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Haley’s POV

“I’m Hayden and this is Jayden. And yes, we are twins.” The grey-eyed alpha on Chris’s left spoke, introducing himself and saving me the time of asking about his twin, who was on his right.

I studied their appearance. Both of them had the same set of grey eyes but different hair colors. Hayden had short-length jet black hair, while Jayden had medium-length hazel brown hair.

“He’s the alpha of the lotus pack, and I’m the alpha of the blue moon pack,” Jayden added to his brother’s words.

Twin alphas, that’s cool. I nodded with a smile, then pointed at the person on Chris’s right side.

The redhead guy moved uncomfortably in his chair, muttering something under his breath, which made Chris elbow him in his side. “What the fuck, Chris?” He grumbled.

“Watch your language around the lady,” the guy next to him scolded, then looked at me with a flattering smile.

“He’s the playful one,” Maya chimed in, purring as she stared at his bright green eyes.

“Also handsome,” my demon, Sibyl, added in a playful tone.

Great, she was out. I pinched the bridge of my nose, sighing loudly as Sybil cursed me for trapping her for a long time.

“Are you okay?” Chris asked, and I nodded, shoving both Maya and Sibyl behind a mind wall.

My gaze traveled to the redhead guy, and he cleared his throat, introducing himself, “I’m Stefan, alpha of the moonstone pack.”

The green-eyed guy raised his hand with a smile on his lips, locking his gaze with mine. “And last, I’m Nate. The alpha of the Lycan pack,” he glanced at the guys as he trailed off, “also I’m the only one who has a sense of humor out of the four of them.”

The guys glared at him and he shrugged his shoulders with a playful smirk, mouthing to me they’re jealous and I nibbled on my lips, trying not to chuckle.

I was relieved to have someone help me even if I don’t know them. Chris spoke bluntly in a language I don’t recognize, and the guys nodded their heads.

“I’m glad that you guys stuck around. If you still have questions, please go ahead,” I spoke out with a small smile, and Nate’s gaze met mine before talking to Chris in the same language from earlier.

Chris shot him a glare and shook his head in a no, making Nate roll his eyes.

I could feel the tension among the five of them. They had a lot of questions, maybe afraid to ask me.

Jayden looked at his brother, asking for his permission to ask. He shook his head in a no, just like Chris did with Nate, but Jayden ignored him and asked. “What made your sister go all rogue? Shapeshifters were usually peaceful,”

I lowered my gaze to my sweaty palms. “Well… one day she was normal, the next day she went nuts, she hardly recognized any of us. It was like-“

“Brainwashed,” Nate cut me off, completing my sentence, and I nodded, lifting my gaze to his green eyes.

“I think that was dark magic,” Stefan chimed in, and his words stuck in my mind, refreshing the memory when I sought help from the witches.

They said the same thing, but couldn’t track who put the spell.

“She was like a puppet, shifting into everything, even your human forms. Her powers were extreme,” I continued with wide eyes, staring at the nothingness.

“I think we are similar to that case,” Hayden muttered, getting a warning glare from Chris.

“Look, I don’t know what you guys are hiding, but I think it might help us with our case if you just blurt it out,” I snapped at them, then clutched my hands into fists.

Nate snickered, then deadpanned at me. “It won’t help, she’s dead anyway, buried six feet underground with a-“

“Does your niece have the same power?” Chris asked, cutting Nate mid-sentence.

I looked at him, noticing the slight frown on his face. A concerned frown, to be specific. I guess it was related to what Nate was saying about that girl who was somehow similar to my sister.

I could smell the fear slipping out of them, leaving me questioning myself. What happened in the north while I was doing the world a favor by killing my sister?

They feared what would happen, but tried so hard not to show it.

“The girl you are talking about. How did you kill her?” I asked, looking at Nate, who was sweating nervously by now.

“Tell us about Payton first and we will answer your questions,” Stefan bugged in. And I turned my gaze to him before letting out a frustrated sigh.

