The Beginning - Part 2

*Hanson*

   It took all of my willpower not to get back into that bed with my sphinx, Jezebel. With the beauty of an angel and the heart of a sinner, my beloved had watched as I turned from her and walked out the door of our secret room in the inn. I couldn’t wait for the day when I no longer had to hide the love that I felt for her or be the one to turn away from her advances. Soon. My dear Jezebel. You and I will be together as we were destined to be. Worry not.

   She was a queen and deserved to be at my side. Unfortunately, my father, current Alpha of the Mountain Saloon pack, would never allow a witch to be my Alpha Female.

   Alpha Jameson despised witches for living on land that he feels belongs strictly to the werewolf population. Him and the Witch Mother have been fighting over this land for the last thirty years after the former Alpha, my grandfather, was killed in a fight against witches. Did it matter that they were Dark? No. Did it matter that they were from a different clan? Also, no. The previously strained relationship between the Mountain Saloon Pack and The Sisters of the Path snapped and became a full feud in a matter of days after the previous Alpha was lost to us. Witches started hexing wolves. Wolves started attacking witches. Fights were breaking out in and around the entire town. It wouldn’t be long before the feud tore both sides apart, and I didn’t want any part of it, considering that my beloved Jezebel was my soulmate and was specifically picked by the Moon Goddess to be my one and only.

   “QUICK! QUICK!” I turn to the open door of my bedroom as Hendricks, the pack’s head butler came scampering into the room. “Alpha Hanson, you must come quick. To the study. It’s your mother!”

   With quick movements, I rush through the door and run past the old doddering butler and through the house. Five minutes later, I burst through the door of the study to find my father bowing his head in defeat as he signs a stack of paper. “Father! What is happening?” My father struggles to lift his head in his grief. “Father. What is it? Has something happened to mother?”

   Alpha Jameson finally lifts his head and rises to his full height. “Hanson, my boy, something has happened.”

   I move closer with arms wide in concern. “What, Father? Talk to me.”

   “It’s your mother.” I watch as he crosses in front of his large ornate desk and as he lowers himself down to its surface until he is sitting on its polished cherry wood surface. “She was taken by the Pine Forest Pack, located at the bottom of the mountain.”

   I turn to leave. “Let’s ready our fighters and go get her.”

   “There is no time.” I turn back to my father as he rubs his pale face. “She will be killed within the hour if you don’t comply with their demands.”

   “If I don’t comply?”

   “They will kill her unless you complete the ceremony to make the Alpha’s daughter your Alpha Female.”

   “I don’t want her as my Alpha Female.”

   My father looks at me in pity. “I know. But this is your mother’s life, and you are the only one who can save her.”

   “No. That’s NOT RIGHT! THAT’S NOT FAIR!” My father continues to look at me. “Why would we ever bow down to such a demand? If we do it now, they will think they own us… control us.”

   “Yes. I had thought of this. But that is a fight for another day. We have no time for discussions. No time for retaliation.” No. NO NO NO NO NO. Jezebel is my soulmate. To become the mate to another is the ultimate betrayal. I couldn’t do it to her. But this is my mother. “You must make the decision now. Save your mother or kill her.”

   With closed eyes, I send a silent prayer of forgiveness to the Moon Goddess and to my sweet Jezebel, who will find I am not where I am supposed to be tonight. Forgive me my love. For I must save mine own blood. “I will save her. When do we do this?”

   “Now. You will both be blindfolded and led to the ceremony site as is tradition.”

   “I’ve never liked that tradition.”

   “I know.” My father puts his hand on my shoulder as he turns me around and ties black satin around my head, effectively blinding me and robbing me of the sight of my surroundings.

*Narrator*

   It was a bad night. The stars were blocked out by the smoke billowing up and out from the wall of fire. There was a hushed whisper among the gathered witches. Everyone had felt the loss of the Witch Mother and were wondering what was happening. Several were crying and holding on to each other, but me… my eyes were continually scanning the crowd. Something bad was about to happen, and the other witches would have sensed it if their grief wasn’t so pungent. “Ladies. Witches. Sisters of the Path Coven is no more.” Witches turn their head to the voice as one with barely audible gasps. JaSwana! I’d know that voice anywhere. I grew up next to her for fourteen years. “The Witch Mother is dead. Your soon-to-be high priestess is next.” The fire dies down to embers as the witches stare on in horror. JaSwana killed her own mother!! But the horror that spread through the crowd like wildfire had nothing to do with the Witch Mother and was all due to Jezebel being tied to a large stake with her hands tied behind her back and an iron cuff around her neck. Jezebel stands within a pile of wooden stakes—all of which had the pointy ends directed at her. JaSwana holds out her hand as a ball of crimson red energy begins to swirl. A DARK WITCH! The crowd of witches watch as the crimson ball throws shades of red and black across her face, making her look sinister. How accurate. I look to Jezebel, who is staring back at me. RUN. I turn to JaSwana as she speaks. “Today, we usher in a new era. An era where I am your QUEEN!” The swirling ball of energy engulfs her before receding and fading away at the sound of barking laughter.

   A tall man with dark black hair and sparkling green eyes step out of the woods. “Am I late, JaSwana? You know I like a good fight… I mean, party.” JaSwana jerks her head to a guy off to the side, who comes forward with a length of rope.

   As JaSwana talks, the brute with the rope gags Jezebel. Why would that be necessary? “Not at all. Let’s get this ceremony over and done with, Alpha Jameson.” With shock, everyone watches as the Alpha of the feuding pack gestures toward his people, who begin to swarm into our coven’s meeting space. The Alpha waves off a man as a blind-folded man is brought forth. Directly behind him is a gorgeous blond beauty with a slim waist and delicate features. Is this a…? NO! Jezebel! I turn to Jezebel to see her eyes swimming with tears. So, that is Hanson. And this is a pack mating ceremony! 

