102 - What do you mean ‘they’re missing’?
102 - What do you mean ‘they’re missing’?
Greg
“Where is your Alpha?” the young witch asks with a tense urgency, as she barges into the living room where I’m aimlessly watching a talk show on TV.
Truth is, it’s been a while since I saw Nicholas and I haven’t seen Nel since last night, which is weird, as it’s past midday. I turn to her, quirking my brow.
“Is something wrong, Jean?”
“Everything is wrong!” she all but shouts. “They went for a swim and have been away for hours.”
“And?”
I don’t get it. They’re not prisoners. Why should they report to her when they leave for a swim and when they return?
“Linda called. She had placed a ward for the amulet and it crossed it.”
“English, please, Jean.”
“The amulet has left Eastport. So either someone attacked them and took it, or Nicholas, and I can safely assume Eleanor too, are gone.”
Bob
“Did you call for me, Matt?” I casually ask, entering Nick’s familiar office, but stop in my tracks at the image I face.
Matt is slumped in Nick’s chair with his head buried in his hands. In front of the desk, Elder Marco is sitting in one of the armchairs, looking like his old, aloof and bone-chilling self, which he had sort of improved after the recent course of events. I can’t say I missed it…
What really catches my attention is the woman, more or less at his age I would dare guess, pacing nervously back and forth in the middle of the room. Her surrounding aura is dancing wild and her eyes look almost aflame. Her frustration floods the entire area as she’s mumbling something that I can’t understand and moves her hands in the same gesture again and again. After several repetitions of the complete act, she halts and sighs, exasperated.
“It’s no use. I can’t locate them…”
Locate who? It’s not my place to interrupt, even though it was Matt that called me. They didn’t so much as acknowledge me when I entered, so I guess one of them will sooner or later drop their reverie and come out of their bubble to explain to me.
As if on cue, Matt raises his glance and sees me.
“Oh, Bob! You’re here…”
Both Marco and the woman turn to face me. Her characteristic unnaturally deep stare is unsettling for my wolf, who whimpers and runs in circles in my mind. It doesn’t take a genius to guess she’s the witch Marco met with.
“This is Linda. Her coven has been helping Nel and Nicholas to hide after an attempted ambush,” Matt explains.
“Nice to meet you, Linda!” I say and extend my hand, but she doesn’t return my gesture. Instead, she approaches me and places two fingers on each of my temples. A slight bolt of energy runs through me, like a mild electroshock, which forces me to take a couple of steps back and growl at her.
“Don’t get all jumpy, pup. The situation is critical. I needed to make sure we can trust you,” she says.
My growling gets even fiercer. Who does she think she is coming into our own house to insult us?
“Anyone care to explain to me what’s going on? I’m more useful when I know what we’re up against.” I reply.
“Long story short, young man, these two together with Greg were supposed to stay under the cover of my coven. However, for some reason, they left the area and are yet to return.”
“Well, I would require a lot more information before offering an answer as a Commander. My first, possibly rushed reaction would be to assume both of them are grown-up enough to make their own choices. There must be a reason behind their decisions.”
My words seem to infuriate the witch, but Marco turns to me with a grin I could almost call warm. Matt does nothing, which is so unlike him.
“Very smart answer, young man, but at your age, you lack the experience. So let me inform you that the previous time someone, who this damned coven had targeted, disappeared like that, the next thing I knew was that they brought them back to me in coffins. Losing her parents was already more of a defeat than I could afford. I won’t stand by when Eleanor might be in danger.”
My eyes glint at the rare opportunity to ask questions about the past with Marco present. Judging by her words, the witch knows at least as much as him about the period of my inquiry. So maybe now is my time to finally understand their motives and connections.
“I respect that, but if you could solve this issue on your own, I am most certain you’d have done so without requesting our help. I don’t suppose you appeared because Matt summoned you. So why don’t we start by you two explaining to us what happened back then? Please feel free to not spare us the details. I’ve done my homework, and believe me when I say nobody can do that better than me, and I’m positive all our answers commence from there.”
Marco seems unwilling, but Linda is seriously considering it. They share a weird glance. I wonder what their connection might be. Matt has also risen and stares at both of them. I’ve often wondered if he knows something more than he lets on, too. If the way he’s glaring at his uncle is any sign, he sure does, but not the complete picture, and it’s tormenting him as well. After a while, the aloof Elder sighs and stands up, takes his phone out of his pocket and without a word exits from the office. When he returns, his gaze alternates between each of us, last landing on his nephew.
“Where does your Alpha keep his drinks? Sit back comfortably, everybody. Please allow my tired brain some time to gather my thoughts. This is a very long story and we’ll need both time and some liquid courage…”
Unknown
“Why are you here, Karen? Didn’t I tell you it’s too dangerous to show up like this?”
