Chapter 21 CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CAIUS
“This had better be good.”
Clayton snorts but keeps walking. “Yeah, I dragged you out of all the fun you were having talking to her through the door. I’m sorry.”
“Watch it. I’m not feeling very receptive to sarcasm.”
He turns to look at my face. “I’m sorry. I know it must be hard.”
“It’s fine, what is this about?”
“I can show you better than I can explain it.” he says, sounding as spooked as he did when he mind linked me to tell me that something was up.
He half shifts and starts running and I follow. Whatever it is, it’s not a good thing if Clayton is this panicked over it.
We’re approaching a river on the far side of our borders. The river is no man’s land and many packs use it so I’m expecting to see many Alphas on the river banks settling whatever is going on but when we get to the river bank, there’s nobody there.
Clayton stops and turns to me. “What do you see?” he asks.
“There’s nothing here, what is this about?”
“What do you smell?” he asks again, not minding my annoyance.
I sniff the air and look at him in confusion. “There’s nothing in the air.” I say slowly, realization setting in.
The air always has a scent. It could smell like trees, people, or factories but there’s always a scent
“What happened here?” I ask, already moving to the river.
“This way.” Clayton calls.
I turn and follow him. We walk the short distance to a big tree near the river. Behind the tree, three dead rogues are on the ground, with their hearts ripped out.
“Rogues can’t be here. How did you find out about this?”
“A young pup alerted me to it. They came to swim and found it strange that they couldn’t smell anything.”
“Have the other alphas been made aware of the situation?” I ask.
“Not yet. Since the bodies were found on our side, I wanted you to see it first.”
I nod then bend down to inspect the rogues. They don’t have a smell too. What experiments are those witches running? Scentless rogues could be the thing that tips the scale. If you can’t smell them, you can’t know that they’re coming.
“This is becoming a nightmare. Every time we get any new information about the rogues, four more things that are crazier than the last pop up.” Clayton says. “I’m getting worried, Caius.”
“We’ll be fine. Pack security is tight and alert. Even if we can’t smell them, we can see them and that’s enough for me.”
“Until they find invisibility.” Clayton jokes.
The joke is heavy because it could happen with the way things are going. A stick snaps behind us and we turn, ready for a fight.
The witch from last time is standing in front of us, not looking guilty for being here when she knows she is not supposed to.
“Leave now, and I will not tell the council that the witches are putting their noses in werewolf business again.”
I signal Clayton and we start leaving. Her being here is dangerous. Witches aren’t supposed to be in werewolf territory and Alpha Haze and Hills are already spoiling for a war and how to put me in shit.
“I came to offer my help.”
I turn in anger. “No, this is disrespect and you and your kind know it. If you want to help, take it to the council, get permission to be in this territory and we will take it from there.”
I turn again and I feel a tight invisible rope keeping me in place so I can’t move.
“You’ll stand and you will listen to me.” she says from behind.
I want to turn but I can’t even move my neck or make a sound. The rope has now gone round my body and it is gagging me. There’s no sound from Clayton so I assume that he’s in the same situation too. She walks from behind and stands in front of me.
“I know it doesn’t make a difference to you werewolves but age is respected where I come from. I’m a 300 year old witch and I will not go back and forth with a council of werewolves whose oldest is not even 250 years old.” She says.
I force myself to breathe through the constraints and relax. Fighting it makes it tighter. I take deep slow breaths, close my eyes and when I open them again, my eyes are red. My wolf is in charge and he’s fighting back. I break free of the constraints and lift the witch by her neck. The shock on her face frees Clayton who immediately takes his shirt off and binds her hands so she doesn’t perform any magic.
“You come into MY territory without permission and you have the guts to bind me with a spell? I could kill you right now and your fellow witches will not do anything about it because how will they explain to the werewolf council that they sent one of their finest to come spy on us?”
She struggles to be free but there’s no use. My hand is firm on her neck and Clayton has bound her hands tight with his shirt.
“What if she starts mumbling spells?” Clayton asks.
“She can’t speak with my hand on her neck. And thankfully she’s not old enough to do spells with her mind. Find a rope so we can bind her hand properly.”
The young pups use this place frequently and leave all sorts of things here. Hopefully a rope is one of them because the second I release this witch, she will attack me. Her eyes are cold and tears are rushing down them. I know she’s not crying, the tears are because of my hand on her neck.
Clayton returns with a rope and a random shirt. “You can’t hold her like that until we get to the pack.” He explains.
He ties her hands with the rope and balls the shirt and forces it into her mouth. Once the gag is in, I let go of her neck and she starts thrashing.
“You might be older but I know how to handle myself against a witch.”
I lift her and carry her to Maeva’s castle. There’s a cell right next to Maeva’s room. It’s not nice at all but it had its uses. I hear Maeva move when she hears me pass her door to the cell. Clayton opens the cell and I put the witch inside.
“This cell was once home to a witch. It was built to keep your kind in.”
I shut her inside then knock on Maeva’s door. I slide the slot open and look inside. She’s on the bed and facing the wall. She’s awake, her heart is pounding but she doesn’t want to talk to me.
“Clayton will bring your food later. I have to leave the pack tonight but I’ll be back tomorrow.”
She still doesn’t respond and I leave.
We’ll talk better tomorrow.