CELESTE
The SUVs passed the iron front gates, its occupants sitting dead silent as they all stay immense in their own thoughts.
Had she not been in such tense situation, she might have gazed the stone statues that decorate the whole drive way, all the way to the huge middle fountain right in front of the huge double doors that the palace had.
Celeste had thought of a lot of possibilities her encounter with the king to go, none of which had her prepared for this. Sure, she expected that he will try to probe around the pack a bit, which he did. But what she is trying to come to terms with and failing is, why in the world would he reach out for help to her team?
Now here she was, at the Royal Palace.
A place filled with Were warriors and other higher ranks, a prosperous pack settled right outside the high walls that surround the castle.
And she was sure her team will have to look over their shoulder every time they make a move.
Once the two four wheelers stop, the witch slips out along with her team. They were greeted by one of the Gamma, a mid-thirty year-old man she doesn't recognise. He had not been with the Royal Crew when they met about three days ago.
"Alpha Anderson."
The Gamma greets with a slight bow to her brother who responds with a nod of acknowledgment.
"I am the Gamma of the Royal Pack, Mathew Williams. I am here to assist you through out your stay here. Firstly, I will arrange for you to be taken to your rooms, where you can rest before meeting the King in the office."
Celeste almost let out a snort, catching herself barely.
Giving them all a Gamma as an attendee? Does the king really believe them to be this naïve?
The Anderson pack members, including their current Alpha, were shown their rooms on the second floor of the West Wing, each a lavish one with a walk in closet and en suite bathrooms. Not wishing to spend time 'Relaxing' but also not wanting to make the others work when they could very well use this time to accustom themselves to their new rooms for unknown number of days, the dark witch stops the Gamma before he can vanish.
She knew once the man, Mathew disappears from their hallway now, she would only see him if either she spends her next few hours wandering the palace and seeking him out or when their king decides to 'request' her presence.
Celeste had never been someone who waited for the other to confront her, instead she would rather be delivered whatever the other has on her as fast as possible.
"I would like to meet your king first."
The man looked positively peeved, and unsure if he should deviate from what he has been already told but the witch only raises and eyebrow in question when he doesn't move or try to link his king for further order.
When his eyes do gaze over, she lets out a breath she had no idea she was holding.
She had known, talking in the palace in secrecy won't be possible so she had already prepared what she called 'trust link' to connect her brother, herself and her core team. It worked quite like the pack link the wolves have, just not efficiently and can not to extended to a number of people, nor can it help in gauging the others' emotion.
Also one of the important point being, it can only be helped to connect the ones who have absolute trust within each other. So yes, a very washed down version of a pack link, but this was important for them.
So while the Gamma took permission from his King, she quickly sent out in her link to her brother to join her in the hallway and for her team to rest up. She clearly laid out that she didn't want anyone to make any move till she knows what they have been called for.
By the time Mathew's eyes cleared, Zack's door clicked close after him and he joins the two standing in the hallway in the next few moments.
Mathew waits till the Alpha Anderson joins them before he leads them to the king.
Navigating through the hallways, the Gamma stops at the wooden double door with gold detailing, making Celeste raise her eyebrow.
Pretentious much?
Mathew motions them in before turning and leaving them to go in alone. Zack knocks at the door before opening it, keeping them open for her to enter first. Giving her brother a smile, she walks in, faltering for a fraction second.
Alpha Zeus Lando Roditti sat behind his desk, looking as much of a king as he was.
His light brown long hair, coming till his ear lustred with a glow of gold from the sunlight coming from the French windows right behind him. His huge, muscled physique that looked barely contained by his tailored suit seemed larger than life in light, his biceps bulging as he raised a sheet to his eye level reading through it swiftly.
There was no denying it, that the man ruling the kings was blessed with a primal masculinity that is hard to ignore and seeing him in his own lair, in his natural setting made it impossible for the witch to focus on what she was here for.
Each super natural species has one prominent feeling, or emotion that is ever present and describes them, like the fae people are gentle, mer people deceptive, elves are sharp... witches are dominated by the feeling of lust.
And Celeste was no different.
But being around werewolves for years, she had already placed a spell on a talisman that she wears as a necklace on herself always to hide her smell to the ones around her. For them she has no particular smell, it changes monthly to something else.
Something so mundane that they hardly register it.
She gulps, clearing her throat to get his attention, keeping her face void of emotions when his light brown one's clash with hers.
His eyes scan her from head to toe before moving to see behind her, and giving a nod of acknowledgement to who she assumes to be her brother. It is then she notices that there are two more werewolves in the room.
