Coven [noun] - a group or meeting of witches

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Kane was cold to the touch.

My hands stretched across the expanse of his chest and I peered up to see him fast asleep. I quickly withdrew my hand, feeling the iciness of his skin increase. It was as if the blood inside him was running cold, but he was sleeping as if it were any other morning. His chest rose and fell as usual, signalling the deep breaths he took while sleeping.

His arms were around me, but now that I was awake, I could feel the coldness of his touch. I sat up and slowly pried his hands off me. If I spent any longer in his arms, I'd begin to shiver. I slid maybe two inches away from him before his arm wrapped around my waist and he coaxed me back onto the bed.

"Where are you going?" he murmured sleepily, his baritone voice sending a shiver down my back.

"You're cold, Kane!" I replied, trying to push his arm off me with open palms.

"Warm me up then," he quietly teased, nuzzling his face into my neck.

My shoulder pressed against his cheek and I made the quick decision to turn in his arms. "Do you not feel it? You're freezing!"

"I feel fine, Rina." He finally opened his eyes and immediately frowned when he saw my bewildered expression. "I don't feel cold."

My lips parted when his skin started to warm up now that he was awake. What? The colour returned to his face and I quickly placed my hand on his forehead. He felt fine.

I sat up and adamantly shook my head. "I must be sleep-deprived. I'm sorry I woke you. Go back to sleep."

He pulled me back down again and slid down to rest his head on my chest. "We'll both go back to sleep." He pressed a few soft kisses just below my collarbone. "Relax, Rina."

It was second nature for me to slide my fingers into his hair. My heart raced against his ear and the shockwaves coursed through me at his touch. I sighed and sank into the pillows. "Just one normal day." Our legs tangled together and I pulled the covers over his shoulders.

"We'll get more than that, baby—years and years together." He lifted his head and kissed my chin.

I slowly smiled, which spurred him to continue tracing the line of my jaw with his mouth. He turned his body, pressing his knees into the mattress between my legs and flattening his hands on either side of my head. He hovered over me and flashed me a charming smile, dipping his head to kiss me. We were still sleepy, so his lips moved against mine slowly. I could feel the heat emanating from his body now, back to normal, so I could finally relax underneath him. He was okay, which was all that mattered to me.

"I didn't realise you were this obsessed with me," I muttered in between kisses, tracing the dips of the muscles in his back. A deep sense of longing pulled in his chest, which I could now feel. He didn't want to be apart from me for even a second.

"I didn't realise the feeling was mutual," he quipped, pulling back to look at me with a smile. His eyes softened. "I wanted to feel this close to you from the beginning."

I leaned up and pecked his lips again, lingering in his space. "I know. I didn't have to mark you to see how you felt about me."

His nose flicked mine softly. "I've had three years to know for certain that you're my mate—that's a long time to develop feelings."

Now that I had marked him, I was beginning to suspect that his feelings were deeper than I thought. I was beginning to suspect that what he was feeling was—

I silenced the thought before he became curious about my silence and delved into my mind. "I can't imagine what it would've been like to meet you three years ago. We would have had three more years together."

"Hey." He pressed his forehead against mine and closed his eyes for a drawn-out moment. A pang of sadness hit us both in the chest, but Kane assumed control of the conversation. "The end of the war—even though we won, it was...hard. I had waged war on Leander alone, but when Eryx and Jax's packs joined in, people began to die for a cause that wasn't theirs."

A shadow crossed over his face and he sat back on his heels. I sat up and pulled my legs towards my body. A heaviness settled in my chest at the reminder of the people I had lost—twenty-five of my old pack mates, including Levi's uncle.

"I'm not sure you would've liked who I was after it. It was a victory but not an easy one. That's the part I couldn't let anyone see, the way it all weighed on me. Not to mention I thought I had lost my mate in the war too."

"Marigold," I said, breathily. My name was heavy on my tongue.

Kane's gaze lifted to mine and he huffed out a humourless laugh. "I should've known that something was wrong the second your words disappeared."

"How did they?" I questioned.

His eyebrows twitched as he thought back and he ran a hand through his dark hair. "It was on the 'disputed land' during one of the last battles. I was wounded and found cover while I waited for my fighters to push Leander's back into his territory. I passed out and when I came to, Finn had found me and got me home. I noticed nothing was on my wrist in the hospital. That night, I got the mark of an alpha too. The doctors saw it when they were looking me over."

"So that night changed everything," I mused.

"In more ways than one," Kane added. He dragged a hand over his face. "By that point, we had weakened the other side and I had a renewed sense of vigour. I beat Leander in the final battle and he surrendered the territory."

I remembered the end of the war like it was yesterday. We had to bury our dead and entered a period of mourning that had darkened the pack. I wrapped my arms around my legs and rested my chin on my knees. I didn't know what to say.

Kane reached for my hand and pulled me to my knees. He tugged me closer and embraced me. "Did you lose any family in the war?" his voice was quiet and hesitant. The dread twisted in his chest.

"No. I remember wanting to fight, though, to prove myself as the beta's daughter." The war hadn't been ours to fight so no high-ranking wolf got directly involved in the fighting. Looking back, it was as if Eryx had sent his wolves like lambs to the slaughter.

"I didn't want Eryx or Jax to send any of their wolves. And now, I can't imagine us being on different sides."

I tilted my head to look at him. "Do you think we would've known that we were mates?"

"I started having dreams about you not long after, but I know you would've caught my eye regardless. I needed to paint a lot after the war, but nothing gave me that urge more than you. I had been so enamoured and believed your beauty needed to fill blank canvases."

I huffed out a breath and looked away with a smile. "Who knew you were this romantic?"

