54. Anna

54

Anna

"I cannot make myself any clearer. I never saw Maeve," the Crone said stubbornly. "My name has been hidden away for many years. There was a time, when I was much younger, that I did travel and offer my gift of sight to those who needed it, but by the time Maeve came in search of me, I was part of the Darkwyn Coven."

"Not just part of it," I guessed. "You'd started it. There aren't any other covens who take titles instead of names. You went into hiding, and this was the best way for you to do it."

Her eyes narrowed as she glared at me. We'd brought the Crone, Evalina, to us rather than risk having the conversation in front of Irene.

"What are you implying?"

"That you knew about the cult!" I exploded. "That you're parsing out information when we're cornering you!"

"I told you about the cult," Evalina said calmly. "I did not know its name or where they were. Only what they were rumored to be."

"Why were you running," Jax asked, putting a hand on my knee. I was about to erupt from my seat and scream at her. "Why did you start the Darkwyn Coven?"

Evalina's eyes flickered over me for a moment. "Most seers cannot see for themselves. That is true for me as well. As powerful as I am, I could never get a glimpse of my own future, and in my younger days, I did try. Often. It never produced results and sent me to bed, drained, for days. Eventually, I gave up, but one day, I connected with another seer, and through her, I saw my death. Not just how I would die, but all the threads that led to and spread out from my death. I saw how the path I traveled was already leading to it, and so I did what anyone would do. I tried to get off the path. I sequestered myself away and surrounded myself with protective magic."

It sounded plausible. Anyone would run from their death. "Did it change anything?" I asked quietly. "Or is it still happening?"

"That is a personal question and none of your business," Evalina said frostily. "But you are right that my death led me to hone my abilities and see as much as I could about the darkness. Your birth made everything so much clearer, but there were still so many pieces missing."

"Maeve wanted the heart of her daughter. Are there spells that require that?" Jax asked in distaste.

"Absolutely. The heart of someone you love. The heart of someone who shares your blood. A heart that you once shared. The kind of magic that Maeve is dabbling in requires sacrifice. I doubt that is the only distasteful ingredient. I fear bringing her daughters here is a mistake. While she's had time to come up with an alternative, if it's specific to a spawn, you'll be handing her what she wants."

Something was still bothering me. "Would the spell care if it's a daughter or a son?"

The witch's eyes widened. "No. No spell cares about gender. Only blood. Her son was her back-up plan."

"She let Finn live." I swiveled my head toward Jax, fear in my heart. "But she let him go. If he was her back-up plan, why would she let him go into rogue territory where anything could happen?"

Jax shook his head. "Maybe finding you was more important. Or maybe she knew that the healer had let her daughters live."

"Maybe," I muttered. Something was still nagging at me, but I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"You cannot just a send a group of wolves to destroy the cult," Evalina said briskly. "You need to send someone to infiltrate them and discover what they know. Lunessa will go with them."

There were only three wolves that I knew that Jax trusted enough to do that. Jenson wasn't going to leave Irene, and Saul and Amelia were both working on their own projects to help.

When his gaze met mine, my heart sank. "You're going to go, aren't you?"

"There is no one else available that's close to the situation," he said in a low voice.

"Then clue someone else in!" Jumping up from my seat, I started to pace. "It's just a little intelligence run! You've got a whole guard trained to do that!"

"Not when it comes to intelligence on you, Anna. I have to do this myself. You're too important."

A knot formed in my chest, and I started having trouble breathing. "Your pack is under attack from rogues, and Maeve could strike at any minute. You are leaving them all vulnerable!"

"I'm leaving them with Jenson and with you."

At that, I recoiled. "Me? What the hell are you talking about?"

A small smile tugged at his lips. "You, Anna. You're my mate. There is no one higher in the hierarchy than you when I'm gone. Jenson will guide you, but you will be the alpha, and I have every faith that you'll protect this pack. I also have every faith that this pack will protect you. This is the safest place for you. Maeve can't get you here."

"Maeve? Maeve! Maeve is not my concern," I said in disbelief. "I can only name a handful of wolves in your pack who would follow me, and Jax, I'm not certain if you are aware, but there are hundreds of wolves here! They'll be a goddamn civil war before you return!"

To my disbelief, he just took my hands and pulled me for a hug. I tensed as he kissed the top of my head. "You are not taking this seriously," I mumbled in his chest.

"And you don't believe in yourself. This pack is yours, Anna. They have accepted you as my mate, which means they will accept you as their alpha. I know you have a hard time putting the past behind you, but you need to believe in yourself. Believe in your wolf. If I recall, you have no problems taking charge when it came to rescuing me. Being in charge comes naturally to you, now that there's nothing standing in your way."

