Chapter 17 - Not Your Mate Anymore

"Mate" said Cj to Arianna.

Arianna moved closer to Cj and looked into his eyes.

"I understand now.." she says and turns back to look at her sisters who all share a look.

She turns around to face Max and I as she nods. Then she turns to look at her mate.

"You..." she says to Cj. The look they give to each other reminds me of the look Percy and I shared when we found out we were mates.

Reminded me of the look my father gives to my now alive mother. The look the twins give Josey.

The look Max gives me. The look he has been giving me all our lives. I look back at the new love birds.

"I've been having dreams of Cj and now I know why. I have drawings of him in my room because I couldn't understand why he was invading my dreams every night but now it makes perfect sense." She says to us.

The sisters all stand together.

"Our mother sent us here. She has visions and one of her many visions was the war that is to come. She must've known Arianna was mated to Christopher. That is was important we be here today." Said

Ariel.

I had to meet this lady seer. What an exceptional gift to have.

I shifted my focus back to my brother. He has a beautiful mate and I can't wait to see them happy together after all of this.

With everything that is happening, I was happy for my brother. Love is finding each of us and I'm so glad we all get to experience it.

I walk up to Cj and pull him in for a hug. I was over the moon for my brother.

The timing couldn't be more perfect. We needed witches we could trust and maybe being CJ's mate might work in our favor.

I walk up to Arianna and pull her in for a hug.

"Welcome to the family. We can all get to know each other after defeating what's to come. Right now, that takes precedence." I say to her and the sisters as I pull away from the hug.

"We understand. Our mother sent us here so we can protect the pack that is touched by the moon." Arianna says and I look at her confused.

"We know where you come from Luna. We are to help in anyway. We know of your strength but from my mother's teachings, Vera doesn't play fair. She is sneaky and we believe she is already here with us disguised as someone else." Arianna says to me.

Ariel walks up to stand next to Arianna.

"Where are the witches from the north covenant? I can feel their aura and it is a little tainted. I believe they have Vera with them and she will kill them all unless we stop her." Ariel asks me.

"They are in the forest. They said they had to prepare for Vera's arrival." I say and they all share a knowing look.

"She is going to do a blood sacrifice. Astrid, Andrea, Azania and Arrow, go into the forest and block any dark power that eminates from her." Ariel says and the other girls immediately run into the woods.

She turns to me.

"I need to perform a protection spell on you and the future prince. Then Arianna will perform a concealing spell since Vera knows what you look like now, she probably also knows that you are with child too and has notified the Locke family. It is important that you do this, for the future prince. You will only look different to others but not to yourself." Ariel says to me.

Is this girl telling me that the lady I almost ripped to shreds in the office was Vera??

"You mean to tell me that I've met Vera already?" I ask her and she nods at me.

"Yes. My mother had a vision and we knew of her plan. She saw the outcome of what was to come if we didn't intervene so here we are." She says and I step away from them all. I grab Max and CJ with me.

"How do I know you're not Vera?" I say and Max releases a warning growl at them after hearing my question.

Cj takes a defensive stance in front of me too. Arianna looks between Cj and Ariel.

"No no no. We mean you no harm. I promise!" Arianna said looking at me. Panic etched all over her face.

Ariel raises her hands in surrender and slowly moves back from me.

"I don't know how I can prove to you that I'm not Vera. If I could, I would. We mean you no harm at all. We are here to protect the prince, that is all." Ariel said.

"What prince? There's no prince here. Who are you talking about?" I ask Ariel and Arianna.

"The pup in your belly. He is a prince. Maybe not today but very soon he will be." Ariel said to me.

"We have to protect the prince at all costs and make sure he doesn't end up in the wrong hands. The Locke family can't find him." Arianna says to me.

"Why is my son so important to you?" I ask Ariel and Arianna.

"We don't know yet. We just know it is vital that we protect you because the future of all the supernatural depends on him. It will be a fight between good and evil and if he ends up with the Locke family, evil wins." Arianna explains.

