The Magic of Hecate
Chapter 7 Chapter 7

A few days later,

"We could go back to the Mafia archive,” Max suggested as wecontinued to walk, exasperated from the heat of the exposedcountryside and completely out of ideas of what to do about Milly. Ican't remember how we even ended up in this particularly drysunflower field but the strong powdery aroma was irritating my noseand the thick itchy stalks were getting on my last nerve as we tried ourbest to wade through them.

"We definitely couldn't. Do you have a death wish?" I responded beforeletting out a huge sigh. "Hecate's bloody amulet could be anywhere inthe entire bloody world.”

"And we only have a limited amount of time before your psycho of amate turns up and drags you back to America and leaves me in abloody mess on the floor," Max added.

"Unnecessarily morbid. Thanks, Maximus,” I replied. "And he's not apsycho. He's just very overly protective of someone who doesn't wantnor need to be protected.”

"He is the definition of a psycho.”

"He is also the father of my children and my mate so can you shut thefuck up?” I hissed losing my temper with both him and the wretchedsunflowers.

"Sorry little miss angsty,” he grumbled quietly. "What's got your pantiesin a twist?"

"You."

A few seconds later we finally reached the edge of the field andescaped the claws of the sunflowers. I looked up as I wiped the sweatfrom my brow to come face to face with a slender, tall woman. She wasthin and bony but muscular and strong too. Her dead straight brunettehair reached the end of her spine and her harsh piercing dark eyesremained fixated on the two of us. Her skin was smooth over thepointed features of her face and she wore a serious, motionlessexpression. I'd put her around forty give or take a few years.

After far too long of standing uncomfortably under her glare, her thinlips twitched upwards and she finally opened her mouth to speak."Are you aware that you are on my territory?" she asked in a cold,authoritative tone.

"Your territory?" Max questioned.

"You are on the land of the Girasole pack. I am the Alpha of the saidpack, therefore, this is my territory. What are you doing on it?"

"You're an Alpha? But you're a-" Max began but she interrupted.

"A woman. Yes, congratulations. A wonderous observation. To answeryour next question: my mother failed to produce my father a male heirbefore dying, so here we are, a female Alpha. Do you have a problemwith that?" she responded sharply.

"No," Max replied quickly. "Not at all.”

"Good. Now I will ask once more, what are you doing on my land?""I'm sorry, Alpha. We were just passing through and we didn't realisethere was a pack here. we don't even know where here is. We'll be onour way," I replied walking back into the sunflowers and dragging Maxwith me as he stood still in awe of the concept of a female Alpha. Getover it man. My question is: how did we miss this pack on our searchfor the Hereditary?

"Hold on," she said and I paused before turning back to her."American?"

I exchanged nervous glances with Max. I probably should have let Maxdo the speaking. He hardly has an American accent when he speaksItalian at all. Probably because, unlike me, he was brought up speakingit.

"Yes," I replied after a slight hesitation. "We are here, in Italy, for familyreasons.”

"Don't bother lying to me. Every Alpha in the world is aware of yourdisappearance, Ella Loren,” she said. "There's a big reward for the onethat returns you safely home to your mate.”

My face dropped as my heart rate raised.

"Luckily for you, I have never been one for rewards. But I am curious,what is your real business here?" she asked.

"We are looking for something,” I began. "A kind of amulet. It is for mycousin, Max's sister,” I added gesturing towards Max. "And, crazy as itsounds, it is supposed to help her control her magical powers. Troubleis: we don't have a clue where to even begin looking. It could beanywhere in the world and that's if it still exists.”

"I believe that I know someone that can help you," she said her facesoftening slightly. "Come with me."

She turned around and began to walk away from the sunflowers.

To begin with I didn't follow her and instead looked at Max for somekind of reassurance. Unfortunately, he seemed just as unsure as me."You can relax, Luna. I will not be sharing your whereabouts with yourmate. You clearly have something important to do," she said withouteven turning around.

Max shrugged his shoulders and began to follow her.

"What choice do we have?" he said to me quietly.