   I watch as Alpha Jameson guides Hanson to stand in front of Jezebel. I see him wink at Jezebel before turning Hanson to stare out to his left. The other man brings the young dame up to the ‘alter’ where he turns her to face Hanson. I look to Jezebel with a question in my eyes: “what do I do?”

   Her eyes shimmer with unshed tears and gives me a slight shake of her head, saying ‘do nothing’ and ‘stay alive’. My soul burns with anger for my friend, hatred for her mother, and a hopelessness that I can’t change what is about to happen. “Let’s Begin”. Alpha Jameson steps forward to unite the two. “I, Alpha Jameson, hereby present these two to the Moon Goddess. This is a good pairing between an Alpha male and his soon-to-be Alpha Female. Alpha Hanson, do you take Sahanna as your partner? Do you promise to stand by her side and value her council from this day forward?”

   “I do.”

   “Sahanna, do you take Hanson as your partner? Do you promise to lead beside him in grace and strength from this day forward?”

   “I do.” Her soft voices carries as she answers, making me grind my teeth in anger.

   “From this day forward, Alpha Hanson cannot go against his Alpha Female, and vice versa. You may now seal your fates with a kiss.” Jezebel’s tears flow freely from her eyes as she washes Hanson kiss his new mate. The wolves cheer at the newly named alpha, and the witches stare on in continued shock over the turn of events. So, no one but myself notices the thin silver thread connecting Hanson’s heart to Jezebel’s grow weak at the betrayal. JaSwana removes the gag from Jezebel’s mouth as Alpha Jameson and the other man remove the blind folds as the couple kisses.

   Almost immediately, Hanson breaks away and looks out into the crowd. He rushes to a woman who is a female version of himself. “Mother! Are you okay?”

   She looks at him confused. “Of course, I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

   Hanson checks her for injuries as she swats his hands away. “Dad told me you were taken by another pack?” With dawning horror, he looks her in the eyes. “You weren’t, were you?”

   His mother shakes her head. “A witch came to us and told us about your little witch. Really Hanson? A witch as a leader to a pack. She didn’t belong.”

   “She wasn’t going to lead your precious pack. We were going to leave tonight!” Hanson turns around in horror about what he has done when his eyes finally find Jezebel, tied to a stake. I choose this moment to slip in between the trees and watch the rest unfold from there. I couldn’t tell you why. A feeling. A premonition. A gut instinct. If you will. Hanson moves forward while commanding to others, “Release her!”

   When no one listens, he moves to do it himself. “Hanson, stop!” His body obeys as his mind churns, his heart burns, and his eyes yearn to follow through with the task. The Alpha Female. “COME BACK TO ME!” Hanson straightens as his body obeys a call the rest of him wishes to ignore. As he comes to stand next to his new female, he watches Jezebel and pleads for forgiveness and offers false promises of freeing himself from his Alpha Female with his eyes. Jezebel closes her eyes before looking straight ahead. That was the last time she looked at him. The thin silver thread grows even weaker from the final betrayal. He was going to stand there and watch her burn.

   JaSwana steps forward. “Like I said. A new era begins tonight.” With a flourish of her hand, the pyre catches fire and glows in red and black flame. “Any last words dear daughter of mine!”

   Jezebel looks her dead in the eye before looking at her people, her witches, who stand by and watch her die. Jezebel eyes turn white, and her body glows with a power that isn’t her own. The clearing becomes sinister as vines grow up and out from the ground and as wind whips our clothes and hair around. Still, Jezebel’s voice speaks loud and clear for all to hear:

                                                                                              “BY THE GODDESS FREYA,

                                                                                   BY THE GODDESS OF FATE AND DESTINY,

                                                                                         BY ME AND MY UNBORN CHILD,

                                                                                      I LEAVE YOU WITH THIS PROPHECY”

   Jezebel’s tone softens as her ire at their stupid feud subsides and as her body glows with an otherworldly light. A beautiful visage of Freya appears, overlapping the features of her most faithful subject:

                                                                                           The bond which bridges your divide,

                                                                                         With blood and lust, shall be cast aside;

                                                                                                  A bond that cannot be remade,

                                                                                                 Until the blood has been repaid.”

   As soon as I heard the line about her unborn child, I turned to look at Hanson, which was the only reason that I saw that soulmate bond finally break, bringing him to his knees in agony as he screams at the tearing and ripping pain occurring within his chest. With a final look at Jezebel, I see as she grows brighter and brighter with a power and strength not her own until a blast of light throws everyone and anyone far and wide. Werewolves land on witches. Witches land beside werewolves. I watch as witches start chanting spells and curses and as wolves shred their clothes as they turned. I watched at witches killed wolves, and wolves tore apart witches. Hidden in the trees, I left it all behind. There wasn’t a soul left alive on that cursed mountain when that sun traveled across the sky that next morning.

   I traveled from town to town and village to village in those following days, and I watched as soulmates turned into enemies from their bigotry and their hatred. The betrayal of one bond had single-handedly destroyed the bonds for countless other people. The world was torn apart by fighting in and among all clans. I, Mae Shamrock, last of The Sisters of the Path Coven, bore witness to the destruction of the soulmate bond as the Soulmate Covenant was broken in 1850. I knew without a doubt that it would not be returning…

UNTIL the world changed its ways…

UNTIL one was born with the capacity for change…

JaSwana was right. It was the dawn of a new era… one of death and destruction.