Never Leave, A Human Mate - (Book 2 The Mist Series)

~Chapter 11 - When In Doubt, Ask A Witch~

~Louise~

As I paced the office, the question Reece had asked me earlier weighed heavily on my mind. I peered over at Joseph, who was doing the same, his restless movements almost mirroring my own. Thankfully, the alphas and betas had left after two hours of discussion. The Alpha Summit had ended on a positive note. We had a plan, and once all the warriors were completely trained, we would set the plan into action. Alpha Tyson had left with his head hung low. He had been through so much, and now he was the bait to reel Maddison and Salista in. With that plan underway, I could focus on other pack matters.

“What can we do to help Beta Reece?” I finally asked, the words ripping through the tense silence.

“I don’t know,” Alpha George sighed from under his hand. “I hate seeing my friend go through this. He doesn’t deserve it.”

George sat across from us in a plush armchair. They had been resting in the retirement wing, waiting for the meeting to end before they joined us. Luna Ruth perched on the arm of the chair, her eyes fixed on Alpha George. It was a tense atmosphere, and the silence was only broken by the occasional creak of the wooden floorboards.

I stopped pacing at the window, watching the last car disappear down the long driveway. The moon hung high, a spectral disc against a black velvet sky. The clouds were bruised and pregnant with rain, the air thick with the promise of a cleansing storm. I could smell the rain in the air, a damp earthy scent that filled my nostrils.

“Dawn was brought here for a reason…” Joseph mused, his pacing finally ceasing. He walked over to me, wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug, and rested his chin on my head. “Maybe we should see if the Sun Goddess will help.”

“Or the Moon Goddess…” I added, a shiver tracing my spine despite the warmth of Joseph’s embrace. “Just remember, there will be a cost. And with this war, we can’t afford anything looming over our heads.”

“Poor Reece,” Luna Ruth sighed, squeezing Alpha George’s shoulder. “First Layla, now this…”

“He can’t catch a break,” Alpha George agreed, rubbing his stubbled chin. “My heart breaks for him…”

“I feel bad for Reece. And I like Dawn,” I said, pulling away from Joseph to lean against the edge of my desk, where Tyrone was perched like a watchful guard—my loveable, watchful wolf. “Even Faith agrees. She seems so genuinely lovely. And Anya adores her… which is practically a miracle, considering Anya hates everyone who isn’t Reece or her parents.”

“Yeah,” Tyrone laughed, a spark of amusement in his eyes. “She’s a lot like her mother…”

A shared chuckle rippled through the room, momentarily easing the suffocating tension. But the respite was fleeting. Joseph resumed his pacing, and the weight of our problem settled back on us. He was going to sleep well tonight. It was lucky the triplets enjoyed their sleep most nights, or the three of us would have been as rundown as poor Agatha and Kingston.

“The question is,” Joseph mumbled, more to himself than anyone else. “How do we contact the Goddesses?”

“We can’t exactly use our wolves to dial them up…” Luna Ruth pointed out, a wry twist to her lips. “Ophelia wants to help, but she can’t find a connection.”

“Draven’s been banging his head against my skull trying,” Alpha George said, massaging his forehead. “He can’t find the wavelength to reach them either.”

“We can ask Agatha to help us summon the Moon Goddess…” Faith suggested in my head. “She removed all those werewolves’ souls… She might know something.”

“I’ve thought about that,” I admitted. “But she’s still running on fumes. I don’t want to push her too hard.”

“We have to do something for them…” Alpha George said, leaning his head against Ruth’s arm. “He’s not only my beta of twenty-plus years, but he has also been my friend since I was a small boy. I can’t bear to see him so broken.”

“He could claim her in her sleep,” Luna Ruth suggested, her voice surprisingly casual.

We all looked at her in surprise. A collective silence descended on the room.

“We literally just talked him out of that idea,” Tyrone said, shifting in his seat.

I shook my head, surprised that such a reckless idea had surfaced twice in one night. “Besides, she’s human. It would only postpone it, not cure it.”

“Yes, that’s true,” she continued, waving off the idea. “I know, but at least if he claimed her, it would slow the process down. She doesn’t have a wolf to rely on to do the rest.”

An idea, a faint glimmer of hope, sparked in my mind. I pushed myself off the desk, suddenly energised. “What if we reverse what Agatha did to Edwin’s followers?”

“You mean give her a wolf’s soul?” Joseph said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “It’s crazy enough to work.”

“That’s never been done…” Alpha George said, folding his hands across his lap, his expression sceptical.

“Neither had the removal,” I countered, my voice firm.

He opened his mouth to argue, then visibly reconsidered and sat back in his seat

“Luna Louise has a point,” Luna Ruth said, looping her arm around her mate’s shoulders. “It could save Dawn and, by extension, Reece. I can only imagine how broken he would be if she…” she trailed off, leaving the unspoken horror hanging in the air.

A knock on the office door startled us. I sniffed the air and recognised Kingston, Agatha, and Anya.

“Come in,” Joseph called as he leaned on the table beside me.

The door creaked open, and the three entered. Agatha held Anya securely against her chest. The toddler’s face was bright and alert, radiating boundless energy. Agatha, on the other hand, looked like she hadn’t slept in a week, dark circles painting her pale skin an even paler shade. Kingston wasn’t much better.

“Another rough day?” Alpha George asked them, his voice laced with genuine concern.

