Chapter 4 - Elize
My stomach was churning, and I felt the need to throw up. I didn’t know what was worse. The fact that my uncle knew about this plan and never told me, or the fact that I was standing in the same room as Troy.
This was not how I wanted to see him for the first time. I’d hardly pulled myself together to leave the house with Martin. I grabbed the first thing I could find and threw it on. Troy, on the other hand, looked like all he’d done since we split was work out.
I hated that he looked so put together. Troy looked so much like himself. I had expected him to look harsher, like what you’d expect of an Alpha. But he didn’t. He just looked like Troy.
“Elize,” The council was waiting for me to answer. I looked away from Troy, hating that my heart missed him. I thought after all the years apart, I would have moved on, but I guess I’d been wrong.
“Fine.” I turned without another word and stormed out. I walked down the hallway, and I could hear someone following behind me. I feared it might be Troy wanting to talk, and that was the last thing I wanted to do.
“Elize!” My uncle shouted my name, and I halted.
I turned at the exit as he walked down the hallway toward me. He composed himself, looking like he’d done nothing wrong. “I swear, this wasn’t how it was supposed to go down.”
I curled my hands into fists. “You lied to me, Martin. Out of everyone in this pack, you are the one person I trusted.”
“Elize…”
“You owe me an apology.” I crossed my arms.
He nodded. “I do. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to go down like this. But this is a good thing, Elize.”
A part of me wanted to believe him, but things weren’t connecting, and I didn’t like it. There was more to this story, and I wanted to know what it was.
“I don’t believe you.”
Martin looked shocked. “What?”
I had always believed in Martin growing up. He had always been at my side and encouraged me. I’m sure he didn’t mean to hurt me, but he had.
“I know you probably didn’t mean to do it this way, and that you’re thinking about what was best for the pack.
But you could have handled this differently.
I’m your niece, Martin. I’m not just someone.
I’m family. I didn’t deserve to be caught off guard like that.
And you know my history with Troy. You should have handled this better. ”
Martin frowned. “Elize, I promise…”
I waved a hand, cutting him off. “I’m too angry to have a conversation with you. So, just take me back home.”
He frowned. “Elize, we were going to go get food. Let’s get food and discuss this.”
“No.” I snapped. “Take me home. Either you take me home, or I will walk, but either way I’m leaving.”
I heard footsteps and turned to find Troy stepping out of the meeting room. He looked between us, seeming unsure of what to do.
I turned, shoving the door open, and stepped outside. I could hear Martin behind me, but I ignored him.
The drive home was quiet, and neither of us spoke.
I was fuming for the entire drive. I was mad at my uncle and Troy.
I was mad at myself. I couldn’t believe that I’d agreed.
But I couldn’t help but think about the convent.
If what my uncle was saying was true, and dark magic was being used against them, I couldn’t ignore it.
I couldn’t let my emotions stop me from doing what was best for the convent.
They opened their arms to me when I needed them, and I couldn’t let anything happen to them. I wasn’t sure about what was happening, but I knew that the convent came before anything else. I couldn’t let anything happen to them.
When Martin brought me there, I met Victoria. She was an old woman who showed me the ropes. She was married to Charlie, who was like a second father to me. Everyone welcomed me in with open arms, and I’d never felt so loved.
As we pulled into the convent, Martin turned to me. He sighed softly. “Elize, I was just doing what was best for everyone. You believe me, don’t you? I would never do anything to hurt you.”
I nodded. “I believe you. But that doesn’t wipe away what happened.”
“I’m sorry, Elize. I really mean it. That wasn’t how I wanted today to go.”
I swallowed. I looked toward the buildings, taking them in. I knew he meant well. “I know, Martin.”
“Good.”
I got out and headed up the stairs toward my apartment. I unlocked the door and stepped inside. I stared at my apartment to angry to be home. I needed to talk to someone.
So, I turned around and marched myself back downstairs. I turned and headed into the small healing center. I found Victoria sitting at the small table, filling containers. The small bell above the door rang, and she turned. Victoria’s glasses were placed on her nose as she tried to focus on me.
“Hey, Victoria.”
“Elize, what brings you down?” She smiled as she fixed her glasses and wiped her hands on her apron.
Victoria was the spitting image of an old lady in a small shop.
We had on a long dress and a green apron.
Her gray hair was pulled up and held by a pin.