The black-haired man, who is the Protector of the King, and the Beta that had been in SpringFare pack.
"Take a seat, Alpha Anderson and Miss Anderson."
The witch does so, sitting across the Alpha still unsure of how should she interpret her situation. Not wanting to draw out the evitable, she straight out asks.
"With all due respect Sir, I would like to know about the reason behind our presence here."
The King leans back in his chair, his eyes showing a tinge of amusement as he eyes her before he actually starts speaking.
"Alpha Anderson, I would like to introduce my Primary Beta Paige and my Protector Kayden. This is Alpha Zachery Anderson from the Anderson pack."
While the ranked werewolves greet each other, Celeste makes a noise of distaste at the back of her throat, not sure if the introduction was for her brother or to make her known on whose pace they had to go.
A moment later, when she shows the king she is not willing to take the bait, he starts again.
"As you know, the incident that happened at the border of the Silvette Pack is not conceding with natural behaviour of our kind. Not to mention, I am sure you must have heard that my departure from the SpringFare pack was due to another such report. I would like to lay out a proposal."
Celeste narrows her eyes, the grey orbs turning icy as she waits for him to continue.
The king does so, but addressing Zack in the first line and her on the second.
"As werewolves, Alpha Anderson, you should know we have to do anything to stop whatever that has happened to those wolves and as a member of a wolf family as well as a wolf pack, I am hoping you will be willing to help as well, Miss Anderson."
"Alpha King, it will be an honour to protect our kind and that is exactly what we would have done centering from my pack had we not been called here impromptu."
The witch had to give credit to her brother as he certainly did a good job making the statement a lot less accusing that it would have been had she spoken. But then again, Zack had always been the diplomatic one between the two of them.
"Yes. I am aware of it, but my proposal will make it much easier for you all then. I have a... how do I term it? A woman, from across Europe in my hold who seems to have that blue substance Miss Anderson warned me against when we were near Silvette packline."
The moment she heard the reference of the potion, her whole body went rigid.
Till now she had hoped that the rogue pack was the only one in contact with in and she would be able to track down their enemy before it spread further, but the fact a woman, across the continent was affected means that she has to act and fast.
If only she would not be summoned here.
She can't do whatever she can here, as a commander of a highly respected pack, she will be scrutinized as it is. Add on the fact she is a witch, a dark witch at that. She would be surprised if she was given a chance to breathe properly here.
"What do you want us to do King Roditti?"
"I have asked you to call me Zeus, Celeste. No need to resort back to the cold way now that we are in the Palace. And as for what I want? Paige will give you a quick rundown."
The king keeps his eyes on the witch, watching as she throws him a dirty look.
The beta steps forward as she speaks.
"I had a friend of mine run a small search on what can be done to get information out of someone who is not in a state to give answers themselves. They said a dark witch can always enter the minds of others, and entering a mind which is not really conscious would be easier for them."
Celeste smirks slightly as she gets the reason behind her summoning.
"So basically you want me to do a scan of her head, give you information and get out? Then why call my team?"
"That's where you are wrong, Celeste. What I want is you and your team stay here and do anything that they possibly can to get this from spreading as well as to get to the bottom of who is doing this. And as fast as it is possible. Because I am not going to let someone target my people under my nose."
Everyone in the room stills, holding their breath.
The king had been calm before this, but with each word in the past sentence his anger rose till the end of his speech was nothing more than a growl. And being a powerful wolf that he was, he had unknowingly released his power as the king.
Even Celeste was forced to listen and follow, and she was not even the same species.
There was no mistaking it.
The king seemed as desperate as she was, why she was not sure. But the witch knew that they will be faster if the royal resources were available for her team.
The only problem being, how much of the free reign will they get in a palace that is heavily guarded?
Celeste leans next to the window of a rarely used second office of sorts, as she waits for the others to bring her everything she needs.
It was now close to mid night, her whole day had been spent checking the woman Zeus had managed to get and working out the best spell she should use to minimize exposure of her body to other souls that may lurk around to attach themselves to any empty vessel they could find. The only way that can be prevented, without a lot of hassle was to not use her soul to get in the woman, but to simply connect her mind to the woman.
She was broken away from her thoughts when a throat clears next to her.
Looking to her left, she is surprised to see Zeus, now in a pair of trousers and a loose shirt sitting on the cushioned window seat as he holds two cups with steam cupping out of one in his hands.
She gives him what she hopes is a smile when he passes her the steaming one, a cup of fresh coffee that she was very thankful for.
