The "Boy" Mated to Five

Chapter 5

The inn sat just beyond the border of the Crescent Moon territory.

It was a weathered stone building that served as neutral ground for travelers moving between pack lands. Our room was small but clean, with two narrow beds and a single window that looked out over the forest we'd left behind.

Ethan had explained his plan. He would ask the Crescent Moon Pack leaders to take me in while he returned to the academy to complete his training.

A safe, simple solution that would keep me protected and out of trouble.

Except I couldn’t let that happen.

I lay on the lumpy mattress, staring at the ceiling as rain drummed against the glass.

Sleep wouldn't come.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw our Luna throwing herself between me and death. I saw those rogues, their wild eyes with their bloodstained fur, their taste for cruelty.

My hands clenched into fists beneath the thin blanket. Our Luna was dead because of them. Dead because she'd protected me, and I'd been too weak, too small, too useless to help her.

I wanted to tear those rogues apart, to make them pay for what they'd stolen from me.

From all of us.

But I was nothing but a rejected, exiled omega with no pack, no power, and no strength to speak of.

Yet.

The word whispered through my mind like a promise.

I was weak now, but I didn't have to stay that way.

By the time dawn broke through the storm clouds, my decision was made.

~0~

The inn's common room smelled of bacon and fresh bread, a comfort that seemed obscene when my world had been torn apart just days ago. Ethan sat across from me at a scarred wooden table, picking at his breakfast while I pushed eggs around my plate, too restless to eat.

"I want to join the Military Academy." I said finally, cutting through the silence.

Ethan's eyes widened as he spluttered, choking on the water he had been drinking.

"Are you crazy, Elara?" he said as he slammed down the mug. "You want to join what?"

"It's the only way I'll be able to hunt down and kill the rogues who killed the Luna." The words came out flat, but inside I was burning.

Not to mention I was also going after those pack members who took their pleasure in hurting me, but I kept that part to myself.

He shook his head. "You don’t need to get revenge Elara,” he said gently. “You survived. That’s the only thing that matters.”

I laughed bitterly. “My life hardly matters,” I said clenching my fists. “And I won’t stop until I track down those bastards and kill them myself.”

“I don’t think you know what you’re saying,” he said.

“I’m serious Ethan,” I said. “I need to do this.”

Ethan stared at me in silence.

“I’m not going to let this go,” I continued, crossing my arms, my lips pressing firmly together.

He took in my expression, noting the resolve in my eyes.

“Regardless, you already know that you can’t just join the Military Academy. It’s for males only,” he said. “Women are strictly forbidden from enrolling. And for good reason…the Academy can be brutal, Elara.”

He paused, before continuing. ”But you can join the Female Training Academy." he said. "I know that before only the Alpha's daughter in our pack could go, but you're not tied to those rules anymore."

"No," I said sharply, letting him see the steel in my eyes.

Serena had told me all about her first year at the female academy. It was all focused on defensive learning. They spent their days studying how to protect, how to heal, how to support.

I needed to learn how to attack.

Those rogues were vicious and I would need to be too.

Ethan scanned my face. "Elara, this isn't a joke. Do you know what will happen to you if you do join and you're caught?"

"I don't care," I said, looking away from the concern in his eyes.

"You should," Ethan said seriously. "You'll be killed, Elara.”

His words made my heart race, but I said nothing.

“Killed,” he repeated, his eyes narrowing. “Do you think I'll let that happen to you?"

Instead of backing down, I felt my resolve harden into something unbreakable. I turned back to face him, my jaw set.

"I'm dead anyway, Ethan," I said coldly. "Everything has been taken from me. I have nothing left but this."

"Elara..." he whispered.

"I'm doing this whether you help me or not." The finality in my voice seemed to echo through the common room.

He stared at me for a long moment, and I could see the war playing out behind his eyes. His protective nature battling against my own stubborn one with a resolve that knew no end.

"The academy doesn’t just accept anyone," he said finally. "A pack leader has to recommend you first."

I nodded.

If that’s what it took then so be it.

~0~

“You obviously can’t go to the pack leaders as a woman and ask to be sent to the Military Academy,” he said. “We need help.”

“What kind of help,” I asked.

He ran a hand through his hair, disheveling it. “Just give me a few days to figure this out, Elara.”

The next morning, Ethan was gone.

He’d left some money to pay for the inn along with a note warning me to stay inside.

I tried not to worry.

~0~

The days crawled by.

