Wicked: A Savage Alpha Shifters Romance, page 34
The front passenger door opens and an older woman, maybe in her upper sixties gets out. She’s plump, more bohemian than power suit, wearing a long skirt and a colorful blouse. She has her long, salt and pepper hair in a braided ponytail.
I open the door for my mate, take her hand and we approach, coming to a stop ten feet away.
“Lucinda Alexander, Riley Savage.” Mitch gestures to the power suit wearing woman who gives me a once-over without expression. “And Aviva Starling,” he gestures to the bohemian one who smiles warmly.
I fold my arms over my chest. “I’d say welcome to Arcana Falls, ladies, but not sure I’m feeling all that friendly given how you fucked our lives.”
“Hello,” my mate croaks.
“Erica,” Aviva Starling greets and holds her hands out.
“Miss Young,” the other woman returns formally.
“Mrs. Savage,” I correct.”
Lucinda Alexander doesn’t react.
My mate steps up and accepts the outstretched hands.
I grind my teeth.
“Oh my,” Aviva Starling says with wonder and her eyes cut to Lucinda who raises a perfectly arched eyebrow. “Oh my,” she repeats.
She lets go of my mate and I grab Rikki’s hand, not liking that this woman read her by touch.
Inside, there are chairs set up for the group that’s here for support. As we cross the threshold into the addition that holds our meeting rooms and the library, which leads to the barn space where we usually have pack events, I see Jase moving ahead of us, likely to corral the group. By the time we’re inside I see everyone is sitting down. My mother and Aunt Cat have left but they set the space up for us earlier. They put all the seating in a wide circle, which my father told me in a text message he and my mother decided on intentionally.
Nobody is sitting at the head or the foot of a table. Nobody will be up on a podium looking down at anyone else. To the side of the circle, which is full other than five empty chairs, two at one side, three to the other side of the circle, is a table with refreshments.
“A crowd?” Lucinda observes, looking annoyed.
“My mate’s family and some of mine.”
She says nothing.
“Hello all,” Aviva greets.
“Everyone,” Mitch greets.
“Feel free to help yourself to refreshments and then we can talk,” I invite.
“I don’t need refreshments ahead of this,” Lucinda says.
Aviva moves to the table and selects a bottle of juice and a muffin before sitting down in an empty chair. “How is everyone!” she greets happily before taking a hearty bite of muffin.
Nobody answers.
Lucinda rolls her eyes and looks at the room with boredom.
Mitch takes a seat.
The room is silent, but you could cut the animosity with a knife.
“Mimi,” Aviva greets. “How have you been?”
“Aviva.” Mimi returns the greeting with an unreadable expression but doesn’t answer the question.
Aviva opens her juice and takes a sip.
I look at Mitch. “Let’s get this done then.”
Mitch nods, then speaks, “Good morning. I was asked to sit on the committee for SCC treaty infractions by Erica Young against Riley Savage seven years back. I was one of the committee members chosen because I’m a wolf shifter. When a code of conduct infraction is up for debate by the Supernatural Council Collective, there are typically supernaturals from multiple groups. Two from the group of the accused, as well as two from other groups including wherever possible the group of the other party.”
I pipe up. “Clearly not all parties involved, though, right? Because you’re calling it an infraction by Erica Young against me, yet nobody called me to attend any trial or meeting.”
“I realize this, Riley, but there’s a reason for that and we will get into it. As I was saying, there was a committee to hear the issue as well as to discuss consequences. The other committee members were the two witches here today, along with Sergei Voitenko, a vampire elder. I invited Sergei to come today, but he couldn’t fit this into his schedule. Lucinda happened to be here in the country, and Aviva got on the first available flight from Eastern Europe after my call. I was staying with Eddy, visiting with his pack in Washington, still, so didn’t have a long journey to make back here.”
I lean forward, giving him a look of impatience. I’ve always gotten along fine with Mitch. I know he’s advised Aunt Cat on some medical issues several times and he’s fishing buddies with my father and Andy Quinn, but he likes the sound of his own voice.
