In Reach?

Liam's POV

“From our discussion outside with the patrols, we know that the hunters had something to do with the attack in the eastern woods.” My right-hand balls into a tight fist, making my knuckles turn white. I can’t help the anger building in me, as I remember her face. How I wasn’t there to protect her from all this madness our pack is currently facing. “But what you guys don’t know yet, is that the hunters may be working with witches.”

A sharp grunt is heard coming from Noah. He knows just how bad and dangerous they are. He has had personal experience in fighting them, one of which was that high-school ex of his. She almost killed him, when she bled him out, all for the sake of a stupid spell she wanted to cast with wolf blood.

“This gathering among Alphas I went to, was focused on the hunters who are becoming too relentless with their killing attempts. But other things also came to light. We found traces of witchcraft at other packs who were also recently attacked by hunters.”

They all spin their heads around looking at each other, almost to check whether the others also heard it right.

I continue to explain, “One of the witch’s names was uncovered. Her name is Dahlia.”

“What?”. They all look at Aiden and his shocked face as he questions about this. He may be young, but he is also my cousin, and knows very well of the familial issues that woman caused. “I thought she was dead.” He says, sounding almost hopeful.

“I always hoped so. But something told me we couldn’t be too sure.”

“Liam, who is Dahlia?” Noah asks, sounding a little hurt and disappointed, probably for not knowing something that clearly seems old and serious to me.

“Dahlia is a witch that terrorized my family, when I was younger, around 17 years old. At the time she worked part-time as my mom’s secretary. It took a while for my mom to realize she was trying to get between my parents.” I can see them raise their eyebrows out of curiosity from my statement. “My mom eventually took my father’s warnings to mind, and asked her to resign. The problem at the time though, was that the rest of us never knew what was happening. She had already started to befriend me and Aiden.” Now their gazes turn to Aiden, seeing his angry face at just the memory of her. “Aiden was barely a teenager at the time, just turned 14 then. He looked up to her like a sister almost. She was nothing but a friend to me, but she started getting ‘personal’. She wanted to know more about my personal life, about my family, about my father. To me she was just a curious human. One day she came over to visit. My mom was shocked to find her there, to say the least. There was a huge argument, and she instead announced to being a witch, maybe thinking it would gain my trust. But she denied my mom’s accusations, and that it was all a misunderstanding. Anyways, some time passed after that, and on the day of my 18th birthday, when I was finally supposed to be able to find my mate, I did.”

“You found your mate on your 18th birthday? How? Why didn’t you tell us? Is it her?” Noah starts rambling and ends off, pointing his thumb over his shoulder, to make reference to the mystery girl. They all look entranced and betrayed at the information. Even Aiden never knew that I found my mate.

“Yes, I found my mate, and no, it’s not her.” I tilt my head in the direction of the staircase. It can’t be her, I keep telling myself. “My mate was the daughter of the head warrior from the Blue moon pack up North.”

“Was?” Noah asks as he picked up on my diction.

“Yes. I caught her sent that night. You guys threw me a huge house-party that night, we didn’t even know half the people that were there, remember?” They just nod their heads in response. “But I didn’t see her, I just found her scarf. I tried to find her all over the house. When I went outside, I caught her scent again. I ran into the woods trying to find it, to find her. But in the middle of it all, I collapsed from excruciating pain. It felt like my chest was being ripped open. In that instant I already knew what it was, my mate was dying.” The memory of it all has me closing my eyes. I don’t even want to look up at the guys to see something like pity on their faces. So I just continue.

“I passed out in the woods from the pain. I woke up at home that following morning. Apparently, you guys thought I went on a drunk escapade in the woods and passed out from drinking too much.” I still can’t believe they thought that. The fooling around part I get. But wolves have such a high tolerance, it would take a whole keg to just feel tipsy. “I was too traumatized with what happened, I let you believe what you wanted to. I went to my mom, to talk to her about it, hoping that I was wrong. I wasn’t. That same morning someone came to the lake where I was, and she had the exact same scent, the scent of my mate. But when I looked at her, it was Dahlia that was standing in front of me.”

“What??!!!! You……and Dahlia?” Aiden clearly is lost with this story. He’s practically pacing around a little, like he’s having difficulty to process that possibility. I for one don’t want to continue this trip down memory lane, but figure I keep the story short and straight to the point.

“I didn’t understand it either at first. How could she be my mate when I clearly felt her pain. My wolf definitely didn’t buy it. She came to me all smiles, like she already knew I could smell my destined mate’s scent on her. But before I could even question her, she asked me something that confirmed it all. She asked me whose scarf I was holding in my hand. That’s when I knew, she had a part to play in my mate’s death, that she must have used witchcraft to tamper with her scent. I grabbed her arm without saying anything to her, and brought her to the pack house. She didn’t resist, probably thought I was going to introduce her as my mate to the family. But I was bringing her to the dungeons. I didn’t want to just kill her like that, I wanted to make her suffer like she made my mate, Emily suffer. Long story short, my father got involved to ensure there weren’t any issues between the pack and the witch counsel when we punish her. But there was a fire that day at the underground dungeons on the south end of the forest. The fire was too big, that the dungeons collapsed in on itself. That’s why they are just ruins now. There was no way for her to have escaped, so we all assumed she died. My mom was the one that found out to whom the scarf belonged. Her father was still in town as he opened a missing person’s case. He confirmed Emily’s scent. At least I got to see a picture of her.”

I sit there finally opening my eyes, to draw myself back from that horrid memory. All three of them sit their deep in thought, trying to process this whole scenario which practically happened over a weekend. The very thing that happened, which turned me into such a cold-hearted Alpha, who hates hunters and despises witches. The silence is killing me, so I decide to break and end this conversation, “So this is what I will be discussing in tomorrow’s meeting with the rest of our head-members, that we have witches to go up against as well as hunters. That one of those witches may definitely still have a grudge against this pack, for the torture I put her through. And yes, my wolf may have caught our mate’s scent on that girl, but I am not convinced she is my mate. She can’t be, we all know second chance mates are nothing but myths. And for Dahlia to have gone silent for almost 10 years just to pop up now, she definitely has way more tricks up her sleeve. Who is to say that that girl isn’t just a puppet or a spy of Dahlia’s. How is it that she was the only one found alive and unharmed from the attack the other night? The fact that all of this is happening at once, is too much of a coincidence. She will remain our prisoner, until we get proof of her involvement in all this or otherwise.”

They all just nod, and we sit together in silence.

I’m not going to lose her like I lost Dahlia. I will uncover her secrets, even if I have to force or torture them out of her. It could help me find Dahlia, if not stop her. Now that she is in my grasp, whatever happens, I know I’m not going to let her out of my sight.