The Triplet Alphas's Christmas Gift

Chapter 49 - Morgana

Tyler's POV

As I got closer, I could hear them muttering to themselves quietly, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I needed to know what they were doing here and why they were watching my mate so intently, so I grabbed them by the waist and slammed their back against the tree. The figure shrieked then clawed at my arms, screaming at the top of her lungs, “THE WOLFLING HAS MORGANA! LET GO OF MORGANA, WOLFLING! SHE BRINGS YOU NO HARM! JUST PICKING HERBS FOR HER STOCK, SHE IS! WOLFLING HAS NO RIGHT TO HURT HER!”

My ears rang at the screeches and I growled, silencing the screams as the scrawny woman I held against the tree shrank in fear, “I’m not planning to hurt you, woman. I want to know why you are spying on my mate!” I asked furiously. The woman flinched, “Spying? Morgana was not spying! Morgana was interested in the wolfling’s outing. That’s all. Noticed ye in the woods dancing and walking along the path and was curious. Morgana would never spy.” She said nervously, not looking me in the eye.

I growled furiously, “Woman, I don’t take kindly to liars or trespassers, and you happen to be both. You are in the heart of the Darkmoon Pack’s territory and have just admitted to watching my mate and I on our date. Now tell the truth, or I’ll drag you back to the pack and let the Alpha deal with you.” I growled angrily.

The woman shrunk back scared, and I reined in my temper, not wanting to hurt her too much. “Darkmoon Pack? Morgana thinks the wolfling was mistaken. The Darkmoon Pack’s territory lies on the other side of the lake. This little cove is near Morgana’s home and she not be trespassing. Was looking for herbs to take home for her remedies she was when she noticed the young wolflings on the lake. The female has an interesting aura, dark it is, makes Morgana wonder what she really is. Morgana grew hungry watching the wolflings, ye see and decided to see if there was any food. She didn’t mean any harm,” She said nervously. I growled, then flinched when a hand gently squeezed my shoulder.

I glanced behind me at Teira standing there. I froze for a minute, wondering if she had heard me declare her my mate. But she just smiled, “Tyler, she’s not a threat. Let her go.” She said gently, and I sighed, then shook my head, “Threat or not, princess, she’s trespassing. She can’t be trusted.” I said, but Teira looked at the woman whose face turned pale at the sight of her. “It’s alright ma’am, we’re not going to hurt you. My boyfriend’s protective of me. Your name is Morgana? What are you doing in the pack’s territory?” she asked gently, kneeling down in front of the woman as I let her slide down to sit at the base of the tree.

Morgana nodded, but I could tell she was terrified of coming face to face with Teira. I watched her curiously but Teira didn’t look fazed. “Yes, Morgana’s me name. She lives in a small cottage a few miles down from the edge of the lake, needed herbs for me remedies and such for the coven meeting tomorrow evening. Noticed the wolflings skating on the lake. She did and grew curious. Must’ve journeyed too far inside the border of the lake as the wolfling’s pack doesn’t own the lake.” She stated firmly. I growled at the word ‘coven’, “You’re a witch then.” I asked, ignoring her continued comments about the territory.

Teira looked at me confused, “A witch?” she asked, and I nodded. Morgana shrank back a bit at Teira’s stare but nodded at her question, “Yes, yes, Morgana is a witch of the Woodworm coven that resides deep in the forest. Her cottage is on the edge of the territory because she likes her privacy, she does, doesn’t have to get involved in nosy power struggles within the ‘family’. She can tend to all the plants and herbs she needs to. Would the wolflings like to see Morgana’s home?” she asked cautiously. I nodded firmly, I wasn’t about to let the witch out of my sight until she proved she was harmless. Plus, it would be safe to confirm whether she was within our borders.

Morgana got up flinching at Teira’s hand and grabbed a shabby wooden basket that was sitting unnoticed in some tall weeds. It was full of plants, some I recognized, like wolfsbane and hemlock, but others I had no clue what they were. Teira stepped back from the basket as the smell of wolfsbane hit her strongly, and I put myself between her and Morgana in case the witch decided to do something stupid. Witches were tricky, some were harmless old women who only wanted to make potions and remedies and didn’t delve any deeper than that. Others appeared to be harmless, then tricked unsuspecting people into doing their dirty work or worse, delved in dark magic.

Until I could figure out which type Morgana was, I wasn’t letting her anywhere near my princess. Morgana rolled her eyes at my antics but started to shuffle away, muttering to herself, “The little wolfling thinks Morgana wants to harm his mate, but Morgana wants nothing to do with the dark one. Tricksy she is, could be dangerous. Morgana has no need to get involved in danger, had enough of that with the family.”

