by Jaimi Wilson
"I just want to be clear, I have no idea what's happening right now," I murmur, my gaze going back to the table. I focus on the way the grains of wood have been shaved, anything to not look at the two men across from me.
I'm convinced the fates have gotten bored in their day to day life and decided to have a little fun with me. They probably think I haven't had enough challenges in my life lately, so why not add a few more?
Oh, you missed your first love, here have him back. Slight catch though, he's your mate. Oh and by the way, here's another guy to throw into the mix, he’s also your mate! Have fun!
Ugh, why me?! Do they think this is some game, where they can move their little pieces where they please in the hopes of whatever outcome they want. At least, that's how I like to imagine them.
Benji clears his throat, making me look back up at them. "I know this must be really confusing for you, and I don't mean to make this situation worse, but you're going to have to choose one of us. You can't be mated to two Alphas, Jasmine."
My face pales at his words, and my heart starts racing. "Choose? I barely know either of you, and yet you are both, apparently, my mate. What if the fates meant for one of us to be together and this is all just some test? What if I choose the wrong person? Or what if the mate bond you're both feeling is just magic? For all we know, someone has cursed the three of us. And what do you mean by two Alphas? I thought you were the Alpha of the Virginia pack, and Liam was just another of your wolves."
Liam chuckles and I look over at him. "He is the Alpha of the Virginia pack. But you're wrong about me being one of his wolves. I'm the Alpha of the Maine pack, sweetheart." He grins with teeth, much the same way a predator would right before striking.
I shake my head, completely gobsmacked. "You're telling me that my supposed new mates are both Alphas of the only two packs in existence? Just fucking great!" I throw my hands up and get up from my seat, needing to move to work out the building energy within me. How the hell has this happened?
What the hell do I do? Should I contact the Order? I know they'd be ecstatic a witch has found a wolf as a mate, but how would they react knowing I had two?
I'm both clueless and hesitant about how to handle this situation. It's not like they sent me with a pamphlet with instructions on how to handle the situation if I found a mate, let alone two.
Liam's hands slam down on the table. "Look, this is hard on us, too. Mates are extremely treasured and revered among our packs. The fact that one of us may not get to claim you is far from ideal. One of us will have to turn to our pack and tell them that the woman we were supposed to mate with is no longer ours and that she chose someone else. We will lose the respect of our pack. After all, if we can't keep our own mate, how the hell will we be able to help our wolves find their own mates?"
I feel absolutely terrible for him. And Benji. No matter who I choose, one of them will be hurt, and my choice will affect their whole pack.
No fucking pressure, right?
I sink back into my chair as tears well in my eyes. "How the fuck am I supposed to choose between the two of you? Benji was my first love, the person I wanted with every ounce of my being and made me feel like I was more special than I truly was, but then he left me without so much as a fucking goodbye." I pause to take in a stuttered breath as my tears start to fall.
"And you, Liam, every time you're around, I can feel my heart skip a beat and have the urge to follow you, to be near you. I don't even understand why." I shake my head sadly, looking down to stare at the floor. "I'm way too emotionally confused to even begin to make a choice like this."
Benji gets to his feet, his Alpha presence coating the room. For some reason, it eases the anxiety I feel, and I'm able to breathe a little easier.
"We don't want to make this hard on you, Jazzy, but we have to tell our packs about the situation. They rely on us to be honest with them, and the longer we delay the mating ceremony, the more anxious both packs will become. Would it be acceptable if we gave you a month to decide?"
My eyes widen, not sure I heard him correctly. A month?! How on earth am I supposed to get to know them well enough in a month to make such a life-altering decision?!
"A month to let us show you the type of people, the type of wolves we are. Any longer and the packs may become very difficult to live with, and we don't want you to suffer because of this predicament."
I run Benji's words through my mind while I study Liam's face for any sign of hesitation. He hasn't said anything while Benji was talking, and that makes me nervous.
I nod hesitantly, knowing a month is all I may get. Besides, if I could fall for Benji after knowing him for only a couple of weeks, then a month should be plenty of time to determine who I want to spend the rest of my life with. At least, I really hope it is.
"And what about the Order? What do we tell them?" I ask nervously. I know they are present for most pack matings, but does that mean they will need to be told about this before I've even chosen one of them?
Liam and Benji exchange glances before focusing their gazes back on me. Liam opens his mouth to speak, but Benji shakes his head. He sits back down from across me, taking the lead. "Jasmine, there's something you should know about the Order. Can you," he waves his hands around the room imitating the way I move my hands when I use magic, "do your thing to make sure no one can hear us?"
I smirk and close my eyes, making sure to move my hands more than I normally would to tease him. Once the room is soundproof, I open my eyes. Then I cross my arms and narrow my eyes at them.
"Okay, now what's going on? Why did I have to seal us off from the outside world?"
Benji nods at Liam, giving him permission to speak. "Now that you know I'm the Alpha of the Maine pack, you should know there's a reason I came here. I’m not here for a holiday or to get away from the pack. I came here because a few months ago, some of my wolves were attacked in their homes and killed. By witches . . . ."
