ZEUS

He watches from his seat on the cushioned window sill as the witch stands stalk still behind the woman, her eyes entirely black and a faint wisp of the same dark magic surrounding her.

The magic seems to build around her a force, a shield to protect her if anyone attacks on her in this state.

His apprehension is still high, brown eyes fluttering back to the green liquid in his cup before going back to the witch.

He has no idea why he had done that. Brought her coffee and opened up to her. If you even call that an opening up.

Zeus had thought about being friendly to the witch and the Alpha Anderson to get him some information on the diversity their pack had, and sure he planned to do it some time after this whole mess blows off.

The presence of the potion was almost unconscious, after all its been over a decade since he had gotten his half side from his mother blocked off, and had started to use this potion to put up a barricade between himself and his wolf side. He wished to get it blocked away too, but can't do that because who will accept him to rule the werewolves when he himself wasn't one.

And this kingdom, the palace and the role of the king is the only thing holding him to the life he had as a kid. This is the only thing he has acquired from his father.

But for the first time in the very long time, he is doubting his decision.

The words of the witch resonate within his mind as he keeps his eyes on her.

Her head and her body seem unnaturally still. Like a mannequin standing there instead of a woman of power. The wisps around her move calmly, but her eyes behind the eyelid was moving. Probably the only thing indicating her life because even her breathing has slowed.

Zeus listens closely, surprised that even her heartbeat was slow and silent.

He shakes his head, getting up as his attention goes back to his potion.

He cannot deny that he misses having his wolf's presence at the back of his head always telling him the minute points he otherwise missed. His wolf caught on things faster, his nature helping Zeus understand the wolves around him better. Not to mention that with his wolf, he felt more connected to his people.

And his daemon.

When the two parts of his lineage were not snapping at the other for dominance over him, it was the time he had been the most comfortable with himself. But after the whole incident, the two parts seem to never get along.

The king was guilty of blaming his daemon side the most.

With his kidnapping and torture at being a hybrid, his mother disappearing and then his mate's death, everything was falling apart for him. Then his father fell through too, and with the whole population of werewolves looking up to him, he tried his best back then to be the heir everyone wanted him to be.

Sighing heavily, he left the potion on the sill, unsure and hesitant about his decision.

Was he willing to let his wolf through the wall he had created years ago, knowing very well how his loss of mate would be a constant source of pain for both of them even now?

Zeus feels a prick in his head, a knock if you say on the mental door of his mind-link.

Zeus, are you okay?

Looking at Paige, he thinks for a moment before nodding his head at her. She looks over him with concern in her years before looking back at his mug sitting on the window sill. A slight smile lifts his lips as he understands her silent question.

I am accepting, Paige. I am accepting myself.

She looks even more confused, her eye brows coming together in a frown.

Before either of them could talk further, a loud crack echoes through the room, forcing their attention to the woman whose shoulder had dislocated itself. The witch was still behind her, and the other petite girl of the strange team was still working at whatever she was doing.

The she wolf though was turning worse with each passing second.

There was a huge difference in her condition from when they had first seen her to her condition now.

She barely looks like a living being now, her body resembling more of a bag of bones and gore than anything else. Her claws are now extended to its full capacity and she had been trying to claw her torso out for the past half an hour she had been in this room.

It took another long and horrendous fifteen minute before the witch came back to normal.

She blinked a few times before she looked down to the woman in front of her.

"Someone, get the doctor to bandage her please."

The king's command was followed immediately, all the while when his eyes remained on the witch. He can see her thinking over everything and trying to connect the dots herself. He wondered if it is because she is so used to working things over before speaking or it had something to do what she has seen.

Or it could be she wished to tell him the filtered part only.

The last thought didn't sit well with him.

He had ordered her here because he needed her to get him to his enemies. He is here himself to oversee each thing so that they could reach the culprits faster and yet here she was.

"Celeste? Did you find something?"

The question was a mere formality, they both were well aware of that fact.

The witch, who had been broken from her line of thoughts by him knew very well that she will have to share something to him till she confirms what she knows. And yet, she is unsure of what to say and what to hold back, a conflict that Zeus could very clearly see.

"Yes. Yes I did, in fact it may give us a very clear base to start from. Should we wait for everyone before I speak about it? We can simply have a breakfast meeting with everyone, it will give us more minds to think of our next step."

