From Here to Ecstasy

Dedicated to, well, who else other than my friends, oddball and N.Y.O.B. Thanks for hanging in there with me. I love the comments and suggestions.

Recap

I sighed and laid my head back against the chair, Summer’s hand still in mine. I wanted all the fighting and jealousy the other people had. They had always wanted our pack and I couldn’t figure out why, well, until recently. The whole damn fighting was all due to the…

I jumped up when I heard someone in the hall. They were moving slow and quietly, or so they thought. I was happy my wolf was keeping watch or I might have missed the sound. I wanted to let out a huge growl, but I wanted to see who was trying to sneak in and what they wanted. I hid in the shadows and waited.

I heard the door open slowly and someone take a deep breath, their heart beating in fear. I waited until the person walked over to the bed and looked down at Summer. “Who are you and what do you want with my mate?” I asked her quietly, my hands around her throat.

Zane’s POV

The person squeaked.

Really, she squeaked.

I loosened my fingers from around her throat and spelled her body in place. “I asked you a question, witch. What do you want with my mate?” I spat at her, watching her gasping for breath for a couple of minutes.

“I was t-trying to help. My s-sister c-came up with the nasty bullet. I watched her so I could help with the antidote. I wanted nothing to do with her selfishness and murders. I s-stayed away from all of them and hid, watching what they d-did. I have all the poisons memorized and I know of the antidote for each.” She took a deep breath, waiting to see if I would say something. “Please allow me to help. Your own doctor, chemist, or scientist can monitor me. I wanted nothing to cause anyone harm. I know she’s in the King’s cells and she won’t be getting help from me unless it’s to testify against her and the other witches. You can tell I’m telling you the truth.”

I tilted my head at her words, knowing she spoke the truth. I could tell she was scared, but she felt as if she needed to do the right thing. I nodded my head. “Can you work with my chemist and his mate? He might have missed a herb or two and I want my mate back.”

She nodded and her shoulders relaxed. “I will help, but could I ask a favor? It’s just that I don’t have anywhere to stay. My whole coven went bad. They wanted the money and the fame they thought they would get from hurting others…” She trailed off.

I smiled. “You can stay. I will make sure you get one of the cottages. Are you afraid of werewolves?”

She shook her no. “I always had high hopes of being one of their mates, but if not I don’t mind being in the company of wolves. Thank you, Alpha Zane, and I’m sorry your mate has gone through this because of my coven and family, well, who was my family. I can write down all the herbs they used if you have any writing utensils here.”

The witch jumped when the notepad and pen landed on the table beside her, causing her to chuckle. “Okay, then. Thank you, Alpha." I watched as she picked up the pad and stopped. "My name is Serenity, Alpha,” the witch said as she bowed her head.

I watched as she took a seat and started writing all of the herbs used to make the bullet. I knew she said she had all of them but I was in awe of her. She remembered all the herbs. Damn, there were more than Joey thought. I wondered if some of the herbs masked the others. It wasn’t in Joey to make a mistake when it came to science, but then again he had never been threatened with bodily harm before, not by me.

I was startled out of my thoughts when she thrust the list in my hands. I looked over the list and noticed there were four more herbs in the bullet than Joey knew about. I knew he wouldn’t have done it on purpose. He was too meticulous. “Are you sure all of this is the bullet she took?”

“If I can see the bullet I can tell you for sure. They coded their bullet by the tip color,” she explained to me.

I looked her over and made sure she wasn’t spelled. “She’s not, Dad. I checked her already,” Ander told me, making me relax a little.

“Thanks, Ander,” I mind-linked him. I walked over to the tray the bullet was in and brought it back to the witch. She studied the bullet and used her pen to turn the bullet over, nodding her head.

“The herbs I mentioned are for this bullet,” I heard her say as she sighed. “I can look up the counter herbs if I had the books. It will make it quicker for your chemist.”

I nodded, surprising her with all of Joey’s herb books. I gave her a crooked smile. “Sorry. I figured it would be quicker to bring the books to you. Joey doesn’t like anyone in his lab other than us.” She nodded and got to work on writing everything down.

