SIENNA
I relaxed into a warm leather seat of my brother’s car and threw off my shoes, turning the climate control on. Kieran drove off and for a few minutes, we just sat there quietly.
“Okay,” he said after a while, “I am a patient man, sis, but not that patient. I already know what happened at the Coven, so tell me what happened after. And why do you have some stranger wolf’s jacket on you?”
“You and your nose?” I rolled my eyes, sniffing the piece of clothing I had on and feeling absolutely nothing except for a very faint scent of peppermint.
“So?” Kieran changed his tone to a serious one and I knew that I had to tell him everything.
“So,” I stretched the word, “Someone tried to kill me yesterday. And they tried really hard!”
“What?” the Alpha King’s eyes started glowing golden.
“Relaxed, I am alive after all,” I chuckled, “But I am surprised that you still haven’t found my broken car.”
“What broken car?” he looked at me for the first time, “I was checking the system today as I was looking for you. Your car is parked in the garage.”
“Impossible!” I furrowed my eyebrows, “It was literally in pieces yesterday. I crushed it badly. And then rogues attacked me…”
“Rogues?! On my pack’s territory?!” Kieran growled.
“Yeah,” I nodded, “Seven of them. I’d be honest, they almost got me. Almost…”
“Sienna, we need to have a pack meeting. This is not a laughing matter! They could have killed you! Moreover, it’s a bit too big of a coincidence that your lost your election and were attacked on the same night.”
“Can’t agree with you more,” I turned away to look in the mirror, “This should be investigated properly.”
We both got quiet.
“How are you?” he asked me the same question again, “I mean, how are you? Really?”
“I’ll manage,” I answered calmly, “Betrayal hurts, of course. But at least I didn’t get married to the douche first, right?”
“I can tear him to pieces if you want,” my brother offered, causing me to laugh.
“He is the Head of the Coven of Black Rose now,” I reminded him, “It’s temporary, of course, because I am going to deal with him. But you can’t ruin your relationship with the witches…”
“It is safe to say that there are enough witches in my family to never need the support of any coven,” he snorted. And it was the truth. Our mom Stella was a powerful witch, our sister Aria and her husband Lex were unrivaled in their respective fields of magic, our aunt was the most talented artifactor and then there was uncle Connor, who lost his power saving his son, but still was pretty useful to this day. We were good.
“Okay,” Kieran broke me out of my dreams, “And now tell me whose jacket it is. It does not smell like a wolf.”
“I have no idea who he is,” I replied honestly, “He is interesting though.”
“How so?” the Alpha next to me raised his eyebrow and a vague smile appeared on his lips. He never liked Kahlan to begin with. Somehow Kieran always knew that my boyfriend wasn’t that great. He gave me a few hints in the past which I ignored completely. What could I say – the damn warlock was hot. Not as hot as the guy from the woods though… The thought of him lifting himself up on that bar in the rain surfaced in my mind and I spaced out…
“Sis, I need details,” Kieran brought me back to reality, “The scent on you is a bit familiar but I can't remember where I know it from.”
“He's a werewolf… of sorts,” I tried to explain, “I mean, not a regular one. There is something strange about him and when he transforms he looks very different from all you guys.”
“Different how?” My brother got tense.
“I'm pretty sure he had spikes and was much bigger than a regular werewolf, he's probably about your size or slightly bigger,” I continued, “and as black as night. Having said that, I owe him my life as those rogues almost got me.”
This reminded me of something, and I lifted my top up to check my guess. There were red traces where there should have been deep wounds on me from the claws that were ripping my flesh just yesterday. just how did they disappear so quickly?
“What the hell is that?!” Kieran’s eyes gleamed gold again as you noticed my scars.
“That's a very interesting question, my brother,” I rubbed the back of my neck.
“Who did this?” my brother gritted through his teeth.
“The rogues,” I smiled, having an Alpha as a brother was tiresome sometimes. He was too protective. “I was glad that this guy…wolf..creature was there and helped me. I need to get back and thank him.”
“No,” Kieran said calmly and I looked at him slightly surprised for the first time.
“No?” I knitted my eyebrows.
“No,” he stated calmly, “You will not go there ever again. Forget that place.”
“Excuse me?!” I let out a loud chuckled, “Are you confusing me with someone else? I can go where I want to, Kier.”
“Sienna,” he sighed, “Just trust me on this one, okay?”
I ignored that little blackmail and looked out of the window again, enjoying the scenery of the mountains and the woods. When suddenly it occurred to me and I turned back to the driver.
“You know him!” I almost shouter.
Silence was the confirmation that I needed. The stranger wasn’t a stranger after all.
“Spill it!” I demanded and he even already opened his mouth when his phone rang. Groaning, he tapped the speaker and I heard the voice of his Beta.
“Alpha,” he greeted his king, “There is an emergency to deal with.”
“I am already dealing with one,” Kier said with annoyance in his voice, “Dispatch people to the coven and find my sister’s car. I will also add coordinates for you to check. Sienna was attacked yesterday, she is fine but I am not leaving it like this.”
“I see,” Theo sounded like he was writing something down.
“And what is your emergency?” I intervened and Kieran gave me the look.
“Today a girl came to my office, asking me to check on her sister. Her sister, Amanda, was recently mated to one wolf in the Silver Crescent Pack. Her mate took her with him. But no one heard anything ever since.”
Kier and I looked at each other. The Silver Crescent pack was getting more and more problematic lately. They were members of the Werewolf Union and demanded their protection if there was any problem but more and more complaints were filed about them. We still had no proof of anything major but… the tendency did not look good.
“I’ll get Sienna home and give them a personal visit,” Kieran said.
“You can’t go alone,” Theo protested, “You are the King now, remember? There are rules. You need at least five people with you when you visit other packs.”
“Fine, get ready then,” my brother scowled and hanged the phone.
“And also,” I decided to remind him, “According to the rules one of those five should be a witch. So, I am going too.”
“Of course you do,” he rolled his eyes, knowing that it was useless to argue.
~***~
I cleaned up myself quickly at home and changed into a fresh set of clothes. Another black set of jeans, a black blouse, and a black leather jacket. I even put darker makeup on to look more like what people expect from a witch. I brushed my hair to one side and fixed it with a dark crystals hair clip, finishing the look.
The drive to Silver Crescent was fast and on the way, Theo filled us up on the details of the complaint and I somehow felt angry. A girl, who before a month ago lived happily with her family, wasn’t even texting them anymore. That smelled bad and I was happy to go. Our father was against any kind of abuse and so were we.
To distract myself from all this, I told the Beta about my own adventures.
“And then, when I was about to pass out, this huge thing appears! Big and black and…spiky! Turned out it’s a guy who lives alone in the woods now!” I blabbered.
“So, you’ve met Hunter,” Theo snorted and I looked at him in shock.
“Theo!” Kieran snapped at him.
“What Hunter?” I narrowed my eyes at the clearly uncomfortable now wolf.
“Hunter… Forrester,” he mumbled, looking at my brother apologetically.
“Wait a minute!” I gasped, “THE Hunter Forrester?!”
As in my first love Hunter Forrester???
Aksara