The tall man studies the woman in front of him, well aware that she herself is unsure of being here, if her defensive body language is anything to go by. She is grasping at the straws to give herself some time to filter the information she has to see what is fit to tell us while what is not.

And despite what he should have done and asked her to report right now, he gives her a firm nod before turning on his heels and leaving.

He knew not if he is going to regret giving her time, but he did this to make her see that this is not a solely his mission.

He needed her support for this to end, and if she stays on her guard around him, how sure would he be that all she is saying is everything she knows about all this?

He reaches his quarters, the King's Chamber, pausing slightly at the wooden double doors to glance at the identical one on his right.

The Queen's Chamber.

His heart falters, clenching painfully as he thinks about his mate once again. She was supposed to get out of the disgusting cell with him, she was supposed to heal and then get to know him, she was supposed to love him and accept him. She was supposed to be his queen and stand by his side.

He walks to stand in front of the locked doors, his hand coming up to touch it, the cool material doing nothing to sooth his pain.

He leans his head on it, closing his eyes as he wills himself to stay strong.

"I am sorry for living while you lost your life so young. You will be avenged my love, I will see to it myself. Give me some time and once everything settles down, I will follow you soon. My heart belongs to you, forever."

Zeus takes a sip of his black coffee, something he has missed enjoying each morning for the past decade. Having a potion to drink each morning and night had forced him to stop having the rich, aromatic beverage as his first drink of each day.

Giving himself few seconds to enjoy the taste, he brings back his attention to the party sitting in front of him.

Kayden and Paige were sitting in across him, flanking the desk that separated the king from the rest of the occupants in the office. The diversity of super naturals that the Anderson pack had were sitting on the dark couch on the right side of the office while their Alpha sat comfortably next to his sister on the seats across their team on the other side of the room.

Celeste heaves a sigh before she stands up to walk to the middle of the office, waving her hand around, making the door click its lock.

"I have... bubble wrapped the office. No one can come anywhere near it for privacy reasons"

When she received no protest from anyone, she continued.

"I am going to lay everything on the table right now, for the new ones as well as the ones that we know. This is something bigger than just our feelings of hostility towards each other. So, everything that we have seen till know, I suspect it is done by someone who wants to create hybrids."

Zeus resists the urge to tense as the witch reaches same conclusion as himself. He feels the shock from his friends flowing to him through the open link between the three of them. He understands it though, the other two didn't expect the woman to say this at all, let alone this openly. They expected her to be confused and give them some information.

But he has long accepted that the witch is an enigma. A uniqueness to her being that she is unexpected, in every sense of the word.

"The blue thing we have seen till now, it's a potion that is being used to create these. My guess being they want to create hybrids of vampire and werewolf."

"Why those two? And how sure are we of this?"

Celeste looks at Paige, a small smile lifting her lips as she gives a glance to her team mate Jason. The glance confused the king, and the way Jason looks at Paige along with her sudden interest on the design on the door behind the witch making him sure that there is something that he is missing. Kayden looked at him if he knew something, but seeing Zeus shake his head slightly, he goes back to face the front.

"Well for one, Zeus told me that the Vampire king also mentioned something of this sort happening to few of his kind as well. Second, did you notice the pattern? The werewolves, they naturally have higher temperature leading to faster heart beats, fast metabolism and everything that follows. However this Potion, after it the body is getting confused. The potion is forcing the body to cool down, make cells dead, a total opposite of what the body is supposed to be."

"I am not following... at all."

Zeus sighs, looking at Willow and speaking.

"What Celeste is saying is, Werewolves are a total opposite of vampires. We are brute force, loyal, with higher temperature, all in all alive. Vampires are speed, independent with bodies as dead as logs. Whoever is getting this done clearly didn't think this through."

"Oh but they did."

Everyone looks back at the witch, making her smile.

"These two species are the only one who don't need the genes to turn humans into them. A venom from vampire can make a human a vampire, and the wolf bite of someone from the pure blood line can make a human get some of your qualities, like strength, healing and claws."

A silence follows her words, no one willing to accept what she said was, in fact very true.

All other beings are born and raised, none having the liberty of increasing their number by anything other than reproducing.

Werewolves and vampires are the exceptions.

"So we have an idea of what is happening. What we need to find is how, why and who."

Zachery Anderson states more than anything else. He wishes to help his sister no matter what, after all she has lost a hell lot more in the hands of these people than anyone else and if anyone deserves justice, it's her.

