Her Powerful Witch Mate

Soulmates and Rejections

Kirra

  “Exactly the reason why you need to lead your clan, sweetheart”. Scarlet smiled.

  Kirra couldn't believe her ears. Her grandfather, the Alpha, had sprung this out of the blue.

  He had never shown any affection towards her. People had abused her right under his snotty nose and gotten away with it. She believed he hated her for being born. 

  Yet, now she was going to be the next Alpha. He had actually asked Nullah to step aside. "Oh… This was going to be so bad!" Her wolf exclaimed.

  It's not like Nullah was an Alpha! He only ran the errands for the Alpha’s office as Waru was still alive but Miro had for some reason believed that he was going to be the Alpha.

  This wasn’t good. He was going to snap. But thanks to Scarlet, she wasn't scared. She was ready to face the bastard.

  She looked at her trainer with devotion in her eyes. She felt her heart skip a beat seeing Scarlet smile. 

  Together, hand in hand, they walked towards their packhouse. No one could complain about Scarlet anymore. Waru had practically made her an ally by asking her to visit every Alpha in the continent.

  “Hey Sheila!” she heard the familiar loathsome hard voice. Scarlet’s hand stiffened in hers and they cautiously turned around.

  Miro had maintained a low profile after Scarlet had saved Kirra from him, 3 years ago. A trial would have meant a harsh punishment for him and he wanted to avoid that at all costs. Werewolves were known to be merciless in such cases. He had pleaded and grovelled for forgiveness and Kirra had let him go only with a warning.

  She narrowed her eyes as she looked at him.

  With gritted teeth, she said, “what did you just say?” Scarlet lifted her upper lip and snarled showing her dreadful canines. Kirra was incredibly irked with his show of guts.

  “I wasn’t talking to you,” Miro folded his arms in front of his broad chest and arrogantly c****d an eyebrow up. “But since you are listening, congratulations. I always knew that you were special.”

  Kirra was caught off guard. She looked to her side and Scarlet shrugged.

  “What do you mean?” she asked, stunned. It sure was a day of surprises.

  “You were always too strong for your age. So I tried to break your spirit and it didn’t work. I am proud to see that you have passed the test. You and your pet here... “ Scarlet growled, Kirra was still listening, unable to comprehend this change while he continued, “You and your pet here defeated over 50 most vicious fighters that I know of! Ripper!,” his eyes continued to bore into her.

  It made her uncomfortable and raised the hair on her neck. She could feel Scarlet’s discomfort too. She couldn’t believe that the person who made her childhood a living hell could suddenly start appreciating her.

  She tried searching in his eyes but couldn’t find any tricks in them. “Whatever!” she turned around and walked away. Scarlet by her side.

  “That ratbag! I hate him,” said Scarlet with a growl.

  “So do I,” sighed Kirra.

  “Let’s just kill him. If he is dead, I will be more at peace when I am not around you.” Scarlet turned around facing Kirra and rested her cold hands on her shoulders. Her red eyes were full of trepidation.

  These were the same cold fingers that were pleasuring her before the rogues had attacked them. Her manicured fingers had gone into Kirra’s pants and pumped into her wet sweet spot while they kissed. Kirra had melted into her cold arms with want and desire. Every pore of her body was screaming for more.

  “Kirra!” Scarlet said in a sensuous voice. “If you keep looking at me like that, I will tear off your clothes right here. I can’t wait to get to your Map of Tassie!”

  Kirra blushed. Scarlet’s eyes had turned into lust-filled dark red orbs. She took a step back to increase some distance between them. They weren’t exactly in a private area.

  “Let’s go to your room,” pleaded Scarlet and almost dragged Kirra to her room in the basement of the packhouse. They would have complete privacy there. 

  Kirra's stomach did a flip flop as she jogged after Scarlet knowing what they would be doing in the darkness of her room. Her heart hammered against her chest and her p***y throbbed as she imagined them making out.

  As they entered the packhouse Nullah met them in the huge living room which served as a meeting hall.

  “Kirra, Where are you trotting off to?” he snapped looking disapprovingly at Scarlet, “the Alpha wants to meet you in his office.”

  Scarlet sighed, “I guess I will have to say goodbye now.”

  “No, he has asked you to attend the meeting too,” he said shaking his head as if it was a bad idea. He couldn’t say anything against the Alpha though.

  With fear weighing her heart, she walked behind Nullah, the makeshift leader of their pack. She was confused with the turn of the events. She had never seen the Alpha’s office. Every step she took towards the office increased her heartbeats. She could feel the blood pumping into her head and her temples throbbing. 

  Scarlet walked next to her with a solemn expression that Kirra couldn’t read. Every time Kirra glanced over her shoulder, Scarlet gave her a smouldering smile and she felt relieved. She was ready to face anything if this smiling vampire was next to her. She knew she was never alone.

