A Wolf's Miracle

Chapter 51

Dr. Fraiser refused to speak to me about anything until he spoke to Damien about everything. And Harlan drove us all back to the pack house without saying a word. 

The doctor sent me to Arden, who was ready with a sketch pad and a pencil. We sat there in her and Elowen's room, which looked a lot like mine but better decorated.

"Let's do this," I said. I couldn't deny I was terrified about what had just happened, but I needed to do this for the pack, for my friends. I understood that sense of responsibility better now. 

I started describing the man in detail and Arden would draw and show me, telling me to make the necessary adjustments. But something was wrong.

The more she advanced on the drawing, the grimmer Arden grew. She started guessing features I didn't mention and eventually, when she was done she asked, with a trembling voice "Please tell me this is not him" she begged before she showed me the completed result.

"Why?" I said, almost staring at the picture of the man that I had seen. Sharp jaw, symmetrical v shaped face, strong brows, defined cheekbones, short hair, hazel eyes.

"Because this can't be the person you saw, please tell me it isn't" her voice broke, she was terrified.

"What is going on, Arden?"

"This can't be him, Everest is dead," she said to herself, shaking her head.

"Who is that man?" I asked.

She kept repeating no to herself as she stared at the drawing with wild eyes. 

"Arden!" I shook her, and that seemed to get her out of that trance.

She suddenly stood up with resolve and marched down the hall right to Damien's office and barged in without knocking. I, of course, followed.

"He's alive" was all that she needed to say to all of the people already congregated in the room as she tossed the drawing to the coffee table.

Damien, Selene, Harlan, Blaze, Violette, and Elowen were left speechless for a beat. I looked around the room and the silence was eating me alive.

"There is no way," Harlan said angrily. "I killed that fucking bastard, we killed him," he said looking at Damien who was sitting at his desk, his mate sitting on the arm of his chair.

"We never found the body," Elowen said rubbing her temples. She was sitting with Blaze on the sofa across from Harlan.

"That's because we tossed him into the fucking river," Harlan said. Damien looked tired and afraid, but not surprised.

I didn't need to ask who it was, I could take a wild guess. I took a deep breath and said to Harlan "Is this your father?"

Violette, who was standing by the door, whispered to me "That is Everest Altain, the former alpha of this pack, the progenitor of Harlan and Damien" She finished and Harlan could only curse louder and louder.

My worst fears came true, that man was alive and I had met him. Oh if I had known I would have hit him so hard he'd see stars. For everything he put Harlan, Damien, and Gemma through.

Damien only looked at me calmly and said "I need you to tell us everything."

"I only know what I assume the doctor already told you, we didn't dig much deeper," I said and Damien glanced at Violette.

"That sort of style of magic fits with vampires," she said wrapping her arms around herself, a posture very unlike her "It is possible my father decided to help the rebels after all, I told you it was a matter of time."

"What about Andras?" Harlan asked and Blaze's eyes almost popped out of their socket. Andras? That name sounded familiar.

"What do you mean?" Elowen asked before Blaze could.

"Andras was a warning, a simple display of power meant to scare me," she said as she swished her hair back "I wouldn't concern myself with him for now, he won't interfere or he will lose the one thing he wants the most."

And then it hit me, Andras was the name of the demon she saw that night. The name I had forgotten. 

"How do you know Andras? What does Andras want with you?" Blaze asked, extremely angry. Possibly because he didn't know anything about this. "What is the thing he wants the most?"

"It's a long story," she said dismissively. 

"We have time," Blaze said emphatically. It seemed everyone knew Andras because they all listened intently.

Violette sighed in defeat "Andras and I met a long time ago, back when my mother disappeared." She looked at her nails, trying to look indifferent, to mask her pain "I had just turned and decided to go look for her, I was inexperienced and foolish and when I heard she was taken by a demon I decided to go look for said demon myself."

Elowen flinched "How are you alive right now?"

Violette only smiled "I was able to find the demon pretty quickly, and little did I know I fell right into his trap." She looked at the ceiling "That is when I met him, one of the most handsome men I had ever seen in my life," Blaze rolled his eyes "He lured me to him because he believed I looked like someone he knew before. He took pity on me because of it and kept me around for a while. But we became close and eventually, we became ... 'friends'" her nostalgic smile indicated they were so much more.

"Soon enough I learned my mother had made a deal with him in exchange for her freedom. I begged him to let me go look for her for months until eventually, he agreed, only because he needed to do something I couldn't witness." she stopped " And before you ask, no, I never knew what. " she sighed "He said I wouldn't find her but then promised that as long as he stayed away, it meant my mother was safe and sound. He told me I shouldn't worry until he showed up again..." She looked at the ground her blue eyes becoming foggy.

"So you fucked a demon and then got stabbed in the back, what were you expecting?" Elowen said earning a reprimand from Arden.

Blaze looked at her with a mixture of emotions I couldn't discern. Something was going on there.

"I'm sorry about your mother," Selene said walking over to Violette's side and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"That doesn't matter now," Violette said looking at me in the eye "You are no longer safe."

"What do you mean?" Harlan said before me. I was sure he wasn't paying attention to her story, still spiraling about the fact that that horrible monster was alive.

"If a vampire can infiltrate her mind it means a witch can too, Diana was bitten by one of them after all" She looked at Damien who seemed alarmed.

"There's no way," Blaze said. 

"What?" I asked.

"When one person is bitten by a specific member of a pack that person becomes connected with said pack. Normally, that connection only works when members are close but with the power of a witch it can work from great distance" Arden explained.

"What are you saying?" I wasn't getting any of this.

"It means they can use you as a spy Di" Harlan curses "Maybe they have been using you as a spy all along"

I look around horrified, having a hard time breathing. All this time I could have been giving the enemies intel without even being aware of it.

"What can we do?" Blaze asked, desperate.

"I only know of one way," Elowen said "She has to mate with someone from this pack, that way she can be bitten and the connection to them will break."

"But she hasn't found her mate!" Selene exclaims "We can't allow this, we can't--"

Violette looks outside as the sun sets "Her time is up anyway" she interrupted "The eclipse is tomorrow."