Ch. 40

CHAPTER FORTY:

~Drake:

“I already tried that,” I snapped.

Alec heaved out a breath, his patience waning. “Well, try again anyway.”

I bared my teeth, his attitude instinctually making my more animalistic traits pop out on their own.

Maybe I was wrong about this guy,’ Dane grumbled in my head.

“Seriously?!” I gritted through my teeth, meaning to respond to Dane but saying the word aloud.

I looked at Alec to see a bored look on his face.

“Do I really need to say it?” he drawled.

“Oh just shut up, bloodsucker,” I snapped.

Beth rushed in front of me a blink later, her teeth bared. I hadn’t seen her for what felt like hours. She’d come rushing from seemingly nowhere.

Alec had us stuck in this tiny, hot, stinky room (vamps stink, there’s no getting around it). And we had been trying different meditative techniques to try to reach Avery.

“Dove,” Alec chided from his chair several paces away. “He doesn’t mean it. Mutts can just be very grumpy sometimes. Remember he’s away from his soulmate. Think how that would make you feel…”

Beth’s red eyes died down to their more human blue, and her fangs retracted. But she still stood there, hair wild from her incredible sprint, she heaved breaths as she tried to get a grip. Newly turned vamps were very sensitive, I’ve learned.

Finally her shoulders dropped and I knew she’d gotten back in control. Her eyes flickered to Alec and back to me before she said, “What if this doesn’t work?”

Alec crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Oh it won’t.”

I saw red as I shot a look at him. He just smiled softly.

‘What does that bloodsucker mean?’ Dane growled.

A growl of my own escaped me.

Alec’s smile broadened. “Oh I was just killing time and thought this would be fun.”

I shot straight up to my feet, one arm going to push Beth out of my way.

Half a second and Alec was up, one arm between Beth and I.

His eyes roared red for a long moment as my teeth itched to grow out into a half shift. Before either of us said another word, Alec’s head snapped left.

“Oh good,” he said smugly, rocking back on his foot, one arm still firmly between Beth and me. “She’s here.”

“Listen here-,” Dane and I growled lowly, our voices combining.

Alec shot a hand out, “Now, now, pup.” He grinned, his face relaxed and confident again, not at all deterred by the snarl on my face. “Play nice or I won’t let you speak to my friend.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Now, Beatrix, well she can actually help with this,” he continued to grin.

‘Goddess, just punch him,’ Dane said, annoyed.

I clenched my fist to hit him.

But the second I did I saw Avery. I saw her holding herself together, clenching her fist. The image brought me back out. I couldn’t get caught up in this petty nonsense. I needed to find her. Who knows what she could be going through?

‘Right. Right,’ Dane huffed out, agreeing hastily with our redirection.

I dropped it all right when Alec said, “Follow me.”

He moved quickly, one hand in Beth’s palm, across the space and out the door. We exited the rustic cabin and walked towards a large tent that hadn’t been there before.

‘Ugh, witches,’ Dane shook his head.

As wolves we liked concrete things. Things we could use our senses on. Things you could smell, see, taste, hear, feel. But magic… It made us uneasy. Dane - maybe even more so than other wolves I knew. While my mom had always had a sort of sixth sense, a gift from the Goddess, witches did things that could defy the laws of nature.

The pine needles crunched under someone’s feet inside the tent up ahead. I could smell all kinds of stuffy incense and candles there too. It had to be a witch of a human. Vampires sort of floated through the world, never really making a sound they didn’t want to make, and wolves - well our stealth really was up there. No, the one set of feet crunching around had to be her - this ‘friend’ of Alec’s.

While the guy had really been pissing me off, if there was even a chance that this witch would help me get to Avery, I had to try. This had to be the reason Dane had interrupted my earlier plan.

I followed Alec and Beth until they were a few feet from the tent. The flap of the big grey tent flew open abruptly and the spookiest woman I’d ever seen stood before us. Her eyes were black. Totally black. No white part, no clear pupil. The only thing breaking them up were little specks of… light?

‘She’s been blessed by Cerce, Goddess of Witchcraft. She is no normal witch,’ Dane alerted me, his fur rising on end. ‘She’s dangerous.’

I swallowed.

A broad smile came across her face. “Alecxi,” she greeted. “My dear friend. What has it been? A century?”

“Lady Beatrix, it really has been too long. I am so glad you could come,” Alec stepped forward, giving her a deep bow. “And may I present, my soulmate, Elizabeth.”

“Oh dear, let me look at you,” she beamed. She took Beth’s hands in hers. “Elizabeth, Alecxi has waited centuries for you. And I do think it was worth the wait!”

Beth smiled shyly at Beatrix. She looked a little unsure. I was weirded out. I would have expected Beth to still be very territorial about Alec, but maybe there was something odd about this-

“You,” Beatrix said suddenly, her voice getting very serious.

She had my full attention then. I tensed, my whole body on high alert.

After a long uncomfortable moment she added, “Your mate. She’s being blocked. She has been trying to reach you.”

I felt all the air leave my lungs. Everything hurts. Avery was reaching out to me and I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t help her.

“Where is she?” the dark tone came out of my mouth. Dane speaking through me while my emotions took over.

Beatrix blinked. “That I can’t see clearly.” She closed her eyelids, her face scrunching in thought or concentration. “Hmmm. Odd.”

“What?” I snapped, ready to run off at a moment’s notice if only she’d give me a clue.

“Well, I don’t think… No,” she said mulling over her words. “Alecxi mentioned she had been taken under your Alpha’s order? The mysterious Lycaon involved?”

“Yes,” I said hurriedly.

Her eyes moved under her lids. Rapid movement like she was in some deep sleep.

“That’s not it. Your Alpha is still searching for her. For both of you,” Beatrix concluded, her eyes jotling open.

A frustrated growl left me. I took a step forward.

“You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about. I saw them take her. They TOOK her. Right in front of me. She didn’t want to go with them!” I started to yell.

Beatrix held a hand up as Alec stepped in front of her, likely thinking he could stop me from charging right into her.

“She’s been taken. But not by them. Not by who you think. No, this man… he knows her. This is about your mate. Not you,” her onyx orbs gazed deep into me.

There was something unsettling about what she was saying, about what she had seen. When she didn’t add anything more I pushed.

“Fine. Then that doesn’t matter. I need to find her,” I cracked my knuckles and loosened my shoulders. “What did you see exactly? Where is she being kept? Is she… is she okay?” The worry and emotion in my last few words seemed to bring an easement to her gaze.

A small smile emerged on that otherworldly face.

“Yes Alpha, she is okay. Angry, alone, but okay,” she assured me.

Relief hit me first, and my next instinct was to ask about anything she’d seen that could be a clue. I opened my mouth to ask those kinds of questions, when I paused.

“I’m not-” I started.

“You are,” Beatrix raised her chin confidently.

“I knew it,” Alec grinned devilishly. “She’s something special, no way she’d be mated to some regular-Joe type underling.”

He blinked, turned to Beth and she smiled back at him in return.

“I’m not-,” I huffed and stopped myself. “I don’t - I need to find her. I’ll sort you all out later.” I waved a hand. “Please, Lady Beatrix,” I dropped to my knees, “I will do anything, give you anything, just please help me find Avery.”

“Who is Avery?” I hear Beth whisper too loud.

My gaze turned to her, my eyes narrowed.

“Why, she’s the Queen Mother,” Beatrix answered. “Well, she will be.”