"Do I ever find peace? Will I live my life war after war?" I say in a whisper tone but everyone seemed to have heard me.

Max pulls me in for a hug. Will I ever get to raise my son in peace like most wolves in packs? I couldn't even run away and play human long enough. Now my son was thrown into this life and he is still not fully formed in my belly.

"I'm sorry Luna. We will do all that we can to make sure that the Locke family don't succeed and if we have to kill them, we will. You are to be protected at all costs." Arianna says to me.

Cj seemed to relax at that and so did Max. Arianna looked at Cj with such longing and I had to let them get a few minutes in to be together.

I linked Josey, telling her that Cj met his mate. She squealed through the link.

How. How does one honestly decide to squeal through a mind link!?...

"Arianna, I don't want to keep you away from my brother any longer so let's get these spells done so you can spend some time with him before it all falls down." I say and she nods enthusiastically at me.

We walk into the pack house and in the lounge.

The sisters started chanting and moving around while we all just looked at them. I have never seen a witch do their thing so this was a first for me and I won't lie, I was a little spooked.

A whole wolf of the moon and I was stupefied.

I had lost track of time as the sisters were at it for some time. When they said they were done, I looked up at Max and his eyes were all bulged out.

"What is it?" I ask him..

"Well, you're not you. " he says to me and I look at CJ who's got the same look on his face.

I ran to the mirror and I still saw myself.

Arianna chuckled lightly.

"You won't know what you look like but you look different. That's just to hide you from Vera so you cannot be seen close to Max." Arianna says to me.

"Where am I supposed to be if not next to my alpha?" I ask the girls.

I look at Max and he looks just as confused as me. Scratch that.

He did not look happy.

"Vera knows now that you will be fighting next to the alpha. It is not safe to take that chance." Ariel said to me.

"She will be with me." My nana said walking into the lounge.

"Alpha, if it gets too much, I will bring her to you immediately or I can take her some place safe." Nana said

"...and besides, she can link you if things go wrong but don't forget how strong this pup is." She says to him.

Max let's out a loud sigh.

"I know she's strong but my wolf wants to protect his family. I can't help it." Max says to my nana.

I saw Arianna sneak out with Cj as Josey walked in.

Within seconds of Josey's entrance, the sky turned a dark grey with lightning and thunder going about.

The atmosphere took a turn too and it was not inviting.

Arianna ran in to the lounge followed by Cj and the rest of the A name sister gang.

"She has begun, which means the Locke family is not far off. We were able to block her energy from sacrificing one of the witches but she got to the tober two first. We were too late." Astrid said.

All of a sudden I remembered the rogues that I promised to deal with. I immediately got up and ran out of the lounge and to the dungeons where uncle Deacon was briefing our prisoners.

He seemed annoyed at my interruption since he couldn't recognize me but luckily Max was right behind me.

I ran to Reginald and grabbed his face so he was looking into my eyes. Once I was done, I did the same to Scarlett. I looked at Max and walked out to find nana at the door.

"Let's go. It has started and we need to be close to Josey and your mother." She says to me grabbing my hand and leading me out.

I looked behind to see Max.

'I love you' I said to him through the link and he said it back. His wolf must be fighting with him right now but this was a great plan since my cover has already been blown. He knew that.

Nobody recognized me. If anything, many of the fighters were probably asking themselves where I came from.

"Sabrina, so your cover is not blown, you will fight at the strength of an alpha. Your mark shows you are mated to an alpha so they will probably think you are of alpha blood too." Nana said and I nodded at her.

Any female born of alpha blood can only ever be mated to an alpha. It made sense.

However, alpha families mostly gave birth to boys but it happens that a girl is born of alpha blood. Ralyn is proof of that.

________________________________________

We could all hear the fight going on in the woods and if we had to go on the sound of howls, our prisoners were losing and fast. We all took our positions.

A very tall handsome figure emerged from the woods. Shirtless and covered in blood from head to toe.

