Alpha's Fate (Black Moon Saga Book 2)

Chapter 19: The Commander's Shaman

Hazel returned to her room, kicked off her shoes, and practically fell into the bed after the last strategy meeting with the Alpha and his commanders. It went on for hours and took a lot out of her, especially considering that she hasn’t slept the past four nights. She fell asleep almost immediately and has been out for hours.

David has been continuing the tasks she assigned him this morning, preparing the components she will need to finish the Alpha’s potion orders. He looks up and watches Hazel with concern as she begins moaning and shaking in her sleep, though he knows this is a normal occurrence for her. He also knows it means she is having one of her premonitions while she dreams. He returns his attention to his work until she wakes.

Her eyes pop open and she quickly sits up in the bed, searching for David.

“I figured it out,” she mumbles as she throws the covers off and gets out of the bed. “I need to see the Alpha. I’ll be back shortly.”

“Hazel,” he pleads, hoping that just once she will tell him what is going on. “Please. What is it?”

She pauses and sighs, turning back to look at him. “I can’t tell you much, but I can tell you one thing. I know how to get you where you need to be. And you should prepare however much you can for a bit of a fight. I’m sure it’s been ages since you’ve done something like that.”

A shiver of fear courses through him. “Try never. I’m a scholar, not a fighter. You have to give me more than that.”

She comes to where he is seated and gets closer to him than she ever has before to whisper in his ear, “One of the Alpha’s Elite Commanders is not who he seems. I need to get you to him, and he will help you. You’ll play the healer for his unit, but it will take you into the thick of things a bit. But don’t worry. I feel good about it. This is the way.”

Then she stands and quickly makes her way to the door, turning for a moment to tell him, “I have to go now, or it will be too late. I will return shortly to help you get ready.”

She scurries down the hallway and makes her way up to where she senses the Alpha should be in his office. Without even knocking, she throws the door open and bursts into the room.

“I know what needs to be done,” she proclaims without regard for who is in the room or what they were doing.

Alpha Preston had been in the middle of a conversation with three of his men. They have all paused and turned to look at her, their mouths open slightly in surprise.

“Uh, Hazel,” he begins to address her outburst, then reconsiders. “Alright, actually, could you give us a few minutes?” he addresses the men instead.

Once they have left the room, he turns to her with a look that communicates that whatever she has to say had better be important.

“Alright then. Tell me what you know.”

“I’ve seen an important battle,” she begins to explain. “There is a man, one of your warriors. His name is Kyle Lowan. I know he is leaving now to head to his assigned post. He needs David to be with him.”

“I’m going to need more than that if you expect me to trust your friend. I don’t know him, who he is or where he comes from or anything like that. I just know he had something to do with one of my brother’s schemes and he told me not to let him leave. I don’t know why, and frankly, I have always gotten a weird vibe from him.”

“Your brother enlisted me to help him kidnap the man,” she says flatly, the beginning and ending of the truth she intends to tell him, “but that doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve worked on him for many years, and the person he was before is no longer in there. He doesn’t remember his life before or that he doesn’t belong here. He is very obedient and loyal to me, and I am loyal to you and to the wellbeing of your pack. All that remains of his mind is the knowledge and experience that made him a gifted shaman, and that is what we have need of now. More specifically, your man Kyle has need of him. He will be involved in a battle, the outcome of which will determine the outcome of the war. He will also be severely wounded during this same battle, and without David there he will die, and his unit will be overwhelmed and captured by the enemy. With David there, he will be healed and able to keep on fighting, which will turn the tide of the war in our favor. So, as I said, he needs to take David with him. Now, today. David needs to learn to hold his own in a fight before that moment comes.”

She never ceases to impress even herself with how skilled of a liar she has become, knowing just when to tell the truth to maintain the Alpha’s seemingly unwavering faith in her and when she can get away with a well-placed fib or two, like now. It’s not that she particularly enjoys lying, but it is necessary from time to time to handle such a man as Alpha Preston. Usually, she does it when she thinks he cannot handle the full truth, but of course now her goal is to secure David’s route to freedom.

Alpha Preston appears to deliberate with himself for a moment, before pursing his lips together and nodding.

“Alright. You’ve never steered me wrong before. I suppose it makes sense that the magnitude of the things you ask of me will naturally be greater in the face of the greater magnitude of the situation in front of us. Do you have any other insight we can pass along to Kyle? Maybe some way he can avoid this injury?”

“No, he cannot know any of this,” she reminds him. “You should know by now that the things I tell you cannot be tampered with, or the outcomes will change. You can only tell him that he needs to bring David along. You cannot tell him why or give him any hint of the danger he faces. I should not even have told you, though I sensed that in this case my word would not have been enough for you.”

Alpha Preston sighs, hating the burden of having knowledge he can do very little about. He is struck with the realization that what he feels in this moment is only a sliver of what it must feel like to be Hazel, and almost feels pity for the woman. Brushing it aside, he strides to the door to call his men back in.

“Kyle,” he calls out. One of the men who had been meeting with him when she came in steps forward in response.

She recognizes him from her vision and realizes how close she had been to being too late. The Alpha had been in the process of sending him away right this minute, and the chances that he would have gone to the trouble of sending David after him would be slim. She saw this as well. Her only chance at convincing him was before Kyle left to his assignment in one of the newly acquired regions of the Black Moon territory. It takes a few hours to travel there by car, and the Alpha would not have wanted to expend the men necessary to form a security detail for just David.

“Yes, Alpha,” Kyle responds, a hint of curiosity in his tone.

“There is a last-minute addition to your men. Hazel here has offered her assistant, a gifted shaman the way she tells it. She thinks he will be useful to you and your men to support you in your endeavors. He does need some help with getting ready for a fight, though.”

Kyle glances briefly at the witch, aware of the power he can feel radiating from her. He has a sneaking suspicion that this might be the dark witch The Council seeks, but in this moment does not see anything he can do about it, so he just makes a mental note that her name is Hazel, and she seems to be staying with the Alpha, judging by her stocking feet. She hasn’t come here from outside.

“Yes, Alpha,” he answers agreeably. “A shaman will be a welcome addition to my men, if for no other reason than to boost morale. Thank you for your consideration.”

Alpha Preston ushers the men back into his office and dismisses Hazel in the same swift motion. She hurries back to her room and to David, to update him that the Alpha has accepted her offer and he needs to prepare for when Kyle comes to collect him. She tries not to let on that she is experiencing any sort of extraordinary emotion toward the man so that he remains ignorant of the significance of these final moments together, but it saddens her to know that this will be the last time she sees him.