Chapter 3

Cali

“Where are you going now?” Cleo asked.

“Just taking Lyra for a run. She’s really restless tonight.” I shrugged and walked out the front door. “You should have used the window,” Lyra told me.

“If I keep using the window, they are gonna work it out, eventually.”

We walked along the road, making sure that no one was following us, and headed to meet Harlow. The last two days have been the longest in my life. I knew the witches were being secretive and were training me harder than ever and kept telling me they were sure that the pack was going to strike any day now and that we should think about a preemptive strike. 

As I got closer to the pack, I cloaked myself again and waited for Harlow. When she arrived, I cloaked her, and we walked to the other side of the pack and sat at some picnic tables.

“So what have you got?” I asked as soon as we had settled down at the table.

“Not much, to be honest,” she looked down at her notes. Yes, she’s actually made notes. I couldn’t help smiling at her. “My brother doesn’t seem to know what started it but said my parents won’t let him retaliate, at least not yet and we have done nothing to the witches but they keep doing things like starting little fires outside the protection spell to antagonise us.” She side eyed me for a minute. “I still don’t know how you can get through it.”

“I don’t know either, I hadn’t even realised I had crossed it until you told me,” I told her, looking her in the eye, hoping she could read the sincerity in my eyes.

She nodded she believed me. “I also spoke to my mom and while I don’t think she is lying to me, I think she is holding something back. I tried looking in the library and it had little, but some files from fifteen years ago are missing and my brother said something happened then that set off the war.” 

“Crescent Moon attacked my pack fifteen years ago. My family was killed, and the witches rescued me.” I told her quietly and possibly for the first time, realising how dangerous it was for me to be this far into the pack.

“Do you know anymore about the attack?” She asked sympathetically, continuing when I shook my head. “What was the name of your pack?”

I opened my mouth to speak, and nothing came out. “I don’t remember,” I drawled. “How can I not remember?” I asked, more to myself than to Harlow.

She placed her hand on my shoulder, giving me a sympathetic smile. “We’ll find out. What do you remember?”

“Not much, I was only four,” I sighed in frustration. “I remember fighting and I being scared, and I hid. I saw my mum fall, then the next thing I know, Cleo was picking me up and taking me away to the coven. She saved me. That’s why her lying to me is so hard to get my head around.”

Harlow bit her lip for a few moments, looking like she wanted to add something, but didn’t want to at the same time. “Is it possible?” she asked, watching me warily. “That instead of saving you, she actually took you away from your family and they are out there safe somewhere.”

“No, I mean why,”

“I come from powerful witches, and I can feel that your power is much stronger than mine. Maybe they wanted that power for themselves.”

I opened my mouth to tell her I was much more powerful than she knew, but I kept it closed. As much as I had grown to trust Harlow, I had only known her for two days, so I shouldn’t tell her about the prophecy in case I’m wrong about her.

We sat and talked more about the little we knew and agreed that she would try to find the ledger from fifteen years ago and I would try to ask the witches more about my past, including the name of the pack I was born into. We agreed to meet the following day once I had found out the name of my former pack and to do some research into it. Harlow said she could sneak me into the library.

We walked back the way we came, and I took the cloak off her and immediately I heard someone shouting for her. Harlow quickly ran to the woman’s side. I could tell by looking at her it must be her mother. The woman never took her eyes off me, which was quite unsettling as I knew for a fact that she couldn’t actually see me because of the cloak I had placed over myself, but nonetheless, I hurried away as if my pants were on fire.

That night, after I had dinner, I went on the hunt for Cleo. I needed answers, and I was determined to get them.

I knocked on her office door and waited until she called me in. Better to get off on the right foot.

“Cali, what can I do for you?” She asked, motioning to the chair in front of her.

“I was wondering about where I came from. What’s the name of the pack where I was born?”

“Why are you wondering now?” She asked me suspiciously.

“Play it cool,” Lyra warned me.

“I’ve always wondered and now with this war coming to a head, it’s made it more important that I know where I come from.”

Cleo looked at the paperwork in front of her, nodding as if what I said made sense. To the casual observer, she would have looked calm and collected, but I’ve been around this woman since I was four years old and I can tell when she’s rattled.

“Blue Moon was the name of your pack, but Crescent Moon decimated it when we rescued you. I wish I had more answers for you, but I don’t think we will ever understand why that pack attacked them. I only wish we had gotten there in time to save your family.”

“Thanks for your time,” I smiled at her as I left. I had heard the story before, that my mother was friends with the witches and had called them for help when the attack had begun, but the witches didn’t arrive in time to save my family, only me. One bit of good news was that I now knew the name of my pack and I could bring that to Harlow and hopefully find some more answers. Now that I had this information, I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow, so I slipped out of the house, using my window, and headed for the pack. Slipping into the pack was easy once I cloaked myself but I realised I had no clue where to find Harlow, I knew her brother was the Alpha so it would make sense if she stayed in the pack house as she would be more protected there so that’s where I headed, once I could figure out where it was. It only took me forty-five minutes to locate the pack house and in that time I had a good look around the pack and I don’t think I had ever seen anything like it. It was big, beautiful, and filled with people bustling about. Once I located the pack house, I slipped in and headed for the library, which was clearly signposted, and spotted Harlow sitting on the floor surrounded with books, still making her notes.

“Harlow,” I whispered, not wanting to frighten her or have her scream out, alerting the guard outside the library.

“Cali,” she whispered back, closing her eyes as I stifled a laugh. She must have thought I was talking to her in her head like a mind link.

“I’m beside you, you just can’t see me,” I laughed.

