out of here?”
The look on his face broke something inside of me. “When the wolf was forced on me, it took everything with it. It took my hope, my dreams, my passions, and it took my magic too.”
And it almost took your life. I couldn’t keep my eyes from dipping to the scarring on his neck.
“How do you think your family would react to you having a wolf now?”
His face looked pained. “They would be overjoyed.
Chapter 16
Jade
Lucas and I were playing cards when the door to our room slammed open. We had been permitted some more luxuries. Luxuries I wasn’t about to turn down. I was happy to have something to keep us occupied, rather than our thoughts and anxiety.
The guard today was different and I tried to keep the surprise off of my face. I couldn’t let them know I had gotten attached to another person here. Having Lucas roped into this was bad enough.
“The man stays,” The guard started. “Jade, you are to come with me.”
I shrugged at Lucas before I followed the guard out. It was better to just go willingly, rather than fighting it. It could turn out to be something completely harmless.
I tried to remain positive, even though we both knew better. I was led down unfamiliar hallways until the man brought me to another public shower and locker room. Two women were waiting for me inside.
One of the women was lounging on a couch pushed into the corner of the room and the other was holding up a curling iron like it was an award. I took a step back before the blonde-headed woman jumped from the couch. The one with the hot tool in her hand just continued to watch me with bright eyes. Her hair was a light purple and something inside of me warned that she was a witch. It had nothing to do with her hair, or the way she looked but everything to do with her aura.
“I am Sheeva,” The purple-haired woman smiled with all of her teeth.
The blonde wasn’t nearly as happy or friendly. “I’m Bee,”
Sheeva continued talking like we were going to be great pals but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. “Your presence has been requested by the Alpha of our local pack.”
I frowned. “I thought Damian was the Alpha.”
Bee barked out a harsh laugh. “He wishes he was an Alpha. He’s nothing but wanna-be scum.”
Sheeva threw a bobby pin at her and scowled at the both of us. “We have work we need to do or we will all be punished. This isn’t the time to smack talk our oppressor.”
They hate Damian too. I made sure to catalog that information for later.
Sheeva patted the chair in front of her and I gingerly sat down in it. She wasted no time before she started yanking my hair this way and that way. I didn’t bother with watching what she was doing in the mirror. Instead, I kept my eyes on Bee. She was pulling an outfit from one of the lockers. My stomach clenched. It looked like something I had worn before everything had happened with Rafe. Before the change. It would have been an outfit I would have been excited to wear.
Now? Not so much.
Her light blue eyes met mine in the mirror. “You will not fight me. You will put this on.”
My back jerked upright and I found myself standing. I walked over to her on numb legs. What was happening to me? My body was moving on its own accord. I jerked to a stop in front of her and then my body was returned to me.
“The magic that I have is at the disposal of Damian, if you do something I don’t like, I will take your body from you.” Her words were filled with a dark satisfaction but also, there was a note of sadness. She didn’t like being able to do this but whatever Damian had over her was enough.
I looked at the floor. I had no idea what she was going through but I wouldn’t make this harder than it had to be. I didn’t want to be a prisoner either. I couldn’t imagine what Damian had over her and I didn’t want to know. It made this entire situation that much worse.
Modesty wasn’t something I could afford here. I didn’t bother with feeling embarrassed as I stripped the t-shirt dress over my head. The clothing that had been chosen for me didn’t allow for underwear so I stripped it off just as quickly.
The clothes slid over my body in a new way. I imagined at one point they would have clung to my curves. But now there weren’t many curves left. The little food I had allowed myself to eat had done this. My lack of transformations and running with Nalia hadn’t helped. Tears filled my eyes to see my gaunt cheeks in the bright fluorescent lighting. Even my green eyes looked dull and lifeless. Whatever Damian was trying to sell, it wouldn’t go well.
Sheeva seemed to sense where my thoughts had headed. “Nothing a little makeup can’t fix.” She patted the chair again, but this time she was more gentle. The strap of the black crop top fell down my shoulder and I tried to shrug it back up.
Once upon a time, I would have loved to have worn this and show off my cleavage but this time, I wanted to hide. Who was this girl and where was the real Jade?
Chapter 17
Jade
My body was no longer my own. No matter how much I tried and fought against Bee’s magic, there was no use. I couldn’t do anything to break free from this hold. Was this what Cardan had experienced when his wolf was forced on him and then after his mind taken? Was this what Lucas had been put through too or had he been conscious? How hard had he fought it, knowing exactly what had happened to him?
My eyes stared straight ahead, even though I wanted to take in all of my surroundings. Bee stood on my left and Sheeva had disappeared. Damian was nowhere to be seen and now I wondered if he would actually make an appearance. I had been drugged again for us to leave the prison I had been held in. They hadn’t tried the bag over the head trick this time, too afraid they would mess up my makeup and hair.
Bee’s hand trembled against my arm but that was the only indication that she was nervous. My wolf senses were still gone but I wondered if they were back if I would be able to scent her anxiety in the air. I doubted it, Damian was too smart for that. My hand reached up and toyed with the curl laying over my shoulder. I fought it but it was no use. I was no longer in control.
