The Ivory Queen
Chapter 99

**Aurora’s POV***

The witch looks no older than I am and she’s incredibly beautiful with creamy pale skin and blazing red hair, her tight ringlets flowing freely down her back. Her eyes are a vibrant greenish blue with fiery gold rings around the irises.

She smiles politely at me and I smile back, although I keep my guard up. She is a witch after all and I have a terrible track record with them.

“You have a lovely home, your majesty,” she says, her eyes darting all around the living room.

I’m surprised to hear she has an English accent. She shifts nervously under the gaze of all the wolves present. Carter went off to his meeting while Rosalie went to go deal with Simone. To my left, I have Celina and her family and to my right, Evan sits on the edge of the couch. I can hear the uneasiness in his heart. A few guards and a couple pack house members are also present, curiously watching the witch.

“Thank you. Umm, you can call me Aurora. There’s no need for the-uh-title,” I mutter, fidgeting with my hands. She nods. “So what should call you? W-What’s your name, I mean?”

“Guinevere. You can call me Gwen,” She shrugs, patting her knees. “So what can I do for ya? Pat tells me you have a witch problem of sorts.”,

Pat? They must be really close if she calls him that…

“Right, a witch problem,” Celina says dryly, glaring at Gwen.

“Would you stop looking at her like that?” I hiss.

“She’s a f*****g witch! How can you even trust her right now?”

“Alpha Patrick sent her! If he trusts her then she must be on our side.”

“Witches are never on our side. They only look out for themselves!” Celina protests.

“I see you don’t trust me,” the witch interrupts us, looking at Celina accusingly.

I sigh. “I’m sorry. It’s just… we’ve been through a lot because of your kind-“

“As have we witches and yet here I came willingly to help a friend,” Gwen retorts, a hint of irritation in her voice.

Evan is quick to my defense and snarls menacingly at her. The witch doesn’t even flinch, remaining perfectly still as Evan growls at her.

“Evan,” I warn and he sits back, rolling his eyes at me.

Gwen gives Evan a bored, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her seat.

“So your witch problem…” she mutters, letting out a tired sigh. “What kind of witches are we dealing with here?”

“That’s the problem. We don’t know,” I say sheepishly. “All we have are their names and their demands.”

I proceed to explain the situation, the witch listening patiently to my every detail. Her face grows grim when I tell her of their letter and the b***d they seek.

“Let me see the letter,” she says.

I quickly produce it for her and she reads it carefully.

“This is not good,” she says after a while, shaking her head nervously. “There are very few witches who can even handle using b***d in their magic. It’s quite dangerous and the spells are never good.”

“So do you know what type of witches Tais and Ira are?” I ask.

“I have an inkling but give me a moment.”

Gwen closes her eyes and places her palm flat over the page. She chants a few strange words to herself and I watch uneasily as her palm glows with forest green light.

“House of Animus,” she mutters, her eyes flickering with slight fear. “Oh Gods.”

“House of Animus?” I ask.

“Yes. There are five houses of witches in existence: the House of Ignis, the House of Unda, the House of Terra, the House of Caelum and the House of Animus. Apart from the House of Animus, each house specializes in one of the four elements and trust me, you do not want to mess with a witch from the House of Animus.”

“Why not?” I ask, my heart sinking to the pit of my stomach.

She thinks for a second, seemingly trying to replace a good explanation. “Well, they are rare and posses incredible strength and power. Unlike the other houses, a witch from the house of Animus has a strong connection with Spirit. Spirit is a very difficult element to control but it can wield infinite power. Every living thing has a spirit so as a spirit witch, you can draw energy from virtually any source.”

“So what do a couple of spirit witches want with our b***d,” Celina asks.

“I can’t say for sure. I don’t know much about b***d spells. Like I said, only a few witches can handle that kind of magic and I don’t mess with dark magic. I can look into it though. I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

“So which house do you belong to?” I ask, curious to know what kind of witch I’m dealing with.