“I don’t know,” I mumbled. Well, I never stuck around her to know if she was like Lily or not. I just took the easy way out and left her.

She could be like Lily.

“Her father was a werewolf, and her mother was a shapeshifter. I didn’t stick around to know what she was, but assumed she would be a shapeshifter.” Saying this out loud made me feel like a horrible person.

What if I made a mistake by giving her away while she was a regular werewolf all along?

“At what age do shape-shifting powers kick in?” Chris asked.

“I knew about Lily when she was fourteen, but I guess it could be known at a young age.” He exchanged looks with the guys, then nodded his head.

“Well, that was all we needed,” Nate said softly and stood up from his chair, hurrying to the door with the guys on his tail.

“And the girl?” I called out, hearing their footsteps stop.

I got up and turned around, meeting their gazes. They glanced at each other before forcing Stefan to speak up. “It was five years ago when my sister woke up in the middle of the night, trying to slash my throat,”

The memory of Lily strangling me on my bed jumped in my head, demanding some sort of stone.

“She was looking for the phoenix stone, I never saw that stone in my entire life. No one knows how it looks in the north, except for that mysterious woman who was also looking for it.”

I knew what the stone was; it was a dangerous stone made by a powerful witch, specially made for shapeshifters, hybrids, and tribrids. It was the only thing that could stop those three creatures from reaching their potential power.

If a witch uses it, she can use it as a weapon, killing those three creatures instantly.

“Your sister wasn’t a regular werewolf, was she?” I questioned, and he furrowed his eyebrows.

“No, she was a tribrid,” he answered.

My theory could be right.

“I’m thirty minutes away. Are the alphas still there?” Kevin said through the mind link.

“No, they’re leaving,” I answered, then shut off my mindlink.

“We will continue this tomorrow morning when Tyrone’s son is here,” I announced, and they nodded without adding another word.

They left one by one and I stood at the porch, watching them as they got in their cars, pulling out of the driveway.

Everyone left except Chris, who was standing by his car. “Did you forget anything?” I asked him, and he shook his head.

“I didn’t want to say this in front of the guys, but you still need to get Tyrone’s son on board. He left his pack after the war, so convincing him would be hard.”

“He should be our least concern. I can get him on board within seconds, but things are about to get worse because of the stone,” I mumbled, and he pursed his lips, leaning on his car.

I walked up to him, lifting my gaze to his worried one. “The rogues don’t want shapeshifters only,” I pointed out.

“But they are the major goal. They possess every power they seek, becoming powerful just like a tribrid or a hybrid,” he added, and I knew he realized how dangerous our situation was.

History was repeating itself. The rogues chased shapeshifters for a century, and my family had one right under their roof for years.

The remaining shapeshifters hid somewhere around the country after most of them were cleared out in the first war. I guess my father knew things would turn out uglier once the rogues knew about Lily’s existence.

Chris turned around, opened the driver’s door, and right before he got in his car, he glanced back at me. “Also, don’t worry about the other alphas, they will come around after the second attack.”

“I hope so,” I mumbled.

But he was right. They would come around after another attack. It happened once and it would happen again.

“I’ll make sure we win the war,” I whispered, watching him as he pulled out of the driveway.

It was getting dark, and the sun was setting down; I stared at the tree’s shadows, then lifted my eyes at the forest.

It looked so calm and creepy from afar. In the corner of my eyes, I saw Ashton coming towards me with a serious face.

That couldn’t be good.

He came and stood by my side, leaning on me as he whispered, “alpha, there’s a message from the witches.”

Ashton only addressed me as alpha instead of Haley, when things were serious.

I sighed and entered the packhouse, heading straight to my office.

There was a red bird on my desk. His obsidian eyes staring back at me.

“Is that a Phoenix?” Maya asked.

I flinched, taking a few steps backward as the red bird burned on the desk. A message appeared between the ashes, along with a baby bird.

“Hi there, little guy,” I cooed at the little bird, picking it up in my palm. I gazed at the bird as it closed its eyes and snuggled in my hand.

