An Alpha's Duty

Chapter 55

"There has to be something we can do? This can't be the end!" Ryan couldn't help raising his voice.

His wolf was on edge and he was at his wits end. Every time they thought they had a sliver of a chance it was taken away from them. How many more obstacles was life going to throw in their way?

"I'm sorry Ryan but we have no clue who crafted that spell, no idea what it entails or how it was even created. If we mess with it, trying to guess how to break it, it will have consequences." Morgan's voice was sympathetic as she tried to explain the delicate situation they now found themselves in.

People often believed magic was simple, you say the right words, cast the spell and you get the desired result but that was only in the movies. In reality, magic was unpredictable and hard to control. It took years to practice and even longer to perfect.

Messing with an unknown spell, that a mystery person had created would not go down well. But she knew explaining this to a non-magic caster would be difficult.

"What consequences could be worse than this? The entire female shifter population have had their wolves stripped away from them and nobody seems to even remember it happening. The corrupt council wants Poppy in the hands of our enemy and we have had to run away from our own pack lands to be safe. So tell me Morgan what could possibly be worse than the situation we find ourselves in right now?" The stress of the last couple of weeks had final broken him.

He was tired. Tired of trying to show a brave face to his pack when he knew they were up against it. Tired of constantly being thwarted at every turn and just tired of all the setbacks they'd faced.

Morgan rolled her eyes at Ryan's dramatics and was about to retort when something on the floor caught her attention. She turned back to where the stone sat and watched stunned as grey and black smoke suddenly surrounded it.

She looked to Lenah to see if this was her doing but from the shadow walker's stunned expression clearly whatever was happening was out of her control.

"Morgan, please tell me you're doing that?" Lenah's voice shook with slight fear as the swirling smoke grew wider and spilled out across the floor.

At Lenah's scared outburst Ryan's dark mood disappeared, and he walked back to her side, taking in her horrified expression as she stared at the stone on the floor. He couldn't see anything wrong with it, it looked just like it always had, and yet from Lenah and Morgan's unnerved expressions something was happening.

He wrapped his arms around his mate in an effort to calm her down but could still hear her heart beating frantically in her chest. He lifted his head to look over at Morgan to see if she was okay when he saw it. Grey and black smoke covering most of the floor and starting to circle higher.

"What the hell is that? Where did it come from?" Everyone but Lenah and Morgan looked at him in confusion.

"What are you talking about? Nothing is happening, the stone is just sat there." Luke looked between everyone else before looking at Ryan, still holding Lenah, and Morgan who were all carefully watching the smoke in the middle of them room.

At his words Morgan and Lenah's head snapped towards him.

"You really can't see the smoke? It's right there." Morgan pointed towards the centre of the pentagram with a shaky hand.

She had no idea what was happening but she knew whatever it was, was out of her control. She thought over the spells she'd used to try and reveal more of the stone, wondering if she could have caused the smoke, but she was sure nothing she'd done had created this.

"We need to leave now!" Lenah's voice was urgent.

Uncontrolled magic was dangerous, and they had no idea who was responsible for what they were seeing. For all they knew, the council had employed a few witches to cause them trouble.