“Oh ok, sit down. I have loads to tell you,” she patted the spot beside her. To an outside observer, it would look like Harlow was talking to herself, but I honestly get the impression that no one would bat an eyelid at that. She filled me in on the welcoming party after our meeting last night. Apparently, they were all looking for her after she went off the grid.

“My mom told me what started the war,” Harlow started, capturing my full attention. “The witches attacked us, killing many pack members, including the Beta’s young daughter. They were only going after witches and hybrids, all females. They wanted to wipe us all out, although we don’t actually know why. I was only three, so they kept me hidden and don’t remember it. I’m the only female Hybrid left in this pack. That’s why many people don’t know about me.” She gave me a sad smile. “Not sure if this helps us, though. What did you find out?”

“I’m from the Blue Moon pack. Cleo said that your pack attacked and destroyed my pack and they had to save me. What I can’t understand is why they would save me after attacking your pack and killing hybrids.”

“We could ask Blue Moon. I could sneak into my brother’s office and find their number,” she practically squealed.

“She’s getting a bit too excited,” Lyra deadpanned with a roll of her eyes.

I felt the excitement coming off Harlow in waves and found myself getting caught up in it. “Or you could sneak in and find out exactly where their pack is and I could speak to them face to face.”

“Ok wait here and I’ll be back as quick as I can,” Harlow ran off before I could even respond, so I wandered around looking at all the books. I’ve only ever been to the library near the coven and I thought it was large, but it’s nothing compared to the library I’m now standing in. I hoped that once this was sorted, Harlow can get me into the library to read some of these books.

Harlow came back half an hour later as I sat down with a James Patterson book. She was smiling from ear to ear, carrying a duffel bag. “This way,” she hissed as she sprinted through the stacks of books, with me rushing to keep up with her. She opened a door I hadn’t noticed before and we were soon running down three flights of stairs before we came to another door.

“Cloak me,” she asked, and I obliged. She opened the door a bit, and we both slipped through.

“Can you drive?” She asked with a cheeky smile.

“Yes, why?”

“We can take turns,” she smiled, pointing to a dark green SUV and waving the keys at me before she climbed into the driver's seat and opened the passenger seat for me. “Ready Louise?” she asked, starting up the car and driving slowly down the winding road out of the pack.

“Louise,” I repeated, confused.

“Thelma,” she pointed to herself. “and Louise,” she then pointed at me.

“You do remember how that ended,” I groaned as she laughed. Once we were out of the pack border, she cranked Taylor Swift on the stereo and we were on our way, luckily remembering eventually to take the cloak off of us before too many people passed us. The Blue Moon pack was five hours away, so we decided to each drive half way and to stop at a roadside diner for lunch. Harlow regaled me with stories of her family and her pack. I wished so hard that I had grown up in a pack, especially if they had hybrids like me. I felt excited the closer we got to the Blue Moon pack. My parents may be dead, but there may still be people in the pack that knew my parents that could not only tell us what happened but could also tell me stories or maybe someone will have a photograph of my family. 

We pulled up to the front gate and waited for the guard to come to the car.

“Can I help you ladies?” The guard asked as he looked us over carefully.

“We would like to speak to Alpha Mark please,” Harlow asked.

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No, we would like a minute of his time, please. We think I may have been born into this pack. I’m trying to find out more.” Honesty was the best policy I thought. The guard was obviously mind linking the Alpha, but he still didn’t look too trusting until Harlow spoke.

“I’m Harlow Williams. My brother is Alpha Callan Williams from Crescent Moon. We don’t mean any trouble, we just have a few questions.”

The guard opened the gate a moment later. I assume the Alpha had allowed it. We were told directions to the pack house. When we pulled up a few minutes later, the Alpha was standing outside with two men and a woman.

“Does any of this look familiar?” Harlow asked.

I shook my head as I stopped the car. 

“I’m Alpha Mark, this is my Beta Craig and Gamma Luis and this is my Luna Elena.” the Alpha pointed to everyone as he introduced them to us. Only Luna smiled at us.

“I’m Cali McGowan and this is Harlow Williams,”

“I know your brother very well. That is why I’ve allowed this meeting, but I am very busy,” he said sternly.

“Mark, give them a chance,” Luna Elena tutted at him before turning to us. “Please follow me. We’ll be more comfortable in the conference room.” 

Once we were all situated around the table, the Luna sent for refreshments. “Please don’t mind my mate. He’s wary of outsiders.” 

“We understand, and we should have phoned to ask for a meeting rather than turning up. We got a bit ahead of ourselves.”

The Alpha grunted, still looking like he didn’t want us here. Unlike the Luna who looked like she invited us for a tea party. Once we had a drink, the Luna asked what had brought us here. I told her the story of me ending up with the witches, witnessing the fire, meeting Harlow and being told that I was originally from Blue Moon. They listened to the entire story and waited until we finished before speaking. Even the Alpha and his men’s expressions had softened.

“I’m sorry Cali, but I can assure you that you are not from this pack.” Alpha spoke up. “I don’t know why the witches lied to you, but we’ve never had any witches or hybrids as part of our pack. We have had a few attacks over the years, but none by Crescent Moon. We have an alliance with them and have done since my grandfather and Harlow’s grandfather were in charge.”

The Alpha excused himself and left the room with his men. Luna apologised again and said she had lived in this pack her whole life and would have known if what we described had happened. Harlow and I left soon after, both feeling dejected, but one thing was clear: I couldn’t stay with the witches any longer. Harlow wanted to take me to meet her brother and possibly move to the pack. She also promised to help me find my pack. I wasn’t sure if moving to Crescent Moon would be putting them in more danger.