The Duty of an Alpha (Book 2)

Voices

Chapter 19

Arden POV*

Lisa’s enthusiasm for doing what she could to help the other members of the pack was heartening. After she made the decision, she marched determinedly up to where Eva had set up the 3rd floor.

I walked after her, slightly stunned at her acceptance of being a Guinea pig for a spell. Eva gave me an interested look when she saw the look on my face, and I had to shake my head to bring myself back to the moment.

“Lisa, here, is one of the best staff within the pack, and she has agreed to take part in the spell.” I explained. “She wouldn’t even let me tell her what it was for.”

Eva let out a musical chuckle, and then looked over at Lisa.

“Headstrong then?” She said, making Lisa smile. “Well come on over here and take a seat. You don’t need to do much other than sit still while I do the work.”

I stepped back and leaned against the nearest wall, letting Eva work uninterrupted. For all the preparation that had to be done for this one attempt, there didn’t seem to be much action going on. Lisa sat, completely still, directly in front of the older witch, and Eva had her eyes closed and was murmuring under her breath.

Herbs were burning in a few separate bowls surrounding the two, but the smells weren’t overwhelming. Occasionally, one would flame up a little higher than the others, but quickly return to normal. Over the following half hour, nothing seemed to be happening with the exception of Eva’s constant murmuring.

Suddenly, both of the older women slumped in their seats. It was odd to see the regal and ageless witch being so slumped over, and I wanted to run over to make sure they were both ok, but I didn’t know if it would interrupt all of the work and effort that had been performed to that point.

I held my breath and focused to hear the breathing and heart beats of the two women, wanting to be sure that they weren’t in any danger. When I was able to confirm that they didn’t seem to be in pain, I was able to slightly relax, but still stood just on the other side of the bowls of herbs in case I felt the need to save either of them.

A few minutes passed, and with every second, I was becoming more anxious. Seeing the two older women slumped in their seats was unnerving, but I forced myself to trust in Eva. Eventually, I remembered that I had the ability to sense emotions, and I pushed out towards them.

All I could feel was a strange sense of peace. Nothing else was within the circle, and my trust in Eva’s promise of not doing anything harmful was strengthened. I actually felt bad for doubting her in the first place when Eva had never given reason to believe otherwise.

I decided to just sit on the outer edge of the circle and wait for them to wake up.

It took longer than I would have liked, but after another half an hour, Lisa started to stir. Moments later, Eva’s shoulders straightened and she took a deep breath.

“Hmm.” Eva said groggily. “That took a lot more energy than I expected.”

I jumped to my feet, and once she motioned that it was ok, I hurried to their sides.

“Are you ok?” I asked, worry filled my voice. “Do you need anything? What can I do?”

“Sweet darling.” Eva chuckled and patted my hand. “We are fine. Just a bit tired”

Yes, dear. Lisa chimed in over her mind link. Just a little tired. And my neck and back are a little stiff, but my wolf can take care of that with no problems.

My heart sunk a little at the fact that Lisa was talking over mind link. I had hoped that this would work. Even though it was only a trial run, I had set my expectations high, hoping for at least some good news after all that had been happening.

“Well, I’m glad you are both ok.” I said, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

“More than ok.” Eva assured me with a smile. She turned to the woman sitting across from her. “Lisa dear, can you do me a favor? Can you try to speak?”

Shock was written all over Lisa’s face. Up to that point, she still hadn’t known what the spell was supposed to do. A small flame of hope went through me again. I couldn’t help but stare at Lisa as she worked up the courage to try to speak for what was probably the first time in decades.

“Ighh…” she rasped out a sound in a rough voice. She swallowed and tried again. “I kah… I can.”

Her had flew to her mouth and tears of joy filled her eyes.

“The spell was a test to see if we could give you all back the ability to speak.” I explained as gently as I could, even though all I wanted to do was jump up and down with excitement.

“You’ll probably need to relearn to use your voice.” Eva leaned over and clasped one of Lisa’s hands in her own. “But you will be able to talk again.”

Lisa started sobbing and threw herself into the witch’s arms. Eva held her tightly and looked up at me with tired but proud eyes.

“Thank you so much.” I told her, knowing that words could never express the gratitude that I felt for her. The hope that I would be able to help my pack members was only a hope, but Eva brought it to reality.

“Please don’t thank me.” Eva said gently, and Lisa pulled away from her and started wiping her tears. She had a brilliant smile on her face, and I could see just how much this meant to her. “There is much work to be done to help the rest of your pack, and I will need the help of the other witches that have joined your pack. The energy it took to just restore one person’s ability to speak was more than expected. If I have help, we should be able to give the same gift to a few people a day.”

“Thank you.” Lisa managed to get out in a gravelly voice while looking between both of us. If it was slightly slurred, neither of us paid attention.

Eva shook her head at her but had a smile on her ageless, but tired face. I just smiled like an i***t, grateful for getting such good news that the @bused staff members would be able to get help.

“Lisa,” Eva said and reached for the other woman’s hand again. “I need you to not let anyone else know just yet. Practice your voice in private, but until I can teach the other witches the spell, I don’t wish to be hounded about when we can help everyone.”

Lisa nodded her head in agreement.

“We can keep it quiet for now.” I also agreed. “How long do you think the others will take to learn the spell?”

“Not long, I should think.” Eva looked at me but still held Lisa’s hand in hers. “A few days maybe? Less than a week. If everyone else knows and starts asking to be first though, it will take away from the others ability to learn quickly. This spell requires a lot of concentration and energy.”

“I understand. Do you want me to get the others gathered today?” I asked, not sure that Eva would be able to handle much of anything at the moment, not even the simplest of spells. “After you nap of course. Or would tomorrow be a better time to start?”

“Tomorrow I think.” Eva was having trouble keeping her eyes open, and I looked over to see Lisa having the same problem.

“Let me help you both to bed.” I walked over and had both the women sling an arm over a shoulder. “Lisa, you can stay in one of the guest rooms up here until you feel like you’re strong enough to head home ok?”

“Yes.” She rasped tiredly. “Thank you.”

Hearing her voice, though slightly slurred and rough from disuse, was like music for me. Out of all the things that I had wished for within my pack, being able to help the ones who had gone through so much abuse in the past was top of the list. I had done all  I could to make women feel like they had a voice, but for Eva to actually be able to give the staff their literal voice back, it meant everything to me.