"I'm going to do this alone then."

An uproar rises at the dining table and the food, as well as the table manners, are forgotten.

After Khanya's prediction, all the witches were obviously shook and in denial. Nobody spoke of it for the rest of that day, yesterday and today until now.

"Are you crazy?"

"Yeah, and it's gonna be your life taken!"

"Forget saving the werewolves, let's just start mourning now!"

"With all due respect, this is bullshit!"

"Someone organize a coffin, just in case Kaceline decides to return her body."

"ENOUGH!" Fény's voice leaves no room for argument and all the noise immediately dies.

"It's like a bazaar in here with all the noise. Now we can think like civilized beings." Mia states calmly.

We all sit in loud silence. I could practically see the gears working in their heads, thinking of the best way to avoid any casualties despite the path fate had chosen.

Our plan originally, was for Argia, Valo, Luxe and Fény to pretend they were visiting the werewolf kingdom to congratulate Kaceline on acquiring her "deserved" seat on a throne. They were the only ones even relatively close to her before she left them.

As for Leggero and Lorenzo, they are to be hidden as small bugs, for example flies or butterflies. That way, we have more muscle on board without actually having them being seen.

Mia and I are going to be disguised as two foreign white witches. We will both be eager fans of Kaceline. We will have to pretend to be interested in her so she could make at least one of us her pet prodigy.

Solas and Luce are going to be disguised as newly-appointed royal guards inside the castle. They will give us the intel we need without risking any of the wolves catching on.

Dritë must stay here and keep all the mirrors covered except for one. This is so that when we use the Vortex, we can ensure safe travelling from a mirror in the castle to the designated one here.

And Dritë also needs to care for Lumiere.

With new members now, the plan was slightly altered.

Instead of just Luce and Solas disguised as royal guards, Lumo, Haske and Limyé will be guards too.

Except we will have to clone.

Too many new guards being appointed at the same time will look suspicious, so we decided to clone Lumo, Limyé and Haske into three guards closely affiliated with the throne.

Ina and Khanya are going to stay with Dritë. This is because of them being so young and inexperienced with their powers. We can't afford them losing control there and making things go haywire.

A hand resting on my own pulls me out of my thoughts. I look up to see everyone's eyes on me, as if expecting something to come out of my mouth.

"Chloe? Did you get all that?" Mia asks with the blank expression that she's used countless times as an Alpha.

I stare at her, making my confusion known.

She sighs.

"Mom and Solas are leaving for the castle earlier than expected so they can get used to the place. Luxe, Lumo, Haske,Limyé and I will be able to nab those three guards we'll clone later tonight."

"What about the cloning potion?" I enquire.

"Lumia, Leggero and Ina are done with it. All they need is the originals and their DNA samples." Dritë answers my question.

I nod in agreement with the preponed tasks. With that being said, we continue eating in silence with occasional conversation.

~

"Have you got everything, Solas- I mean Belvin?"

It is time for Grandma Luce and Solas to leave for the castle, and saying goodbye couldn't get any more difficult. For them, that is.

Luce has been disguised as a blonde haired, brown eyed warrior named Sauna. Solas is an African American male with rippling muscles (very unlike Solas himself!).

Mia, Lumo, Luxe, Limyé and Haske decided to make themselves invisible in order to capture the three guards we need.

"Safe travels, Grandma Luce. Safe travels Solas." I hug both of them. Who knows when we'll see each other again.

"Adios!" Lumo says. I can't see him, but I know that him and the four have left.

Argia, Ina and I stand in the backyard for longer. Lumiere is on Ina's hip and sucking his thumb.

"I don't think they'll make it back." Ina says.

"Don't be so pessimistic about it." Argia snaps at her.

"Don't be so optimistic about it either." She snaps back in a friendly manner.

I understand where Ina is coming from. It's her own brother willingly risking his life right now. Tonight isn't promised us anything.

But I have hope.

Same hope that got you in this situation?

It is my second greatest power.

If this 'hope' of yours lands us in trouble. You're on your own.

What a very supportive wolf I have. Without looking at her, I know she's rolling her eyes at me.

"Argia, I'm hungry."

That's our cue to go back inside.

After feeding Lumiere and putting him to bed, Dritë sits with Fény in the kitchen, leaving Argia and I in our room.

Khanya decided to stay in her room to rest, but immediately woke up when Ina came in.

"What's got your head up in them clouds?" Argia asks while texting on her phone.

"Nothing." I sigh and lay on the bed.

She probably sees through my lie, but decides to keep quiet. I just can't stop worrying about whether or not they'll come back okay.

Khanya's prediction left us all a bit shaken, but it affected me the most.

I don't want anyone to die for me. I'd rather die myself than to live knowing that I'm the cause of another's death.

"Who is it?" Argia says.

There is no sound afterwards, therefore it's definitely Lorenzo at the door.

I open for him, but don't allow him inside. He may be mated to me, but this is room isn't mine alone.

He motions for me to follow him, so I do. He leads me down a few stairs til I'm sure we're underground.

An old navy blue door creaks and groans as it is pushed open by Lorenzo.

The room's contents are a great contrast to it's dilapidated entrance.

Paintings of all sort are on the walls. Portraits, abstract, Picasso style, oil paintings, you name it! The room has no windows, but all the color inside is enough to brighten the whole place.

I gawk at all the pieces of art in awe. How could something so beautiful be way down here in the basement level?

"I found this room while I was looking for the basement. I come down here everyday to make new art. Mama Luce says it's mine now, so I call it my sanctuary."

I smile at the thought of him showing me something so special to him.

In the center of the room, a canvas covered by a faded green cloth stands. I walk over to it and find color pencils of all sort, along with erasers strewn on the floor around it.

I glance at Lorenzo for permission and he nods for confirmation.

I pull off the cloth and gasp loudly as see the spectacular piece of art. The colors swirl around and create a wonderful false sense of reality. The woman in the portrait is sitting near a riverbed, dipping her delicate hands into the lumiscent water.

I recognize the maiden in the portrait as my mother. My biological mother, Alpha Queen Aliyah.

My memories of her aren't so vivid. But I recognize the blue eyes that I inherited from her. I run my fingers along the soft paper that carries a beautiful picture.

"I had a dream of her, well a memory, yesterday night. She was singing my four year old self to sleep the night after I was informed of my parents' death."

My eyes well up with unshed tears. I look into the portrait again, and something stirs within me.

I realize that I'm not just fighting for the throne, I'm fighting for what my family had built.

I'm not fighting alone.

Lorenzo, Storm, Mia, the other white witches. They didn't have to help me. They could've turned their backs on me but they didn't. They made the choice to stay and risk their lives, so we could have peace.

I will fight till my last breath. Not for just you, mother, but for my people too.

And my people aren't just the wolves.