She curled it every night. She’d told me she always put herself together to always look good for Charlie.
“Can I talk to you about something?” I walked over, grabbed a seat next to her, and pulled it open. I sat down and swallowed. “It’s a little personal.”
“Of course, sweetie. What’s on your mind?”
I rubbed my hands together. “Martin came to chat with me, and I took a trip with him back to the pack.”
Victoria’s eyebrows went up. “You went back to the pack? Willingly?”
I shrugged. “I was tricked into it. He said we would just have lunch, but we ended up going to city hall.”
Victoria smirked. “You know your uncle. You should have known it wasn’t that simple. Last time he asked you to join him for something, you ended up with a cat.”
I grunted. But this wasn’t the same as giving me a cat he happened to find. “Yeah… so while we were there, we went to city hall.”
She nodded. “And?”
I suddenly couldn’t form the words. Victoria raised an eyebrow at me. “Elize?”
I swallowed. “It would seem that I’m a match for Troy. I’m his mate.”
Her hands froze, and her face didn’t seem to know whether to stop in shock or confusion. “Troy? Troy, Troy? Like…”
I nodded. “The guy that I liked. The guy that I was sure I’d possibly marry and have children with. The guy who broke up with me and was the push that made me come here. Yeah, that Troy.”
Victoria shook her head. “Oh, sweetie. For starters, you didn’t just like him. You loved him. You were heartbroken when you came here.”
“Not the point,” I mumbled.
“It is the point. Your relationship with Troy was not simple. Oh, honey. Are you okay? I can’t imagine what’s going through your head.”
I ran my finger over the grains on the table. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just… I couldn’t even process it all. They were just sputtering everything at me all at once. I found myself agreeing to it. And now that I’m back here, I’m thinking it was the stupidest thing I’ve done.”
Victoria shifted in her chair, turning toward me. “So, why did you agree? You must have had a good reason, too. You’re not the type of person to just agree to something like this.”
“Apparently, there is dark magic that is being used to affect the pack’s bonding.
They didn’t explain it well, but they said enough to state it was an issue.
” I rubbed at my eyes. “And Martin said we could be next. Troy offered protection to us. I couldn’t think of anything else besides agreeing.
If it’s true and it comes here… I have no idea how we would survive that. ”
I suddenly felt like someone had just dumped a weight onto my shoulders, and I didn’t know how to hold it all.
I rubbed at my forehead. “Tell me I’m insane and that I need to find a way out.”
Victoria shook her head. “I can’t tell you that, dear.”
I groaned. “Come on, Victoria! You’re like a mother to me. Give me some guidance. Tell me I’m insane.”
She offered me a smile. “I think it’s a good idea.”
My eyebrows went up. “You can’t be serious.”
She shook her head. “It’s not that I don’t love having you around, but you’re young, Elize. I think it would be a good thing for you to branch out and learn new things. And…” She paused, which told me there was something she wasn’t telling me.
“What?”
She frowned. “I had a vision.”
My eyes widened now. “You did? When?”
She nodded. “Last night. It showed me danger coming.”
“What kind of danger?”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t see. But I could feel it in the air. If they are talking about dark magic, I’m sure that was what I was seeing. And if that’s true, we do need them by our side.”
I stood in shock at her. I could hardly stomach it. It was one thing to think it could happen, but another to have a vision about it. I suddenly felt the weight feel heavier.
I chewed on my cheek. “You realize I’d be married to Troy. I don’t know how I feel about that part.”
She didn’t know what to say to that. She gave me a pitiful expression. I sighed, leaning forward and lying across the table. I could feel her hand pat my head. “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. In the end, this is your decision to make, Elize.”
But I kept thinking of Troy words. That he would protect us. The convent was hidden, but that didn’t mean we didn’t have people finding us. The witches had no one to protect them, and most of the people here were old or young.
I pulled myself up. If I could help make life better for everyone else, I would. I just needed to do this until they found a solution against the dark magic. Once that was figured out, I would be done. I could cut ties with Troy for good and get back to my life.
“I’ll do it.”
Her eyebrows went up. “Oh?”
I would just put down boundaries and restrictions. And this wasn’t the nineties, I could end the marriage just as quickly as it started.
“I want to be there for you guys just like you were for me. I can do this and make sure the convent remains here long after I’m gone.”
Victoria shook her head. “We don’t need you to do anything for us, Elize.”