I cock my head, confused by his words and wondering if I heard that right. Attacked by witches? None of us would attack the wolves. Sure, some of the witches out there can be self-serving and pains in the asses, but we all know the state of the wolves. They are on the edge of extinction and if we don't help them, they’ll all die out.
"They came in the middle of the night and killed eleven of my pack. They wielded purple fire, and acted possessed. We tried to reason with them, but no matter how hard we tried, they were just like brainless zombies, intent on destroying as many of us as they could. When I got to the outskirts of pack land, only three wolves from the isolated group who lived on the edge of our land, were still alive. Something that made me stop in my tracks was the fact these witches were ones I recognized. They were all ones who had previously visited the pack with the intention of finding a mate. I didn’t want to, but I was left no choice but to kill them, or they would have destroyed many more of us."
My face pales and I swallow, my throat dry. Purple fire is a sign of dark magic and something you can only be capable of when you've been mixing your blood for spells. The fact that more than one of them was using such magic has me scared beyond belief. We're taught what dark magic does to you. It strips your soul, a little bit at a time, until the only thing left is emptiness.
With the way Liam has described their actions and magic, I would assume that's exactly what happened. Their souls were gone, and the magic took control. The only way to know for sure, though, would be a magical autopsy to see of the soul was tampered with.
"What happened to their bodies? Did they perform an autopsy to find out the cause of their behaviour?"
Benji frowns as if he knew that was what I was going to ask and I don't like the way his eyes refuse to meet mine. That can only mean bad news is coming. "After the attack on his pack, Liam called the Order to make them aware of the situation and get guidance on what to do next. He then called me to warn me in case any witches came our way and attacked us, too. Thankfully he did, because two nights later, we were attacked. Because we wer
e prepared for it, only one person from my pack was lost." He shakes his head sadly, almost lost to the memory for a moment, before he carries on. "All the witches who attacked my pack were detained using the muted shackles we have. After they were secured, they were held in the cells in the basement, until the Order came and took the still living witches from my pack and the dead witches from Liam's.
"After a week with no word, we started to become a bit worried. Maybe the witches had escaped and would wreak havoc once more. When we called the Order, it was one of the witches who answered. She reassured us all was well and the 'traitors' had been taken care of. We both relaxed a little, knowing the matter was resolved. Except then, we were both attacked.
"Two witches came after each of us and tried to kill us. We were out on hunts with our younger pups, teaching them the way of the pack like we normally do the night before a full moon, when they struck. Thankfully, the pups were able to get back to the packs unharmed, but that was when we realized something more sinister was going on. We arranged a meeting with the wolf member of the Order and met with him on neutral ground. But when he showed up, he acted as if he didn't remember us telling them about the bodies. It was like it never happened."
Benji goes silent, and I take the time to process all of what he's said so far. Wolves are being attacked by witches, and the wolf member of the Order sounds like he's been spelled. This is not good at all. If word got out a wolf was spelled, especially one in such a prominent position, it could lead to war between our kinds, which could end with another race being wiped from existence.
Liam shifts in his chair and begins to speak. "I had a friend who worked in the coroner’s office at the Order's headquarters. She was one of the witches who helped dispose of the bodies who had been cursed with dark magic. She’s always been willing to help me out in exchange for a little extra cash on the side, so I asked her to look into what happened to the bodies we sent over. Benji and I weren't going to just leave it and wait for them to give us answers, in case they had all been affected by the spell that had messed with the wolf member of the Order’s memory." He frowns and shakes his head to clear it before continuing. "When she called me back, she said the moment the bodies were received, they burned them. The same for the witches who were alive. They were spelled to not feel pain and put in the incinerator still alive. After asking around, no one in the witch community knows what has been done, not even about the attacks on the packs."
Liam is sitting with his fists clenched in anger. To be honest, I understand why he's upset. The Order is covering up something that should be made public to all of the packs, as well as the witches. They should be sending witches to each of the packs to help protect them from further attacks, but instead, they are feigning ignorance. Either that or there's a bigger power at play that has been messing with the Order.
"That's not the worst part, Jazzy. The fact of the matter is, the attacks keep happening. I invited Liam here because they seem to be focusing on my pack more than his, and his pack is double the size of mine which is why they are separated into smaller groups. I needed help and had no idea who else to ask. In the past month alone, eighteen witches have been caught attacking us, and thirty-three members of our packs have been either wounded or killed. All of the witches have been sent to the Order, yet still nothing has been mentioned about this problem to most of the witch community. Nothing to warn them to be careful or how to protect themselves from whatever is making them attack us."
I shake my head, appalled. "Why would they not say anything? It doesn't make any sense! And for the Order to just kill witches like that, they would lead us all to extinction by such senseless slaughter! Why not try to cure them? This is why the Order exists, to stop the deaths among our kind unless warranted! Why are they being this stupid?”
Liam grimaces and looks like he wants to move from his seat to help soothe my anger, but right now I feel I deserve to be angry. My own kind are being killed, and the Order seems to be doing nothing about it!
