Page 49 of The Soulless Witch

I licked my lips, leaning my head on his hand.

“I don’t think they are working together to take me down. I think it’s something else,” I murmured, turning, so I was facing him. “Do you remember the werewolf pack I told you about? The one I attacked the night I was killed the last time?” Roman nodded. “You said people started going missing recently, right?”

“That’s what Isaac said during our last Council meeting. I haven’t paid much attention since it was none of my concern.” Roman shrugged, his eyes narrowing as if he was already starting to connect the dots. “What—”

“Eighty years ago, the werewolf pack I attacked was Isaac’s,” I said, waiting for Roman to react. He continued to stare expectantly, not a hint of surprise on his face. “What, you knew? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you figured it out,” he said with a mocking tone. “He literally told you that you killed his entire family. I don’t remember you having the habit of randomly killing entire families. Besides, with his age…did you really not make the connection until now?”

“Hey, I’ve been awake for less than a month! My memories are still foggy!” I said defensively, and I was almost sure I saw him roll his eyes. “Do you want to hear the rest of it or not?”

Roman smoothed his face before nodding.

“There was a reason I attacked their pack, and it wasn’t because I was thirsty for blood. Back then, children had started disappearing. Mostly shifters and Fae. I was investigating that since I suspected they’d pin it on me again when I ran into a group of hunters. It turned out they were transporting two of those children. One was a werewolf girl, and the other was a Fae female—she had her wings clipped and she was almost dead by the time I freed them.” Roman’s eyes hardened, his hand caressing my hair gently, as if to calm my reeling mind. “I got the girl to the Fae in time to save her life, then I took Alice, the werewolf girl, to a safe place. She told me that she wasn’t kidnapped, but rather sold to the Order in return for them leaving her pack alone. She had overheard a meeting between the Alpha and the Elders of the pack where they were choosing children to hand over to the hunters. She and her brother were among the candidates. She begged me to save her brother. To punish the Elders and make the others fight the hunters if necessary, but protect their own.”

Roman was silent as I fought with the words, trying to recall more of my memories. His reassuring presence grounded me, keeping me detached from the blood and the horrors of that night.

“I agreed, but miscalculated the situation.” I gritted my teeth. “It wasn’t just the hunters who were involved. It was the witches who took the children, and when I headed back to confront the pack, the witches attacked me on the way. I took them down, and even got one of them to talk—she said they were handing the children to the hunters for them to experiment on since the werewolf’s healing abilities were the best in the world.”

For a moment, Roman stood unnaturally still, all predator and no human at all.

“Did that witch say why they were working with the Order?” He got to his feet, pacing back and forth while tapping with his finger over his lips.

“They said they were doing it so the Order would let them settle in the lands and leave them alone,” I spat, pushing myself up since sitting down was making me giddy. “But I don’t think that was the whole truth. The hunters have never been a real threat to an entire coven. They can take witches out one by one if they overwhelm them, but an entire coven could have obliterated a whole Temple, or headquarters, or whatever they are calling themselves now. So I think that was just all those witches knew. Or they were so loyal that they died protecting their secret.”

Roman turned so abruptly that I flinched as he reached toward me. Once his arms pulled me into his embrace, I relaxed immediately.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” he whispered in my hair.

“It was my fault.” I sighed, hugging his waist. “Killing those witches took a lot of magic, and then the pack put up one hell of a fight. One of the witches must have escaped—or maybe the hunters had spies nearby—because just when the pack finally surrendered, the Order attacked. I tried to lure the hunters away so the rest of the werewolves could escape, and that’s how I ended up dying. Little good that did. They still killed everyone.”

I hugged Roman hard enough to break a normal person’s back, but he just kissed the top of my head.

“Not everyone,” he whispered. “As annoying as Isaac is, he is alive today because of you. Is his sister…”

“I left her with the Coven of Eternal Light so they could heal her wounds. Their oath against violence guaranteed they wouldn’t hurt her, and most of them survived the Salem Trials because of me, so they owed me a favor. But then I died, so I’m not sure what became of her. Maybe she is still alive somewhere.”

We stayed quiet for a while, with Roman cradling me against his chest as he ran fingers up and down my arm. When the rage inside me died to embers, I pulled back.

“I don’t think Isaac is selling his own people to the hunters,” I said, holding Roman’s gaze, “but I think they are being taken again. And if the Order needs a new batch of testing subjects, then they must be working on something important.”

Roman nodded in agreement and looked like he was about to say something when the door to the garden opened, and Lily poked her head out.

“Dinner is ready, so come in before my mom eats me alive,” she said with a wince. I looked at Roman, but he was already wearing his amiable smile as he nodded.

“We’ll be right in.”

Lily disappeared inside and I moved to follow, but Roman held me back.

“What do you want to do?”

I weighed his words carefully, trying not to make any hasty decisions. The last time I got involved in other people’s problems, I died and still got blamed for it. Yet thinking of Alice kneeling at my feet and begging me to save her brother while her own blood was soaking the ground, I could only find one answer.

“We can’t stand idle,” I said, slipping my hand out of his grip only to intertwine my fingers with his. “For one, if the witches and hunters are working together, the fragile balance of the supernatural world will be shattered. If the Order gains any more power, they can finally realize their mission to get rid of us. Also…” I licked my lips, squeezing Roman’s hand. “I made a promise to Alice to save her brother, and I’m not one to go back on my word.”

“Even if he thinks you are the reason for all of his misfortunes?” Roman raised an eyebrow. I gave him a nonchalant shrug.

“I’ve given up on trying to change people’s minds about me.” I smiled, but Roman didn’t. “Besides, we can’t let my medallion stay in the hunters’ hands and, by helping the werewolves, we’d get help in return. We don’t have the numbers to do this. I can’t go to the witches. You vampires have too many hoops to jump through before the Elders let you act, and your human workers…we’d be sending them to their deaths. If we can work with the werewolves, we’d all have something to gain. And if I’m lucky, they might even stop bothering me after that.”

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