Malachi shook his head slightly. “I wasn’t a good Alpha. I made a lot of mistakes. If I had been a better Alpha, half of my pack wouldn’t be dead.”John pursed his lips and looked disapprovingly at Malachi. “Only you see it that way, Malachi.”“This is very sudden, John. I just got married and–” Malachi didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence before John interrupted him.“It would be an honor to have you serve on the Council with me and hopefully one day, Kiran too,” John said earnestly. Malachi could see Kiran serving the Council, not now, maybe in twenty years or so when his temper and penchant for lying had subsided.“You will have my answer within twenty-four hours,” Malachi said just as they heard a noise on the stairs.“Malachi! Come back to bed! It’s not coffee time yet!” Jessica yelled from upstairs and John looked mildly amused as he smiled.“You’ve been summoned, it seems,” John said with a chuckle.Jessica appeared on the stairs and walked towards them in the kitchen. “
For days after the spell I could still feel an increase in my magical power, it was like a surge of electricity and I could feel it all around me. I could sense the magic in the earth and it crackled underneath my skin like a current. It was an odd feeling to get used to, but it felt so natural, like it was a part of my very essence, that I started craving the feeling.The moon was high in the night sky when my eyes snapped open. I had the strangest sensation that somebody was in the house, somebody uninvited. I got out of bed slowly and walked down the stairs.A strange scent tickled my senses but I couldn’t hear anything, not even a heartbeat and I couldn’t see anyone either. I moved through the dark house trying to ascertain where the strange feeling was coming from.Yellow fire burned in my hands and I let it spread to the room beyond me. It spread from the kitchen to the dining area and I saw a flicker of a movement from the corner of my eye. I moved with it towards the counter.
I wanted to protect them from the whole world but life didn’t work that way. I still hadn’t told anyone about the woman’s threat and as time passed and nothing else happened, I didn’t worry about it anymore.It started to feel like I’d imagined the whole thing or maybe even dreamed it up. I wrote it off as paranoia and I felt like I was indestructible. My magic was powerful and now that the enchantment was broken, nothing could touch me.That night when I fell asleep, the dreams started. It felt and looked like Helheim, but I knew that it wasn’t the same place. The darkness would give way to soft light as I heard the chanting of witches and I saw them walking through the forest until they reached the clearing.I stood in the center of the clearing. I was waiting for them. There were twelve of them. They emanated hate towards me and a few of them feared me. There was one in particular that didn’t fear me at all and she hated me the most. Her hate was so strong that I could taste the bi
As Sunday lunch turned into late afternoon, we all sat in the living room. Adara, Shoran and Norah were upstairs with the kids, bathing and getting them ready to go to sleep. It was a peaceful evening with my family. Things had started to click into place for me. The dreams, Death’s message and everything else made sense now. I wanted to spend as much time with my family as I could.“Are you guys moving to Montana now?” James asked Malachi suddenly and I laughed.“Are we?” Jessica asked him, looking very worried.“Just think about it, we could buy a ranch with horses and cattle, you can have chickens and a vegetable garden, and bake bread every day,” Malachi said seriously and looked at her. I couldn’t control it anymore and burst out laughing. The look on Jessica’s face said it all.“That’s really mean, bake bread every day, like seriously, dude, I love you but there’s no chance,” Jessica said to him. Malachi laughed as he looked at me.“But Jess, just think about it. You could wake
Everyone was quiet for a long time. Jessica looked worried and that made me worry. Adara looked afraid, James too. Malachi, though, he looked determined and I knew what he was thinking.“What’s your plan?” Malachi asked me and I smiled at him.“Dad ...”“I know you have a plan and don’t even think of telling us to back off and that you don’t want us involved,” he said to me.“He’s right, Kiran. You’re going to need all the help you can get, you can’t take on a whole coven by yourself,” Jessica said.“Don’t you have a coven or something,” James asked her.“Dude, seriously, don’t you know anything? A witch can’t be in a coven if she’s married to a wolf, so no, I don’t have a coven anymore,” Jessica said to him.“But you had all those witches at your wedding,” he said to her and she laughed.“Dude, I still have friends,” she said. “But friends are just friends, I can’t ask them to help here.”“Why not?” Adara asked her and I smiled at her. None of them would understand it. This wasn’t so
James and I stood outside the den as the members arrived and their moods were relaxed. I felt bad that I was about to ruin it, but being a good Alpha meant you admitted when you were wrong, when you needed help. Most importantly, it meant you were honest with your pack, no matter what.Richard was the last member to arrive and I smiled when he bowed his head at me and nodded at James. I turned around and walked inside and the rest of the pack started taking their seats. I waited until everyone had found a seat.“Welcome members,” I said and hit the wolf gavel on the table. I stood in front of the table and James stood next to me with his arms folded across his chest. I leaned back on the table and took a deep breath.“Tonight we have two things to discuss, I won’t be calling for a vote on either subject. The decisions are final and I won’t answer any questions about vetoing the vote system,” I said to them and I saw Richard look at Malachi.“Firstly, it is with sadness that I announce
