From the moment the plane touched down and I found myself on familiar ground, everything has been a blur of moments leading up to me sitting before my computer, the pages printing away beside me as Fiona sits in front of my desk, looking at the interior of my office as I print off the next document. As the first document finishes, I collect the thick document and tie the instructed silver chain around the pages as if wrapping a ribbon over a gift. Grabbing her stamp from her bag, Fiona gets up and grabs hold of the candle burning. Blowing out the candle, she pours the hot wax over the cover page and silver string, stamping the crest of her coven on the document. This will be the third one made, this one to be sent to the Temple where the Head Priestess resides and will have to carry out a trial immediately.  The other two will be sent to the palace where King Laraxis will soon be facing his last days as King and the other will be sent to the Rogue Ring Leaders as testimony of the acts Zion has caused once again. This document was written with immense details from Fiona, her coven's crest only to symbolize it to be an official document of her coven. Written are the details of the promise Zion gave her, the planning they went through, the threats he gave her, and all the laws of nature Zion has broken just get bring his lover back. The second document printing is a detailed informative report to be given to Laraxis himself showing every single law Zion broke from before he took the crown to present. If anything, this document is to show Laraxis that Zion must be made not just someone needing to face justice, but someone who even committed treason more than twice.

"I will make sure Laraxis is given this document, Elijah has instructed me to deliver it myself," I inform Fiona as the detailed law breaking Zion has done is done printing and I place it into a briefcase. "I will send out messengers for your documents before the end of the night."

"And I will wait here patiently?" Fiona asks, annoyed with the idea of not having any more power for the time being until the documents are processed. "Do you not need a protector on the way to the palace? You are the woman whose husband killed the last king." She is right, no one will be glad to see me there, especially the nobles who knew the queen personally. She was loved by much of the kingdom for her sweet soul as it was opposite of man she married.

Grabbing the three documents, I lead Fiona out of my office as she grabs my briefcase. The two warriors outside my office watch as we exit the office, taking the documents from me as they know they will be delivering these documents as fast as possible. Why not email them? The Temple is old fashioned and tradition calls for hand-delivered letters, the palace keeps the King's email private so hand delivery is one way to avoid corruption, and the Ring Leaders do not care for organization and believe calling is the only way to reach them. With the list of crimes and the detailing of Zion's resurrection process with Fiona and me, we head for the front door of the pack house. "We have a plane waiting for us, wheels up in forty minutes," I inform Fiona, agreeing to let her tag along as the witch passes by pack members of mine with fear in their eyes. After all, a witch with black eyes, cracking skin, and her soul damned to an eternal suffering, anyone would be afraid of her presence, even if on the same side of this battle.

"And what of your daughter? I hear you have yet to see her since you came to my coven."

Terrance's words will always sting. He was always right on some points of what may happen with my daughter.

"We have a deadline to meet."

Heading out the door and into the car, I drive us away as the ride is silent for the first half, only for Fiona to rip off the band-aid. "To chase after Sybil and have the power to kill her and bring back your husband, I would have thought you would have done exactly that. Bring back the man you loved. Why?"

"Perhaps because I am human," I reply. "I was born and raised for most of my life believing that magic, resurrection, werewolves, and all of this was some silly story told to children to help expand their imagination. The thought of many of these things existing is still nerve wracking to me,  I just found out elves were a thing a year ago and could not believe it. The idea of resurrection is something I still cannot process, for it is unnatural and it is cheating death. Death is a natural process and we should learn to accept that."

"For many, the ability to cheat death only would make them feel more powerful than anyone alive."

"Do you feel more powerful than anyone alive? You cheated death." I point out, knowing Zion could not have done anything without Fiona.

Looking to me, she cocks her head to the side with a raise eyebrow. "At the end of my life, a burning wheel in hell is waiting for me with hungry ravens to pluck at my eyes and fire to burn my flesh. I did not cheat death, Alpha, for death is still waiting with glee to have me knock at his door. Death and I will be even in the end." Looking through the documents packed away in the briefcase, Fiona leads back in her seat. "I have seen many things, for my lifespan has been prolonged due to my bloodline, but for Zion to come to me promising to lift a curse my children and siblings are still awaiting or have experienced and then Zion breaks our promise, that was the worst kind of betrayal I have ever had to experience. I sweat to you, my life is to now destroy his soul, to shatter it in my hands as my family is safe from the curse."

"I did not know you are a mother," I comment, understanding that she will do everything she can to protect her children even if it means losing the last bit of soul she has left in her vessel.

