Chapter 3

Lisa

Power cracked through the air, the kind the coven carried no matter if they tried. All those witches in one place was impossible to ignore.

The hair on my arm stood at attention, the sweet scent of citrusy pine filling my nose and making Lucille stir. She was immediately alert in my mind as she searched the crowd for where the scent had come from.

The coven poured in, blending in with the thousands of wolves as my eyes bounced between everyone in the crowd. But I couldn’t pinpoint where the smell was coming from with everyone so close together and all the scents mingling.

Lucille yipped inside my mind, her excitement hard to contain in this moment, making my hands shake slightly. Lacey began to speak, starting the party off.

She spoke of the peaceful period we had entered. She spoke of our plans to counter rebel attacks and our plans to show them the council ruling is to help them and not control them.

I couldn’t focus on her words. I couldn’t sit still in my chair either, Lucille pushing me to stand to enter the crowd and find whoever it was who smelled so fucking good.

“Mate,” she insisted, making me pause, sucking in a breath of air. It wasn’t likely. It was becoming incredibly rare to find your fated mate. Our numbers had dwindled so greatly, most people over the last few years have taken chosen mates when they hit their mid twenties, accepting that their fated was probably already dead.

“No, I know it’s our mate!” Lucille insisted, pushing me harder. A small sigh escaped my lips and drew Sydney’s attention. She gave me a look, a mixture of concern and confusion as my breaths quickened, puffing out of me, my heart beating quickly against my ribs.

Sydney’s hand landed comfortingly on my arm as I fought to contain Lucille’s excitement and reason with her about the true likelihood of what she thought was happening. “We didn’t feel it when we first walked out and the wolves were here,” I reasoned, trying to get her to calm down and not make a scene in front of everyone when they already thought of me as unstable.

“Maybe he arrived late, or there is something hiding in his scent, I don’t know, maybe he had it blocked or something for such a big event, there’s endless possibilities, Lisa, but I am not wrong. Our mate is here.”

I sighed inwardly, looking helplessly at Sydney. “Are you okay?” she asked in a muted whisper. I just nodded, trying to replant my rehearsed smile onto my face.

“I’m okay. Lucille is on one. I’ll be fine as soon as Lacey wraps this up and I can get a damn drink. You’re right, I’m letting loose tonight. Clearly Lucille needs it too. She’s wound so tight she’s losing it.”

Lucille growled in my mind at those words. “No, you’re wound so tight you don’t even trust your wolf to recognize your fated mate, but you’re right about letting loose. Then you won’t be able to ignore the pull you’re convincing yourself you don’t feel, and you will not be able to fight my instincts and lead us straight to our mate.”

I sighed, choosing to ignore her. Arguing wasn’t going to do any good, and honestly it wasn’t fair to her. Of course she dreamed of finding our fated. It’s not likely we would find a chosen. I never chose to build that kind of relationship, insisting on focusing on my future and career until we found our mate. I didn’t know then that it would become increasingly rare to find them.

“All the more reason to be ecstatic and act now, because I’m telling you ours is here right now and this could be our only chance, Lisa.” I groaned, leaning a little more into Sydney’s hand, letting her contact ground me, refusing to let the darkness creep forward with my frustration. Lucille sighed. “I get it. You believe it’s too good to be true, but I’m telling you I’m not wrong. But I will rest for now, just until Lacey finishes speaking, to not push you when you are already struggling to be in front of such a large crowd.” Lucille conceded, shrinking in my mind, guilt tugged at my heart.

I knew she wasn’t trying to make things harder for us, that she wasn’t just listening to her instincts, which is exactly what she was supposed to do. Even if she was right, though, what mate would want us, the corrupted girl the darkness lives within, but not the one who saved the world, ended the war, and finally brought peace, just the one who stood by her.

I felt tears push against the back of my eyes, the darkness slowly creeping forward as my thoughts opened the gate. That is how it happened every time. When my thoughts went down that path, it made it easy for the darkness to flood in.

I took a deep breath, shoving it all away and keeping the fake smile painted on my face as Lacey finished speaking. Claps rang out, and I joined in celebrating my best friend’s success, even though it hurt a little.

Lacey looked to the elders as usual once her speech was finished. “Anything else?” she asked, stepping toward the table to give them center stage. “A few things, actually. We wanted to discuss the rebels’ most recent attacks, and many have brought us their concerns about our shrinking numbers and the decline in the young adults finding their mates. We will touch that topic as well, but first why doesn’t everyone eat, drink, and have a good time, and we can do all that serious stuff in the morning.”

An elder woman spoke. Something about her eyes rubbed me the wrong way, like there were secrets hiding right behind them in her mind, but I shoved that thought away, aware many people probably had that same thought about me.

I groaned inwardly, realizing this would be a two day event. As I exited the stage, the crowd swarmed forward with a million questions for Lacey and the elders, but I took my chance to disappear in the crowd, practically sprinting for the drink table as Lucille whined again in my mind, surging forward. True to her word, she waited until we were off the stage, so I didn’t complain as she insisted I look through the crowd. My eyes were drawn to the corner of the garden near the woods.