Union Bound

1. Jasper

I’m the bad guy. The one in your nightmares. The person who grins in your face while shoving the dagger in your back. No one is an exception, and I don’t give a f**k who I hurt in the process.

No one comes before me.

Grandmother taught me that.

People are bred from experiences, and it was mine that shaped me to be who I am today. When Mom and Dad perished in the house fire, I felt like I died with them. My heart was smashed, leaving only fragments behind for me to grow from.

Grandmother coached me on how to use my heartbreak in a productive way and reshape the situation. I was pathetic that day—powerless—and I refused to ever be again. Even at six, I knew the only way to ensure myself and my family’s safety was to become emotionally and magically stronger.

Then Sarah came along. I had grown up in human schools and had, much to Grandmother’s dismay even though she knew the necessity, the occasional casual friendship in order to blend in. But Sarah changed everything. She was funny, kind, and beautiful; it was as if the Goddess herself chose her for me. I had to have her, and we dated. She became so many of my firsts, including my first love.

But also, the first woman to break my heart.

Love made me weak. Made me choke up and not do what I should have. It was like when Mom and Dad died; I was unable to stop the fire exactly as I was unable to protect my heart from Sarah.

So, I locked it away instead.

Dad always told me to be myself. At six-years-old, neither him nor I knew what that would come to mean. This is who I am now. I’m someone who puts myself first—a mix of his and Grandmother’s ideals.

After Sarah, I finally began listening to Grandmother’s advice. I threw myself into learning as much as I could about witchcraft and leadership, and how to gain more power.

It was around that same time Grandmother told me I’d be taking her spot as coven head one day, and not Carina, so I ensured the rest of my training went off without a hitch. With impending leadership comes a strong union, a common practice for any upcoming coven head. Grandmother has had her eye on Fortuna, and I agree with her. Multiple families banded together in the past, resulting in a powerful, strong, and unstoppable group—all features I crave. When covens’ heirs join together, the new leaders control all the combined magic, so ruling Fortuna means I’ll always be able to protect those who are close to me.

At nearly thirty, I understand how the world operates. That there’s a cost associated with everything, and in regards to Fortuna, it’s a wife. I’ll marry Fortuna’s next leader, but it’ll be I who rules her. We’ll be husband and wife in name only, because, unfortunately for her, I’ll never love her. All that emotion has ever done is make me weak, and I won’t allow it to happen again.

Sarah’s actions could have been the fault of her humanity, or it could have been her gender, but I won’t take the chance with my future wife regardless. It’s not worth the pain. Women are only for satiating my desires and nothing more.

In order to secure said future wife and gain Fortuna’s magic, they demanded we destroy a nearby pack—the very same pack who happened to show up, pleading for a potion for their alpha. We could have fought them right then and there, but I knew the few who travelled to us were not the entire pack. There were more, and when I saw that mangy wolf hiding in the trees nearby, his attention locked solely on Carina, I saw the opportunity I would need to find the rest So I took the chance.

When he pushed between us, I didn’t fight it, allowing it to happen—allowing Carina to be used as ransom. Of course, to save face, I tried to fight him, but let myself lose as well. When Grandmother planned on stepping in and starting a fight between the coven and the pack, I pushed thoughts into her head, halting the clash she was gearing up for. Let them take her, I recall thinking. We can use her to lead us to the rest of them.

It’s been bothering me as to why Fortuna cares about their deaths, but if it gets me into their good graces, so be it. There are sacrifices made in all wars.

Even if it’s a cost I wish I didn’t have to pay.

Witches constantly battle with both shifters and vampires, viewing ourselves as superior to both of them.

It’s stupid. We’re not. We’re equal on so many levels, and instead of fighting and wasting precious magic, we need to use them.

Grandmother doesn’t understand that. Early on in her trainings, when I was reading up on the different species, I realized how similar they are to us. How, instead of having authority simply to have the claim of being powerful, it can be utilized in a way that will continue to benefit witches, all while keeping the peace between species.

When the pack requested magic from us, the alpha gave me the answer I hadn’t realized I was searching for. Controlled by me, I could provide magic to both vampires and shifters, uniting the species under peaceful trade.

That is, if I can find the pack.

My hands fist on the desk. f*****g, Carina.

It’s been three days since I was finally able to project to her, and I’ve had no luck in finding the pack. She was supposed to be my ticket straight to them but instead, she’s a dead end. I blamed everything on Grandmother, of course, making her seem like the bad guy and me the loving cousin who wanted to save her, but for some reason, the wolves twisted her up and pulled her to their side.

The species shouldn’t fight, but we also shouldn’t mingle, as she apparently enjoys doing. A partnership, in which witches hold all the power, and there is no worry of stray relationships that threaten our bloodlines. In the time Carina has been with the pack, something had to have happened in order for her to join their side. I just don’t know what yet.

I’m going to kill Carina.

Not really, but Goddess, she’s making this more difficult. Perhaps keeping her in the dark wasn’t my smartest plan, but I genuinely did not envision her defending the pack. She must be protecting them with a spell because we’ve been unable to track her or them.

For days, I’ve dabbled with the idea of giving the pack what they need, but Grandmother doesn’t want to. She thinks we need to continue to show strength, and while I agree, we also must find them in order for Fortuna to agree to the union.

For now, I sit back in the wooden kitchen chair and peer at the taunting pile of tests I still need to grade. At least teaching math at the university is the vacation I need from my ongoing worries.

Math is straightforward, the way people are not. Algorithms and equations all have a possible answer. It’s logical and emotionless, easy to decipher. A calculation here and there, and the answer is obvious.

With a sigh I feel down to the tips of my toes, I pick up my preferred red pen and get to work marking. My eyes follow the typed words, but my mind remains on my powerful future ahead of me.