“You think if we wanted her dead that you four could stop it?” roared the female council woman.

She began to walk towards me. Kai growled and stood in front of me. 

‘If anyone makes a move against us, I want you to run. You are fast, you can get out. They won’t expect it,’ he told me.

‘If anyone makes a move against us, I’m going to rip their head off. I’m not leaving you,’ I sent back to him.

The council member stood a few feet from Kai.

“Kai, I thought better of you. You are such a wise and powerful wolf. We have asked you thrice to join the council and thrice you have denied us. It would be a shame to dispose of you.”

I growled deeply and prepared to pounce. No one was disposing of my mate.

Kai’s father stepped forward. “She’s a werewolf!” he roared. I could feel power radiating off of him. Would he fight for us?

The council woman looked back over her shoulder at him. “Don’t protect your son. Has she bewitched you, too? I know what I smell! My nose does not lie.”

I looked the council woman in the eyes. I didn’t care if it was against the rules. This bitch needed to know she wasn’t hurting my family; no one was. The second I locked eyes with her, her face fell. She stumbled back in shock. That’s when the vision hit me.

‘Oh shit, bad timing,’ I muttered before collapsing in weakness. The council woman’s name was Jane and she was lonely. A lifetime of loneliness had made her bitter. When she rose to a position of council woman, it had satisfied her to a certain degree but she yearned for more. She yearned for a mate and children. She had many lovers but nothing compared to the bond you had with a mate. She knew something was missing and I knew where her mate was. And every other persons mate in this room. It was painful. My visions had never hurt before. This one crippled me. My head threatened to explode. I heard Kai whine.

I was vaguely aware of Jane approaching me and Kai growling.

“At ease, wolf. She is one of us. I see that now. What is happening to her?” she asked Kai. Was that concern in her voice?

Kai took a deep breath. “She’s a Matefinder,” There was a collective gasp of the surrounding wolves, “And with all due respect, if you touch her, I will kill you.”

In my vision I could see the councilwoman’s mate playing cards with his fellow pack members in a small pack in Utah. He was a mid-level pack member with a nice smile. Then I saw her wedding and later, her laughing children running through the snow. I became aware of energy signatures. Each wolf in this building had different energy. I was out of my body now. I could see my wolf lying on the floor shaking as Kai whined. My soul walked around to each wolf and touched their face or looked into their eyes. With each contact I was given the exact location of their mate. If they were already mated, I moved on. Sometimes, I was given multiple people in their pack’s mate location. An hour must have gone by. I made my way back to my body. Kai was human and half dressed. My wolf form lay in his lap and he stroked my fur. There was a crowd now. Jane sat patiently in human form a few feet from my body. Just as I was going to fall back into my body, I heard a wind chime behind me and I turned towards the noise.

The Shaman Nahuel was standing a few feet from me.

“Trust your people with the truth. It’s all you have to protect you. The war has begun. The future you see in your visions can change. The future is always changing. Emma may not survive long enough to see her pup born. You may not survive long enough to wed Kai. Now more than ever, the wolves are on the brink of extinction. The vampires have waged war.” He raised his hand and bowed his head and then he was gone.

“Aurora! You come back to me this instant!” Kai was screaming now. I fell into my body all at once and woke up. I immediately began to shift into human form. Jane threw a tablecloth over me.

I looked at Jane. “I know who your mate is,” I told her and her hand flew to cover her mouth.

“Is this a sick joke? The Matefinder is dead. She’s a witch.” A council member screamed on the stage.

Jane extended her hand and looked at Kai. “Let me use my power on her. To make them see.”

I looked at Kai confused.

“She’s a Projector,” he told me. “She can project your vision to anyone’s mind. She will be able to see inside your head. You won’t be able to keep anything from her. Makes for a useful gift when interrogating people.” Kai mumbled the last part.

She would know I was part witch. She would know there was a war starting with the vampires. She would know everything about my past. I looked in her eyes and saw a kindness there. She wanted to believe me, she wanted to find her mate. I had to trust her.

I reached for her hand. The second my skin touched hers, I felt her presence in my mind and that’s when it became too much. My body became heavy and a blackness hit me as I crumbled into Kai’s waiting arms.

Emma

I came to and was aware of whispering. I opened my eyes and saw that I was lying on a bed in a hotel room. The council members surrounded me, and Kai was inches from my face as usual. I had a splitting headache.

“Ten hours.” Kai breathed, and his eyes turned yellow.

I grabbed my head. “Huh?”

“You were unconscious for ten hours. Don’t ever do that again,” he scolded.

“I don’t plan on it. Talk softly. My head is killing me.”

Jane stepped forward. “Aurora, I saw everything. I projected your vision of the mates to the wolves in attendance here today. I withheld any knowledge of the Shaman’s prophecy about the vampire war. That, I have only shared with the council.”