Mitch seems to pick up on my impatience, quickly adding, “Sergei advised he will gladly speak to Riley or Erica if they’d like. He left his phone number. I’ll forward it to you, Riley.”
“Uh huh,” I say, impatiently.
“Should I continue or would one of you like to?” He looks to the witches.
“I’ll speak,” Aviva says. “Our aim with Erica’s punishment seems harsh to you now, from what I understand.”
“Understatement,” I clip.
My mate squeezes my hand.
“Yes, but necessary. You see, most covens have a generation every two or three that is stronger than the previous few. We happen to know that the current Young coven generation is stronger than has been seen in many generations. Many. If not stronger than any.”
The sisters all exchange looks that have me bracing.
Aviva keeps talking, “Knowing their potential for substantial powers and as we do on the supernatural council collective, we paid attention. While the first four born to the family are strong, formidable witches, we knew the youngest would be a force of nature. Quite literally. Lucinda saw it coming before you were born, Erica.”
“What does that mean?” my mate asks.
Aviva looks at her with a kind look. “I think it might already be obvious to you. You are a force of nature. You no longer need to tap into nature in the way the rest of us do. We knew that your mating would unlock it. Level your abilities up, so to speak. Partly, we believe, because of where you were conceived, partly because of who your fated mate is. It’s also this area. The magic in this region connects with the mating ritual, linking profound events in a supernatural being’s life. Lucinda, as the senior seer of the council, was privy to some frightening statistics about not only your potential for power but also the fact that it would hit after you mated with Riley Savage. Another witch who has since died got a vision of you taking matters into your own hands after seeing that wolf shifter before the right timing. We had to intervene and guide events to mitigate risk.”
How much intervention? The look on Lucinda Alexander’s face is chilling. I don’t trust her.
“You knew what I was going to do before I did it?” Rikki asks.
Lucinda replies. “What we knew specifically is irrelevant.”
Aviva continues speaking, “But, we believed it necessary to delay you coming into excess power too early. Your efforts to hasten the mating would mean you’d come into power far too early, way before you were ready to handle being a force of nature rather than being part of the balance of nature. Erica, dear, you’ve got the potential for dark magic that even dark witches don’t have.”
“I don’t get it,” I say.
Lucinda speaks up again. “Witches operate within the confines of a code of conduct necessitated by the balance of energy. Give and take. Give more than you take. Erica has come into power that gives her access without cosmic repercussions hitting her. It’s a big responsibility as well as a burden. And a delicate balancing act is required even if nature doesn’t require it. Do you understand, Erica?”
My mate nods, looking a little pale.
Aviva adds, “You’ll be asked at a certain point to take a position on this council. To help keep the balance in check for all supernaturals.”
“What if I don’t want that?” my mate asks.
“We already know you don’t want it. But it’s something you’ll need to do. You are needed,” Lucinda tells her.
“I don’t understand,” my mate says.
Mimi speaks up. “They wanted to humble you so that when you came into power you wouldn’t abuse it. And from my perspective, so that you’d be submissive to their agenda.”
All eyes are on her. The two visiting witches do not look pleased.
Mimi continues. “They therefore bestowed upon you the cruelest punishment they could give you so that you would be humbled. So that you would know what you could lose if not careful. So that when you got what was coming to you – your power along with your fated partner in life, you would be cautious.”
“Wait a fuckin’ second,” I snap. “You all used our relationship as a tool to keep her humble? To make sure she was so fuckin’ broken from having to live a lie for seven years so you could control her and her powers when she got them?”
Nobody says anything and that’s my answer.
There’s dangerous energy surging through the room. Rikki’s sisters are all livid. Mimi still stands, glaring. My family, my pack members are all staring with awe in their expressions.