His speech was good and all, but he was forgetting one very big thing. "What if the cult knows who you are? What if they recognize you?"

He might not get out alive.

"For the love of all things holy," Evalina snapped. "He's not going alone. Lunessa has the full power of the coven behind her. She will be more powerful than all the witches and wolves in that coven. He'll be just fine."

"Speaking of the coven, where is the third member of your party?" Jax asked mildly.

"Mother is holding the coven. As long as one witch remains, it cannot fall to the rogues. Anna, you can leave us. I need a word with Jax so he can prepare."

Turning my head, I narrowed my eyes at her. "Do not dismiss me," I snarled.

Jax chuckled. "Yeah. You're going to have no trouble being in charge."

Evalina just rolled her eyes. "I apologize for being abrupt, but time is of the essence, especially if we are to save you and the mountain."

"You skipped breakfast. Why don't you find something to eat," Jax said softly. "I'll come find you afterward."

So we could say our goodbyes? I didn't want to think about that.

I did grab a few snacks from the dining hall before I went in search of Amelia. Astonished that my wolf could do magic, Evalina and Lunessa had me practicing all day yesterday, and it had my whole body feel a little strange. I'd been queasy this morning, but I was feeling better and hungry. I needed to pace myself and my wolf before I did exactly what Jax feared and drained myself once again.

It did not take me long to find Amelia. She was at her usual desk, hunched over her computer. Her eyes were rimmed red. I knew Jax was forcing her to take breaks, eat healthier, and sleep at night, so I had a feeling her red eyes weren't just from screen fatigue.

"How's it going," I asked casually as I hopped up on the desk.

She didn't answer.

"So Jax is taking Lunessa to go after the cult. Weird that they didn't want to involve me, given that I'm the subject of the day and his mate. Instead, he thinks it's best to leave me here to run the pack with Jenson. You know, I don't think Jenson and I have had a single conversation out of the you don't belong here, you're not worthy of him crap he used to tell me before this. Now we're going to run a pack together. Are you worried, because I am totally not worried. Okay, I'm a little worried. Do you miss Finn? If you're worried that he and Kenzi are getting it on, I wouldn't. Finn's not an idiot, and only an idiot would get involved with Kenzi."

Amelia' s gaze flickered up from the screen. "I know what you're trying to do."

"Most days, I have no idea what I'm doing, so it's nice that you're around. However, this time, I know exactly what I'm trying to do. I'm hoping to deepen the bonds of our friendship by commiserating on how our mates are leaving us behind when we are totally badass and can take care of ourselves."

Her eyes widened just a little. "You think Kenzi is my mate?"

"Haha." I swung my legs. "Are we not friends? Some days I'm not really sure. Friendship is kind of a new concept to me. Just because you helped come to my rescue and then we were stuck together for week, and really let's not talk about what happened on that boat, doesn't mean that we're friends. Maybe you hate me, but you feel like you can't tell me because I'm the alpha's mate."

I said the last part with air quotes, and she snorted and finally leaned back from the computer. "It's hard for me to consider us friends. Bridget was my best friend."

"And I killed her. Yeah. That does put a damper on things." It hurt to hear her say that, although I'd suspected it all along.

"My god, Finn is right. Almost everything goes over your head. I didn't mean that we couldn't be friends because you killed Bridget. I just mean that I'm having trust issues since Bridget betrayed us. I do consider us friends, but I don't know about us opening up to each other."

Relieved, I shrugged my shoulders. "Too bad, because I need to talk to a girl, and Irene has that whole Maeve might take over her body at any minute thing going on and Lunessa is babysitting her, right before she goes off with my man. Jax is leaving me in charge. Leaving me as alpha. Do I seem like an alpha to you?"

"No. Right now, you seem like a headcase. The pack is doomed."

"You're not taking this seriously. Up until a few weeks ago, this pack hated me. Now Jax is expecting them to follow me!"

"And they will," Amelia said simply. "Jax has accepted you as his mate without question. You've saved his life multiple times, and he's put his life on the line for you. Can't you feel that in your pack bonds? That balance? You're his equal. They accept you. They're a little worried that you won't accept them. So, relax. You've got this."

"The only time I see the pack bonds are when I use magic," I told her quietly. "I can't feel the pack otherwise."

She shrugged. "Weird, but it's fine. You'll figure it out."

"What are you working on? Trying to get more information on Finn's sisters?"

"No. He already has that. I'm trying to dig up as much information as I can about the cult and…"

"And?"

"And a personal favor for someone."

"One that you aren't going to tell me? That's fine." I hopped down from the table.

"Actually, I did want to ask you one thing. It might help. When Jax darkened the mating bond, how did it feel? What do you think would have happened if it had been severed while it was dark?"