The Elemental Mate
Chapter 2

Xander POV

My wolf, Kai, snarled in my mind as we continued to sit in silence as the other Alphas in the room argued amongst themselves.

It's not like they could actually act upon their grievances towards each other. Black Stone had an alliance with Blue Moon and a blood bond with the Howler Pack. The Howler Pack had an alliance with Crescent Moon who had an alliance treaty with Silver Dusk and had a blood bond with Red Shadow. Red Shadow then had an alliance with Midnight Eclipse and a blood bond with my own pack Moonstone, and I had an alliance with both Black Stone and Blue Moon. Then we all had a peace treaty with the Hollows Pack of Lycans.

With every peace treaty and blood bond between all of the packs, no two packs could go against each other without every other pack retaliating. It was a stalemate no Alpha liked to admit was happening. Even with every large pack in North America being tied to each other through alliances, that didn’t stop the threats of violence every couple of minutes as no one could agree on what to do.

Hey Xander. I’m bored, I looked over to my beta, Asher, as he spoke. He rolled his eyes to the ceiling as he tried to convince me to ditch the rest of the meeting, They’ve been arguing for over an hour. Why did we even agree to come to this?

Because we aren’t allowed to ignore a summons, and its tradition I told him as he groaned.

I hate traditions.

You and me both, I thought to myself as Kai nodded his head in agreement.

“Enough,” one of the Alpha’s called out. I looked at him as I noticed the man. His name was Alpha Knight of the Black Stone Pack. He was older than most of the other alphas in the room and even though he would be handing his pack down to his son within the next couple of years, his voice still captured everyone’s attention immediately, “We have enough problems without arguing with each other. Over the last few years, the rogues are growing bolder. They are attacking small packs now, but with more coordination then we have ever seen them use.”

“It seems that they are working as if they are in a pack. They are disciplined in their attacks,” Alpha Madden, of the Blue Moon pack, commented, “We can only assume someone is leading them.”

Alpha Madden was only a few years older than I was, but he and his pack have the most experience when it comes to the growing rogue threat. His land borders no man’s territory, so if the rogues ever got brave enough to attack a larger pack, his would-be first.

“Have there been any movements of the rogues towards your land?” I ask him, hoping the rogues will stick to their territory.

“Not yet,” he tells us, “But it’s only a matter of time before they will; however, there have been strange activity near the edge of pack lands.”

“What do you mean by strange?” Alpha Knight asked, his brows furrowed.

“A week ago, I received news of a group of witches trying to get into my territory. When we got close enough to sense them though, they immediately left the land,” Alpha Madden says.

“No witch has tried crossing into wolf territory in years,” the alpha of Red Shadow says, “Every coven knows of the agreement between us.”

“Any witch who breaks the agreement is to immediately be killed,” Alpha Knight snarled, the room goes quiet. Each of us knew of his hatred for the witches since his sister was attacked by a coven of them nearly eighteen years ago. He had fought with the Hollower pack and killed the coven, but his sister had lost her unborn child due to the dark magic.

“They know the consequences, but I don’t know why they would try,” Alpha Madden said. The room stayed silent.

“I know,” every eye turned to the female voice who had spoken. Standing in the doorway was a woman, ablut five and a half feet tall with short blonde hair and ivory skin. She was maybe thirty-something, but her cold blue eyes showed she may have been much older.

“And who might you be?” The Alpha of Red Shadow asked.

“My name is Iris Crowther,” many of the wolves started growling at her, “Oh, I see my reputation precedes me,” she smiles coldly.

“What do you want witch?” Alpha Knight growled lowly.

Iris put her hands up in mock surrender, “I’m not here to fight, not yet at least,” more growls sounded throughout the room before she continued, “I called you all here to give you a warning.”

“If the witches want a war –” Alpha Madden started but she cut him off.

“What is it with you wolves and always threatening war. We don’t want a fight. We learned our lesson the first time,” she said as she started to walk around the room, “You wolves got enough of my kind killed during the witch trials. There is no need for useless bloodshed unless you don’t give me what I want.”

“What is it that you want then?” I spoke up. I may have been one of the youngest alphas in the room, by the tone of my voice carried the authority of an alpha as well as my impatience.

She turned at my voice as she smiled, “I need to replace a witch.”

“We don’t meddle in witch business and the witches stay off pack land, that was the deal made years ago,” The Red Shadow Alpha spoke.

“Deals change,” she sneered at him before approaching the head of the table, “I’m here to put a new deal on the table,” when no one replied, she continued, “I want this witch found, the sooner the better.”

“Who is this witch?” Alpha Knight asked, trying to contain the rage that was filling the room caused by this woman.

“Well, I’m glad you asked,” she smiled brightly, although I could see the sinister cruelty behind it, “Her name is Aurora. She is nineteen with long red hair and she smells of witch. You shouldn’t need much else to go on, you won’t miss her if she is in your pack.”

“Why would we help you replace some random witch?”

“She’s a young girl, naïve about what she has gotten herself into,” Iris sneered, “She broke coven law, and she has to answer for it. I’m sure none of you would want a criminal in your pack.”

“Coven law has no power over the packs. Whatever law was broken is a matter for the witches, not for us,” Alpha Knight said, “If she is in pack land, it is not our problem.”

She smiles again at this, “The coven tracked her into wolf territory, and I will not allow you wolves to hide her from me,” her smile was widened as she clapped her hands together, “So, if I discover that any of your packs are hiding this witch, or know where she is, I will slaughter that pack, without mercy.”

Growls erupted from the room as each Alpha prepared to attack this ignorant witch. Never should she have come into this room and threatened our packs.

“You should not have threatened us,” Alpha Knight growled lowly.

“Oh, that wasn’t a threat. That was a promise,” she smiled sourly, “I truly hope I won’t discover that you have gone against my wishes. The sooner the witch is found, the faster the witches will disappear from anywhere near the packs.”

Before another word could be spoken, she clapped her hands together and evaporated, disappearing into thin air.