“I wonder who sent you,” I mumbled, dropping my gaze to the rolled message.

I placed the bird in an empty cage. I would send it back to the witch who sent this message.

I walked over to my desk and picked up the rolled message, grazing the red stamp that closed it shut.

I removed the stamp and glanced at it, trying to read the foreign initials on it. “Are you sure it was sent by witches?” I asked Ashton over the mind link.

“Not really, but I know witches are the only ones who use phoenix birds,” he answered.

I unrolled the message, dying to know who really sent it. My eyes dropped on the words and I read silently.

Alpha Haley, we haven’t met before, but I met your niece in a town down the east. I could tell from afar that she’s a gifted kid. Unfortunately, there’s a problem. She saw something in the forest and now she’s in a coma. I’m a witch, also her nurse, and I tried to pull her out of her coma with magic, but she kicked me out of her brain as if she had magic.

I think she might be like her mother, a shapeshifter. If you get my message, please answer me back or just go to Sienna Meadow. She can help too.

Yours, Katrina.

I let out a shaky breath after reading the message, ripping it into pieces, and throwing it in the bin.

“What if someone sees it? Just burn it,” Maya ordered.

I walked behind the desk and opened the drawer, bringing out the matchbox. My hands were shaky as I tried to light the match.

After a couple of times, I lit it successfully. I stared at the little flame of fire dancing on the match; I threw it in the bin and watched the pieces turning to ashes.

“Scott is here,” Kevin said through the mind link.

I cleaned the place before mind linking Ashton to let Scott in.

I brushed my hair away from my face to calm myself down. The blood in my veins stopped after hearing a knock on the door.

They're here.

I cleared my throat before I spoke out in a firm tone, “come in.”

Ashton opened the door, revealing Scott. He had medium-length raven black hair and a set of ocean blue eyes.

Maya popped up in my mind, running around in circles with happiness. I didn’t understand why she was doing this until I heard him whisper.

“Mate.”

After a long, awkward minute of staring into each other’s eyes. Ashton cleared his throat, and I broke eye contact by looking at my brother, who fought the urge to smirk at me.

I brushed off the mate thing for now, which made Maya growl at me with anger, so I blocked her behind the mind wall and concentrated on what I was supposed to do.

Scott was still staring at me, his eyes turning to dark shades of blue, letting me know his wolf was in control.

“Your father wants to see you.” I broke the silence, and his eyes instantly went back to normal.

“Bring his mother to the morgue,” I told Ashton over the mind link. He excused himself and went to bring her, leaving me alone with Scott.

Scott didn’t even move from his place, he was frozen in his place like a statue. “Are you okay?” I asked, walking towards him.

He didn’t answer me, his eyes were clouded with a white mist. “Scott,” I called out his name, about to touch him, but he dodged my hand, snapping out of his state.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he answered with a blank look on his face.

Maya, being sensitive, his attitude made her upset. But I reassured her he would change.

He had just lost his father, so he was grieving right now. Giving him some space seemed like the perfect option.

I locked the office, turning around to face him. His eyes were dark shades of blue, his wolf probably excited at how close I was to him, despite Scott.

He forced his eyes shut, breathing out sharply, and once he opened them they were back to their color. “Shall we go,” he spoke out in a husky voice.

“Follow me,” I mumbled, feeling awkward around him.

I walked out of the house, heading to the hospital with him on my tail. He stayed silent all the way. Not even saying a single word about us being mates, and I didn’t mind it.

I just found my mate in the worst circumstances I could ever think of.

Once we reached the morgue, he finally spoke. “How do we talk to him?” He asked.

“You’ll see.” I opened the freezer and brought Tyrone’s body out.

I lifted my eyes to look at Scott. Seeing the tears welling up in his eyes. “Give me your hand.” I held my hand out for him to reach.

Scott put his hand in mine, and I grabbed his other hand, feeling a wave of sparks from his touch. “Stupid mate bond,” he whispered, showing his annoyance at the sparks.

