(VAL POV):
The decision to keep Lance with our troops was admittedly one I made for selfish reasons.
While it was true that we accepted soldiers aged 16 to be apprentices, they typically had to take a grueling physical exam first to gain entry and Lance with his scrawny arms would almost certainly have failed it. You had to be able to carry your own body weight for one hundred feet and then climb up a device we referred to as "the tower" which was essentially a 25 foot ladder. There was simply no way he would have passed but when I saw Liana I made the decision to allow him entry anyways.
If Liam were here, he might have told me off for it.
For the first time in weeks, I woke up and didn't reach for the bottle down by the ground near my bed. I welcomed my hangover because I deserved it and scrambled in a wooden bedside drawer until I found a case of pain pills and took one in the liquor's place.
Then I stood up and combed my pixie cut hair out and I applied concealer over my lavender eye bags and I tried to make myself look like a real person. Something I hadn't tried to do once since she left, but having her even remotely near to me again awoke a desperation in me.
My hugest regret by far all these years later, apart from having hurt her so terribly was the way I did absolutely nothing to stop her from leaving. I had punished myself in every way I could think of for watching her go and I was actually convinced at the time that she was leaving forever.
But if there was even the smallest, most imperceptible chance that I could have her come back to me, then I'd be damned if I let the chance pass me by twice.
So I pushed outside of the tent and made my rounds like normal first. I passed the apprentice yard where our three new recruits were struggling in the wet grass to move tires half their size from one side to the other. I tried to picture Lance moving the tires and frowned. It would be hard to imagine the kid passing physicals even by a remote margin.
I let the worry fade from my mind when I spotted Liana and Jesse looking around and examining the yard to determine its suitability for Lance when she locked eyes with me from across the yard. With years having passed her wavy maple hair dipped down around her waist now and her arms had grown toned and muscular from whatever hardships she had gone through.
When she caught my staring she averted her eyes from me and to the yard as though she could be burned by my gaze. By now most morning I would be heading to central command to find out what our scouts latest reports were so I played along with my routine.
If I pushed towards her now she would only run and I had a feeling circumstances were going to press us together anyways. So I forced myself to turn and walk to central command. Lieutenant Stephan was already standing over the table with Rosaura and some other generals when I walked in.
Upon seeing me, he repeated his report neatly.
"Our scouts intercepted two lone travelling witches whose loyalties are uncertain to us. The scouts captured the one and are bringing her back as we speak. One of our trackers is trying to find the other so we may question the both of them together."
I eyed Rosaura and waited for her to perceive the event in the way she often did. She stood, eyes moving rapidly as she mumbled to herself madly for a moment. When she received too much information at a time, she would start to rock back and forth and splutter things that couldn't possibly make sense to anyone else. It seemed like whatever beings had been made to pass through her as a conduit could still speak to her sometimes. Finally, she spoke clearly.
"These witches have no interest in us. Their motivations don't intersect with ours."
Stephan retorted in his nasally and on occasion condescending voice.
"Witches always intersect with us. They have for a hundred years hunted us for our blood. Alpha, do you believe this nonsense?"
I met his eyes with a stern and cold look as I moved towards my sister and asked her directly what she meant. Stephan stroked his mustache indignantly as he waited. Rosaura tilted her head at my words and her eyes shot around rapidly once more.
"These witches come from a strange land. They do not use our blood- they use the blood of prey animals for their gods. Their motivations are older than that of the Sisterhood, their gods are much older."
I tried not to be disconcerted by the things she said. Rosaura was sometimes more herself and sometimes more something else. As time passed, the difference between the two became less clear.
"The other witch is one of us."
Stephan looked downright mortified at the implication from Rosaura, slamming a fist down on the table. His logic often disagreed with Rosaura's intuitions but time and time she had proven herself to be right, even about matters she had no personal way of knowing about.
"That is preposterous! Since when do lycanthropes have use for witchcraft?"
I held a hand to silence him and considered the information. In truth, I had never heard of or met a single wolf who dabbled in spell work. It was simply not something our species had an aptitude nor a necessity for. We were stronger and faster than most people and outnumbered all the other factions by a wide margin. Though Rosaura was still not usually wrong, nor was she a liar.
