Willow's Choice

Thirteen

We stilled once we reached the edge of the porch, Alexander ushering my father and Pierre forward.

Alexander's facial expression showing me that even he didn't approve of what was coming next, but because he was only one of many council members and their decisions were made based off of majority votes, I assuming this was something he had not voted for.

I watched as he instructed my father to face me and for Pierre to face Valor.

I gasped, jumping when a syringe was suddenly plunged into my fathers arm, another man approaching as he did the same to Pierre.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I yelled as my father growled out in pain, and then he went still, Pierre's hissing filling the air as he cried out in pain.

"Wolfsbane and human blood."  Valor whispered, the grip on my hand tightening as he held me close to him, but his eyes never leaving Pierre's who's eyes were now obsidian pools, and he stood erect and poised as if he could kill Valor in a second.

I stared at my father as the realization hit me like a ton of bricks, my eyes watching my father as he kneeled on the ground as his arms were bound behind him,the dosage of wolfsbane already in his blood as his eyes landed on me, his pupils large and massive as they hid his hazel eyes, the hallucinations had already began, the temporary poison running through his veins.

Right now. I was not his daughter. I was not his successor. I was his enemy, a moving target. One that he was ready to kill.

I could hear my mothers screams as the crowd was ordered to part, the sea of people moving immediately as fear washed over them, any attempts at interfering would be met with punishment or even death. I didn't understand how the council had become so brash and violent.

This couldn't be happening. There was no way.

I watched as a woman came forward, Alexander staring at his fellow council woman with disproof as she smiled like this was some fun game, that we were toys to be messed with.

She stood in front of Valor.

"You will go first. He will try to kill you. You must force him into submission and therefore earn your title as coven leader. Only when your opponent has submitted to you will you receive your title. That goes for both of you." She said, her pale brown eyes darting to me as she grinned darkly.

I could hear my mother cursing, protesting. I was thankful to whoever had been restraining her because I know they wouldn't hesitate to hurt her, no matter how much Alexander cared for my mother, his colleagues had no emotional connection to her.

The woman snapping her fingers in my face brought me back to reality.

"Did you hear what I said?" She snapped. I don't know what she was, I was just sure she wasn't a wolf, nor a vampire, but whatever she was I despised her in her entirety already.

When I didn't speak she frowned in annoyance.

"Willow. You'll go first instead." She said with a grin.

She knew exactly how strong my father was. His build alone was far greater than any man I had yet to see. He easily outweighed me by a hundred pounds, his stature far above mine as well, towering over me by an entire foot.

Everything I knew he'd taught me. Every kick, punch, every move, I had learned it for him. It could all be easily calculated by him.

The only edge I had now had was my newfound senses that I have yet to even explore myself. I didn't know what I could and couldn't do anymore. I was different now and I had no idea how and the look in her eyes told me she knew it too.

I walked forward, releasing Valor's hand. Valor had never seen me fight, and I could sense the unease on his face.

She only gave me the opportunity to change, it was only when she handed me what I learned to be an enchanted body suit when I learned what she was.

A witch.

I thought it was funny because the word I preferred to call her rhymed with what she was.

I changed, feeling a tad uncomfortable in the skin right body suit, that she explained would allow me to shift between my wolf and human form without being naked.

I walked out the house quietly, the crowd silent as they watched me, Valor's face standing out as his satin red eyes locked with mine. I could see he restrained, Giselle and Solomon standing with him.

I could see my father, now unrestrained and and the far end of the clearing, eyes locked on me as I walked.

My mother wasn't anywhere in sight.

I could feel the anticipation in my bones as I walked.

I knew even if I could beat my father, there was no way I wouldn't feel pain in the process.

"Are you ready?" I heard in Alexander's dry voice, his eyes holding sympathy for me. He knew as well as I did how good my father was at combat. How my father wouldn't submit. He would die before he would submit. So I would have to form a plan as quick as I could.

"How long will he be like that?" I whispered about my father's zombie like state.

"The dosage should only last for another fifteen minutes." He whispered.

I nodded as I readied my stance, the witch on my fathers end as she rose her hand in the air, snapping her fingers to signal the start.

I watched my father, him wasting no time as he began tearing up the distance between us as he burst into a dark black beast.

I stood poised, running forward, faster than I had once been, feeling the familiar heat of the shift itch at my skin, but panic soon taking over every part of me when my wolf never came and my father's beast was yards away.

I cursed as the beast lunged, knocking me out the air, the wind escaping my lungs as I lost my breath and my vision clouded at the impact as I landed against the hard earth.

I held my arms up in front of me, his beast staring down at me as it attempted to snap its jaws at my neck and face, my fingers fighting to hold onto anything that could keep him from tearing into my jugular, his ears, cheek, muzzle, anything to keep him from killing us.

I blinked as I stared into the eyes of my father. It was him, but at the same time it wasn't.

Fifteen minutes.

That was all I needed, and yet time became my enemy as my father growled above me and my body betrayed me. I was a hybrid. I didn't know what part of me dominated the other though. If I could no longer shift because different blood now ran through my veins. If I had lost the thing I had once cherished so much.

Everyone and everything I had once relied on to protect me was now working against me. 

I should be formulating a plan but the only thing I could think of was where the hell was my wolf when I needed her most?