I sat back down and prayed more. I couldn’t lose Summer. I wouldn’t lose her. She was my everything. I could still remember when we first met, how she could tell us apart, and how she acted. She didn’t want a mate until she finished her uncle, but she never rejected us and I knew she never would. Now, we were having even more children.

“She’s going to kill us. You better mind our balls when she finds out. I don’t want to be called the ball-less-wonder,” my wolf whined, causing me to laugh out loud. I shook my head at the witch, a smile on my face.

“All done,” Serenity called out as she walked over to me and handed me the list. She had written where the herbs could be found and their uses.

I took the paper in my hands and crumbled it up as I said a spell, sending it to Ander. “I sent you a list of the herbs you will need to help your mother. The witch’s sister watched her make it so she could reverse it. I want every one of these herbs, okay, Ander?”

“Okay.” I heard him sigh. “Joey is bringing his mate back with him. Hopefully, he doesn’t act as if he’s a lovesick full when he gets back. She’s going to go with us to find the herbs. She’s really smart, almost as smart as Joey. Joey’s a stuttering fool right now though.”

I looked through Ander's eyes and had to agree with him. “Joey, you can stare at your mate when you get back. Quit being a stuttering fool and go get those herbs. You don’t have time to play around. Go!” I watched him jump and tell his mate they needed to get going if they wanted to save one of his Alphas. I watched as she nodded and readied herself to go.

“I’m sending her stuff to Joey’s room for now. Talk to you later, Dad,” Ander mind-linked me as he linked arms with Joey and his mate, disappearing as fast as they got there. “Oh, and Truth he is correct about what mom is going to do to you.” All I heard was laughing from him before he was cut off.

“You’re a witch, too?” Serenity asked as she sat down in the chair next to mine.

“Yes, my whole family is, but we are also werewolves. All of us. Have you met the Royal Alpha King yet?” I asked as I looked over at her.

She shook her head. “No, I haven’t met him yet. I have heard his mate is powerful.”

I laughed a little. “The King is my son and his mate is very powerful. She could give any witch a complex.”

“Wow. You must be very proud of him,” she told me as I smiled at her words.

“I’m proud of all my children,” I simply said as she nodded her head in understanding. My children and mate are my life and it hurt me to see their mother hurt. My mate was never still and it was unnerving to me to see her in this state.

I rubbed my chest above my heart and sighed. I couldn’t pretend I was okay. I couldn’t pretend my life wasn’t hurt. I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t scared. I was all of these and more. I didn’t even care about what was happening in the woods as long as my family was safe. I needed to dream-walk but I couldn’t with someone else in the room. I wouldn’t put her life or mine in the hands of someone I didn’t know.

“Dad? Do you need me there? I can watch your back,” Trace asked as he teleported into the hospital room, startling Serenity in the process.

I looked back over my shoulder and noticed Trace staring at Serenity as if he was in a trance. Serenity was staring back at him not making a sound or moving. “Trace? You okay there, buddy?”

“D-dad, she’s my m-mate. How?” He asked, shocking me into staring at both of them, my mouth agape.

I cleared my throat. “Uh, how about we talk about this later. I need to see how your mom is, okay?” I wasn’t sure what I could say. His mother would have answered his question, easing his fears. Me, not so much. I didn't know what to say, I mean, what could I say?

Not. A. Damn. Thing.

“Okay, Dad. Can I talk to her while you are seeing mom?” He asked me as he continued to stare at Serenity.

I cleared my throat again and raised an eyebrow. “Trace, I need you to watch both of our backs, that means you need to pay attention, and right now you aren’t.”

He pulled his eyes away from Serenity and nodded his head. “I’ll watch out for both of you. I promise on my life.” And, there it was, a promise which couldn’t be broken.

I nodded and laid my head down on the bed, making sure I held Summer’s hand. I was drowsy to start with, so going to sleep wasn’t going to be too hard.

A/N: Another long chapter for you. Hope you enjoyed an insight into what's going to happen in the 4th book. Thanks for reading.