Alec’s

Sadie.

I pull Raven into my room before shutting the door. The moment we are alone, Raven sits down on my bed while I start pacing the room anxiously.

So far, I am not liking the way things were going. In fact, I hate how everything has turned out. Would it make me a coward if I just fled back to my pack? Things were easier there.

We haven't even been here for more than a day and things are getting complicated. Things have gotten more complicated the longer we stay here. My head is a mess. I am stressed, worried, and anxious. Which, by the way, is a fucking terrible combination.

I stop in my tracks and turn to Raven before taking a step. I sit down beside her, sinking into the soft mattress. My shoulders slump as if I am carrying the weight of the whole world on my shoulders.

I was worn out from lack of sleep, completely wound up, and, on top of that, I am also scared. This is more than I'd bargained for. This whole thing with Alec's pack. What if I fail? What if I am unable to undo this spell? I barely know what the hell I am doing. How am I supposed to help them when I am walking in the dark?

I'm scared because the fate of a whole pack is on me. The children's futures depend on whether I can undo this thing or not. That's a lot of pressure, even for me.

Thinking of it now, I reluctantly respect Alec. He's been carrying this burden since he was old enough to understand the implications of that damned curse. He has carried it for years. I don't know how I would have coped if I had been in his shoes. It's already draining me, and I've only known about it for a couple of days.

"Sadie?"

I turn and face her at the sound of her voice. Just like me, she is worried. Worried about this new development.

I couldn't stop thinking about what she said. What can someone do that is so bad that it would force someone to confine them with a spell? Because that is the only explanation there is. You can't really lock up someone who is good, right?

"Yeah?" I mumble, shaking my head to try and clear it.

My head is overloaded with information. Overloaded with thoughts. It is driving me crazy that I can't catch a freaking break.

"We can't break the spell. We can't undo it," Raven whispers. "I know you wanted to finish things quickly so we could go back home, but we can't risk it."

Sighing, I allow myself to fall backwards and sink into my mattress.

"I know, Rave, and I understand." I answer, staring up at the ceiling.

"Do you? Because it means we have to stay here longer. Trying to find a loophole could take us weeks, even months. Are you ready for that?"

I close my eyes for a brief second. This pack holds bad memories, but I can deal with them. Hell, I can even deal with the pack members. It's easy to ignore them and just go about my business.

What I find challenging, though, is dealing with the ever-growing mate bond. The bond is designed to grow stronger the longer you stay around your mate. It doesn't matter whether you are an item or not. It doesn't matter if you love each other or not. Proximity will bring it to life and strengthen it. It is designed to bring two people together and bind them as one. It will grow stronger and stronger until it gets to a point where fighting it will be futile.

This is why I wanted Alec to accept the rejection. This is why I was fighting so hard to get this problem taken care of. Before, I loved Alec of my own free will, and that was okay. Now things are different, because I don't feel the same way. If we don't get this situation under control, the bond will force us together. That isn't fair to either of us.This is property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

"Sadie?"

"Yes, I understand what that means, but we don't have a choice. I can't let children suffer because of what their Alpha and some of the adults did to me. They deserve a worry-free life."

I push myself up into a sitting position. It was risky staying here, but what choice did I have? If I were completely heartless, I would have left without looking back or thinking twice, but I am not. My heart won't let me abandon these kids.

"Good," she says, her shoulders sagging in defeat. "Because I don't think we are dealing with just any normal supernatural being."

I honestly didn't think there was anything more to it, but I should have. Raven wouldn't have revealed everything to them without first asking me. She simply told them the part they needed to know. "What do you mean?" I ask, perking up at her words.

Just from the way her brows were furrowed and the way she kept nibbling her lips, I knew I was going to dislike this even more than I already did.

She turns fully and faces me. "I know I said I traced the remnants of the spell used, and I did. It is a confinement spell, like I said."

I nod my head, urging her to go on.

"What I didn't tell the rest is that I also caught remnants of something else. Something evil."

A shiver runs down my spine as what she says reaches my ears. I can't help trembling at her words. It's in the way she voiced those words. It's in the scared tone she used.

"So the power used to cast the confinement spell is dark magic? Is that what you are saying?"

She shakes her head and says, "No. Some magic seeped from the confinement spell, and that's what I sensed. The magic used on the spell itself isn't malicious or dark, but the one inside the confinement spell is. What I am saying is that whoever is confined in that spell is powerful, and his powers are dark and sinister. Pure evil. If magic had a feel to it, then this one felt cold. Like death's touch."

'Calvin said the same thing about the veiled woman's powers,' I think to myself.

Is it just a coincidence, or is there a connection?

"This is why I am against undoing the spell without first getting answers," she says, pulling me from my troubled thoughts. Her eyes were haunted, and she had her arms wrapped around herself as if she were protecting herself from what she felt during that time. "Because if we undo the spell, we might just be unleashing a great evil into the world, one who, by the looks of it, is really powerful."

It all made sense. From the small glimpse Raven got. If this person is as bad as Raven describes them, it would explain why someone went to great lengths to subdue and confine them. Even as her words play in my head, I can't help but wonder who it is.