Chapter 1

Agatha

I had to flee my home. My father and Alpha Cassius and my mother and Luna Tabitha stayed behind with my brothers Jasper and Otis. They were fighting off the sorceress, who had been cursing many lands and enslaving them. The rumour of the witch had spread just as her dark energy had. Ophelia was coming for us all. She was cursing us all. There were no friends or foes. 

I wanted to be there fighting, but I was tasked with something else. Something greater. If only that were true. My mother did not trust me enough to let me help. I was a witch. The power that resided within me was what I believed in. I knew I could beat Ophelia if I tried hard, but my mother put a blocking shield on me. The same shield that was protecting my brother's mates and their children. We were all fleeing in opposite directions as precaution.

That's how I knew they needed me, but the spell my mother cast was too powerful for me to break. She took advantage and blindsided me. Now, my feet were complying, moving further away from the battle. If only she had agreed to us merging our powers. We would have ended the war, but my mother was against the suggestion. She was horrified and petrified at the idea. She made me promise never to speak of such words and never to even entertain the thought.

I didn't understand her harsh bashing. Her reaction was concerning. Witches can merge powers. We draw energy from anything. That's why there are covens. The more the merrier. I assumed that would please her, but it did not. I could never understand my mother. She turned into someone else, especially when it came to me and my magic. She was cruel at most. Especially to me, since I was the only child that inherited magic from her.

I was standing on the outskirts of the pack border in a cave when the blind spell she had cast on me faded. I knew the truth she had masked. She lied to me and twisted my premonition as just a dream. I saw this when I was but a small girl with little knowledge of my magic. She had told me not to fret about the horrid dream and erased the memory.

Blood! Blood is everywhere, searing the healthy soil. Flowing the land and filling to the streams of the connecting river.

Death! Bodies are piled high like the mountain. Scattered the once happy lands.

Screams! They are louder every passing time. Piercing into everyone's ears from afar. Even the strongest of foes must quiver at the sound.

Ash! It’s falling from the sky and onto the ground, scorching the land. Gone are the trees and fields. The once earthy and breezy place has decayed.

Darkness! The sun has not risen since the war started. All lands have been cursed. One can not tell whether it's night or day unless you tap into the source of the cause. The energy of the dark witch Ophelia and this was only the beginning.

"Agatha?" Liv looked at me. 

I look at her as the horror of the dream my mother lied to me about flashes again. Wind swirls at my feet. I am livid. I am scared. I am worried. Many are going to perish.

"What is she doing?" a warrior shouts.

"Stand back," Liv shouts.

I move out of the cave and stand outside. I stretch my hand on opposite sides, ignoring the murmurs. I'm trying to connect the surrounding energy. Searching for a fragment. I needed to see the battle.

"Stop the vision. Stop looking." My mother's warning voice rippled through my mind.

I did not heed her warning as I tried and pried my way through. My mother was powerful. She portrayed her lie as a healing witch well. Sometimes I wonder if my father knew her true power. She was in battle, and yet she could sense my energy and block me out. 

"Do not follow the string. Do not touch the connection, Agatha." she warned, but I still force my way around trying to see the battle.

I can reach it….

I can make it….

“Don’t!” 

She won’t….

“Berde infernus cantus exsolvo.”

I clasped my throat when the burning tugged. My grip on my throat tightened. I stopped trying to defy her warning. I had no choice. She broke the connection. I couldn't make a tiny sound, but I was in pain.

I hated the spell. It was terrible. The worst kind. I would never wish or dare cast this on anyone. It hurts at the same stop. Inside my throat, where the sound of my voice once lived. The pain ripples through my body until I stop all magic. Resisting only prolongs the pain. It makes my body shake vigorously and I go fetal. I never made a sound, but the pain was visible by my reaction.

“Always listen to me. It pains me to do this to you, Agatha.” her voice sounds sincere.

I hugged my body and closed my mind. She could easily force her way back in, but she let me be. She let me relish the consequences of my action. Her way of showing her maternal instincts. Smothering my powers.

“Agatha,” a small voice called to me. I could hear the footsteps, “Agatha. T-the tracker and warriors want to know if we should continue.”

I got up from my position and shook off the leaves on my cloak. I opened the link to communication. I could only talk to one person at a time with the link. I was believed to be mute, but I knew the cause. My mother. She cast a spell that blocked my speech. 

"Have you heard any word from the other warriors?" I ask.

“Nothing yet. There seemed to be something blocking us from mind-linking.”

"I know this is for our safety, but I can’t help but worry." I sigh. 

"I am worried too," Liv looked down.

"You mentioned the warriors and tracker? Why one did we not send more?"

"We did."

I closed my eyes, trying to use my magic before going to see the men I sent out to search the lands for a safer path. The more my mind searched and tried to grasp, the more the void. Whatever they had seen was blocking my vision. Or my mother was behind it.

