Are you my mate?

Chapter 4 The Path

To think I just wanted to live a normal lonely life. Work and go home to rest. Rest after repeating the same thing again the next day. Who would have thought I'd be walking in the woods looking for a magical creature such as a witch to give me a potion, to make an Alpha believe his mate is Olivia. I never walk out in the woods alone. I'm a wolf, but I barely go out for runs anymore. Even if I do, it's normally in my human form as I am now. I know that I'll have to go into my wolf form to be able to scent and look for a trail with my wolf eyes, if I manage to find this so-called witch. I don't even know if she will sense me here. She must be outside the territory though. If she was there, the Alpha would have found her already and beheaded her or burned her alive. No one can come into your territory unwelcome.

Each Alpha has its own territory. Others have to stay in theirs and can only come if an Alpha welcomes another Alpha or wolf into theirs. It's just always been like this to keep peace and respect between the packs.

It's also to keep rogues out. Rogues are those that are no longer part of a pack. They either get kicked out of their pack, or they don't want to submit to an Alpha and his pack, which makes you a rogue. There's a saying that rogues have grouped together, so that's why there are always breaches at the borders of the territory with them trying to get in and kill whomever they see. That's just how they live. They live to skill. Sometimes I think rogues have families of something. If they always feel lonely out there.

I must have been too lost in my thoughts as I heard whispers all around me. I cannot hear where it's coming from, but I just hear faint whispers. I cannot do well in my human form, so I'll need to shift to be able to hear properly and protect myself. It has been a while since I shifted.

I've been so busy and distant with my wolf lately. If I barely shift, I don’t hear my wolf in my head. I know that once I shift now that our connection will be there again, but I don't want to hurt my wolf and shut her out again. I don't do it on purpose, but I'm always busy working and don't have time to shift and go on runs.

"Okay! Come on, you can do this, otherwise, you are going to die from the hands of whomever is whispering around you" I scolded myself in my head again. I do this a lot, so nothing new.

I breathed in and out and just imagined my wolf form.... I’m looking around my body, but nothing is happening. The whispering is getting louder and putting me off track, but I will try harder this time. "Anastasia! Come fourth" I said while imagining my wolf in my head. Still, nothing happened. I didn't want to do this, but this is what she wanted me to say, "All mighty powerful and beautiful wolf of the loving moon goddess, come fourth and show me your beauty," I said while laughing to myself. I'm just an omega, but my wolf is persistent and forces me to say these words to myself. I haven't seen or spoken to her in a while, so I know that she wants me to say this.

"Right on time" I say, while I feel my bones breaking in all places. It hurts like a son of a gun!, but I push through the pain while gritting my teeth and letting out a scream that can be heard from miles away. I still hear the whispers, so I feel Anna pushing through even more. Oh, and yes, I just call my wolf Ana. Her name is just so long. Could she have just a simple name like mine?.

I'm pushed out of my thoughts when I feel my 4 paws on the forest floor. It feels amazing. Tingles everywhere and I just feel free like I can run for hours on those legs!

"Get your head out of the gutter, Rosie! I know everything that's going on. We are turning back right now!", my wolf says in my head while turning back the way we came and going back.

Ah, here's another reason why I don't go running and letting her out anymore. Just so she cannot speak in my head all the time. She knows how Olivia has been with me. Olivia almost attacked me once because of Ana's big mouth. I told her she would get us kicked out and that we were just an omega. She keeps telling me that I'm not an omega and that we are not weak.

"Yes, get out of your thoughts before I say those words again! I can hear you, remember?", she says while getting ready to run.

"Ana....don't force me to shift back. I need to do this. Olivia looked furious and desperate for this”.

"That witch is not to be messed with, Rose. Her prices are always high, no matter the favor she gives", my wolf pleaded with me. My wolf is also the one that said the witch story is real. She does exist. I never really believed her, but she's from the moon goddess and the moon goddess gives them memories of the past to keep up with their human bodies in the present. I did believe in the moon goddess, but something like this magic is evil and never happened in our time...yet anyway, by the looks of it.

"So, is it better to run back empty-handed and get kicked out of the pack house, and not to mention my house taken away from me because my parents worked so hard to get me Ana?," now I'm mad! No, I'm pissed off. She's doing the same thing she always does, and gets me in trouble. That's all she ever does.

"Please Rose, don't block me out again. I can hear your thoughts and I know what you want to do. I cannot go back into your mind in a corner again. If I'm blocked out, I cannot protect you when you need it" my wolf says, while I can hear her protest and something like she's sad when mentioning blocking her out.

"I'll do it."

"So what?"

"I'll help you find this stupid witch and get this over with."

"Yay, thank you, Ana. You will not regret this!"

"I think I will once we hear the price that must be paid. This is an Alpha's life that we might ruin by getting his true mate, Rose. Do you really want to do that?"

Now I feel bad. I did not think of that in the slightest.

"Oh no what am I going to do, Ana?" I said while pacing up and down the forest floor.

"I really can't do this. I cannot ruin someone else's life to make mine better. I just can't!"

"I know Rose. We are too pure for that. We cannot let evil win. We have the heart of an Alpha and Luna. We cannot let this happen!"

My wolf says proudly. This is just a fantasy.

. I’m still an omega and have no power over this.

"Rose, be quiet!" My wolf says while moving our said up and down and sniffing.

"While you were in your head again, I noticed the whispers were gone, but I've picked up a scent. A really weird one. It reeks of death. It must be the magical scent of the witch”.

"And that's not all. Rose look"

"Yes, we can see through the same eyes, Ana. We are literally looking in the same direction!" And here I thought you were the smart one.

"Just hush, this is my form". I rolled my eyes in my head. It seemed like a black path clearing up ahead of us. That must be the witch’s path. She sensed us. So that was her whisper.

"We said that we were going back and not doing that," Ana says, while looking at the path.

"What if I don't have a choice and need to do it? I can't go back empty-handed. We are also running out of time. The Alphas will be here soon, Ana”.

"I know. I cannot let this happen to another Alpha. We need to find another way or something out of this" she says while pacing. Guess we are the same. She must have gotten the pacing thing from me.

"Let's just find this witch. Even if we have to force her to tell us what the price will be. We'll let her know that it's not for us. Not that we are going to use the potion, but just in case".

"Yeah, just in case" I told Ana as she started walking down the black path.