"I hope this will be helpful to calm your nerves down a bit. I could hear your heart beat from outside this room."
The witch couldn't help the chuckle that escapes her, shaking her head before she takes a sip out of the cup.
Probably taking her reaction as one of denial, Zeus speaks, his voice gruff and deep.
"Just because I am not that in tune with my wolf doesn't mean I don't have supernatural senses."
His remark reminds her of the tattoo she had seen on his chest a couple of days ago. Her mind immediately caught up the signs before she speaks, this time not having the same tone she had been using when talking to him otherwise.
She had to make him realize she means well, for what reason, is a mystery to her as well. But she follows what the dark voices seem to agree with.
"So I am assuming that the blockage spell either didn't work or you don't trust it enough if you are still drinking its helping potion."
She doesn't take her eyes off the man in front of her.
Seeing a flash of shock pass through, she is greeted with a hurricane of emotions in his eyes. A deep sadness, pain and longing. Fear and regret. The man in front of her, a king, held his emotions too suppressed for even him to gauge them correctly.
"The blockage spell is done by a coven of witches someone close to me knew. Though they did say my... other side is too strong to be kept locked by a mere spell only. So this helping potion is given to me to help me keep my demons at bay."
Silence follows as she lets her mind goes to analyze his response.
She wanted to know more, help the man from continuing making the same mistake every day for the rest of his life. But she had no right, after all she is a mere stranger, an acquaintance at the most. So the only thing she can do is to give him an advise, one he didn't ask for but will need.
"At times we feel that the half of us, super natural part, is a curse that we will have to bear with all our lives. We fight it, we struggle to control it, we dominate it, going as far and as wide as possible to be a step above it. We think it provides us a sense of normalcy..."
Looking at Zeus, a slight smile on her face as her eyes twinkle in a soothing way she continues.
"But if we were to be normal? Won't we have been born to a human family? Someone once told me, if we were not meant to handle it, we wouldn't have been born with it. I have no idea about you, but I can tell you about me. Had I not accepted my darkness, running away from it like everyone does when they hear it is 'DARK MAGIC', Who do you think would have been able to help you today?"
She lets her words sink in, before she stands up from her place and walking almost to the middle of the room to get to her part of the preparation, stopping as she gives the last part of her advice.
"Zeus, at times acceptance is the only thing needed to find a middle ground between the two side."
Shaking her head to clear out whatever has made her do so, she simply chalks it up as her conscious making her do the same, she had just asked the king to do.
Accept.
And find the middle ground.
Because for one, they need to find a middle ground if she wants him to give her the free reign to this mission they have. And second, because she is not ready to accept that maybe her magic and her un-conscious had other motives for making her feel as if she should help him.
Concentrating more on her magic and the impending task rather than the man behind her and their talk, she felt her mind buzz before dark wisps flew out of fingers, gracefully dancing through the room as they pushed everything to the sides to create free space in the smack middle.
The door to the room opens and the Beta enters, followed by the wolves that carry in the barely conscious woman.
The sight of her made bile rise up in Celeste's throat.
She looked horrible. Since she has seen the woman, her physique and mental health seems to take a plunge for the worst. Her claws are out, claw base leaking blood and the blue substance while her eyes seem to gaze over in a constant haze. She had more wounds on her now, and her skin seems to be rotting in places.
Celeste asks them to sit her in the middle of the empty place she had, asking Willow to force the air around the woman to keep her in place. Everyone else leaves, leaving her with only Zeus, Willow and Alan. Her rest of the team, the royal betas and Kayden were still out, her brother attending a call from their father at the moment.
The magic in her was now ready to be used, the darkness threatening to take over only for the witch to push it back.
The spell she had to do is a simple but tedious one.
She won't need the whole of her magic, but tapping in while so wrung up seems like a bad decision already. Still, she takes up the blood she asked for, something that earned her a great deal of looks, and starts to make the symbol she needed around the woman.
The woman whimpers and groans, twitching to move but Willow had her stuck.
With a Rose- Stone in her hand to act as a hold to her body, the witch steps right behind the woman. She closes her eyes for a second, breathing slowly once as she pushes everything off her mind and lets herself embrace the screeching darkness.
She feels her heart beat slow before she feels forward for the mind of the tortured she- wolf in front of her.
Like a dimension so different from the one she lives in, the witch is always un- prepared for the vision of the mind of the other.
She stood in the grey, ash filled environment. Like always, the mind seems a void of grey and white hues with windows of memories and streaks of emotions.
Carefully she walks on the unsteady path as she searches for the memory that may help her in any way. Further and farther, slowly and stealthily.