Then I heard his voice and everything ceased to exist.
“She’s here? She’s safe?” Rafe’s voice was pained. I fought the control being held over my mind. I couldn’t see him but I knew he was close. We were at the edge of the woods but I didn’t know where. A group of men stood behind me and I knew that one of them was the guard that had watched over my cell daily. I didn’t know which, each of their eyes were bright gold now and they each had a similar build. I had zero allies here.
“Yes,” Another male answered Rafe. I didn’t recognize his voice. “She is safe and she wants to be here. Last I checked, she’s unmated and she never pledged to a pack. What makes you think we are holding her here?”
No.
I fought Bee’s control over my mind but all I could manage to get through was a blink and the jerk of my arm out of her grip. I watched out of the corner of my eye. She looked irritated but all she did was fold her arms over her chest.
“What kind of game are you playing?” Rafe’s voice raised an octave as they grew closer.
My lips twitched against their will into a smile. Rafe broke through the tree line and came to an abrupt stop. His eyes weren’t yellow this time. They were a deep chocolate brown. Not seeing his wolf so close to the surface had my heart doing a flip flop. What was he doing here? Was he here to save me?
“There is no game,” The other man followed, behind him came the rest of the Guardians, but then my heart broke. The last one to come through was Tracey but she didn’t look like the Tracey I had grown so close to in such a short period of time. Her eyes were hollow and her skin was pale. She no longer looked like the bronzed goddess I was used to. She looked worn out and exhausted, like she hadn’t slept in months. When her eyes met mine, they filled with tears.
Th
e smile stayed on my lips even as I fought and pleaded inside of my head for Bee to let me go. It was no use. My heart broke inside of my chest. How my body wasn’t crying was beyond me. I had never felt such intense pain before.
One of the guards behind me stepped forward. “She is fair game. She was injured in the car accident and needed immediate attention. She chose to stay after what you did to her.”
Rafe clenched his jaw but he didn’t take his eyes off of me. I could see that he didn’t miss a thing, especially how much weight I had lost. My body moved against my will again and I found myself pressed against the chest of the man behind me. His hand snaked around my bare stomach and dipped into the waistband on my mini skirt. Nausea swirled in my gut at the touch. I fought Bee harder, I screamed inside of my head until my body jerked forward and I fell to my knees. Mav leapt forward and helped me up. But it was no use, Bee was back in control. She made me jerk my arm away and snarl at him. It hurt. Everything hurt. Fighting her was making everything worse. Pain lit up the back of my neck and I knew if I continued, she was going to knock me out or worse.
I knew she was giving me the luxury of allowing me to see my friends again but it hurt too badly. I wished she had just taken control completely. Seeing them like this was too much. It was all too much.
Coward. Nalia whispered.
Finally, some relief coursed through me. She was still here. That was something. That was one kind of win. It gave me the little hope I needed.
“I am fine here, Rafe.” My voice didn’t even sound like my own. I practically choked on the words.
“Tell me if you’re not safe, please, that’s the only way we can help you.” Rafe’s voice broke as all the Guardians lined up behind him. Mav wouldn’t look at me now. Tracey wouldn’t either.
I sighed but it sounded garbled. Good. Bee’s hold on me wasn’t as strong as she thought. “I told you that I am fine, Rafe. You can leave now.”
He smiled with all his teeth. “I don’t think we will. We accepted an invitation to be among this pack. I think we will stay for a little longer.” He looked at the man that hadn’t spoken since they broke through the woods. He was a big burly man with a thick black beard. I had never seen him before. “Your little witch looks tired, Travis.”
Bee’s hand went to mine immediately and I was whisked out of there before anything else could happen. The guards had gone through whatever portal she had conjured too. One of them swore.
“Do you know what you did, Bee?” The one behind me growled. My body sagged forward and finally, I had complete control over my limbs again. My legs shook as I felt like I was forced back into them.
Bee leaned forward and put her hands on her knees. “She isn’t like a typical wolf. She is stronger. My magic is depleted. Did you want her running to all of her friends?”
“Where’s Damian?” I managed to get out.
Bee ignored me as she continued to speak to the guards. She had portalled us into a small house. I wobbled over to the couch in the living room. My body collapsed and I closed my eyes. My entire body felt weak. Was it because I had fought her so hard mentally and now I had nothing left to make my body function?
“You’re right, but now they’re going to be suspicious.”
Bee collapsed on the couch beside me. “They were already suspicious. I don’t know this girl. How can I possibly portray her in the way her friends know her? It’s easier when I’m trying to fool strangers. This takes too much out of me.”
The blond man took a step toward us. He snarled. “Do you want your daughter to be punished? Must we replace you with a stronger witch?”
I could feel her tense beside me. No wonder she was here. I knew my parents would do the same. “Good luck finding someone more powerful than I am. Good luck finding someone you can blackmail. Every single coven in the United States is on lockdown. They know a threat is coming. The stones have told them of the darkness brewing.”
