Chapter 189

Maeve’s POV

“That book has been locked away, there’s no way she has the book,” Arlan said, narrowing his eyes at me. “It’s not possible.”

I nibbled on my lower lip.

“It is if I was the one who gave it to her,” I admitted softly.

“You did what??’ He asked, his tone rising and I could hear the death in his voice. He was pissed and he was seeing red; if I wasn’t careful with my next words, it could be me that ends up dead beneath him.

“That book didn’t belong to you; it belonged to my mother. I’m not sure how you got it, but it shouldn’t have been kept here. It needed to be returned to the tribe.”

His eyes narrowed.

“What have they told you?” He asked, his eyes studying me.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, not sure what it was that he meant.

“They told me the truth,” I replied, trying to keep my tone casual.

He scoffed, his eyes rolling as he shook his head.

“No, they didn’t,” he murmured. “They told you a made up lie and you were naive enough to believe them.”

“No,” I said sharply. “They are my family; they wouldn’t lie to me like that.”

He let out a bitter laugh.

“Wouldn’t they?” He asked. “I bet they also told you that only an Enigma can cast spells from that book?”

My heart was beating fast in my chest.

“Yes,” I said. “Is that not true?”

I put my hand protectively on my belly, stepping away from him, not sure if he was stable enough to be around right now. He was furious and pacing back and forth; I felt like a caged animal.

“Only those with the blood of the Red Oak Tribe can cast spells in those books,” he said through his teeth. “I kept it here for protection because if it fell into the wrong hands, it could be dangerous. It’s filled with dark magic and curses that could ultimately be our end.

I shook my head, my mind whirling with all this new information; thoughts and confusion slammed into me. Had I been lied to? Or am I being lied to by King Arlan? I wasn’t sure who to trust in this moment and it was killing me.

“How long ago did you give them the spellbook?” He asked, an urgency in his tone.

“It was yesterday,” I breathed. “I….” I almost told him that I gave it to Eric, but I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to involve him in this. Then I remembered something. “I have the blood of a Red Oak tribe member because my birth mother was the founder. I couldn’t even open the book.”

‘You need magic to open it,” he said, cutting my swelling hope with a knife, popping me like a balloon. “He was walking back to his desk, grabbing his phone without sparing me a look. “I need warriors. A lot of them.”

I shook my head, tears welling up in my eyes as the gravity of the situation started to weigh on me.

“They only want to talk; they promised me that no harm would come to anybody as long as you cooperate. They are after peace, not war.”

“They're after revenge,” he growled. “They lived on an island with criminals for years, Maeve. Tell me, did my son truly choose a naive mate for himself? How will you birth an Enigma with a mind like yours?”

“You have no idea what you are talking about!” I said, my voice was more forceful than I intended.

“What’s going on?” Xaden asked, rushing into the room. Lucas was with him and his eyes were wide as he stared between me and his father. Apparently we were loud enough to draw attention; or maybe they could feel the King’s Alpha’s powers radiating throughout the room.

The second Xaden saw my face, his eyes darkened and then he turned to his father, a bite in his words as he demanded, “What did you say to her?”

“Watch your mouth when you speak to me,” his father roared. “I am still the king here and right now I need to make sure my kingdom is safe. Your mate might have cost us everything!”

“No, they wouldn’t lie to me like this, they—”

“Alpha King! We have a breach in security. They are dead! They are all dead!” A loud voice came down the hallway. My entire body froze as I saw the color draining from Arlan’s face. He didn’t bother sparing me a look as he rushed out of his office, Xaden hot on his trail. I couldn’t make my legs work; I stood frozen, not sure what was happening.

And then I felt it… it was a darkness like no other. The use of dark magic was powerful and though I never encountered it or felt it before, I knew I could recognize it. It was strong and consuming, nearly bringing me to my knees. The screams echoed around me, closing in around me and making me feel as if I couldn’t breathe. As I looked out the window, there was a slight purple haze to the nightfall, and I knew something dangerous was approaching. It was a briefing of the feeling I got when holding that spellbook, only this felt more powerful.