“I could try to exclude Carl and Frank but they’ll just interfere with my plans and therefore I’ll ask if you are willing to stand with me,” I looked at them. They both smiled and fist bumped each other.“You know our answer, Kiran, we’re with you,” Carl said and Frank agreed. You couldn’t separate those two even if you tried.“James, I want to exclude you as well,” I said to him and he turned to me.“I go where you go, you’ve excluded me too many times before but this time I refuse,” he said to me and I nodded.I knew it was useless to try and change his mind. Even Shoran had told James that he needed to be with me and I didn’t understand why she had said that. Their twins were still babies and James was a good father and he could lead the pack if something ever happened to me.“Malachi,” I said and looked at him and he stood up.“Don’t even try it. You’re my son, you should know better,” he said to me as Carl and Frank laughed.I laid out the plan to them, but only the plan at the d
When the first blossoms appear in the forest, that’s when they’ll come for me. It would be a Tuesday and I knew they would surround me in the clearing, the place I held dear and where I had dominated my magic.They would try to draw my magic and my life force from me and take it for themselves as revenge for Dezrael. They felt cheated by me and their anger was guiding them now, guiding them to me.‘We are stronger together in number.’ Those were Adara’s words to me once. I knew this to be the truth, but I still didn’t want any of them involved. Nobody else should die because of me.Christian’s death was the ultimate loss, and it nearly broke all of us. That was the one pain that took me back to that place on Wolf Peak where the emotions engulfed me and slowly choked the life out of me.I sensed my time was running out and that they would soon be here. I had spoken to Malachi, James, Carl, and Frank numerous times. We had gone over the plan so many times that it was embedded into our v
I sat down behind the desk and moved the mouse. The laptop came to life and I looked at it. I read the letter that I had written to Adara ten months earlier. Wow, I really did love her. I looked down and a huge wooden chest stood behind the desk. I wondered what was inside. I opened a drawer and there were cables and stationery, normal stuff you would find in a drawer.I tried the next one and it was locked. I looked at it and then felt beneath the desk where I sat, a few inches forward and took the key down from the magnet that was fastened there. How did I know that? I just knew there would be a key for this drawer. I unlocked it and pulled it open.It was full of A5 diaries, in numerical order, starting from 1994. I opened the first one and it was filled with my handwriting. I began to read it. It began when I was fifteen years old and it described my first teenage relationship. I skipped forward and read the last few pages. It was filled with wolf laws, training with Malachi, stor
Malachi and I finished our coffee and sat staring at each other. It felt oddly comfortable to be sitting there with him. I could tell that he loved me fiercely because his eyes and his aura, that I could see, were soft.“Let’s take a walk,” Malachi said.I went upstairs and got dressed in my own jeans, boots, and a t-shirt. I grabbed a sweater that Adara had given me the night before and pulled it over my head. I went back downstairs and Malachi stood in front of the open sliding doors.I followed him outside and across the garden right into the forest. I looked around me, this was beautiful. We walked in silence until Malachi stopped in a clearing, it felt kind of magical and I felt silly for thinking that.“This is sacred ground to us. Ten months ago you fought against twelve witches right here,” Malachi walked over to another spot and knelt down on one knee. “Right here, this is where you disappeared right in front of our eyes. Your cloak transported you somewhere and we had no ide
Adara walked back down the hallway and into the living room. There were pictures all over the walls and I stood in front of it and looked at them. I was in many of the photos and it was hard to look at them and not know when they were taken. I smiled a lot and I guessed I was happy with my previous life.“Cute kids,” I said as I looked at a canvas array of two babies.“They’re also yours,” Adara said to me and I looked at her in shock.“I have kids?” I asked her, stunned. She smiled as she walked forward.“This one is Kai, you chose his name, and this one here is Saga,” she said and I could see that she loved them very much.“How old are they?” I asked her.“One and a half, they could only crawl the last time you saw them,” she said and I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t remember them.“I think I should show you to a room and then tomorrow when Malachi comes back we can talk, I’m sure you have a hundred questions,” she said and I smiled at her. I followed her upstairs, my wife, mothe
