I drove home as quick as the car and roads would let me, howling down the country lanes at nighty miles an hour. Poppy winced every time I changed up a gear. I admit, I was trying to show off my driving skills to Carlos but I was also trying to get as far away from Keegan as possible.
As we neared our forest I noticed wolves running alongside the car. I counted twelve. They looked set on a goal, they didn't even seem to notice us driving next to them. I saw Carlos tense.
"Are they part of our pack?" I frowned, glacing at them in the wing mirror. I didn't recognise any of them.
Carlos shook his head. "They aren't. Just keep driving, love. They aren't in our pack territory yet, so there's not much we can do."
I shifted to a higher gear and put my foot down, going over a hundred. The wolves couldn't keep up and I saw them in the mirror, starting to fade into the distance. We all breathed a sigh of relief. Carlos was still tense, though, clearly not liking the fact that these wolves were so close to the pack.
We parked up in front of the pack house. I sighed and pulled myself out of the car. I was so tired and ready to go to bed. It was around one in the morning when we arrived. The drive back was a little shorter because I drove so fast, but it still took us around three and a half hours.
The atmosphere felt tense, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I pulled one of my silver daggers from my boot. I glanced at the others who must've felt uneasy too because they all looked on high alert, ready to pounce.
Suddenly, a wolf came bounding out of the woods, running straight towards me with murder in its eyes. I reacted quickly as it ran at me, jumping into the air and landing on its back, stabbing my dagger between its shoulder blades. The wolf didn't even flinch and kept running. I frowned. What the hell? I looked down at the dagger poking out of its back, and my eyes widened as I noticed there was no blood. In fact, it looked as though its skin was healing around the dagger. I gasped and quickly looked around for an escape route. I had a gut feeling that this was something to do with Keegan or someone who was working with him. My mind went to Ira, but when I glanced at her, she looked just as shocked as the rest of us.
Carlos shifted and started running towards us, followed by his father. They caught up to the wolf and matched its speed, Carlos running on the left and Blake on the right. The wolf didn't even spare them a glance as it kept running, as if under strict orders. I didn't waste any more time being near this wolf, unsure of his intentions but not liking the direction this was heading in. I threw myself towards Carlos shifted form, landing on his soft, furry back. As soon as he felt me on him, he changed direction and started running back towards the pack house, trusting his dad to deal with the wolf. He allowed me to climb off of him before he shifted and headed into the pack house, pushing me in front of him.
"What the fuck was that?" He growled. "That was not a normal rouge. Something doesn't feel right."
I nodded. "The wolf didn't even flinch when I stabbed him and his skin healed around the dagger! It was silver, how the fuck does that make any sense?!"
I headed into the kitchen, sitting at the island, shortly followed by Ira and Poppy. Carlos grabbed some clothes from the coat closet and joined us. There was always clothes in that closet so no one had to walk naked around the house after shifting.
"That wolf had an enchantment on it. I felt it" Ira answered my question.
I huffed. "Keegan. Exactly as I thought. He's toying with us."
Ira nodded. "I think it is important now more than ever to train you. We will start in the morning."
"I don't think he is strong enough to launch a full attack yet, hence why he's been making little visits and sending his minions in. Maybe that will give us an advantage," Carlos noted.
I nodded. That made a lot of sense. If he was strong enough he would have already taken me on the many occasions he had seen me or he would have launched an attack ages ago. I was hoping this meant we had time which we needed to train and for me to learn as much as possible about my powers and more importantly, how to use them on command.
"I think the best action to take for now is to focus on Eva's training and carry on as normal to show he isn't affecting us. I want to hold the Luna ceremony soon. The pack need to know what's going on so that they can prepare for war" Carlos sighed.
"When do you want to hold the ceremony?" I frowned, a knot of nerves forming in my stomach.
"Friday?" He asked. It was Monday now. He was clearly making sure that I was comfortable and giving me time to prepare which I really appreciated. He wasn't throwing me into the deep end and he was giving me the option to say no if I wanted to.
I nodded. "Yes, Friday would be perfect" I smiled.
He grinned. "Okay then. We'll hold the Luna ceremony on Friday and then after that, we will prepare for battle. In the meantime, I'm going to call some Alphas and activate some treaties. We are going to need all the help we can get."
He headed to bed, clearly exhausted but I asked him to go without me, I wanted to talk to Ira without anyone around me. I had many questions that needed answers.
I made us some tea and we sat in the window seat that was in the living room. Rain was running down the window and the whole vibe made me feel safe and calm.
"Okay," I started, with a sigh. "I have a lot of questions and I know I can't sleep without them being answered."
She crossed her legs, getting comfy and sipped her tea. "Well we have all night" she grinned. "Go ahead."
I shuffled into a comfortable position, holding my mug of tea in my lap. "How is he so strong?"
Ira frowned. "Who?"
I chuckled. "Isn't it obvious? Keegan."
"Ah right, of course. Well that's a long story dear, I hope you're comfy" She smiled and gave me a minute, making sure she had my full attention. I gestured for her to continue, determined to find out more about Keegan. To learn what had led him down this dark path.
"A long time ago, before Keegan was born, his mother, Anita, had learned the truth of the curse from her mother. She learned that her sister was a witch and she was a werewolf who was going to have cursed children. She always thought it was unfair but she knew that if she had multiple children, the curse wouldn't effect their family too much. As you may know, the curse only becomes apparent when the cursed child is at the age of shifting. After having Keegan his mother already knew she was ready to have another child so her and her husband, Brendon, spent the first year of Keegan's life trying to have another baby. No matter what they tried it didn't work. She couldn't have anymore children."
"So the curse was definitely going to go to Keegan?" I interrupted. She nodded.
"Now as you know, Keegan is the Alpha of his current pack, however, that could not have happened without him having a wolf. Anita knew her pack would not follow an alpha who's wolf was absent so she did the only thing she could think of. She went on a long expedition with Brendon to find another witch who they could ask to help them"
"I'm assuming that witch was you?" I asked.
"Yes dear, it was me. She begged me to remove the curse from her child but I refused. I could not be held accountable for letting my kind die out. So, I made her a deal. I would turn her child into a hybrid by letting the wolf in him through while keeping the curse. To be honest I don't think anyone can even revoke this curse now that I think about it but a strong witch or warlock can alter it."
She paused for a moment, allowing me some time to absorb what she had told me. "So you basically made a whole knew species if you think about it" I frowned.
She chuckled. " I guess so. This isn't the only thing that makes him so strong though. He did things to himself to enhance his power, such as using silver. I don't know if you know this yet but where silver weakens wolves, it strengthens us. It's used in a lot of potions before a battle. He took it to a whole new level though. He started to inject himself with liquid silver. It of course strengthened his warlock side but it was weakening his wolf. Being a warlock though, he simply healed himself until his wolf gained immunity to silver. " She finished her story with a sigh.
"If I knew my creation would have turned into a monster I would never have made that deal but I was a young, naïve woman back then. Now all I can do is try and help you to undo my mistake."
I gave her shoulder a squeeze. " It's going to be okay. Thank you for answering my questions. Go get some sleep and we will talk strategy tomorrow." I smiled.
She gave my hand a light squeeze and thanked me before retreating to her room. When she left I groaned and threw my head back against the back of the seat.
This just got a whole lot more complicated.
*****