Page 256 of Alpha Mates

“Maybe. Maybe not,” the witch says with a cackle. “Either way, I don’t trust you. And if you really aren’t here for a fight, then”—she steps back—“in we go. Just you two.”

“Aiden,” Emitt warns, standing now. The others do the same, dropping the pretence of stealth. “Please, think this through.”

“We don’t know what’s on the other side,” Isabel adds.

I hear them, but keep my eyes on the witch. There’s something … off about her. And not in a bad way.

Witches were monsters in bedtime stories for a reason—the wholecooking kids in piesthing didn’t spawn from nowhere. But this one doesn’tseemevil. Sure, she’s powerful and clearly not above killing if she has to, but she is also somewhat normal.

I mean, normal-ish. She’s clearly unhinged, but not … I don’t know. Not like awitchwitch.

With my internal alarms finally quiet, I take a good look at her. All I see is a slightly manic girl with a shitload of power running through her veins. I glance at Julian, and see the same assessment behind his eyes. Good. At least we’re on the same wavelength about walking straight into hell.

“Watch the gate,” he says, stepping forward.

The witch’s laugh drowns out the others’ protests as she falls back through her tear. We follow after her.

There are no spikes or falling scythes on the other side. There’s actually nothing but a never-ending landscape of stalking wheat somewhere far sunnier than where we’d been. There’s also no other witch. Only her scent is here, meaning she’s all alone.

“I guess we should get introductions out the way,” she says.

I look at her, and her eyes are brown now. The manic gleam is now gone, like she’d taken off a mask. Or maybe it’d slid off in this place that was clearly her safe haven.

“I’m Katerina.”

“Aiden,” I say.

“Julian.”

“Glad to see we all hate each other already,” she says with a smile that throws me off kilter. “What? You’re werewolves, I’m a witch. You want to kill me, and Ireallywant to kill you, but we’re not doing that right now ’cause we’re negotiating and stuff.” She clasps her hands, beaming, “Let’s just try and keep it together, alright?”

I blink. “Yea, sure,” is all I manage.

“So,” Katerina asks, attention already shifting. “What’s wrong with you?” She looks exclusively at Julian.

He frowns. “How do you—”

“You’re worse than before,” she cuts in.

“Worse?” I ask, looking for the tell she somehow pried from thin air, but there’s nothing.

“Something’s wrong,” she replies simply. “What is it?”

“My wolf,” Julian admits, voice strained. I reach for him, intertwining our fingers until he squeezes back. “I can’t reach him.”

Katerina hums, idly plucking at the wheat stems around her. “And you want me to … do what exactly?”

“We need to reach him, so we know what’s hurting him,” Julian says. “If we can talk to him, or even just get him out a little, maybe we can fix it.”

She hums again, twirling the wheat between her fingers before looking up. “Alright, let me have a look.”

Julian and I both take a step back.

“Scared already?” she tsks. “And we haven’t even got to the fun part.”

“What do you mean, ‘have a look’?” I ask, ignoring her jibing. “I thought you wanted something.”

“I don’t need anything other than for you guys to fuck off after this if all you want me to do is take a peek,” she replies plainly. “If you can get over your fear, I can look inside your head and see why your wolf is playing hide and seek. Then you can go home and leave me alone.” She waves a hand. “Now, come on, I just need to have a little feel around.”