He brought my gaze back to his with a gentle finger under my chin. "You know me, Rina, more than anyone ever has." His hand slid down to my chest, just over my heart. "I'm in here now, and..." his fingers gently pressed into my skin. "I plan to stay for a very long time." His voice lowered to a whisper. "These aren't our last few weeks together. Tell me you believe that too."

The breath lodged itself in my throat and I pushed it out with a rasp. "One of us will die. The curse demands a life."

"The curse will be undone," he exhaled, caging my face in his firm hands. "I'm not giving up on us."

My hands covered his and I leaned up to press my forehead against his. "Neither am I. I'm just scared. We need more time."

"And we have it," he countered, threading his fingers through my hair. "If it's hard for you to believe that, at least believe in us—believe in me."

I stared into his warm eyes and slanted my lips over his. "I've always believed in you."

He smiled and kissed me again. "Then that's all that matters."

—————

Time was of the essence, in the short and long term. Finn, Carmen and Santiago had welcomed us with breakfast, and as we ate, we came to the conclusion that we would be proactive and talk to covens ourselves.

While we wanted to keep things under wraps, there were still twenty-six days left until the next full moon and the last thing I wanted was to think that I could've done more if the worst-case scenario happened.

I forked some scrambled eggs into my mouth as Kane explained that he hadn't seen anything when I had marked him.

"I only felt the bond strengthening. She had to say it a few times to get it through my head."

Santiago lifted his steaming mug to his mouth with steady hands, taking a small sip and then placing it back on the coaster. "If I'm being honest, I feel out of my depth here. Certain things I've seen in the books, but this is new. At this point, all I can do is speculate."

I swallowed the bitter taste his words left me with. All it meant was more uncertainty.

"What do you think it means?" Carmen asked, biting into her sausage.

Santiago sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "We know completing the mate bond works against the curse. We can only hope that their marks act as another line of defence. But right now, there are many pieces of this puzzle missing and there are still things left unanswered."

"And we'll find them," Kane interjected, squeezing my hand momentarily. "Starting today."

Finn wiped his mouth with a napkin. "I'll handle training for today. Will you tell your parents?"

"I will eventually. I want some good news before I fill them in on recent events." He slung his arm over the back of my chair and glanced at Santiago. "Will you stay? At least until we get some answers from the covens."

Santiago looked uneasy. Kane's declaration that he was ready to wage war on the covens had unsettled him. As a member of the council, he would always favour diplomacy and cordial relations with other supernatural beings.

"I'll stay for as long as you need me."

Kane dipped his head graciously. "Thank you."

Santiago smiled a little, his gaze flitting to mine. "I forgot to say congratulations. It's a beautiful thing to see the future of a pack blossom in front of your eyes."

My face warmed and I looked at Kane who was already smiling. Finding each other marked a new beginning, a future where the line of alphas could continue. "Thank you."

It hurt to think that bright thought was eclipsed by the chance that we would never see that future come to pass.

Kane tapped his thighs before he stood up. "Thank you for breakfast and for giving us your time. We appreciate it more than you know." He reached for my hand and I took it.

Finn smiled, his blue eyes shining with loyalty. "You know we'll always have your back. Keep us posted and we'll catch up with you later on how training went."

We said our goodbyes and I followed Kane out of the house, silent until we made it back home and he pulled out his car keys.

"Where are we going first?"

He held the door open for me. "Now that I've slept on it, I think it's a good idea to go to the coven that has shown us more kindness than they have Leander. We need all the allies we can get if this does turn into a war."

I climbed into the passenger seat and clipped my seatbelt in as he made his way over to the driver's seat. He started the car up and turned the heating on before pulling out of the driveway. "Covens have never taken a side, though."

Kane's lips twitched with a small smile. "I know. But this is dark magic being used. It goes against nature and one thing those with magic hate is the abuse of it."

Abuse of magic felt like an understatement. This was a grotesque use of magic and a heinous crime.

"Are you prepared to go to war?" I asked hesitantly.

"I would do anything for you," he responded surely.

The silence settled between us for a long moment as I stared at him, lips parted. I knew how intensely Kane felt about me, but to hear him say it still took my breath away.

He took his eyes off the road for a second and smiled softly. He pushed a thought into my mind. 'Nothing matters to me without you.'

I slowly grinned and brushed my hand across his shoulder. 'Nothing matters to me without you too.'

He settled his hand on my thigh and as we drove out of our territory, he explained that we were crossing over into a town where a small coven lived. They were led by a woman called Celine and were twenty people in total.

He parked the car on the main street and as soon as we got out of the car, I could sense the magic that ran through the town. Trinkets were hanging from storefronts and the air was vibrating softly at a frequency only we could hear.

Kane's fingers threaded through mine and he held my hand tightly. 'Stay by my side at all times, okay?' he said in my mind.

I nodded and stepped closer to him as we walked. A few people passed us on the street, turning their heads to look at us once they were behind us. It wasn't often that an Alpha and a Luna were seen away from their pack and in witches' territory.

Kane's face was blank of any emotion and I tried to take a page out of his book, steeling my expression. He squeezed my hand and turned the corner, stopping in front of a small tea shop.

Before we could move closer towards the door, it opened by itself and darkening the doorway was a man almost as tall as Kane.

"You have no business here, wolf," he spoke lowly, his eyes a flaming silver.

Kane's gaze didn't waver from the man's and he stood his ground. "I have business with your—"

"Let them in, Silas," said a smooth voice from behind him. When he turned to face her, he revealed a tall and stunning woman with jet black hair and olive skin. Her eyes were the same silver as Silas's.

"Celine," Kane greeted, nodding in acknowledgement.

She flashed a bright, entrancing smile. "Buchanan." Her metallic eyes turned to me. "And Rina Matthews. Come in. I've been expecting you both."