Chapter 6 - Hannah
It all happens so quickly.
One moment, I’m a single mother, a witch in the August Moon Circle.
Next, I’m betrothed to the alpha of the Iron Breath Pack.
Conan Becker.
From his speech at last night’s conference meeting, it was evident that Conan believes he has found his true mate—a mate who had been revealed to him in a ritual performed by the valley’s research team.
I don’t buy it.
“How could you agree to this, Sister Amalia?” I ask as soon as Amalia walks in. I don’t even give her a chance to breathe, let alone close the door behind her, before I’m charging forward.
She turns around calmly and throws me a smile, sizing me up from head to toe, her eyes sparkling with wonder.
“You look stunning, Hannah,” she breathes in awe of the white gown she instructed me to wear.
She comes sauntering forward, hands reaching out toward my hair.
“Would you like me to braid your hair? It always looks particularly beautiful in a fish-plait.”
“Sister Amalia…” I groan as she slides her fingers through my hair before taking my hand and leading me to the bedroom.
“Is Clarissa with Milly?” she throws over her shoulder casually, and I roll my eyes in frustration.
“Yes, she’s with Milly.” I cross my arms as soon as we’re in the bedroom, and she releases my hand. “You’re not answering my question, Sister.”
Amalia pulls out the vanity chair and points to the seat. “Sit down. Let me braid your hair. We do not have much time.”
“Sister Amalia…” I groan, and she sighs.
“Please sit down, Hannah. We will talk then.”
As soon as I’m seated, she runs the brush through my hair, meeting my eyes in the mirror.
“Do you believe that I am making a mistake, my dear?” she asks, the question almost condescending.
“I have never questioned your decisions, Sister Amalia.” I wince. “But this is rather extreme. A marriage in exchange for an alliance. Isn’t he asking too much?”
“Alpha Conan is within his rights, Hannah. The Bitterroot Valley packs have the upper hand, and he is not taking you as his mate without good reason. Their research team conducted the ritual, and it was you who came up as his true mate.”
My heart skips a wary beat, and I hang my head bashfully as she pulls my hair into sections. I can’t even meet her eyes anymore.
“You knew, didn’t you?”
“You are always saying that I know everything,” she chuckles. “But naturally, I allowed fate to run its course. Alpha Conan would have figured out that you were the witch he was seeking, with or without my push.” Amalia pats the top of my head. “You cannot escape fate, Hannah.”
I sigh heavily, tears building behind my eyes. “It’s more complicated than you know, Sister Amalia.”
She smiles softly, then reaches into her satchel and pulls out a small black box that she passes to me. “In there, you will find a month’s supply of Clarissa’s potion, along with the recipe so you can make more of it when it runs out.”
Staring at the box on my lap, I’m not sure if it’s anger I still feel, or gratitude. It’s nearly impossible to feel the latter when this whole thing feels like I’m being sold off to a den of lions in exchange for this alliance, like I’m just a piece on a chessboard.
At least she’s not expecting me to tell him the truth about Clarissa. It’s probably a good idea for me to keep administering the potion as medicine. He doesn’t deserve to know that Clarissa is his daughter.
Amalia places a hand on my shoulder. “I am sorry, Hannah. I do hope that you come to see the wisdom in my decision, even if you cannot see it right now. I know you’re upset, but this is for your own good.”
“It’s hard to see the good in this, Sister Amalia. He has hurt me in the past.”
She sighs as she leans down and props her chin on my shoulder, meeting my teary eyes in the mirror again.
“It is not my place to try and fix the past, but I will remind you that you are stronger than you know. And it is your strength that is needed in this fight. Against the demons, and against your own heart.”
I sniffle and nod tentatively as she offers a hand to help me to my feet. She hooks a finger beneath my chin and tilts my face up, holding my eyes with her own. “You look absolutely stunning, Hannah. Alpha Conan will eat his heart out and regret whatever happened in the past.”
Nodding with my determination refreshed and washing over my bones, I smirk. “I will make sure of it.”
It’s a vow I make to myself at the dawn of this new era. One where I will become Alpha Conan Becker’s mate, his luna.
For what he did to hurt me, he will pay with my indifference to him. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
He didn’t want me back then. He doesn’t really want me now.
I’m just a pawn in whatever he’s playing, and he won’t win.
