The Witch Prophecy

by Mary Goldberger

  “If the room had rejected you,” Jed suddenly said, “then we could’ve done the spell in another room, but this room is the most powerful in the house.”

  Caden looked over at that news and would have made a comment if he hadn’t spotted the books on the table pushed against the wall.

  He walked over to it picking up a book that had a bookmark in it and opened it going over the page. His jaw tightened at what he was reading, and Jed glanced over at him as he felt Caden’s anger come back.

  “Push everything else aside, Caden,” Cicely told him not looking up from lightening the candles she had placed in a circle.

  Caden glanced up meeting Jed’s eyes, and those silver eyes were narrowed on him. Caden took a deep breath to calm him and his wolf stilled although his anger was just as high.

  “We are ready,” Cicely said in the silence.

  Caden turned to her as she straightened up giving him a look before she waved her hand to indicate the center of the circle.

  Caden put down the book and walked to where she had indicated, and as he entered the circle his wolf howled lightly before he relaxed inside his mind.

  “Sit down, Caden.” Cicely moved around the room as she told him this and Caden did as she directed.

  He sat down in the middle and he flinched slightly when the candles lit up instantly.

  Cicely positioned herself in front of him and Jed stood behind him as they closed their eyes, and began to chant with their hands clasped in front of them.

  Caden’s eyes widened slightly as his vision began to get cloudy, but his wolf was silent not sensing any danger.

  “Just relax,” Jed spoke softly as their chanting ceased.

  Then suddenly a male voice called out. “Abella, is that you?”

  Caden jerked in surprise as he glanced up to see a man appear before him and he went to glance at Jed and Cicely when his wolf spoke to him softly.

  They can’t see him.

  Caden swiftly got to his feet although he felt sluggish as he rose to his full height to meet the man eye-to-eye.

  The man looked him directly in the eye and said clearly, “Who are you?”

  Caden watched as he looked around the room before turning his now narrowed gaze back to him. “I sense my daughter’s essence in this room, but she isn’t here.”

  “No,” Caden said shortly meeting him as directly as he was being met although he cleared his throat before he continued. “We have reason to believe that witch hunters have taken her.”

  “Damn,” the man said running a hand through his hair, and Caden was amazed that for a ghost, or whatever one wanted to call him, he seemed so alive.

  “I hoped that when she left my relatives they would’ve left her alone, but I should’ve known better. It would be a triumphant for him to get my daughter.”

  “Who?” Caden asked bluntly.

  The man directed his gaze to him and kept it there as he answered. “I was good at my job,” Caden watched as he flinched slightly at his own words. “But unfortunately I had a younger cousin who wanted to prove that he was better than me. When he learned I married a witch, it gave him great pleasure to track us down although it pissed him off that Abella was stronger than he thought.”

  “Where would he take her?” Caden was confused by her father’s words, but the most important thing at the moment was to learn where Abella might be.

  Caden watched as Abella’s father expelled a long breathe. “I’m not completely sure as we had many places where we would take witches for interrogation.” The grimace he gave after those words let Caden know that more happened in these places then he mentioned. “He may have taken her to the woods where he attacked us but I think that would a stretch.”

  Caden blew out a frustrated breathe and Abella’s dad looked at him observing his reactions and how his eyes changed.

  “You are a werewolf,” he said with a frown. “Her mom believed after she met that male wolf when Abella was only a couple months old that one day Abella would meet an Alpha and their destinies would unfold. She was worried at the same time although she wouldn’t tell me why.” He smiled slightly the next moment. “I think she was worried I would take us farther away if she had mentioned it.”

  Caden couldn’t comment at what he was just told, but he wondered what her mother had been worried about. He heard his wolf murmur something to him that sounded like the first werewolf but Caden wasn’t exactly sure he heard him correctly.

  “Sir,” Caden said pushing his wolf’s words to the back of his mind for the moment. “Did you ever meet an Alpha Female named Brody?”

  The man frowned before he said slowly, “In person, no, but we talked on the phone. She wanted to know what that male wolf wanted when he came to visit me. I told her that he wanted me to hunt down a wolf who had taken his mate. She got quiet after my words, but I told her the truth.”

  “And that was?” Caden asked without caution.

  He smiled before he answered Caden’s question. “He lied to me for one. He told me that his mate cheated on him, but when I did my initial investigation, it seemed like he did more cheating on her than she did on him. I also learned that she wasn’t his true mate and so I figured she was an Alpha Female, and as the mate of an Alpha Female could give him status although he would never be an Alpha no matter what he did. I told your mother that she deserved to be happy and if she found that with another than the one she was forced to accept than it was her right.”

  Caden frowned wondering how he had learned all of this before he asked, “Then why did my mom want to meet you?”

  “She heard Abella cry in the background and I could hear the excitement in her voice when she heard her. Almost the same excitement my wife got when we met the male wolf days earlier,” he explained. He looked at Caden with a roguish smile, “If you want to know how I got my information, remember I was a hunter and more importantly, my wife was a very talented and skillful witch.”

  He looked around the room a thoughtful look on his face before he turned back to Caden who grimaced slightly at being read so easily.

