Chapter One

"Adyen, you can't just up and leave like this. The pack still needs you. The coven needs you. Atlas told you not to go on this wild goose chase. It's been twenty years, whatever happened to his magic, it's gone, and he has accepted that fate. Please, just come home."

I sighed as I listened to my mother's voicemail before shutting the phone down and tossing it into the nearest trash bin. The rain was overflowing the bin, immediately soaking the phone as it landed in a discarded cup filled with the cool summer rain. They might still be able to track me to this point, but that was as far as they would find any trace of me.

You'd think she would understand. He is her twin brother, after all. She has to sense how empty he feels without his magic. She has to know that it's a facade he puts on when he claims he accepted his life without magic. He can't have her fooled. He certainly doesn't fool me.

I walk towards the alleyway that the humans seem to subconsciously avoid, unaware as to why they might be drawn away from the dimly lit path or that it even exists after all as they rush by in a sudden hurry to get wherever it is they are going.

I knew what was there though, and if the tip I received was worth its price, I would find exactly who I was looking for and be that much closer to getting back Atlas's stolen magic.

"Rory, this way."

I turned to the sound of the all to familiar voice, my blood running cold at the sound, even as my heart quickened as the scent of pomegranates and honey enveloped my lungs and washed away the scent of the rain and must of the alley. I turned to see the flash of lightning illuminating the silhouette of the very woman I knew it would be. Her golden-brown hair was darker in color from the rain falling over her head.

Her blue eyes widened as she faced me as well, the word on both of our lips before either of us knew what we were saying, and both of us immediately wishing to take the word back.

"Mate."

"What did you just say, Sasha?" a second familiar female voice gasped from behind Sasha.

I managed to pull my eyes from the equally shocked woman in front of me to see her cousin Aurora Rigel-Chios standing behind her, her fiery red hair dry as the large man beside her held his coat protectively over her.

I scoffed as I recognized him and rolled my eyes. "I always had a feeling you two would end up together. Baer always did follow you around like a damned lost puppy, Aurora."

Baer growled as Aurora stepped closer to Sasha, ignoring me. "Sasha, what did you just say?"

I looked back at my mate, my eyes narrowing at her as she glared back at me. "The Fates are playing a joke. There is no fucking way that I'll accept you as my mate, Ayden Fairchild."

"You think this is my idea of a great match, Rigel?" I snorted. "Go back home, I won't be following you."

I turned to head back down the alley, sensing the presence of dark magic, its stench thick in the air of the alley.

"Oh no you don't! We are here on pack business. You get lost!" Sasha snapped. She grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back to face her again.

I locked eyes with her, the pull of this damned bond pounding against the shields I instinctively put up. I could feel my wolf longing to pull her into my arms and claim what the fates had given to us. The gift of true love. At least, that was how my wolf saw it.

I knew better.

"I highly doubt the Rigel Pack has any business here at all," I said as I pulled my eyes free of her blue eyes and locked with the other pair of eyes in their group. "But the Crete Witches, that would have been a far more believable lie."

Baer stepped between me and Aurora, his deep growl holding a challenge that my wolf was more than happy to rise to if not for the more pressing matter at hand.

‘That's enough,'I said to my wolf. ‘The witch could get away, and Uncle Atlas may never get another chance to be whole again.'

‘Mate,'he growled at me.

‘Destined enemy,'I retorted, reminding him of why it was impossible for her and me to ever be true mates. That this was surely a mistake on The Fate's end.

I pulled free of Sasha's grip and turned back towards the dark alley as she sputtered for some command to stop me. She never had liked that I never fell for her false sense of authority just because her family founded the school that taught and housed so many witches and shifters, me included.

Everyone had always treated her like a princess, all except for me, my little cousin, and anyone else who came from our pack and coven. Even Baer fell into treating the Rigel pack's daughter like some false royal amongst hybrids, though I was sure it was simply to keep Aurora happy and out of the crossfires between himself and Sasha. They were both alphas, after all.

