It has been over a week since the incident happened, and my mate left me. Seleste has refused to speak with me since the day I saw her on the videoconference. I think she has blocked my number from her phone. No one will tell me where she is or how she is doing. Onyx won’t even talk to me. He is mad that I hurt his mate. Onyx, of all people, should know that I love Seleste and I would never do anything on purpose to harm our mate. I keep going over everything in my mind from that day and I still don’t know what happened. Since the first time Seleste Astro-projected herself to us, I have not even looked at another shewolf. I definitely didn’t want one locking lips with me. There had to be something more going on here, like the king believes. I will be glad when his magic workers get here and clear this mess up. I need to get back to the business of being an alpha. Right now, my Beta is running the pack. The pack members are mad at me for making their new luna leave. My parents are even mad at me right now. None of my family has spoken to me since that day. When I bother to show up to eat with everyone, they all get quiet and glare at me. Don’t they know me enough to know that I would never purposely do anything like that? I can tell that my mother wants to reach out to me, but she holds herself back. She is not only upset about my actions or inaction, but also because Seleste has not answered any of her calls either.
Seleste has cut off everyone in my pack. Her cousins and friend left my pack last week. As of now, they suspended my pack unit from doing any protector missions. My warriors have all returned to the pack and all the protector team has left my pack. Most went to Alpha Clark’s pack or to Seleste’s old pack. No one is saying where Seleste is right now. I have been spending my time mostly in my office or in my room and not really interacting with anyone. No one, including Theresa, has tried to talk to me and I am thankful for that. I don’t want to talk to anyone. I just want my mate back. I can’t continue on without her.
My Beta informed me after breakfast that the king’s investigator will be here this afternoon, so I guess I will leave my quiet spot and go out to wait for them. They should be here soon. Just as I walk outside, Theresa walks up like nothing happened. I can’t believe her nerve. Does she have a death wish? I told her if I ever saw her again, I would kill her.
“Hi Alpha, I was just coming to see you. I heard that we have a new luna, so I guess that means that we are over now.” She says.
Everyone in the area stops and looks at us. Before I can stop him, Onyx has our hands around her throat, lifting her from the ground.
“You dare speak to me like this after what you have done. I dare you walk up here asking about my mate. You, of all people, have no right. Are you trying to rub it in that my mate left because of you? Tell me now why I shouldn’t kill you like I promised I would?” I ask as a tossed her against the wall of the front porch.
“What are you talking about?’ Theresa asked, confused. “I just got back to the pack this morning. I was with my friends all week long. You can ask them.”
“So now you are pretending that you did not come here last week and kiss me in front of my mate and then make several snotty comments about me wanting you instead of my mate? Let me remind you that most of the high-ranking wolves witnessed your actions in the pack. I would be within my right to kill you.” I growl at her.
“I swear Alpha, I was not here. Tina, can you please tell the alpha that we were together all week?”
“I can’t do that, Theresa. You left us at the restaurant and disappeared for over a day last week. You came back and acted like you had never left. We did not know what happened to you. You were acting a little strange at first, but then everything went back to normal. We did not know what happened until we returned to the pack last night. I tried to reach you before you came to the packhouse, but we got here at the same time. I’m sorry Theresa, I just don’t know what to say. My parents said that you did what the alpha says.”
“Why can’t I remember doing that? You all know I respect the mate bond. I would never do something like that. As much as I enjoyed being with you alpha, I would not do that. I know how much you missed your first mate and getting a second chance mate is rare. I would never want to cause anyone that type of pain.” Theresa says, crying.
I don’t know what to believe. A part of me still wants to kill her. Onyx wants to kill her. I am fighting with him right now to keep from snatching her head off.
“Just get her out of my sight. It is taking everything in me not to kill her right now.” I say to her friend.
Just as they are about to walk off, my beta approaches with 2 unknown males and 1 unknown female.
“Alpha Blake, these are the representatives of the king. This is Orion and Jareth.” Beta says, referring to the two males. “And this is Madam Iris. She is the leader of the magics in our kingdom.”
“Thank you all for coming.” I say.
Madam Iris walks past me and walks up to Theresa. She looks into Theresa’s eyes for a few seconds and turns away. I can tell she is speaking to the two males.
“Alpha, we need to meet in your office, and we need this young lady to come with us.”
“Ok, Beta, Theresa, come with us.” I say and lead everyone to my office.
Once in my office, Madam Iris suggests we call the king. This is information he will need as well. I start a video call with the king. After explaining to the royal beta what we needed, the king is called to the office for the videoconference. I step back and let Madam Iris and her team take over.
“Your highness, I asked that you be called so that I can confirm to you immediately that magic and something else was used on the alpha and this young lady here. I looked in her memories and self-conscious mind and see that she was an unwilling and unknowing participant in this matter. She was grabbed because she could get close to the alpha. The alpha was targeted because of his close work with you and the protector team.”
“How could they do all of this through her without her knowledge?’ The king asked.
