by Belle Kayce
Taylor found out a month ago that Trevor made a bet with his friends to make her fall in love with him. He won, and two years later, the secret came out during a party from a guilty drunk Trevor. She broke up with him immediately after. I wanted to murder him, but when I confronted him about it behind Taylor’s back, he fucking cried, catching me off guard.
“Well, Blake didn’t look away from you for one second, Cat,“ Bella remarks.
Taylor throws me a cheeky grin. “A beast with a mortal. That’s something that doesn’t happen every day,“ she says, wiggling her defined blonde eyebrows at me.
I cover my face with my dark curls. They’re the only ones who know about the real me. I’ve known them ever since I moved into town, and I’m glad they’ve been keeping it a secret up until now.
“Well, it is not going to start with Blake and me,“ I say, lowering my gaze to the bland chicken.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,“ Bella insists, picking at her food.
I exhale, shifting my eyes up to her with a puzzled look before snorting.
“I’m serious,“ she points behind me, “Look, turn around, and just stare at him for five seconds.“
I roll my eyes but listen to her anyway. I turn around and observe Blake. I watch the way the corners of his eyes wrinkle as he laughs at something Trevor said until he tenses up.
With a frown, he turns his focus directly to me. I forget to breathe for a moment there. His expression is unreadable, and I swallow a lump, turning back around to a smirking Bella and Taylor.
“You’re crazy,“ I say, ending our conversation with a laugh.
•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•
“C’mon Heartfilia! I want you to push your limits and run!“ the gym teacher yells as I puff out a breath before running faster around the basketball court.
Not going to lie, I even use some of my inhuman speed. Well, I use it until some douche makes me trip and fall on the floor. The class laughs, of course. Why wouldn’t they? I’d laugh as well.
My face heats up. Lifting my head, I catch Blake looking at me standing a few inches away from the group. I have to be honest, the boy has beautiful blue eyes. We silently stare at each other until a guy pats his back, and he blinks before facing him.
“Heartfilia, run!“ the teacher yells, and I clumsily stand up running once more.
It happens every time. I’m not talking about the “falling on the floor“ part, but the staring between Blake and me. In the beginning, I even had a crush on him for all the stolen glances. Everything changed when he got into a relationship with Megan, and I realized that I could never be with him.
Werewolves belong with werewolves, and I belong to their enemies—werecats.
The following hours pass in a blur, and before I know it, I’m putting everything in my bag and speeding out of the classroom. I double-check inside my bag to make sure I have everything when I bump into a solid mass.
A growl escapes the person I have run into. I lift my head to quickly apologize, and my eyes widen at the person. I take a step back as Blake’s blue eyes look down at me. His hands come up to my upper arms, and my breath gets caught in my throat.
I stare at his puzzled expression. His narrowed eyes are inspecting me as if I were an alien. “Don’t you feel it?“ he asks in a low voice.
“F-Feel what?“ I ask, mentally cursing for the stutter and how powerless my voice sounds.
As if a lightning bolt crashes on him, he instantly lets me go, and I quickly walk away. My eyes dart to him one last time, watching Blake stare at his hands with a confused look on his face.
What was that?
If you enjoyed this sample, look for
The Alpha’s Cat
on Amazon.
Prologue
Dear Reader,
It is with great pleasure that I present to you a brief introduction to the new world you have decided to enter, a new life you have decided to live. Let it be that it will only last for some chapters, but I hope you enjoy it until it lasts.
Let me introduce myself first.
Hi, I am Theia Anderson. I am just like any one of you, human, alive, and breathing. (Unless you are a zombie, in which case I am not, and I especially do not have brains!)
Just putting it out there!
I am eighteen, and currently a senior in Rosenberg High. (I’m what they call a nerd. But let us face it. Nerds nowadays are hot!) I have also only recently moved from the sunny state of California to a city called Peidmond, just beside Seattle. Needless to say, it rains here a lot.
When I moved here, I imagined finally living in a cold state and thought that it would be an amazing experience. Although, the fact that it was in the middle of the year, and I would have to settle in as the “new girl” was very well placed in my mind.
New friends, new teachers, a new environment—everything was new. But that all was well-known and understood. I had expected those.
However, what I certainly didn’t expect was to meet the man who owns the castle I gazed upon from my window every morning and night. Yes, a castle…A castle I am now living in.
This is my story. A story I am now willing to share but only if you can keep a secret.
Do you remember the stories your grandma used to tell you every night about cursed beasts, village beauties, girls in red capes, and wolves in disguises?
Well, maybe, just maybe…they actually do happen. Maybe beasts do exist.
They do. I would know. I am bound to one.
Whom, you may ask?
Well, I am mated to the Alpha King.
How?
You will see.
You will live through it with me.
I hope you enjoy the ride.
Best wishes,
Theia
Chapter One
Done finally!
Packing had never been my forte. In fact, I absolutely detested packing. Maybe it was because the amount of books and other things I possessed seemed impossible to place in tons of boxes.
Slapping duct tape across the box, I picked up a marker and marked it as Theia’s Books #3.
