Chapter Sixty Seven

Chapter Sixty Seven
Iris Pov

My heart pounded rapidly when the witch's eyes fell on me. Even though Darius had rubbed sage oil on my fur, I still panicked.

I exhaled when she looked away, but the bigger fear lay ahead. The closer we got, the more my chest tightened. The strong scent of dark wolves filled the air.

My heart stuttered.

Could it be that Mother didn’t get my last message? Did I not deliver it? I know I did, I remember saying it. And what about the message Darius sent across?

Damnit!

Why is the scent still this strong?

The witch halted by the grove entrance, her chanting shifting into something sharper.

At this point, it’s obvious the messages weren’t sent across, and before any of my kind dies, I will make sure I take all the whites here. I fixed my eyes on the grove. As I moved closer to the Bloodoak Alpha, I knew exactly where I would start.

But something stopped me.

“There’s something wrong here,” the witch announced, then started chanting words. It began slowly, then started going faster, until the only thing you could see was the rumbling of her lips. “There’s no one here. They left before we got here, and the scent was left on purpose, to slam it in our faces that they were here, but we couldn’t get them.”

My heart eased, but I tried to mask the feeling deep inside and push forth annoyance.

The other Alpha let out a loud growl, and Lucian snapped, shifting to his human form and moving closer to the witch, snarling furiously.

“What the fuck are you talking about?!"

"Come see for yourself, they fled!"

"This was all a lie. You knew they were not here, you sold us false hope,” he growled, his eyes igniting with accusing rage.

“Don’t blame me,” she bit back, Blame yourselves. There’s a traitor among you,” she scoffed, rising higher. She pulled the bamboo aside, leading us in, Lucian and the other Alpha searching around, not finding anything.

I concealed my relief.

“Fuck,” Lucian cursed. “The air in here smells so bad. I can't believe we missed our chance to wipe these scums from the earth completely!”

My heart tightened, realization hitting hard. He will never accept me.

I pulled back, leaving the bamboo.

Why do I keep hurting myself, thinking this is going to be anything? For how long will I lie to myself?

I heard the witch furiously walking out; I wondered what her own agenda was. I need to ask Mother what she did to offend this witch; our war was with the wolves; witches only went in the direction of their benefits.

“I should have gone to the Council instead of you both,” she grumbled, and with that, she turned around and disappeared.

“No white wolf will ever betray their kind,” Lucian snarled at the space she just exited, his jaw tightening and fists clenching at his sides, eyes blazing with fierce conviction.

“Except if there was an invisible dark wolf around,” a Blood Oak warrior who had shifted replied, his lips curling in frustration.

“The last one with the invisible ability was killed. The Council confirmed it. Fuck,”  Lucian cursed, his voice trembling with barely contained rage. The veins appeared on his forehead, his fists clenched beside him.

Then he shifted and began to run, his white fur vibrating with rage in the distance.

My heart was filled with regret… I don’t even know what I was regretting, but seeing him like that hurt my soul.

“Go after him,” Darius ordered his warriors. “We don’t want what happened last time to repeat itself.”

I wanted to run along with them, but Darius lunged in front of me, making me halt.

I was about to protest when we heard movement from the entrance. He shifted to communicate with the Alpha.

“We'll see you guys some other time?” Alpha of the Blood Oak pack asked as he gathered his men.

“Yes,” Darius answered, “I'm taking her to take human transport instead of the furious run Lucian has chosen. She's been stressed out enough. I'm sure we'll get more accurate intel soon,” he added.

“Yes, you're right. We'll increase patrols and hire more spies; they can't be too far from here.”

They exchanged handshakes, and we watched them leave.

Then he turned around to me, the fake pleasantness falling off, replaced by rage.

“Do you think he’s going to accept you when he marks you and sees who you truly are?” Darius snapped through the mind-link, his eyes narrowing angrily at me. “I’m glad you tagged along to see what happened, to see how much he hates our kind.”

His words drew me back to reality. I shifted and sat by the tree, sadness drawing thick clouds above me.

“It’s hard, but it’s your choice to make. Even if you don’t reject him, stay away until you master your ability,” he breathed, coming to sit next to me. “I chose this life because I didn't have a choice, but now I do. We are the saviours of every dark wolf. You are going to stop us from being hunted, and I'm going to protect you until you're strong enough. But you have to let me. You have to choose."

My fingers dug into my palm, stopping when I touched my blood.

But his words hit home; I should have come to the same realization on my own.

“Fate brought me to the park, and I clearly see why,” I muttered, though my voice wasn’t as steady as I wanted. “I’m the Saviour of the dark wolves, and I accept my responsibility.”

“Thanks be to the goddess. But hey, don't fret. We will go gradually till you master your ability. First things first, let’s get to the witch’s house. Your tattoo is going to put us at risk soon if we don't get it covered,” he said, getting up and dragging me along. “Good thing it’s not far from Glamclaw Pack.”

We shifted and ran off.

By the time we reached the witch’s house, it was almost midnight. I had expected we would stop at a hut in the middle of the bush or some unusual location, but this seemed pretty normal to me, although it was a little isolated from the nearest pack. We shifted as we got close.

Darius knocked slightly at the wooden door, and a few seconds later, a blonde-haired woman, probably in her early thirties, opened it with a wide smile.

“Hi, Darius! Long time,” she said, pulling him into a hug.

“Good to see you again, Lena,” he greeted, pulling away and turning to catch my expression. I rolled my eyes as our eyes met and looked away.

“Hi, dear,” the witch finally realized there was a second person in the room. “Come in.”

Oh… I don’t deserve a hug, I see