I ignored what he said and closed my eyes to start the process.

Breathe, Haley. I chanted in my head, ignoring the sparks to concentrate.

Air passed through my nostrils, and I exhaled it, opening my eyes to see myself in the forest.

I turned my head to look at Scott as he watched his surroundings with amazement. Then his eyes met mine and his face went blank.

He was just grieving. With some more time, he would come around. My heart clenched, and I knew it was Maya. Her feelings were a mess, and she was upset.

“I think I might be sick,” he grumbled before throwing up. I screwed my nose as I glanced at him.

“Sorry for that, it’s a side effect of leaving the living realm,” I mumbled, crossing my arms against my chest.

“The what?” He asked once he was done. I looked at him as he fixed his posture, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

“How did you even know this place?” He asked me.

It was his brain then.

I shrugged my shoulders, glancing at the place. It was somewhere between my pack and Tyrone’s; I guess.

“I don’t know. I never came here before,” I muttered, focusing my gaze on him.

He let out a snicker and walked to me, standing a few inches away from me. “Your vampire powers can’t deceive me. I know how your powers work, bloodsucker,” he hissed at me and I furrowed my eyebrows at him.

He didn’t give me a chance as he walked away, walking on the green path that led deep into the forest. He kind of knew where he was going.

I followed him silently and after a few minutes of walking, a wooden cabin appeared at the end of the path.

“Are we dead?” He questioned, glancing at me over his shoulder.

“Something like that. I just pushed our souls out of our bodies,” I explained.

“I’m a portal between the dead and the alive,” I said, hoping he understands what I am.

My powers weren’t even related to my vampire’s side. But I won’t bother explaining myself to that jerk.

Scott halted a few meters away from the cabin. I walked past him and stood on my tiptoes, peeking inside the wooden cabin.

Tyrone was sitting on a rocking chair with a book in his hands.

“He’s in there,” I told him, feeling his presence close to me.

“Aren’t you coming?” This was his wolf again, and I was right. When I turned around, his eyes were dark shades of blue.

“No, he wanted you alone. I’m just the messenger.” He nodded his head and opened the door, entering the cabin.

I felt a touch on my shoulder and turned my head to see Madeline standing behind me with a soft smile on her lips.

“Ashton told me to touch you,” she mumbled.

“Is he really inside?” She asked, with tears dropping on her cheeks.

“He’s with Scott,” I answered as I looked back inside, seeing Tyrone hugging Scott.

“Let’s go for a walk while they speak,” I said in a soft tone, holding my hand out for her.

She looked at my hand hesitantly before taking it. We walked to the little garden behind the cabin.

Her hand left my grip, and she crossed her arms against her chest, turning to look at me. “So, you are Scott’s mate.”

“I guess so,” I muttered and her smile grew wider despite her tears

“He’s very lucky to have you,” she said, cupping my cheek.

“Well, I don’t think he is. He kind of made it clear that he wants to be alone. Also, I noticed he can’t control his wolf,” I muttered under my breath and her hand dropped to her side, looking sorry for me.

I turned my gaze to the peaceful forest, sitting down on the grass as I got tired from standing. Madeline joined me and sat down next to me, not uttering a word.

“And I can’t leave my spot to be a Luna. My pack needs me as an alpha.” I trailed off, turning my gaze to hers.

“I know how you feel towards your pack, they’re your responsibility,” she said softly, rubbing my back to reassure me.

The pack was nothing without me. I built it with sweat and tears just to leave it for a mate who obviously didn’t want me.

Maya sneered at my thoughts.

“Mate wants us, he’s just delusional.” She growled while I knew exactly the opposite.

“About him not controlling his wolf. He and his wolf haven't gone well together ever since the war.” I knitted my eyebrows, trying to get her words through my brain.

He was just like the pups Ashton taught to shift for the first time. Angry and ignorant.

“Tyrone taught him everything he needed to become the next alpha, but then the war came and Megan died…”

“You don’t have to talk-“

She gripped my hand and shook her head. “It’s okay, it was ten years ago.”