A sudden dark scent swept through the alley, the darkness unmistakable and silencing us all in our place. Instinctively, I grabbed Sasha and threw her back against the nearest wall, my body shielding her from the dark magic that scorched through the alleyway. I glanced with a hiss over my shoulder to see Baer in the same position with Aurora as the darkness faded back.

"Sasha!" Aurora called out from against her mate's chest. "It's her! That's Minerva! The one our parents have been searching for! She's getting away!"

We both turned to the retreating form. It was the same witch I had been searching for. The one that Atlas had described as interfering with his trials to gain back his magic. The one who tricked him twenty years ago.

Sasha shoved my chest, knocking me off balance for a moment from the unsuspected move. She and the others race down the alley after the witch as I reclaimed my balance and quickly caught up to them.

"Back off, Fairchild! If you get in our way we won't hesitate to take you out." Sasha growled at me as I overtook her.

I smirked at the very idea. The only one amongst them who could take me on was Baer, and even he would have trouble one on one. The other two would only slow him down, just like they always did when we were in school, like when they were fighting for the top rank in every class. Yet another reason why the Rigel princess disliked me.

The witch threw back another spell, aimed directly for Sasha. I reached out, grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the line of fire, ignoring her growls of protest.

"How about you worry less about me and more about the witch, or do you enjoy being a liability?"

"Who the hell are you calling a liability?" She demanded as the witch threw yet another spell aimed directly at her.

I spun us both around, my back hitting against the stone walls hard just as the witch threw out a potion of dark smoke.

"Shit," I growled, recognizing the bottled spell.

"Sasha! She's going to disappear!" Aurora called out; her eyes widened with fear at the prospect of the witch getting away.

Sasha shoved me again to get away, running towards the dark smoke. I didn't bother. My fists clenched to my side as I ground my teeth in anger.

There was no point in running after her anymore. Her scent was gone, and so was the witch. Like the very wild goose my mother always called her.

"Well, this is just great," I mumbled to myself. "Fuck, I was so close."

Baer looked over at me, his head tilted. "Why were you after the witch? What exactly were you expecting to get from her?"

I scoffed. "As if I'd tell you. The better question here is, why the hell are you three after her?" I glared at Sasha then. "What possible reason could you want to find a dark witch like that?"

My eyes narrowed with suspicion at my supposed mate. Her family was always so secretive. It was a quality that my mother grew to dislike, especially after my family offered so much of our own knowledge in a show of friendship. They never paid it back.

Uncle Atlas never trusted them. It was why he only taught the basics of his magic to the school. It was only to our pack and coven members that he taught the full knowledge of the magic. And for that, I had always admired him.

"I think it's far more suspicious to find you out here searching for her. After all, your family has a history with dark witches in your lineage." Sasha said with a growl.

It was the only thing she had on me. My lineage. The history of my family and the curse that bound my grandparents together. Luckily, it was the only dark ancestor of mine that she was aware of. The other, more powerful, dark ancestor had been agreed, by the coven, to be kept a secret. Though my mother had been tempted to share with the Crete witches, after they proved to have no interest in exchanging information, she soon changed her mind.

"If you want to bring up one half of my family tree, you could at least acknowledge the other side," I said coolly. "My family has more of a history with breaking dark magic. Whereas yours seems to enjoy hording all information on the subject."

I turned my back on her before she could respond. I cursed The Fates for their rotten sense of humor as she mumbled curses of her own behind me.

The alley's dim light flickered above a door in the shadows. The scent of darkness and decay permeating the surrounding air. The very shop of horrors I had suspected to find the witch, now my only lead as to where she could have disappeared to.

I could hear the others behind me, clearly with the same idea in mind.

We all entered the store with a light bell, the sound completely out of place for the dark and decrepit building. The scent of the nervous clerk gave away what he was, his eyes shifting between each of us and the door to the back of the store.

I nodded to Baer to go towards the spot, deciding that if they were there, I may as well use it to my advantage. The last thing we needed was a flighty vampire taking all the answers into the dark of night.

"Hello there," I said with a grin. "I think you know exactly why I'm here. So, why don't we skip the formalities and just get right down to it. Shall we?"