Chapter 1
Sia POV
“Have you given any thought to when you want to officially join the coven Sia?”
“Aunt Lithia, not this again. I will support you and the coven in any way that I can, but I don’t want to become an official member. I don’t want that responsibility. I have other plans and you know.”
“Well, you know, your mother was to become the next Council member of the coven and you are the closest one to her strength and skill. You have trained for years; I don’t see why-”
“Enough, Aunt Lithia! Mother is DEAD! Father took her from me. I don’t need a reminder of all the things she was going to do. And I definitely don’t need the pressure of all the expectations.” I sighed, hating it when we argued.
“Aunty, I’m sorry for yelling. You know I love you, but this is hard for me...especially since he still has not paid for what he took from me.”
“I love you too, Sia. I didn’t mean to push. I just…” she trailed off and i knew she just wanted to keep me safe. One way of doing that was to get me locked into this life and ignore the other part of me.
“Aunt Lithia, there is a whole other side to me than this.” I gestured my finger circling the room. “It’s not fair to Jinx, keeping her suppressed like this, only letting her out on full moon nights. I feel her pain, her urges…her desire to find her mate. She wants justice for our mother. There is so much more to her too.”
“I knew that’s what this was about.” She huffed out and I knew exactly where this was going.
“I vowed to keep you safe, and I have done that all these years. If you go off wandering, how do I keep you safe? What if this mate of yours is a piece of s**t like your father?”
I felt her temper rise and the rim of her irises started to glow amber. She was a fierce witch. And when it came to protecting her loved ones, which was narrowed down to just me now, she held no punches. My mother was killed by her mate saving me twelve years ago. It was stupid of me to even want to find my mate, but Jinx, my wolf, has been pestering me for the last two years about it. She said that our mate would never let anything happen to us. She was convinced that he would be powerful and could sense that he was searching for us. She believed that we would avenge our mother, but I didn't help to do that. No, Alexander was all mine. I would have his blood between my fingers for what he did.
It took everything in me, added to the charms and enchantment I have been living under, to suppress her urges to take control and escape this coven. It would hardly take much for her to escape these walls because I helped to reinforce the security. I am the youngest member of the coven presently. My mom was a high priestess witch who left her coven to be with her mate. He is an Alpha. She moved into his pack, became his Luna and soon after, I came into the picture. They were happy until mother struggled to birth a son, the future Alpha of his pack. He became mean and pulled away from me. Mother became pregnant a few times after that but miscarried, but the last time was the worst and horrible things happened that led to me being in the care of my Aunt Lithia, mother’s older sister.
“Aunt Lithia, please don’t be upset with me or with Jinx. I have to be honest with what we are feeling. She is partially suppressed so that we remain hidden, but it doesn’t change who we are and what we feel.”
“I know…I just cannot have this conversation with you right now. How can I be ok with you going after him? You know what he did to her and I can only imagine what your mate might do to you.” She sighed and sadly walked out of my room and closed the door.
After pacing around my room for a while, I decided to just rest my eyes a little. What felt like moments after I closed my eyes, the alarms started blaring in my ears.
Intruders.
I took a deep breath and projected my consciousness to sense the source of the intrusion. Eastern gates. Sensing a surge of energy from that area, I merged my projection and teleported to the coven warriors.
“Eastern gates Blerim! Dispatch more warriors to that side. They have forces gathered there.”
Blerim started barking orders and dispatching the troops. Before I could teleport myself there, he grabbed my wrist for me to turn and face him. He inched closer to me, our foreheads almost touching. I could feel his breath fan my cheek.
“Be careful Sia.” His words were gentle and caring. I nodded and vanished.
“WHY ARE YOU HERE?” My voice boomed from the other side of the gate with such power and authority that even our warriors cowered. The wolves continued to snarl and growl at my words. “LEAVE OR PAY WITH YOUR LIVES!”
I sniffed the air, realizing they were not just wolves present. There were at least two vamps out there. Why on Earth were rogues consorting with vamps? Enough of this foolishness. The rogues that managed to breach our walls were captured by our warriors and taken to the cells, but the rest would feel my wrath.