  With a sharp knock, Nullah entered the room and the two women followed.

The entire room screamed power. Waru sat behind an ornate black desk on a high backed office chair like a king while Koen stood next to him with some files in his hands.

Waru’s white hair was in stark contrast to the black teak panelled walls of the room and the antique black table in front of him.

There were six impressionist oil paintings that adorned the gilted panels surrounding the room. They had medieval witches in all of them.

The one in the middle just behind Waru's head caught her eye. 3 witches in mid-air were devouring a naked man writhing in pain and a pack of wolves could be seen below, emerging from the darkness with gleaming eyes, fangs glinting. It seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.  

His commanding aura made Kirra feel timid. She masked her nervousness, defiantly straightened her back and looked straight into his eyes. 

She did not hate this man but she didn’t love him either. He was an ignorant and crazy bastard who had let her suffer in her childhood. He hadn't allowed her to visit her dad in the hospital, ever. Her dad had been in a coma since her birth.

Waru looked at Koen, clearly communicating via the mind link. Koen walked to Scarlet and handed over the files.

Waru spoke with his commanding voice, “These are the files with the necessary permissions to move across the territories. They have the seals of our clan and no one will dare stop you with these. Take these and leave.” 

Scarlet took a look at the files and nodded, “Thank you.”

“That is thank you 'Alpha' for you, bloodsucker,” Nullah bellowed.

Kirra looked at him angrily while Scarlet just shrugged.

“Calm down Nullah. Leave right now, Scarlet! We don’t have enough time to cover the whole continent,” commanded Waru.

“Don’t you worry! With my speed, I will be back here before Kirra’s birthday,” Scarlet quipped, winking at Kirra. 

Kirra was a mess of emotions. Her heart skipped a beat with Scarlet’s wink while she was still scared of being in this room with 3 strong wolves.

“Kirra,” roared Waru in an intimidating tone, “your training for being an Alpha will begin today. Nullah will teach you himself. I want you ready to take over the pack by the 20th. Any irresponsible behaviour will be harshly dealt with.”

“Yes Alpha,” spoke Kirra in an unwavering tone although her insides were shaking with nervousness. She felt as if the black walls were closing on her. She kept reminding herself to breathe. She would be as useful as t**s on a bull if she passed out in the Alpha’s office.

Once he dismissed them and she was out of the room, Scarlet stopped her in the corridor. Nullah shook his head reproachfully.

Ignoring him Scarlet took Kirra's hands in hers. "Goodbye, my big bad wolf." She pressed Kirra's hands slightly and stressed, "please stay safe!"

"You stay safe too!" chirped Kirra. Scarlet kissed her forehead and left.

Kirra followed Nullah to start her training by letting her wolf take over.

During the day she was busy understanding the local politics, studying the pack dynamics, getting to know their allies and enemies and getting a sense of combat techniques. At night, she would train to fight in her wolf form.

She was an intimidating warrior in her human form and slightly weak in mastering the techniques in her wolf form. But her Alpha strength helped her.

She would begin her day at sparrow's fart and by the time she would return to her room, it would be midnight.

It was as if suddenly, she was being taught everything that had been kept away from her for 18 years. Nullah and Miro constantly sneered at her and pointed out, how incapable she was. That just made her work harder. She went flat out like a lizard drinking.

After a week Alpha Waru called her for a meeting with Mangana. The elder looked ancient with his hunched back, thin- frail body and wrinkled skin. 

As she bowed to Mangana to pay her respects,  Waru questioned, “Have you found your Beta yet?”

“No Alpha,” she replied meekly.

He angrily retorted, “why not?”

Mangana interjected, “Keep calm Alpha Waru. This child is going to do great deeds. I can feel her subdued aura. Don’t push her. She will find the right Beta and Delta soon.”

“But what about the ceremony?” asked Alpha Waru.

“That can happen. I can see a change in her destiny only after the ceremony. She will find her Beta later. Till then, let Nullah be the second in command,” he ordered in a low but confident voice.

“Why not Miro?”

“Because Nullah’s power is connected to yours, not Miro’s,” said he and left, just like that.

Kirra felt awkward standing alone with Waru. She was off as a bride's nightie, as soon as Waru gave her permission to leave.

On the 20th, as she lay in her bed thinking about the next day, she missed Scarlet a lot. They hadn’t spoken or chatted a single day in the last two weeks. She really hoped that Scarlet would make it to the ceremony.

Tired and lonely she drifted into a peaceful sleep. Thankfully, her room was changed after she was declared the future Alpha. Her cosy bed allowed her to get the much-needed rest.

The next day, the guests started arriving in the morning. She had to dress up and welcome them. Waru stood next to her, crowding her with his presence. But she kept her cool and held her head high. He wasn't going to steal her thunder today.