Piercing ice cold eyes took us all in. Taylor Locke is a handsome man. Evil or not. His walk and confidence exuded such intoxicating power.

I was drooling

Heck, even my nana was drooling. Which snapped me out of that trance just in time to see the twins follow right behind him and an army of wolves covered in blood.

I looked to my far right to see Cj standing next to Max. Max was trying very hard to calm his wolf.

Oh my.....

He read my thoughts about Taylor.

'He is handsome Max, just not better looking and he has no dick print' I said to him through the link.

He roared.

'Sorry sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned that but see how you have nothing to worry about? I want you and only you. Besides, you are 10 times sexier and a Lycan!' I say to him and it seemed to have worked.

He smirked at me.

10 points to Sabrina!!

This was my chosen mate.

My nana slapped my shoulder and I turned to her and she glared at me.

"Oh right. Sorry" I say as I focus on the problem in front of us, the handsome Taylor Locke and his twin sisters.

The rude witch that I had an argument with in the office walked away from our side and all the way to where the Locke family was standing.

When she got to them she revealed what she really looked like.

Loud gasps could be heard around me as people realize they were fooled.

I looked back at Vera to see her looking around all of us. Probably looking for me. She looked right past me and looked around again but no luck.

I did an inner victory dance at Ariel's beautiful idea stopping when I heard her start chanting something.

I started to feel my skin burn.

'Grandma, quick! Get me out of here. My skin is burning which means she's doing a spell to reverse what Ariel did to me." I say to her and she nods.

'Max, I need a distraction so I can disappear quickly. My cover will be blown soon' I say to him and he immediately roars and throws Reginald in between the pack and the Locke family.

Well, that should work.

In seconds, nana had placed us on the rooftop of the pack house, overlooking the whole fight.

"Is this how the moon goddess looks at us from up there? This is insane. I can see everything." I say to her and she just laughs at me.

Reginald gets up quickly and growls at his brother when Taylor tries to approach him.

Taylor froze in shock but that Expression was quickly replaced by anger.

"You dare growl at me?" He says to Reggie.

Reggie growls again. Even louder.

He shifts into his wolf and charges at Taylor who let's his magic induced power out to force Reginald to submit.

Max catches on pretty quickly and releases his Lycan power, forcing Reggie to pick a side.

Max's power was not as strong as Taylor's but we all knew why. However, it was strong enough for all of us to feel intimidated.

Reggie turned to his brother and tried to attack him again but this time, Taylor knocked him out with one punch.

He fell to the ground. Unconscious.

"I see you also have a witch in your pack. This is becoming a thing." Vera commented on Reggie's change in loyalty.

"A witch didn't do that." Max responds to Vera. She laughs at him.

"Oh? Who was it if not a witch?" Vera asks and Max shrugs.

"Can you reverse it?" Taylor asks Vera and she kneels down next to Reggie but a lightning bolt hits a big rock close to them and Vera moves back in fear.

They all move away from Reginald in fear.

One of the sister pushes Vera back to Reggies unconscious form.

"You, reverse it. Now!" The sister says.

They were identical twins. I couldn't tell them apart.

"Did you not see that? They have a very powerful witch with them. That was a warning!" Vera says back to her but the sister doesn't relent.

"Calm down Sabrina. Don't do that again" my nana says to me and I then realize that was me. I zapped that rock.

"I didn't even realize.. I.. I.." I stutter and my gran hold my hand.

"Keep that power in. We will reveal ourselves but not just yet." She say.

Vera creates some sort of bubble around her and Reggie as she tries to reverse what I did to him.

As everyone was distracted, drones came out from the trees and started shooting at the Locke pack. They were dropping like flies thanks to these drones.

Taylor roared the pack out of shock as they began running towards the pack to attack. Some of our pack members shifted into their wolves and some remained human.

I was about to jump down when gran held me back.

"Not just yet" she says.

"Your cover is blown. You are back to your normal self so if Vera recognizes you, you'll become their main focus." She says.

