Past and Present collide
Mr Galloway, Seph couldn’t call him Alpha; it just doesn’t feel right, and she had more manners than to use his first name; he had arranged for her to sit her exams at the pack school when she moved in with them, so she could get her leaving certificate, which seemed to Seph to be much the equivalent of A-levels. Seph had sat the exams a week ago, having lived with the pack for around 2 and a half months. She had her results now; she had achieved H1&2’s in English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, and Art. She even scraped an O5 in Gaeilge though she doubted she could ever use it. Bounding into the office, she felt the pull towards Kayla and Theo, waving her results over her head; the twins had passed their exams last year. Mr Galloway was there too.
Kayla squealed excitedly, jumping up from her chair to look at Seph’s results, bouncing up and down a little in her excitement as she saw them on the paper. “Yes, Sephie! You fucking genius!” She cried loudly, Theo looking over Kayla’s shoulder, smiled broadly at Seph, picking her up and hugging her tightly. It was hard to say who was more surprised, Seph or Theo when Seph wrapped herself around him happily. Before they had a chance to analyse it, Kayla had thrown herself onto Seph’s back. Theo stumbled under the unexpected weight, stumbling slightly and the three of them collapsed onto the sofa, laughing.
“Yes, well done, Persephone, well done indeed. You have prepared for and passed these exams in only a few months, a process that would usually take 2 years. Even then, some people still need to resit” Mr Galloway shot a significant look at Kayla here, who just shrugged, totally unconcerned about her father’s disapproval, settling herself more comfortably by her mate on the sofa.
“Well, I have done my AS-levels back home; I just didn’t get to go back for my final year properly.” Seph shrugged softly. Life had been quite hard for Seph before she had left the coven.
“Why was that, Persephone?” The Alpha asked her suspiciously. He couldn’t deny that it was concerning that this young witch had wormed her way into his children’s lives so thoroughly, yet they knew almost nothing of her old life. Seph had only told them what they absolutely needed to know: what school she had attended to get her records and the basics of her medical records. She had even convinced Kayla to mark her somehow; if anything were to happen to the witch now, his daughter would suffer too. Though if Kayla had marked the girl, why not Theo? Lorcan knew that his son would not do anything against the girl’s wishes; the witch would have to consent. Has she not given her consent yet? It gave the theory that she had bewitched one twin while the other was her goddess-given mate more credence.
“It’s complicated, Mr Galloway, and I would prefer to leave the past to sleep in peace. You know what I am and that I can’t go home; surely that is enough?” Seph replied a note of desperation in her voice. Kayla wrapped her arms around Seph’s shoulders and pulled her close.
“Leave it, dad. She will tell us when she is ready,” Theo told his dad firmly. Leaning forward, almost as if putting himself between Lorcan and the girls. This girl had certainly roused his protective instincts if he didn’t even trust his own father.
Lorcan held up his hands in defeat. What else could he do in the face of such opposition but he would get the information one way or another. He needed to know if this witch had bewitched his children to avoid being charged for trespassing on their land; if she was dangerous or deranged, he had to understand why the witch had left the coven. He was not entirely convinced by her. When he first saw her all those months ago, he was ready to throw her into the cells for trespassing, a witch on their land. Claiming not to feel the Moon Goddess’s protection? Nonsense! He warned them when his children seemed determined to keep her and honour the mate bond. He told them that it could all be an elaborate trick. That there was no way one witch could handle two alpha wolves, she was too small, weak and broken. That much was clear to everyone.
“I have put some feelers out to the local coven here to see if they have someone who would be willing to come out and help you with your magic now that you have finished school. I-”
Before he could say any more, Seph had pushed to her feet, her eyes wide and fearful. Dextra, her wayward familiar, burst free of her chest with a pained grunt from Seph, who was trying to restrain her; Dextra landed in her firedrake form on Mr Galloway’s desk, huffing smoke at him and grumbling loudly. “You said I’d be safe here! You said you would keep me safe! And you go and do that without talking to me? Why? Why would you? I told you the witches don’t want me. I told you they threw me out and would likely kill me if I go anywhere near them. At least tell me you didn’t mention my name?” Seph knew she sounded dramatic, but she seriously felt her life would be in danger if she went anywhere near any coven. At Lorcan’s head shake, she turned to leave the office, calling Dextra to follow her. Lorcan was taken aback by the passion in the girl. Perhaps she did have it in her take on his children, after all; then again, if she couldn’t see when he was just saying what was expected of him before members of the pack when presented with what, on the surface, appears to be the future Luna.
