Chapter 8

CLEMENTINE

~He’s gonna kill me. He’s gonna kill me. It was bad enough when I was just a human—he’ll kill me for being a phoenix.~

~“Calm down. There’s nothing wrong with being a phoenix,” ~Helia scolds.

~There is when you’re living among wolves,~ I reply.

~“Like I’ve told you many times, Ivan won’t hurt us. I can feel it.” ~

Her words do nothing to assure my raging heart.

I meet Ivan’s eyes, still bright yellow, and step back, afraid that he might hurt me. He watches every move.

“Please, don’t kill me,” I whisper.

Ivan’s eyes return to their normal color, and his face softens, as if he’s coming back to reality. He leans forward, but I flinch and step back again.

Frowning, he says, “I will not kill you.”

“You were… Your eyes glowed yellow when you heard what I said.”

Ivan shifts a bit and, in a calming voice, says, “My eyes weren’t glowing because I was mad or because I wanted to kill you.”

“Then why?”

Ignoring my question, he replies, “I am not going to hurt you…not now, not ever.”

Ivan slowly leans forward, but this time, I do not flinch or move backward. My mind is clouded, and for a second, I don’t breathe.

Pressing his forehead against mine and closing his eyes, Ivan sniffs me like the wolf he is. He opens his eyes again and looks like he’s about to say something when a knock cuts him off. We look up to see my brother rushing into the room.

Alex doesn’t look angry, which surprises me. I still remember when he told me to stay away from Ivan. ~What happened to my overprotective brother?~

“Alex,” Ivan greets.

He nods. “Clem, Alpha Ivan.”

“What’s going on?” I ask worriedly.

“The pack warriors were out hunting witches down. They captured one and brought her here. She is down in the cells,” he explains.

I’m confused. Why is he telling ~me~ this?

Alex gives me an indecipherable look and says, “She wants to talk to you and only you, Clementine.”

***

As we walk down to the cells, Alex tightens his hold on my hand. He is more afraid than I am, and I still don’t know why.

~Maybe I’m not afraid because I am a witch?~

I’m not even sure what that means. I’ve never experienced anything witchy other than what happened in the woods earlier, but even that was my phoenix powers—not magic.

My mind wanders back to the night I watched a bird fall out of the sky. Did I cause that?

We soon reach the cage where the witch is being held. Alpha Jake, my father, and Beta Dixon are already here, trying to get information from her.

I can’t believe it’s only been a few days since I helped Elijah escape these same cells. So much has happened. I hope I see him again someday.

The witch’s eyes land on me, and her eyes widen. She bows in respect.

~What the hell?~

~“She knows how powerful we are, Clem,”~ Helia comments.

Her words make me feel proud, but then Alpha Jake growls, “Are you working with the witches?” and I flinch.

Shaking my head, I say, “I have never seen her before.”

The alpha screams, “Don’t lie to me, Clementine!” and advances toward me, but Ivan holds him back.

“Calm down, Jake!” he yells with his alpha voice.

Ignoring the commotion, I walk toward the cell and kneel so that I’m at the witch’s level. She’s beautiful—and doesn’t look older than twenty-five.

“Who are you?” I ask gently.

“Carmela,” she replies, still looking astonished to see me.

“How do you know me, Carmela?”

“I shall speak to you alone,” she says firmly.

“Not gonna happen!” my brother intervenes.

“I will not speak unless it’s with Clementine, alone,” Carmela insists.

I look back at everyone and silently ask them to leave. I know they are afraid to leave me alone with her, but there are strong metal cuffs on her hands to block her magic. She cannot do anything to me.

As they slowly leave the dungeon, I give my attention back to Carmela. Her face softens.

“I cannot believe that you are in front of me,” she mutters.

“How do you know me?” I ask, still confused.

“I know your mother.” She smiles as if my mother is the kindest person in the world, as if she is honored to know her.

I’m furious. “You know my mother? My evil mother?” My voice comes out a little louder than I intend.

Now she looks confused. “I am not talking about Sofia Moore, Clementine.”

I sit still, frozen in place. This woman is referring to someone besides Sofia Moore, which can only mean that…

~Sofia Moore is not my real mother.~

“What are you talking about?” I ask.

“Sofia is not your biological mother, Clem. Kalisto is.”

~Kalisto.~

“Who is she?” I ask.

“Kalisto is a hybrid, like you are, but with different species. She is a werewolf and a witch. And she is our leader. Without her, we would have been dead a long time ago.”

~A werewolf and a witch. That must be hard. Witches hate werewolves, and werewolves hate witches.~

I frown. “How do you know she’s my mother?”

