Chaperone

MALIA’S POV
Penelope took off my hat without my permission as soon as we entered her chambers and Lucien gasped.
“It is pretty, right?” she asked her father-in-law with a smile and I rolled my eyes.
“That is not the point here, Penelope,” I said.
She giggled. “I am so sorry but I can not just help but say it,” she replied.
“Do you know if you have any witches in your ancestry?” Lucien asked.
My eyes narrowed in suspicion. I had a feeling where this was leading and I was not sure I liked it. “I do not know. My mother never made mention of it. Neither did my father,” I replied.
He was thoughtful for a moment. “It is better that we confirm what I have in mind. I think we should go to the witch that the Alpha took you to, to have your curse lifted,” he suggested.
Penelope bounced in excitement. “Do you think she is a witch? Oh, I have always wanted to have a witch as a friend.”
Lucien and I both rolled our eyes. “Are you not supposed to be taking care of my grandkids instead of letting them hassle my wife?” he quizzed.
She scoffed. “You are the only one who thinks they are bothering her. She does not feel that way,” she replied.
“So when are we going to the witch? Should I go get my bag?” she asked in an excited whisper.
“I do not even know how to get there. I was asleep for most part of the journey when Ryder took me there,” I replied.
Lucien sighed. “Do you at least know what she looks like?” he queried.
“Of course, I could never forget a face like hers. A wild-looking thing. All red curly hair and ocean eyes,” I answered.
I heard his sharp intake of breath and my eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Is there something wrong?” I asked. Penelope too was looking at him with eyes filled with concern.
“Alice,” he said. “That is her name.”
Penelope beamed. “Just great. You, Lucien, do have a story to tell us on our way to see her.”
I threw her a dirty look. “How do you even know that he knows the way there?”
“I do,” he murmured and Penelope gave me a smug look.
Since the fight I had with Ryder the previous night, I had not seen any of my bodyguards. Perhaps, they had seen how capable I was when it came to defending myself. It was not like I missed their presence anyway. In fact, it was a good thing that they were mysteriously absent. Lucien did not want anyone else to know where we were going.
“Do you think she is going to die if we decide not to allow her to go with us?” I asked Lucien as we got to his car.
Penelope had been bouncing excitedly as if we were going on some sort of fun exploration and it was beginning to get on my nerves.
Lucien turned to face me with a serious expression on his face. “She is definitely going to die if we leave without her. There is no doubt about it,” he answered.
She stuck her tongue out at both of us and I scoffed. “It beats me how a baby like you is raising four other babies. Does it not get chaotic at times?” I queried as soon as we got into the car.
I had chosen to sit beside Lucien, who was behind the wheel, rather than sit at the back with my best friend. I was afraid of strangling her out of sheer irritation.
Her father-in-law chuckled. “She is the most childish mother I have ever seen.”
Penelope snorted. “Nothing the both of you say is going to kill my excitement. Sticks and stones may break my bones but your words will never hurt me.”
I inhaled deeply. “Please let’s just go,” I said to Lucien.
While Lucien drove and Penelope busied herself with exclaiming at everything she saw as she looked the window, I tried to remember if my mother and father had ever told me stories about any of our family members being witches.
I thought long and hard and came up with nothing. Then I concluded that there was no possibility that I was a witch. I did not remember having any witchy tendencies when I was growing up. I was painfully normal, especially because I did not even have a wolf then.
“Are you not going to tell us how you know the witch?” Penelope asked, breaking the silence. I guessed she had grown bored of looking out the window.
“It is a very long and boring story. Besides, I am driving and I need to concentrate,” he replied.
Penelope scoffed. “You are a werewolf and that means that you have the ability to do two things with the same level of perfect concentration. You can give us a summary of the story and I do not care if it is boring. I am pretty sure that Malia does not care either,” she said.
For the first time in a while, I agreed with her.
He looked at me for support but I shrugged. I wanted to know too.
He sighed. “Alice and I were lovers. The only reason we are not together is that I found my mate,” he began.
“Wow!” she silently exclaimed. “That means there is a possibility that you still have feelings for her.”
He inhaled deeply. “I guess the real reason why I broke things off with her was not because I found my mate. It was because I was afraid of being alienated by the other members of my pack for being with a witch.”
I nodded in understanding. I knew how much werewolves despised witches. I did not even know who they disliked more between vampires and witches.
Penelope sighed. “I love forbidden romances. You two should have eloped and gone to live among the humans.”
I rolled my eyes and Lucien chuckled. “Yeah, maybe we should have done that. But at that time I was still young and lacked the courage. Besides, a werewolf needs to be in a pack. In a way, we nourish each other. It would have been difficult for me to stay away especially when you consider how young I was.”
“You two can have a good reunion kiss. I promise not to tell Margaret,” she said.
“Penelope!” I exclaimed.
“Do you still think that we should not kick her out of this car?” I asked Lucien.