“They grabbed her from the restroom at the restaurant and drugged her. Once they got her to their base of operation, they used the mind control drug they created and infused it with dark magic to block her wolf. They gave her commands and made her where surveillance gear and prompted her along the way. She was their puppet. Once she got to the pack and was close to Alpha Blake, she stuck him in the elbow with a substance. I could not see what that substance was. It was not mentioned in her presence. She was only told what to do with it. All I know is that once stuck, Alpha Blake was temporarily immobilized. He had no control over his movements or reactions. They were able to block his connection with his wolf and block his wolf from taking over. They were very excited about this development. Although the effects were temporary, it was effective against an alpha of his caliber. I hate to think of what it can do to others.”
“Madam Iris, you could see all of that in her self-conscious mind?” The king asked.
“Yes, your highness. Her wolf was aware of what was happening around her, but unable to communicate or stop it. She was locked away. I released her when I read her memories. The ones that took her discussed the progress and results I front of her before they wiped her memories and put a spell on her wolf to not be able to share what happened. I can also confirm that we are dealing with the dark one and he is not just after power. He wants total domination. Whoever is working with him is also just a pawn in his ultimate goal of taking over the world.” Madam Iris says.
“Your highness, if I may, Orion says.”
‘You have the floor, Orion.” The king says.
“There is residual magic around the Alpha and the she wolf. Whoever did the spell is trying to find a backdoor into their minds. The three of us may be able to trace the magic signature back to the dark wizard or witch that worked this magic. This is very strong magic and only a few are strong enough to perform it and maintain it for this long. They left a trigger in the shewolf so that they can call her to work at anytime. Madam Iris disabled it. If it was still active, they could listen in on our conversation without her even being aware of it.”
“Do what you all need to do and keep me informed. Alpha Blake, I am glad I was not wrong about you. I will call a meeting with the council and let them know what is happening. I will also personally speak with Seleste and let her know what we found. Considering these revelations, I will recommend to Seleste that you all try to work things out and not proceed with the severing of the mate bond. I sincerely hope you all can work it out. You both deserve to be happy, and we cannot let evil win and destroy something the moon goddess blessed you two with.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
After we ended the call with the king, Madam Iris asked for a quiet place for them to prepare for what they needed to do. I took them up to the Alpha floor of the pack house and led them to their suite of rooms. No one comes on my floor other than I do. I asked Theresa to wait with Beta while I escorted the magics to their space.
After showing them their space, we scheduled to meet back in my office after dinner tonight. They will perform the ritual when the moon is high and most of the pack is inside with their families. They asked for a secluded space out under the moon to do the ritual. I have the perfect spot. There is a valley out in the middle of the woods that I go to when I need to think. It will be the perfect location. There is direct moonlight in that spot.
I go back to my office where my beta and Theresa are waiting for me. I linked my parents to also come to my office so that we can give them an update. When my parents walk in, they are a little surprised to see Theresa sitting in there with us. My mother glares at me, and my dad just shakes his head with a look of disappointment. I am really hurt that they of all people have so little faith in me.
“Mom, dad, before you all jump to the wrong conclusion, let me give you the short version of what is happening. Theresa was taken by the rebels, or at least one branch of them, and placed under the influence of magic. They were controlling her actions. She had no memory of what happened.”
“And you believe that foolishness?” My mother asked. “I raised you better and smarter than that. So you believe any sob story this female tells you?”
‘Seriously, mother, can you give me more credit than that? Frankly, I’m hurt that my very own parents have so little faith in me and I don’t know where our relationship will go from here. You two turned your backs on me when I needed you the most. Rather, you believed me or not, you are my parents. You watched me break when my first mate died. How the hell did you think I would make it after losing my second chance mate? But neither of you cared enough about me to at least make sure I was not over here dying.”
My mom tried to speak, but I cut her off. Truthfully, there is nothing either of them can say to me at this point.
“We are not here for this. I called you because you are the elders of the pack and deserve to know what is going on. Now, as I was saying. Theresa was a pawn in all of this. I was the target. The king’s investigators gave this information to us. They got here around the same time as Theresa did today and could see the residual magic around her and they also saw traces of magic on me. Yes, I was also spelled or drugged, maybe both. I don’t clearly understand how it works, but the king’s magic wielders are going to perform a ritual tonight to free us from the magic and protect us from future attacks. They are also going to use the traces of magic to lead them to the one that cast the spell.”
“Son, I am so sorry.”
“It doesn’t matter, mother, what’s done is done.”
“So what does this mean for you and Seleste? Does she know about this?”
“The king will let her know. It will be up to her at that point. She has blocked me from her contacts, so I will have to wait for her to contact me or Tamaska to reach out to Onyx. At this point, it is in the hands of the moon goddess.”
I excused myself after that and found me a quiet spot to relax where I wouldn’t be disturbed. I planned to update the pack at dinner about what is going on. Since several pack members witnessed the interchange between myself, Theresa, and Madam Iris, the word has already started getting out that I was under the influence of magic. I will have my beta confirm it. I don’t feel like talking to anyone just yet.