AZALEA

“Alright, here we go then,” Willow said. She pointed to her left. “Stand there and face the other direction.”

I followed her instructions. “You will be able to see him, but he will look like a ghost; I guess that is the best way to describe it. He will be able to see you as well. Head to toe. If there is something you don’t want him to see, I suggest you make sure you don’t let it on.”

“Can he see the whole room?” I asked.

“No, just you,” she answered. “I am pretty strong, but you probably have only ten minutes or so for this spell. I can’t tell you how long the other witch may be able to last on this, though. I suggest you two get to the point and get there quickly.”

“Understood,” I told her. I took a deep breath and stood as tall as I could. I didn’t come off as threatening in any way; I wasn’t oblivious to that fact. I could make up for that with confidence and grace, though.

Willow closed her eyes. “Time to party,” she murmured. Her brows knitted in concentration as she whispered something under her breath. A moment later, the lights in the room seemed to flicker and dim. A coolness pervaded my office, raising goosebumps across my skin. Suddenly, I was less sure about this plan, but I couldn’t back out now.

A mist formed in front of me and slowly took the form of Warwick. As his image became clearer, I could see a smug look on his face. He was seated on something, leaning against an armrest with one leg crossed over the other.

Finally, the fog that made up his projection seemed to be still. “Well, that took long enough,” he commented. “Azalea, how kind of you to accept my invitation.”

“Warwick,” I nodded. He let out a low chuckle.

“Not one for niceties?” he mused. “I admire the confidence in such a fragile little thing. But that must come from all those lumbering puppies you surround yourself with.”

“We are not here to discuss my physical capabilities,” I pointed out.

“True,” he said in a bored voice. “You are curious about other things.” I simply nodded my head, waiting to see if he would offer anything up. “Tell me, what do you hope to accomplish with this little, secret rendevous?”

“I presumed you already knew that, but if I must state it aloud, I will. I want to know what it will take to stop all of this. No more bloodshed, no more fighting on either side. Name your price,” I said in a level tone.

Warwick laughed. “Your naive mate doesn’t even know you have contacted me, does he? You have kept this all from him. Why?”

I considered my options for a minute. Warwick had to be making assumptions about me based on what he already knew of us. We knew he was being fed information via Gwen before he killed her, who surely told him I was an obstinate b***h with no respect for my mate. Warwick’s ego was so large; maybe the answer was to play along. “If I answer your question, I expect an answer for mine,” I stated.

“Fair enough,” Warwick said. “You entertain me, and I will reciprocate.”

“It’s simple then. My mate is far too protective of me to agree to this. He doesn’t believe there is a compromise to be reached. He was trained to solve problems one way, and I don’t always think it is the right way,” I explained myself.

“So you are the brain to his brawn?” Warwick laughed. “That’s a little cliche, girl.”

“Not exactly. We just view the world differently,” I said.

“So you do,” he said. I peered at the clock on my wall. We had already wasted three minutes.

“So, I answered yours now you answer mine. What will it take to stop all of this?” I demanded.

He gave me an appraising look. “Do you even know why this whole rivalry began?”

“Werewolves killing vampires?” I guessed. When he held me captive, he mentioned g******e of his kind, so the only conclusion I could reach was Liam’s great grandfather was targeting vampires.

Again, Warwick laughed. “While you are not wrong, it runs much deeper than that. Did you know, she-wolf, that we vampires also have what you call ‘mates’?” I shook my head; I did not know that. “To us, they are our destined. It is a far more precious connection than your mate bond because it is very rare. I have lived through much of this world’s history, even being present of this country’s formation. I only found my destined a century and a half ago.”NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

“What does that have to do with Liam’s great grandfather?” I asked, wanting him to get to the point.

“It should be obvious,” he said with a shrug. “That Blackfur mongrel slaughtered my destined.”

I was shocked and not at the same time. It made sense that this old vampire would wage war against the party responsible for his beloved’s death. With the way he explained it, I wondered if it was provoked or not.

“I can imagine the loss you felt,” I told him. “I imagine there is nothing that could ever be done to make up for that loss.”

“The death of your pack ending with its Alpha will be a start,” he said smugly.

“Surely, you have repaid our people with enough suffering in both the first war and this one. There has to be something that could bring you to a compromise?” I tried.

