~Katarina~
Here I am, having finally found a minute to get away, and everything is a mess. I don’t know who this woman is or what she’s talking about. She took my necklace and said something about strong magic. Aston is knocked out, and everyone seems to be in a panic.
Hands on my upper arms shock me out of my daze. I pulled to the kitchen and sit in a chair. Shawna and Eddie sit next to me at the table, but the woman doesn’t join us. She has the necklace in her hands and is examining it off to the side. “Talk to us dear. What’s going on?”
I take a shaky breath in and let it out slowly. This is hard, but it has to be done. I probably should have had my aunt and uncle here with me. “What did you know about my mom?” Shawna and Eddie look at each other before looking back at me.
“Her death was sudden. I didn’t know a lot about her. She kept to herself, even when growing up.”
“I tried to reach out to her and bring her into my circle, but she preferred to be alone. I let her be but made sure to acknowledge her often.” I nod at Shawna, not surprised by what they are saying. I figured that’s how it was, but I always treated everything differently.
I didn’t want to live in isolation. I wanted to experience life as much as I could before this took over my life. I always figured that there was a chance that I could be taken from this world before I was ready. Since that was the case, I wanted to enjoy it as much as I could, in moderation, of course. I’m not mad at my mom for how she lived; I just have a different view.
“My mom was a….a gold wolf.” Silence descends on the table; I imagine everyone is lost in their thoughts.
“Wait. I thought gold wolves were a fairytale, a rumor from the past.” I shake my head, and Shawna pulls her hand into mine.
“Continue.” I nod and sigh.
“So, my aunt and uncle told me what I was long ago. I actually shifted at the age of 11, if you can believe that. We had to keep everything a secret because gold wolves have been hunted down in the past. We have been used for everything you could imagine and then some.”
“What does that have to do with Aston?” I turn to Eddie and try to prepare myself for this next part.
“Aston and I have marked each other. This means that he will develop some powers as well.”
“Gold wolf!” I turn to see the woman staring at me. She takes steps toward me, and I have to admit that I’m a little scared. “You are a gold wolf. I can feel your power now. It’s still coming into its own.” She walks over to Aston and holds a hand over him. Nothing happens, but when she lifts her head, she looks satisfied. “He will be alright. The magic this one holds is rewriting his body so he can accommodate the magic he will receive.”
Shawna squeezes my hand, causing me to look at her. “Did King know about this?” I shake my head.
“No, I never told him. I always thought I’d telling him after the ceremony when it was too late to do anything about it.”
“I don’t know anything about gold wolves. Maybe I need to call Blake. I’m sure he has some information.” I reach out to Eddie, grabbing his hand.
“No, please! Don’t tell anyone. I’m telling you because of what’s going on with Aston. I need this to stay quiet for now.” Eddie looks at Shawna, and she nods to him. He pats my hand and pulls his hand back.
The woman moves to the table and sits across from me. “Why are you in possession of such dark magic?” I stare into her eyes, trying to place her but coming up empty.
“Who are you?”
“I’m High Priestess Topaz. Eddie and I go way back and I’m here to help out with Aston. Though, now that you’ve told us what you have, I don’t really see much that I can do to help.”
“What did you mean about the necklace? It has black magic?”
“Very strong black magic. Someone was trying to control you with that necklace and I’d suspect that it worded.”
“Control me how? I’ve always done what I wanted, no matter what.”
“Think more along the lines of controlling your movements, controlling the path you take. This necklace was meant to keep you from your fated mate.” My heart starts to hammer in my chest. King gave me that necklace to symbolize our love, he said. “It’s even more specific than that.” She opens the locket and looks at the pictures. She pulls them out and drops them on the table. The backs of the photos are visible, and I pick one up to examine it closer.
“What is that?”
“That, I’d guess, is a piece of the perpetrator’s hair. It was placed in the locket to help the spell. It’s one thing to deny one their fated mate, but it’s another to create a new bond.”
“Uh, Topaz, what do you mean?”
“When she was marked by another one other than her fated mate, their bond would have been created as if they were fated to each other. It’s rather creative if I’m being honest. I’m sure it was a ploy to make sure they got the powers from the gold wolf. Too bad it wasn’t going to work.” My head is spinning, trying to make sense of the words coming out of her mouth. I’m so confused right now, and it must have shown on my face. Topaz smirks and shakes her head. “While it’s true that when gold wolves mark their mate, their powers kick in and their mate will get some too, but there’s a missing piece to that many don’t know.” Everyone’s hanging on her every word, like me. “Gold wolves can only gain their powers if they mark their fated mate. If they mark a chosen mate, they will have nothing. They will live an ordinary life with their mate. It was kind of a safe guard to keep the gold wolf safe. The idea with this locket is that she and her mate would grow a bond the moment they marked each other, with the help of the spell, so the collection of powers can be achieved.”
“Uh, Katarina, dear, who gave you that necklace?”
“King did.”