Chapter 220: a Mate’s Betrayal
Enzo
When I kicked down the door of the witch’s hut, my eyes widened as I saw the bloody scene in front of me.
Selena was sitting on the floor in the middle of a circle drawn with chalk. In her lap lay the bloodied body of a lamb; they had slit its throat, like some sort of sick ritual sacrifice. In front of her kneeled the witch, who was smearing the lamb’s blood onto Selena’s face with her bare hands.
They both froze when I kicked down the door. Selena whipped around to look at me, her eyes wide and her face covered with blood that was painted on her skin in strange symbols.
In the candlelight, she looked demonic.
“What the hell are you doing, Selena?!” I asked, taking a step backwards. I couldn’t fathom the reason behind why my fated mate was in this witch’s hut, performing some horrible ritual that involved the sacrifice of innocent baby animals.
“I-It’s a fertility ritual!” Selena said, her eyes still so wide I could see the whites of her eyes all the way around her irises. “That’s all; just a fertility ritual. I want us to have a baby soon, Enzo, and I’ve been having problems. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
I shook my head. I didn’t believe a word of what Selena had said; something was seriously wrong here. The fog in my head, the strange girl that looked like Selena’s twin, the way that Selena opened a portal in a place that I didn’t remember going to, and the way that she hastily took me back to the mansion and locked me in my room… This wasn’t a fertility ritual. This was something darker, more sinister.
“I don’t believe you,” I growled. I pointed then at the witch, who was standing now and staring up at me silently through her eyebrows. “And who is she?”
“I’m just a simple witch,” the witch replied, her voice floating across the air in a sing-song tone that was surprising for such an old woman. “That’s all. Your mate asked me to help her, and so I did.”
I believed the witch -to an extent. I believed that she was just performing a service for Selena, but that service was far more sinister than a simple fertility ritual. As far as I was aware, fertility rituals didn’t involve the sacrificing of lambs and smearing blood on someone’s face.
“Baby, you’re really overreacting.” Selena sighed and shoved the lamb’s body off of her lap, leaving the poor thing in a bloody heap on the floor. She stood, facing me. “I can see the fear in your eyes, but you don’t have to be afraid. Why don’t you believe me, your mate?”
I shook my head. “If you want me to believe you, then tell me who that girl was in the woods earlier,” I said. “Tell me where we were. Tell me why you dragged me back to the mansion and locked me in my room, and tell me why I have this thick fog in my head and can’t remember anything before two hours ago.”
Selena was silent. I watched as her eyes shifted over to the witch, then back to me. They seemed to have some sort of unspoken understanding, and something about it felt horribly dark. Whatever ritual they were performing… I somehow felt as though it had something to do with the fog in my head, as well as everything else.
“Baby,” Selena said, reaching for me with bloody hands. “… What girl are you talking about?” She cocked her head to the side, and as she did, I felt my head get more foggy. I stumbled backwards, shaking my head vigorously as my
heart started to pound. Selena was trying to cast a spell on me.
“Get away from me,” I murmured, placing my hands over my ears and gritting my teeth. “I don’t trust you.”
Selena’s eyes widened, but it felt almost theatrical. “You don’t trust your mate?” she whimpered, pushing her lower lip out in a pout. “How could you say that? I’ve never done anything except love you!”
But I knew that she was lying. That voice in the back of my mind, that part of me that was free from the fog… That part of me knew that she had done something horrible. I wished that I could remember all of it, but I could only remember the looming feeling of dread and panic. I knew I was her prisoner somehow, but I couldn’t quite remember why.
Selena sniffled and whimpered a little more, but I wouldn’t hear any of it. I took another step back, my eyes shifting over to the woods, toward freedom. Somehow, I knew that I needed to get out, and that help was out there. I couldn’t explain why, or who, but I knew that I just needed to run and then everything would be okay. T
But then, Selena’s face suddenly shifted and twisted into a deep, dark scowl. The candlelight flickered across her blood-stained face, making it appear as though she was wearing some sort of horrifying mask.
“Get him,” she snarled.
Before I even had time to react, the witch shot forward. She moved way too fast for an old woman, so fast her entire body was a blur. I felt her wrinkled, gnarled hands wrap around my wrists and she yanked me back into the hut with too much force for an old woman.
“Put him in the circle.” Selena pointed to the circle of chalk, where the lamb and a bowl of its blood laid.
The witch threw me down. My body felt heavy, like it was full of bricks, and I almost felt as though some invisible force was pinning me down in the center of the circle. No matter how hard I struggled, the force only became heavier, and during those moments I felt like the lamb.
“If I can’t have you,” Selena said, picking the bloody knife that was used to kill the lamb up off the ground,” then no one can have you.”
While the witch stood nearby with a grin on her face, Selena stood over me, the knife glinting in the candlelight. I felt the lamb’s blood begin to trickle over to my hand as the pool around the poor little thing grew. Its blood was still warm, viscous, and within a few moments mine would be mixed with it.
“Fio… Please,” I begged, urging my wolf to wake up. “I need you.”
“Aw, he looks so scared,” Selena said as she stared down at me. “It’s okay. It’ll only hurt for a few seconds. I’ll make it quick.”
How did it come to this? All along, I thought that Selena was my mate… But she was far from it. She was evil. She wasn’t just a werewolf; she was a witch. The most horrible combination… Too much power in one person’s hands. That was why supernaturals weren’t allowed to become witches. It was too dangerous.
“Fio,” I begged again. “Wake up. Wake up now. Please.”
Suddenly, I felt a flicker of hope. Fio heard me. As Selena lowered herself over me, straddling me on the floor as she brandished the knife, I felt my wolf beginning to wake up.
Selena leaned down, planting one final kiss on my lips before she would sacrifice me along with the lamb…
But Fio woke up.
I felt myself shift beneath her.
“Shit!” Selena yelled. “He’s gonna shift! Stop him!”
But it was too late for them to stop me. My wolf’s power was already surging through me. I used my wolf’s strength to throw Selena off of me, sending her to the floor with a thud, and I bolted out the door and into the dark night.