I feel Josey's power and I look down to see her fighting off many wolves. The Locke family share a look and they start fighting our wolves to make their way to Josey.

"And what about Josey?" I say pointing at her and my gran goes pale.

"Take me to her now nana" I say and within seconds I am standing next to Josey.

"I thought you were hiding from cruella Vera" she says to me while fighting off some wolves.

"I was in hiding until I saw that the Locke family are all coming for you thanks to all that power." I say to her. She looks around her.

They were approaching fast.

"Together?" I ask Josey and she smiles from ear to ear.

"No! Don't be silly." My nana jumps in between us and we are back on the rooftop.

I see the Lockeness monsters looking around. They were probably wondering where Josey disappeared off to considering they were circling her.

"Nana what was that?" I ask her.

"Not yet!" She says to me and I laugh at her in disbelief.

"What happened to that speech about how we are supposed to die for these wolves? We are clearly hiding up here!" I say in an exasperated tone.

What was this woman's plan?!

"We are not hiding." Said my mother from behind us.

I turn around to see her on the rooftop with us.

"What are we doing then?" Josey asks..

"We are waiting for the right time to lure the Locke family away from the fight." my mother responds.

"While the pack members die as we sit and wait? All we have to do I shift into our wolves and run a certain direction." Josey retorts back.

"We are clearly hiding!" I say with my arms in the air.

"Why are we not down there fighting? Was I not supposed to fight on alpha power?" I say.

"Well Josey has been compromised. They think she's the one they are looking for." My mother says to me.

"So what? We can kill them all right there! All of us but here we are leaving our mates and brother to fight a war they cannot win" I say and I immediately jump off the roof and shift midair into my wolf.

I land right in front of Taylor Locke. We locked eyes for a brief moment and then I run the opposite direction. He shifted into his wolf and followed.

Max was too busy fighting off some wolves to notice and I made sure not to release my power. I ran past the pack border and stopped when I saw my mother, nana and Josey standing in an open field.

Josey looked excited but the other two weren't so pleased with me. I shifted back to human form and made my way to my family as we wait for Taylor Locke.

He didn't waste any time and he brought company. The entire Locke family except for Reginald. Taylor shifted first into his human form and the rest followed.

Releasing their witchey powers for intimidation. Intimidating? Not at all.

Were they strong? Most definitely.

Stronger than us? Hardly.

"Hello little white wolf and the others" Taylor says to us.

He's in for a surprise if he thinks I'm the only white wolf here.

"Stop right there young man. Let's maintain a distance." My nana says to him. He comes to a stop and so do the others.

"I'm just here for the white wolf. I don't want to hurt your pretty faces old lady." Taylor says and we all laugh and he looks at us incredulously.

"That's going to be a problem." I say to him.

He steps closer and I have tree roots emerge from the ground and wrap around his ankles.

"I said to stop where you are. Are we going to have a problem?" My nana says again to Taylor. At first he looked annoyed to be held down but he closed his eyes and when opened, he was back to a mischievous glint.

He raises his arms up in surrender.

"I had no idea we had an elemental witch in our midst. This won't be a fair fight." He says.

"It was never a fair fight with you and your magically enhanced powers." I say to him and he looked surprised.

"I just want the white wolf. Just give me the damn wolf and I'll be on my merry way." He says.

My mother shifts into her white wolf and so does my nana. Josey follows after and then I do too.

"Well here we are. Come take your wolf Taylor." My mother says to him in her wolf form. He seems surprised by this as normal wolves aren't able to converse as wolves except through mindlink.

And because we all shifted into white wolves.

"Oh fuck this. Attack these wolves but keep them alive. If we have to take them all in, then we will and if we can't, Just make sure to keep at least two alive at all costs." He says and he shifts into his wolf, snapping the branches off his ankles during his shift.

He charges at us but a big black wolf knocks him out of the way. I immediately recognize the wolf as CJ.

This kid.

Always the hero. I love him but come on!

I will never understand why he thinks we need saving.

We are the super wolves.

If anyone needs saving, it's him. What the actual fuck!?

