Chapter 439
90 – Ben
“What the hell are these crazy witches doing?” I whisper out as we edge closer to the treeline. If my sense of direction is right, we are directly south of Elara’s packhouse, but far enough away that it might be considered neutral territory. I don’t smell the patrol wolves’ scent marking.
This area juts out towards the waterfront, like it’s a little peninsula, and full of thick, closely set trees. What is odd though is beyond the first couple trees, the rest are black. Black trunks, black branches, black leaves, black needles, black pine cones. But they aren’t burnt. Copyright 2025 Miss L Writes and Ember Mantel Productions
Jason reaches his hand out, “Don’t touch anything. We don’t know what’s on them.”
“Do you feel magic here, then?” He asks, looking over his shoulder as he carefully walks forward.
“Not like with the Shadow Markers, but something is here. Can you feel it?” I never thought about it before now, but he might be a better beacon than I for magic now that he’s mated to a witch.
“I don’t know. It’s not like what it felt like when Brianna, Marietta, and the healer were doing spells on Juliette. That was like a buzz or static in the air. It felt alive. I think magic was here, or maybe it’s asleep. Can magic be dormant?”
“No idea, but another question for our visitors. I think you an I need some extra lessons. Do you still smell whatever caught your attention?”
“You don’t smell that?!” He keeps walking carefully. There is a fog that’s rolled in off the water and settled around the base of the trees. The last thing we need is to step into a trap.
“Can you be more specific about what that might be?” I roll my eyes, he’s walking with a purpose, something has his tracking instincts locked in.
“It’s burnt…” He stops suddenly looking up.
I step up behind him, following his line of sight, and suck in a breath as I am smacked in the face with the smell, “Flesh.”
“Elara, we have a major problem. Knock Drake out and get out here. He’s a distraction. Marietta and Brianna should see this too.”
I link her and Jason together. If she wasn’t terrified and still healing from what they did to her, I would have Juliette come out too. I want to know if she was a part of this. If she is, then my friend is f*cked.
I don’t get a response from my mate, but I feel her acknowledgement of the command through the bond. Jason and I move forward cautiously.
“Look for small bundles of herbs, candles and stones or crystals on the ground. That’s what the Shadow Markers were made of, it’s the only thing I have to go on right now.”
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“Why would anyone do this?” Jason is still staring at the kid strung up between two trees. His body is in an ‘X’ with his arms hanging from. branches and his legs tied to trunks. His head is dropped forward to his chest, and he’s not breathing. His bare chest is covered in marks. Some look like defensive wounds, others are symbols that were carved in or maybe branded on. There is something circling his position on. the ground. I won’t go any closer him until the witches get here. Hopefully, it is protecting us from whatever was done to him.
“I’ve never seen a power drain like this before,” Marietta says as she walks up an hour later with a whole host of people. She and Brianna are circling the area, touching the black trees and whispering under their breath.
Elara walks straight to me, her hands are like ice when she laces her fingers with mine. I look at her, but she just shakes her head. Not even a mind link to explain. I don’t have to question for longer than a second when Elder Fenwick makes his way through the group.
“This is what happens when you flout tradition and refuse to follow tried and true pack laws, Alpha.” He enunciates her title. “You have brought ruin and destruction into our pack with you alliance to these witches and upset the natural order in our pack.” I am ready to be done with this Elder permanently.
“Your concept of natural order, Walt, is that you have all the say and want to control your Alpha. If you have
nothing productive to add to the net
conversation, kindly stay out
of the
way while we investigate this crime on the pack lands you so
whe
desperately want to maintain.” I lead Elara forward towards Jason keeping her next to me. These elders
read too much into little things like who walks in front of or behind another.
Jason and I walk through how and what we found when we got here and the fact that he could smell it from half a mile away and I didn’t smell it until I could see it. Brianna gave us all assignments, each of us looking for specific ingredients or remnants of them. We were also tasked with looking for specific symbols. She seems to have an idea of what happened here, but isn’t saying much.
“What happened here?” Jax asks after doing his own sweep for magical elements and Brianna hasn’t spoken for over an hour. She’s been kneeling in front of the poor kid, still strung up, muttering under her breath. “Was he magical? He’s not a wolf, I can smell that much.”
Marietta moves behind Brianna, almost protectively, “We believe he was a hybrid. A witch and a wolf, and he was used as a conduit.” The wind whipped around us as if the forest is confirming.
“Why can’t we smell that he was a wolf? Even a rogue born wolf has a scent after death.” Elara questions, and Walt scoffs again, like she missed an easy question on a test. She stiffens next to me, but gives no other indication that she heard him. Copyright 2025 Miss L Writes and Ember Mantel Productions
“I think that was the part that was used in the spell, his wolf blood, his connection to your Goddess and the forest.” Marietta confirms, Brianna is still muttering, completely blocking out the conversation going on around her. “Your wolves have a deeper connection to the forest, which is part of your magie Whoever did this is looking for something. Something hidden to our
magic, but connected to yours.”
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