***
“Do you, Alpha Conan Becker, take Sister Hannah Young as your mate and Luna of the Iron Breath Pack? Do you swear to protect her, and do you make this vow beneath this night’s full moon, in the presence of an anointed High Priestess?”
Conan’s chest puffs out as if he’s proud, and I gulp, dreading the moment when he turns to face me.
“Yes, I, Alpha Conan Becker, take Hannah Young as my mate and Luna of the Iron Breath Pack.”
Conan reaches for my hand, and the moment he makes contact, I think I’m going to lose my will to be strong. The touch is almost my undoing, and I have to consciously remind myself not to cave.
This is going to be harder than I thought it would be. Harder because of the tingling in my fingertips when he touches me, and the quiet hum beneath my flesh that begs for my attention, and the unsteady beating of my heart in his presence.
Everything is screaming at me that Conan Becker is my fated mate, but I refuse to see it. I refuse to accept it. The last time I did, the last time I gave in to my feelings for him, I got my heart broken.
I won’t let that happen again!
I will guard my heart with every ounce of my dignity that I have left, so I lift my chin with pride as if it is Sister Amalia’s finger hooked beneath it, and I fight off my body’s reaction to Conan Becker.
“Do you, Hannah Young, accept being Alpha Conan Becker’s mate and luna?” Sister Amalia asks, and I take a deep breath as if I’m about to sign my life away.
It sure feels that way.
I’m about to become the mate and luna to a man who never wanted me. A man who used me, took my virginity, then left me in the cold with a simple letter that said he could never be mated to me.
What irony!
Perhaps I am his fated mate in a cruel, twisted joke from the Goddess. But this is why I cannot wholeheartedly accept him, or tell him the truth about Clarissa.
All I have to do is go through with this for the sake of the alliance, for his belief that being mated restores his air powers, and to finally free ourselves of the demons. Once it is done, I will return to Augusta with my daughter when an alliance is no longer needed.
That’s why I’m grateful that Amalia prepared more syrup and finally gave me the recipe to make more. My secret will be safe, and I won’t have to risk opening my heart to a man who never deserved it in the first place.
“Yes, I, Hannah Young, agree to be Alpha Conan Becker’s mate and luna.”
Amalia holds out a dagger to Conan—the blade made of platinum with a cured oak handle—and he turns over my hand so my palm is facing him.
I avoid looking up at him. He doesn’t deserve such recognition.
We barely spoke since he arrived in Augusta, and the chance encounter in the village wasn’t enough to justify his decision to take me as his luna.
Perhaps he feels justified because of his research team and the Bitterroot Valley Council, but he didn’t even bother to ask my permission before he announced his decision at last night’s meeting.
Embarrassed and angry, it is only by the grace of Sister Amalia that I am going through with this at all. And when he slides the sharp blade across my palm, slicing a neat line to draw blood, I don’t make a sound, and I don’t flinch.
Numb.
That’s how I plan on reacting to everything thrown my way while I’m Conan’s luna. It’s better this way, so I never get hurt again.
The ceremony is complete when Conan slices his own palm, and blood drips into a bowl that Amalia uses to perform a ritual. My skin hums with the awareness that he is my fated mate while she stirs the bowl, using herbs as a protective bind, and pouring the mixture into a sigil marked on the ground.
The mate bond is sealed, complete, but I stop it from consuming my very being when the magic surges through my veins and the cut in my palm magically fuses to heal instantly. When it’s over, Amalia takes my hand and walks with us to the van, where Clarissa waits with Milly and Simon.
“Luna Hannah,” Simon greets with a courteous bow that feels too strange, and I shiver as I reach for my daughter.
“Come on, Bug,” I say as I press a kiss to her forehead, noticing how sleepy she is as she nuzzles into my neck. “It’s time to go.”
Clarissa pouts. “Do we have to leave, Mommy?”
My chest tightens with regret as I look up to find Milly staring at us with tears pooled in her eyes.
“Yes, Bug. We have to go. But we will visit the sisters again. I promise,” I say as I hold Milly’s gaze. She bounces over and flings her arms over Clarissa and me.
“You promised, Hannah. No going back on that promise,” Milly warns.
“I know.”
When she draws back, I cup her cheek. “I promise we’ll visit. You’re my best friend.”
She shakes her head as she touches my wrist. “You’re my sister, Hannah. We all are.”
That’s when the entire coven appears from the front door of the main house, the group led by Shanice.
She’s the first to come over to bid us goodbye.