Both twins glared at their father as their mate ran from the office. “I told you not to do that; I told you that she did not want to see witches, that she was finally starting to feel safe here. How could you do that to our mate father?” Theo demanded, and Kayla looked just as angry at his side.
“You know my thoughts on this matter; we need to know about this witch-” Lorcan began, only to be cut off by Kayla.
“This witch, as you call her, is our mate! It is for us to find out about her, not you! And she will tell us properly when she is ready and not before!” Kayla cried before turning and marching out of the office, loudly slamming the door behind her.
“This is out of line, father, way out of line,” Theo told his father before leaving the room.
There was a knock on the door of Seph’s bedroom about 10 minutes later. Her bedroom was her sanctuary. Since getting to the pack, she had mastered wards and permanently had them at her bedroom door, and windows and the only people who seemed to get through reliably without being injured were Kayla and Theo. Kayla was first through the door now and onto Seph’s bed, and Theo followed slower behind, shutting the door carefully and righting the desk chair that had been knocked over.
“It’s ok, baby. We won’t let anything happen to you.” Kayla said softly, “but if you wanted to share anything, you know you can tell us anything. We won’t think any less of you, right? Not that you have to share,” Kayla finished gently. Her long arms wrapped around Seph as she struggled for words.
Theo joined them on Seph’s overly large bed. For some reason, Seph seemed to find that Theo’s burnt, foggy forest scent always calmed her better. It smelt like the morning after bonfire night when she was small when she would go out collecting rocket sticks with her father. Back when the world was right before everything changed too much, but she preferred Kayla’s touch. Kayla felt like home, but not the home she was born into, a regular, loving, genuine home where everyone was accepted for what and who they are and never made to feel ashamed or humiliated for it. Nothing like the Booth Wood coven. Seph still couldn’t believe what they did to her and, for such stupid reasons, the kind of bigoted beliefs held by pretty much all covens. She ran her fingers through her short; currently purple hair, pulling on it a little in an attempt to calm herself enough to speak. Kayla shoved her brother back off the bed to get Seph’s blanket; she wrapped it around Seph’s shoulders; Seph was never quite sure if this was because she, Persephone liked it and felt the cold more than they did, or if it was because Kayla didn’t like Theo’s scent on Seph. To be fair though, Theo had a habit of slipping his shirts into Seph’s closet for her to sleep in; it wouldn’t be unreasonable for Kayla to want Seph to smell like her for once. It didn’t really matter to Seph; she was comfortable and had her mates. Though that was probably because her sense of smell was nothing like theirs.
Seph snuffled, rubbing her eyes roughly. Curling up into her blanket, leaning back against the pillows, her head on Kayla’s shoulder and her thighs pressed against Theo’s side. “I…I don’t even know where to start,” Seph whispered, but she knew they would both hear perfectly.
“Just start at the beginning, Angel,” Theo Cajoled, rubbing Seph’s thigh softly. Seph had to admit that she loved Theo’s voice. He had a stereotypical Irish accent and a deep, masculine-sounding voice. Eventually, she opened her mouth to begin speaking. Dextra took up residence on Theo’s chest. Chattering excitedly to him. Theo was definitely her favourite. She was a salamander now, but she often took her fire drake form when running with the wolves. Kayla was still not sure about Dextra or what to do with her.
“Ok… I’ll tell you… but it’s a long story,” Seph tells them
“Well, we are going to have a long night then,” Theo replied with a smile, shuffling around a little to kick off his shoes and get comfortable at Seph’s side.
“And you can take all the breaks you need… you don’t have to share everything in one go, babes,” Kayla added, squeezing Seph supportingly.