"Actually, we may have an idea of how as well."

"Huh?"

Zeus notes how even her own team looks confused.

It made him relax, knowing she is laying everything down in front of all of them. He was scared, he will admit, that she may hold back information from him for whatever may the reason may be.

"Remember Willow's winds told her about a club the rogues had visited a few days before? The one on the Pure human Territory?"

Her team nods, but the others feel even more confused. Human territory isn't exactly easy to enter, nor is it pocket friendly.

"I saw the Cecilia's memories. That's the woman we have. She was also invited to a club, smuggled there actually, given drinks freely and left out after three days. The memories from the day next to it, are haphazard. No continuations."

"You believe that the potion came into contact to these wolves came from there? A club from Pure human Territory?"

Kayden questions, his voice clearly showing the disbelieve he felt.

Not that Zeus can blame him, as he himself is feeling a little thrown off by the words the witch has just said. To believe that someone from humans was working on potions to make hybrids? Didn't they hate even the thought of super naturals?

"I assure you that's the case. The potion was introduced to them in the club, and I am damn sure our clue to who is doing this is there."

"You said she was smuggled? Who took her there? Must've been someone from here?"

"Yes, but she couldn't see his face, meaning she didn't have him in the memories."

Everyone goes deep in their thoughts.

If this was true, there is no doubt what their next step should be. They need to visit the club. Find more about the ones involved in this. They have too less of information to make the mighty king feel remotely better about his position right now.

"They must have left something back. Where did she meet them?"

Zeus asks the woman that now leans against the door.

"Three miles south of PiQuet pack. That's where she found a note addressed to her, the invite along with it. If my guess is right, whoever this may be, he randomly targets the ones that cross that small stream near there. Stream cleans the scent for a while."

"Based only on one woman? That can be pure luck, they could be changing places."

Celeste shakes her head in denial to Zeus's comment.

"The pregnant woman from the rogues before? She belonged to the PiQuet Pack. She would often visit her siblings there, even after going rogue to be with her mate. It's near impossible not to pass the Three Point stream, the only common place Cecilia had with the rogues from before."

"Well, we have a place to start with."

Kayden gets up, rubbing his hands in excitement to have at least a start, no matter how vague and late that may be.

Everyone stands up, Celeste raising her hand to get her spell to stop.

Almost immediately the double doors are snapped open by the Gamma Ryan as he rushes in, giving a blur of a bow to his king before blurting out.

"The woman is out of senses now, in infirmary. One doctor has been clawed and is under observation. "

No sooner did the words leave him, the Werewolf King and The Dark witch, react. Faster than anyone has seen, the King leaves the office leaving his mere scent behind while the witch vanishes from in front of them, leaving behind a mist of dark mist, which vanish soon after.

Zeus has no idea what scares him the most.

The fact that the woman can tear herself apart at any possible moment and their only link to what is happening would be dead with her. Or the fact that she may end up hurting someone else while doing so, probably infecting the others too.

Though he can not deny a part of him wants to give her an easy way out.

When he reaches the infirmary, he lets out a growl, making everyone step back from the half shifted she wolf that is leaking blood, gore and that horrible blue potion on the pristine white floor.

The deformed woman is hardly recognisable, whimpering and groaning as she claws at her chest.

He knew he can't get close to her without knowing if the potion is contagious, and yet he can't see one of his own suffering like that. He is the Alpha king, he is born to serve the wolves, and yet here he is.

A hand lands on his right fore arm, the warm touch taking his attention.

Celeste stands next to him, her eyes on the scene in front of her for a second before she looks at him, her voice soft and low only to be heard by him.

"King Zeus, command her wolf to stand down. I will hand over a peaceful end."

Not sure if why he listened to her, the king does so, making the she wolf stop in an awkward posture as the witch moves gracefully across the floor to her. Celeste has everyone's attention, including the she wolf when she bent in front of her and keeps her hand on her furry neck.

A murmur later, the she wolf stops fidgeting before a darkness surrounds the witch's hand and the wolf stops moving all together. Her body stops the shift, and all the internal movements have stopped.

The wolf is now at peace.

Silence follows as the witch stands back again, giving the king small smile that didn't reach her eyes before she leaves the room.

A dark witch has shown mercy to a woman, without any connection or profit.

Maybe, just maybe, the darkness in the witch is not a curse.