Chapter 19

Rowan's pov

The day had started, whispers of the witch all over the pack, Thessaly had tried her best not to let me hear, but she can only prevent so much.

It was the only thing on everyone's lips, they had seen the witch before, she had come to try and break the Alpha’s curse, she had failed.

Some say she only honored the call to prove herself, to show though she may not be able to break the curse, she can provide answers nobody else can, to prove she is still the greatest witch alive.

"Don't think too much" Thessaly tells me, she takes the herb from my fingers and put it in the herb basket.

Thessaly had suggested picking herbs to calm our minds, Perrie had surprisingly insistedon accompanying us.

"It's not good for the baby Row, just breathe in fresh air and try to relax" Perrie advises.

Thessaly shoots her an irritated look which she doesn't catch

Thessaly didn't want Perrie to come, I literally had to beg her and then I had to beg her to play nice.

"I'm fine actually " I lie. "I have accepted the fact that it's happening no matter what"

That at least is true, I have accepted being the science experiment of the Alpha and Elders.

I stand, "I'll meet both of you at the pack house, I'd like to walk alone and keep the herbs at the herbshed"

Perrie opens he mouth to protest but a look for Thessaly silences her.

They nod, Thessaly giving me a tight hug, I hug her back.

They make their way to the pack house and I make my way to the herbshed.

The horns echoed over the hills just as I stepped into the training grounds, a basket of herbs cradled in my arms. They vibrated through my bones, low and ancient, like something that had called creatures from the deep long before the packs even had names. I froze.

“The witch is here,” someone whispered nearby, barely audible over the shift in the wind. I didn’t need to be told. I could feel it.

The air changed,turned thick and heavy, like breathing through cloth soaked in ice water. Wolves emerged from houses, some still in work clothes, others already dressed in ceremonial garb for tomorrow’s ritual. They gathered in silence, a sea of wary faces and uncertain stances, drawn together by the pull of something unspoken. Something old.

I dropped the basket by the herbshed, my feet moving of their own accord. I should’ve gone back inside, should've made my way to the pack house, thats what Thessaly would want, but my feet didn’t listen.

I joined the growing crowd on the main road just as the first guards arrived, flanking the clearing with spears tipped in silver. Then Alpha Kael stepped forward. He was dressed in his formal leathers, his hair tied back with a silver clasp, every inch the ruler he was born to be. The Elders moved to his side in a perfect line, long robes trailing behind them like shadows.

And then she arrived.

She didn’t ride a horse. She didn’t walk. She glided.

Behind her were three girls, all dressed in black and stony expressions on their faces, they carried what I assume to be the witch’s belongings.

A long, black cloak covered her from head to toe, the hem brushing the ground without stirring the dust. Her face was hidden beneath a hood lined with silver runes that shimmered faintly with every step she took. When she stopped before the Alpha, the wind shifted again, blowing her hood back slowly, as if the world itself had been holding its breath.

I felt like someone had punched through my chest.

Her hair was silver,not white, not gray, but silver, like forged moonlight. Long strands twisted like living threads down her back, glinting even in the fading light. Her skin was pale, porcelain perfect, and stretched across high cheekbones that made her look carved rather than born. Her eyes,gods, her eyes,were a deep violet ringed in black, ancient and knowing, as if she could see every part of you at once. They swept over the crowd like a blade.

And when they met mine,just for a moment,it felt like being plunged into ice.

The feeling in my chest flared like fire meeting oil. I pressed a hand over my heart, stumbling back a step. Something inside me recoiled from her. Not out of fear, exactly. It was something deeper. Like recognition. Like warning.

The witch’s lips curved slightly. Not quite a smile,more like amusement. And then she turned back to Alpha Kael.

“You summoned me,” she said. Her voice was smooth as velvet, but there was steel underneath. “I came.”

Alpha Kael inclined his head. “You honor us, Lady Elvira.”

She tilted her head. “Honor. Hmm. We shall see.”

There was something unsettling in the way she spoke, like she was always half a step ahead in a game only she knew the rules to.

The Elders began their formal greetings, but I couldn’t focus. My blood was humming, my skin crawling with the weight of something unseen. The feeling worsened with every passing second she stood there. My breath came shallow. My wolf was restless,pacing, growling low in my mind.

She knows, I can feel it, she knows there's something in me I can't explain.

I didn’t know where the thought came from, but it planted itself in my head like a poisonous seed.

Lady Elvira was escorted to the pack house,the alpha and Elders followed behind her, a meeting is about to be had.

The whispers that erupt immediately they leave is almost deafening, I make my way slowly out of the crowd, an headache forming.

That night, the halls were too quiet. Most of the pack had retreated to their homes, but a few warriors remained posted near the pack house in case the witch......well, no one finished that sentence aloud.

I stayed in my room for hours, too anxious to eat, too wound up to rest,Thessaly had offered to stay the night but i had been forbidden visitors until the witch left.

Eventually, hunger won. I padded downstairs barefoot, hoping the kitchen would be empty. It was past midnight.

It wasn’t.

She stood by the hearth, completely at ease, fingers wrapped around a steaming mug. I froze in the doorway.

Lady Elvira looked up without surprise, as if she’d been expecting me. “Rowan,” she said softly.

Hearing my name in her voice made my stomach twist. “You know my name"

She didn’t move. “Of course I do, i know who you are.”

I walked to the counter slowly, pretending to busy myself with bread and herbs, though my hands trembled. I could feel her gaze on me like a second skin.

“You’re not what you seem,” she murmured after a pause.

I ignore her, this woman might end my life tomorrow, the last thing I want is a conversation with her.

She took a slow sip. “You hide it well. But it seeps through your pores. I can smell the black magic on you.”

I dropped the knife I was holding. It clattered against the stone floor like a gunshot.

“I don’t—” I started, but she raised a hand.

“Don’t lie. Not to me.”

My throat dried, the question that has been eating me up for days. What if I have black magic in me?

She approached slowly, one graceful step at a time. “There’s something inside you. Ancient. Tethered. You carry it like a wound that never healed.”

My wolf growled in warning, but I couldn’t speak, not even if I tried.

Lady Elvira leans in close, so close I could see the tiny silver threads woven into her pupils. “And you carry something else, don’t you?” Her lips parted in something like delight. “Life. The Alpha’s, if I’m not mistaken.”

I staggered back, spine hitting the counter.

“You reek of him,” she added casually. “And of fate. I detest fate.”

“What do you want from me?” I whispered.

She smiled. “Want? Oh, little spark. I only want what I promised. Balance. Answers. Blood.”

She turned and walked away as if we’d just discussed the weather.

At the door, she paused. “Sleep well, Rowan. You’ll need your strength.”

The door clicked shut behind her.

I sank to the floor, breath shallow, hand over my stomach. My mind was spinning. The baby. The magic. The witch.

She knew.

And tomorrow, everything would change.