I yelled, “SOMEONE DO SOMETHING! Breathe, Mel. Come on Lovebug, take a breath for me!” Ethan bolted into the house and quickly went to Melanie’s side. He looked worriedly at me. Ethan said, “Alpha Alexander, if she doesn't take a breath soon we’ll have to intubate her.” I growled at him.
Melanie screamed bloody murder, then passed out cold. Ethan went to touch her but I yanked against me. I stood snarling, “What the FUCK just happened? Someone talk, NOW!” My dad, Peter, and Uncle Jackson were as close to me as they could get.
Aunt Katie shook my Uncle Logan off and spoke, “Oh calm the hell down. Alexander would never hurt us. Maybe Ethan, but not seriously. The fact remains my nephew definitely, without a doubt, would not hurt me.” She rolled her eyes and faced me.
Aunt Katie said, “The power coming off those rings was intense.” I frowned. My mom snapped the glass back onto the windows and the debris clear. I asked, “Is anyone besides Melanie hurt?” EJ answered, “Everyone is scared but fine.”
I asked Aunt Katie, “What happened to her? You didn’t notice she had some powerful magic around her before.” Corbin explained, “You have to see these, their power is concealed.” I looked at Sierra asking, “How did Paige not know?” Because I would bet my life Paige was a VERY strong Witch.
Sierra admitted, “She’s never seen them. Mel got these in her first few days at the pack. She always wears them under her clothes.” I took a deep breath before asking again, “What’s wrong with her? I can’t sense anything to heal.”
Aunt Katie sighed, “This is the most powerful spell I’ve ever seen. I can only tell you a few things it’s doing. I sense it’s doing much more than that though. We will have to look into it. Dustin and Ryan might know more.” I growled, “What was it doing?”
Sierra started crying, “The illusion. Phil said she was in an illusion the night her family died. Those rings have to be why she relives it every year. I thought it was some weird PTSD deal. I didn’t know her family wasn’t dead. Oh god!” Oden growled in my mind.
Corbin said, “That was not one of the things we were going to say, but I’d believe that.” I asked, “That’s what was wrong with Mel in Switzerland? She was reliving the illusion?” Sierra nodded, “Every year it was like it was happening to her all over, but she could never change the outcome no matter how hard she tried.” I growled.
Aunt Katie said, “It’s making her more upset than she’s going to naturally be. Given what happened in the dungeons, I’d say it’s sparked by her family, touch, and what happened to her being discussed.” Was there no end to how they hurt my mate?
Ben stood shouting, “That fucking bitch! She knew! That Stephanie bitch cackled like a damn hyena when I touched Ladybug!” I agreed since Melanie mentioned that was off too. Drake agreed, “She did.” Tristan growled, “Not killing Stephanie keeps getting harder.”
So, we needed a subject change before the Beta bloods lost it. I asked, “What else are the rings doing to Melanie?” Corbin sighed, “It was helping keep her wolf from gaining too much strength. Being with Alexander was counteracting it to a degree, but still not letting her wolf come into her full strength. I recognize the spell because it was on Edward and Jean’s things.”
My Aunt Katie added, “It’s supposed to make her physically ill about something. I don’t know what, but we’ll find out if she does or goes near whatever it is.” I reasoned, “She took it off though. Why would it still affect her?”
Aunt Katie explained, “It will take some time to be totally out of her system. It’s seriously dark magic. Someone wasn’t playing around. Plus, her friend says she was constantly wearing them for several years. It’s going to have echoes. Maybe for a month or more.”
I growled, “Why isn’t she awake?” Spencer evaded by asking, “What does she not remember?” Sierra and Cayden jerked towards him. Elise whispered, “I asked her about Trevor trying to mark her. Mel said she doesn't remember it.”
Spencer said, “As long as she was having trouble breathing it’s more than that, but she’ll remember now.” Oh, so he was evading for the purpose of answering my question. My mom’s fury snapped, “I’m going to kill a fucking Witch bitch and Warlock Wart. I TOLD you all we should go back to burning the bad ones at the fucking stake.”
