20. Jax

20

Jax

"Where is Anna?" I demanded as I looked down at my tea. It was a surreal moment. The small tea parlor had plenty of sun streaming through the windows despite the fact that there were no windows outside.

Five minutes ago, I was fighting for Anna's life. Then, I was here, in a fucking tea parlor, with a dainty little teacup in front of me.

Witches. Whatever was in this cup of tea could kill me.

Three strangers were in the room with me. A short and rounded older woman with long thinning gray hair set the rest of the cups of tea down and eyed me through thick glasses. A young woman who looked no more than twenty with long red hair and a beautiful smile accepted a cup of tea and sat across from me at the table. In the corner, on the bench where an unconscious Anna lay, a middle-aged woman with a blonde messy bun and a permanent scowl on her face sat next to her and waved her hands up and down Anna's body.

The maiden, mother, and crone. Were there really only three witches of Darkwyn coven? Did they always take on this appearance?

And what the hell were they doing to Anna?

Since they were the ones who'd pulled us free at the last minute, I had to believe that they didn't want to kill us, but I still didn't drink the tea.

"It's just peppermint," the crone sighed. "To help settle your stomach."

My stomach was definitely queasy. I sniffed cautiously at the liquid and sipped.

The crone beamed. "Feel free to add some sugar and honey, although I have a feeling you don't mind bitter things. Otherwise, you wouldn't have mated with Anna. To answer your earlier question, Anna is fine. She had a head wound, but she will awaken soon."

"Why don't you use magic to heal her?"

"What we had to say to you is meant for your ears only," the crone said as she sat and stared at me.

What the hell did that mean? Were they expecting me? "Is that why you kidnapped my witch? That seems extreme."

"We did not kidnap Irene."

My heart sank. If they were telling the truth, and I was inclined to believe them, that meant Irene wasn't here. I'd made this trek, endangered my wolves, and left my pack for nothing.

"Not nothing, Jax Bishop," the mother snapped. "You've learned of your heinous mistake. At least, I hope you have."

Great. She could read minds.

My gaze strayed to Anna. She looked so helpless on the bench, her honeyed hair spread out, her chest rising and falling. If they tried to hurt her, could I protect her?

I'd try. I'd die trying.

Putting my cup of tea down, I straightened and stared at them. I didn't have the upper hand here, but I would be damned if I allowed them to play me like a damn puppet. "Anna put herself between me and you. She was protecting you."

"Was she?" The maiden said with a small smile. "Perhaps you have not learned as much about your mate as we had hoped."

"If she had said something…"

"She asked you what you were doing here. You refused to answer. We know. You do not trust her and you expect her to trust you. Have you not figured out that it's a wonder that girl trusts anything?" Despite looking the same age, the maiden spoke as if she was decades older. "I suspect your mate feels some sense of duty toward us. When she came here the first time, she was at the brink of death. We healed her."

At the thought of Anna near death, my gut twisted. "She nearly died trying to get refuge from her father. Helping her was the least anyone could do."

"And yet nobody else did it," the maiden said softly. "No one has ever breached our sanctuary before. She fell, a broken wolf who just wanted to die. We did not let her. We asked for nothing in return."

Her implication was clear. Anna trusted them. Anna was willing to die to protect them. She was loyal to someone. Just not me.

Except in the end, she had chosen to save me. It had almost cost Anna her life.

The maiden continued. "A week ago, I tried to warn her away. You know what she is, and you know how people could use her."

There it was again. That accusation that I knew Anna's deep dark secret.

"Why? You knew I was coming?"

"Not you, Black Diamond alpha. There are others coming, and soon, they will learn why Anna is so special." The mother smoothed a hand over Anna's forehead. My wolf growled, but the mother smiled. "We would never hurt her."

"Except that we did," the maiden said flatly as she stared at the crone. "After what we did to her, we owe her everything."

"And what did you do?"

"We sent her back to him," the mother said hoarsely. "We sent her back so she could meet her mate, knowing she might very well die before you came along, knowing full well that you might reject her."

Furiously, I stared at them. They knew the torture that Anna was in, the torture that she would endure, and they didn't say anything? "Why? Why would you put her through all that?"

The crone narrowed her eyes. "We did not. Most of that blame is on a dead man, and some of that blame is on you."

"For fuck's sake, why do you even care that we met?"

"Because, Jax Bishop, you will not survive without her."

At the rate we were going, she was the one who was going to get me killed. I stared at the three witches coolly. "Explain."

The crone's eyes blazed purple, and her head snapped back. "I see a darkness rising within the mountains, and it will consume all. The wolves will bind together, but it will matter none if the broken wolf does not find her shadow. Her gift will be his strength."

When she lifted her head, her eyes had returned to normal. I waited a beat, but only silence followed. "I was expecting a little bit more of a song and dance from a prophetic vision."

"You will respect our magic," the crone rumbled, and the house shook. That was more like it.

"Can you provide more details? What the darkness is? What I need strength for?"

"I do not know."

