The Witch Prophecy

by Mary Goldberger

  Caden didn’t comment at this statement although he felt his wolf howl in agreement.

  Dr. Olsen continued, “As for Abella, I really didn’t think she would be able to pay the full amount of the bill when I presented it to her.” He shook his head as he muttered, “I should have known that Jed would have told her about it.”

  At Caden’s questioning look, he explained, “Jed came into the office when Devin called me up about the bill.”

  Caden frowned fiercely at the news before Dr. Olsen said, “Caden, I wasn’t trying to use Abella so much as get you to get upset about Devin going behind your back like he did with your mother. Unfortunately, Abella is a very strong minded woman and she did what I hadn’t expected.” He watched as Caden’s mouth twitched lightly although there was no smile on his face.

  “So explain about my mother’s illness?” Caden asked. “I remember reading about it in her diaries, but I think I did more skimming than I thought.”

  “I will,” Dr. Olsen promised before he added, “Caden, you are a good Alpha just like your father was before you and you don’t have your mother’s softer side. That was the reason why I believed what I was doing because I knew when pushed came to shove, you wouldn’t spare Devin’s feelings or his pride to put him in his place.”

  “Abella messed that up,” Caden said softly, and to his astonishment Dr. Olsen chuckled.

  “Not really,” he proclaimed, “because to be honest, Abella did it for you with one simple word.”

  Caden’s eyes lit with laughter when he understood what Dr. Olsen was talking about, and he had to shake his head to stop himself from laughing aloud.

  “My mother’s sickness,” Caden reminded him sternly.

  Dr. Olsen nodded his head before he confided, “I believe that Devin began poisoning your mom not too long after Jessa’s birth.”

  Caden frowned as he asked, “Why didn’t he start poisoning mom when she was pregnant with Jessa?”

  “You have the file on Jared,” Dr. Olsen reminded.

  Caden nodded his head as his mind began to work over what he remembered from the file, while his wolf snickered that he could recall the contents of the man’s file but couldn’t recall his mother’s diaries. Caden ignored his wolf’s mumbles as the pieces began to fall into place.

  “Devin thought Jessa was his, an heir to the pack, “Caden reasoned slowly. “Although I was the first born, Devin knew that mom planned on me getting an education away from the pack and with me gone, and mom, Jessa would be next-in-line for Alpha. Being too young to actually run a pack, it would have fallen on her father to be the pack leader until she reached of age, or found her mate.”

  Dr. Olsen nodded his head letting Caden talk it out.

  “Then Devin learned that Jessa wasn’t his and decided to speed up the process before I could become of age to challenge him,” Caden stopped her and turned to Dr. Olsen. “Our mom held on until I could rightfully claim the pack without his interference and the pack nomination was a secondary measure.”

  “The pack decided when you were twelve years old that you would be their next Alpha, but your mom wanted to make sure that you would be prepared for the responsibility,” Dr. Olsen confided. “She believed that even Jessa could handle the pack, but you had your dad’s strength in you to never fail no matter what.”

  Caden’s eyes narrowed at this statement as he muttered, “I did though.”

  “No, Caden, you didn’t” Dr. Olsen assured him. “I know you and your wolf won’t believe this, but I am going to say it anyway. You didn’t fail your mate, Caden; she failed you. You gave her everything from the time you claimed her as yours and she threw it all back in your face.”

  Caden turned his back to him noting the lack of response from his wolf at this statement.

  “Devin and Trixie, I believe, were the ones response for the rogue attack a few months back,” Caden revealed without meaning too. Dr. Olsen shock was evident so Caden continued, “That was the first time Abella was used although I think the aim was to make me off balance and look incompetent in front of the pack.”

  Dr. Olsen shook his head as he asked, “But how did he find out about Abella? Not even I knew about her until you and the others came back from where they were holding her.”

  “Devin answered that question himself that night,” Caden explained, and Dr. Olsen eyes widened as he recalled what Devin said that night.

  “He has something else planned,” Caden admitted his voice harsh as Dr Owens began to scowl. “Once I found out what it is, then you will get to see what you wanted to see.”

  Caden looked around the room and sighed in frustration, but Dr. Olsen merely waved it away. “You were upset, Caden.”

  “No reason for this destruction,” Caden said as he began to clean up, and Dr. Olsen sighed gently before he began to help.

  The next day, as Abella and Jessa headed to school, Jessa asked, “Abella, you look terrible. How is that possible when you slept the whole night?”

  Abella only shrugged her shoulders as they walked into the school building. She decided to keep the fact that she stayed up the rest of the night after Caden’s howl woke her up to herself. She tried using her ‘third eye’ as Aunt Cicely called it, but although she was able to get glimpses of Caden in his wolf form, she couldn’t focus enough to stay with him.

  As she headed to her homeroom, she wondered how he was doing today.

  In the infirmary at the pack house, Dr. Olsen looked up in astonishment as the door opened and Caden walked in with a few other members of the pack following him.

  “They are here to fix what was destroyed last night,” Caden said quietly as the pack member grimaced at the destroyed walls, but got to work.

