Chapter 82

Helen POV

I stepped back, cocking my head at the little mortal on the couch, before staring off into the foyer for Ezequiel. Her half-brother seemed just as confused as I did.

“Did—did you know about this?”

Ezequiel shook his head in dismissal. “I had no idea, Luna. I’ve never met her father. If she is a wizard then that means her father had to be one, and we never talked about him much.”

“So weird,” I furrowed, watching Martha gasp and sweat profusely. “So, what’s the sickness? Wizards don’t go into heat, Gwen. What’s wrong with her?”

“There’s some kind of curse at play,” the healer hummed. “I know from the Beta that King Juden has taken the wizards to his pack lands and I think he used a calling spell to make them stay there. Whatever it is, it’s calling for her to leave this place and join her clan.”

“No,” I snapped. “She can’t go to Alpha King Juden, he will do nothing but harm her. She has to stay here. Is there anything you can do to help her?”

“She’s not of our kind,” Gwen said meekly. “There’s nothing that I can do to help.”

I nodded and stalked out of the house, just to get her groaning, uncomfortable cries out of my head. Randy followed me back to Justin’s side, him and the Fae mid-argument when we walked in.

Justin took a break from berating our guest, sliding an arm around me so I’d sit comfortably in his side. “How’s our mortal?”

“She’s not really a mortal,” I said, flicking a look to Russo. “She’s a wizard. There’s some kind of curse that’s calling for her, like Juden is trying to rake up every wizard nearby to come to his pack.”

“This really isn’t good,” Russo barked. “He’s building a wizard army by force, Lycan! What are we supposed to do? We can’t face a hundred wizards! Juden will probably cast a spell to make them turn against us all.”

“How would he do that?” I pondered.

Russo hung his head. “He just needs one wizard to agree to cast the manipulation spell. If that wizard in your pack can feel a calling beacon, it means it’s too late. He has one on his side and he’s preparing for something.”

“He’s preparing a cross-species war,” Justin groaned.

I rattled at the thought of such a thing. “We’re strong, but we can’t beat magic without killing the source.”

“You can’t kill my people,” Russo whispered, tears welling in his wide, worried eyes. “They’re all I have left.”

“If they attack us under a spell, then there’s nothing I can really do,” Justin muttered. “I have to protect my kind before all else, Fae. Under a spell, or not, if a wizard strikes our pack, we will strike back in full force.”

Russo looked to me, panting, his entire demeanor crumbling in seconds. “They’re innocent, though! You would be killing innocent beings!”

“Yeah, well so were we!” Justin was fuming, his fangs sharpened by the second. “We had done nothing wrong and you betrayed us! Now you’ve got some kind of moral compass?”

“So what, this is payback?! They did nothing to you, they were acting under my discretion and—”

“Enough,” I barked, my head starting to ache in thought. “This isn’t helping anything!”

Randy nodded, kicking back the only standing chair left and taking a seat. “Let’s talk this through, alright? We need to know where the wizards are being held so I say we take advantage of our new little wizard.”

Justin agreed but my heart dropped. “What, you mean use Martha?”

My mate replied, “Well, if she is feeling a pull to the beacon then the other wizards will be there too, so it’s only smart to use her to find out—”

“I don’t want to use her,” I growled, pushing from his side. “If your father gets a hold of her, he will hurt her, same as he’s done to me! I can’t let her be in chains and be starved and be beaten and—”

I gasped my inhale, feeling so sick I thought I would pass out for sure. I backed out of the kitchen, watching as ever Russo seemed onboard with this idea.

“If she gets captured, I’m going after her,” I snapped. “No matter what you say!”

“You will listen to me, Helen, I am your Alpha! You are my mate and the moment she finds the wizards and the beacon, we will storm in and free the wizards, okay? But you can not be part of that, mate. Not even close!”

I shuddered. “You’ll just have to stop me then,” I gasped.

I ran out of the house, sprinting to Martha and Ezequiel’s home. I burst through the door to see Martha being held back while her eyes were glassy white and hazed in curse.

She struggled to leave, being held back by her half-brother who was pleading for her to stop, to not leave, but Justin was a few steps behind me already.

“Let her go,” Justin growled, his Alpha tone slapping us all. “She’s going to lead us to the beacon.”

Gwen brushed Ezequiel back and I watched Martha free herself from his grasp. She charged out the door, marching for the woods. Justin snatched my wrist, pulling me back to stay behind while he commanded our warriors to follow Martha from a distance.

“You’re staying here,” my mate said.

I pulled free of his hold on my wrist, but he caught the other. We repeated the process until I finally brought our grappling to the ground, pushing and crawling to break free of his caging arms.

Martha was half way out of my eye sight by now. I wanted to call out to her but whatever Juden had placed over her species was too strong. She wasn’t herself right now.

“Are you done?!” Justin snapped.

I pushed his hands off my hips, kicking to be cut loose. “I am going with her! I have to make sure she isn’t caught, Justin! She is my friend.”

“You are the Luna,” Justin purred, his lips pressed to my cheek while he pinned me to the ground. “She will understand when she snaps out of the curse.”

I gave up, exasperated and unable to fight my mate anymore.

[She’s not safe] Joy groaned in my head, whimpering over the young, immature wizard walking toward her demise. [We have to stop her]

“I’ll stay,” I bit, a lie.

He nodded, seeming to know that. “Randy, please use any force necessary to ensure my mate stays behind. I will follow the wizard to Juden’s pack. Helen stays here.”

“Yes, Alpha,” Randy replied diligently.

Justin planted a one-sided kiss on my lips before he stood up. “I love you, mate.”

I didn’t reply, just watched him run off to follow his warriors. I couldn’t let Martha be captured, and Justin made it clear she isn’t a priority if she’s not a wolf.

The only one who could protect her was me.

Randy scowled as he helped me to a stand. “You’re still going to try and run off, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely.”