The Luna's Love (Book 2)

Chapter Seven

“Noah, this does not concern you!” I shouted to my twin for the second time.

“Yes, Blake. It does! There is a coven of reckless witches between our pack lands, and it needs to be resolved!” 

“Why is that an issue? The witches are learning and growing, why is that so horrible?!”

“Because they are putting my young wolves at risk! Reckless wolves don't need to be around reckless witches, it's not okay!” 

“Why don’t we all just calm down.” I heard Oliver speak calmly which only made my mate snort in response.

“I am calm!” My brother and I shouted at the same time.

“He is just trying to watch out for the good of his pack.” I felt a hand grasp mine but I ripped it away.

“Witches are not bad for his pack, Dylan! We grew up our entire lives thinking witches can’t be trusted and they are dangerous but that isn’t true. We are just as dangerous as them and if we don’t let the wolves learn to cohabitate with the witches then we will have another generation of segregation between the species!” 

I was fuming at my brother. Noah had made his disdain toward the new coven obvious from the moment Maggie decided she wanted to start it but he always said he would support them because he supported me, but the instant one of his precious wolves runs into a witch in the forest he goes back on everything he has said. 

“It is fine, we will move the coven to the other side of town.” Maggie spoke up, obviously bored with the conversation.

“No!”

“I understand you disagree with him, but it is his pack, and if he doesn’t want his wolves mingling with the witches it is his choice.” Zachary shrugged at me with hesitation.

“But he doesn’t get to decide that the witches have to leave when he isn’t in charge of them!” 

“The coven is on borrowed land, B. The Midnight pack was kind enough to let the coven reside on their land and if Noah retracts that kindness then he does get to decide if the witches stay or leave.” 

I logically knew that what Dylan said was right but I was so angry at him for choosing Noah’s side. I glared daggers at both Alpha’s before storming out of the room. 

“Why weren’t you in there?” I yelled at Blair as I entered my living room. “Noah is acting like he is the ruler of everyone and I had no one on my side because you weren’t in there!” 

She stared at me for a moment with confusion before my words registered in her head.

“Because those meetings always get heated and I don’t like it, you’re the Luna who fights with the big bad wolves and I’m the Luna who sits back and observes. It’s our system.” 

“Well, our system is flawed!” I threw myself face down on the couch next to my sister-in-law and screamed into the pillow.

“You know it isn’t about the witches, right?” Blair spoke, petting my head.

“What?”

“It isn’t about the coven of witches. It’s about you. It’s about the fact that even though you are no longer in the Midnight pack you still act like you run the show with him and he felt like he had no choice but to accept the coven because you told him too. I love you, B, but you bulldoze him and he is angry about it. If you had asked him or talked to him about it then things probably would have gone differently.”

I huffed at her statement because hearing it outloud, I knew it was true. My brother always conformed to what I wanted and I took advantage of it but he shouldn’t take it out on the coven.

“I need the coven here, Blair. If they go across town that’s a forty five minute drive and when Emily enters the coven, she and Ally will want to be close to each other. Emily deserves to keep her constant when everything changes.” 

“I understand that, and Noah will too if you tell him.” I glared playfully at her. “This is why I observe and sit back, I am the voice of reason between you two.” She grinned.

Seconds later I could hear all of the men I had previously yelled at walk down stairs, and every single one of them gave me the look they give me when they are done waiting out my tantrums. 

“Fine!” I said exasperated and rolled my eyes.

I stood up from my spot and followed them back into Dylan’s office. 

“The coven needs to stay close because it is important to me and will be important to Ally, if you don’t want them on your land then we will write a new treaty for them to be on ours and if you don’t want them interacting with the young wolves in your pack then I will set a rule. I hear you, but I need you to hear me when I say that this is important.” I spoke as soon as the office door was shut before anyone could get a word in. 

“I know this is important Blake, and if you need them to stay where they are that can be arranged, but I need you to be open and listen to me when I tell you there is an issue with my pack. If you shut the issue down then I will pull my rank and I will handle it my way, you need to understand that.”

I felt a twinge of pain when he said ‘my pack’. It hurt to think that his pack wasn’t my pack anymore but I also loved the Shadow pack more than I could imagine. 

“I understand.” 

The rest of the wolves in the room let out a collective sigh causing me to chuckle.