  Dr. Olsen nodded his head and watched as Caden turned around to walk out of the room.

  “Alpha,” he called out hurrying after him as they stepped outside the room. He got straight to the point as he asked, “What happened last night, does that happen often with your wolf like before?”

  Caden sighed as he ran a hand through his hair before he said, “No, in the last few months it only happened that once in the office.’

  After Abella disappeared from the hospital, Dr. Olsen mentally concluded.

  Dr. Olsen was about to say something when Caden’s cell went off and Caden flipped it open roughly before saying a harsh “hello”.

  Then Dr. Olsen watched a transformation occur as Caden’s eyes softened and his body relaxed slightly.

  “I am fine, Abella,” Caden said, and Dr. Olsen watched a shock look cross his face. Whatever the young woman was telling Caden, it had him stunned as he listened before remarking, “I had a rough night, but everything is fine at the moment. There are a few things I need to do so I will call you later. Do you have to work tonight?”

  Caden nodded his head slightly at her word before he said, “Okay, I will talk to you after you get off work.”

  Dr. Olsen listened to the rest of the short conversation, but he had to admit that in his opinion, it revealed a lot and when Caden’s phone snapped shut, he said bluntly, “She was worried about you.”

  Caden nodded his head running a hand through his hair and said with a note of pleasure threaded in his voice, “She said she heard my wolf howling and she caught glimpses of us going crazy. She couldn’t sleep the rest of the night and wanted to see how I was before her next class.”

  “Feels good, huh?” Dr. Olsen asked smugly that Caden looked at him sharply. Dr. Olsen just leaned against the wall and smiled.

  “Yeah,” Caden said gruffly, “it does” before he walked down the hallway heading for his room. He bumped into Jenna in the hallway on his way there.

  “I heard your wolf last night,” she said running the tip of her tongue across her lips. “If you wolf was excited, you should have come to visit me and I would have taken care of your problem.”

  “To be honest, Jenna,” Caden said bluntly, “I doubt it.”

  Without waiting for her response, he co
ntinued on to his new room as his wolf howled in sleepy laughter, and he heard him say she is watching us.

  Caden shrugged his shoulders, but knew that in time there will be a confrontation.

  As he headed up to his room, he informed Timothy that he was going to take a few hours to relax and if he needed him, he knew where he was. Timothy only laughed through the pack link letting Caden know that he knew what happened the night before, and he told him, the pack will be fine for a few hours. You and your wolf get some rest.

  Abella was tired as she headed to work later after school and as she entered the staff room she called out a quiet “good afternoon.”

  She had to admit that she actually enjoyed the job as she was an avid reader even though the pay left much to be desired. Still with what she made weekly added to what she had left from her inheritance and she could stay in her little house until she graduated high school, and then she would do some major rethinking.

  “You look tired,” Cicely told her scanning her with narrowed eyes.

  “Caden had a rough night,” was Abella’s retort without thinking about what she was revealing.

  She didn’t see the way Cicely’s eyes glinted with an emotion of delight before she shielded it.

  “Maybe we should wait,” she began slowly only to stop as Abella shook her head ‘no’.

  Cicely saw the way her eyes drooped even though she was stubbornly shaking her head.

  “We will work on focusing tonight,” Cicely said in a voice full of finality, and Abella scowled knowing that if she pushed Cicely would probably send her home without teaching her anything.

  “I was hoping to talk with my dad,” Abella muttered.

  Cicely heard her and said gently, “You will, honey, but tonight is not a good time with your weariness.”

  Abella conceded that as she nodded her head in defeat and headed to the cart with returned books.

  Caden called her on her break and she laughed when he told her that Timothy let him sleep longer than he wanted, but Abella admitted silently that he sounded better than before.

  He told her that he would like to come over tonight, but there were a few things he had to take care of so he requested if he could see her tomorrow night instead getting an ‘yes’ from Abella. Before hanging up, he told her that he wanted her to call him when she got home but Abella laughed and told him she would talk to him tomorrow as she would be tired when she got home. Caden didn’t like that answer, but he grudgingly accepted it.

  After that phone call, Abella was feeling better although she had a nagging sense of unease that started a few hours before closing time.

  Jessa had been texting her throughout the afternoon, and Abella responded back in turn as she worked, unaware that Cicely observed her throughout the afternoon.

  The nagging unease that was bothering Abella was also bothering Cicely, and she didn’t know what he meant.

  After they locked up for the night, Abella followed Cicely down to her own sanctuary and Cicely pointed again to the middle of the room.

  Abella didn’t argue as she sat down Indian-style in the circle drawn there and closing her eyes taking deep breathes.

  “Once you learn to focus and concentrate on a single person, your ‘third eye’ will begin to become attune to you,” she explained as Abella sat there. “It will respond to your emotions so if you are worried, sad, scared, then it will immediately lock on to the person that those feelings are attached.”

  Abella nodded her head although she had to admit, she didn’t completely understand what Cicely was telling her.

  “You will,” Cicely said confidently. “Now, I want you to think about one person and focus completely on them blocking out any other thoughts.”