She conveyed her greetings as one after the other each Alpha, Beta and their families arrived to witness the ceremony.

The crowd was swelling, but her eyes longed to see only one person. The woman who had believed in her and made this day possible.

Today was the day her wolf would find her mate. She could feel the excitement in her head as her alter ego kept jumping and twitching. Her heightened senses could pick up all the scents around her.

She really hoped that Scarlet was her mate.

The altar for the exchange of powers was located in a clearing inside the deep woods. It stood like a pedestal on a flat rock backed on one side with tall rocky columns. On the other side, there was a ground that could hold thousands of people.

Everybody gathered there on time. As she climbed the rock to stand next to the altar, she finally spotted Scarlet in the front row. Her heart swelled with happiness as Scarlet smiled. 

But she felt confused that her wolf did not call out her mate. She pushed those thoughts at the back of her mind concentrating on what was in front of her. Mangana stood next to her with a staff in one of his wrinkled hands and a knife on a tray in the other.

This was the knife that was imbibed with the blood of her ancestors and herbs from the bush that only Mangana had the knowledge of.

*****Alert***** Prologue plays out till the line of asterisks*****

Australia is a land with a past. A past that has survived the test of time. Sixty thousand years back  Australia had absorbed the movement of the aboriginals from the Malay archipelago, the movements of animals like the dingoes four thousand years back and the movement of the white settlers in the sixteen hundreds.

Along with the humans came the non-humans. Disguised as travellers, they journeyed with humans to find better lands in the unknown world. She saw the history of her land flash in the eyes of her people who were witnessing the ceremony that day.

The stories of this land were passed down from the ancient dwellers to them. Some stories spoke about how the humans and the non-humans appeared and perished but the land survived. How the land imbibed the spirits of those who were gone and continued to gather strength from the dream time. 

"I, the granddaughter of Alpha Waru, of the Blood Moon clan accept the responsibility of leading my clan and protecting it from all dangers, physical and spiritual. Today I vow to give precedence to my clan over every personal gain,"  said Kirra and slit her left palm with the sacred knife. She offered her blood to the Moon Goddess on their sacred Altar and shifted.

Her people were in awe of her darkest brown fur with a tuft of cream on her left flank. It corresponded with the birthmark that she had in her human form. When she was in her wolf form, it was shaped like a witch's orb and had a patch of shiny cream hair.

She knew her crystal grey eyes would be shining with determination. It made her people bow to her in respect and submission.

She was the Alpha of the most powerful clan of Australia.

*****************************************

A female staff who had also helped her with her makeup and hairdo came up to the stage with a grey elven cloak for her to cover herself when she shifted back.

The anointing ceremony was followed by a party and she asked the guests to feel at home while she went over to change into her evening gown.

The party went on till the wee hours. The garden in the backyard of their packhouse was decorated with flowers and fairy lights. A bar was put up at the far end.

Two long food counters were placed at both sides of the bar. Their kitchen staff and a few other pack members were responsible for the cooking, bartending and serving. 

After 2 am, people started leaving the party. The ones who were going to stay back, headed to their rooms in the packhouse. The ones who were too drunk to move crashed around the party place.

Kirra wasn’t drunk. She was irritated, sad and tired. The entire evening Scarlet had avoided her, except when she congratulated her with a hug just after the ceremony.

After that, Kirra was whisked away by Nullah to meet the guests. With every person wanting to congratulate her and meet her, she couldn’t head back to Scarlet who sat at the bar counter. She looked like she was lost in her thoughts.

What was she even doing there? It wasn’t as if she could eat or drink anything here! Thought Kirra with irritation. 

She was angry at her wolf that she hadn’t claimed Scarlet as her mate. And she was tired, smiling and talking to all the people around her.

After 2 am Alpha Waru left with Koen, thankfully ending the party. She walked to Scarlet. “Hey! Why are you avoiding me?” 

“I am not. You had way too many people around you,” said Scarlet scowling into the glass of red that was kept in front of her. She turned, “you didn’t find your mate, did you?” her distressed eyes looked into Kirra’s.

“Nope!” exclaimed Kirra sitting on the chair next to Scarlet and taking a sip of Scarlet's wine. Why waste a heavenly Cabsav. There were very few people around now. She couldn’t help notice that Scarlet appeared nervous.

“What’s making you so edgy?” Kirra continued sipping the wine.

“I need to tell you something.” Scarlet blurted, “I have found my soulmate. I am sorry. I love you, but I can’t live without her. I was hoping you will find yours today and things would be alright between us. I made sure every eligible wolf from the entire continent attended this ceremony. I am so sorry Kirra, I really am. But I can’t fool you. Nor can I deny my feelings for her.”