“At the war, he couldn’t protect his pack or his sister, it tore him apart, so he cut his connection with his wolf, Ambrose, and left the pack.” She sighed, giving me an unimpressed glance.

I was processing what she said. He didn’t know how to gain control over his wolf again, now that he was back. He was unfit to become an alpha or help me in the war.

After a few minutes of silence, the sound of the wooden door opened. Madeline got up and went to take her turn with her mate.

I was by myself, enjoying the peaceful view and the silence to think about the mate thing. Rejecting Scott wasn’t an option. Maya would snap on me.

“He’s here,” Maya beamed, sensing Scott’s presence from a mile away. A sigh escaped my lips when he sat down next to me.

I didn’t even lift my head to look at him; I was angry at his cold treatment.

I know he was grieving, also pissed off that he found his mate. But I'm trying to be nice to him, not being rude like him.

“I’m sorry,” He mumbled.

“Is it coming from you or Ambrose?” I asked, turning my head to look into his eyes.

Redness surrounded his ocean blue eyes, showing that he was crying earlier. It was him.

“Can you see those beautiful pink lips? I wonder what they taste like. What about his eyes? They are like ocean waves.” Maya swooned from all the emotions, and I laughed at her mentally.

“That fucker called us bloodsuckers a few minutes ago and all you think of is his lips,” Sybil shouted at her after getting out of the mind wall.

“He didn’t lie, though,” Maya retorted.

I was staring into his eyes as he licked his lips, thinking of what to say. His lips parted slightly and words came out of his mouth, “I was thinking about rejecting you, but dad told me the consequences.”

I think I heard my heart getting shattered by that word. I tried to ignore that feeling, but it was intense.

“You can’t do it,” I snickered, narrowing my eyes at him with a challenge.

He turned his head, averting eye contact with me. “Look, I’m not ready for a relationship. Can’t we just do it another time? There are so many things going around, and you’ll hold me back.”

I blinked at what he said before bursting out with laughter.

He really thought I was the one who would hold him back.

After I was done laughing, I deadpanned at him. “You think I’ll hold you back?” I retorted, and he looked at me with a blank expression.

I placed my hand on his thigh, leaning close to his ear, flickering at his eyes with a smirk on my lips. His eyes quickly went to a deep shade of blue from my touch, announcing his wolf’s presence.

“You can’t even resist my touch,” I whispered in his ear, pulling away and meeting his sharp gaze. “We are better together than on our own. We are mates and this can’t be postponed. The mate bond will pull us together and it will be hard to fight it.”

“I know what mates are, but now, I want revenge for my father.” He snapped, gaining control of himself.

“You are grieving right now, I understand that, but I can’t let you take stupid decisions,”

I didn’t know where the words came from, but I remembered Tyrone’s words when I was in the same state as Scott’s.

I wanted to take avenge for my sister and my parents, not realizing I was putting my pack in danger. Tyrone talked me out of it.

“I’m just keeping you around, and when I get my revenge, I’ll reject you,” he spat, his gaze flickering between mine.

“Are you hearing yourself?” I questioned him in disbelief.

“Scott, you need a lot of work. You barely control your wolf. Head to the war and you die in the very first seconds.” I trailed off in a serious tone.

He snickered at me, rolling his eyes before locking his gaze with mine. “First, you know nothing about me. Second, you don’t tell me what to do, and I know how to control my wolf, you-”

I pulled him by his collar, cutting him mid-sentence. His lips were a few inches apart and his eyes turned to darker shades of blue, proving my point from earlier.

I cupped his cheek, feeling him tense under my touch. I was more attracted to him because of the bond, but on the inside, I was mad at him for even thinking about rejecting me.

He held my wrist, pulling it away from his cheek while looking at me dead in the eye. “You will die once you go to war. You barely have control,” I hissed at him.

He was about to talk back, but Tyrone’s voice chimed in. “That’s why you will teach him how to gain back control.”