  “Abella trusts you,” her father told him bluntly. “If she hadn’t, you wouldn’t have been allowed in this room. I watched as my own father was thrown out of my wife’s when he tried to force his way in, and that was before we were married. These rooms respond to the emotions of the witch who created it so it only allows one person who isn’t of witch blood entrance, which I believe you already know.”

  Caden nodded his head in agreement and the man held out his hand to Caden. “David Deans. As my daughter trusts you, Caden Brody, then so shall I.”

  Caden shook hands with the man a little stunned that he knew his name, and noting how real he felt although he was cold.

  David laughed before telling him, “I have to go, but before I leave I will advise you to check the woods where we were attacked although I seriously doubt that he took her there. If they are not there, I would suggest checking our old house.” He stopped suddenly a thoughtful look on his face as if he was listening to someone before a soft smile crossed his face as he refocused back on Caden. “Abella’s mother wants me to tell you that Abella will come to you before you find her.”

  “What?” Caden asked in shocked surprise but David disappeared with a smile giving him no answer although he did say one last thing. “Goodbye, Jed.”

  Caden watched as the room cleared as Cicely and Jed leaned forward in exhaustion.

  “He was always a wiseass,” Jed said, but there was a slight smile on his face as he straightened up.

  “So we need to check the area where they were attacked or where they lived,” Cicely stated informing Caden that they may haven’t been able to see David, but they were able to hear everything that was being said.

  “Yes, but I don’t understand what David meant by his last statement,” Caden said deep in thought.

  Cicely and Jed looked at each other before she admitted, “We do, but I want you to promise Caden that if Abella does
come to you that you notify us immediately.”

  Caden scowled but he nodded his head as an uneasy feeling entered him and his wolf shifted slightly.

  “Let’s go,” Jed said quietly looking around the room as Cicely waved her hand blowing out the candles.

  “Wait.” Caden spoke roughly as they headed for the door and they turned to look at him. “Can I take these out of here?”

  “Abella trusted you, Caden, so this room is open to you now,” Jed informed him.

  Caden gathered the books in his arms and after making sure that he had them all, he followed Cicely and Jed out of the room.

  He gasped though after Jed closed the door, he could still see it even though Jed had waved his hand as if trying to make it disappear.

  “Like we said, the room is open to you now,” Cicely told him understanding his sudden intake of breath.

  “Although you two saw it before, it surprised me that it doesn’t look like a normal wall as it did earlier,” Caden commented shaking his head as they headed to the living room.

  Jed stopped in the middle of the living room and chuckled as Cicely shook her head at his words. “We can’t see the door, Caden, but we can sense it so we know where it is in general to uncover and open it.”

  Cicely laughed at him as she said, “The only two people who can see that door is you and Abella. Not even Jessa would be able to see it if she walked down this hallway.”

  Caden closed his eyes as Jed transported them back to the pack house just as he transported them to Abella’s house.

  They reappeared in the office that was empty at the moment and Caden walked around his desk placing his mother’s diaries in the center.

  “Caden,” Jed said quietly as a knock sounded on the door.

  Caden looked up at Jed although he called out, “Come in.”

  The door opened to reveal Timothy and Jessa who closed the door behind them as they entered.

  “Timothy, gather at least six of our best fighter wolves,” he began not taking his black eyes off of Jed’s silver eyes. “We need to go hunting.”

  Timothy nodded his head his eyes questioning and he was just about to do as requested when Jed said sternly, “Wait, Timothy.”

  Caden frowned fiercely at the command, but Jed didn’t back down from the look. “Caden, Cicely and I will check out those two areas.”

  “Jed,” Caden began his tone harsh although Jed detected the worry threaded within it.

  Jed held up his hand stopping Caden’s words before he added. “It will be easier for us to go in and search the area,” Jed reminded him. “Besides, I know where the locations are at and you don’t.”

  Caden scowled at that knowing Jed was right, not that it made him feel any better or his wolf.

  “If we find her, we will bring her back here,” Cicely promised although privately she believed that Abella would show up before they would get to her.

  Caden didn’t like their plan, but he trusted them to find Abella as he collapsed into his chair.

  Jed stepped forward placing a hand on his shoulder. “We will get her back, Caden. That is a promise.”

  “I hope so,” Caden whispered dropping his head into his hands as his wolf howled in agony.

  Over the top of his head, Jed and Cicely glanced at each other with sympathy at what he was going through as Caden slumped back in his seat lifting his head from his hands.

  “When are you going to check out the areas?” Caden asked looking at them.

  Jed looked at Cicely who nodded before turning to Caden. “I need to make a stop by the library then we will leave,” she told him in soothing voice.

  Jessa asked from where she stood next to Timothy by Caden’s desk, “Do you think that Abella is in either one of those places?”

  Jed and Cicely looked at each other, but before they commented Caden spoke up his voice full of sadness, “No, as her father said when we talked. I think Abella’s father was correct in his assumption that his cousin wouldn’t take her to any place easy to find.”

  Jessa looked over at Jed and Cicely with wide eyes and they both nodded their head confirming what Caden said.

