The Alpha's Witch Mate

I followed the trail of blood, my heart thumping in my chest as though it was going to explode. My legs were getting too weak to carry me any further. The closer I got to the body, the more I prayed for the ground to open up and swallow me whole.

This war had been the toughest I had ever fought against those animals who called themselves Alphas. We had a long history of battles, and it was clear that we despised each other. Thanks to the breach of contract between our coven of witches and the Alphas, I would be forced to rebuild my coven once again.

The Alphas were wild, misusing their strength to bully us witches whenever they pleased. No wonder the contract was breached! But there was no real breach. It was just the Alphas trying to remind us of who held the power in this cold world.

I could hear my mother's heartbeat slowing down. Eloise Blackwood, the only woman who could slice an Alpha's throat with a swerve of her hand. She was the most powerful witch to ever live, a full-blooded witch and the last of her kind. She was also the leader of our coven. It was no surprise that those animals had done their research on how to kill a Queen witch.

As her heartbeat grew weaker, I became more and more feeble. Now, I stood face to face with her lifeless body on the ground, knowing that there was no magic left to save her. I fell to my knees instantly, feeling shattered and utterly helpless.

"Mother!" I yelled, clutching my chest with my hands, trying to calm the pain. But it was unbearable. I couldn't let go.

"How can I... I can't do this alone, mother..." I said, tears rolling freely down my cheeks as I knelt, looking at my mother's lifeless body and listening carefully for any sign of her heartbeat. I wanted her to respond. I wanted her to rise up and tell me it was all just a prank, that she would be fine. I longed to see her smile and hear her wicked cackle just one last time.

"Serena," she muttered weakly, her voice barely audible, but I could still hear her.

"Yes, mother. I'm listening," I said, quickly dragging my knees towards her. I took her hands in mine and covered them, caressing them lightly, hoping it would bring her back. I started murmuring some light incantations to give her strength, even if only for a while, because that was all I could do for my mother.

I felt weak and scared after facing the Alphas and the remaining members of their pack. But my injuries were nothing compared to what the other witches in the coven had suffered.

Since my birth, I had always been special. I was fast, witty, and twice as strong as any other witch in terms of physical prowess. I could leap to heights that no one else in the coven could reach. There were rumors that I was a mistake, a child born out of a forbidden union, but my mother did everything she could to protect me. She was both my mother and father, as I never knew my real father. I grew up seeing her as the only parent I needed. I was told that my father had died in one of the wars between witches and Alphas, fueling my hatred for those wolves even more.

I grew up training day and night, learning how to defeat the Alphas. I knew nothing beyond the ways of a warrior, as I was told I would follow in my mother's footsteps. But it was no easy task. It was a job meant for a strong individual, so I worked hard to earn my position as Coven Queen.

"I have something to tell you," she struggled to speak, her words showing that she was nearing her last breath. I wasn't sure how long my magic would sustain her. I intensified my powers, desperate to keep her with me long enough to say my final goodbyes.

"I can hear you, mother," I said, and she reached into her side pocket, pulling out a locket and handing it to me. I stared at it in awe because she had never allowed me to come near it, not even once. The magic within that locket was immensely powerful, not to be handled by a mere witch.

It was the locket of doom, and only the most powerful witch of the century could unlock it on her 25th birthday. The incantations to unlock it were known to all, but anyone other than the chosen one who dared to use it would meet their demise. Everyone stayed away from it.

During her reign, my mother was the only woman who mustered enough courage to recite those incantations, fully aware that she might die if she wasn't the chosen one. That act alone earned her the position of Coven Queen. Her mother before her had also unlocked the locket. It had become a tradition that women from our lineage possessed such power, but it wasn't entirely true.

My mother's sister, Michelle, had tried to unlock it as the firstborn child of our grandparents, but she met a tragic end. This was a story that many witches in the coven preferred to ignore.

"Mother... I... I don't know what to do with this," I stuttered, taking the locket from her hand slowly.

"You've done your best. This locket holds my deepest secrets and the secrets of our ancestors. Use it wisely," she said, letting go of my hands.

Watching her hands lose their warmth felt as though time slowed down. I had no idea how I would carry on without her. I was devastated.

"No...!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, tears streaming down my face until everything went blank.

“Serena,” I heard a voice echo in my head as I started to regain consciousness and touch with reality. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a group of women around me. I tried to look around but I realized I was tied down to where I lay.

“What’s this?” I panicked, failing to recognize the faces of the women hovering over me and I also failed to recognize where I was. The last thing I remembered was seeing my mother's lifeless body in front of me. This place was different.

I was laid on some kind of wooden bed with leaves and vines that tied me down. I looked around and I was in a cottage which I was guessing belonged to witches but I didn’t know those witches.

“Relax, you need your strength back,” one of the women said to me. She was obviously old but still had black, healthy hair. She had wrinkles on her face and her hands with bright red lips. She looked like she used to be a very beautiful woman in her days.

“I don’t, I do need