I was expecting him to do something stupidly reckless, like this morning, to make me 'feel our connection', instead he grabbed by my hand and dragged me downstairs. We exited the mansion and I didn't even have time to see if the girls were still on the porch or if the people of the pack are as fussy as the wolves I've seen today. If I didn't have so good reflexes, I'd have tripped so many times in our hurry to I-don't-know-where. When we started to approach the woods, I grew a little concerned but kept going. I doubt he walked so much to hurt me, he could've done it so many times now.
He stopped in front of a cottage that screamed old witch. I know because I've raided so many over the years: poison ivy on the walls, wardings carved on the walls and the nearby trees and a prominent smell of ash and spices. Why would he bring me here? Before we even past the first sigil on an elder tree, a tall and gloomy man exits the cottage. He looks around and when his eyes stop on Asher, he lets out a sigh:
"Thank Goddess it's you and not your devil-of-a cousin." He says, motioning for us to follow him into the cottage. "He's been annoying the crap out of me this past week."
"It's your fault that you praised about your foreseeing gift in front of Heirs. What did you expect us to ask you about?" Asher jokes with the man and I feel a little uneasy. I cling to his side, trying to appear invisible to the stranger.
"I don't know?! Maybe about the bloody competition you all say that you care so much about?" He throws his hands in the air, seeming pretty exasperated by the thing they are talking about.
"Don't act so all-righteous, we all know you used your gift to find Taylor."
"Hey, they are my powers so they should work for my best interest." He rounds around a table and positions himself before a huge boiling cauldron. He throws some plant that looked like parsil and turned off the stove. He turned back to us and his gaze fell directly on me. "Apologizes for the rude welcoming, Adeline. I'm glad I'm finally meeting you."
"Why does everyone knows me here?" I ask Asher and both men laugh before the stranger answers me.
"Because of me, mainly. I'm the pack's witch." He proudly states and I can't help the strange look I give him. Although his apron and man-bun can pass him off as a hipster millennial, the runes on his arms could only fool the untrained eye.
"You're an Adlet," I tell him and he just nods.
Adlets are hybrids of werewolves and witches. They are somewhat rare, especially in parts of the world where the stigma about halfbreeds still exits. But those prejudices never existed on American lands, as the indigenous tribes are recognised for their 'passion' regarding hybrids. When a new halfbreed was born, the Natives celebrated it as an omen of good fortune, because it always followed a period of peace between the tribes that contributed to the creation of the chimaera. After the colonial times, halfbreeds became rare to sight, just like most of the supernatural tribes that resided the New World. I, for one, encountered only one hybrid in my life.
"Alpha Kale Hale, welcome to Boulder Creek pack, Adeline." He presents himself and I frown.
"Wait, didn't you say that the Alpha is named Taylor?" I turn to Asher, reminding of our talk in the front of the mansion.
"She is," Kale says, giggling. "I'm the Alpha Consort, although I'm so shitty at my job that my wife had to put me on pack's witch duty so I'll stop messing with the pack's business."
I can't help but laugh when the words leave Kale's mouth. An image of him standing in front of a burning dinner table, looking like a kid who just knocked down his mother's favourite vase, appeared in my mind. I stop my laugh and turn my gaze to Asher in a second. He was still laughing but stopped when he felt me watching him. For a moment, I was tempted to ask him why he projected that memory to me because I was sure as hell that it was his doing; but then I remembered how I unknowingly sent him a distressed signal just this morning.
"Is something wrong?" He asks like he was genuinely unaware of what he just did. And for some strange reason, I truly believed him.
"I was wondering why we are here," I've quickly diverted the conversation.
"As I was saying," starts Kale as I was expecting Asher to answer my question. But this witch likes the spotlight, apparently. "I'm the reason everyone here knows about you, Adeline. I've foreseen your coming the day your mate arrived on the pack."
"So you're the reason he keeps pushing this mate thing?" I frown at him angrily. If I had anything in my hand right now, I'd aimed directly for his head. But conveniently enough for a clairvoyant warlock, everything is out of my arm's reach right now.
"Not entirely," he responds, not minding my building anger. He started chopping some vegetables and throwing them onto another enormous cauldron. He doesn't look like he's brewing a potion but preparing to feed an army. Is he the pack's cook too? "He did know about you because of me, but having you two met was fate's doing."
"Let's say I believe it," I scoop a carrot from the table and start munching on it. I didn't realise how hungry I was until I've seen him cooking. "Why am I not feeling this connection he is talking about?"
"You're denying it." He says and I take another carrot from the table. "And quit stealing the carrots. I need to finish the food today."
"Did they also put you on pack's cook duty?" I mock him as I try to take another carrot and he slaps my hand with a flyswatter.
"During Ancestor's Day, is customary for the Luna to make the dinner for the pack." Explains Asher as he takes my hand and frowns at Kale. The Adlet puts the flyswatter of out the Lycan sight and starts adding rice on the cauldron.
"Why don't you use magic for it?" I ask Kale just as he opens another bag of rice and starts pouring it.
"Well, I did." He suddenly became uneasy, surely because he was about to admit something embarrassing. "I used my powers to cook the dinner the first year after Taylor became Alpha. I wanted to make a good impression but my magic was a little rocky. With all the Alpha Consort duties, I was more werewolf than warlock at that point; a thing really odd for me, as I prefer my magic to my fangs and claws. But I was sure that I can manage a simple spell like that one... until I found myself mispronouncing food and fire. It's safe to assume no one was happy when they saw the pack's dinner burning proud like a totem, and me standing before it like an idiot."
"It was a special Ancestor's Day, for sure." Continues Asher as Kale resumes his cooking. "The whole pack ended up dining at an empty tavern a few miles off the highway."
"So you were there?" I ask and Asher nods.
"I was visiting...ahem, a friend." He tells me and I see Kale slapping his forehead. I don't let myself disrupted by their weirdness, but say:
"I've seen him," I admit to Asher. "You gave me a vision of Kale standing before a burning table when he was talking about his promotion to being the pack's witch."
"And you keep insisting we are not mates," he says as he reaches for my hands but I step back and cross them behind my back. "Your distress call, my vision for you, they wouldn't have been possible if we were not soul-linked, Aline. You have to believe it."
"I can't believe in something I don't feel it's real. Whatever connection you sense between us, you have to understand it is not reaching me!" I shout the words at him and I regret when sadness crosses his face. I don't mean to hurt him, but I'm just so angry about the situation. He keeps telling me about our soul-link, which I can't feel and which drives me insane. I know there is something off with me and I can't express in words how mad I am at myself for dragging other people into my mess.
"You're not feeling the bond?" Kale asks, looking at me like I am some kind of alien. Great, you too.
"At first, I thought she was denying it, because of the circumstances," Asher explains to Kale and I sigh, tired of this situation. "She has glimpses of it, but it's like her heart is blindfolded."
"It may be a curse," Kale tells me, somehow appearing worried. "We'll need a soul analysis in order to be sure."
"Or maybe not," I say as they started discussing this analysis I've quit paying attention to, the moment I've associated it with the blood analysis my mom forces me to every year. I'm not afraid of needles or doctors, but of this particular day. All the family members travel to the nearest hunters' hospital and have our yearly examination. And it always ends badly for me, because I always faint while having my blood extracted and wake up the next day, at home. Those unconscious hours always triggered some innate fear within my bones and I can start shivering just thinking about it. Thankfully I haven't been subjected to this torture in almost a year now.
"We'll know for sure after the test." Says Kale as he throws his apron aside. "Now, has anyone seen my tarot cards?"
I knew I was going to regret coming back to the pack...