by Zana Wilder
Suddenly I'm a little girl alone and afraid in the dark, and this darkness is moving. As angry as I am at him, I want Aaron here. He makes me feel safe. The house feels like it's being shaken by an unseen storm... but I can feel the thing that's shaking it, almost as if it were a part of me.
The energy flowing through the house is tremendous. For a split second I wonder if I've lost control of my majik before it hits me – it's my mum, it's Morganna. Aaron and Lyell must have gotten the collars off. Holy shit what have we unleashed? The tremors reverberate through the house and I hear people shouting and running in alarm.
Aaron dashes across the room, scoops me up and clutches me to him – all our anger forgotten. Even though I'm terrified the house is about to fall on us it feels good being held tightly against his muscled chest like this. I breath his scent in deeply and feel my wolf calm. I centre myself, ready to challenge Morganna's majik, when suddenly the surges of power stop.
I look up, hopeful she's managed to gain control of herself, and my heart sinks a little. She didn't – it looks like Angus knocked her out, and he's utterly distraught at what he's done. I try to comfort him – he did what had to be done to protect the pack, and Morganna.
Half the pack want to clamp the fucking collar straight back on Morganna, but I can't let that happen – it would make us no better than the Coven. A fractured witch is something I've no idea how to deal with but I'm pretty sure ruining her trust is equally as dangerous. And, she's technically my mum, although I still think of her as Auntie Morgan. The interim council have already started discussing things when I barge in. They all look surprised at my entrance.
“Look, sweetie, I know she's you're mum and everything... but you don't really know her now. She's not in control of herself, and when and if she regains control there is no telling what she might do” Aaron says looking at me appeasingly.
“First of all, I may be your sweetie in the bedroom Aaron, but here in the council I am the Luna-in-waiting, to the acting Alpha, and from what I understand that role ought to come with some respect.”
I see his mouth twitch in a slight smile and he nods his head slightly.
“Secondly,” I breeze on surprised at how steady and strong my words sound “she might be my mother but I know nothing of her in that role. What I do know is that she is a wretched soul who happens to be a witch.
She's been through significant trauma we know nothing about. Should this council choose to put that collar back on her without her agreement, you are no better than the bastards at the Coven who did those things to her. In fact, you're worse – you're doing it just to protect your own hides!”
There's a sharp intake of breath around the room, followed but a few murmurs of ascent. However, I can see the majority isn't swayed. I have to convince them that forcing Morganna back into that collar is tantamount to suicide. I felt her hatred of the Coven and those who did this to her – I know she will stop at nothing for revenge on them. If we force her back into it, and if she ever gets free again, we'll also be on her list. She will seek her revenge against each one of us.
I don't know where my mother's power comes from, but when I felt it, it was overwhelming, raw and angry. I'm not sure the council need to hear in detail what I felt but I have to persuade them, they need leadership here. They've fallen into a cacophony of argument amongst themselves already.
“SILENCE!” I bellow out loud and across the pack's mind-link.
The room quietens rapidly, and a few of the weaker council members sit down involuntarily on the floor with a bump, submitting to my voice. That's a neat trick... I didn't know I could do that.
“Morganna should not be enslaved again. We are better than that. But neither should this pack be endangered for the act of rescuing her. I have an idea...”
The council vote went my way in the end. Now, I just have to persuade Morganna. Aaron was delighted with my little show – he couldn't stop himself from putting his arm around me and hugging me. I'm pretty sure that got him some disapproving looks from the elders but I really don't care. It feels good to know that Aaron supports me.
It's decided that Angus, Tavey and I are the best ones to approach Morganna with my plan. She's currently holding it together, just. We're risking sending her over the edge with this. I think Tavey and I can fashion a binding bracelet – based on the one she gave me when I was a kid - to hold her power at bay.
There'll be nothing to stop her taking it off, but it will mean that she is able to heal as a person without any emotional surges setting off major majik events like earlier. I'm just not sure how she'll take the idea. It's a big risk.
Angus starts by apologising for hitting her, he tearfully explains he thought she was going to kill herself or someone else if her power surge couldn't shut off. He says he never wants to have to do that again. I see Morganna's face soften – at least she recalls who Angus is now, so it's a good start.
“Do you remember when I was little?” I ask quietly “I don't remember the first few years, but when I was maybe 4 or 5 you used to visit and take me on all sorts of amazing trips”
“We had such fun, eh Freya” she smiles in return “you were fiery even at that age.”
“You must have been worried that whatever spell you were using to hide us wasn't working as I grew up? You gave me a present. A bracelet” I pause.
Morganna's face darkens, and the room gives a tremor. I see Angus brace himself but I nudge him to stay still.
“You remember why you gave me it Morganna?”
“You... you're my daughter” she gasps, tears standing out in her eyes “the Coven found out I was still alive. I knew it wouldn't be long before they tracked me down, then they might find you. I couldn't visit you any more.”
The lights in the room start to flicker, and I have to stand in the way to stop Angus from moving towards Morganna.
“I made a binding spell... so long as you wore the bracelet your powers were suppressed. It wasn't difficult to make one that would cover the powers of an underage witch. But I didn't know if I'd see you again. I had to fashion a spell that would suppress your powers when you came of age.
