Payment To the Alpha

James' POV

I was sitting on the mattress, watching Avery sleep peacefully.

Yesterday I hugged her for over ten minutes before Alex broke it off by opening his mouth, telling me he was leaving, and rendering mind linking utterly useless.

I refused to let go of Avery, however. I walked her over to the mattress. Her face was void of emotions. There was nothing showing, she looked like a shell of a person, and it broke my heart. She laid down, and I held her hand, drawing circles on it until she fell asleep. She's been sleeping for over an hour now, but I can't find it in me to leave her, to let go of her, to not see her. No, I was staying by her side.

'Alpha, Amber has some news regarding the wizard.' Lukas, one of the warriors, mind-linked me.

I released a breath and closed my eyes. Of course, she does.

'I'll be right there. Tell her to meet me in my office.'

'Yes, Alpha.'

I took one last look at Avery before slowly pulling my hand away, she squirmed, and a frown showed on her face making me smile. Any emotion is better than no emotion at all.

I gently caressed her cheek and laid a kiss on her forehead before standing up.

Blade started growling in the back of my head. He had been awfully cheerful the past couple of hours, so this behavior change came as a surprise.

What the hell are you doing?

'Nothing.'

We'll be back. We have to find out what Amber knows. The sooner we end this, the sooner we don't have to visit our mate in the dungeon.

'I know.'

There's something else that you know, isn't there?

'Would you be okay if Avery were to follow her heart, even if it meant breaking it?'

That's what a Luna does.

I felt my jaw tick. What the fuck kind of question was that?

'But would you be okay with it?'

No, no, I wouldn't be.

'Let's talk to Amber.'

Blade, what the fuck is going on?

'I can't tell you,'

I'm your human!? We share the same body and mind, why can't you tell me?!

'The moon goddess orders.'

What? Did you talk to her?

'Yes, quite often since Avery got here actually, she has big plans for her, but there are also many obstacles that she needs to face first.'

Like what?

'Nope.'

Oh, come on, I thought we were friends.

'We're not, we're family, but I still won't tell you.'

I snubbed Blade into the back of my mind and made my way to the office.

Does the moon goddess have plans for Avery? And what was that about following her heart? Why did Blade sound so angry? He made it sound like we won't be there to help her, I won't let her face this alone, and I know that neither will Blade, so why did he make it sound like she's going to face this all by herself?

With all this confusion, I really hope Amber has a few answers.

"Alpha." Lukas greeted me with a slight head bow when I entered my office.

"Thank you, Lukas; you can leave. I need to speak privately with my siblings." I went and sat by my desk. Lukas bowed his head once more before exiting. Amber and Alex were sitting in front of me, and I was really hoping to hear some good news. "So, do you want the good news first or the bad?" Amber asked, looking a little fuzzy.

"Ugh, I was hoping for good news only."

"Really? What world do you live in?" Amber asked, her voice laced in sarcasm. I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my chair.

"Bad news first, please."

"It seems like this 'conflict' between a certain witch and a werewolf family is over one hundred years old. It started when a werewolf pack ambushed a half-moon pack for the land that the pack had, which was massive.

The Half-moon Pack knew that they couldn't handle the attack on their own, so they reached out to a witch who built a shield around the pack. Although that is illegal, they didn't see another way they could solve this without losing all of their pack members,"

"Who was the pack that attacked?" I asked Amber.

"Nobody knows. All they know is that the pack is ruthless, not like us, but in the sense that they will kill anyone and everyone, even for the fun of it, and then leave the territory alone. However, the problem was that the Alpha of the Half-moon Pack had a daughter, she was five years old, and she went outside the shield and was immediately taken by the enemy pack, the Alpha told the witch to take down the field, and their warriors were ready for the attack. The Alpha told the witch to protect his daughter by any means necessary, and so she did. She did a protection spell on the girl but had to maintain it during the attack constantly, she wasn't all that powerful, and finally, her powers ran out. She ran to the girl to protect her but was attacked in the process...She didn't make it. The witch's name was Alena, and when she passed, her husband went insane and tried to eliminate the entire werewolf population in America. He was killed by a werewolf only two years later, but his son was ten years old at the time and promised to carry out what his father began. He promised to avenge his parents. And the pack that was attacked was the one of Averys' mom. Avery's grandmother was the little girl, and Madeline paid the price, and now Avery is the final key."