“You are so dramatic.” I playfully rolled my eyes.

“Now that that is settled, Blake and I have research to do.” Maggie entered into the conversation again.

“Are you trying to find out where the witches come from?” Olly chimed in.

“Yes. I’ve felt the power in Emily’s body and it is unmatched by anyone I've ever felt before besides Maggie and myself but we are Elders. The power of a sixteen year old girl shouldn’t match that of their Elders, so that is what we are trying to figure out. And if Emily holds this much power from a dormant gene, I can’t imagine how much her older sister holds.” 

“Does Elena know that her sister is a witch?” Merrick asked.

“Not that I’m aware of, they both think that somehow Elena is but Emily isn’t. I don’t think they know who their father is so he is most likely where the magic comes from but finding a witch who doesn’t want to be found is hard,”. 

“But not impossible.” Maggie finished for me.

The boys nodded in understanding. I leaned over to place a kiss on my mate’s cheek before getting ready to leave.

“Is Dani still okay to watch the babies when they wake up?” I looked at my Beta.

“Yep, she has this whole day planned.” He laughed to himself.

I smiled in response before following Maggie out the door. We walked through the house and outside without an outside word, not being able to risk someone hearing us talk about the matter at hand. As soon as we stepped on the porch we both warped into the basement of the rundown coven house. I felt my body contort as I went from one place to another in the blink of an eye but it had become like second nature to me so it didn’t bother me. Once we were inside the basement I walked over and spelled all of the entrances so that nobody could hear us or come inside. 

“Okay, where is the Elder history section?” I questioned after I knew it was safe to speak.

Maggie led me to a hidden corner that had a glamour over it so anyone else who came in here thought that it was human history. 

“What do we know about these girls?” Maggie asked while she opened one of the history books.

I grabbed the book on the original Elders before answering. 

“Nothing about their witch side. Elena didn’t seem to know much of anything about her power and when I examined her mind nothing seemed strange. Is it possible she knows the power they possess and figured out how to hide it?”

“No. She would have to hold more power than she could dream of to hide her mind from an Elder empath, it’s impossible.”

I looked down at the page in the book before gasping at what I saw.

“But what if they do?” I whispered out.

In the book on original Elder witches you could see the portraits of every single one and when I looked at who the original Empath Elder was, there was an image of Emily.

“Eloise Elane Palles. The original Dark Empath.” Maggie spoke quietly as she read along the page.

“They are descendants from the original Dark Elder. What does that mean, Maggie?”

“It means if they aren’t controlled, they will kill us all.” 

I heard footsteps running away from the basement causing both of us to immediately turn our heads toward the door in worry. I quickly put the book back and unspelled the room so we could see who was eavesdropping but no one was there. Since I had the entire basement spell I know they couldn’t have heard what we were saying but the witches know not to go in the basement without permission so whoever was there, was there for a hidden intent. 

“Go see what you can find out about Elena, try to get her to talk about her past or her powers, anything that can get her to open up. I’m going to go find Ally and Emily because I have activated her powers and we can’t risk her not knowing anymore. The longer she goes without knowing how to use her magic, the worse the outcome when it finally comes out. I don’t want to find out she burned down an entire building because she was upset.”

I cringed at my own words as the memory popped in my head. Maggie nodded her head at me before walking to the main part of the house as I warped back to my front porch. I stood there for a second, taking a deep breath to prepare myself for the conversation ahead, but as I reached to open the door I heard another voice in my mind that wasn’t my own.

North perimeter. Four attackers, they aren’t strong but they are using magic so I’m down three wolves.

I jumped off of the porch, ripping my clothing and shifting into my large white wolf, running toward the north perimeter. I don’t know who was attacking but Dylan sounded urgent. I made it to him within two minutes only to see that what he was talking about wasn’t real, the wolves continued to fight the mirage that they thought was real while the only true fighter attacked another.

Stop!

I shouted in all of the warriors' minds, causing them to stop but also causing the witch to stop as well meaning he heard me. I didn’t recognize his face but I recognized his scent. He started to retreat and instantly the other three false witches evaporated leaving the warriors confused but I could still feel his spell. 

I said stop. I spoke solely to the witch and he listened.

For him to hear me so clearly and follow commands meant he was part of the coven but I had never seen him before and I knew everyone in the coven.

Why are you here?