He looked at me thoughtfully. Everything was quiet for a minute while I waited for him to answer. I peeked at Willow, she had sweat beaded on her brow, and her hands were fisted over her knees. We didn’t have much time left.

“Yes,” he said. “There is. I will stop this war, stop my kin from attacking your precious pack and mate if you give me two things.” He held up two long, spindly fingers with sharp nails at their ends.

“What are they?” I asked quickly.

“Eager little b***h,” he chuckled darkly. “I think it may be enough penance if every Blackfur Alpha’s mate was to be taken from them. First, I want the former Luna. Her life will be the second to last death in this quarrel.” I froze entirely. He wanted Lyssa? I could never hand over her life. Before I could stop him, he continued. “Then, I think you will become my replacement destined. Your mate will hand you over to me, then watch as I turn you and claim you for eternity.”

All the air left my body. He wanted Liam to hand me over; he wanted to take me as his destined.

“You better answer quickly, he said. This offer will only last a few more minutes,” he said with a sinister smile.

“I-I cannot give you Lyssa’s life. It is not mine to bargain with!” I said.

“And yours? Surely, you can bargain with that.” He looked away from me, probably at someone in the room with him. His eyes flashed with anger before he turned back to me. “Hmmm? Tik tok tik tok.”

I was mortified. He didn’t actually care about Lyssa; I could tell by his response. He was testing the waters with that demand. He wanted to take me from Liam. He wanted to watch Liam crumble, and I was the only way that could happen. Liam would never recover; the kids would lose their mother and father. The pack would lose their Alpha and their Luna. I would have to watch Liam be decimated in the most painful way. Our bond would break, and there would be no guarantee I could physically withstand it.

“Okay, you drive a hard bargain,” Warwick said when I didn’t answer. “Forget my first demand. Just the second one. I want you.”

“Liam stays out of it,” I countered. “He doesn’t need to watch his mate taken from him. The bond breaking will be painful enough.”

“Hmm,” he hummed. “No, I don’t think so. He will watch.”

“I need more time,” I told him. I needed time to think; I was sure I could come up with something to even begin making up for losing his destined.

“That you cannot have,” he said. He stood from his seated position. “It seems your intentions were not pure with this little chat either. I am afraid your little spies are creating a nuisance on my property. I will have to go now to take care of this.”

“Wait, what?” I exclaimed, but it was futile. Willow slumped over on the floor, and Warwick evaporated.

I rushed over to Willow and shook her gently. “Willow, Willow, please wake up!” I tried to cajole her; she was panting heavily, but her eyes remained tightly closed.

LIAM

I hadn’t heard from Azalea all morning. My mother called a bit ago saying Azalea hadn’t answered the phone and she was going to take Azly to the park. Something was off with Azalea, but I tried to let her be. She didn’t always like it when I came in and hovered to make sure she wasn’t upset.

Gavin was prickling in my head. He felt something was off too. It was getting close to lunch, so I decided just to go collect her; maybe some time alone would fix whatever was going on.

I exited my office and looked down the hall to see Felix pacing in front of her office door. While I preferred him to be in the room with her, he and Azalea had found a balance where he would give her some space occasionally. I had never seen him pacing like this, though.

“What is going on?” I questioned, stopping in front of him.

“Sir, I don’t know,” he said in a quiet voice.

“You don’t know?” I asked curiously. Felix always knew; he worked with information. I could rely on him to predict what Azalea would do before she did it.

“She had a meeting and asked me to give them some privacy,” he explained.

“You have a key; unlock the door,” I told him. He shook his head.

“I tried,” he said. “It will not open. I can only hear muffled voices through the door and walls.”

My eyes widened, and my heart raced. “Who is she meeting with?”

Felix looked away guiltily. “She had questions about Greyback’s watch, the one she retrieved from the bank. I brought an old acquaintance, a witch, here to help her.”

“A witch is in there alone with my mate?” I asked. I had no experience with witches, but I was taught to have a healthy concern for them. It was hard to determine exactly what a witches’ capabilities were from appearance alone.

“She would not hurt Azalea,” he said in a steadfast voice.

“Are you willing to stake your life on that?” I growled. I turned to the door and started pounding. “Azalea, open this door!” I shouted.

I couldn’t hear anything on the other side, only muffled speech that was impossible to determine the source of. “How long have they been in there?” I asked him angrily.

“Almost 30 minutes now,” he answered.

“And how exactly do you know this witch?” I spit at him as I pounded on the door.