*LYCIA*My blood froze.What was my mother doing here?Turning around to look at her I find the darkness of the night shroud her features but the aura she radiated is heavily clogging the air around me. She is more than just livid.“M-Mom? What are you doing here?” I asked, unable to raise my eyes to look at her face. I had been reprimanded before, rather harshly too but this time I had made a blunder that I wouldn’t be able to rectify that easily.“Are you sure you should be the one asking me questions here?” she thundered, “What were you thinking Lycia? That you would transport out of the coven and I, the queen and your mother, wouldn’t even be aware of it?” I always had a doubt that my mother had been dabbling in tracking spell along with the protection spell she put on me but I hadn't been very sure. The potion too that she fed me occasionally had been similar to these qualities but I never cared about it before because I never had anything to hide, in fact it made me feel safe.

*LYCIA*My head felt heavy but thankfully the surface that it was placed on was soft and fluffy enough to let the weight sink into it.If possible I would have let my whole body submerge into this familiarly fluffy material but the tiredness that took over my body has been so heavily set into me that I couldn't relax. It was the kind of tiredness that only made you more restless the more you rested.Besides there was something poking in my mind telling me to wake up. I was forgetting something. Something really important but I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was. ‘Wake up Lycia,’ a voice probed my mind, willing me to wake up. I couldn't recognise the voice in my drowsy state but my heart did and I could feel an acceleration in its beating.Who was this person?Suddenly I felt a hand touch my cheek and through my mind's eyes I could see the person calling onto me. Blue eyes, so gently taking me in and painting me in its color. ‘Wake up my mate.’Seff… How could I forget a

*LYCIA* “What is wrong with you!” The door to my room banged open as my mother's furious face greeted me.Giving her a blank expression of my own I stared at her with contempt brewing in my mind, standing in the middle of the room as I shrugged, “Nothing. Why would you think that? Of course I would be perfectly normal and happy being locked inside my room.”“Don’t try to act over smart with me. What have you done to our backyard? Have you gone crazy?” she asked, stepping inside and closing the door behind her.“Would it even matter? I am sure this is nothing for you,” I said bitterly knowing that what I had said was the truth. It would hardly matter to her since she could clean everything up with a click of her finger.“Of course and that is because I had worked hard to gain these powers instead of fooling around with boys all day like you do,” she said and just as I had predicted she clicked her manicured fingers and all at once the room was returned back to the state it had been be

*LYCIA*“I cannot take this anymore! I am leav-” Before I could complete my sentence my mother’s phone rang and picking it up in an instant she paid no attention to my words making me feel more embarrassed and hurt.Was a phone call from someone else more important than listening to the feelings of her daughter?“What? No, you did right. I’ll see to it. Thank you for informing me,” she said to the caller on the other side, stepping out towards the window of the living room. She stared out of it for a moment and then turning around she looked at me and said, “I understand Lycia that you feel hurt because I hid such a big decision from you but I really want you to reconsider what I had said before. I know the way I went about this wasn’t right but whatever I had said earlier was true and you know it too. Travis will be your best option.”“Absolutely. My son is strong with his warlock powers and adept to handle and help you as the queen. Besides, he looks quite handsome too,” Mrs. Jennek

*SEFF* My insides felt as if they were charring and punishing me for denying my wolf spirit to be with my mate. The need I felt for Lycia was so intense that I could barely keep my composure. I had forced myself to be locked in a room to try and control myself a little before I could go back to talk to Lycia’s parents again.Was she fine?I know she was with her parents so there shouldn’t be any real harm to her but after seeing how her mother had reacted I was a little bit worried. She was as scary as Lycia made her out to be.A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts about Lycia as I heard her friend say, “I brought something for you that would hopefully help you.”Lycia?The smell was faint but I could no doubt smell Lycia and almost automatically my body reacted with waves of pleasure wishing me to take her and mark her. My claws that had been claiming at my skin stopped as I felt myself being lured towards the door.No! I can’t do that yet!Forcing myself to feel pain to remi