She shouted, “I FUCKING TOLD YOU something would happen that would make you all agree with me. I warned you! Not only are the bad Witch bitches and Warlock warts suppressing wolves, but they are also holding memories back. Some that are going harmful to someone’s mental state. They also clearly built in a fucking failsafe to add maximum damage when they came barreling back.”
I looked at Sierra asking, “What else doesn’t she remember?” Sierra wiped her eyes before saying, “She should tell you.” Drake begged, “Please, that’s my pup. I won’t say anything to her about it. No one here will.”
Sierra sighed, “Look, I will loosely explain because like I said, this is her thing to tell. She’ll remember her time in the hole.” I growled, “The hole?” My dad sighed, “God, I hate everything about that statement. I hate everything about Black path. I thought I did before, but god I was wrong.”
Phil chimed in, “Wait, hold up. Do you mean the hole Edward almost dropped a pup into? They put her in there?” Sierra answered, “Not infrequently and put is a nice word. They usually threw her in it.” Sam started to cry.
My mom sighed, “Fucking Witch bitches and Warlock Warts! A Coven wouldn’t have blocked that from her. She’d have pushed the memories from her damn mind. Katie, tell me they can’t fucking do that. Her own mind was protecting her by repressing that. They can’t fucking pull her own memories and throw them in her damn face. Can they? Tell me that’s not a fucking thing.”
Aunt Katie frowned, “Sadly, I think it is.” Dalton and Paige were popped in by Sharon. Paige ran over and grabbed the rings. She started to cry. Paige gasped, “Mel, I’m so sorry. I never knew.” I asked her, “Do you know what these do?”
Paige answered, “Not all of it. I can tell you there are eight spells cast on it. Each nastier than the one before it. This is my fault.” Dalton picked her up arguing, “No it’s not. You didn’t know she had these.” Sierra added, “Duke Corbin said you had to see the rings to know, and you never saw them.” Paige said, “Yes, well I was kept out of a lot of things. Wasn’t I?” Sierra looked guilty so the answer was yes.
Corbin eyed Sierra and Paige. He said, “Call me Corbin, please. You, Miss Paige, are powerful.” Paige snarked, “No shit sherlock.” Dalton immediately put her behind him. He quickly said, “She’s just upset and blaming herself for another bad thing happening to Melanie involving magic.”
Corbin shrugged, “I couldn’t tell how many spells were on the rings.” Paige whispered, “Four each. Four on one ring and four on the other.” Aunt Katie raised an eyebrow adding “I can’t tell that either. I will be interested if Dustin or Ryan can.”
I addressed Paige, “They think she will feel residual effects. Do you?” Paige nodded, “Yes. I’ll look into it. I need to know what makes her physically ill. That will be the tough one. I can help if I know what it is, but without that information I’m dead in the water.” I could literally feel my mom about to say something about us not being dead or in water.
Then Paige added, “I can help with the anger issue. That’s obviously going to be directed at her family.” Corbin smirked asking, “Can you?” Paige snapped, “Yes, I can you doubting Mufasa. As you stated, I’m powerful. I can help one of my best friends. I just need to go to the kitchen and find a few things.”
She walked away muttering, “You can help your friend? He says in mock surprise and filled with doubt. Yes, I fucking can, and I will. Insulting. It’s just insulting. No, I said I could help her, but in reality. Meh. I can't do it.”
I bit my lip teasing Corbin, “I don’t think she likes you, cousin.” Corbin was nonplussed, “I want to get a peek at that woman’s spell book.” Sierra snorted, “It’s intense. She’s good. Melanie told her your uncle’s would be thrilled about her joining their Coven. She’s not wrong though because Paige is damn good.”
Paige was banging around in the kitchen. I could hear her turn on the stove to boil water. Dalton stood between the kitchen and the living room watching Corbin worriedly. Corbin laughed, “You can calm down. I’m not upset about the disrespect, Dalton. She’s new around here, and she’s worried about her friend. She thought I was insulting her. It’s fine.” Dalton breathed a sigh of relief.