“House of terra. I’m an earth witch. Most of the spells I work with involve herbs and plants.”

My ears perk up at this.

“I need everyone out. Celina can stay,” I order.

Valentina, who up until this point had remained silent, protests.

“Mija, I can’t leave you two alone with this… witch!” she glares at Gwen with disgust. “Not after everything that’s happened-“

“I can assure you, I mean the twins no harm,” Gwen declares, her voice strong but calm. “As I said before, I came as a favor to a friend and I would never harm one of Pat’s allies.”

Curiosity gets the best of me. “How do you know the Alpha?”

A tiny smile spreads across her lips and she closes her emerald eyes, as if reminiscing a beautiful memory.

“I was a very young and stubborn witch back then,” she chuckles. “And I got myself into a bit of a mess with a clan of vampires. Patrick and I happened to cross paths and he saved my life. I’ll never forget that. I was a witch and yet he still helped me. Not many werewolves in his shoes would have done the same,” she says, eyeing Celina and her family.

“No I suppose not,” I mumble, looking at my sister who gives me an unapologetic smile.

“There haven’t been any vampires in the area in almost 30 years,” Evan argues, making Gwen laugh. “How is that even possible. You look like a teenager.”

“At my age, that’s a compliment,” the witch chirps.

“How old are you?” Celina asks, bewilderment in her eyes as she stares back at the witch.

Gwen shakes her head, the smile never leaving her lips. “A lady never tells,” she giggles. “Besides… I’m immortal. Age is honestly just a number at this point for me.”

Celina frowns and rolls her eyes in annoyance. As I glance around the room, I realize no one is willing to leave us alone with the witch. I trusted everyone here but Tais and Iras words were engraved in my brain. They knew very thing about me. Every little detail and with painful accuracy, which could only mean one thing: someone was betraying me. No matter how hard I thought about it, I could not decipher who the traitor was.

I let out a heavy sigh. I guess there’s only one thing left to do.

For a few moments, I remain quiet and empty my mind except for my task at hand. Concentrating on everyone around me, except for the witch and Celina, I slowly tone down everyone’s ability to hear. Within seconds, everyone is completely deaf and much to my dismay, terribly frightened.

Evan looks around furiously, trying to replace a hint of a sound but replaces none.

“I’m sorry,” I say and his eyes widen in shock.

“Aurora cut it out, please,” he begs.

“You have silenced their world,” Gwen says, staring curiously at my panicked wolves. “Interesting.”

“Aurora what did you do?” Celina snaps, eyeing her mom who is cupping her ears frantically.

“I temporarily made them deaf. Tais and Ira know everything about us which means someone close to us must be informing them,” I finally admit. “What I want to talk about, the witches can’t know about.”

Celina looks at her mom. “It’s going to be okay, Mami.”

Valentina calms down and urges Diego and Danny to do the same. I turn back to Evan and the guards who are still frightened by the loss of their hearing.

“Breathe,” I whisper, taking a deep breath to show them what I mean and they seem to understand. They each take a breath and settle down. Turning back to the witch, I think over my words carefully.

“As you know, we all have our weaknesses, a werewolf’s kryptonite being-“

“Silver and wolfsbane,” the witch finishes for me.

“Right … and a witch’s weakness is bronze,” I add, shifting my hands in my lap.

“Where are you going with this?” Celina mind links.

“I found out our weakness.”

Time stands still and Celina turns to look at me.

“Explain,” she demands and I proceed to give her the details I discovered about the flame lily and queen of the night flower.

Her face hardens. “And you want to tell the witch our weakness?”

You can’t tell the witch! Reyna snarls.

“No, but I want to know if Tais and Ira could possibly know it. If there is perhaps some way they could break the enchantment spell on our records. If they can read it, we need to replace an antidote. An earth witch seems suitable for the job.”

She g****s but ultimately agrees to let me ask. She speeds up time again and I begin my questioning.

“Celina and I are not your average werewolves.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Gwen laughs.

