Jasmine

After the Order left, the three of us kind of just stood there, unsure what had just happened. They came in here like a whirlwind, demanding answers, but then left just as quickly after they had tried to brainwash me, or whatever it was Evan tried to do.

After a moment, Benji took charge and decided we should make coffee and summon Josh, saying it would be better for him to be here now, rather than having to relay the information later on.

Which is how I got to be here, sitting across the table from Liam who looks... nervous? Is he nervous I won’t have any good news or just nervous about everything that just happened? I'm sure he noticed something off about Stephen, he’d have to be a pretty bad Alpha if he didn’t, and is just waiting for me to confirm what he already knows.

Benji comes out with a tray laden with four cups of coffee. He hands one to each of us, leaving the last for when Josh arrives. I take my cup gratefully and use it to warm my hands, sipping it slowly as I think.

I'm still slightly surprised that Josh is the pack Beta. I knew he held some kind of power over the pack from the way they all showed him respect when we visited each of the pack members and their children. They all looked up to him and seemed to love the attention he showed them. He spoke to them with such strong confidence and they would stop just to talk to him, like they couldn’t help but be near him. To be honest, I should have realized it sooner.

I'm sitting here thinking over ways to ease into telling them what I learned. There's no way in hell they'll be happy finding out a wolf has been cursed by the two witches who should all be working to protect each other. It’s a shitty thing to happen, especially to one of their own. I can imagine that's going to make things a whole lot worse.

As I take another sip of my coffee, the door opens and in walks Josh. He takes a seat at the table across from me, wearing a massive smile. "Why hello, Jasmine. It’s nice to see you up and around again. I’ll admit, I started to get a little worried after the third day of you being out until I watched you not so elegantly eat a burger and dribble bbq sauce down your chin," he teases, and I flame red in embarrassment. It doesn't surprise me in the least, but to have people witness my messy eating while in a magic coma, God, just kill me now.

He reaches for the remaining cup of coffee, maintaining his smirk as he does. When he takes a sip, I lean forward, a flirty smile in place. I ignore Benji and Liam's growls as I meet Josh's laughing eyes. "Bbq sauce isn't the only thing I let dribble down my chin."

He chokes on his coffee before he bursts out laughing. Benji and Liam are still tense until Josh directs his gaze their way. "I'm sorry, Alphas. No disrespect meant, it’s just a little game Jas and I play trying to outwit the other. I forgot that you were still unmated. I beg your forgiveness."

I frown. Forgiveness? We were just playing around; it’s not like we're having some kind of affair. Not that it’s their business anyway. Just because they're my mates, doesn't mean I can't joke around with other guys. My teasing nature is a big part of my life, and I won't be subdued by their need to dominate me.

"Excuse me! Josh, you don't apologize for just playing around." I turn my glare to the two Alphas at either end of the table. "I can joke around with whoever I want. I don't want any of this, 'sorry Alphas' bullshit! I can be friends with whoever I want. Capiche?"

Benji chuckles. "It’s not that we're limiting who you can be friends with, Jazzy, but Josh crossed the line by talking about you like that. He apologized for any offence that may have been given, but from your response, I gather this must be a usual occurrence, so no apology was necessary. I was about to say exactly that before you decided to go on your little rant," he teases, his eyes sparkling with laughter.

I sit back in my chair, deflated. "Oh . . . ."

Liam, Benji, and Josh all laugh at me. I get up from my chair, refusing to let them see my embarrassment. Instead, I focus on the fact that I need to seal the house magically from outside ears before I tell them anything.

I place my hand on the outside wall of the house and close my eyes as I pull on my magic. I can hear the muttering from the three men at the table as they wonder what I'm doing, so I explain. "I'm soundproofing the pack house. If anyone walks in, they won't overhear anything we say because it will all sound like gibberish until I release the spell," I murmur as I concentrate on weaving the spell.

My magic feels different, wilder, as the spell does its work. For a moment before it seals, my magic rebels, and I almost lose control before I am able to rein it back. The spell seals successfully, but not without great effort on my part.

I sit back in my chair, feeling a little out of breath. It shouldn't have reacted that way. I control my magic, it doesn't control me. Even though it’s always been a bit unpredictable, my magic has never behaved that way. It’s like it was defying me. Maybe my little encounter with Evan did more than just muddle me, maybe he actually did something to my magic?

I take a sip of my coffee, trying to calm myself and not show how affected I am, but the whole experience left me shaken. Once I know I can talk without a tremble in my voice, I tell them everything.

"You guys aren't going to like what I have to say, but please wait for me to finish before you speak," I plead, my eyes on each of them, waiting for their assent.

At least I know I won't have to relay too much to Josh, since he's been brought up to speed on everything but what happened during our meeting with the Order members.

Once they've all nodded their agreement to remain level-headed, I take a breath and launch into what I discovered. "Right, so before I explain anything else, you should know that Stephen, the wolf member of the Order, isn't acting of his own volition. My thinking is he was cursed and that the two witches are controlling him. Or, my second more radical theory is that he's already dead, but his body is being manipulated by magic to make people believe otherwise."

Anger rises all around the table, and I fight not to fidget. I know their fury isn't directed at me, but at the witches of the Order. Still, I would never want to be the target of their anger. It’s terrifying.