Instead of comforting me, he sits back in his seat tensely. "I don't think the extinction of the witches is going to be a problem. The last thing my contact in the coven told me was that more and more witches have been born over the past thirty years. She found a room hidden in the clinic used to dispose of the bodies of the dead witches, filled with files about witches who’d had their eggs removed and donated to be used in human IVF procedures. There are probably thousands of witches out there who either haven't yet accessed their magic, or think they are all alone because they weren't raised in an environment that helped nurture their gift. Benji and I have come to the conclusion that the Order has something to do with this. Whether they're tricking the humans into bearing more witches, or this is just a play to get more power somehow, we know they are trying to overwhelm us, maybe even kill us off. It’s the only explanation that makes a lick of sense."
I push back from my chair harder than I realize, and it goes flying back, falling to the ground with a loud crash. My stomach is sick from all of this information. I’ve always known the Order was off, but were they really this twisted? "Why are you both telling me this? I'm no one, and have no way to help you. I have to do as the Order says just as everyone else."
Benji shakes his head with a small smile. "You're not the same, Jazzy. You never were. You use your magic to help others, you always have. Hell you even help the humans. You say you do it for money, but your heart is pure. We've both watched you among the pack, and we agreed to tell you about what was happening after observing your actions. You let yourself get drained, day after day just to entertain the children. Not to mention what you did for Michael. His father was killed in one of the attacks, and he already was being teased about being as weak as his father. When he broke his arm, and was trying hard not to cry in front of the other children, you stood in front of him protectively, blocking him from view. On top of that, you infused your own magic into him to heal the break faster. I don't know what you said to him after, but they all marvelled at his quicker than normal healing all thanks to your magic. And because of that, they have begun to show him more respect. You made him seem stronger than he was, all just to make him feel better."
I smile, remembering the child Benji is talking about. I didn't know his name, but he couldn’t have been more than ten years old. When I had heard the snap of his arm breaking, followed by the kids around him taunting and laughing at him, claiming he was just as pathetic as his father, he looked so pained and dejected. I knew exactly what it felt like to have other kids tease you because of who your parents were or what they had done, so I stepped in to help. After I had healed him, I whispered into his ear the same thing I used to tell myself. 'Don't let them make you feel weak. You are stronger than all of them!'
The reminder of what I did for Michael and what I told him makes me realize I have to help the wolves. I have the power to aid them against attacks from the witches, and I'm only hiding behind what the Order may do to me as an excuse. That's not good enough, though. People are dying. I need to do what I can to find out what's wrong with the witches and why the Order has done nothing but hide the entire situation from us all.
We deserve to know what is happening among us. I steel my gaze and resolve to do anything I can to help. "Okay, what do you need me to do?"
Seven
Jasmine
Benji, Liam, and I sit around for hours discussing what would need to be done about the witches and The Order. Without any incriminating evidence, there wasn't much we could do straight away, but that doesn't mean we can’t make a plan. First, we're going to ward Benji's pack. Liam was worried about his own pack and what it would mean if they went unprotected, but the only option we could see was for me to help here, and go to Liam’s pack after. There I could cast the same spell I'm about to do now. His pack, however, is a lot bigger than Benji's which means I'm going to have to limit my magic use for a few days before, so I will have enough energy to be able to do it.
I keep thinking
about how the warding is going to work as we walk through the dark woods. It was lucky I had packed my crystals with me. The crystals in the bag are only the size of the palm of my hand, which is plenty big enough to protect a pack the size of Benji’s, but I'm going to need my larger quartz to protect Liam's pack.
We reach the first spot I had selected on the pack map, and I drop my bag to the ground. I pull the small trowel out, digging a hole large enough to contain the crystal. I need to put a crystal in the ground at each point of the pentagram before walking to each point and creating the protective circle, sealing it.
It's not a particularly hard spell to do, but I'm going to need to infuse their energy into the spell to ensure that it’s effective. "Guys, I'm going to need you to hold hands for me," I instruct as I get to my feet and dust off my hands.
They both look at me as if I've gone nuts. I frown, wondering what the big deal is. "Come on. The sooner you hold the hands, the quicker I can finish and move onto the next point."
Liam grimaces over at Benji before meeting my gaze. "But why do we have to hold hands?"
I sigh, frustrated. They're acting like bloody children afraid to get cooties or something. "If you want the protection over the pack to extend out to prevent against unwanted visitors, I need your energy to mix with the barrier. Benji because your pack is sworn to you and Liam because it will mean any of your wolves can come here to seek help if they need to. This way all your wolves will be able to come and go without fear of being trapped, but it will keep the witches out. No witch will be able to cross the barrier, except me, unless they have permission. I'm weaving the spell so that not even I can grant access. Now please, trust me. I can do this," I implore them, eager to get this over with.
Liam growls down at me, obviously frustrated, and I roll my eyes, equally annoyed. We could have had this over and done with already if not for them. It’s as if the moment we left the house, they began to act like they were in competition for me, and they won't cooperate with each other. It's really beginning to piss me off.