Chapter 40: Chapter 40

Libby POV

I return home, leaving Fallon to spend time with her husband and build a relationship with him. Fallon deserves some peace and happiness. I hope she finds it. I honestly think Ryan and Fallon will be happy. Fallon will be an amazing mother, and Luna. Ryan will be a wonderful father and Alpha. The two of them have a bright future together.

I can hear you. We need to talk. A voice is calling out to me. I step outside and listen to the wind. At first, I thought it had to be the ancestors calling out to me, but that was no Onya, Sonya, or Anna's voice. I listen again. Nothing!

I return inside my house. My children are upstairs doing their thing, and my husband is in the backyard cooking dinner. I have to talk with him about the reaping.

My husband was born a hunter, but he changed his name and chose me all those years ago. He turned away from everything he was born to do. Why? For a family and a life with me. Now, as the children are almost grown, I can give him all that back.

I walk through the house and to the back door. I slide the glass door open and step outside with my husband. "Crane, I am home," I call out to him. He does not move. I rush over to him, and he seems to be in a trance.

I shake Crane and begin to scream at him, trying to wake him. "CRANE!" I yell. I look up to the children's windows, and there is no movement. What is going on?

The voice calls to me. We have to talk. I turn to see a woman in my backyard. She looks familiar, but I am not sure where she is from or how I know this person.

She walks toward me, speaking to me without moving her mouth. She is a witch. "I am here for a reason, and you know what it is," she says. Her mouth never moves, but her eyes burn through me.

"You want to be the reaper. Is that it?" I ask her.

The witch begins laughing, never moving her mouth. It scares me. I quickly put up a protective shield around my husband, my children, and myself. As soon as the shield is up, my husband comes back to me, and my children scream.

"Did you really find it necessary to frighten two teenagers and disturb my family? If you want to talk, then let's talk," I question her.

Crane is now feeling with me and watching everything. I look back at him. He does not say anything, but he is ready to kill. "That is why I confined him and those teenagers. They look ready to kill. They would not listen. Libby, we need to talk," the witch says, this time moving closer and using her mouth to speak to me.

"Go, check on the girls," I say to Crane.

Crane stands behind me, looking at the evil witch in our backyard for at least a minute before nodding and leaving me to check on the girls. After Crane is upstairs and watching from a distance, the witch relaxes. She walks past me to the patio.

"May I?" she asks, sitting on a patio chair.

I nod and join her after a quick glance at the upstairs window. "What do you want? Do not say we have to talk, and you already said that," I snap at the witch. She might be stronger or quicker than me, but I have a hunter and two badass teen witches upstairs. I will do some damage.

"I am here about Fallon and about you," she says. She crosses her legs and seems to be pondering exactly how to interact with me. I do not think she has been around people much.

"I figure that much. How did you know she is giving up the reaping?" I ask.

The witch laughs. "News travels fast," she says.

We sit in silence for a moment. "Forgive me. I am not used to the social ways of you people. My name is Talone, and I am one of the first witches," Talone speaks.

Talone is the name of one of the original witches of Louisanna but is this really who is sitting in front of me? No one has seen an original witch in at least a hundred years. Lucky for me, the uncles show up just in time to verify this is Talone. There is no guessing.

"She is not lying," Zeb says, scaring me at first. Jeb walks over to Talone to pay his respect. He kisses her on the cheek. Zeb follows him.

"Did you two old coots tell her that Fallon is giving up the reaping?" I ask.

Neither answered me, which tells me it was them. I am not sure why but everyone seemed pleased that Crane and I would take the burden and allow Fallon to have a life. I mean, why not? She is so young. Let Fallon have a family and not this.

"I know you think I am here to stop you from becoming the reaper, but I am not. I am here to help Fallon kill Umbra. I want to help her. Can you arrange a meeting?" Talone asks.

Something seems off with both the uncles and Talone, but how can I tell one of the original witches no? I have to say yes. "I will make the arrangement. I will have Fallon here tomorrow night. Does that work for you?" I ask her.

Talone nods her head. "I will be with the Uncles until tomorrow night. See you then. Oh, and Libby no funny business. I would hate for something to happen to those girls or that sexy husband," Talone says. She is laughing as she leads Zeb and Jeb away from the house.

I have never felt so much relief in my life as she left with the uncles. I wonder if they are with her or terrified. My husband rushes to me. I fall into his arms.

"Are you alright?" Crane asks.

"Get the girls, and we have to go back to Alpha Mayhem's. The girls will be safe there. We have a fight coming," I say. I kiss my husband and go into the house to pack the girls a bag while he gets them into the car. There is no time to spare. Talone is here for blood, and I have to make sure the blood that sheds is not my family's.