The Witches Fated Mate

Fleeing

Marissa

We spent several days looking for leads before finding anything. Yvonne had dropped me off at the alley where the ambush occured and I searched for anything that would clue me into their location. I lowered my wall and let the emotions flow through me before I was able to pick up on their hatred, the magic within it amplifying it. I used that to follow a trail back to where they came from, landing at an abandoned house in the woods. Texting Yvonne she quickly opened a portal to where I was, allowing a dozen witched to come through.

“Stay safe.” She instructed as she closed the portal. I nodded to the others as we cautiously approached the house. Lowering my wall I extended my empathic reach to the other side of the door, not sensing anything. We quietly slipped inside, looking around for more clues on the witch hunters. The house was dark but one of the witches whispered an encantation, light coming from her finger tips fixing itself to the ceiling, illuminating the entire space. We looked around, the house was a mess, clothing and food trash strewn everywhere, empty weapons crates and ammo boxes crowded the corners. I worked my way towards the back of the house, entering a room off the hallway and freezing. I moved closer and founda large map tacked to the wall, circles around some areas and other crossed out. Investigating closer I realized these were the covens they here tracking and attacking. Ours was crossed out as well as the coven where they amabushed my mother.

“Coven Blue.” I whispered tracing its location with my fingers as a red circle glared back at me. Ripping the map off the wall I folded it up and tucked it into my waist bag. I turned to leave and froze as I felt the anger building inside of me. “No.” I whispered hurrying out of the room.

“There back!” Someone else yelled as I made my way down the hallway.

“I will have Yvonne open a portal for us.” I pulled out my phone and messaged the coven. Suddenly someone opened the door, standing in the doorframe and staring out across the clearing.

“We should end this here and now. For all witches.” She said and bolted out before we could stop here.

“No wait!” I shouted chasing, the rest of our group following. As she got closer to the witch hunters, they stopped in shock at the sight of her, giving her time to shoot a fireball at them before they began firing their own weapons.

“No!” I shouted racing to get to them, the others following. As the fighting ramped up we found ourselves firing off spells as they used guns to fight back. Fireballs and lightning rained as I threw up small barriers between the witches and the the hunters they were fighing, stopping bullets from harming them. They outnumbered us and soon we were losing, three of our group already down. As I threw up a new barrier between the rest of us and the hunter, I focused my attention on extending it out and up in order to protect them. A portal appeared nearby, Yvonne waiting for us and the witches hurried towards it, carrying the fallen. I heard someone charging from my side and as I turned my head to see them more clearly a blur of white flew into my field of vision and tackled the hunter to the ground, tearing out his throat. As I was distracted by them, a pair of hands grabbed me from behind, yanking me to the ground. I struggle as a man climbed on top of me, wrapping his hands around my throat and squuezing. As I pushed against him, I could feel panic rising in me as my air supply was cut off and I started to see stars. Suddenly I heard a sickening crack and his body went limp as he slumped over onto me. I gasped for air as his body was liften from me and thrown to the side, and above me appeared those green eyes.

“Quickly.” He shouted as he yanked me to my feet. “I am going to shift back, you need to climb onto my back and hold onto me. They can’t see you here.” He pulled me along behind him towards the trees as the sounds of howling erupted from behind me. I turned slightly as a dozen or so wolves begin to move from out of the tree line. Turning back and meeting his gaze he cupped my cheek and repeated. “Quickly.” Then stepped away, his bones cracking as he shifted to his wolf. Lowering himself I scrambled onto his back and wrapped my arms around his neck as he took off into the trees. He ran for a long time, ducking under trees and cross several creeks, taking severeal turns and curves until we reached a river. He stopped and lowered himself once more so I climbed off. I watched as he dipped into the river, the blood washing from his white fur, before he came out and shited to his human form.

“I think we got far enough.” He said looking back the way we had come. I closed my eyes a moment, sensing the area, but felt no emotions beside his. His heart was beating fast and he had some fear but also something more.

I was afraid to put a name to it and I threw my wall back up.

Shaking my head I responded “No there isn’t anyone close by.”

“What the hell were you doing?” He demanded. “Are you out of your mind? Engaging hunters on wolf territory like that. You could have been killed!

“We were trying to track them. We had no intention of fighting anyone but one of our witches took off before we could stop her and then it all just happened.”

“Luckily they got out though. Thanks to you and that magic mirror trick of yours.” He chuckled.

“Not all of them.” I muttered as I took my jacket off and handed it to him, struggling to keep my eyes from roaming his naked body. He took it from me and thanked me as he wrapped it around his waist and I sat on a nearby boulder.

“It’s a portal and its not mine. High priestess Yvonne is the one who has that ability.”

“What abilities do you have?” he asked as he took a seat on a falling tree near me.

“I am an empath.”

“So you know what Im feeling right now?” He raised his brows at me.

“Well yes and no. I struggle with being overwhelmed. I always have. I was a sensitive child. My mother taught me to create a wall within myself, to filter it out. I can totally shut out everyone or I can let them in. When I lower the wall, I have to focus on the individual personto filter the noise or I get overwhelmed by everyone around me.” I explained, blushing when I realized he was listening intently. “Jackson isn’t it?” I asked.

“It is. “He replied before adding “Thought I am partial to f*****g wolf.” He winked and I rolled my eyes. “Listen Marissa, you have to be more careful. Had my father noticed you on pack territory before I saw you I can’t say you would have been much better than facing the witch hunters.”