I was right to worry – they caught me soon after. The bracelet - it was the only way to keep you safe” She looks at me apologetically and I see my way in.
“I don't know what you've been through Morganna, I can only guess. But I do know that you aren't safe here if you loose control the way you did earlier. The pack barely accept Tavey and I, and they're already very wary of you. We all have to learn to trust each other. Would you let Tavey and I fashion a charmed bracelet for you?”
She wails, then her whole stature seems to grow bigger and her shadow longer, as if she's taking up the room with her power “You want to control me! My own daughter!” she screeches and the lights go out. The room starts to shake violently. My grip on the conversation is slipping.
“No,” I say quietly, refusing to battle her “you will be the one to put it on and take it off.”
Morganna stills and looks at me.
“Like you did for me as a child... I'm asking you, mum, put it on and until it's safe do not take it off. But at no point will there be anything to stop you removing it, if you choose to.”
Her shadow is filling the room and a heavy darkness flickers in the corners. A feeling of dread gnaws in my stomach. My inexperience means I'm no match for this witch if it comes to a battle of majik. I force my negative thoughts down and square my shoulders, trying to force space for my own energy into the room.
“So, Morganna, mum, will you choose to help yourself?”
The lights sputter then flicker on, and the room stops shaking. Morganna is once more just a wraith like figure who looks too skinny to stand up without support. She leans heavily on Angus who rushes to her side, she stares into my face. She gives a tiny, imperceptible nod.
In the end Morganna helps Tavey and I research how best to create the spell. It almost feels like some parent-child bonding as we bicker qui
etly over the best materials and stones to use in the bracelet to compliment the cast.
She tells us, slowly, haltingly about the night Angus thought she'd died. She and her new daughter were flung to the ground in the blast, and she was knocked unconscious. When she came around she sensed the Coven approaching and tried her best to escape. Having just given birth to twins, she was physically weak and her majik was severely depleted. She managed to mask her presence as far as the edge of the woods, then had to let the spell drop in order to concentrate all her energy on fast-flowing away, carrying her baby.
She recalls how she'd would have gotten away with it had not there been some very powerful Coven members present. Weaker witches wouldn't have sensed her from that distance, but they caught her trail and went after her.
Nearing the end of her reserves Morganna was giving up hope when a new threat appeared. She was cornered by three vampires.
I recoil in shock, I didn't realise that vampires were a thing. What other fairytale creatures are real?!
Morganna pauses in her story, glancing at me. She explained how the vampires seemed unnaturally interested in her daughter, in me, and so increasingly alarmed she prepared to fight them. It didn't matter the threat – Coven or vampires, no-one was harming her only surviving child while she still had enough breath to fight.
She suddenly looks tired, and starts to wind up the story quickly. In the end, she didn't need to fight them. They helped her escape the Coven and hid her, and her baby, for days afterwards, until she regained enough strength to cast a lasting spell to keep them both off the Coven's radar. She smiles sadly – it was this spell that broke the connection with Angus that might have let them find each other.
While she was inside the vampire's castle, she could sense nothing in the outside world, and assumed Angus and her baby boy were dead. Once her spell was woven, nothing, not even a mate bond, could recognise her. She admits only discovering they were still alive long after the Coven captured her.
Morganna concludes her story by cursing the Coven to beyond the grave, blaming them for the years of hardship I endured as a child, for her separation from her fated-mate and for everything they did to her once they finally caught her. Before she can get too riled up, we present her with the finished bracelet.
She takes it hesitantly and slips it on grimacing. I walk up to her and demonstrate the quick release catch that's built in.
“If you need, or want, your majik Morganna... it's there”
She nods, looking slightly happier and excuses herself.
Over the next few days and weeks Morganna seems to regain a lot of her physical strength. She manages a few simple meditations without the bracelet on, and we have no more episodes of her majik being out of control.
As much as I'm gloating when the council applaud me for my idea, a little part of me is worried. Really worried. Whenever she has that bracelet off I am overwhelmed by the malevolent angry aura she gives off.
The air is thick with it around her. I fucking hope I haven't persuaded the pack to harbour trouble. I can't help noticed her rhetoric is becoming more and more hard-line, and goddess knows she had enough to be angry about to begin with. I'm going to have to talk to Aaron about it – it's not something he should be blind to.
Surprisingly, Aaron waves away my concerns. I have to stress to him that her obsession with getting revenge on the Coven might lead to her doing soemething that will endanger the pack. Again, he wafts it away.
Then, he surprises me by admitting he buys into Morganna's approach. He thinks the pack should be doing more to combat the Coven. He's determined to lead them in the right direction – he wants all out war. He's tired of the constant little skirmishes, of hiding from trouble, of avoiding the Coven. He wants them destroyed.
I'm shocked. I knew Aaron was more hands on than his father, but I didn't think his first goal as alpha would be to lead the pack to an outright war. He declares that just as soon as his alpha-blooding ceremony is over he will take a much stricter control over his pack. He will lead and they will obey.