“I don’t like this,” she says, her eyes full of suspicion as she glances at Conan and Simon at the back of the van. “They’re wolves.”
“I’m not the first witch to mate with a werewolf, Shanice.”
“And we all know what happened to Candice,” she returns with an arched brow. “Orlando loved her, and he still couldn’t save her life.”
“Maybe it’s his love for her that weakened her,” I offer.
“This is only for the sake of the alliance. I’ll be fine.
” My chest tightens when I say the words, my heart threatening to break all over again.
I just have to remind myself that it’s not his love I’m vying for. I don’t want anything from him.
“I tried to get Sister Amalia to change her mind, but she wouldn’t listen,” Shanice scoffs, and I shake my head.
“The only reason I am going through with this is because of her. I trust her, Shanice. Perhaps you should, too.”
“Only if you and Clarissa stay safe.”
I nod at Shanice, then greet the other witches before it’s time to leave. Amalia walks us to the back of the van.
“The Alphas of the Helena Valley packs have all signed the alliance,” she tells me quietly. “It appears the mate bond has inspired even Goldfang.”
“I’m glad.”
Amalia smiles and touches my cheek. “Be safe, Sister Hannah. You and Clarissa both.”
I nod at her before helping Clarissa into the back of the van, then climbing in after her, where our belongings are already waiting for us. As I’m about to take a seat on the bench beside my daughter, I see Conan climbing in.
“What are you doing?”
He looks up, and for the first time tonight, our eyes meet, and my heart skips a beat. He’s wearing a confused, pained expression, as if my question is misplaced.
“I’m sitting here with you guys for the trip.”
“You don’t have to,” I murmur, noticing the way the moonlight catches the tips of his raven-black hair that brushes on the crisp white collar of his shirt. I stop myself from ogling and narrow my eyes at him. “We’ll be just fine.”
While Clarissa scoots closer and curls herself into me, Conan sighs and advances into the back of the van despite what I said.
“You’re not prisoners, Hannah,” he says as he takes the bench across from us.
I scoff. “Doesn’t feel that way.”
I turn to the door and wave to Amalia as she closes the doors behind us, fighting the lump in my throat.
For eight years, Augusta had been my home, even if I was born in Bitterroot and spent nineteen years of my life there.
Augusta was the one place where I’d been accepted fully, even with all my differences.
Bitterroot Valley, on the other hand, was where I was an outcast. A werewolf without a wolf, a mutt without parents.
Dreading the return, now with my daughter, I gulp hard and tighten my arm around her as Simon starts up the van and we begin moving. Out of Augusta. Toward Bitterroot.
“Are you worried about returning to the valley?” Conan asks, prompting me to look up with a frown.
Can he read my mind already? I thought I was doing a pretty good job of pushing away our bond…
I narrow my eyes at him. “What do you think your Iron Breath wolves will think once they learn about our mate bond?”
“I don’t care what they think. I am their alpha, and you are my true mate.”
I scoff. “What about your grandfather?”
Conan meets my eyes with a flat expression and shrugs. “What about him?”
“You’ve always cared about what he thinks.”
“That’s not true,” Conan frowns.
“Oh, spare me the pretense, Conan. We both know you care. It’s why you do anything you do.”
“Well, I’ll have you know that my grandfather is the one who insisted on my finding my fated mate. Finding you. That’s why we’re here, on our way back to Bitterroot. I can’t imagine that he’ll have any qualms about this.”
“And that’s the only reason we’re doing this. Because it’s what he wants. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he realizes your fated mate is me.”
Conan’s frown deepens. “Again, that’s not true. I’m doing this because I c—”
“I don’t care why you’re doing this, Conan. I don’t care to hear anything more about it. Actually, I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
Conan’s face pales, grim and dejected, when I snap at him. Turning my head to the side to show him that we’re done talking, I press a kiss to the top of Clarissa’s head. “Have you taken your meds for the night, Bug?”
“Yes, Mommy,” she murmurs at my side, staring across the expanse of the van at Conan while she speaks to me. Her brown eyes, big and bright, watch him warily. The only explanation I gave her was that I was marrying the werewolf to secure ties in the alliance—a fact everyone knows.
She doesn’t understand what it means to be a werewolf’s fated mate. And even I no longer care what it means, when being Conan’s fated mate has been my downfall in the past.
And it was all because he agreed with his grandfather that I wasn’t fit to be his luna when he became alpha.
What a sick twist of fate this is!