The Song in the Witch's Heart

Prologue

The first thing he remembered before the pain hit him and broke the haze he had been drowning in for years, was the words being spoken. First there were his words, said in such a disgusted and arrogant tone, he was unsure it was really him who said them.

“I, Matthew Frost Stonemaker, Reject you Alora Frost Northmountain as my mate!” That was the first break in the haze.

Then as though muffled, her words came. “I’ve changed my name in a blood oath to the Pack Alpha, my name is now Alora Luna Heartsong.” Her words sounded pain filled.

Matthew felt a shock of pain squeeze his heart at the sound of her voice. Matt wanted to take back the words that hurt the female in front of him, but instead of comfort coming from him, another rejection came out. “I, Matthew Frost Stonemaker, Reject you Alora Luna Heartsong as my mate!”

Matt thought, “Mate? I have a mate?”

Another voice joined his, this one held a growl to it, and it was obvious it was in pain. “Yes we have a mate! Hurry, say something, tell her you don’t mean to reject her, we're being controlled!” The voice begged Matt.

It took Matt’s mind a minute for him to process who the voice was, it was his wolf Ares. Matt was a Werewolf, able to transform from his humanoid shape, into that of a wolf or Lycan. His humanoid form had its own personality and soul, just as his wolf half did. They were two souls sharing one body, and what one felt, the other did as well.

Matt was unable to do what his wolf told him to do. There was something that was preventing Matt from being able to claim his mate. “I can’t! Something is keeping me from speaking!” Matt cried out in panic to his wolf.

Then the words came. “I Alora Luna Heartsong, Reject you, Matthew Frost Stonemaker, as my mate.”

The voice saying the words was calm. Like Matt’s rejection of her had been expected. “Why was it expected?” asked internally before the pain slammed into him, causing his once standing form to fall to the ground. Matt let out an involuntary howl of pain when the pain hit.

With the pain, the haze disappeared with a pop. Like being able to suddenly hear after being deaf for a while. With the pop came the sound of a slap, and some Goddess awful shrieking. The voice was accusing another of trying to steal her boyfriend.

Matt didn’t realize the shrieking shrew was referring to him until it said. “You should have just accepted being rejected and kept the pain all to yourself.”

Matt wanted to stop the shrew, she was shrieking at his rejected mate. Also, from what he could hear, this shrew was the reason he was rejected back by his mate. Matt was too weak from the pain to be able to get off the ground.

But as luck would have it, there were other voices that came to Alora’s defence against the shrew. It was at that point that Matt was able to remember who the shrew was, and the person she was shrieking at.

The shrew was Sarah Frost Northmountain, sister to Alora, the female that was supposed to be my mate. Ares whimpered inside Matt, curled up in his space, his body wracked with the pain of rejection. Ares was extraordinarily depressed.

For the last several years, something was placed on his humanoid form, Matt, that kept him under the control of the shrieking shrew, Sarah. Now it seemed the spell was broken, but the irreparable damage had already been done, they had lost their mate.

Matt was finally able to stand, and although all he wanted to do was rip the shrieking shrew to pieces, he couldn’t just yet unfortunately. “I’m starting to remember things, Ares.” Matt said to his wolf.

Ares, through his pain and despair, felt hope stir inside him. ‘Was his humanoid’s spell really broken? Would they be able to be in sync again?’ Tentatively the wolf asked “Remembering what things?”

Matt grabbed the shrieking Sarah’s arm, then he pulled the shrew away from her sister and left, three other females following behind them. Agatha, Beatrice, and Lauren.

“I remembered the day I broke up with Sarah. She forced me to take a tiny silk drawstring bag with herbs in it. She said it was a magical charm that would ward off evil, and told me to put it in my wallet and carry it with me at all times.”

That was the day Ares and Matt became separated, the day the haze took over Matt. “There must be a spell on that tiny bag.” Ares said with a growl.

“That is what I believe as well.” Matt said, he looked sideways at Sarah, she looked ugly with her face twisted in rage.

Sarah kept shrieking as Matt walked them to their first class of the day. ‘Why was Sarah still in school, she was two years older than Alora and him.’ Matt wondered.

“Black Magic.” Ares said, just those two words, and they sent a shiver of revulsion down Matt’s spine.

It both made sense, and didn’t, but it was the only thing Matt could think of that would have been able to control him to the extent that it had.

“If it’s Black Magic, then how was Sarah able to get her hands on it?” Matt asked.

“She may have gotten it from that female she called ‘Aunty’ all those years ago.” Ares replied.

Sarah kept assaulting their ears with a vicious and vulgar worded tirade until she had to seperate from him. They were to be seated in different sections of their high school’s battle stadium arena. Matt sent a small thank you to the Moon Goddess for small favors.

Matt frowned after he did that. Why would the Moon Goddess care about him, he just broke a taboo and rejected the mate the Goddess had blessed him with. The anguish that tore through him nearly had him whimpering out loud again. It made Ares curl in on himself again.

Matt felt so guilty for the pain his wolf was going through, he felt it was all his fault for falling into a trap set by Sarah. “I’m so sorry Ares, if the Goddess ever chooses to give us a second chance mate, I promise we will worship the ground she walks upon.” Matt said with an emotion filled voice.

Ares nodded, thinking this was right, his humanoid form wasn’t at fault for what happened. That she-bitch was. “We must find out if Sarah has done this to the three females always accompanying her.” Aries told Matt.

Matt thought about that, then sorted through the hazy memories of the last few years. If his memories were correct, those females would most definitely be under a spell by Sarah. Their original personalities are what made Matt think this, so it was easy for him to agree with his wolf.

“I believe you are correct, Ares.” Matt told him with a grim voice.

A few nights after that awful moment, Sarah went missing from the Pack, and just days after she went missing, Matt had a nightmare. One that had him tossing himself out of his bed onto the floor. Sweat covered his body, and tears ran down his face.

The image of the female soaked in her own blood covered in wounds, and the maniacal laughter of Sarah as she repeatedly hurt the female, was still fresh in Matt’s mind. Pain squeezed Matt’s heart, and made Ares, who had been along for the nightmare, whimper.

There had been another voice in the nightmare, a male calling out, begging Sarah to stop. That voice had called the female ‘Rain’. “What was that?” Matt asked Ares in a panicked voice.

“I don’t know.” Ares answered.

“It felt so real.” Matt said as he rolled over and laid on his back, still on the floor next to his bed.

Matt stared up at his ceiling. The only light in the room came from the streams of moonlight around the edges of his curtains. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for a Werewolf to see everything in the room clearly.

Matt reflected on the dream, on the desperation he had felt to save the female from Sarah, only to be filled with helplessness when he couldn’t. The nightmare had felt so real, like it was more than a nightmare like it was a…

“Maybe it was a vision from the Moon Goddess.” Ares said, interrupting Matt’s train of thought.

“I was starting to think of it as a vision as well, but from the Moon Goddess? Why?” Matt asked.

“Why not?” Ares shot back.

“Okay, even if the vision was from the Goddess, why did she send it to us?” Matt asked Aries.

“I don’t know, but we should pay attention to them.” Ares said, his tone serious.

Ares didn’t want to voice his true suspicions about the vision just yet. He didn’t want to hope, only to find his hopes dashed when his suspicions were proven false.

Matt felt that Ares was not telling him all that he thought, but then Matt figured Ares had his reasons, probably the same ones he had. If he was right, they were both thinking it was possible that the female they saw in the vision…was their second chance mate.