Flora’s POV
I felt powerless as I looked at the corpse in front of us. We all could tell that the she-wolf was already dead. How could we relay such words to our Alpha and still keep our necks intact?
“Elder,” Brenda called in a cracked voice, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Yes, dear,” I answered in a husky voice, then cleared my throat.
“How are we supposed to clean a dead body? I’m so scared because I have never done it before,” she asked as I glared at her.
Did she want to die? What if the Alpha was close by? Hearing her words would make him act up in just a second.
“If you value your damn life, you will shut your mouth and work. By the way, watch your mouth,” I said loudly and then looked at Sylvia, who was looking at the body intensely.
“Sylvia,” I called softly.
She looked at me and then patted her chest a few times.
“Elder, I know I shouldn’t say this, but I’m uncomfortable. Lillian is way gone and there is nothing our Alpha can do about it. I heard from a few warriors that the Alpha had asked the healer to use her very incense to stop her body from decaying. That clearly shows he knows she’s dead. If that’s the case, then why is he making us wash up dead…”
She gasped when I moved and forced my hand on her mouth.
“Shut up!” I growled loudly.
She frowned, then sighed softly and nodded.
I dropped my hand and looked at the door in concern and then looked at her seriously.
“First, the healer did not use her incense but her energy. Most healers have healing energy which is used on those that are injured or sick. That same energy when manipulated in a certain way can also preserve a dead body, sadly not for long. In a month or so, the energy will leave the body and it decays as it should,” I answered as they all looked at me with surprised expressions on their faces.
“What?” I asked calmly.
“How do you know all that when you aren’t a healer?” Sylvia asked curiously.
“That’s because my mother was a healer. She taught me a few things and explained to me how her ability works. To be honest, not all pups born from healers become one. Only a few do, that’s why in the pack they are treated with respect,” I answered.
“I figured too, it wasn’t only for their ability,” Brenda said as Sylvia rolled her eyes in annoyance.
“It’s mostly because of their ability, dummy,” she mocked her.
I took a few steps forward and stood next to the body, looking down at it.
She still looked the same; the only difference was that she was slightly pale.
I leaned in, moved my hand to her forehead, and then held my breath. Her body was very cold.
“Brenda, bring me a small bucket and a face towel. We won’t manage to move her body, so I will make sure to wipe her clean right here. Sylvia, prepare a new set of sheets and bring me the finest clothes. Also, do not forget a comb and some oil,” I said.
“Yes, elder,” they answered together and quickly rushed to do as I had told them.
I felt so sad for the Alpha despite fearing him and hating his cold behavior towards his late mate.
When I had brought his food a few minutes ago, I was so much in shock over how he was acting, despite the Beta giving me a heads up. In all my life, I had heard how some mates went rogue, but never was there a day I had ever heard of such an incident, where the Alpha would keep his dead mate’s body because of denial and grief.
All along we all assumed he hated her and wanted to be with his other lover!
We were so wrong because he would be rejoicing right now seeing how she was finally dead, not going into sanity to protect his heart and mind from accepting what he can’t change.
“Right on time,” I whispered when I heard the door’s handle move.
When the Beta’s scent reached my nose, I quickly stood upright and turned to face him.
“Beta,” I greeted with respect and a slight bow.
His wolf was still in control, which was kind of uncomfortable because it rarely happened, and we rarely talked to him. His expressions and actions were cold and distant, which is why we all respected and feared him as much as we feared the Alpha.
“I have a question for you,” he said seriously.
“Yes, Beta,” I answered in a respectful tone.
“You have lived for a long time, and I’m assuming you are past a hundred,” he said as I frowned.
Was he age-shaming me when he knew how werewolves aged slowly? I was an old she-wolf, yet I still had it in me to serve the pack.
“Yes, I am a hundred and seven,” I answered as he sighed in relief.
“You were born from a healer and a Delta, right?” he asked as I frowned deeply.
What was he getting at? His questions were beginning to sound disrespectful.
“Yes,” I answered.
“I had a talk with our healer and asked if there is anything we could do to help the Alpha. Her answer was exactly as I had expected. There was nothing we could do; it was too late. She said that the only way for him to be sane is to either find his second chance mate or bring his dead mate to life,” he said as I widened my eyes.
No! He wasn’t thinking what I thought he was thinking.
“When I suggested we start ambushing packs, villages, and bases to bring in different females and she-wolves, just so we could find the Alpha’s second chance mate, she quickly was against it. She then told me how the past healers knew how to awaken a dead body,” he said as I quickly took a step back with a rapidly beating heart.
No!
“Seeing how you are born from a healer, I assume you must have heard about such a thing,” he said as I felt my head ache.
“Elder,” he called.
“No!” I yelled, then covered my mouth with my hand.
“What?” He asked seriously.
I dropped my hand and shook my head.
“I know nothing,” I answered.
“Is that so?” He asked, then smirked.
“Do you know what I truly enjoy about my rank?” He asked as I shook my head. He had this mischievous glint in his eyes.
