CHAPTER THREE: YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!.

SYLLA

I walk slowly down the road with no particular destination in mind. I just know that anywhere that is not the palace is a good option.

I look around the streets of Night Claw pack as I make my way down the dusty road, my mind wandering off to a completely different direction.

I'm alive!

It's been hours and somehow I still have trouble believing it. It's like all this is part of a big dream. A dream that will end and I'll find out that I am truly dead.

Subconsciously, I raise my hand to my stomach and the memory of my baby comes back to me instantly. I recall how happy I was when I found that I was pregnant. Even Noah seemed a bit pleased when I told him I was carrying his pup. He didn't miraculously fall in love with me or start treating me any better, but he stopped ignoring me as well.

But then he went ahead and killed said baby the first chance he got, without even stopping to think what the truth might be.

My phone rings, interrupting my train of thoughts. I pull it out of my purse and sigh when I see it's Mom calling.

“Sylla where are you?" She yells the instant I answer the call. “Emma and your father have been looking everywhere for you. The ceremony is about to start and everyone is already here."

“I told you Mom. I do not want to attend the ceremony. I do not want a mate."

She sighs exhaustedly. “Sylla, how could you not want a mate? You know as well as I do that finding your mate is the only way to unleashing the true potentials of your magic…."

“And I can finally find my birth mother," I finish, because she's said that to me over a hundred times since I became of age. “Mom bonding with a mate is not the only way I can locate my real mother. But I do not want a mate.”

Back then, Mom had said the same thing to me. I had to bond with my mate in order to be able to find my birth mother. But in a world where witches are being hunted and killed, I had no intention of finding a mother of that species. I was satisfied with my wolf power and cared less about the witch side of me.

This time I am going to find my mother and I am going to do that all on my own.

“Goodbye Mon. Tell Dad not to worry about me " I hang up before she can lecture me.

As I make my way down the streets, the sound of screaming reaches my ears and I come to an instant halt. There, a few distance from me is a woman surrounded by several men. She's holding her daughter in her arms protectively while the men hit her with sticks.

“You witch! You deserve to burn!" One of the men screams.

I take hold of my dress and rush to the scene. " Stop it!”

They all pause and slowly turn around to look at me. The hatred in their eyes is so palpable that I can feel it from here.

" Stop hitting her,” I repeat. " Can't you see she's holding a child? Are you trying to kill her?”

" She's a witch!” Another man yells, pushing his friends out of the way so he can stand face to face with me. The anger and hatred in his eyes sends chills down my spine. " She killed my brother with her black magic. Her and her child deserve to be burnt alive as is the punishment for being a witch.”

And, welcome to Night Claw pack, where just carrying a hint of witch bloodline is considered a taboo, talk less of being one yourself. They say the punishment for being a witch is burning alive, as if people decide to be witches.

“Please help me young Miss," the woman calls out, clutching her baby tighter to her chest. Her entire body is shaking and her voice is frail and painful. “I swear I didn't kill anybody. I just stepped inside and met him lying there.”

"”You will not lay a finger on her!" I tell them.

The angry man who I assume is the woman's husband steps forward and stares me down. " You might be the Gamma's daughter, but I do not listen to you when it comes to my family issues.”

“She's a murderer! She deserves to die!" A third man shouts.

“Look at what she did to my brother!" The husband yells, pointing to the corpse lying on his veranda.

Curious, I walk over to the corpse and stoop to examine it. I run my eyes through the body and gasp when I see it. A skeleton skull sign burned into the left side of the man's neck. The same mark that was on Rowan's body in my past life. That means whoever was responsible, Rowan wasn't his first victim.

But why would they blame it on this witch and why did they blame Rowan's death on me?

Unless…

A sharp cry of agony and the wailing of a baby has me taking my head out of my thoughts and back to the scene at hand.

“What are you doing?" I rush back to the men. The father has the baby in the air and a knife in his hand. " You can't do that! Murder is against the pack laws.”

The men exchange glances before bursting into a loud mocking laughter.

The first man shakes his head and sighs. " For a Gamma's daughter, you sure are clueless. If the Alpha finds out we killed this witch, we'll be handsomely rewarded."

“Why don't you take the matter to the Alpha then?" I suggest, trying to buy the woman some time.

“I'll handle her myself!" The husband growls, raising a hand and the woman flinches.

“Stop!"

I feel my blood run dry in my veins at the very familiar voice. I turn around and surely, Noah Sterling is standing a few feet from us, hands shoved in his pocket and expression blank.

You have got to be kidding me!