  With her eyes still closed, Abella did as Cicely told her and immediately a picture of Caden formed in her head causing her to gasp aloud in shock and the picture started to fade away.

  “Hold on to it,” Cicely commanded, and Abella slowed her breathing as she focused on Caden the picture returning sharply.

  “Now describe what you are seeing,” Cicely said watching her closely noting the pale face.

  “Caden,” Abella whispered. She cleared her throat as she continued, “He is in his office and it looks like he is working at his desk.”

  Abella frowned and Cicely warned her, “Concentrate on him and don’t lose focus.”

  Abella was silent before she continued speaking more softly with a tight note in her voice, “There is a knock at the door and he doesn’t look pleased at the interruption.”

  “Who is at the door?” Cicely asked quietly.

  Abella’s frowned deepened and she breathed out, “One of his pack members, Jenna, and she is coming into the room. She is sitting on the corner of the desk and talking to him although I can’t hear what she is saying.”

  Cicely nodded her head as she told her quietly, “As you learn to control it, you will be able to hear any conversation but right now we are only working to maintain your concentration and focus on a specific person.”

  Abella held still as she said in a tense voice, “She kissed him passionately and leaving the room. Caden watched her leave but he looks…” Abella paused as if was trying to decipher the look. “Angry and he is wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he looks back down on what is on his desk.”

  Cicely made her break the connection after that to focus on someone else.

  For the next hour, Cicely had her think and focus on different people; people she knew and then Cicely tried throwing names at her. Abella found this extremely tiring as she didn’t know these people, and yet she was still able to see them briefly before her focus shifted.

  “Hmm,” Cicely stated quietly as Abella sagged lightly on the floor.

  Abella finally opened her blurry eyes after a few minutes of resting on the floor, and asked, “What did you mean by ‘hmm’, Aunt Cicely?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about right now,” Cicely said with a smile, and called it a night.

  She didn’t tell Abella that it was rare for a person with her ability to see someone even for a second that they didn’t know, or even heard of before. The names she gave Abella where people that she knew and most of them she knew exactly where they were at the time because for those few it was a routine.

  “Be careful going home,” she warned her as they left the sanctuary about twenty minutes later, and Abella smiled.

  As she closed the door behind her, Cicely had a feeling in her gut that something was going to happen, and soon. She headed back down to her sanctuary unaware of how accurate her feeling was as her sanctuary door closed behind her.

  Outside, Abella took a deep breath tilting her head back as the wind blew across her heated face. She sighed heavily as she admitted Cicely was right, it was taxing as if her emotions were being rung dry. Her body felt sluggish and bone tired although she hadn’t moved a muscle the entire time she was in the room except when it was time to leave, and she chuckled aloud at the notion.

  She shook her head and was about to open the door when a chill ran down her spine. She spun around and her stomach knotted in fear as she saw the small crowd of men behind her.

  “Well, now you have grown into a fine woman,” a voice drawled mockingly, and Abella hid the panic that fluttered in her stomach at his voice.

  She knew that voice, as it was the same voice that haunted her dreams since her parents’ death.

  “What do you want?” She said bravely clenching her hands into fists as her mind silently began to focus and start a particular spell that she learned for such an occasion.

  The man laughed before he said smirking, “Why, that is obvious. We want you as we have unfinished business.”

  Abella’s grey eyes flared with anger as she lifted her hands ready to defend herself when suddenly she felt a prick and she looked down stunned at the dart sticking out of her arm.

  “Now, I don’t think we will let you use your devil powers on us,” the man taunted, and
Abella saw blackness as her eyes drifted close and she collapsed to the ground.

  The last thing she heard was, “We finally have her. Wouldn’t Uncle David be proud?”

  Chapter 22

  The next morning, Caden stepped into his office just as the phone rang and he shut the door before heading over to the desk to pick it up on the fourth ring.

  “Caden Brody,” he answered only to frown as he heard the voice on the other end. His frown turned into a hard look as he said sharply, “Can you fax that information to me, please?”

  There was a short confirmation before Caden said an absent ‘thank you’ and hung up the phone. Then he heard the fax machine and as he walked over to the file cabinet that housed the fax machine there was a knock on the door before it opened.

  “Caden, we are off,” Jessa stated as she and Timothy walked into the room.

  “Okay,” Caden said absently as he watched the papers come out. “Have fun.”

  Timothy and Jessa looked at each in bewilderment before they turned back to Caden who had picked up the papers that had stopped coming from the fax machine.

  They both watched as his face became dark with fury and Timothy stepped forward, and asked, “Caden, what’s wrong?”

  Caden turned to him with eyes completely black and he bit out, “Someone has been using the pack funds to buy certain things, which I probably wouldn’t have minded but it is being done in my name.”

  Timothy’s eyes widened as Jessa asked in astonishment, “What are you talking about?”

  Caden sat down on the edge of his desk as he explained, “I got a phone call from a real estate agent a few minutes ago about a house that I recently purchased.”

  Timothy frowned as he shut the door and stepped toward Caden, “You haven’t purchased any houses.”

  “No, I haven’t,” Caden agreed.

  Jessa walked over and threw herself down in a chair. “What in the hell is going on?”