“Because she has been watching you since the day she gave you up.”

I snort. Carmela just bluntly said that my mother abandoned me.

~I can’t believe that my mother abandoned me.~

“Why did she?”

Carmela smiles. “You ask a lot of questions, Clementine.”

I scowl. “It’s my right to know.”

“I know, but I have no right to tell you the reason.”

“That’s fair.” I sigh. “What do you want from me?”

“I don’t want anything. I entered the pack territories because I was asked to watch you, but I was caught by your pack warriors. They are brutal.”

I nod, then point to the door. “What should I tell them?”

“Tell them that I was looking for Malcolm,” she says.

“Okay. One last thing—do you think they heard anything we just talked about?”

“No, don’t worry. I cast a spell when they put me here.”

I frown. “But how? Your hands are cuffed.”

Carmela smiles. “Oh, these? Werewolves are a bit stupid. They think we can only do magic with our hands when, in reality, we can do it with our minds too.”

I nod. “Thank you, Carmela. I will make sure nothing happens to you.”

“Don’t worry about me—worry about yourself. I would give my life to save you, my queen.” She bows her head.

The gesture makes my heart warm, but I also feel kind of bad because Carmela is making me into this leader that I am not…or at least, am not yet.

I stand up to leave. “See you soon.”

As I open the cell, Alpha Jake comes in. Seeing me, he stops and motions for me to follow him. He takes me to a meeting room, where everyone is waiting.

I immediately search for Ivan, as if my eyes cannot wait to see him. When they land on him, my heart works overtime, making me almost want to faint.

Alpha Jake narrows his eyes at me. “Now, tell us what she said because we couldn’t hear anything. Why is that?”

I contemplate what to say. If I tell them the truth, they’ll surely try to kill me, even with Alex and Ivan protecting me.

Also, after everything Carmela told me, it feels like my life is not real. This pack is not real. I do not trust anyone here, especially Alpha Jake.

Now that I know I’m a witch, I suddenly feel that I cannot betray my kind. I have always dreamed of becoming something, of being part of something. I cannot throw this newfound sense of belonging away for Alpha Jake or for this pack…as sad as that sounds.

Besides, there are only a few people here that I care about, and I will protect them.

How? I don’t know.

“I will not say a word unless you let her go,” I say, shocking everyone in the room.

“What did you just say?” Alpha Jake demands, his nose flaring. He takes hold of my arm, his grip tight, but I don’t feel the slightest pain—probably because of my stubbornness.

“What are you talking about, Clem?” Alex asks gently.

“I will tell you why she was here in the pack’s territory, but only if you let her go first.”

Alpha Jake growls. “And why would you want a witch to go freely?”

“I have my reasons,” I reply, earning a disapproving look from my father.

~Oh, so now you care?~ I think.

“You are practically committing treason!” Alpha Jake yells, his hand still wrapped tightly around my arm.

Ivan forcefully removes his hand. “Enough with this. Let’s talk like the adults we are.”

“Clem,” Beta Dixon begins, “why do you care about her?”

“You know me, Dixon. She is a person, even if she’s a witch. She was nice to me, and I want to be nice to her. So, please, let her go.”

Ivan nods. “Okay.”

“With all due respect, Alpha,” Alpha Jake says angrily, pointing to floor, “this is my pack, and I should make that decision.”

“Let me remind you, Jake, that I can strip away your alpha duties.” The alpha king smiles, and I have to fight hard to hide mine. “Beta Dixon and Delta Alex,” he continues, “get the woman out and let her go.”

They nod and leave. Once they return, confirming that they let her go, Alpha Jake turns my way and asks why she was here.

“She was looking for Malcolm,” I say.

He narrows his eyes. “That’s all?” I can tell he’s mad that he let a witch go freely just to get that kind of information.

I smile and say, “That’s all, Alpha.”

“And how did she know you?” he asks.

“She probably thought that it’d be easier to talk to me because I’m not a werewolf,” I lie smoothly.

Ivan looks at me weirdly, and I know that he doesn’t believe me. He somehow always knows whether I’m lying or not.

~Of course, he knows I’m a phoenix and not just a human, so that’s probably how he caught this lie.~

Alpha Jake, however, seems mollified. He tells me to leave, and I do—but not before asking my father to follow me.

He looks surprised since I never talk to him, but he accompanies me out of the meeting room anyway. The moment we’re alone, though, he spits, “What do you want?”

“Nothing, just want to say that I know about Kalisto.”

I watch his face turn from anger to horror, then smile and leave.