"I give up!" Nick exclaimed, "I don't even know what's going on!"

I looked at Conrad, who had the same frustrated expression as Nick. I understood their frustration; we really had nowhere to go now.

"Selene, what do you think about your vision?" I asked.

"Marcus may not be the right culprit, " Conrad said, interrupting Selene.

"We don't know that for sure, Alpha," Selene said, "You saw him while reading Cassie's mind. We can't trust him right now but there is still a traitor present in this pack."

"Why can't werewolves be loyal?" Nick asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Vampires are also involved, you imbecile," growled Conrad, glaring furiously at Nick.

I bit my lip to stop the laugh that was threatening to escape. Nick looked absolutely shocked to hear that someone had the nerves to call him an imbecile. Selene coughed to hide her laughter; I quickly looked away when her expression was making me laugh as well.

"Calm down," I said, turning to Selene, "I wanted to ask you something."

"Please do, Princess," Selene said, smiling lightly.

"Marcus had a blood bond with Conrad."

Selene raised her eyebrows while Nick gasped, eyes widening in shock. I expected this reaction; I had the same feeling when I heard about Marcus. But I wasn't curious about him; there was something more important than with the right now.

"Do you have any clue about forging a blood bond? How is it even possible?" I asked Selene, my voice rising a little.

"No," Selene whispered, still in shock, "How? Alpha didn't feel anything? How? Are you sure? The blood bond is connected to our soul. How did they cover a blood bond?"

I had never seen Selene look so disturbed by something. Her reaction was making me realize how dangerous our enemies were. We were behind them in every aspect; they knew about our powers, our allies and our enemies. We had no information on them. We couldn't find anything that could give us a clue about their powers. We wouldn't be alive for long if we didn't manage to find anything about those witchlings.

"What about that backstabbing witch? Is she alive?" Nick asked.

"Yes, but she doesn't know anything about them," Conrad answered, sighing in frustration.

"But they must be communicating with her!" Nick exclaimed, "You went inside her brain! Didn't you manage to see another witchling? You baboon!"

"Nick" I warned, suppressing my urge to facepalm.

Clenching his fists, Conrad growled, an animalistic sound emerging from his chest.

"That proved my point! You're an actual baboon!" barked Nick, pointing his finger at Conrad.

"That witch communicated with those witchlings by using a smoke like snake," Conrad said, gritting his teeth.

"Smoke snake?" Nick asked, looking at Selene.

"Their familiar, Nick," I answered, rolling my eyes.

We really had nothing to work with. We weren't even able to find the traitor. Frustration built up inside me, making me feel like I was going to explode - I wanted to shout, have a tantrum and turn everything around me into ashes. I clenched my fists, fire surrounding them, waiting for my command. My skin began to feel hot as the elements rushed to obey me. I took a deep breath; It wouldn't be wise of me to lose control.

"There is a way to know a few things about their powers," Selene said, hesitating to explain any further. She opened her mouth, looked at Conrad, and frowned. Looking at me, she pursed her lips, confliction evident on her face.

"Selene?" I said, gently.

"We know that their familiars are smoke, a darker representation of shadow magic," she explained, her eyes wandering between me and Conrad.

"Yes, smoke familiars are a sign of dark shadow magic," acknowledged Conrad, nodding.

"There's a place where we can find information about dark shadow magic," Selene said, her voice timid and soft.

Conrad and I stiffened when we realised what she was talking about; she was right. It had everything related to shadow magic.

"Where is it?" asked Nick, "tell me!"

Now, I understood why Selene was hesitating before, all the doors were actually closed for us; it seemed like we were truly doomed.

"It is in my library," Conrad said, making us all turn to him.

"Conrad, we know the story behind the book," I said.

"So?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We know that only the blood of true heir can open the book of shadows, " I informed him gently.

Book of shadows was an ancient book, made carefully by assembling pure shadow magic as well as the dark forbidden magic. The book itself used blood magic to open. The story of the book of shadows was widely known in the witch-kingdom. It was given in as a present to the third Werewolf King of Blackwood clan; some people believed that it was given to the Werewolf King, but the witch gave it to the Blackwood bloodline, not to the throne. Since Conrad had killed every one of that bloodline, it wasn't possible to reopen the book.

"Come with me," Conrad said, walking towards the door.

I looked at Nick, who shrugged and followed Conrad. Selene sighed and turned around to follow them, frowning. I decided to follow them too; the library was just beside the Alpha's room.

Conrad had pushed open the heavy swing door and went into a room with a tiled chessboard floor. Row after row of neatly lined books with their spines facing outward was visible as soon as we entered the room. However, our destination wasn't this library, but a room safely hidden behind a bookshelf.

I inhaled sharply when I saw the state of the room. Dust collected everywhere, spider webs wove loosely around the empty shelves. Busted lamps were hanging from the roof, with braided wires embedded into the cracked ceiling. The ground was littered with dust and torn papers but in the centre of the room, there was a table; A regal red and gold table was sitting silently in the heart of this destroyed room. 

We walked closer to the table, Conrad stepping forward to lead us to the book. The book looked old and heavy, the leather soft and delicate as he ran his fingers over faded grey bindings. He fingernails extended to form sharp claws. Cutting his palm a little, he allowed the droplets of blood to fall on the old cover.

I was certain that nothing would happen. The book only heard the Blackwood command and it will not bow down to anyone but them.

Soon, I realized how wrong I was.

Thank you so much for reading my book!