Chapter 6: The Witch

The Alphas didn’t move. They stood with just their pants on, glaring at each other, daring the other to try and take me.

I stood in the middle, wrapped in a cloak, not sure how to get out of deciding. How could I?

I had only known them a night. They had saved my life, introduced me to pleasures I had never thought possible, and tethered me to them in a way I couldn’t explain.

Something about the way they each gave me nicknames, each cared for me more than anyone had in way too long. I didn’t want to give them up yet. Not when I knew there was so much more to what we were doing.

It was an impossible decision.

The magic from the blood moon ceremony seemed to pulse through us all still. My alphas’ eyes were still red, and the slight tinge of nonhuman in me felt like it was glowing. I wasn’t sure if it was normal, but I enjoyed it.

It made me feel invincible, like I could handle these alphas and whatever else the realm wanted to throw at me.

It also made me want to use my voice. My throat blocked with the urge, and I swallowed it back down. Despite trusting the alphas more than the vampires, I still had a promise to keep.

Before the alphas could fight more over who was taking me with them, a rush of wind blew through the clearing. It was strong and almost blew me over. I knocked into Zachariah, who steadied me, narrowing his eyes on the clearing.

“We’ve got company,” he murmured.

The alphas grew tense and I moved closer into Zachariah. He pushed me slightly behind him as the winds grew in intensity.

I sucked in a breath as they formed a small tornado in the clearing. My red hair whipped around me and the cloak tried to flee, but I gripped it tight.

The alphas formed a protective line in front of me, Atticus with his blonde Viking-type hair standing directly in front to shelter me from most of the wind.

I licked my lips appreciatively as I stared at each of them, already doing more for me than any vampire ever had. And the humans told stories of the wolves’ savage ways? As far as I was concerned, the stories were wrong.

The tornado ahead of us in the clearing spun, depositing a single figure in the middle before the wind disappeared, the air calming around us.

The figure wore a gold cloak, the cowl over its features so I had no idea what it was.

“What are you doing here, Witch?” Atticus growled.

The witch pulled the cowl back, revealing her perfect features. She was beautiful. Her skin was like porcelain, smooth and unblemished. Her eyes were white, her lips full and pale. She was tall, almost taller than Dorian, and his height was impressive.

She wore bare feet and her body was naked beneath her gold cloak, like mine. She wasn’t clutching hers to hide like I was, though. Her perfection was all on display.

She had moving gold tattoos over her bald head, the strings of gold moving like vines, creating a jewelry headpiece that only added to her ethereal beauty.

I took a hit to the ego seeing her and just hoped that she wasn’t here to lay claim to the alphas that I had every intention of enjoying again.

“Alpha Dorian Achlis. Atticus Trux. Zachariah Ferus. You have been busy this blood moon, haven’t you?” she said. At least I think it was her.

Her lips didn’t move. But her voice echoed in the wind around us. I gulped; her power radiated and my blood writhed in my veins. It tingled along my skin, and I bit my lip, not sure if that was normal or not after a ceremony like the one I had been in.

“We made a claim; the realm accepted it. We broke no laws,” Dorian countered, his voice deep and commanding.

The witch’s face didn’t move, only her eyes as she peered around at me. Her stare burned, and I gulped.

“No laws were broken. But the realm has responded to such a claim—one shared by the three of you.”

Again, her lips didn’t move. It was kind of creepy the way she stood there and let the winds talk for her. But she seemed way too powerful to point that out, so I kept my mouth shut too.

“Responded how?” Zachariah asked, his voice calm and steady in a way that his body was not. I saw the tension in his back muscles and had the urge to run my fingers over them—to relax them.

But I stayed rooted to the spot. I wasn’t sure what was going on or why we had a witch visiting, but I had a feeling I was the reason. Humans weren’t usually involved in things that included the other races, but I was here. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

“By claiming her as one, the balance has been affected. She has absorbed power from the realm. In a siren like her, that is dangerous.”

All the alphas froze.

The energy in my blood and the tingling on my skin made sense now.

“What does it mean, Vivian? And stop the witch riddles. Tell us what we need to do.” Atticus sounded nervous, but being as big as he was, it was surprising to hear anything make him nervous.

Vivian stood with her body and face still, her gold cloak shimmering in the early sun rays. The gold tattoo of vines moved slowly over her head as she paused before answering.

“The magic is volatile. It was intended for the realm, but as it has chosen to reside in her, we must neutralize it to maintain the balance. She will need an alpha to neutralize it. One of you will need to make a permanent claim to her,” Vivian revealed, and her words in the air left a tension that even I was struggling to breathe through.

“A permanent claim?” I squeaked.

“The Grasslands will accept her as ours,” Zachariah was quick.

Atticus and Dorian both growled, “Fuck off, Z. The water area can keep her grounded,” Atticus argued.

“I reiterate, she will be more comfortable with the humans. My territory in the forests,” Dorian said, leaving no room for argument because he wasn’t asking.

All the alphas glared at each other, and I shivered as their anger sparked a tingling inside me. My stomach turned, and I grimaced, waiting for them to start fighting.

“The siren will choose,” Vivian said firmly, her voice strong even as it echoed around us.