I paced the small room, wearing grooves in the floorboards.

What was Ethan planning to do?

Would he get herbs to mask my scent?

Call in some kind of military favor?

Although I wasn’t sure how that one would help…

As the sun climbed higher, darker thoughts crept in.

What if he had gotten hurt?

I wouldn’t be able to take it if anything were to happen to him.

I pressed my palms against the window, watching the road. Every traveler made my heart leap, then crashed when I realized it wasn’t him.

Just as afternoon light began to fade and panic threatened to consume me even further, familiar footsteps echoed on the stairs.

The door opened. Ethan stepped inside, looking grimmer than I'd ever seen him.

His clothes were dusty, and something haunted lurked in his eyes.

“We have to go to a witch,” he said.

I blinked in shock.

Witches weren’t allowed in wolf territory.

For centuries we had been taught that they were untrustworthy, manipulative, wielding powers that could twist minds and corrupt souls.

Thousands of wolves had already died by their hands.

The Lycan King had ordered us to kill them on sight.

And now we were going to one for help.

~0~

She was known as Wolftress.

She was half-wolf and half-witch and rumored to be very powerful.

I didn’t know someone like that could exist…

It took three days of hard travel through increasingly wild terrain to reach her home.

When we arrived, the cottage emerged from the forest, greeting us with its twisted black wood that gleamed hauntedly. Black smoke curled from the chimney as it reached towards the darkened gray sky above. Bottles and bones hung from the roof, clinking together as a soft breeze blew past, while the alluring scent of the overgrown garden of wild herbs called me forward.

Ethan gave me a pointed look, the chilling and eerie atmosphere making him hesitate.

“Will you wait outside?” I asked and he began to protest immediately. “Please Ethan. I need to do this alone.”

I didn’t know why, but my instincts told me it was best if he didn’t come along.

Eventually he relented.

“I’ll be right here,” he said. His eyes scanned the cottage once more. “But if I hear anything strange, I’m breaking down that door and coming to get you.”

I smiled softly and nodded.

As I walked up the gnarled, rickety steps of the porch, the cottage door opened before I could even knock.

I stepped in slowly and jumped as the door slammed shut behind me.

My eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness before me.

“Hello?” I called out to the silence as I began walking from one room to the next.

There was no answer as I continued moving through the maze of hanging herbs, bubbling cauldrons, and shelves lined with mysterious vials.

“Why are you here?” A voice finally called back although I couldn’t see the owner of it.

“I need your help,” I said, still pushing through cobwebs while being careful not to knock anything over.

“Why should I help you?” the voice asked.

I explained about the rogue wolves, about the attack, about my plans for revenge.

As I finished my story, the Wolftress finally came into view. I wondered if it was magic that had made it seem like I was walking forever until she had decided to finally reveal herself. I shivered at the thought that something like that could happen. That I could be trapped so easily here if she decided it.

I pushed down the fear that began bubbling up in me.

“Interesting,” she said simply as she stood stirring the contents of a cauldron.

I bit back my shock as I took her in. She looked young yet seemed impossibly old, like someone who had lived centuries beyond their years. Long white hair flowed like liquid moonlight down her back, and her skin was as pale as winter’s frost

But the most chilling part was her eyes. They were completely black and I felt as if they were piercing through my soul. I forced myself to hold her unsettling gaze.

“Will you help me?” I asked.

“Your plan is foolish,” she began. “Though admirable…but I’m not in the habit of helping wolves," she said.

"But you're a wolf," I said.

Her laugh was as bitter as the winter wind. "More a curse than a blessing."

I wondered what exactly she meant by that but knew her life couldn’t have been easy with her witch heritage.

“Please,” I pleaded. “I need your help.”

Ethan had gone through the trouble of finding and taking me to her, even with all he had been taught about witches.

It must have been for good reason.

I listened to the rustle of movement in her home as silence enveloped us.

After a few more moments, she spoke. “I'll assist you but only because something tells me this will be beneficial for us both," she said, a knowing smile playing on her pale lips.

“You will need a powerful potion,” she continued as she moved to an ancient looking book and began flipping to a specific page.“One that not only masks your scent but also changes the physical expression of your wolf.”

What?

She turned, picking up and examining the vials on the shelf beside her. “An illusion spell could work but it would be just that… an illusion,” she said.

She paused. “If you really want to survive your plan, then you’ll need something that will not only change the female traits of your wolf but also make you stronger and faster.”