  “We believe that she won’t be in these two places,” Jed said his silver eyes sad. “Unfortunately, the witch hunters have too many places they use for us to check every single one even if we knew where they were all located.”

  “It is our best bet at the moment,” Caden said gravely from his seat.

  Cicely walked over to Caden and put a hand on his shoulder as she said softly, “You will see Abella again, if you truly want to see her.”

  Caden glanced up at those words and said with much feeling, “We both do, Cicely.”

  Cicely nodded her head giving his shoulder a squeeze before releasing it as Jed said, “Ready to go?”

  She nodded her head as they both disappeared and Caden tilted his head back looking up at his ceiling before he shook it trying to clear it.

  “What is going on with the account, Timothy?” He asked suddenly bringing his head down and Timothy looked at Jessa who nodded her head as Caden opened up a drawer and pulled out a file.

  “Well,” Timothy said as he sat down in the chair as they began to discuss any other actions that needed to be taken.

  Jessa listened for a while until she silently left the room knowing that right now, Caden was using the pack situation to keep his mind occupied so he didn’t allow his wolf to take over as he did before.

  Hours later, Caden jerked his head off his desk realizing that he must have fallen asleep after Timothy had left because he wanted to work some more instead of going to bed worrying about Abella.

  “Damn it,” he murmured rubbing both hands down his face as the door opened quietly.

  “Caden,” Jessa whispered into the room, and Caden leaned forward to flip the switch on his lamp.

  “Yes, Jessa,” he said wearily glancing up at her, and she sighed gently her own eyes red from crying.

  “Go to bed,” she advised walking over to the desk. “We can’t do anything until Jed and Cicely return. Tomorrow we can do more especially with clearer heads with us.”

  Caden sighed as he pushed himself to his feet knowing that Jessa was right, even though he still felt that he should have went with them.

  “Come on,” Jessa told him stubbornly only to grin when Caden glanced up at her with a narrowed gaze. “That look doesn’t work on me, dear brother.”

  “I guess not,” Caden admitted as they headed out of the office and up the stairs.

  “Caden,” Jessa said as they reached her room. “Abella will be okay because she is stronger than we think.”

  Caden didn’t say anything as he nodded his head and told her, “Go get some sleep and I will see you tomorrow.”

  Jessa yawned as Caden opened the door pushing her lightly inside before closing it behind with a slight smile on his own face.

  He headed to his own room where he hoped that he didn’t encounter Jenna because his temper, not including his wolf’s temper, were on edge and he didn’t feel like dealing with her tonight.

  He heaved a sigh of relief when he locked his door behind him before he started up the short staircase to his attic room.

  He froze when a smell reached his senses and his wolf snarled inside him.

  Quietly, he walked up the last few steps to stop as a dark look came over his face. Lying in his bed was a scantily clad Jenna fast asleep and Caden restrained the urge he had to snatch her out of his bed before he threw her out of the room.

  Instead, with one last dark look at the bed his fists clenched tightly, he turned silently on his sneakers and left the room.

  He went back down to his office where he locked the door behind him and collapsed on the couch.

  His eyes closed on a heavy sigh as he threw an arm over his eyes as he thought about Abella and wondering how she was doing. He had a grim look on his face when something told him she was seriously hurt and yet, he couldn’t help her because he didn’t even know in
which direction she was taken.

  “Some damn sign of where they took her would be nice,” he murmured in the empty room before exhaustion claimed him.

  Chapter 26

  Two weeks later, Timothy went downstairs stretching his back as he headed for the office to get Caden for their early morning practice session. Ever since Caden found Jenna in his bed, he hadn’t returned to his attic bedroom except to get clothes until he could replace the mattress. Also Jenna was making a habit out of sleeping there every night on the off chance that Caden would finally return to his room, but she was out of luck. Caden rarely set foot in his room unless he needed some clothes before taking a shower in Jessa and Timothy’s room.

  As he went to knock on the office door, Caden called out, “Come in, Timothy.”

  Timothy frowned slightly as he opened the door because he knew Caden hadn’t been sleeping well since Abella’s abduction and now, he couldn’t even sleep in his own bed. Timothy knew that he reason he didn’t confront Jenna was because he would lose his, and his wolf’s temper, on her in a way that would give Devin new ammunition against him.

  He smiled smugly when he remembered the day Devin and Trixie came storming back to the pack house after learning that their plane reservation had been moved to an earlier flight.

  When Devin stormed into the office where they were doing some paperwork, Caden had merely lifted his head giving him a hard stare before he returned to the paperwork and told him in a flat voice, “I don’t know what you are talking about, Devin, because I didn’t know about any trip you had planned.”

  Devin had gritted his teeth at him, but Caden ignored it as he continued on with the paperwork.

  After he left, Caden lifted a narrowed gaze to the door before muttering, “You should hope that is all I do to you.”

  Timothy shook his head ruefully remembering how Caden’s tone sent a shiver down his back and he didn’t fear Caden as his Beta and friend.

  “Can you help move some things around in my room later?” Caden now asked from the desk where he was shifting through some papers.