I shook my head in frustration. He was right but I was still unhappy we had gotten into that mess. “The first time I ever saw what the witch hunters could do, I was a child, and they didnt have access to firearms like they do now. They used bows and arrows, crossbows mostly. Now theyre faster and more dangerous.” I absentmindedly braided a few strands of hair while I spoke, staring at the ground. “We shouldn’t even have been fighting them. We just came to find out what their plans are. They are targeting our covens. Oh no.” I remembered the map in my bag and pulled it out, standing up as I began to panic. “I have to get this back. Our sister coven is in danger.” I fished my phone out of my pocket so I could text the coven for help getting home, only to find it was dead. “Damn it.” I whispered.

“I can help, but you have to trust me.” He said his eyes meeting mine. I wordless nodded and for a moment his eyes fogged over, befoer returning to normal.

“What was that?” I asked.

“We have this thing, wolves, called a mind link. I was reaching out to my friend Michael. Come on.” He reached out his hand and I slowly slid mine into his as he pulled me to my feet and led me through the woods until we got to the road. We waited there a few minutes until a car pulled up. I stayed a few steps behind as someone got out, and the two of them had a conversation for a moment, before the other man handed off a set of keys and then stripped out of his clothes, throwing them into the the trunk and shifting to a wolf, turning and taking off into the trees. Jackson pulled a pair of shorts and a t shirt out of the same trunk, pulling them on and then handing me back my jacket. He closed the trunk and stepped to the passenger side door, opening it and jerking his head towards it, indicating he wanted me to climb inside. I got in and settled into the seat, strapping on my seat belt as he shut the door and went to the other side. Getting in himself he started the engine and took off. as he drove he handed me a phone charger and I plugged my phone in, setting it into the cup holder while it charged.

He drove for over an hour, finally turning off down a dirt road. We traveled down a gravel road, coming to a stop at a small house overlooking a lake. He got out and as I gathered my things, unhooking my phone from the charger, he came around and opened my door, holding it for me as I climbed out.

“This is my house. My parents don’t even know about it so you are safe here.” He said leading me up to the porch. He opened the door and led us inside, the sun shining through the windows. I texted the coven, letting them know about Coven Blue and waited for them to respond, knowing they were most likely working with the witches we lost and those injured and it would be a bit until they Yvonne could get me.

“So I think that means I have saved your life twice now.” He said carrying over a glass of water and handing to me as I curled up on the couch, and he took the chair across from me.

“I didn’t really ask you to.” I pointed out.

“Yet it happened.”

“Are you always so humble?” I narrowed my eyes at him and he grinned at me.

“Oh for sure.” My phone pinged and I looked at it.

“Theyre evacuating Coven Blue so Yvonne can’t stop to get me for a bit.” I said.

“Well then I guess you will need a place to sleep.” He got up and led me to the back, opening the door to a small bedroom. I followed him in as he glicked on the light. “There are extra blankets in the cabinet and the bathroom is through there.” He pointed to the far side of the room. “You will no doubt want to get cleaned up. I’m going to make some food.” He turned and left me alone, closing the door behind him. I made my way to the bathroom and turned on the shower faucet, letting the water heat up as I took off my clothes. I stopped at the mirror and was shocked to see blood and dirt all over my face. I shook my head as I got into the shower, closing my eyes as the warm water soaked my hair, running down my skin. I scrubbed off the dirt and blood enjoying a few more minutes of warm water before getting out and wrapping myself in a towel. I went back to the room, sitting on the edge of the bed and thought for a minute. I could hear him moving around in the kichen. Curious I lowered the wall and focused in on him.

Desire. Passion. Hunger.

Calm.

Letting it circle I couldn’t help but smile. He was calm and I appreciated that. I raised it back blocking him out and got dressed, heading out to the kitchen.

“Kitchen didn’t have a lot so, hope spaghetti is cool.” He said with a smile as he set two plates of food on the table. We ate together in relative silence, hunger taking the lead. As we finished up he took the dishes to the kitchen and began to wash them so I grabbed a towel and dried them, stacking them on the counter.

“So you mentioned the witch hunters used to use bows and arrows, why didn’t they use guns before?” He asked as he handed me the last plate to dry.

“Well the colt didnt always have the rang they needed and the flintlock can take forever to load, they can shoot off several arrows in the same time it takes to relaod.” I mindless dried as I talked.

“f**k me woman how old are you?” He sounded shocked and I looked up at him sheepishly.

“One hundred and thirty four or so I suppose.” I answered, unsure myself. “Over time the years sort of blur together.”

“So you’ve seen technology grow and evolve.” He marveled.

“We even helped it along. You think all those men invented those things on their own?”

“Did you used to wear hoop skirts?” He narrowed his eyes at me, his tone mocking.

“No not doing this.” I threw the towel at hime and headed to the living room.

“I’m teasing.” He called from behind me. Following me to the living room he plopped onto the couch besid me.

“It’s weird to me that you text your coven, this priestess you talk about.”

“High Priestess Yvonne. She is like your Alpha, the leader of us all. I don’t really text her, I text her assistant and she relays the info. Yvonne is not a fan of technology.”

“Pack elders are the same way actually. Minus the whole living forever thing.”

“We don’t live forever just super long.” I laugh “Most of us live about five hundres years or so. Yvonne is on the higher end of that. We age normally as children but once we turn twenty our aging slows down drastically.”

“And then you invent electricity.” He teased and I grabbed a pillow from the couch, smacking him in the chest with it.

“Stop it.” I scold as he chuckles.

“I will not woman. You’re super cute when you blush.” I felt my cheeks heating up with a deepening blush.

“I am not.” I shake my head.

“Yes you are.” He murmured as he moved closer, reaching out and tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. My cheek tingled from the contact his fingers made as he tucked the hair and my eyes locked onto his, the green of them mesmerizing me.

“Jackson I..” I began, losing my train of thought as he leaned closer and gently pressed his lips on mine.