15

Dear Amelia,

The summit lasted seven days. It was too long. But as we grew closer to the end of the summit, the start of the challenged loomed. For the first time ever, I wished the summit was longer.

The last day of the summit was the day of the challenge. It was scheduled to take place after the meeting with the council. During that meeting, I informed them that I would be changing the way the summits were held. That’s when I introduced the system we use now. And then I told them to investigate Colton for using dark magic.

When the challenge started, I knew Colton was up to something. Jordan was winning. He shifted into Milo and attacked, but right before he killed him, he shifted back. He looked disoriented, but quickly recovered. Jordan fought Colton’s wolf in human form, which didn’t make sense, but somehow he got the upper hand. He beat Colton’s wolf until he shifted back. And then kept going.

Colton was taunting him the whole time. Smiling and laughing as Jordan pummeled him nonstop. He could have killed him, but something was off about him. He was in a rage, but he was pulling his punches. And then, right as he was about to rip Colton’s throat out to end it, I stopped him.

Jordan was too consumed by his rage that he didn’t hear Colton submit. The whole thing was just wrong.

Amelia, I know what you’re thinking right now as you read this, and I agree with you. I shouldn’t have stopped Jordan if Colton was a threat. I know. But I had to follow my own rules.

An opponent can submit at any time and the fight would be over. Otherwise, it’s a fight to the death. That’s why I told Jordan to end it quickly. If I didn’t stop him when Colton submitted, I would get hell from all the alphas who were witnessing the challenge. I really didn’t have a choice, Amelia. But Jordan had a chance to kill him, and he didn’t. And I couldn’t understand why.

Since Colton submitted, I stripped him of his title and declared him a rogue.

Jordan, on the other hand, was still acting strange. I tried to link him, but there was a block up. Gaia couldn’t reach Milo either, and I was starting to get scared. I kept trying to figure out what happened during that fight. Something must have happened because Jordan would never pull his punches, or defy my orders. Jordan could have killed him in so many ways in less than a minute, and he didn’t.

Even after the fight ended, Jordan wasn’t acting himself. He was distant, he kept a block up, and I couldn’t feel our bond.

When we met up back in our hotel room, my suspicions that something was wrong were reinforced. Jordan’s eyes were dilated and void of warmth. He seemed to be disconnected from reality. He was angry and aggressive towards me and Stella. He even yelled at us. But when he grabbed me and dug his claws into my arm, that’s when things really went south.

Devyn’s wolf, Ares, came to the surface and had Jordan by the throat and told him to back off. Jordan shifted and attacked Devyn. Devyn also shifted and stood his ground as they circled each other.

Neither one of them listened to me, and Jordan still had a block up, so I couldn’t link him. Everything happened so quickly. Milo attacked Ares and they began fighting in the hotel room, messing everything up. Stella opened a portal and sent them back home to Willow Lake.

I stopped the fight before they could kill each other by using my alpha command. They shifted back, and we all went to my office. I had to use recollection to figure out what was wrong with Jordan. That’s when I realized that during the fight, Colton did something to him. His eyes flashed blue right before everything changed with Jordan.

The worst part of this all was that Jordan didn’t remember anything. When I released him from the recollection, he came to his senses. I could feel the bond again, and I was able to link with both him and Milo. Explaining everything to him would take too long, so I shared my memories of what happened with him.

Jordan was consumed with guilt, and he apologized nonstop to both me and Stella. Devyn did too, because he knew I didn’t want him to kill Jordan, even if it was to protect me. And he would have if it came down to it. He wouldn’t let anyone hurt me.

Amelia, that wasn’t the end of our trip to Mexico. But like I said, that trip was the beginning of a lot of drama. I was already looking for Katrina and Ryan. And after everything that transpired, I had to add Colton to the list of people I needed to investigate.

At the time, I didn’t know how big the whole thing with Colton would become. There was no way to anticipate it. I thought maybe he had a dark wiccan helping him from afar, so he could win the challenge. But the truth was so much worse.

Honestly, I thought that things with Colton would end after Colton lost. Still, I tried to reach out to Gaia, the goddess, but I wasn’t able to reach her. And frankly, my family was my biggest concern, so most of my efforts were focused on finding Ryan and Katrina.

~Mom

MJ. B