Page 77 of His Bullied Fated Mate

Chapter 21 - Riley

I glanced at Janella, who looked at me with the same confused expression. I had thought it would have taken more yelling for them to even budge.

Jasmine moved a tapestry that was behind them to the side, revealing a hidden door. We both moved, hurrying after them as they popped a door open. A cold gust of wind hit us, and the smell of dirt. We slipped into a long, narrow hallway. I pulled Janella close as we followed them.

I could hear the door shut behind us, and her fingers tightened on mine. I wasn't sure how far we had walked before we reached a stairwell. We started down, the sound of our shoes echoing all around us. As we went down, it started to get colder. The walls were brick, and the hair on my body rose.

The smell shifted from dirt into sewage. I glanced at Janella, who was pinching her nose, and I knew she was trying hard not to vomit.

We got to the bottom, where we were standing in another narrow hallway. The lights were dimmed, and I felt my wolf growing uneasy, as if it knew danger was ahead of us.

Janella’s palms grew sweaty as we walked, her face growing pale, and I wondered if this was the space she had envisioned.

Jasmine froze at the door and pulled it open. My eyes widened as I took in the cauldron. It was chained to the ground, with a bubbling sound coming from within. It was a dark black with a sheer of purple and green around it. My lips formed a tight line as I looked at the council members. How long had they had it down here? “You’ve been hiding it here this entire time?”

Dean shook his head. “No. It came out of nowhere. Someone found the cauldron in the woods and informed us about it. We had it moved down here.”

“When was that!?”

“A while back,” Laura explained. “Before Janella came here.”

“You've had this down here for that long and never thought to tell me once? That you had a cauldron bubbling with dark magic in my pack!?

It only angered me more. “You let us waste time looking for it when you could have just told us it was here!”

“You never told us you were looking for it.”

“Because we could tell you were hiding something!” I pulled my hand free, taking a step closer to the council. “You could have told me! You should have told me!” I yelled, feeling my anger getting the better of me. “You let us waste time. We could have been looking at how to handle this rather than running around like idiots trying to locate it!”

“Do not enter the room.” I turned to find Dean grabbing Janella from stepping into the room. “It’s not safe. We don't let anyone go inside.”

Janella swallowed, looking sick. But her eyes were locked on the cauldron. “How do you know that it's unsafe? You obviously got it down here somehow.”

“We had a witch help us get it down here.”

My eyebrows went up. “A witch? So, you have told someone else about it being down here.”

“We tried to have it destroyed. A powerful witch came in, and she did everything she could, but nothing worked. Shestated she could sense dark energy inside it and that the best thing was to keep it away from everyone else. So, that's what we did. We moved it where no one would find it.”

I laughed. “So your big bright idea was to put it in the middle of our fucking pack!? That was a genius idea! What's next? Are you going to tell me that you chained it down because it can grow legs and walk out on its own?”

Dean bared his teeth at me. “We locked it away where we knew no one would find it. You didn’t know it was here. So obviously we did a good job.”

“That doesn’t make it right!” I yelled back. “Anything could happen! You brought it into our home. You have no idea what it possesses. You don't know who's controlling it or if it's cursed.”

I looked at the cauldron. I felt a darkness coming from it. The hallway was starting to feel off, like the energy from the room was seeping out.

“Can I try?”

My head snapped towards Janella. Her eyes were still glued to the cauldron. Her hand was placed over her belly, and I shook my head. “No, you are not going near that thing.”

She frowned. “Why not?”

“Because it’s dangerous.”

She looked away from me towards the Council. “I would like to try. I know you brought in someone far more advanced than I am, but I’d still like to see if I can do anything. Everyone keeps telling me that everyone's magic is different.”

“Janella.”