Two Halves Equal a Whole

Ch. 15 Kayce

Ch. 15 Kayce:

After the shock of seeing her wore off, the first thing my brain thought was: finally. She was followed in by an older woman who looked very uncomfortable being there... she must be an elder.

"Hello again," Selene said, her voice still as cordial as the last time I had seen her - Alpha Terry had told me that was not her normal demeanor, so her being like this in a pack that she had never worked with before was extra strange, "This is Elder Imelda," she said gesturing at the wary old woman.

When Elder Imelda stepped into the room and actually made eye contact with me, she gave me a curious expression before looking at Arlet and I's wrists and then she met Selene's eyes for a split second.

"Hmmm," she said, her voice sounding like a cliche old witch's voice, "Give us the room," her voice commanded authority - not unlike an alpha's voice - and everybody except for Arlet, Elder Imelda, and I were left in the room.

She approached us slowly, analyzing our every movement even if it was just a blink or a twitch. Before I could even react, her hand darted out and landed on my knee. Her eyes flashed orange and then her hand disappeared as fast as it had appeared. I let out a low growl that got caught in my throat as my body heated up and then cooled down. My headache disappeared, as did the weakness in my limbs, and then my tongue went back to its normal size and stitched itself together. She had healed me.

My eyes narrowed. Everything came with a cost - especially with witches - I must have something she wants. Or maybe that spell put some kind of control or tracker on me... or maybe -

"I had to heal you so I can give you a proper examination," she interrupted, "Because my purpose here is to examine you, I will not count this as a separate transaction... though I will say, there is more going on here than you two's broken souls," her eyes held grief when she said the words, 'broken souls.'

I made eye contact with Arlet - her eyes had yet to stop leaking and Elder Imelda's words were not helping. She had also started trembling when Elder Imelda got within five feet of us - clearly terrified. I held her head against mine and glared at the witch who ignored my look. 

"What else is going on," I asked.

She tutted, "I am helping you with your first problem free of charge because souls are very sacred things to witches," her eyes softened again and I realized that that was probably the reason for Selene's kindness, "but anything extra comes with a price."

I met her eyes, "What kind of price?"

"A favor," she said cryptically.

I gritted my teeth; this is exactly why werewolves don't work with witches. A favor to a witch could mean anything. You make the wrong kind of deal with a witch and they could show up at your doorstep decades later asking for your firstborn child. It's also the reason many  wolves, my Arlet included, were scared of witches.

"It would explain your sickness," she offered.

My mind was whirling... if I accepted her deal, it could help me get better which in turn helps the pack, but having an unknown favor to a witch could be detrimental to the pack. On the other hand, if I died, Dominic was too young to be alpha (and he hadn't been trained) and mom would be down a son which might just push her health over the edge (and Arlet had not taken over the Luna position yet). My brain froze. Arlet... my sweet darling Arlet... she had just lost her sister and I was not sure how she would or if she could cope. I couldn't do that to her - even thinking of leaving her alone like that crushed my heart into little pieces.