“I can force any lower rank into submission, that includes getting the truth out of their freaking mouth,” he threatened.
I could tell Brenda was in the bathroom, terrified to come out, while Sylvia was outside the room.
“Brenda, Sylvia. Please give us some privacy,” I said loudly.
Brenda came out of the bathroom and bowed low. She looked at me and then quickly rushed out to where Sylvia was.
Once I was sure they weren’t around, I glared at the Beta.
“I’m already too old to be threatened like this, sir,” I said as he laughed softly then stopped.
“Spill,” he ordered.
“Fine, it’s not that the past healers knew how to awaken a dead body. If that were the case, then even the healers now would be capable of doing it. What she should have said is that most healers knew where the banished witches who used dark magic resided,” I answered and then continued.
“Everything in this world needs balance, and if that balance is broken, consequences are upheld. Just as packs have rules, so does the witch coven,”
“Those witches, sorcerers, and warlocks who went against it were banished. The use of magic was always practiced, just not black magic. Because black magic required sacrifice, it didn’t matter if it was of flesh, blood, or relations,”
“Seeing how dangerous it was, the elders of the coven banned it and imposed a rule of banishment on those who would practice it. It was their one sacred rule which they couldn’t overlook because some began to kill even their own kind,” I said as he grinned.
“You speak as if you were there,” he mocked.
Of course not, this story was one of the stories my mother told me whenever I wanted to follow her to go and pick herbs past the pack’s border.
“My mother told me all this. She also said that one day, when one of the warriors went out to patrol the border, he noticed how badly injured a lady was. He wanted to leave her, yet he couldn’t because he knew she was his mate,”
“When he saw how she had the burning cursed mark on her hand, he knew that she was a witch. He wanted to leave, yet he wanted her so badly. Going with her to his pack would make things worse for him, and so he chose to stay with her,” I said as he sighed heavily.
“Go on,” he ordered.
“He took time in helping her heal, and when she recovered fully, she accepted him. The two started their own life, and they were very happy for some years; they even had pups together. But then the warrior began to notice a change in his mate’s attitude and life.
By the time he realized that she was using black magic, it was too late; by then, the witch had already murdered more than he could count. Being torn between doing what’s right and staying with her, he decided to leave,” I said and then continued.
“The witch was enraged and in her fit of anger, decided to burn the man together with her pups in the cottage. The man, being one of our kind, made it out of the fire with three of his pups. Sadly, one who was neither a werewolf nor a witch succumbed to the deadly flames,”
“The woman mourned for the child and begged the warrior’s forgiveness. According to her, it was the magic that manipulated her and made her act up. The man wanted to take away the other kids yet couldn’t bring himself to break her heart, so he stayed….,”
“What a loser,” the Beta mocked loudly.
“As time went on, the warrior saw how his mate worked day and night to bring back their dead pup. She even journeyed to forbidden places to get a hold of spell books that were hidden because they were deadly,”
“As she began using the books, her health went down, and so did the warrior’s and their pup. She was so focused and very selfish that she even shut herself in her sacred room for a very long time, not realizing that the books required energy,”
“It drained life force from anything that was living. By the time the woman had perfected the spell of bringing the dead to life, it was too late. Her own family was nothing but bones,” I said as the Beta moved his hand to his waist.
“Is that a Cinderella story turned into horror?” He asked in a mocking tone.
“Not quite,” I answered and then went on to speak.
“When the woman tried to resurrect her family, she realized it was impossible. The spell could only be used once every thousand years and it required a life, blood, curse, debt, or one’s life force that shortened their very lifespan to work,”
” If she would bring back her family, would they forgive her? Never! She knew, and so the woman decided to leave and find a place she would stay forever alone and out of anyone’s sight. It is said that the woman went to the territory of evil and she made herself immortal and stayed there punishing herself for her crimes,”
“Those that dare cross her paths either end up dead, while a few are granted mercy. Rumor has it that one she-wolf crossed her path to ask for help. The witch reluctantly agreed to resurrect her only child a thousand years ago, but the price was her very own life,” I said as he laughed, startling me.
“You expect me to believe that bullshit from you? That the witch is alive and she’s playing the anti-hero role in some weird forest?” he asked seriously.
“No, Beta, I wasn’t telling you a fairy tale. I was telling you a story my mother usually told me and said how true it was. We both know how warlocks and witches do exist. Some practice dark magic while some pure magic, but have we ever heard of one that brings another to life?” I asked as he looked at me coldly.
“Assuming your little fairy tale is an actual true story, how do I get to the evil territory?” he asked.
“By crossing two big rivers, a mountain, and the forever rainy forest!” I answered.
“Does your words even make sense?” he asked.
“No, but that’s a song I was taught. My mother sang it every day while saying how it was a map to where the witch resided,” I answered.
“I have had enough for today,” he whispered and then turned and walked out of the room.
I stood there, glaring at him. Why did he even ask me if he wasn’t going to take me seriously?.