Fiona takes in a deep breath, shaking her head as she looks out the window. "I was a mother, Lily," Fiona informs, her voice breaking. "My son was five when he used the only magic he had left in him. I was gone on an expedition and in my absence, he used the entirety of his magic just to walk across a lake and retrieve his plastic boat which had drifted too far off into the water. My daughter was twenty when she passed away, a hunter finding her all alone in the city as she was there for a trip. The hunter found out she belonged to my coven and wanted to have fun with her. That old sick bastard chained my daughter down and skinned her while she was alive. He cut into her chest and took out her heart as a trophy. I killed that sick bastard the same way, using magic to keep him alive through the entire experience as he screamed for mercy and cried for his own mother. I kept his heart in a glass jar in my office, his soul trapped inside as I did not let his soul escape to the afterlife until I found a spell powerful enough to damn his soul to torture in hell." She did not only make him suffer in this life, but the next. To lose both children, to bury your own children, I cannot imagine what she went through. "Love your daughter, Alpha," Fiona informs, looking to me as I can see the pain in her eyes. "For whatever the outcome of this, your name will be associated with every werewolf as the human Alpha who tore apart a kingdom and was either successful or not to kill a king. People will come for Leala Maxwell, that name will always be cursed with your association."

"I can make a safe world around her," I reply, tone sharp.

"She will only be safe if you give her a different life."

Silence fills the car as I cannot think straight as this woman has just informed me that my daughter will only be cursed to have my name. "Everyone has a different story, Fiona," I inform, my tone sharp as I cannot allow myself to think that the only way for my daughter to grow up in a safe world is to leave behind her family. "I have a pack, I have a devoted amount of people in my pack who would help me raise her to become the next Alpha of Crimson Lock. I cannot just let the next Alpha of my pack be kept away from what it rightfully hers."

"No one can change fate, Lily, only the gods can and they abandoned us all centuries ago."

As the ride falls silent and I count the minutes which pass by, as we reach the private runway and begin to unload as attendants grab our luggage and inform us the plane is ready, Fiona turns to me, a strong gust of wind blowing past us as I wonder what her eyes used to look like. "I am someone to tried to push the limitations of fate, Lily, to undo the curse upon my coven and believe that just maybe the gods would hear the cry of my coven for the past centuries and lift the curse themselves after seeing it to be unjust. Magic is running out of this world, the elves have left for hidden realms, witches and wizards are slowly dying off, vampires are being hunted, fairies no long live on this earth, and you, a human, is about to try and bring down a werewolf kingdom. No matter what we do here, no matter what cause we all believe in, you and your bloodline will always be associated with being part of a movement tearing apart the supernatural world." Her words sting as she keeps her voice hushed. "Sure, your cause has purpose and I am only aiding because of the hate I have for Zion and for him to lift the curse, but if you are successful, many packs will dissolve into rogues who flee the forest for the city, mating will begin more with humans as the being your pack and husband was will begin to lose their power and strength. Werewolves were once lycans, but some breeding caused the powerful creature to become less powerful than necromancers and now werewolves can die due to a witch, vampire, or even human hunters now. Soon enough, werewolves will become so weak that in the next few generations, they will no longer be able to shift. You must understand that bringing down a kingdom does not just mean a new government, but it will even alter the genetics of werewolves. Best to see from all sides what you are doing and how it will change the world your daughter will be brought up in and how people will treat her if she carries the Maxwell name or even is raised in Crimson Lock."

Fiona leaves me alone in the silence, my mind bland and anger running through my blood as she heads into the jet, the short flight ahead of us to be one of tension. The documents in my hand, I follow after the witch. She does not care for the survival of the werewolf race, she could be exaggerating it for all I know. If other realms exist where the supernatural are kept safe from human hands, then people can just flee there if the portals have not closed off. Fiona is a woman who has given up on hope of finding a peace here on earth unless the curse is lifted. She does not care if she dies in the battle, she only cares that the curse is lifted. If it is, she dies knowing that the souls of her past, present, and future members of her coven will have an eternal slumber of peace and not torture, she does this for her children who are on that wheel in the afterlife screaming in pain.

Entering the jet, Fiona has taken a seat far from the rest, isolating herself from me as I take my seat and order a rum to start off the ride with. Checking my phone, a picture of my daughter has been sent by the new sitter, Quinn, her eyes just like Nixon's as she has a toothless smile and a bow in her short hair. Could I risk my daughter being harmed just because of the blood running through her veins? No, I could not risk that, but I know it will not happen. She is a child and when I return home, I will make sure to protect her with everything I have. I know that if I am successful and make it home to see my daughter, Elijah will call for me to aid in the rebuilding of a government and I cannot turn that down, but I can easily make sure to see my daughter every chance I get. If I never return home and die in the same place Nixon did, then she will have a pack to raise her.

As my drink is handed to me and I read through the documents of Zion's wrongdoings once more, I take a glance to the witch in the back, shadows falling over her as the jet takes off.

"Do not try and change fate here or try and lie to yourself, Alpha Maxwell, you are willingly giving your entire future to this cause. Do not let your daughter get left behind in this dark adventure."