"So the wizard doing this is the son of the witch that was killed?" I asked, trying to piece everything together in my mind. "Yes, and his name is Crow."

"Like the bird?" Alex chimed in with furrowed eyebrows. I leaned forward and placed my hands on the table. "Exactly, and the crow is normally associated with deceit and manipulation. Is Crow his birth name?" I asked, turning my head to Amber.

"No, I don't know his birth name. He chose Crow himself as he grew older," Amber looked at me with wonder.

"He didn't learn how to manipulate people's minds; he was born with it." She said as the epiphany hit her. "That's what I think, which means that we have been going about this all wrong. We believed him to be a normal but powerful wizard who had this ability on top of the others, but what if this ability is the strongest one he has? What if his magic is only as strong as his ability to manipulate?" This could be it. This could be the advantage we needed. "Natasha told the warriors earlier about a flower called Lobelia. It makes the person lose concentration which, for a witch or a wizard, is fatal. If we could inject him with that extract, then he wouldn't be strong enough to manipulate Avery, and his other powers would be on hold too, giving us enough time to kill him." Amber said, and we all felt the joy mixed with victory rush through us.

"It's not so simple." Natasha said as she walked into my office and came to stand next to Alex's chair, holding a picture in her hand. "What do you mean? What did we miss?" Alex asked, sounding frustrated, understandably so." You missed the part where his killing isn't yours to do. There is a reason as to why he hasn't been killed yet because he can't be. Only one person can kill him, and she was born a little over eighteen years ago." Me, Alex, and Amber looked at each other. What the hell is she talking about? Why can't we kill her? Eighteen years ago....

"Avery?" I looked at Natasha wide-eyed, and she looked at me with remorse.

"Yes, Avery is the only one who can kill him."

Avery's POV

Where am I?

There is no grass and no green leaves on the trees. Only the tree trunks were standing on the dry ground. It looked like someone had chopped them off.

It looked like I was standing on dried clay, but it was the ground, the ground where the grass once grew. Two stone pillars were standing in front of me, and it looked like it used to be a gate. The numbers 2 and 8 were barely visible on the right pillar, and on top of them, there were two. What is that? It looked like angels, but the wings had fallen off, and their faces looked to have been burnt by something. As I looked further down, I saw a house, it was white and grey, it was made of wood, and the color had somewhat faded, but all in all, it looked presentable.

I walked over to the house, careful of my surroundings, as I got closer I saw a rocking chair on the porch, and it was moving, someone was sitting in it, with a cup in her hand, it was a woman, she had black straight hair. The closer I got, the more familiar she seemed. Then, as I walked up on the porch, I saw one single flower sitting in a vase. It was a rose, a black one. It seemed to be the only living thing in sight.

"Hello, Miss?" I said in a low voice not to startle the woman.

"Please, have a seat." She said and pointed to the stool next to a little round table. So I walked around her and took a seat on the stool, and that's when I saw what she looked like. The black hair framed her heart-shaped face, her grey-colored eyes stood out, and her small button nose made her all the more surreal. She was beautiful.

"Hello Avery, I have been expecting you." She said with a lovely smile. Why do I recognize her smile?

"How do you know my name?" I asked her." That's not important, dear. Tell me, what do you see?" She asked me and looked out over the land. I was confused by the question, didn't we see the same thing?

"A whole lot of nothingness." I responded, hoping I wasn't rude, but that is what I saw, and honestly, I'm getting kind of sick of my dreams, where everyone talks in riddles.

Suddenly the land changed, flowers grew, the grass came up, and the trees reached the sky with their beautiful green leaves. The sun beamed down over a little lake, and I heard children laughing. "Now, what do you see?" She asked me again. I looked around in awe and saw the birds fly high up in the sky.

"It's beautiful," I said in a gasp.

"That's because I projected an image of your mate into your head," In the blink of an eye, everything went back to the dry, colorless land that it originally was. "What you mean you projected an image of my mate?"

"You already know who James is to you, Avery. So you must only open your heart to him." So James was my mate. How is that possible? I mean, I suspected it after everything I feel for him and what his mere presence does to me, and also the voice in my head that kept saying it was a pretty big clue.

"Why did it change back?" I asked her. "It didn't; you did, you see it's only ever nothing until you make it something. If you believe this to be a paradise, then it will. If your mate had been here with you, everything would look different. However, you see what you project, which in your case, is a whole lot of nothingness." Her words hit me in the core. Is this what I project?