"I'm certain that the visit from them wasn't just to see my magic, but a kind of test for all of us. When Evan grabbed my head to test my magic, he did something else entirely. I don't quite understand what he did, but images were forced into my mind. I don't know if he meant to show me or not, because the things I saw imply that he wasn’t really chosen to be a member of the Order. And if that's true, it means he manipulated his way into a position and used his magic to do so."

I wait, leaving the guys to process what I said as I think about the visions. One showed the Stone of Order being used to select an Order member with purple magic coating it. As the hand was placed into the slab, the stone moved slowly as if to move away from his hand before it let off a gold glow.

Another image was of the wolf, Stephen, being led around while Evan and Jessica held his hands, their eyes glowing with magic. That's what convinced me it’s a curse or some kind of controlling magic. If he's still actually alive, I'd be very surprised.

"Oh, one other thing I feel I should mention. In one of the vision-like images, I saw Evan looking through stacks of photos and old portraits that looked like they dated back almost six hundred years. It shouldn't be possible, but if he's been using dark magic, then he may not even be who he says he is."

It’s not that our people can't slow their aging with magic, but to do it successfully, you have to give a part of yourself over to dark magic, which will begin to eat away at your soul. As far as I know, the oldest supernatural was a wolf who fed on humans, absorbing their souls. He lived until two hundred and thirty, which was when the humans finally found him and executed him.

There's a balance that must be kept and taking in another soul affects the earth. All our souls are given to the earth in death, so we can continue to add to the pool of energy that keeps the earth alive.

To extend your life beyond the norm, upsets that balance, which is why you don't mess with certain spells.

Nature ensures we don't live beyond a hundred and fifty years. Many supernaturals have made it until their hundred and fiftieth birthday, only to slowly become weaker over the course of the day until they just died.

This holds true for witches, werewolves, and even the vampires before they went extinct. None of us lives past one hundred and fifty years of age, which is the way it’s supposed to be. If Evan has somehow managed to circumvent the earth’s magic, that means the whole balance is in jeopardy. The earth won't take it well, their magic becoming unbalanced, and if he somehow has stopped that flow of power, the earth will find a way to strike back.

As these thoughts go through my mind, it occurs to me that earth may already be affecting the balance with the way the wolves are dying out and why the vampires had started to die out all those years ago. We all knew that the vampire population had started to dwindle and after that first vampire started attacking humans, their numbers went back up. It was only a week later when the humans stepped in and annihilated them. This could explain so much.

Benji still appears to be lost in his own thoughts, while Josh stares down at the table, his fists clenched in anger. I can understand the news isn't sitting well with those two. They had probably known Stephen fairly well, since he was a wolf living close to the Virginia pack. Based on how old he looked, he may have been close in age to Benji, so there’s a chance they were even close which would make this even harder for him.

Most Order members are introduced anywhere from their early forties to late fifties but age doesn't really define us when we don't age like a human. Stephen might look to be in his late thirties, but could really be a hundred. While we don't age like the humans, we don't exactly stop aging, either. We just age much more slowly, but the rate at which we age isn’t always the same so it's a very complex topic, and one that's difficult to explain.

Liam clears his throat, grabbing the attention of all of us, but his gaze is for me alone. "Do you think it’s possible to help Stephen? To free him from the hold they have over him?"

I drum my nails on the table, wording my reply carefully. I would hate to give them false hope. "It's possible. Depending on what exactly was done to him, I could reverse it, but there are two problems. The first is that I'd need another witch's help, and she'd have to be a level two minimum. The second is that even with the witch’s help, he still may not be alive. So we'd be potentially lifting the spell to be faced with a corpse, and if we were caught with the corpse of an Order member... well, you can bet they'd use that to their advantage."

I watch as Liam pulls out his phone and texts someone before placing it on the table. "What if I know a witch who is a level two and may be willing to help us? Would you be willing to try?"

"Of course, but I doubt you'll find a level two witch who isn't deep in the Order’s back pocket. They tried to enroll me when my instructor gave them my fake level, but I didn't want to be anywhere close to them, especially seeing as I am a level one. Who knows what they would have done if I lived near them?" I shudder, thinking of just how bad it could have been.

Look at what happened to Stephen. That could have been me if they knew just what I was capable of.

Liam nods happily. "Great! My friend’s sister is here now. She just needed an invite over the barrier. She should be here any minute."

Well... That was fast.

Not even a minute later, a knock sounds at the front door. Liam gets up to answer it, leaving me a little worried. We need a level two witch and Liam's friend’s sister just happened to be waiting on the edge of the pack land for an invitation. That would explain why my magic acted up when I spelled the house. She must have tried crossing which made my magic react strangely.

I hear footsteps, which grow louder. Then Liam comes back into the room holding the hand of a bronze-skinned woman I’m surprised to see that I know.

"Neira? You're the person here to help us?"

"Hey, Jasmine. Yeah, I was already on the way here. Liam called me while you were in your magic coma. He was worried, so I told him I'd come down and check you out to prove you were fine. Looks like you woke up all on your own, though.”

As she speaks, my gaze is drawn to her hand, which is intertwined with Liam's. He sees where I'm looking and quickly drops her hand, holding both of his behind his back out of reach.

Neira notices, and a wry smile crosses her lips. "Since you need my help with an Order member, I want something in return. Help locating and freeing my sister. I know they have her," she says angrily.

We all nod, knowing that we don't really have a choice. While I hold doubts about the timing of Neira's arrival, I’m more than a little angry that Liam neglected to tell me about their ‘friendship.’ But, right now, there's nothing I can do. We need her help.