The Alpha's Mutt
The Ritual

Over the next several days, the battle plans were finalized. Jamari, Alessa, and Deene would each be leading teams made up of wolves from the Elwood and Pariah packs with a few members of Bristlecone sprinkled in. The witches would be spread out throughout the teams so that they would have the greatest possible effect. Hemmings River had offered to send a team of wolves as well, but they had yet to arrive, and we did not intend to wait much longer.

The teams would spread out around the compound as close to where Master Belial is hiding as we could possibly get without being detected. The goal of the teams was to draw as many vampires away from Master Belial as we possibly could. Our hope was that if he felt surrounded then he will throw everything that he has at us. Then a small team made up of myself, Farris, Relic, and my head warrior Casey would work within the greater battle to make our way towards the building where Master Belial was held. It would be our job to take out Belial in the hopes that the rest of the vamps will give up the fight.

The faster that we succeed in our task, the quicker that we would see an end to this bloody battle. Or so we hoped. Which was why…I also had a plan of my own.

Thanks to my blessing from the Goddess, I knew that I was faster and stronger than any of the other wolves that would be there fighting. Because of this, I was certain that I would have to be the one who brought an end to Belial once and for all. If Master Belial was really as ancient as Hugo had eluded, then he could prove extremely dangerous. I did not want the others there when I went to fight him in the end. It would be easier for me to focus on the fight if they were not right there with me.

This was why, I intended to separate myself from the group. I would break out ahead of them and I would face Belial on my own. If he wanted a fight, I was going to give it to him. But I also wanted to try and protect Farris and the others as much as possible. Which was why, after many hours of consideration, I had decided that this was the best possible way of achieving that goal.

But for now…that would be my little secret.

“Alphas?” Percy questioned as he knocked on the open door of the office.

Farris sat at his desk going over some paperwork. While I was on the sofa looking over maps of the area that Hugo had pointed out as the rough location that the vampire clan was spread out within.

“Yes, Percy?” I responded, turning away from my maps.

“Everything is ready. The moon is reaching its peak. It is time.”

“Well then, what are we waiting for?”

I rose from the couch and took a moment to stretch out my back which was stiff from being hunched over for so long. Once Farris was by my side, we left the office, closing the door behind us. One of the rooms had been cleared out specifically for the purpose of this ritual. And the witches had been in there all day working to make certain that this spell would go off without an issue.

The space had been cleansed, both, literally and spiritually. The ritual items had been charged. The witches were all spread out throughout the room forming a circle around a table in the center. A large map of the area that Hugo had described was laid out across the table with a small stone bowl in the center accompanied by a black-handled knife. One candlestick sat on each corner of the table, holding down the corners of the map. Percy closed the door behind use and encouraged us to join the circle causing the others to spread out to make room for us. Lucy came forward and handed us each a handful of salt and small vile of water.

“You will know when to use these.” She explained before taking her place in the circle next to me while Percy stood on the other side of Farris.

I looked across the circle and noticed that Relic stood directly across from us next to Hugo. The remainder of the witches spread out in between.

“When the time comes, we will be stepping to the left.” Lucy informed me in a whisper.

I nodded my head in response as a hushed silence fell over the crowd. Moments later, the lights went out without warning leaving only the four candles on the corners of the table to act as the light for the entire space. I was grateful that I was a wolf otherwise it may have been difficult to see.

“We call upon the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the North. We ask you to join us and bless us the powers of Earth.” Relic called out; his arms raised to the sky.

Each witch held out their right hand, causing Farris and I to follow suit. We each began to drop the salt from our hands in a line as we stepped to the left, connecting one line to the next until the salt formed a circle in front of us. Without warning there was a flash of green light in the center of the room causing me to jump in surprise. Thankfully, it did not appear that anyone else had noticed my silly reaction.

“We call upon the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the East. We ask you to join us and bless us the powers of Air.” Relic continued.

Relic quickly clapped his hands, and the strong smell of incense filled the air as I noticed large incense censers dangling in each corner of the room beginning to smoke. We each took another step to the left and it was followed by a bright flash of yellow light. This time, though, I managed to maintain my composure and did not let it take me by surprise.

“We call upon the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the South. We ask you to join us and bless us with the powers of Fire.”