I can't help myself, I burst into tears, I'm so much more emotional these days. I can't help but be distraught over the idea – it seems so pointless to throw lives away when we're not ready for war yet, if ever. Aaron comforts my physically, rubbing my back and kissing my head, but he's not to be shifted from his plan.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Aaron's POV
Things are starting to go my way, finally. I have Freya, and a group of shifters loyal to me specifically- it feels really good. I just need to turn the rest of the pack away from the 'avoid all trouble at all costs' mentality that my father's bred into them over the years. It's not how wolves should think, and at the end of the day we're fucking wolves. Eat or be eaten.
Morganna agreeing to voluntarily wear the suppression charm played into my hands brilliantly. The council have a healthy new respect for Freya as Luna-in-waiting, and I've found a new ally. Morganna's desire for revenge is truly awe inspiring.
Unsurprisingly with everything that's been done to her, Morganna is viciously against everything the Coven are and stand for. She will stop at nothing. She might be the key ingredient we've been missing. I'm hoping, once she's more stable, I can use her to rile up the pack. She is, after all, the wife of their old and much beloved beta.
Preparation for my blooding-in ceremony as alpha has begun. The pack can't wait any longer. Freya will stay as Luna-in-waiting and won't be recognised as Luna officially until she turns twenty-five. I'm already of age so I can officially take control now.
Normally we would wait in the wings until we're both old enough, but the council agree that between my father and I – I'm now the stronger alpha. The pack needs every little advantage there is against the Coven. And a blooding-in ceremony is an excuse for a celebration- and hell do we need that right now too. It'll be a good opportunity to solidify the pack, and rekindle the bonds between our neighbours.
Freya will be fomally introduced as our future Luna. I fucking hope there's isn't too much bad feeling from the packs involved in the failed Luna Rite – I want them onside.
I need to work out if other packs have had as much trouble with the Coven. My father let the ties between us slip the past few years. If they're having problems too - it might work in my favour, maybe we can find some new allies in this fight.
Aurora will have turned eighteen by the time of the ceremony too. She might find her fated-mate when the packs gather... it would get her away from Lyell. I grin to myself. I didn't even truly believe in fated-mates until recently and here I playing matchmaker!
It's worrying me though, that she still doesn't have her wolf back. Shifters gain their wolf at sixteen, with some appearing a little earlier, to give us time to forge the bond between wolf and person. Then from eighteen we gain the ability to sense our mate, if we have one out there.
I don't really understand how it works to be fair, but part of being able to sense your mate involves your wolf. Without it, there's no guarantee she'll recognise him, although he might recognise her. My other gut-wrenching worry for her is, if she's still without her wolf, her mate might reject her. The prospect of a wolf-less shifter as a mate could easily be enough to sway a lesser man. I won't let that happen to my baby-sister.
I catch Morganna off guard one day. The pack grudgingly trust her enough to allow her to wander around on her own, and Angus has finally stopped trailing her like a puppy.
When she told me she had various memory blanks from her time as the Coven's hostage it was a gut-punch. I was hoping she'd know something about how the shifter's lost their wolves. I could sense it's been frustrating her deeply- it's fucking frustrating me. I know she's only done basic grounding majik with the bracelet off, but I need her to extend herself.
“Morganna, a word?” I ooze alpha, this isn't a request. She dips her head in acknowledgement “Are the pack making you feel more at home?”
“Yes, Alpha. They don't trust me, but ...” she
trails off looking cross
“Hardly surprising Morganna” I snip. I need her a little rattled “Our experience of the Coven has taught us to distrust witches. And as soon as you had your power you nearly brought down my pack house.”
“I hate the Coven. Don't dare associate me with them” her voice rises in a challenge although she pokes the ground with a toe, refusing to meet my eye.
“Hm. Perhaps there is a way to prove that, and earn your place here”
Morganna's head snaps up and she looks directly at me. “Tell me...alpha”
Hmm. At least there's a nod to submission there, however weak, and I need her right now. “How are the Coven separating shifters from their animals? I need to know. I need my sister with a wolf and...” I pause unsure how much to tell this unstable witch.
“You want to reverse it” Morganna states matter of factly, shooting me a calculating glance “if you could reverse it, you would gain the loyalty of all those separated, and likely their packs' loyalty too”
“Very good. You think like a strategist, when you think” She inhales sharply at the barb.
“You... you have a point” She swallows “I don't remember. I already told you.”
“I took that on board Morganna. The hostages also can't remember what happened. You will use you majik to look into their memories. If you do that, you will have proved yourself.”
Her eyes glint “I can look, but what happens if I loose control?”
She's not dumb. She knows she's unstable and a risk – to us, herself and her tenuous position here. “I'll take responsibility Morganna. I am asking you to do this – if it goes wrong it's on my shoulders”
She regards me for a long moment, then gives a tense nod. She takes off her suppression charm and, to my surprise, hands it to me “get it back on if there's a problem.”
I noise up Carl, perhaps the toughest of the newly recruited shifters. He was a rogue wolf-shifter before being captured by the Coven and knows how to look after himself. He's young, angry and eager for revenge... but without his wolf he's got little chance against the Coven.