“Does it look like it’s been anything else?” Agatha snapped, then immediately blew out a breath. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so sharp, but I swear, I can’t go another night without sleep. I thought Anya was an energy vampire before she was born, but she’s somehow even worse now…”

Anya cooed, oblivious, and happily chewed on her hand.

“It took us a good few weeks to get the triplets into a routine,” I said, squatting down in front of Anya, trying to catch her attention. “Sometimes they still keep us up, and when one cries, the others follow like some kind of tiny, adorable apocalypse, but we’ve survived.”

“Those elder tree teething wolves are a Goddess-send,” Tyrone added, his voice dripping with gratitude.

“I’d ask Dad to watch her for a few hours,” Kingston said with a weary yawn. “But now, with Dawn, I don’t feel right asking.”

“Dawn adores Anya,” Agatha added, her brow furrowed in confusion. “And for some reason, Anya adores Dawn. I can’t figure it out.”

“You’re just selective, aren’t you, little one?” I tickled Anya’s chin, making her coo, then stood. I turned to Agatha. “Speaking of Dawn, we have a fave—”

“You want to give her a wolf’s soul,” Agatha said flatly, stating a fact rather than asking a question. “That’s why we’re here. I glimpsed it, even if my visions have been on hiatus since Anya.”

“Can it be done?” Alpha George asked, leaning forward to listen.

“Sure,” she swapped Anya to her other arm. The baby squealed excitedly and then returned to numbing on her fingers. Teething. She faced me. “But to do it, Louise, you will need one of those goddesses you worship to lend a hand.”

“Me?” I ask, pointing to myself in disbelief. “How?”

“Ask Faith…” she suggested, handing her wriggling daughter to Kingston. “She’s done it before with Zodiac… Zachariah.”

“That was a lifetime ago,” I laughed, but the sound was hollow, devoid of genuine amusement. The memory of Zachariah’s death, the unbearable pain of losing him, was a wound that had never fully healed, a phantom ache that lingered with every returned memory.

Joseph cleared his throat. “I don’t really what to see the Sun Goddess. She might—” He trailed off, the unspoken reason hanging heavily in the air. He was bound to her, connected across lifetimes, destined to answer her call when the time came.

“Actually,” Agatha’s eyes suddenly twinkled with a mischievous idea. “Get Reece to call to her.”

“Why Reece?” Luna Ruth asked, her brow furrowed in curiosity.

Agatha hooked a hand on her hip, her expression radiating her usual brand of cynical amusement. “If I’ve learned anything about your gods, it’s that they love to play games. If they see a way to make your lives more interesting, I’m sure they’ll happily step in.” The sarcasm dripped from her words, thick and potent. Alpha George and Luna Ruth, ever polite, pretended not to notice. “They use you all as toys. I can’t understand why. But they sit on their thrones and watch, and when things get boring, wham, they throw a wrench—or in this case, a sick human—into the works for their own amusement.”

Kingston half-laughed. “You really don’t like them, do you, Aggie?”

Agatha rolled her eyes. “Is that even a question?”

Anya cackled, a strangely unsettling sound coming from such a tiny being, then reached out for Kingston. “Dadda… up.”

Agatha readily handed her to Kingston, then rolled her shoulders, her body screaming for rest. They both needed a break. I made a mental note to ask Josie-Anne to reach out to Elder Alda for another Elder tree wolf in the morning, both for Anya’s sake and for Agatha’s sanity.

“I guess having Reece reach out to the Goddesses can’t hurt,” Joseph said, standing and stretching. “When Faith got the Sun Goddess’s help, it was because she felt her pain. Maybe it’s pain the listen for.”

“Yeah, pain…” Agatha snorted a laugh. “They enjoy that a little too much.”

“Dad is in a lot of pain right now,” Kingston said, kissing Anya’s cheek. “I was too young to remember my mother, but knowing what the bond is like, it would have been painful to lose her.” He visibly shuddered. “And to have it happen again…”

“But that’s the thing,” Agatha continued, sitting her hands on her hips. “I know you look up to your Goddesses, and, for the sake of argument, I’ll say I respect that, but it wasn’t an accident. Dawn was brought here.” She pointed a finger towards the roof. “They or someone planned this. I don’t know why, and I doubt Josie-Anne knows why, but I believe it’s a part of their master plan.”

Luna Ruth stood, dusting the wrinkles out of her suit pants. “Although I don’t agree with your statements about the Moon Goddess, you have a point…”

“Then it’s settled,” I said, linking my hand with Joseph’s. “Tomorrow, we will get Reece to talk to the Sun Goddess. Or if not, then we’ll wait until that night and contact the Moon Goddess.”

“He could try tonight,” Agatha said, hinting at the idea. “He’s in a lot of pain. It might be what those sadistic beings need…” she turned to Alpha George and Luna Ruth, who were trying hard not to criticise Agatha for besmirching the name of our Goddesses. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be so brash, but as an outsider, that’s how I see it.”

“She’s not sorry,” Faith huffed irately. “She’s lucky we have a truce…”

“If we want to do it tonight,” Alpha George said, heading for the door. “Then we better plan. What will we need?”

“Reece, a red candle, and someone to watch Anya…” Agatha said, running her fingers through Anya’s hair.

“Gamma Archie and Madeline will watch her…” I replied.

“I’ll get my dad,” Kingston agreed.

“Alright then,” Agatha said, sounding more awake than before. “Let’s do some magic…”