The witches each snapped their fingers with Farris and I following behind as quickly as possible. Floating candles along all of the walls, seemingly materialized out of nowhere and sparked to life, their flames lighting up the room with an ethereal glow. And once again we followed this up by each taking a step to the left. This time there was a flash of red light in the center.

“We call upon the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the West. We ask you to join us and bless us with the powers of Water.”

We each opened our small vile of water and much like the salt, we slowly spilled it onto the ground as we stepped to the left. The final flash of light came in the color blue.

“We call upon the Goddess asking her to look down upon her children. Bless us and guide us in our endeavor.”

Everyone took a moment of silence to feel the energy of the magic buzzing around them. It was an electric feeling that felt, somehow, both embracing and intangible at the same time.

“The Circle is cast, and the Magic is raised. The ritual can begin.”

Relic stepped carefully over the salt and entered the center of the Circle inviting Hugo to follow behind him. Relic picked up the knife and brought the bowl closer to the edge of the table. He held out his hand to Hugo and Hugo responded by placing his own within it, palm facing up.

“Hugo, formerly of the Belial Clan, do you offer your blood freely and without hesitation for use in this ritual?” Relic asked as he held the knife to Hugo’s open palm.

“I do.” Hugo affirmed.

Without further permission needed, Relic held Hugo’s hand steady as he brought the very tip of the blade to Hugo’s finger. He pricked the skin of his finger and then gave it a gentle squeeze to force out the first drop of blood. He held Hugo’s finger out over the bowl and squeezed it again until a couple of drops of blood fell into the mix of herbs and oils that was already contained within.

Relic released Hugo’s hand and Hugo retreated, back to the outer circle. Relic turned towards the table and set down the knife before picking up the bowl. He held it aloft in front of him as he stared down into the contents. Then Relic and the witches began chanting in a language that I did not understand…

“Quaerite quod inueniri nolit. Quaerite quod inueniri nolit. Quaerite quod inueniri nolit…”

They continued to chant even as the tincture within the bowl began to move and rise away from its container. It slowly formed itself into a perfect bubble as it floated over the map. Relic continued to focus on the orb as he pulled the bowl towards his chest, chanting all the while.

When suddenly the bubble dropped down onto the map, splattering against the surface. For a moment, I was worried. Had something gone wrong? Had the witches lost focus and literally dropped the ball? Had we failed in locating Master Belial? But as the rest of the mixture slowly dissipated, disappearing into the map, I realized what had actually been done. All of the potion had gone save one dark crimson drop on the map, identifying the location of Master Belial.

“There he is.” Relic smirked as he stared down at their achievement.

We completed the ritual and closed out the Circle, thanking the Goddess for her time and the elements for their assistance.

Afterwards, Farris joined Relic and Hugo at the map as they looked over the location. I took a moment to talk with Lucy about what had just occurred, having found the whole practice fascinating.

“That was a really cool experience. I cannot thank your family enough for allowing Farris and I participate.” I expressed.

“Absolutely. We were happy to have you involved. It is because of you and your packs that we are able to bring this situation to a timely end.”

“Do you guys always have to do such a large ritual for things like this?” I wondered curiously.

“Not really. Witchcraft can be a much less elaborate affair. However, for a spell like this the more power the better. Belial is likely using his own access to witchcraft to protect or hide himself, so we combined the magic of all the witches in the group in order to ensure that we found him. That requires a ritual to cast a Circle and raise everyone’s magic, focusing it all towards a single purpose.”

“Fascinating.” I marveled.

“Mysti!” Farris called out my name from the center of the room and I looked up to replace him waving me over.

“Time to get down to business, I suppose.” I joked and Lucy chuckled before we both joined the others to look over the map.

We called for the Betas to join us and then spent the next couple of hours discussing the topography of the area and how that may affect battle plans. After feeling confident that we had everything accounted for, we all called it a night, knowing that we would need as much rest as we could get before tomorrow.

Farris and I were just about to reach the door to our bedroom when we were stopped by someone calling out to us. We turned to replace Hugo hurrying down in the hall in our direction.

“Hugo? Is everything alright?” I questioned, surprised that he was spending the little time that he had left in the night chasing us down.