"I don't understand how that could be true, but that doesn't mean it isn't lieutenant."
The man scowled but nodded to address my words. After a moment, I turned to the lieutenant and questioned him about the witch who had been captured.
"How far are the scouts with the other witch?"
He shrugged his shoulders for a moment and then answered in an estimation.
"Maybe ten minutes off by now."
I nodded my head and addressed the other generals with a stern voice. If we were going to bring a witch to our compound, regardless of her personal motivations, we couldn't be underprepared to maintain her. If Rosaura's claims were to be believed then this witch could be more dangerous than any others we had dealt with before for all we knew.
"Prepare an empty barrack room with no furniture inside. Make sure she'll have no access to iron or any weapons. Bring ropes and a set of chains too. We have no idea who this witch works for or what she is capable of, which makes her considerably more dangerous than a Sisterhood witch."
My men nodded and filed out of the room so it could be done. I followed to oversee the process. The room was stripped so even the tarp of the floor had been ripped out and only dirt sat underneath it. We fashioned a metal column and fastened it in place both to the roof of the barack and to the ground.
Sometime during the process, Lance's curious voice sounded from behind me.
"What are you guys doing?"
I turned to catch the hesitant approach of my mate and the way her eyes swayed around for fear of landing on me. Her sunkissed shoulders were darker than they had been before.
"Our scouts captured a witch from an unknown faction, we're bringing her here for questioning."
Jesse Turner eyed the work being done by the men and frowned. Liana watched Lance with a motherly sort of worry. I gestured for the kid to come closer and he happily did, bouncing joyously over so he could see the inside of the barrack.
"Because we don't know anything about this group of witches, we have to be more careful than usual."
Lance surveyed the scene and quirked his head, turning back to me and offering a casual but interesting concern.
"What if she uses earth transmutation?"
I met the cringe of one of my generals with a smile and shrugged. The kid was quick thinking, and that's not an easy trait to come by. I smiled a little and answered him with a question.
"That's a good point, what would you do for a witch that uses earth transmutation?"
Lance stoked his chin and eyes our pole towards the center, stepping inside and walking around it before turning back to me with bright eyes.
"If you can, suspend her a few inches above the ground so she can't touch the surface. Most low level witches wouldn't be able to transmute earth without touching the ground."
I nodded, truly impressed and nodded to my general. Just as they started the work of raising the restraints higher, three scouts had entered the compound and were heading in our direction. The woman looked eastern, wearing several layers of skirts and puffed white sleeves up top. Her eyes darted around at the soldiers with primal fear in them.
Jesse looked horrified as they dragged the woman towards the room and turned to Liana, whispering just so his words were barely audible.
"She- her scent. I don't know for sure, but it smells like she was with my mate recently."
His voice had cracked and I turned back to look at him, frowning. I was somewhat surprised he hadn't already managed to find his mate by now. It was uncommon for a wolf to remain unmated into their thirties. In situations where that happened typically, the lycanthrope would begin constantly travelling for years to many different lands until they found their mate. Some people grew old and never found each other but it was unusual.
I turned to the scouts and questioned them.
"What about the other witch she was travelling with?"
The woman my men were restraining inside of the room looked at me with terror at the mention of her companion. The men looked between each other when a red-haired man who had joined our troops a year ago spoke up.
"She escaped. We think she's trying to head north for something. The others are still tracking her."
Liana reached out and touched Jesse's shoulder to comfort him. I stared with resentment. Seeing her touch him so casually and so off-handedly made me insurmountably hateful but I kept my mouth shut. Regardless of her being my mate, I had no real reason to be upset.
Instead, I turned back to Lance and told him he wouldn't be able to stay here longer. As my men dragged the witch fighting into the barrack room I ordered him to leave. Lance did so, eyes peeking back every so often as he walked away.
I instinctively felt Liana's eyes on me as I turned for the barrack. I met her gaze openly, desire flooding through my body as I looked at her one last time before pushing inside of the room.
As I stepped inside I had decided fully and truly, I wasn't going to just let her leave. Not without fighting for her to stay.