When the box was pushed aside carefully, I finally let out a sigh of relief as I wiped away a layer of sweat that had accumulated on my forehead. I lived in the warm state of California. It was summer. So naturally, the heat was killing me.
A single thing one should always know about me—I was not much for heat.
When my dad came home one afternoon and declared that we were moving from California to a cold city just near the outskirts of Seattle called Peidmond, I was actually very excited.
Well, that was until I realized that I had to attend a new high school in the middle of the year and leave my best friend, Casey, behind. And since it was senior year, with prom and all, well, it sucked.
Had I been in my old school, Stinson High, I would have at least had my best friend to accompany me. The thought of being home, all alone on prom, only helped me sweat more.
We were a small family—my dad, Arthur Anderson, a professor of history and literature; my mom, Maia Anderson, a designer and entrepreneur; and me, Theia, currently a senior student in high school and hoping to become a criminologist or psychologist—whatever came first. I also had a very strange fascination with history.
I guess Dad’s genes rubbed off on me that way.
Another soft huff of sigh left me as I lazily picked myself off the floor and dragged myself towards the bathroom. I only had two hours before we were to load everything and leave, and I knew, in this heat, I would need every minute of it.
Minutes later, as I stood under my cool shower and slowly observed my bathroom for the last time, I let a few stray tears flow with the water as I washed the tiny ache in my chest away.
It seemed like a day had passed when I found myself scrubbed and fresh, walking out into my bedroom in a towel.
A loud yelp left my lips when I suddenly found myself on the floor and a heavy weight on me.
“Don’t go!” Casey cried hysterically against me. I would have cried too, but the fact that I was currently sprawled on the floor with a towel on and my hundred-something-pound best friend was on top of me was a little suffocating. Especially in my part, I was merely five feet after all.
“Need…to…breathe, Casey!” I managed to gasp as I writhed under her, trying to escape her deadly grip. Immediately, Casey stilled above me.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” She apologized hurriedly, blushing beet red as she got off me, and stood. She gave me her hand and helped me stand up.
On my feet, I sighed as I brought her in for a hug. “We will talk every night on Skype or FaceTime, and then there is Messenger! We will always talk. It’ll be like I’m not even away, I promise.” I assured her as I pulled away. Losing my towel, I pulled on my clothes.
Casey sighed a little heavy and a little scared. “What if we don’t?”
I smiled a small, broken smile. My hand found Casey’s again, and I gave it a comforting squeeze. “No matter what happens, whether we talk every day or not at all for months, when we do talk or meet, we will always be the same best friends.”
A small tear dropped down Casey’s cheeks, and she nodded, chuckling.
“You better tell me everything when you get there!” she blurted out, smiling a bit as she folded and placed my towel inside a plastic before packing it into my suitcase. My room was nearly empty. It was literally stripped bare except for the built-in bookshelves and a few boxes and suitcases that were still lying around waiting to be hurled into the moving truck.
Smiling, I nodded and pulled Casey in for a final hug. “We’ll visit each other during breaks. I’ll miss you, you know.”
Casey nodded. “I’ll miss you too, Thi.”
The loud stomping noises alerted us both of someone coming up the stairs, and soon enough, there was a knock on the door. “Theia, are you done?”
“Yeah, Dad, come in!” I replied as I picked up my jacket—just in case it got cold—and slipped into my flip-flops, which seemed like an irrational choice considering the two contrasted each other, but I wouldn’t need my shoes in the car, anyway. I’d probably just tuck them under me throughout the ride.
The door opened instantly and in walked my dad with two bulky men. Smiling at me softly, they strode towards the boxes and picked them up.
Again, Casey and I stood in my empty room—a room we had dozens of sleepovers in, a room we played doll in, a room we gossiped, planned, and plotted in, and a room we did our homework and fangirling in. I sighed.
“I think we should go now…”
“Uh-huh.”
Casey and I walked downstairs hand in hand. I took a deep breath as I stood in the living room.
The place had a lot of my memories. I grew up in this area. Well, that was until I turned sixteen and got the television setup in my own room. My eyes were closed. I let out a deep breath and whispered, “I’ll miss you, home. Goodbye.”
“Theia, sweetie!”
My mom’s voice rang out to me like a fire truck’s siren. I instantly opened my eyes and walked out of the threshold, letting Dad lock the door and hand over the keys to our real estate agent, who had managed to sell our home for a very, very reasonable amount.
The day outside was bright and happy, vibrant and warm, yet the heat suddenly didn’t bother me anymore. I looked around my neighborhood and smiled. I would be taking all the good memories as I went. But as much as I was sad, truth be told, I was also secretly excited.
I didn’t know what it was, but I felt like something was waiting for me in Peidmond. An adventure was waiting to be lived—maybe a mystery waiting to be unraveled. The little knowledge about the new feeling in me was all the more alluring, and somehow, secretly, I couldn’t wait to reach Peidmond.
“Bye, Cas. I’ll call you when I reach there okay!” I muttered, suddenly holding back my tears as I was pulled into a hug.
“Uh-huh, we will always talk! And if we can’t, we will at least message when we can.” Casey assured me as she hugged me back.
Smiling slightly, I pulled out of the hug and with a final wave, climbed into our SUV, watching my best friend stand in my yard and my neighborhood for the last time as my dad drove off.