Chapter 18
Rafe
Something wasn’t right. I couldn’t smell Jade’s wolf. I couldn’t scent her anywhere on this property. The full moon hadn’t been that long ago, I should have been able to scent her in the woods. But still nothing. I paced across the small cottage we had been allowed to stay in. Mav and Archer were squished onto the couch pressed against the wall. Tracey had disappeared in the kitchen and Knox, well there was honestly no telling where he had run off to. He was the one I worried about the most, but not because he was rowdy. No, I worried about him because he didn’t know fear. He would run through this pack guns blazing if I allowed it. He would go through every single home looking for Jade if I said the word, consequences be damned. He was impulsive and reckless. He was my brother.
I squeezed my eyes closed as I listened to the other Guardians settle in around the house. They were sniffing for magic or anything else that would get us in trouble here. I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“She isn’t herself,” Mav’s voice sounded pained. He loved Jade. He had cared for her the moment he had heard what I had done. Though I had offered them no explanation for my actions- I didn’t have to- they treated me differently. None of them would understand, but that didn’t matter. My redemption would come later, at the hands of Jade. I hoped.
“She’s not eating,” The words were difficult to get past my lips. Her clothes had hung off of her, instead of clinging to her. She had lost too much weight, her wolf had to be suffering. But I hadn’t been able to scent that in the air around her either. Had they killed her wolf? It would explain how she was acting and the way she had lost muscle.
“They could be listening to us,” Tracey whispered from the doorway to the kitchen. She held a bagel between her fingers but I doubted she was actually going to eat it. Tracey had lost weight too. She had hardly been eating. She had hardly seen the sun and her cheeks looked just as gaunt as Jade’s had.
I straightened up and blinked slowly. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it before. My desperation, my sadness, all of it… it was affecting the pack. I was killing my pack.
I gritted my teeth together. I had to give them hope. Hope that their future mates wouldn’t be taken from them. Hope that their families would be safe. Hope that I would get Jade back and the pack dynamic would go back to normal.
“I don’t care if they listen,” I crossed my arms over my chest as a small smile stretched across my face. By the look on Tracey’s face, it was my crazy smile. I didn’t care. “In fact, I want them to know. I want everyone to know. I am willing to burn it all down for my mate.”
Mav leaned forward and coughed. Knox clapped from the open doorway with a grin on his face. I knew he had been waiting for me to tell everyone else. Tracey had been the only one that knew. Her face paled further. Archer looked like he was ready to throw himself at me in a bear hug.
“I didn’t want anyone to know why I fought so hard for her. I didn’t want to share my failures as an Alpha or as your friend. As your brother. I wanted you to have someone to look up to. I wanted my little brother to have someone to look up to but I threw that all away when I forced the change on her. I will not explain why I did what I did to any of you. Jade is the only person that I owe an explanation to, as my mate.” I swallowed as all their eyes turned yellow. This was going to be a different fight now. This was personal. Jade was a part of our pack, whether she pledged to it or not. “I will burn down the entire world for my mate. Don’t get it twisted. I would never hurt her intentionally. I would have never forced a change on her but time was running out.”
Once again, Tracey was the only one that knew why I had done what I had. But it had taken me too long after the fact to explain it to her. Our friendship had suffered for it. I could see it in her eyes. The doubt that had festered there in the weeks she thought I was a terrible person. In the weeks she assumed I was insane and my wolf was making me sick. But as their Alpha, I owed them nothing. I owed them the protection of the pack and my strength, but I didn’t owe them explanations for my actions.
<
br /> Knox whistled and I sighed. “I was waiting for this! I mean, we all assumed but you kept denying that you cared for her. Finally.”
I looked at each of the Guardians and they smiled slowly in turn. They had all known but had waited for me to tell them. Tracey still looked empty. I could smell Knox’s confusion behind me.
“Tracey already knew,” I admitted.
Knox lifted his lip in disgust. “You told her before me?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose again. Knox was going to give me a headache. “You were in training. Remember, zero communication with your past life?”
Knox pressed his lips together before he shot me a guilty grin. “Ahhh, right.”
Tracey pushed past the threshold of the kitchen and sat on the edge of the couch that was occupied by two men that were entirely too big for it. “Plus, I can keep a secret. Unlike you idiots.”
Mav frowned. “I would like to think that I am not included in that general term. You know how I hate generalization.”
Tracey rolled her eyes but there was a ghost of a smile playing on her lips. She had a soft spot for the giant Samoan just like Jade did. He was like a big teddy bear, that could actually rip your face off if you wronged him.
Tracey leaned forward and watched me with determination. “You have our attention, Alpha. What’s the plan?”
Chapter 19
Jade
We hadn’t gone back to the main house where I had been kept before with Lucas. My new home was with Bee, Sheeva, and two guards that I didn’t recognize. We didn’t speak and anytime I tried to, I got shut down. My only duty was to wear a bunch of different outfits during the day so the guards could take them off somewhere. I had a feeling it was to get my scent everywhere around this unfamiliar pack but I didn’t ask questions. I just stared at the light gray walls around me. Dinner had been cooked at the main house but we weren’t permitted to dine with the rest of the pack, though I knew that would really set Rafe off. He knew I needed a community, right? He would see through all of this.
