Chapter Thirteen

Brax POV

When I left the shop I saw a car at the front, and by the door was Kai. Her brothers weren’t there for a change, something I hadn’t expected.

By the time I get back to my pack it’s late. My father looks at me the moment I walk in.

“You reek of full bloods.”

Yeah, I know. “I told you, the best person for the tattoo is a full wolf,” I say with a shrug.

“Alpha Julius daughter, right?”

Nodding I sit down. “Yeah, you’re right.”

He hums. “Didn’t expect him to be the type to let his daughter do such a job, I figured she would be getting trained to be a Luna, to marry a Alpha.”

He’s not entirely wrong. “What do you know about the family and pack?”

“Not much, just what I’ve heard. They are close to the Blackmoor pack, always have been, but the Alpha of Blackmoor pack refused to make an official alliance with them.”

“Why?” It makes no sense and now Kai has agreed? Or his father has?

“Who knows? The point is, Alpha Jacub of the Blackmoor pack refused to make an alliance, sure they were close, but something always stopped him.”

“Well that’s ended now,” I mutter. “Kai is about to take over and from what I heard, Raine, Julius’ daughter is set to marry him.”

He laughs. “Of course she is.”

The door slams open and I look up to see one of the higher betas stepping in. “Sir, the subject has died.”

My father sighs. “How?”

“We’re not entirely sure, we’re going to run through everything we did again and see if we can find the turning point.”

“That’s four, in a month.” He rubs his face.

“Maybe we should forget this. It’s getting harder to find witches.”

“Don’t be foolish, we’ll keep looking, it’s easier to track them when they do magic. Did we get any closer this time?”

The guy nods. “We have enough blood that we can separate the magic from it, but it’s not strong enough to use.”

Of course it isn’t, the blood in a witches blood is never going to be strong enough without the source. “Let me guess, when she died, the magic died?”

“Yes, we’re not sure why though.”

“I’ve already said it, how can you expect the magic to be alive, to be used if the host is dead? This plan isn’t working,” I snap and turn to my father.

“We need it.”

“Then find a witch who agrees!” That’s all he needs.

“None will agree when they know they could die, or turn into us.”

He’s not wrong there, I just need this to end. I need to be able to bring Raine here and her be safe. As long as no one bites her they shouldn’t feel her magic, but it’s a risk.

“We don’t know that.”

He laughs. “Come on Brax, you’re smarter than that. We need this, look at me.” He gestures to himself. “You have no idea how empty it feels when your wolf just goes.”

No, I don’t, and it’s a known fact that when wolf, vampire hybrids get old, their wolf vanishes, it leaves us weaker. It isn’t needed though. “We’re stronger for a reason, but been the strongest has it’s downfall, we become the weakness when we’re older.”

He scoffs. “You think this is some sort of fate thing? We’re handed strength in our prime, then pay for it when we’re become old and weak?”

“I think nothing we do can change this. I think if there is a spell, or a way to clear this curse, the witches are the ones who have to do it. I also think the witches will never agree.”

“Then they will keep dying. This is the one thing I want to complete before I die for our pack, Brax. If you can’t guarantee the continued efforts when you become Alpha, I’ll have to find an alternative.”

What? My head shakes. “No, I’ll continue it on, I just think we need to look at other ways. Yes we believe the curse was set by witches, but that doesn’t mean they’re the only answer. I want to expand our work.”

I can’t have him refusing to give me the alpha title. I need it sooner, then I can bring Raine here and be sure she’s safe.

“Look for other ways, but there’s none. We need to ensure we get our wolves back, to stay. Maybe you don’t understand it right now, but when you’re older, and your wolf goes, then you will.”

“We need to be careful that we don’t do something wrong, that we don’t create something new.”

“What does that mean?”

Is he serious? “We’ve no idea what a vampire witch hybrid is like, it’s not been done. It’s not possible. The vampire side destroys the witch side, but that doesn’t mean it won’t become twisted with wolf hybrid using witch blood.”

He nods. “I understand that fear, it’s why we’re doing it slowly, we don’t mass produce something and send panic through our people.”

I don’t think he cares, but he needs to. He needs to consider how this can turn out. We’re not guaranteed to survive. “What happens if it strips our vampire curse?”

His eyes meet mine and he sighs. “It won’t.”

“You said the same about drinking blood from a pure witch, we lost over twenty men.” No one had ever tried to drink blood from a witch. They were powerful, it wasn’t worth the risk.

Then my father decided to take one and have some of our most powerful members drink from the source which resulted in painful deaths.

Weirdly, we can drink witch blood, just not from the source. Witch hybrids we can drink from the source. Something about pure blood witches is a death sentance to us.

“We need to get this working, we need to find a cure.”

“Maybe this is just the way it is. We’re cursed, sure many chose to become vampire hybrids, but it’s a curse. Some curses can’t be reversed.”

“Or, the curse is going to give us the power we need when we break it. Imagine going back to before, to immorality.”

That sounds like a bigger curse. Maybe not for them, but for me, someone with a mate who isn’t a vampire, I’ll be set to never age and watch her die slowly. I’ll then be forced to live without a mate.

“I swear I’ll keep hunting for answers, for ways to get our wolves to stay, even when I become Alpha.” I might not use witches like he does, but I will keep searching.