My brows shot up, and I clutched my cloak tighter. Choose? How the hell was I meant to do that?

“I don’t know anything about the wolves or how they live. I’ve only ever known the vampire dungeons. How do I choose without knowing?” I asked, panic starting to claw at my chest. My heart was so loud I knew they would hear it. Its beat was so fast in my ear, and I felt the urge to let tears well.

I held back the feeling, but only just.

Vivian’s features softened. “The realm has chosen you for this. It would not have done so if you were not able to handle it. But you will have to choose. You need an Alpha’s power to ground you; without it, you will become as wild as the power you hold. Then we will have to stop you,” Vivian warned.

“That doesn’t help me know what to do,” I shivered.

I turned to Zachariah. His dark hair with soft spikes made him seem so intimidating. His green eyes were deep and distracting, always watching. He spoke low and moved fast—like an assassin in the shadows. Quiet but lethal.

Dorian. So damn tall. His brown hair was long with flicking curls at the end, landing over his pecs. He had it in a half up—half down, and his face was friendly. An open book with welcoming eyes, with a caramel brown to them. They were mesmerizing the way they seemed to see me—past the body but right into my soul. He was the warmth I craved.

And Atticus. He was a big man with a bulky build and Viking-styled hair that braided down his back. The shaved sides hid tattoos of his lands. His blue eyes were as pretty as the water he represented. And his possessive, protective stance was what I had needed for so long.

How could I possibly pick when that was all I knew about them? How could I choose a land to live in when I had no idea who I was? What did I enjoy? Not getting tortured was the only requirement so far.

I shook my head, “I can’t,” I whispered. I knew I had to, but there was no answer on the tip of my tongue.

The urge to run was there, though. I wouldn’t get far against a witch and three alphas, but I could try.

“I have discussed options with the others. Due to your past, we have a proposition for you,” Vivian said.

I didn’t realize they knew of my past. Where had they been then?

“What kind of proposition?”

```

“We will give you until the next full moon to decide. During that time, you will spend time in each of the lands with the alphas. Then you will have the information you need to make a decision,” Vivian offered. It was more than I had dared to hope for and exactly what I needed.

Time. I needed time. Because I hadn’t had any to myself before.

I wasn’t even convinced this was real yet.

I had escaped vampire dungeons to be in a blood moon ritual where three alphas claimed me, but doing so tipped the balance and now I held power that I needed to ground by spending the rest of my life with one of them?

It seemed made up. But the witch didn’t look like she was joking at all.

Which made it all that much scarier.

I hadn’t given any thought to what I would do after the vampires. I hadn’t thought there was going to be an after.

Now there was, and I had to choose which alpha was my after? How was I to know I wasn’t moving from one prison to another? At least the witches were offering me the chance to figure it out.

Which meant getting to know each alpha and how they lived. It meant delving deeper than the lust and desire that clouded my judgment the night before and even finding out what the hell I wanted.

“I think I can do that,” I agreed, the tingling in my veins getting worse. Like pins and needles, making my blood rush faster.

“You have no choice. The next full moon, we expect a decision,” Vivian was clear.

I nodded. “So I go with one now and then another?”

Vivian looked at each of the alphas who were staying strangely quiet.

“The alphas will need to stay near you. All three of them. While you are ungrounded to one of them, it will take all three of them to keep you from becoming volatile. The magic will consume you if you let it out,” she warned.

I sucked in a breath, my body warming as she said it. I felt the power. It writhed in me, moving like it had a will of its own.

Vivian turned to the alphas, fixing them with a deathly glare. “Do not roam. Do not leave her without your presence. You have been bound through the ceremony; the magic will only respond to you three. If one of you leaves, the magic will react. So stay together,” she explained.

Fear started to take hold with all the warnings she gave. Power that consumed me? I was already battling that. I had for years, and the idea that this new power in me could activate and take me over was daunting to say the least.

“What about my voice?” I whispered. I didn’t want to tell the wolves too much, but I needed to know how the magic was going to react with whatever my voice could do.

“Your voice is what called the magic to you. It found a home in you, responding to your sounds of the ceremony. It is the reason it chose you. It will only make you more powerful, make the magic stronger in you,” Vivian’s voice echoed.

Damn my voice getting me in trouble again.

“One last thing before you need to go to your first territory. The magic will swell. It will have waves of trying to take over, to get out. You will need to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Vivian said, her tone serious, her body rigid.

“And how do we do that?” Dorian asked, looking at me, then back at Vivian.

I swear I saw her face move. A tiny hint of a smirk. Or maybe it was the lightning in her eyes that told me she was looking forward to delivering this bit of news.

“Sex, alphas. It is the only way to calm the magic down in her when it tries to overload her like it will. As that happens, she will need you. Sex is how it came to her, what it responds to in her. I’m sure you won’t have any problem keeping it at bay?” A single brow on her perfect face rose before she was swept away in the same winds she came in on.

Sex. That was the only way. Suddenly absorbing realm power didn’t seem so bad.

My alphas turned to me as she left, all of them with heated gazes.

No. We weren’t going to have any problem keeping the magic at bay.