“Who’s this ‘family’ you keep referring to?” Teira asked curiously, and I smiled at the witch’s jump. She hadn’t realized she wasn’t muttering quietly. She turned and looked at us cautiously, her hazel eyes showing a bit of fear. But she blinked and the fear disappeared so quickly, I thought I imagined it. “No one. Just a name she refers to when talking about the coven. The ‘family’ is having a meeting tonight and Morgana is required to be there, so she went out to gather herbs earlier in the day instead of at night. The family meetings take longer than normal sometimes and leaves no time for herb picking.” She replied as we walked.

“Why do you keep flinching when you look at her?” I asked quietly and Morgana shook her head, “No reason, young wolfling, no reason at all. The young wolfling’s mate has an aura about her that appears dangerous, that’s all. Morgana can’t tell ye much more than that. Ah, here we are, me cabin. Didn’t I say it wasn’t in the wolfling’s territory?” she muttered quietly.

We walked into a large meadow with a single-story wooden cabin sitting in the center of it. I glanced around a bit confused, I couldn’t scent any of our markers nor felt like we had crossed our border, but it also didn’t feel like we were in the pack’s land anymore. Teira grabbed my hand and squeezed nervously, and I glared at the witch, “What kind of spell have you put on this place?” I growled. The witch shrank back nervously but raised her hands in surrender, “No spell placed on the wolflings, no. Morgana only placed a spell on the cabin, it’s to make sure she doesn’t trespass on wolflings territory. She doesn’t like to get involved in plots and schemes. She doesn’t. So she places a spell on the border of her land and hides it from other creatures. Can also teleport the land somewhere so she’s not found. No harm will come to the wolflings here, Morgana promises.” She said quietly.

I nodded and looked around. She certainly looked harmless. There didn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary other than her cabin and plants. From the way she acted, Morgana appeared to be the type of witch that enjoyed her peace and making remedies. The only thing that bothered me, had been the fact that she had been spying on Teira from the woods. And the things she kept saying about her confused me. We should talk to our brothers. They should have some insight into what the witch is saying. Smoke said quietly and I nodded at him. I bowed to Morgana, “My apologies for frightening you, Morgana. Thank you for showing us your home and for proving you aren’t a threat. I will let my warriors and Alpha know that if they come across you, not to bother you. Just don’t go too far inside the pack. Some pack members don’t trust witches, even when they aren’t threatening. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt.” I said calmly. Morgana curtsied and nodded, then bowed awkwardly to Teira, who smiled, “Yes, yes, little wolfling. Now move along, Morgana has some remedies to make and such. Oh, and before she forgets…” she said, then snapped her fingers and a light appeared in her palm.

A plate of sandwiches and chips along with some chocolate chip cookies appeared, and she handed them over gently, “For the food. Morgana knows she stole, and she’s sorry about that. This is to make up for it and for not punishing her. Now be off with ya!” she said gruffly, shooing us away. Teira laughed, and I smiled and grabbed her hand, “Shall we go back to our date then?” I asked, and she squeezed it gently as she carried the plate in her other hand. “I would like that very much.” She said as we crossed the end of the meadow and ended up right back at the cove and the parasol with our picnic under it.

The sun started to sink as we ate and packed everything up. I left it at the spot and linked Ryan to send a couple of omegas to clear the area. Teira began to shiver as the temperature dropped, so I let Smoke out and shifted. She gasped for a minute, then smiled and patted his snout as he licked her hand and face. Mate, get on. He said as he knelt down and Teira c****d her head in confusion. I tried to butt in, but Smoke pushed me back. She’ll have to get used to the term soon. Her birthday is in a few days. Just tell her that’s how wolves say ‘girlfriend’. He grumbled, and I sighed and curled up in the back of his mind.

Smoke had been bothering me for a while, wanting to meet Teira. He didn’t mind that she didn’t have a wolf spirit, yet, he just wanted to get to know his mate. So I let him have his time with her as she hopped on his back and wrapped her coat around her tightly as he headed back to the packhouse.

I linked Ryan and Matt before settling down, stating that we needed to talk about what happened with the witch and what she meant by Teira having a dangerous aura. This didn’t seem like something we should ignore.

My only hope was that we would be able to protect her from whatever it meant, and that meant reaching out to the Crystal Lake pack to learn more about Teira’s family.