I offered her a tight smile as she spoke in her old age. Victoria would need to retire from the healing center soon. A lot of the buildings were in need of care, and if something didn’t change, the convent would fall. I wanted to help, and I could with this.
But if I was going to agree to this, I needed to know how the pack was being affected. I just didn’t know who to talk to about it. I couldn’t talk to Martin because he might exaggerate what was going on, and I wasn’t going to ask Troy.
I headed up to my apartment and sat down on my bed. I looked over at the few pictures I had and landed on the one photo of my parents.
I wouldn’t say we were distant because I talked to my folks regularly, but we weren’t close. They were both shifters who ended up with a witch for a child. They loved me, but they were also scared of me growing up. They never knew what I was capable of. I didn’t blame them. I was scared myself.
I was sure they knew more about what was going on in the pack, and I wanted to know more. I needed to know more to understand what was going on.
The following morning, I drove to my folks’ house. I’d only come home a handful of times, and most of which Martin came with me. I pulled up in front of my parents’ brick house and took a deep breath.
I headed up the steps and knocked. The door was unlocked, so I opened it. I stepped inside. “Hello? Mom? Dad?”
“In the kitchen,” my mom’s voice came down the hallway.
I slipped off my shoes and headed toward the kitchen. I found my mother standing over the sink. Her hands were in the sink filled with bubbled water. She looked over her shoulder and looked at me, surprised.
My mother had jet-black hair like mine but deep hazel eyes. She was tan, wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt rolled up.
“Elize. Hi, hon.” She pulled her hands out of the water and started to wipe them on her apron. “I uhmm… how have you been? Is everything okay?” I could hear her voice shifting, seeming unsure of what to say.
I offered a tight smile. “I’m fine. I actually had a couple of things I wanted to run past you and Dad. Is he here?”
She nodded. “Honey, can you come here for a second?”
I heard footsteps coming down the hallway, and my father paused. His eyebrows went up. “Elize. Hi. Are you okay?”
I nodded. “I’m fine.” My father looked like himself. He had the same dark brown hair and light green eyes.
“This is a surprise. What brings you here?”
“I uhmm… had a couple of questions about something.”
“Oh?” My mother grabbed a stool and sat down. My father walked over and started a cup of coffee.
“So, yesterday Martin took me to see the council, and they informed me that I’m the next match for Troy.”
Their eyebrows went up. “Match for what?”
“Marriage.”
My dad choked on his coffee and started to cough. My mother’s jaw dropped, and she stammered for words.
“Martin said it was because dark magic was affecting everyone in the pack, and I was wondering what exactly was going on in the pack.”
My father looked confused now. “What do you mean?”
“The dark magic? Surely you guys know more about it.”
My mother shook her head. “You know more than we do, Elize.”
My dad walked over and sat down next to my mother. “So, you’re Troy’s mate?”
I nodded. “It would seem.”
My father cleared his throat. “Are you… did…” He stammered for words. “Are you guys having a ceremony?”
I nodded. “We are. I didn’t know if you’d want to attend since… well…”
My mother frowned. “Elize, we never thought of you as an outsider, if that’s what you’re suggesting. We just… we didn’t know how to handle…”
“Me?” I finished.
My father shook his head. “Elize, we love you. But you, being a witch, had challenges.”
“I’m aware,” I grumbled back.
“We didn’t know anything, and the only family member who was a witch died before you were born.”
I didn’t hate my parents. I knew they tried.
My mother’s aunt was a witch, and they figured my powers came from that side of the family from the past. My folks were never outright about it, but they didn’t like how quickly Martin agreed to move me to the convent.
They never understood why I would want to leave the pack. They never stepped in my way either.
I knew there were things they didn’t know how to answer. They didn’t know when my magic would come out and what I would be capable of doing. I just wish they had trusted me more while I was growing up.
I wish they had tried to protect me more while I was growing up. The only one that did was Martin. When the council wanted me locked up, Martin was the only one who stopped them. He did what they should have.
“I guess my coming here was a waste of your time.”
“Elize…” My mother gave me a hurt expression. “I wish we could fix things.”
I did too. But some things weren’t fixable.
I got up and headed for the door. I walked down the stairs and headed for my car. I watched as a car pulled up and parked on the street. The door opened, and Troy stepped out.
I froze as he spotted me and walked toward me. “Elize.”
“What are you doing here?”