I stared at Anna again. "Well, she found me, assuming that I'm her shadow. So everything will be fine. I promised Anna her freedom. Will she be all right?"

The crone straightened. "Her freedom?"

"Her price for bringing me here. She gets to live her life as a rogue." My stomach twisted.

"Maybe she can stay here with you."

Away from whatever darkness was rising.

"You must keep her with you. Keep her safe. Use her."

"Use her?" I stared at the old witch. "Whose fucking side are you on?"

"Mine," The crone said flatly. "If you do not keep her, then we will all die."

The old witch and I glared at each other, and she smiled, revealing her chipped yellow teeth.

"I see the heart in you, Jax Bishop. You will not fail your pack. Your leadership will always come first."

She wasn't wrong. My pack had always come first, and if they were in danger, there was nothing that I would not do to protect them.

"She is one of mine. I made a promise."

"Is she?"

With a frown, I snapped my head up. "Is she what?"

"Enough," the mother snapped.

The crone just continued to grin wickedly. "I don't think it is. The man deserves to know. Surely, he's realized by now that his pack's bond to her is strange. One-sided. Same with his mating bond. He knows what she is. When will he learn that even wolf magic can't touch her?"

My blood ran cold, and I stared at Anna. I'd pushed all my alpha power into demanding she shift, and she'd resisted. I knew then that something was wrong. Then it was how she dispelled the traps. She couldn't have used witch magic to manipulate it. I hadn't wanted to think too hard about it. Hadn't wanted to know what it meant.

"It's not possible," I muttered. "You're wrong."

"The truth," the maiden interrupted while glaring at the old woman disapprovingly, "is that we do not know how it affects her and her wolf magic. The only nulls we've ever come across were witches. She is the first wolf shifter null."

Null. I knew the term. It popped into my head watching Anna slide through those traps after pretending to fiddle them. Magic didn't just slide off her. It died at her touch.

"You feel something for her. After shunning her for years and feeling disgusted that she is your mate, you've taken the chance and gotten to know her," the mother said as she stood. "Even if the mating bond does not touch her, as it touches you, you could find happiness with her. Keep her. Find out."

One witch with the bitterness, and the other with the sugar. Both of them were saying the same thing. Break my promise to her. Break my promise to my mate.

Was she my mate?

My heart thundered in my chest. "And you know nothing of the darkness?"

"It rises from black magic," a new voice said weakly. I turned just as Irene stumbled into the room. I was taken aback by her appearance. Her blonde hair, which normally glowed like moonlight, tangled dully down her back. She was dressed in the coven's robes and could barely hold herself up.

"Irene, what the fuck happened? What did you do to her?"

"It's not them." Irene shook her head. "They've been sheltering me while I recovered."

"Recovered from what? There are phones here. Why didn't you call?"

She looked down and took a deep breath. "Jax, I was kidnapped from my home."

The implications hit me hard. There was no way someone infiltrated my territory and then carried my witch out unnoticed. "I have a traitor among my pack."

Her eyes filled with tears. "I did not want to believe it, but I was carried out of my home unconscious. I woke up in a circle of six witches. They were absorbing my magic. That kind of ritual takes a blood sacrifice. It's the darkest of black magic. I managed to escape before it was complete. I came here."

"Strange that everyone comes here for sanctuary despite your reputation," I murmured.

The crone just grinned.

"I'm no good to you, Jax. I'm weary. My magic is depleted, and I do not know if the goddess will return it. I am sorry."

"It is not your fault. Magic or no magic, you are still part of my pack. I swore to protect you, and I failed in that. I'll understand if you do not want to return, but if you do, we will have you."

Smiling softly, Irene nodded. "Then I will return, temporarily. It will take some time for me to finish my projects and pack my things. I'll also help you find a new witch."

I had no intentions of finding a new witch. Irene was the best I'd ever seen. She would get her magic back. Of that, I had no doubt.

There was a groan, and the mother and maiden immediately slid off the bench as Anna stirred. "Fuck me," she grunted and put a hand to her head as she stood up. Upon seeing everyone in the room, she stilled and widened her eyes. "Oh."

"Welcome back," the maiden said happily. "How is your head?"

"In pain." Her eyes landed on me. A soft smile started on her face, but then she narrowed her eyes. "You know, don't you? Does he know?"

The room quieted, and my insides twisted as I watched her. A null. Magic died around her. It touched her and then simply turned to ash. Witch magic, but what of wolf magic? She could turn her back on pack magic, could resist it, but the mating bond? Could she really not feel it?

I would never be able to trust her. Never know what she was thinking or feeling. Never know if her words were genuine. I would feel everything for her, and she would feel nothing.

For a moment, it felt like everything had changed between us, but now, I realized nothing had. We were back to the very beginning. Distrust. Pain.

She was going to hate me for it, but the witches were right. My pack came first. Even though I was itching to let her go. Even though I had promised.

"Yes," I said flatly. "I know what you are."

The light dimmed from her eyes. "You're not going to let me go, are you?"

"No. I'm not. Apparently, there's a darkness brewing, and I'm going to be the one with a null by my side."