Page 23 of The Soulless Witch

Chapter 13

Isaac

“Isaac!Isaac,waitup!”Allison shouted when I slammed the car door, storming toward my house. My body still shook so much that I was afraid I might shift like a child who couldn’t control his transformation. “Alpha, stop!”

My one-story bungalow loomed dark and gloomy in the middle of the street as I paused on the top stair leading to my door. The windows of the nearby houses lit up, heads peeking out to check what all the noise was about. Turning on my heel, I glared at my Beta as she stopped at the base of the steps.

“What?” I snapped, trying and failing to keep my temper under control.

“What do you mean,what?” she snarled, throwing her hands in the air. More lights flickered on, but her eyes didn’t move away from mine. “What the hell happened? You were on the move, then suddenly she was pulling you toward the bathrooms! I didn’t expect her to be the one to leave all smug and smiling! And what was that about a quick tryst? Did you two…?”

I stomped down the stairs, stopping so close I could smell the fading scent of booze, sweat, and humans on her. She was the best female fighter I had ever met in my life, and she had proved time and time again that she was loyal, so it was a no-brainer making her my Beta. But she had the nasty habit of asking too many damn questions and right now, I really, really didn’t want to have that conversation while I reeked of the witch’s scent, my cock still throbbing at the memory of her.

“As you can see, I’m perfectly fine. No, I didn’t kill her. I tried, believe me, but she was…” I paused, looking for the right word, but only the wrong ones came to mind. Beautiful. Warm. Soft. Delicious. “...cruel.”

Allison raised an eyebrow, her surprise quickly evolving into a frown.

“Did she recognize you? Did she say something about your pack? Did she—”

“No,” I said, quieter this time, and she let out a sigh of relief. She was cruel in a different way, I wanted to say, in the vilest and most humiliating ways. The person I loathed the most in this world, the person I was ready to give up my soul to destroy, had made me feel more alive than I had felt in the last eighty years. I hated her even more for that. “Can we not do this right now? I’m exhausted and I have a call to get on. I will brief you later, alright?”

Allison pursed her lips in displeasure, but nodded, spinning on her heel and walking toward her house. The rest of our team was awkwardly standing by the cars and I realized that, unlike my Beta, they were actually waiting for my dismissal. I waved them away, and they all dispersed, leaving me all alone in the quiet street.

I didn’t bother with the light as I stepped inside my house, just picked up my laptop from the kitchen table where I left it earlier. It was almost six a.m. already, which meant the others would expect a report. While I could blow Allison off, I couldn’t do that to them. Things were already tense with that damn witch waking up in our territory, and with the disappearances that had been happening recently…

I flopped in front of the desk in the corner of my bedroom, moving the dirty plate and pile of clothes to the floor before starting the laptop. Wincing at the bright light, I waited for it to load.

Five fifty-three. Just enough time to get my head straight.

Covering my face with my hands, I leaned back in the chair, desperately trying to clear my mind. Images of Celeste dancing with those men flashed in front of my eyes, of their hands and lips touching her skin while she swayed with the music. She had looked so relaxed, as if all she cared about was living in the moment and enjoying the new chance for life.

I was a fool to think that, especially after how she approached me. I had been the one setting the trap for her, yet somehow, I ended up being ensnared. She knew what I was, and she knew I was there to kill her. But why did she let me live? She kissed me with such fervor, like I was really her lover, and fucking used me like I was nothing but a toy. And then…instead of killing me, she let me go. The woman I remembered from eighty years ago wouldn’t have done any of those things.

No, it didn’t matter if she looked different. She was still a vile abomination. All witches were, and they all deserved to die. And if she thought she could break me this way, she was wrong. Sheshouldhave killed me—that was the only way she could stop me from going after her again. And next time…next time…

The laptop beeped with the sound of an incoming call and I jumped, clicking on the green button instinctively. Two screens opened up, one of them showing a tall man with fair skin and carefully combed blond hair sitting in a leather chair. The other screen was completely black.

“Good morning,” Daniel said as he adjusted himself in his chair, raising a porcelain cup to his lips. Coming from an ancient British family that had moved to the new continent shortly after its colonization started, he was filthy rich and considered himself something of royalty among the werewolf packs in North America. Apart from his inflated ego and his tendency to throw money at every problem, he was actually a pretty decent man. His son and heir to the Shadowcrest Pack, James, was easier to deal with since he wasn’t so stuck in the old ways, but Daniel was still in his prime, so when it came to more serious matters, I had to deal with him.

“Good morning.” I looked at the second screen, which was still black. “Kai, are you with us? Your camera is off.”

“I’m here! How do I turn this bloody thing on?” the Alpha of the Moonstone Pack grumbled, followed by the sounds of something falling down. “Ronnie, come here! This stupid computer thing is not working! Why do we even have to do this through machines? Why can’t we just meet like normal people?” he continued as the sound of a second person came through the connection. Daniel shook his head, taking another sip of tea before putting it down.

Kai’s camera finally turned on, showing us a closeup of his gray beard and cracked lips. Any other night, I would have laughed. The Moonstone Pack lived in a small provincial town that consisted mainly of their own people and their mates, so they didn’t need to hide what they were. They also spent a lot of time in wolf form and shunned technology as much as possible, so the older generation, like Kai, wasn’t very savvy in these matters.

“It’s working, pops.” Ronnie, his grandson, sighed, grabbing his grandfather’s shoulder and pulling him back in his chair, so we could see the Alpha’s entire face. “When you’re done, just leave it. They can cut the connection from their end.” Kai nodded, narrowing his eyes at the camera while the boy muttered a quick greeting to us, then disappeared. We waited for the door to close behind him before speaking.

“Unlike you, Kai, not everyone has time to drive or run for hours for a simple meeting,” Daniel said with a note of exasperation. “You need to accept that you are living in the twenty-first century.”

Kai scowled but didn’t argue, and Daniel pursed his lips as if displeased his jab barely hit home. I cleared my throat, forcing them to focus their attention on me.

“Go ahead first, Daniel,” I said just as he was opening his mouth. I knew that both of them were waiting for my report, but I wasn’t ready to speak about it yet. The Alpha of the Shadowcrest Pack tapped his finger on the smooth surface of the desk.

“There have been three more disappearances on our end, but we are still making count since we have a lot of people,” he said, his eyes darkening with anger. “One is a six-year-old girl, reported missing by her mother. The other two are teenagers. If this was a singular occurrence, I would have reported it to the police, but with the other disappearances happening in the past few months…”

I nodded, feeling my chest tighten. It had started two months ago and at first, I had brushed them off, thinking some of our younger ones were going through a rebellious phase, and leaving the pack without permission for some fun. But then children started going missing, and the others reported the same happening to them.

“I have a lot of people out in the wild, so I have no idea if anyone is missing or just exploring.” Kai scratched his beard, his dark eyes turning unfocused, as if he was thinking of something else. “I have recalled them all home, but it might take a couple of weeks before everyone comes back for us to make a proper count. But we have seen traces.” His eyes focused again, a deep line forming on his forehead. I straightened in my seat, noticing even Daniel doing the same. “Humans, mostly, but too many to be poachers. We found traces of magic too, but there’d be witches gathering herbs and shit in these parts, so I don’t know if they’re up to something.”

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