She peers at me in shock at my reprimanding tone. It’s true that I had to allow her much more freedom than I would under normal circumstances to keep the force of my influence on her alive. Witchcraft is wild and demands emotional separation to preserve the space needed to excel at it. But as a leader, I must make some sacrifices for the coven. Preserving our alliance with a large portion of the Golden Moon is worth giving up a small part of my liberty.
We’ve been through much, side by side, in all the years of our acquaintance. After Nicholas took over as Alpha, it was too tricky to achieve our goals. As a true-blooded child of the Golden Luna and the Silver Moon, his natural dominance on the heirlooms of the pack soon became too powerful, although unbeknown to him. Charles’ inferiority syndromes kept him in the dark, which was a lucky coincidence for us. However, even without the full picture, he chased us away for a long period. In the first stages, I thought he’d come around. That he’d need our support and return to us, but he only seemed to grow stronger with time. With Charles by his side, even when he grew older and sick, they were invincible.
It was interesting… his pride was so big that even when he realized we had poisoned him; he didn’t share it with his heir. Nicholas, of course, always found it weird how his father got sick and died, but instead of coming to us for advice, he turned to the stupid humans and their science. Shifters age smoothly over a larger span of time compared to humans, and they rarely catch infections or sicknesses. Normal sicknesses that affect the human population don’t touch them at all. Instead, they act like the dogs they really are and kill each other when they should be reigning almost to immortality. The current Alpha of the Golden Moon, though, is an exception. His skills are cold and detached, true to his Silver Moon heritage, but with a strong sense of balance. Damned Auristela, even centuries after her demise, when her actual existence is nearly forgotten and replaced by unrealistic legends, she still poses a threat to us; her own kind.
When he accepted Milton back after Charles’ death, our hopes were refueled, but the selfish bastard was only invested in his own interest. Karen approached him too many times to change his mind and remind him of the oath he took in his youth, but not even her sister could bring him around. He said that man died the day he was exiled and nobody supported him and royally turned his back to us and stood by Nicholas’ side till his end with a genuine loyalty that would have fooled even me if I didn’t know his true colors.
She opens her mouth to excuse herself and her visit here, but a shy knock on my door interrupts her. One of the young stray warlocks I collected recently enters with fear written all over him. There’s still so much for them to learn. A witch or a warlock should never show their authentic emotions in the presence of someone who can exploit them. If they survive the battle, I guess I’ll have to dedicate some time to their training myself or nobody will do it well enough.
“What do you mean ‘they’re missing’?” Karen shouts at the man in front of her. He’s squirming and avoiding her glance, but she won’t relent.
I approach her and place a hand on her shoulder to calm her down and her pulse relaxes in immediate sync with my move.
‘Seems like things just got interesting.’ I think with a smirk.
For the second time in a few days, our prey surprises us. When the snipers failed, I attributed it to the former Beta of the Black Moon and his intervention. Then, when she refuted our ambush, I called it luck, but with a third proof of it, there’s no questioning. Our target is smarter than I predicted and I pretty much doubt Linda would have the intuition to guide her to that move. She’s too confident in her own strength and believes she can protect the little abomination from us. It’s true that she did a much better job than I’d have expected from her or the other descendants of those losers. But time is on my side and we both know it. Otherwise, Linda wouldn’t have left her protégé alone to come here. Did she really think I wouldn’t find out?
I must tread with caution, though. Her bold move either indicates panic or too strong confidence and each of these demands an entirely different approach. Still, no matter what, the answer to all their questions lies here within my territory, where nobody, not even the little abomination, can best me.
I lean into Karen’s embrace and let her engulf me in her arms. Wolf shifters are big and strong, but they tend to be naïve and true softies. Even the wildest barking dog can be tamed with some extra affection.
“Hush, now, love.” I say, caressing her nape with my fingertips. “It doesn’t matter where they are today. All that matters is that there’s no other way to go but to come to us. Everything will go as planned…”
My soft words and my fingers dancing lovingly on her neck and face put her at ease. I guess I don’t need to specify according to what plan things will go. Elaida’s powers are growing by the minute. It would be foolish to go head first against her. After all, why ruin such a wonderful weapon instead of using it? Perhaps this is my chance to solve all my problems in one shot, but Karen doesn’t need to know that, so I just grab her and kiss her deeply. That’s a discussion for another day…
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Hello, hello! It's been a while =( Thank you for your patience! It's been a testing time for me, but hopefully everything is finally better regulated. From now on, I will try to keep the updates regular, most probably twice per week. Please don't forget to let me know how you've been and what you think of this mysterious new person in the comments. Take care everybody!