“Nobody seeks to control her,” Aviva states, “And she’s likely mated to you because of the strength of your pack. You’re her protector. She was humbled, yes, taught the importance of balance, of following the rules. The news of her strength should not be widely shared as it would leave her vulnerable. And not only would your mate be too powerful for her maturity level if you’d mated right after she cast that spell, her location here and proximity to Greyson, also of the Young coven are factors.”
Grey straightens up in his chair and looks confused.
Lucinda interjects, “Two Young coven members mating here, linking the coven and the pack further churns up a new, large hornet’s nest of power here. You all have to be cognizant of that. Young coven: you need to direct Greyson Blackwood at the same time as guide your sister to keep both of them on the right path. If either of them veer into dark territory, it’s on you all to report them to us.”
“What the fuck?” Grey mutters.
“Greyson Blackwood has potential to be a powerful warlock,” Aviva advises. “With training he can be. He should have been the oldest of a family of at least three, which was what was in the cards for Graydon Blackwood and Soleil Young if they’d remained mated. Greyson’s mother’s actions impacted that. When Greyson mated, he inherited the powers of what would’ve gone to his unconceived siblings as well as what was stripped from his mother. Wolf shifter matings are always monumental. They’re that much more so with this pack due to the sorcery involved in forming this pack and linking its alpha males.”
Greyson looks at his father. His father says nothing, but holds his son’s stare and it’s obvious that Graydon either has very strong opinions on all of this or maybe even has some knowledge of this part of things. Though I doubt he knew he should’ve had three kids with Greyson’s mother. And I had no idea Greyson would come into his mother’s power when he mated.
“Erica,” Aviva calls out, “I would love to invite you to come to train with me at my sorceresses’ retreat in Albania. We can help you learn to-”
“No,” I reply.
All eyes cut to me.
“Absolutely not,” I continue. “I don’t trust you people as far as I can throw you. And believe me, I wanna fuckin’ throw all of you.”
“Riley,” my mate whispers with panic in her voice at the same time as Mitch says my name in a warning tone.
“Mr. Savage?” Aviva’s tone is placating. “Please understand, we only want to help. She needs help learning to not only wield but control the powers she has. And the SCC and all supernaturals could benefit greatly from her participation as well. Your soulmate is a loving and caring person, so she’ll get a lot out of this as well. She-”
“No,” I repeat. Everything in my gut tells me this.
My mate squeezes my hand.
“What sort of interference was there?” she asks Aviva and Lucinda, then turns her gaze to Mimi. “And how much of this did you know about?”
Aviva speaks. “Lyrica Young as head of your coven when you sat trial, knew everything. I don’t know if she passed it all on to Mimi. But I’m sure Lyrica at least advised Mimi of certain requirements that were not met. We’ve also asked several times for confirmation about the mating, both from Lyrica and more recently, Mimi.”
All eyes swing to Mimi as she speaks. “My sister and I raised and trained our nieces well. Erica advised that she hadn’t mated when you made us work with you to yank her out of there the way we did and as you can see by my niece’s husband’s face, this caused deep damage. We objected to everything done. I did choose to let these two mend their relationship on their own. I did as you asked when he approached me in my covenstead and asked him if they’d mated although I already knew the answer.”
“Yet you did not tell us when she decided to come here to enlighten him. She wasn’t supposed to choose when to do that.”
“Her coven chose the timing,” Mimi advises. “It was within treaty guidelines.”
“Not within sentencing guidelines, though,” Lucinda states.
“And if that means repercussions, so be it. My sister and I have taught these five well. If you take my magic, I have no doubts they’ll take care of me. But I’ve already implemented that my power will go straight to Greyson in the event of my magic being stripped. It will go to him and not to the SCC. My sister bequeathed hers to me upon her death, so if you think my niece and nephew are forces to be reckoned with now, you do not want to get on their bad side now, never mind if you take my magic and he winds up angry with you for it.”
Rikki looks shocked.
Grey stares at Aviva and Lucinda with a glacial expression.
Clearly, Greyson and I need a catch-up.