That made sense and I could use all the help I could get. “Will I be stronger even when I’ve shifted back?”

“That I don’t know,” she began. “I’ve only made this once before for a she-wolf who was running from an abusive mate.”

“He had tracked her down countless times before and she had become desperate enough to seek me out.” The Wolftress looked at me. “She wanted not just to hide from him but wanted to be strong enough to kill him.”

I shivered. I couldn’t imagine how much pain you had to go through to want to kill your own mate.

“Why did you help her?” I asked since only a moment ago she had spoken of her disdain for helping wolves.

“Because if she succeeded, that meant one less of you in the world,” she smiled cruelly.

I dropped my eyes to the ground, nausea gripping me.

She sprinkled something into the cauldron. “I never saw her again after I gave her the potion so I don't know what happened to her,” she said. “I don’t know if it affected her in human form but I didn’t expect it to since I had created it specifically for her wolf.”

“I could tweak it to make sure it enhances you in all ways but that would take time. Time that I assume you don’t have.” She continued stirring.

She was right. We needed to get to the academy as soon as possible.

“I also don’t know how long the potion lasts,” she began. “It could be two months. Could be two weeks."

Two weeks.

I hoped it wasn’t two weeks.

That wouldn't be nearly enough time.

But what other choice did I have right now?

“I’ll take it,” I said.

She nodded once. “I will need three days to make it,” she responded.

A part of me gnawed at the time but what could I do.

“While the essence of you will be kept intact,”she continued. “since this will cause a physical change to your wolf, I expect it to be quite painful.”

I hesitated, my heart beating faster at her words. But I nodded. "I'll also need to change my appearance," I said. "There's someone who might recognize me."

Ethan had reminded me during our journey that Silas, my mate who had so bitterly rejected me, would be fulfilling his duty as the Alpha’s son and enrolling in the academy as well. Now that he was eighteen, he could finally enter.

The Wolftress nodded . "I'll give you a tonic for that."

She reached for another vial and explained that it would change my hair and eye color, and that she would spell it further to give the illusion that my voice had deepened.

I watched as she ran her hand across the green bottle and muttered some words. The liquid inside flared brightly before going dark. “Take this as needed. It will be much easier to consume than the other. "

I smiled at her gratefully. “Thank you,” I said as she handed me the vial and I tucked it into my pack.

“One more thing, since the potion that will change your wolf is essentially untested magic, there could be unintended side effects as well,” she warned.

I hesitated.

Side effects?

I just hoped it wouldn’t give me a second head.

Either way I had to continue. Whatever it took.

“What do I owe you for all of this?” I asked.

She paused, a smile curling her lips.“A favor.”

“A favor?” I said feeling something cold crawl up my spine.

“A blood favor,” she clarified.

My eyes widened. “What’s that?”

“It means you are bound by your blood. If I call in my favor and you do not come or refuse to do it, you will forfeit your life.”

I gasped, stepping back instinctively.

The weight of her words settled over me like a shroud.

What if the favor went against everything I stood for?

Not doing it would cost me my life.

“How will I know when you’ve called in your favor?” I asked.

“Oh you will know,” she said.

“And what would stop me from just taking the potion and running?” Aside from the fact that she had magic and I had nothing of course.

A ghost of a smile graced her lips. “If you had harbored any such ill intentions in your heart, you would have already been dead before you even entered my home.”

I shivered at her words, a chill running down my spine.

Just how powerful was this witch?

Still, I needed her help if I wanted to pull this off and if this is what it took…

I offered her my palm.

She slashed a blade across it, the cut swift and deep, and began chanting foreign words. I watched as her black eyes rolled back in her head,and the wind picked up around the cottage despite the closed windows.

Bottles rattled on their shelves, herbs scattered across the floor, and the very air seemed to thicken with power.

My palm seared and stung as it became swollen and heated. I bit my lip painfully as my blood seemed to burn. As her chanting stopped and the unnatural wind died down, I felt my blood cool and watched as the cut on my palm healed instantly.

“It is done,” she said with a finality. “Elara Greene.”

Shock pulsed through me. While I had told her my story, I had been careful not to mention any names. “How do you know my name?” I asked.

Her smile was ancient and knowing. “I have seen your blood. There’s nothing about you that I do not know now.”

Her words chilled me to the core.

As I left the cottage, I hoped beyond anything that I hadn’t just signed my life away foolishly.