I walked as Liv followed me back into the cave. My mother had tasked me with keeping the pack elders safe. This was something the greater she had in mind for me. I was to learn patience from them but all I have been getting is judgement. I might be an Alpha's daughter, but having no wolf made them resent me. It made me look weak. My gut always goes to blame my mother for my lack of wolf. I fear she did something to my wolf because Jasper and Otis had wolves. 

"When are you going to let us out to see the sun?" Elder Nehra asked.

"Tell him to stop asking about the sun or else I will blind him." I hissed the message to Liv.

"We are in the middle of a war, Elder Nehra. The sun has not risen for many nights in some lands." Liv bowed at the elder and ran to keep up, as I never stopped. "Forgive me. I could not repeat your words."

I did not respond as I walked out of the cave again and into the open land. They judge me for lacking a wolf and yet depend on my magic. I would have loved to bring the sun back, but I couldn't. I had tried and failed. My mother can light a simple torch with a wave or flick. Everything I do will always be compared to her. It enraged me. I wish my body would combust to flames, but I couldn't do anything of that sort. My magic was laughable at most sometimes.

The surrounding air had gotten thicker and misty. My heart thumped as I stopped moving. I was thrashed into a vision without warning. A string of the connection is what I think all the searching and tapping left from earlier. I really wish I had some way of preparing for what I see. 

NO!

I couldn't reach my magic. I couldn't move. I couldn't warn anyone. Tears slipped out of my eye as I stood. There were no screams. No one saw it coming, but I could see it. This force was eerie. This was a fragment of the darkness I felt before the war began. I closed my eyes and tried to find the source in my gut and failed. I did nothing but stand.

Jasper's mate Avery, my nephew Arne and niece Gertrude, were dead. They stood no chance as the wolves pounced on them and the warriors that were protecting them. Another stab pierced my heart before I could mourn their loss. Otis's mate Sonja's vision blinded my eyes. She was wailing and crouching down, holding my nephews in her arms.

Ambrose. Ande.

I reached my hand wanting to shield them but wolves more feral attacked them and left nothing but blood. I couldn't see anything. My mouth opened to scream, but I could not. I was powerless and feeling limp. I wondered if my brothers felt their bonds severed. My knees gave out in agony as I clutched the ground. Silent tears falling on the ground.

I did not understand what was happening because my body turned. I gripped my head before convulsing to the ground. Whatever was happening made everyone in the cave surround me. I wasn't making a sound because the pain was immense. Something inside me wanted an escape. I felt the power. The energy. The combination was both painful and exhilarating.

My body hurts. I could feel every bone in my body breaking, but this was not possible. I had no wolf. Noone felt my wolf or sensed one all these years. I was shifting, but my body was not changing. Just body breaking and snapping back into place. No fur. There was no canine that was protruding. No claws. I had seen my share of shifts. They are not like this. All my body seemed to do was break and reform a dozen times. 

All I could picture was my father and how he always guided my brothers during their shifts. I did not understand what was happening until after a long period of pain. I was crouched on the ground naked before I heard a howl. The sound was loud and familiar. I jerked my body up and looked around and saw everyone staring at me. Stunned.

"Bow to the Alpha," Elder Nehra went on his knees, and so did everyone.

I think I was still confused about bowing as I looked at the wolf. The wolf had no full form and looked more like a blurry vision. It was there but also not there. Its color was ice blue, but when it turned, it looked white. I had to blink again and stared to make sure I saw it. The wolf moved to me and nuzzled its snout at me. I reached my hand hesitantly to touch the spirit-like wolf form. The moment my hand reached the fur, the wolf disappeared. 

I looked around, searching for the wolf, but loud voices were in my head. I think I could hear my own thoughts speaking to me. Voices of the people in front of me. I could hear things that were far. The small ant's movement was loud in my head. I felt my body burning and dizzy. I did not understand what was happening. It was too much and overwhelmed me.

I closed my eyes and shut out all the noise and clutched the ground again. The magic was coursing through me, and I was taken to a vision that rendered me powerless. The Red Flames Pack had fallen. My home was lifeless. I pulled my hand and opened my eyes.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING?"

I could see the cowering faces of everyone. 

"We did not foresee this happening," Elder Nehra hesitantly spoke, his neck barred at me in submission.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"

They barred their neck lower. I looked at Liv, who was also doing the same. I frowned before Elder Hiranya stood, but his neck was still barred.

It's you. It's you. A voice echoed in my head.

"STOP TALKING!"

It's you, Agatha. It's you. The voice repeated. I looked around, searching. 

"Alpha," Elder Hiranya began, and I took a step back, "the war is not lost. I believe you can lead us to victory." I observed him.

"My alpha," Elder Nehra stood.

"STOP!"

The growl in the link makes them all bow lower. Some have their noses to the ground. I closed my eyes and searched for something other than the painful reality. I denied the obvious feeling. My father, mother and brothers were killed. Everyone was dead. I was the only one left alive by blood to be the alpha of Red Flames. The people in front of me were what is left of a once powerful pack in the East.

I didn't have time to process anything because an arrow pierced through my heart. It could have been my grief imagining such a painful blow. I could not confirm as black dots formed in my vision. All I heard were howls before my body went to the ground.