The Elemental Mate

Xander POV

"Does she have anyone with her?" Aurora asks me, clearly confused about why Iris would just show up at the border.

"It was just her," Max tells us, still clearly out of breath from running across the territory in human form.

I start to feel worried as my wolf gets antsy about the idea that the witch who wants to hurt our mate just decided to walk up to our land.

"I'm coming," Aurora tells me, moving to stand in front of me.

"No, you're not," I tell her, putting my foot down.

She just gives her deadly glare, "You really can't stop me."

"You want to bet?"

"Yeah, I would. I'm going to the border," I roll my eyes at her stubborn behavior, "Look you can stand here and argue with me, an argument I will win by the way, or we can go to the border. We can't do both."

She's safer next to us, Kai argues, not liking the idea of our mate being out of sight when the woman who wants her dead is so close.

"Fine," I tell her, "But you stay next to my side at all times. I'm serious, no leaving."

"I wouldn't dream of it," she smiles as we both head towards the northern border.

Picking Aurora up and swinging her onto my back, I take off towards the north. Aurora clings tightly around me as I move faster into the woods.

Stopping just short of the border, I reluctantly release Aurora. The second her feet hit the ground, I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her against me.

"Stay close," I remind her.

"I will."

We walk through the trees for a minute before spotting a few wolves watching a woman warily.

Iris stood just outside the border. She looked the same she did a few weeks ago with her hair in a business bun. Her casual business suit made her look ready for a board meeting, not a fight, but when I looked into her cold blue eyes, I could see she was itching for one.

"Why are you here?" I ask, my voice resonating through the trees.

She smirks as a sick joy flashes in her eyes, "I just wanted to have a small chat with Aurora. We left things on such bad terms, it only felt right to try and rectify the situation."

"You wanted me dead. Now you want to rectify that?" Aurora speaks up.

I squeeze her waist gently, "You are alone. If you came for a fight, you will lose."

"I didn't come to fight," Iris laughs, waving my words off with her hand as if it was the craziest idea in the world, "I have a lesson to give you."

"What?" Aurora questions.

"Before I was the leader of the coven, I was your teacher, Aurora. I'm here because there is a lesson I failed to teach you. I need to rectify that," she smiles darkly.

"What lesson?" Aurora asks, confusion clear in her tone.

"Loyalty, of course," she says like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Let's begin then. How many witches were burned at Salem?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Aurora snaps back.

"Ironically, it's everything," she says, her smile widening, "So, how many witches?"

"None," Aurora answers, "They didn't burn witches."

"Then what happened?" I could see the joy behind Iris's eyes. Something was about to happen, but I had no idea what she was planning.

"They were hung."

I didn't understand why Aurora was indulging her by answering the questions, but if Iris was talking, then she might let something slip.

After reading the reports I was getting from the rogues, we had nothing. We needed her to give us something.

"And why would the coven allow a fellow witch to be hung?"

"Because they betrayed them," Aurora snaps.

"Looks like you were a better student than I thought. Do you understand why you must not betray the coven?"

"What?" Aurora questions, confusion written all over her face.

"Why are we getting a history lesson?" I interrupt them.

Iris laughs at my question loudly as her dark joy shines through her features. She turns towards Aurora smiling, "Why don't you ask your mother why this lesson is so important?"

"My mother?" Aurora asks as her thoughts are running ramp it, trying to figure out what Iris's meant.

"We'll see each other again soon. I'm sure you'll understand by then," Iris says before she mumbles a phrase lowly and disappears from the woods.

I curse loudly before I start barking orders to the warriors, "Comb the woods. If she is within a hundred miles of the pack, I want to know about it!" I call out to the warriors, anger coursing through me. I was not letting her get away again.

I didn't understand what her goal was with this chat, but everything she did was thought out. She wouldn't just come here to ramble about a lesson.

I turned back to Aurora, but her eyes didn't connect with mine. She held a far off look. It was the same look I had noticed she got when her mind was working out a problem.

"Aurora?" I call out to her.

She takes a shaky breath before her eyes connect with mine. Her eyes were glossed over as a single tear dripped down her cheek, "She's-"

Her breathes become uneven as she starts to panic. She keeps repeating herself, never making it past the first word before choking up again.

I wrap my arms around her as I try to read her, but her mind's a mess of emotions.

"Aurora, look at me," I try as I place one of my palms against her cheek to direct her line of sight to my face, "Talk to me."

More tears broke through the barrier as I watched my mate break, "I don't want to- I don't want-"

"Aurora," I said softly.

"I don't want to see her," she shakes her head as more tears fall.

I didn't know what she meant. I had no idea what had shaken her.

Not until she looked up.

Aurora's scream filled the trees as she collapsed onto the floor. My arms stayed around as I went to the ground with her. I held her tightly to me, forcing her face into my chest so she wouldn't see.

I kept my eyes on the trees as I watched the woman swing back and forth. Her head leaned to the side as her eyes stayed open.

My mate wept into my arms as I ran my hand through her hair. There were no words of comfort I could give to her. I could only hold her so she wouldn't see the body.

The woman, hanging in the trees with her neck in a noose, was her mother.