Although he followed orders, that didn’t stop him from acting as snarky as he wanted.

“I am your distraction.” 

After his words registered in my mind he warped before I could hear his thoughts on where he was going. I huffed in annoyance before walking over to the injured wolves that laid on the ground and licking their wounds to heal them.

How did the others just disappear? 

I could hear my mates voice in my mind as Merrick helped the other wolves up to follow us home.

They were fake. He conjured them up to distract you by fighting them while he was the one injuring you. They couldn’t do any damage, it was all him. 

Who is he?

I don’t know.

    He didn’t respond as we made our way back home. I couldn’t help but wonder what he was supposed to be distracting me from and who gave him those orders. He looked older than me in human form but his powers were weak, he was relying on the ability to cause false images since he wasn’t strong enough to hurt them without distraction but I could feel his weakness, he wouldn’t have been able to keep the spell going for much longer so he is a threat. The wolves he injured were just stunned from the spell and as soon as that wore off they would have been back to normal. 

Set some clothes on the porch for Dylan, Merrick, and me please. I spoke to Dani through the mind link as we neared the house. 

She didn’t respond but I could feel her presence in my head so I knew she heard me. Once we got to the porch there were two pairs of shorts and two shirts for both boys along with a sundress for me to throw on. Merrick grabbed his clothes between his teeth and ran behind a tree to shift and change while Dylan and I quickly shifted and changed on the porch.

“You okay?” I asked Merrick as he walked toward us, still a little dazed.

“I’m good. What was that?”

“He was a witch, he was using all of his strength to conjure false witches and stun you guys. You’ll be fine in around thirty minutes. It’s a child’s spell so it will bother you but once it's over you’re fine.” I explained to him, taking a seat on the steps.

Dylan followed my actions staying silent. I knew there was something on his mind but he didn’t want to say it in front of our Gamma.

“Any other day I could have taken him.” Merrick grinned, causing me to laugh.

“Yeah, sure.” 

We shared a look after I spoke before he walked away, realizing I needed to be alone with my mate.

“What is it?” I quizzed once we were alone.

“I’m sorry, I should have told you about the witches.”

“What are you talking about? You mind linked me as soon as you realized he was a witch.”

“This time.” 

I scooted over to face him fully with confused eyes. What did he mean this time?

“A couple days ago a different witch tried to attack but she was just a kid so it was easy to throw her off and scold her. She looked embarrassed and left, I thought it was just a kid being defiant and I put her back in her place. Then today it’s another witch, who looked exactly like the kid. I guess he is her brother or something but these aren’t the first two attacks we have faced in the past few weeks. This one was just something I needed another witch to handle.” 

My confusion morphed into fury as I registered his words. We made an agreement once I became Luna that I would be kept in the loop for all things involving this pack and another agreement that we would both be kept in the loop if anything happened with the witches, my witches. Since I was Luna I couldn’t run the coven but he still knew they were my responsibility and that I cared for the witches.

“You didn’t tell me.” I spit out. “You yelled at me for making decisions without you and treated me like crap for not telling you before I did something that bothered you all while not telling me something that could potentially put us in danger since it wasn’t brought up earlier.” 

“That was a different situation. This is a pack matter, that was a family matter, and I apologized.” He started to get defensive which made me even angrier.

“No, Dylan. You kept something that will put our family in danger because you thought you could be the big strong wolf and handle it. You know what that was? It was stupid. If there have been multiple attacks then that means there could be witches inside of my coven trying to conspire, waiting to attack. That puts our kids in danger. That puts Austin and Wynter in danger. Those witches are kids who are scared and away from everything they have ever known so they can try to control themselves and go back to the people they love without fear of hurting them. They are vulnerable and easy to manipulate, and now since you didn’t tell me I don’t know how many of them are in this and what the outcome will be.” 

He sighed at the weight of my words as he realized what I was saying was true.

“I didn’t think that they could do any damage. I figured since they were new at this, they weren’t strong enough and they would get over it.”

“That is the thing Dylan, you didn’t think. New witches are the ones you should be scared of because they are the ones you can’t control, the ones who can’t control themselves so the danger they do is out of their hands. I can’t believe you right now.” 

I stood up to storm inside when Ally slammed open the door as I touched the handle, looking angry and frantic.

“She’s gone! Emily is gone!”