“Miss Maeve!” I heard someone saying from nearby and telling from the tone, it wasn’t the first time they were trying to get my attention.

I turned to see one of the Gamma warriors standing at the doorway of King Arlan’s office.

“I need to round up all the women and children. You need to come with me for safety,” he told me, urging me to follow him.

With shaky legs, I finally made it towards the door.

“What’s going on?” I asked, my voice sounding unfamiliar as I let him guide me out of the room and down the long corridor.

“Our security has been breached, there’s been an attack. Human witches and bears,” he explained without looking at me.

My entire heart fell deep into my stomach.

Bears?

I opened my mouth to speak, but I saw Queen Leonora and Char rush towards me, both with frightened and worried expressions. Leonora was the first to reach me and she wrapped me in a large hug.

“There’s a battle outside right now,” she explained. “The bears have dark magic on their side.”

Tears spilled out of my eyes as reality set in… the bears were using the witches as weapons, their dark magic. Had this been the plan the whole time? Was this whole thing a set up? I stood frozen as Leonora tried to fill me in on what she knew. They were taking the women and the children into the underground bunker for protection until after the battle.

“I need to see Xaden,” I said, panic striking me.

This whole thing… it was my fault.

“It’s too dangerous,” Leonora told her, worry clear in her gaze. “As much as I want to make sure my mate is okay, it’s too dangerous to risk anything. We need to go right now.”

I was panicking; this was entirely my fault. I needed to fix this.

“I have to see Xaden; I need to make sure he’s okay,” I said, my heart hammering in my chest.

I could feel a surge inside my chest, something begging me to move forwards and go to our mate. Something in me and that knew everything was not going to be okay. I barely remembered running, but I did remember the piercing screams of Char while Leonora called after me.

Mayhem: there was mayhem everywhere. I didn’t even recognize the foyer of the palace; it was completely destroyed. Hues of fire painted what were once the walls and floors. Magic etched in stone, taunting my very presence. I could hear the screaming and the killing as the battle continued. Bears were attacking wolves and wolves were desperate to protect themselves, but there was something in the air that drained their magic, that made them weaker and less able to defend themselves.

My eyes found Mirage who was standing with her coven, the dark magic swirling around them, strengthening the bears and weakening the wolves. Mirage held the spellbook firmly in her hands and her eyes were filled with vengeance and death.

There were no signs of Xaden which made me panic even more. The king was also vanished, but I did see our warriors trying to fight the bears, and failing miserably.

“Mirage!” I called out to her, trying to get her attention. I spoke over the wind from the storm and the chaos that was going on around us. For a moment, I didn’t think she heard me, but then her eyes turned to my direction and narrowed. “Please! You have to stop this. I thought you wanted peace!”

“There is no peace when it comes to wolves,” Mirage said through her teeth. “The King took away our home… took away our lives… he deserves to die just as his kingdom does.”

My heart cracked when I heard the venom in her words and eyes. This was not the same woman I met on the island; this was a different version of her, a dangerous version of her.

“I’m sorry to have deceived you,” Mirage said, though there was no remorse in her tone. “I hope you can understand that we are all after the same thing… a better world. Unfortunately, we can't have a better world with the wolf kingdom still standing.”

The darkness grew around her, making her natural aura darken.

“How could you lie to me?” I asked her, tears spilling out of my eyes. “I only wanted to help you.”

‘And you did help me. You brought me a book I had been searching for years for. Now we have the power to take over the nation and destroy the King.”

I clenched my fists, anger coursing through me. I knew it was stupid to provoke an angry witch using dark magic while I was heavily pregnant, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. I went to lung at her with all the power I had inside me, but someone grabbed my arm, squeezing it so tight it brought me to my knees almost immediately.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” the familiar voice said from behind me. He still held onto my arm, but loosened his grip so I could recover myself.

When I turned to look at him, my breath hitched in my throat.