Celina rolls her eyes and I resist the urge to smack her.

“Keep rolling your eyes and they might roll out of your head!” I hiss.

She pouts but sits still.

“Anyways,” I sigh. “The secrets of our kind are kept hidden in enchanted books and sources. Could a witch somehow bypass these enchantments and read them for themselves?”

Gwen shakes her head. “No, most enchantments on such records were created by faes. A witch can’t undo that type of magic and its unlikely a fae would ever willingly help a witch. We are ancient enemies afterall.”

I heave a sigh of relief but am cut short immediately by Gwen’s next words.

“That doesn’t mean another wolf couldn’t read it to them,” she adds quietly.

***Oliver’s POV***

My wolf has yet to return and these woods seem endless. I have no idea where I am and I know I’m running in circles. I’ve passed the same large boulder seated next to a patch of dandelions three times now and I’m getting nervous. In the distance, I see an old tree sitting alone in an empty patch of grass and decide to take a break from running to catch my breath and gather my bearings. Settling down at the base of the tree, I listen to my heart come to a steady pace when I notice a black owl with sickly red eyes watching me, spinning its head in curiosity. It almost looks like it’s laughing at me.

It flies off its branch and lands directly in front of me, its red eyes boring into the my soul.

“Hello Oliver,” it says smugly, hopping a few inches closer to me.

I flinch at the sound of its voice and back up against the tree trunk.

Tais?

“Lost?” the owl chuckles, spreading out its wings and shaking them slightly.

I must be going crazy! I think to myself, blinking hard at the bird.

“I underestimated you, Alpha,” Tais says with amusement. “You are quite the warrior…” she adds, scratching her face with her talons. “It’s alright, though. I won’t make the same mistake twice.”

“What-“

“You want your wolf back so badly,” She sneers, prepping herself for flight. “Well, careful what you wish for!”

The sound of rustling leaves in the distance catches my attention and I turn to see none other than Karina approaching. I’m on my feet in an instant, ignoring the protests from my body.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I snarl as she stops a few feet away from me. I hear Tais perch up on the tree again to watch.

“Following orders,” she says before lunging at me.

I barely manage to dodge her attack but she recuperates quickly and manages to get a few quickly blows to the backs of my things. I stagger forward and somehow manage to regain my footing. She’s incredibly fast, however, and as I defend myself against her, I realize she’s a talented fighter. She dodges all of my punches with ease, seemingly anticipating my every move. I have yet to land a punch.

Where did she learn to fight like this?

I press on, however, determined to make it back to my mate. A kick to the face sends me crashing to the ground and before I make it back up, I feel the pinch of a syringe on my thigh. The b***d drains from my face.

No, not again!

Karina steps back, tossing the now used syringe off to the side and looking for approval from the owl. I feel a burning sensation race through my veins and I cry out in pain as it intensifies.

“What did you do to me?” I scream in agony, my body writhing, hoping for relief.

“Giving you your wolf back,” Tais snickers before turning to Karina. “You know what to do now.”

Karina nods. “Yes master.”

The pain starts to subside, the feeling replaced with intense anger. In fact, it’s all I feel, rage filling every cell in my body. That’s when my claws start coming out, tufts of fur sprouting all over my body.

Michael? I call out

I get a snarl in response and I’m shoved to the back of my mind as he takes over and shifts into his wolf.

Michael, what the f**k? I snap, fighting to gain control back.

His presence is overbearing, his anger quickly consuming every thought in my mind and I loose the battle. It’s as if a veil of rage covers my eyes and all I see is red.

Let me out! I cry.

But Michael is in complete control now and he towers over Karina, snarling and baring his teeth at her. She gives him a bored look, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her foot impatiently.

“Stand down,” she orders and much to my surprise, Michael obeys. She turns her back to me, gesturing me to follow her with an index finger. “Come on. We have work to do.”

Michael gets up and follows.

No! Michael!

That’s the last thing I scream before the fury consumes me and I lose consciousness.