It felt like I was leaving a part of me here. But then again, I was going whole.
***
“Are you excited, darling?”
Mom suddenly asked me, cutting the silence that had been building up since we left seven hours ago. The ride from California to Peidmond was fifteen hours and thirteen minutes, and already in these seven hours, we had stopped twice to fuel up the SUV and buy some snacks for along the way.
“Yeah, Mom, are you?” I murmured back, knowing well that both my parents were extremely excited for this “new chapter” in their life. Dad would not stop talking about the amount of brilliant literature his new university had, not to mention the immense raise in wage and position. He was ecstatic. For Mom, her boutiques and salons around California were still running. And although she would have to fly back and forth occasionally, her excitement with opening a new boutique and salon in Peidmond was especially overwhelming.
“Oh, I am so excited!” She squealed, clapping her hands together before turning towards Dad and placing a loving kiss on his cheek.
It was normal for me to witness their weird romance, so I just rolled my eyes and looked at the passing views.
“The new house is bigger, Theia.” Dad chuckled and looked at me from the review mirror.
I knew he was trying to make me feel better about moving, leaving my old friends and life behind, so I just grinned at Dad and spoke the first thing I thought would make him worry less. “I get the room with the best view!”
Dad chuckled and nodded, making my grin widen. It was not hard to notice that I was a papa’s girl. And with me being the only child, he doted on me. I was his little Fuzzybottom—not that my bottom was fuzzy, but just because—well, he was my hero.
“One of the best things about the house is that it has great views all around the rooms. But you’ll receive the one with the best view, we promise. We should be settled by tomorrow. Hopefully, the day after, you and I could go shopping!” Mom said as she turned to look at me. Not excited at all, I somehow managed to produce a fake smile and plaster it across my face.
Nobody messed with Mom when it came to shopping. Nobody!
Once her attention was elsewhere, I turned around to see how far off our moving truck was behind us. Before turning around, I brought out a book from my backpack and plugged my earbuds into my iPod before playing “Davy Jones Music Box and the Rainy Mood.” Somehow, the rumbles of thunder together with the soft tunes created a more reading mood for me. Shoving the iPod inside my pants pocket, I flipped through the pages of my newest read, Indiscretions, slumped back into a more comfortable position and began journeying once again into a different time and a whole different world—this time, into the world of Lord Lockwood.
***
“Thi, we are here!”
I mumbled a few incoherent words before turning in my bed. Need sleep.
“Thi, wake up!” Dad’s voice urged before I was shaken on the shoulder and lightly tapped on my face. What the heck?
“Alright, alright!” I grumbled as I sat up on my bed and peeped my eye open.
I gasped. My face becoming warmer by the second as I finally realized that I was in our SUV and a couple of people were staring at me, smiling like a bunch of weirdos. My folks included.
My cheeks burned as my eyes rested on a blond-haired guy smirking at me, an axe in his hand as he rested it on his shoulder.
What was he? A huntsman? I rolled my eyes in my mind as I pushed any budding crush away. I was more of a Beauty and the Beast girl, anyway.
Finally managing to look away, I smiled at the rest of the folks smiling at me, two slightly elder couples.
“Oh, she’s so beautiful!” The red-headed one gushed as I shoved my iPod and book into my backpack and go
t out of the SUV.
“Thanks,” I mumbled back, knowing full well that the blond was still staring and smirking at me.
“Hello, dear. Welcome to Peidmond! I’m Jane, and this here is my son, Alex, and my husband, Hugh. We live just there beside your house. That one there is Mary and her husband, Grant. They have a son too, Matthew. He is good friends with Alex here,” Jane told me excitedly, and I smiled back, brightly mirroring her excitement.
“It’s nice to meet you all. I am really excited to be here,” I replied back happily as I extended my hand towards each one of them, shaking their hands softly but waving awkwardly at the smirking blond, Alex.
That boy seemed as beautiful as he seemed arrogant. But then, arrogance trumped beauty any day.
My new home stood tall and proud—red bricks and a posh-looking French door. It seemed to have at least three floors, including the small attic on the third floor. Even the front yard seemed beautifully cultivated. I waited for Jane and Mary to start talking to Mom and Hugh and Grant to start helping my dad and the movers place all our stuff into the house before picking up one of my smaller book boxes. I made a run for it.
Making a dash into the house as quickly as I could, I stopped only to grab Dad and drag him away, begging him to show me my room.
He grinned excitedly and exchanged a knowing look with both Hugh and Grant who led me upstairs until we came to a stop on the very end of the hallway. He unlocked the room and opened the doors, motioning me to walk in.
I walked in and froze.
There, in front of me was the most amazing view of a castle perched on a mountain, surrounded by pine trees and fog. Beyond it, I could see water, maybe a lake. Maybe a sea…It was actually hard to say through the fog.
I turned around, already readying myself to leap on Dad but frowned when I noticed that I was now alone in my room. The blond Alex was standing in the doorway with the usual smirk on his face and his axe missing.
I frowned. The urge of just smacking his smirk away seemed quite strong now, and it would be easy too.