"Cj! What are you doing here?" I say to him through the link.

"You can't touch him. They put something on his fur. It's a paralyzing agent and it lasts for about an hour." He says to me and then he collapses to the ground.

I immediately shift back and run to him. I touch him to try and heal him.

I turn to look at Taylor who gets up and starts running to me. A huge gust of wind throws him to the other side of the field and I go back to trying to heal Cj.

Cj opens his eyes.

"Getting there?" I ask him and he nods.

"Ok. You'll be fine in a couple of minutes. I need to deal with Taylor" I say to him.

I get up and start walking to where Taylor was laying. He got up and shifted back.

"Oh fuck this elemental witch! Somebody get Vera and tell her to forget about stupid Reggie. I need her here!" He shouts out.

His sisters are lying on the ground, knocked out. This makes him roar in anger and he starts walking towards me and I walk back.

I stop in front of my family and he stops five feet from us.

"I don't know how you were able to do this to my sisters but I will find out. And I will kill the witch that is playing games with me." He says to us.

Vera comes running towards us. She stops a few feet away from all of us and Taylor as she takes in the sight before her. Taylor turns to his side and raises his eyebrows at Vera.

"..And? Reginald?" He asks her.

"Nothing yet. I was getting to him and then you interrupted me." Vera said to him.

Taylor walks up to Vera and slaps her.

"You're supposed to be the all powerful! The big bad witch! What is wrong with you today?" He asks her.

She rubs the cheek Taylor just slapped and I feel a little bad for her.

"They have witches fighting my power. I can't be protecting you with the paralyzing agent and then heal Reggie. I don't have the strength to fight off so many witches with all that you want me to do." She says.

"Do I need to remind you what could happen if you fail to deliver Vera?" Taylor said to her and she stiffened.

As they were arguing, The A sister witches encircled all of us and started chanting in some language that sounded a bit like Latin.

We all stopped to look at them.

All of a sudden, a circle line formed at their feet made of fire. Taylor tried to walk past it but he was forced back and landed on his buttocks.

"Oooh that must hurt!" Josey says out loud.

Vera tries to chant as well but her efforts are useless against the sisters. Vera's nose starts to bleed and she was starting to look very faint.

Who are these A sisters and where were they all my life?

She falls to the ground seeming unconscious. It all happened so fast as soon as Vera's head touched the ground. My wolf took over as she pushed me all the way to the back and released my power.

"I'm so sick of this! Why are we all standing here waiting for this fake king to make a move?" I say to my family.

"Are we waiting for someone? Is the moon goddess going to be paying us a visit?" I say to my mother and grandmother.

They look at me sheepishly as if they're hiding something.

"What was the point of all that training? Did I really put myself through all that training to sit back and watch as my pack dies when we can do something about it?" I start to raise my voice.

I was getting angry. My mother was not telling me something.

"This guy over here wants to be a king. A fake king! He uses magic for strength." I say to everyone around us.

"What kind of Alpha uses magic to enhance his strength? There is no dignity in that. We wolves take pride in our strength and abilities. Why are we still allowing this mutt and his pack to continue killing our own?" I say to them but I'm staring into my mothers eyes.

"What are you not telling us? Why can't we fight him? I can end him right here, right now!" I say to her.

"He is not the one we want" my mother says to me.

"What is that supposed to mean? He is not what? So I must sit back and watch more wolves die for me? You think I'm ok with that?" I say to her. I look at my nana who just shrugs.

"We don't meddle in their affairs until we really have to. Save your energy for what's to come." Mother says to me.

I let out a loud laugh.

"You can't be serious!!! My pack is losing warriors and I must save my energy?? For what?" I say to her.

"I believe your mother is talking about me." A man that looks so much like Taylor says.

He releases his power and we all turn to give him a proper look.

"What in the hell?" Josey said what we were all thinking.

"And who are you exactly?" I say to the new stranger.

He walks towards the circle and smirks.

"Let's find out." He says and walks right through it.