THE BOOK

MAYA

A part of me wanted to stop the visit to the Black Magic man, but the other part of me desperately wanted it to happen. I needed to know what powers I possessed. I knew deep down that I was a reincarnated spirit. I could feel the raw, ancient energy humming beneath my skin every time the walls vibrated or the portrait shifted, but I didn't know how to control or use those powers. If I was ever going to protect my baby and reclaim my life, I had to understand the force inside me.

Earlier that morning, I walked back to Maria's room and announced Alpha Edward's decision to visit the Black Magic Seer today.

The moment the words left my mouth, Maria’s eyes flashed with frustration, and she immediately cancelled her own trip.

"I will go when he returns," she murmured under her breath, turning her back to me.

She thought I didn't hear her, but I heard every single word. I also understood completely why she wanted to go alone. She had a lot of evil to plan, and she had committed so much evil in the past. Maria was the one who killed Philomena, and she desperately needed to be alone with the Black Magic man just in case he saw her deadly secrets in a vision. She couldn't risk Edward or me standing beside her when her crimes were brought to light.

I went back to the master suite and got dressed, pulling on a grand, heavy ball gown laced with dark velvet. But just as I finished adjusting my hair, Alpha Edward called me over to the bed. He was fully dressed in his royal tunic, but his hands were already restless in the dark.

"Maya," he rumbled, his voice thick with sudden desire. "Before we leave... I need you."

He wanted just a quickie.

I didn't argue. I walked over to the side of the bed, raised my heavy ball gown up over my waist, and bent a little over the edge of the mattress. Edward didn't waste a second. He moved up behind me, his large hands gripping my hips tightly, and guided his thick shaft straight into my vagina hole from behind. He thrust into me with deep, powerful drives that made the heavy bed frame creak. It was quick, lasting only a few breathless minutes, but it was filled with endless, intense pleasure that left my core throbbing and my breath ragged against the sheets.

About two hours later, our royal carriage pulled up to the edge of the jagged northern crags.

The air here was thick, cold, and smelled of sulfur and old blood. The guards stayed back, terrified of the dark energy surrounding the wooden shrine. I gently took Edward's arm, guiding his blind steps up the stone pathway toward the low wooden hut.

Inside, the shrine was lit only by red candles burning in skull-shaped clay pots. Sitting cross-legged on a raised stone platform was the Black Magic Seer. He was a tall, huge black man with dark skin that looked like polished obsidian, covered in ancient ritual tattoos. His broad chest was bare, and his dark eyes held an intense, terrifying intelligence.

The very moment he saw us step over the threshold, before either of us could open our mouths, the huge man let out a deep, booming laugh that echoed off the stone walls.

"Two souls tied cannot be separated, even after a million deaths," the seer said, his voice deep as an earthquake. He looked straight at me, his eyes piercing right through my skin to the soul inside. "This is the fifth life with this man, Maya... and you had better get it right this time."

He smiled, a row of sharp, white teeth flashing in the red candlelight.

My heart stopped dead in my chest. The fifth life?

Before I could process his words, Edward cut in, his hands clenching into tight fists at his sides.

"We are not here for love and marriage!" Alpha Edward snapped, his voice echoing with cold, Alpha authority. "I went mysteriously blind overnight, and I need to know how to fix it!"

He cut off the seer’s talk about our love completely, his mind focused strictly on his lost vision. But I couldn't focus on Edward's anger. I was trapped deep in thought, my mind spinning violently around the seer's words. A fifth life? I had spent four entire lifetimes loving, bleeding, and dying beside Alpha Edward?

The Black Magic Seer didn't take offense to Edward's harsh tone. He simply reached behind his stone altar and pulled out a heavy, dust-covered book bound in dark, scaly leather. He held it out toward us.

I stepped forward and took the heavy tome into my hands.

"Read this book," the seer instructed smoothly, looking into my eyes. "The solution you seek and all the help you need are there in the book."

I quickly unclasped the brass lock and flipped the thick parchment pages open under the candlelight. My eyes darted across the faded black ink, but my stomach dropped. The characters were intricate, sweeping loops and strokes.

"It is written in Arabic, and I cannot understand it," I said, shaking my head in frustration as I looked up at the giant man.

"Read it with your spiritual eyes," the seer replied calmly, his voice echoing like a command. "Your wolf mind does not know the script, but the soul inside you wrote those very words two lifetimes ago."

Edward stepped closer, his patience completely wearing thin. "What about my sight?!" he demanded angrily, his blind eyes glaring into the empty air toward the seer's voice. "Who did this to me?!"

The Black Magic Seer leaned back against his altar, resting his large arms on his knees.

"About your sight," the seer said coldly, "only the person that made you blind can heal you."

"WHO MADE ME BLIND?!" Edward bellowed, his Alpha aura flaring so violently that the red candle flames flickered and nearly died out. At this time, he was fuming with pure, unbridled anger, his veins bulging against his neck.

The seer didn't flinch. He looked past Edward and stared directly into my eyes, his tone dropping into a grave, ominous whisper.

"The same woman who defeated you two in your fourth life," the seer revealed softly. "Make sure you defeat her in this fifth life, or she will bury you both in the same grave once again."

Alpha Edward snapped. He roared in frustration, striking his fist against the wooden doorframe of the shrine.

"Nonsense! Riddles and useless ancient folklore!" Edward spat out, his voice dripping with rage. "You know nothing!"

He reached out blindly, grabbing my wrist in a crushing grip, and pulled me toward the exit.

"There are many seers in these lands!" Alpha Edward shouted as we marched back toward the carriage in the freezing wind. "I will try another one tomorrow!"

As the carriage doors slammed shut, I sat in the dim interior, clutching the heavy Arabic book tightly against my chest. Edward sat opposite me, breathing heavily, cursing the seer under his breath. But I didn't hear a single word he said.

I looked down at the dark leather cover in my lap, feeling a strange, familiar heat radiating from the pages straight into my fingertips. The battle had already begun, and for the first time in five lifetimes, I finally held the key to our survival.