Broken Souls

Alpha Aaron’s POV

It’s been two days. I’m doing everything I can to not lose my mind completely. I’m still stuck in Eric and Rana’s pack lands waiting for the other Alphas to join us, so we can discuss Seth and the fact he has an army of rogues and some fucking evil warlock bent on killing all wolves. A large portion of my own pack’s warriors have already arrived wanting to help find their Luna. Some of the Alphas have arrived, and we are only waiting for a few more that should be here in the next day or two. I know I’m going to have to get myself together and speak to them. It might be one of the hardest thing I will ever have to do. I know the second one of them tries to challenge what Eric and I are telling them, I may lose it.

Most of the omegas are avoiding me, and that’s probably for the best. It’s all I can do to not go on a fucking rampage. I don’t know where Kay is. We have no leads, and I know she’s alive: the bond is still there. I can also feel that she’s in pain, and it’s making me crazy.

“Just hang on Kay,” I murmur for the hundredth time in the last hour.

Oriel has taken over organizing warriors, stargazes, and full-on war planning with a few other lead warriors and Eric. I join the meeting when I can, but it’s hard to control Griffin. Oriel has already kicked me out of a few meeting and trainings, saying I needed to cool off. I don’t know how she expects me to do that.

I’m prowling the room Kay and I shared. Everything still smells like her, and it’s the only thing that helps. As much as it hurts, it still helps. A loud knock has me flinging the door open hoping it’s news. I’m almost relived when I see Willow standing there, but she looks different. If I didn’t know any better, she looks younger than she did only a few days go, and I can faintly smell the magic in her. Something has changed.

“Nice to see everything is in one piece. I need to talk to you,” Willow says walking right passed me to sit on the couch. I’ll put up with her because she maybe the best chance we have at finding Kay.

“What? Do you know where to find Kay? Do you know anything?” I’m trying not to yell and control myself, but I need her to start talking and now.

“I’m working on that,” Willow says with a worried look on her face.

“Something is blocking me from seeing her. I have a fairly good idea who’s blocking me. I’m just waiting for Kay to reach me, or, rather, I’m hoping she can.”

“You don’t know anything then!” I say falling into the chair by the couch and putting my face in my hands. I feel so defeated. It was my job to protect her, and I failed. I couldn’t save Lilly, and I failed Kay. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.

“I do have news. She is alive and when the rest of my sisters get here tomorrow, we will see what we can do to reach past this wall of darkness I keep hitting. I need to ask you something. Can you still feel her through your bond?” Willow’s words hardly register in my brain.

“I can feel her but not very well. I can tell she’s alive and in pain,” I say rubbing my face and finally sitting up to look at Willow. To my surprise, she has a fucking smile on her face.

“What?”

“You are going to be the key for me to find her,” she says her smile growing. I don’t know what plan she has. As much as I don’t trust magic, I’ll do anything to find Kay.

“What do I need to do?” I ask without thinking twice.

“I’ll be back for you tomorrow night,” Willow says standing and moving quickly to the door.

“We will get her back, Aaron,” she says leaving the room and closing the door.

“Hang on, Kay. Please, just hang on,” I murmur again slumping in the chair.

The rest of yesterday and last night went by painfully slowly. I had to get out. I had to let Griffin out for a run. I need to do something, anything to pass the time and burn off some of the anger. I got word last night that all the Alphas would be here early in the morning, and Eric set a meeting for ten in the morning eager to get everything started as soon as possible.

I’ve been pacing the conference room since nine thirty this morning, and the few omegas that came to set up the room keep glancing at me, clearly a little afraid of me. I can’t really bring myself to care that much, though. I just want to meeting to start. The omegas have left, and I’m still pacing like a caged animal. When the door opens again, I look to see Eric stepping in.

“I figured you would be here already,” he says giving me a sad smile.

“Are you going to be okay for this?”

I know he’s worried I’ll blow up or something, but I have to keep it together. I can’t risk pissing anyone off. I just give Eric a nod and a grunt, but I think he knows I won’t do anything to risk finding and saving Kay, killing Seth, and doing else I need to keep Kay safe.

Eric sits at large oak table at the head of the room when his Beta, Logan, joins him at the table. I go and sit with them. Rana is soon at the other side of Eric while I sit by Logan. I look out across the large room I have been prowling for the last half hour. It’s a large room with several tables scattered throughout. We are expecting twenty Alphas and some of their Betas.

At ten A.M. sharp, the room begins to fill as people take seats at tables and quiet shuffles and talking fill the space. Slowly, the seats fill. A few pleasantries and handshakes later, everyone is sitting. Eric stands and clears his throat.

“Thank you all for coming here so quickly and on such short notice. I would like to start with some information we have. As you know, there was an attack on my pack by rogues. There is also the rogue problem we’ve been facing in which several small packs have been destroyed. We have learned that all of these attacks have been orchestrated by one rogue Alpha. I’m sure some of you remember, Alpha Seth.” Eric pauses as mummers erupt through the room.