The jet landed and I opened my eyes. I felt better although I could still sleep. Everything felt like an awkward dream where you didn’t know you were dreaming. I kicked Josh’s leg and he woke up.“What’s up man, did we crash?” he asked and I laughed at him.“I think we’re in Seward,” I said to him as I looked out of the window.Malachi, Jessica and James had walked down the stairs and two cars stood waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Malachi’s Zeta, Quentin, was loading our duffel bags into the first SUV.“These guys travel in style,” Josh said and grinned at me. We walked off the jet and got into one of the SUV’s Malachi showed us. We were driving with James. Malachi and Jessica followed behind us.“So this is Seward, where I live?” I asked James and he nodded.“All our lives we’ve lived here, went to Seward High, graduated, then we went to college,” James said and Josh laughed.“Should have known your ass was educated,” he said as he looked out of the window. Malachi’s car overtoo
I looked intently at Josh. Everything he said was true and a sudden idea occurred to me. I wasn’t going anywhere with these people alone.“Come with me then, help me figure this out. You have no pack, but you have me and I have a pack, a family, a home. I would never just leave you,” I said to him and he nodded at me.“Fine, let’s go ice-skating or shit,” he said and smiled at me.“I’ll go with you on one condition,” I said to Malachi.“Yes?” Malachi didn’t seem worried about my condition, he only wanted me to leave with them.“Josh goes with me, I’m not leaving him behind,” I said to Malachi and he nodded.“Of course. Gather whatever you want to take. Our flight back leaves in three hours,” he said.He walked towards the door holding Jessica’s hand. James turned to look at me and I could tell that he was sad. I could feel it deep within myself.“Do you feel that?” he asked me and I looked at him.“I feel your sadness,” I answered him.“That’s one of the things you can do. You can fee
“We don’t care what you selling, bargaining or want. We ain’t interested,” Josh said as he closed the door behind me and stood next to me. I had an uneasy feeling about this and I was glad that I wasn’t alone.The older man looked at me with curiosity and I wondered what he wanted from me. His gray eyes seemed to search for something in mine and I couldn’t look away. It was almost like he was trying to read my mind.“He doesn’t recognize us,” the older man said to the younger man and woman with him.“Am I supposed to know who you are?” I asked the older man.The younger man stepped forward. His eyes held sadness and he looked intently into mine. He put both of his hands on my shoulders and squeezed lightly. It all felt too surreal like I was supposed to know him.“My name’s James,” he said and then he hugged me tightly. I just stood there with my arms by my sides not knowing what to do. He let go of me after a while, sighed deeply and then looked away.“I think you might have me confu
It felt like I got tunnel vision until I could only see him, moving in the ring. I was focused and I saw the plan forming in his mind. He was going to move me until he had me on the ropes and then deliver his killer punch. I saw it happen in slow motion.“He’s going to come from the right and then the left, the punch to your jaw will be a right hook,” the voice said clearly in my head and I dropped my hands as I stood up right in shock. I couldn’t move my head as George’s fist hit me so hard I felt my jaw dislocate.I was on my back, coughing up blood and the crowd was going wild. Josh was right there by my head. “What the hell happened, why’d you drop your arms man?” He was yelling at me and the announcer bent over me.“Ten count then the fight continues, unless you tap out.” I shook my head and started to get up.I pushed my jawbone back into place and I felt it start to heal. I looked up at the Council members sitting there and somehow I knew that the older man was speaking to me i
I stood in that back room and wondered about the Council member’s presence. Everything that Josh had told me about them was terrible. They were rich old men using the system to their advantage, getting rid of packs that irritated them and executing people as they saw fit.He wanted nothing to do with them and neither did I. I had enough things on my plate to worry about their presence. Josh and I weren’t interested in becoming Council Zetas, no matter what they offered us.I shook my head and I took my shirt and shoes off. I had to get my head in the game. Tonight’s fight would probably be the hardest one by the look of my opponent. He was ready for me. I closed my eyes and centered my energy.I saw the fight play off in my head, in slow motion, punch for punch, kick for kick. This guy was a street brawler, I decided. His punches would hurt and he could get a knockout on the jawline.He wasn’t fast but he was strong and usually won his fight after a few punches, where he would then sn
Malachi walked down the hall, hoping that John wasn’t sending him another tribunal email. He was tired and he wanted to spend time at home. The kids were changing so much and every time he came back from a trip it felt like he’d missed something new they were doing.Adara was doing her best and she really was a terrific mother. Those two kids wanted for nothing. She read bedtime stories to them, told them stories about Kiran, they were healthy and well looked after.He could hear them all laughing in the sitting room as he closed the door to his study and switched the laptop on. He waited for it to switch on and then accessed his Council encrypted email and typed in his password.The email was from John with a video attached.“Malachi,I hope you’re sitting down while reading this. I received this video from a California Alpha, he always sends me these when new talent steps onto the scene for consideration as Council Zetas.Good luck,John”.Malachi frowned at first. They didn’t need