He smiled. “I guess my daughter-in-law just wants me to be happy,” he replied.
I scoffed. “Indeed.”
Even though he had told me that he knew the place, I was still surprised when we arrived at the correct house.
My best friend was the first to jump out of the car. If she was human, I was sure she would have broken a leg.
She looked amazed at the size and beauty of the bungalow.
“Wait till you see what it looks like on the inside,” I said to her.
I turned to look at Lucien who was standing very still as he looked at something we could not see. Something in the past.
I tapped him gently on the shoulder. “Are you okay?” I asked.
He took a deep breath and gave me a nod. “This place has not changed one bit,” he said.
“Are you sure you are ready to see her?” I asked and as soon as the words were out of my mouth, the front door opened and she slowly came out.
I heard his sharp intake of breath and I knew without a doubt that he still loved her in a way that he was never going to be able to love Margaret.
My best friend’s mouth hung open as Alice walked towards Lucien.
She didn’t stop until she was just a whisper away from him. They just stood there looking at each other for a while.
“You never came to visit. Why?” she finally whispered.
“You know why,” he answered and they fell silent again.
Just when I thought I was going to just take control of the situation, Alice spoke.
“Please, come in.”
I nearly breathed a sigh of relief. We allowed them to walk ahead of us and followed slowly behind them.
“That was so sweet,” Penelope said and I gave her a look.
“You are forgetting that he is married to your husband’s mom,” I whispered and she giggled.
I gave her a dirty look. “I am so sorry but I don’t know why I just find what you said so funny,” she said.
“It would not be so funny if you were in Margaret’s shoes. How would you feel if Damien still has feelings for an old lover?” I queried.
She scowled and I nodded. “That’s what I thought.”
Penelope’s irritation vanished as soon as we entered the living room.
She immediately went to touch the beautiful vase on one of the fancy stools.
I gave Alice an apologetic look but she grinned and seemed to be enjoying my friend’s open display of delight.
“What’s her name again?” she asked Lucien.
“Penelope,” he answered.
“Penelope, I have many of those vases in my storage room. I would love to give you one,” she said.
She grinned. “I would love to have one.”
Lucien and I exchanged amused glances. “Your best friend is this close to being another person’s best friend,” he said and I felt a little bit jealous.
Alice told us to make ourselves comfortable and served us mocha and cookies.
She and Lucien first tried to catch up by reminiscing about old times much to Penelope’s delight and to my irritation.
Finally, she wanted to know why we had come.
“I can see you look radiant,” she said to me with a smile.
I returned the smile. “Thanks for your help. I would have been a dead woman by now.”
She chuckled. “No one dies from being wolfless.”
“I wasn’t talking about that. Ryder told me that you saw some visions about how I was going to die on the battlefield,” I explained.
Her lips parted slightly in surprise and I knew that my husband had lied to me.
She laughed nervously. “Maybe it was another witch who had called to tell him that. But it was certainly not me.”
I nodded and told her that I understood.
“No offence meant, but I think the Alpha is just a manipulative son of a bitch,” Penelope said.
No one disagreed with her.
I went on to tell Alice why we had come. I took off my hat and she gasped.
“You are certainly from a very old line of witches called the Alfea tribe,” she said to me.
Penelope gave a squeal of excitement beside me and I tried so hard not to punch her in the face.
“But neither my father nor my mother were witches and they never told me any stories about witchcraft in our family,” I replied.
She smiled. “The witches of the Alfea tribe are usually chosen. Just one person from one family. So, there has never been an Alfea witch or any other type of witch in your family and there will never be another,” she explained.
“But I am also a werewolf so how is this possible? I thought…..”
“No matter how much werewolves and witches hate each other, they are still the children of the Moon Goddess and she can decide to bestow upon a werewolf, the powers of a witch,” she interrupted.
“So I guess this is a good thing right?” It was Penelope who asked.
The witch smiled fondly at her. “Of course, it is,” she replied.
Then her gaze returned to me. “But with great power comes great responsibility.
“I do not believe that I have any power. No one would even have considered that I was a witch if my hair had not turned white overnight.”
She smiled. “You will see for yourself just how powerful you are. Do not hesitate to come to me if you need help or have any questions.
I nodded.
We left later in the evening and it was so obvious that neither Lucien nor Alice wanted to say goodbye.
Penelope actually cried and I would have laughed if Lucien was not also looking like he wanted to cry.
I sighed. “You could easily just come back here to spend time with her. I am offering to act as your chaperone so that nothing untoward will happen between you two.”
I didn’t believe I was even saying this. Penelope said she would also love to act as a chaperone on some days but I knew that she must never be allowed. She was just going to allow or even talk them into making love so that she could watch a real-life forbidden romance.
“Will you two be quiet, please? I need to focus on driving,” he scolded.
Penelope and I stopped arguing about who was to be the chaperone after that.