Kirra was stunned. She held the wine glass in her hands to avoid her hands from shaking. Her whole world fell apart with what Scarlet had just said.

Why did the day end so badly? Deep down, she knew she had to let Scarlet go. She couldn’t hold her against her wishes. But she was her love. The only person in the whole Universe who she could trust. She was her everything.

And that’s why she had to let her go. Something inside her tummy twisted in pain. She controlled her tears before they could flow showing her weakness. She nodded and got up to leave.

Scarlet’s cold fingers curled around her wrist. “Please say something,” she pleaded.

“I am happy for you,” whispered Kirra. “Who is the lucky woman?”

As if on cue, a beautiful green-eyed dusky beauty came up to Scarlet, “Darling, have you spoken to Kirra yet?” She stopped when she saw Kirra, “Sorry,” she muttered looking at her feet.

Kirra wanted to gouge her green eyes out. Her alluring sweet scent of berries and her sexy pout only increased Kirra’s anger. 

She was tiny but had a perfect hourglass figure which looked exceptionally inviting in her light green gown. Scarlet and Kirra were both 5 feet 4 and Jade's forehead reached the exact height of their lips, as if asking to be kissed.

Kirra fumed at her fangirl thoughts. The silence was thick enough to be cut by a knife. The beautiful stranger shifted uneasily on her feet and joined her palms together in front of her chest. “Namaste, Alpha. I am Jade from Western Australia. Pleased to meet you.”

Namaste???? Did she really do that? Kirra shook herself out of her dark thoughts. She was the host and she had to behave like one. She could feel that she was on the verge of breaking and she did not want to create a scene there. “Hi. Nice to meet you too,” she replied promptly and fled.

She started running towards the forest which lined beyond their backyard. Her wolf sense giving her direction.

She wanted to end the pain of losing her only friend, her first love. She did not want to tie Scarlet down. She knew Jade was the one for her and that just made the pain worse.

She howled at the waxing crescent moon which was laughing at her from within the dark clouds. She lost control. Tearing through her pretty grey shimmering gown, she shifted into her last remaining friend, her brown wolf.

But the pain did not reduce. Her wolf was crying with her, howling and yelping. She could hear Scarlet calling her but she blocked every sound out. She wanted to block every person off, every feeling off and she kept running.

Someone jumped on her back bringing her down. A tearing pain ran through her hind leg. Someone had attacked her. She was too dazed to understand what was happening. 

But she fought back as if on autopilot, taking down a dozen wolves.

She heard a man’s voice but could not see him, “where does this Tingo (b***h) get so much strength from? I was telling you to attack before the anointment, you dimwit.”

He sounded angry. But who was he and where was he? A cut on her right eye had almost closed it but she continued to fight fiercely using her wolf senses. There were too many of them!

“Inject the damn thing. She might call in reinforcements you morons,” the same strange male voice snapped.

She started to relay through her mindlink, calling for her warriors. “I am attacked in the woods towards…” The injection pierced her neck and she felt the cold liquid running through her blood vessels as she started to shift into a human.

No… no… where are you going? She implored her wolf but couldn’t feel her anymore.

As she lay naked under the crescent moon, one of the wolves jumped on her and Scarlet caught the wolf mid-air.

Kirra turned around and saw Jade fighting with some of the wolves too. She was amazed at the agility of the tiny woman.

She missed her silver sword which lay resting in her room in its hiding place.

“KIRRA, RUN!” Scarlet yelled while wrestling with one of the wolves.

Kirra was jolted into consciousness with her voice. She got up and started running towards the deeper woods, not caring for the kangaroo thorns cutting into her delicate skin. She tried speaking to her wolf but she was conspicuous with her absence. She kept running until she couldn’t hear the fighting wolves and the sound of the paws on the forest floor any more. 

She had almost reached the other side. She was tired and thirsty. She was bleeding and losing her strength. Why wasn’t her wolf healing her?

She tripped over a creeper and fell. She tried to get up but the pain was too much. Her body was giving up. The rejection from Scarlet was slowly seeping into her mind again. The pain of losing her love was breaking her heart. 

She crawled towards the nearest gum tree and rested her back against its trunk. “Where are you? I need you.” She begged her wolf but there was no response.

This was the worst day of her life… She had lost her first friend- her love, and her wolf had deserted her when she was up s**t's creek without a paddle. Totally dejected, she gave in to the dark relief of passing out. 

***

A/N 

The painting in Waru's office that caught Kirra's attention was a modern impressionist representation inspired by Francisco Goya's Vuelo de Brujas (Witche's Flight) where the famous demure donkey in the background was replaced by a pack of wolves. 

This one is a long chapter but I did not want to break it into two. It didn't feel right. The next chapter will tell you about James perspective. Drop-in your thoughts and comments.

Much love.

KK