“Seth has not only gathered rogues and weaker packs; he is also working with dark magic. He plans to wage on all of us. We have reason to believe that he has wolves numbering in the thousands. We have sent wolves to track his location based on the information we got from the captured rogues. Unfortunately, he is alluding us. We are asking all of you to join with us in this coming war. We must stand together. The dark magic he is also working with is something beyond evil. We will have to fight magic with magic. Based on the information we have, Seth has entrusted dark witches and Fay to help him. We will have no other choice but to enlist magic of our own.” This time the murmurs in the room began to turn into full shouts.

“We can’t trust witches,” says an older Alpha from one other smaller packs. Dan, I believe is his name. His comment is met with more than a few nods. With that, Rana stands and makes her way until she is next to Eric. She is far more powerful looking than even Eric at the moment, and the room quiets almost immediately.

Rana stands there looking over the room slowly seeming looking at every single person.

“You all know me, don’t you?” She says, her voice calm and measured. Nods can be seen from the men as I glance around the room. I can almost see a slight smile at the corner of her mouth.

“You all trust me, don’t you? We have helped you in times of need. I have always done what was best for my pack and our allies, haven’t I?” This time, yeses fill the space as everyone recalls the many years she has been Luna as well as her strong and faithful nature.

At this, Rana does allow herself a small and brief smile.

“Well, I have lied to you all for years. I am not a wolf; I am a witch.” The room erupts in gasps and a few angry shouts.

Rana just stands and waits for it to die down, but it is Eric that booms over the crowed now:

“That is enough.”

“But we have been lied to for years! We can’t trust any of this. To hide something like that.” It is Alpha Dan that speaks out.

“We felt it was necessary, and I dare you to find one time that she or I have behaved or done anything to harm any of you. Name a time that we failed to aid any of you?” Eric booms again and the room is silent in response. There has never been a time they have not helped their allies and friends. The crowd has nothing to say that would tarnish Eric and Rana’s reputation.

Rana speaks again, “I am not saying we have done everything right. We have made mistakes and one of them was not coming forward sooner. I see that now. We also made another mistake that cost us our daughter, but now we ask you to help us not only to save ourselves, but also our granddaughter. She was taken by Seth, and he will do evil things to her. We were lucky to have her brought into our lives by her mate, Alpha Aaron. We do not want to lose her so soon after finding her, and Seth must be dealt with. He will bring war, and he will bring an evil darkness. We ask that you will listen not just to Eric and me but also to the leader of the covens. She is the Supreme Mother of witches, and she wants to speak with you, if you are willing to hear her.”

I watch as all the Alphas shoot looks around the room and seem to be conferring with each other. Then, I hear yeses come from around the room.

“Thank you all.” Rana says. “Please let me introduce you to the Supreme Mother, Willow.”

With that, my head shoots up to look at Rana then to the figure walking contently into the room. Willow walks up to the table joining Rana and Eric.

“You can stop staring, young man. It’s rude.” Willow quips shooting me a quick glance with a smirk.

Willow turns her gaze to the crowd and lingers a moment on Alpha Dan. She clearly heard is arguments earlier.

“Thank you, Alpha Eric and Luna Rana, for letting me take part in this meeting. I do hope we can move forward and leave the past in the past. I have met with my coven along with other covens. We all agreed that Seth and the darkness he is working with need to be dealt with swiftly. The power that Seth has allowed himself to it something of pure evil. If it is allowed to be reflected on the world, we will all suffer. That is something we cannot let happen.” Willow’s words seem to hold a confident power to them that even the Alphas in the room can’t ignore.

“We are willing to work with you to save us all, and, hopefully, we can come to a truce if you will.” Willow pauses and scans the crowd before her.

An Alpha I don’t recognize speaks up: “Can you tell us more about this darkness? Who is it, and why does it concern us?”

Willow takes a breath slowly before she looks to the young man that spoke.

“I don’t know how much magic history you all may know, but his name is Hadeon. He lived more than two hundred years ago. Hadeon was a powerful wizard. He soon was the most powerful, but as his power grew, so did his corruption. Hadeon soon saw himself as God-like, and he believed that he should be treated as nothing less than a God. He began to enslave and kill all those that opposed him. Wolves opposed him the most not wanting to be ruled by him, and that began the mistrust between wolves and magic.

Hadeon was finally banished to the underworld by a couple witches, and out of pure dumb luck, really. The witch responsible lost her powers to him, but she did have help from others lending her their magic to cast the spell. It seems that Hadeon has found a way out of the underworld. I believe he’s using living souls to give him the power to move from that realm back to this one.” Willow’s words are strong, but her eyes look sad and far away.

Willow turns a little and looks me dead in the eyes. I have been able to hold myself to getter for the whole meeting, but I have a bad feeling I am not going to like what she has to say next. Willow’s eyes seem to be telling me she was sorry. This only causes me to tense more and makes my breath hitch.

Willow looks back to the crowd again, “I believe that Alpha Aaron’s mate, Kay, is the key he needs to escape. Kay is of strong Alpha blood, but she also has witch blood. When she got her wolf, she also got her powers. I believe Hadeon wants her soul to bind all the other souls into one, which would give him the last bit of footing he needs to enter back in this realm with the living souls. All those souls would be bound, and he would be whole because of the power Kay possesses.”

With that, I get to my feet knocking the chair back with a loud bang. My fist slams into the table cracking the wood. I can feel my body shaking, and my mind racing. He can’t take her from me.

“We have to stop him! My pack is ready. Who is with me?”