“Well…Alphas…I was just wondering…” As he reached us all of Hugo’s confidence seemed to fade away as he became suddenly sheepish. “Why…why aren’t I assigned to…one of the fighting teams?”

“Well…uh…” I was kind of at a loss for words.

I really had not expected that Hugo would want to be involved amongst the fighting. We were going after his former clan after all. I had thought he would prefer to remain on the sidelines.

“We were not planning to involve you in the fight, Hugo.” Farris admitted. “You have done your part. We did not want you to feel like you had to battle against your own kind.”

“I wouldn’t really have to fight anyone if I was on your team. I could just act as defense for you guys. Plus, I could be of help navigating the building where Master Belial is housed. I would know the possible layout better than any of you would.” Hugo argued.

He was not wrong. Both Farris and I knew this. But we would have never asked it of him.

“Are you certain that you want to do this, Hugo? Farris is right these were your people, your family. We don’t want you to do anything that you will regret.”

“I will regret it more if I do not do anything. I offered my blood in the ritual because I know that what you are doing is the right thing to do. Master Belial must be stopped. And as you have said before, if you kill the Master then many of the clan will give up the fight. The faster that you kill Belial the fewer vampires that have to die. In a sense, if I am a part of your team, then I will be helping both sides.”

“What do you think?” Farris’s voice rang out in my mind.

“I think that we should let him do it. We do need his help and if he is certain that this is what he wants, then I do not think that we should deny him it.” I replied.

“Agreed.” Farris concluded with a nod.

“Hugo it would be an honor to have you on our team.” Farris offered, speaking out loud again.

“Thank you, Alphas!” Hugo responded with a wide grin, exposing his fangs. “You will not regret this! I promise you!”

“We know that you won’t let us down, Hugo.” I smiled in return.

To be honest, this turn of events worked out really well for me and my plans.

“Now there is the small matter of getting you to the battle. We will be traveling during the day, which is going to be difficult for you.” Farris reminded us.

“Well, we are going to be traveling in wolf-form, but the witches will be traveling by vehicle. Perhaps they can replace some room for him in one of their cars. Maybe they could use some magic to protect him from the sun or something. Just in case, we should replace some clothes for Hugo that keep him well covered to ensure that’s protected.” I suggested.

“What do you think, Hugo? Do think that will work?” Farris questioned.

“Sounds good to me. Worst comes to worst, I can just ride in the trunk. Whatever I need to do.”

“Alright. Well, I suggest you get some rest tonight then. In case sleep does not come easy for you tomorrow.”

“Yes, Alpha.” Hugo replied.

Hugo was about to turn and walk away when Farris stopped him as he began to speak again…

“Speaking of that…once we’ve finished with all this fighting. We will need to look at getting you properly initiated into the pack. If that is something that you would be interested in, of course.”

I watched on with a smile as Hugo jumped at Farris, wrapping his long thin arms around Farris’s broad, muscular shoulders. For a moment, Farris stood there, frozen, uncertain how to react to the unexpected gesture. But he soon relaxed some and offered Hugo a pat on the back in return.

“Thank you, Alphas! Thank you!” Hugo cheered.

“It is us who should be thanking you, Hugo. You’ve proven to be an invaluable member of the pack in a short time.” I clarified. “We are very happy to know that you want to stay.”

After I received a hug from Hugo as well, we parted ways with him and finally made it into our bedroom. We climbed under the covers, and I snuggled close into Farris’s chest as he wrapped his arms tightly around me. I could hardly believe how far that we had come. From the young Alpha who was too blinded by his father’s hate to accept his half-breed mate. All the way to where we found ourselves now. The Alpha who is not only mated to a mixed wolf, but who has just invited a vampire to join our packs. If someone had told me this would happen a few years ago, I would have never believed them.

Yet here we were and to be honest…I could not be happier. I had never imagined that I would know love like this. I had not believed it to be possible before. But the love that I had for this wolf was beyond overwhelming. It felt as though my heart were already overflowing, yet he constantly found a way to make me love him more. I was not sure how it was possible. But it was and it was the most amazing feeling.

He fell asleep quickly, likely from sheer exhaustion. I, on the other hand, stayed awake as long as I possibly could. Basking in the feeling of love and safety that I felt being in his arms like this. I wanted to memorize the feel of my body against his, just in case, this was the last time that I ever got to enjoy this.