Our troops were in position but I was not about to wait for the rest of those rogues to breach the walls. I cleared my thoughts and extended my fingers, feeling the Earth beneath me, and used it to ground myself. Sensing their positions, I began to slowly curl my fingers, willing my mind to crush their bones. One by one, we heard bones cracking and crunching. Bodies were collapsing and blood-curdling screams escaped their mouths and filled the air. As the bodies fell, I heard whooshing sounds amongst the trees.
“Vamps in the trees. Don’t let them escape.” I urged Blerim to order the troops.
But I knew they would be long gone by the time our coven members could reach them. I hoped they were close enough for the projected tracking spell Aunt Lithia had around the coven. Vampire scents were distinct, so we should be able to at least track where they were headed.
Blerim walked over to me as a select few defenders walked through the gates to examine the rogue remains. They all had shocked expressions from how contorted the bodies were.
“You’ve gotten stronger, Sia. There must be at least thirty rogues here and you killed them all.” He leaned forward, searching my face, “And you didn’t even have a nosebleed this time.”
“I don’t know. I feel stronger but I’ll take it easy nonetheless,” his jaw dropped in surprise, “after we interrogate the others.”
“You had me believing that I would not have to chase you to go rest up, but no….you just had to ruin it.” He chuckled, shaking his head as we made our way to the dungeons.
“Come on Bler, there are rogues working with vamps, we have to know why. These kinds never work together, yet they teamed up and came here to attack? A witch’s coven, the Eastern Coven at that. No one comes here with the reputation of our defenders. How could I miss that?”
We walked over to where the rogues were being held, having small banters with each other as we made our way. I know that I could teleport there faster, but I actually enjoyed Blerim’s company. He was the son of the lead defender. When I came to this coven we clicked and have been close friends ever since. Walking into the dungeons, hisses and growls could be heard. Blerim had a devilish smirk on his face at the sounds, as though it was music to his ears. Blerim was mostly pensive, a hard ass on the defenders because weakness was not tolerated. With me, though, he was tender, caring and attentive. I know he wanted more from our relationship.
The rogues were locked in the back cells with silver gates and walls. Those cells were designed to weaken trapped wolves; I was not a fan. Blerim knew that the silver bars would affect me, so he took the reins on this while I watched from the back.
“You wanna tell us why you wasted your time coming here to attack us?” Blerim sounded bored.
Growls.
“Come on now…use your words.” He taunted him.
Snarls.
I had very little patience for this. I raised my hand to elbow height and twisted my wrist while looking everywhere but at the rogue in the cell, knowing Blerim would have words for me later. The rogue started to cough, almost choking and spitting up blood. Blerim gave me a sharp side eye and I loosened my grip.
“You b***h!” He spat, spitting out more blood to the side of his cell.
“Hey! Since you remember how to talk, how about you answer my question?”
"We are searching for the special one." Growled the rogue, seething.
"I want a special one too." Jeered Blerim. Strangely, he enjoyed these interrogations. "Try to make sense, will you, and STOP WASTING MY TIME." He boomed, making the walls shake, pinning the rogue to the silver-coated walls.
The smell of burning flesh filled the room.
“He wants the witch!” He said, zoning in on me, clutching at Blerim, trying to pull away from the walls ripping at his flesh.
“You i***t! This is a powerful witch’s coven. What did you expect to find here?!” The rogue started grinning at Blerim maniacally as he dropped him to the floor.
“Not just any witch. He wants a special hybrid witch.” He replied, staring at me as if sensing my wolf even though she was suppressed. How was that possible?
“Who sent you? Who organized this attack on our coven?”
Silence.
“Stop wasting my time. We have no hybrids here. You wasted your life for nothing.” With that, Blerim snapped his neck and the rogue collapsed against the cell walls.
Blerim left to debrief his troops after urging me to get some rest. It was hard to fathom how he could be so gentle and caring with me, but so krass when training and interrogating. I agreed and headed to go find Aunt Lithia. It has been twelve years. Why is he searching for me now? The decision has been made, I have to leave. I cannot bring any further trouble and attacks to the Coven. They would protect me for sure, but I had a score to settle and a mate to find.