"It's not an easy task, Avery, but anything can become beautiful if you allow it to."

"How did you do all of this?" She giggled and took a sip from her coffee.

"I'm a witch, sweetheart." She said with a wink.

"Why am I here?" I asked her. "You tell me."

"I don't know, honestly. I remember being with James and everything that happened there and then falling asleep and waking up here." I said as I shrugged.

"I need to apologize to you. You're paying the price for something that I chose to sacrifice." I looked at her bewildered, having no idea what she was talking about.

"I'm sorry, miss, but what do you mean?"

"Please, Avery, the name is Alena." I nodded my head. That's a very nice name.

"Well, Alena, why are you apologizing?" She looked back at the land before us and exhaled, looking lost in thought.

"I gave my life to protect that of a werewolf, a little girl, she was no more than five years old, I had met her before, and she was such a pure soul, she was fantastic in every way, but one day her pack and family were under attack, and I used my powers to shield them. However, she was only a child, and children are adventurous. So she ran past my protection and was captured, I did everything in my power to protect her, and she was protected, but I lost my life while doing so, and my husband never forgave them or me for that." I saw a tear fall from her eye, but she quickly wiped it away.

"He was such a hardhead, always has been, but that day when I died, everything changed about him, he lost his will to love, our son grew up in a home full of hate and revenge, and to this day, my son is still trying to avenge my death by cleansing the country of werewolves.

And you, my dear, is his way to do so, you see he was born with a special gift, a gift to get inside people's minds and control them, but it doesn't work on just anybody,"

"No, I heard that it only works on those with whom he shares DNA, and that's why he can do it to me." I said with a sad smile. Alena looked at me funny, and then something changed in her eyes, some sort of a realization.

"You don't know." She said. " Know what?"

"It's not only about sharing DNA. It has to have been from birth, Avery. My son is your father."

James' POV

Natasha had stood silent for a few minutes now. She looked conflicted as to whether maybe she shouldn't tell us what she wants to.

There was more to it than Natasha would admit, the photo in her hand that she was gripping tightly, the fact that Avery is supposed to kill Crow, she's a human, and how is she supposed to go up against a powerful wizard?

"How the hell can Avery fight him, let alone kill him? She's human. She doesn't have the strength or power to harm him or anybody else for that matter, plus the fact that he controls her! So she's not doing this!" Alex stood to his feet shouted at Natasha.

Alex had taken on the big brother role for Avery, and amber acted like an overprotective sister. It was nice to see, but we needed the rest of the information before anyone blew up. "Continue." I told Natasha, and her eyes quickly faltered. This was going to be hard for her. I could see it already.

Natasha handed over the photo to Alex, I'm guessing this is the part that I already know, and now they will too.

"Who is this?" Alex asked her. "That's Crow." Natasha said, her eyes brimming with anger and sadness. "And the little girl?" Amber asked. "That's me." I looked at Natasha and nodded my head. Alex and Amber, however, stared at her like she was a ghost.

"You know him?!" Amber shouted.

"Yes, he's my father." Natasha replied, lifting her head and staring dead into Amber's eyes.

"Are you saying that your father is the one doing this to Avery?! And you've known this entire time?! WHY THE FUCK HAVEN'T YOU TOLD US?!" Alex roared, but Natasha didn't falter. She didn't look too fazed about him losing his temper. She didn't say anything because she had a good excuse not to.

"My father was born with the gift of manipulation. But, as you know, it only works when there is a direct connection to the person he's controlling." Amber and Alex looked close to bursting, they were both frowning, and Alex was pinching the bridge of his nose to calm his wolf. Amber, however, didn't put much effort into calming hers.

But your dad did this to your mate. How does it work if it's DNA bound, although it isn't still? Damn, I'm confused." Amber said, rubbing her face with her hand. Natasha shook her head.

"That was different. My father had injected Derek with his blood, so the poison ran through his veins. This way, my father could control him only for as long as Derek had his blood in him, which is why everything happened as quickly as it did." Natasha wiped away a stray tear and looked at Amber, who wiped away a tear of her own.

"Wait, it must be done from birth?...." Amber asked.

"It must be done from birth." Natasha repeated. And like a bucket of ice-cold water was poured over their heads, they both took a step back and hung their arms. "You and Avery share the same father. That's why you've been so caring towards

her," Amber said slowly. Natasha nodded her head,

"

Avery is my sister."