“Your niece would’ve made a mess and if you were being impartial in this situation like you should be, you’d know it,” Lucinda states.
Mimi’s mouth opens but my mate speaks instead, and she does it sounding broken.
“I would’ve.”
“Baby,” I say, hating that tone in her voice.
My mate looks at me. “I would’ve made a mess, Riley. A royal one.”
I shake my head. I hate seeing her vulnerable like this in front of her peers. I see them as predators and as a predator myself, I don’t want her to show an ounce of weakness to these enemies. But here she is in all her beauty and vulnerability. I’m her protector and they’re not going to get between us again.
“Riley, as a witch I’ve always been very aware of how much energy and goodwill I have stored. Until the other day at the cabin, I knew things changed with my abilities, but I didn’t know why. I didn’t notice until then that I’ve now got access to this vault filled with energy. It’s endless, Riley. It’s in me and it’s around me. And that’s a little terrifying.”
“Which is why Mimi was to tell us when you were about to reveal yourself to him,” Aviva says. “We interfered where we needed to, based on our gifts. We did what we needed to do just like your coven does what you’re compelled to do, due to your visions and your desire to do good works. You have your work; we have ours. Your work is to do with people and other supernaturals. Ours is to do with supernaturals at your level. The only way to keep the balance was to make sure that this powerful young witch knew the price of her power. You now know it, don’t you, Erica Young?”
“Savage,” I correct.
My mate smiles shakily at me and then looks at Aviva. “I do. You’re right.”
“Bullshit,” I clip.
“No Riley,” my beautiful mate says with her heart on her sleeve. “I was always so impatient. I never looked before crossing the street. I just ran out going after whatever shiny thing I had my eye on. When I found out I was a witch, I broke the rules like crazy and dabbled with potions and spells before I was allowed to. I couldn’t wait. I didn’t… I wasn’t mature enough. After what happened with us, after seeing what damage I could do with my bad habits of waving my wand before thinking things through, I took more time. More effort. I made sure to look both ways, to dot my i’s and cross my t’s. I became very careful and methodical so I wouldn’t make mistakes. So I wouldn’t cause any more unnecessary hurt. I’m so sorry that my personality flaws meant they had to-”
“No. Stop right there. Not true. You do not have personality flaws, baby. That’s bullshit.” I’m furious. I’m absolutely fuckin’ furious. I’m ready to rip shit up.
“I had a lot of growing up to do. And I think I’ve done that, but I also think I do want some additional training,” she says. “This new access I have? It’s… it’s big. I’m not entirely sure how to use it. And I don’t want to hurt anyone or mess anything up.”
Lucinda says, “She gets it.”
Aviva nods. “She does.”
“It was explained to me,” Mitch speaks up, “And I’m bound by the guidelines of the supernatural council so I couldn’t say anything. But I knew that of all shifters I knew that weren’t of my own pack, there was no better pack for this witch to be fated to than this one, Savage. You’re a strong, family-minded man who puts your pack above all. The only thing you’d put above your pack is your mate. And if you had to work for it, if you had to deal with some shit to make sure your pack and your mate were where they’re meant to be, you’d do it. Even if it takes you a while to come around due to your anger at your loved one feeling pain.”
I glare at him. Not sure how this fucker thinks he knows me this well. He’s friends with my father, was good friends with Tiberius and a few of the other council alphas in that generation but he hasn’t spent a shit-ton of time with me. Then again, he’s not wrong. The only thing more important than my pack to me is my mate. This quickly. I know it with everything I am that she’s my top priority.
Aviva speaks up again. “We asked to spend the night because it’s a lunar eclipse event this evening and as you know, Erica, it’s a big night for many covens. This would be a wonderful location to experience that. Together, we could have a really lovely experience, if we are permitted to perform some enrichment and good-will rituals with you. We can also help you flex your new muscles safely inside a circle, which I’m told you haven’t really done yet.” There’s almost a question in Aviva’s statement.
