The Look: Alpha Male, Feisty Female Romance

by Blair Aaron

  Augustus looked at Elsa from the twinkle in his eyes, and she realized that he spent all this time making her feel comfortable and safe, when he himself was probably terrified of the new world he found himself in, not to mention how he would ever get Niklas and his brother back from the forest.

  “Augustus,” Elsa said, “How do you think we'll make this work? You can't live without your brother.”

  He thought for a moment and then looked at her, smiling the best way he knew how. “No I can't. But that's why I'm relying on you, to help us. You think I'm that caring? I'm the skeptic, remember?” She smiled, seeing straight through his hardened exterior, to a warm and full heart. Augustus looked out the window suddenly, seeing a familiar face. He got up and walked over to the door to the tavern.

  “What is it?” Elsa asked, following him, curious to know who he saw. “Who did you see you?”

  He looked down at her, and stopped. “I saw.you.”

  They both exited the building quickly and chased Elsa's form down the street. Elsa herself worried that Augustus might have gotten her hopes up needlessly, that maybe he had seen just someone who resembled Elsa's appearance. But when they caught up with the lady in the fur coat, Augustus pointed her out, and the real Elsa could see the woman's reflection in the mirror. It was Freja, they both knew it. Elsa tried to approach her, ready to bitch-slap the woman across the face. But Augustus grabbed her by the elbow. “Don't,” he said. “Remember, she's a witch and can kill you at any moment. It's a trap.” Elsa realized that, because her appearance was that of Freja's, Theo would probably do whatever he could to destroy her, thinking he was protecting the love of his life. Elsa continued to have thoughts of Zamir flash in and out of her consciousness, interrupting her conscious will. Her soul was divided. On the one hand, her love for Theo drove her all the way to hell and back, and she truly wanted to be with him. Sure, she also wanted revenge for what Freja did to her. She also wanted to win him back, and prove to herself that she could be a hero if she needed to be. On the other hand, a deeper, more primal aspect of her soul longed to get closer to Zamir, to fuse that shameful and violent part of herself with his own soul, and when they were one, she could somehow be true. Either way, she felt unfulfilled and continued to mull over how to deal with these conflicted feelings while she and Augustus continued with their plan. As they careened through the town, both Augustus and Elsa, but particularly Augustus found themselves awed by the lack of advancement the town endured since they had last seen it. Sure, the people were different, but the structure of the city was the same as it had been when Elsa was a part of it, and not much different than when Augustus was a part of it. The separation between the artificiality of the town and the authenticity of the forest struck a chord in both of them.

  “Where do you think she's going?” Augustus asked her, as they watched Elsa's body dwindle in the distance. Elsa didn't initially know, but she stopped, when she saw Freja reach the cabin overlooking the entire town, near the cliff overlooking the ocean.

  “I know,” she said. “Let's go, Augustus. We have a witch to kill.”

  --------

  Elsa's heart sank as they came near Theo's old cabin home, and it became clear to her that he still lived there. She wondered whether Theo would be an old man now, and she imagined all sorts of disturbing scenarios--Theo with kids and grandkids, Freja getting pregnant, watching them make love on the bed.

  But as Augustus and Elsa approached the cabin, she could see a familiar blond man standing in the garden, and Elsa felt the overwhelming urge to run up behind the man and kiss him on the cheek. It was her Theo! Just as she last left him!

  “It's him, Augustus,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes. Thankfully, she had Augustus to watch over her so that she didn't make any sudden moves. He made sure Elsa hid with him behind the same rock formation she hid that day when she first saw him. Once he was inside, Elsa was unable to control herself.

  “Don't do it, Elsa,” Augustus said, but she broke free of his arm and kicked down the door, gripping the crystal in her pocket, the spell in her hand. She ran through the main hallway of Theo's cabin, making a bee line for the bedroom, just as Theo shut the door from behind. Elsa feared the worst. She kicked that door in as well, ready for the fight of her life. Once in the bedroom, Theo looked up from the bed, took one look at Elsa's appearance as Freja and look of horrified recognition spread across his face. His eyes immediately glowed yellow and he began shaking uncontrollably.

  “I'll be damned if I let you destroy my happiness,” Theo said to Elsa, thinking she was Freja. “I'll do everything I can to destroy you if you don't leave my house at once. Never again, Freja.” He looked down on the bed, as a helpless and seemingly afraid “Elsa” shook with fear.

  “You bitch,” the real Elsa said, “I'll kill you. You can't have him.”

  As Augustus tried to calm Theo down, his eyes glowing a lion's orange, Elsa saw Freja pull out her want from under the covers, and Elsa immediately pulled out the red crystal, sitting it on the tabletop. She began reading out the spell Freja had given her. But the spell doesn't work, and there is nothing but silence between the four people, as Freja cackled and Theo got closer to morphing into his lion state. To protect her, Augustus also growled in his shifter voice, ready to attack Theo, although he was petrified.

  Elsa stood there, unable to figure out why the spell wasn't working, holding the broken crystal, which now glowed red hot and angry. She stood there as Theo morphed into his lion state, fighting Augustus, clearly winning.

  “Oh, Dear,” the real Freja said. “I knew you were coming. This was all part of the plan.” She raised her wand and a blue electric line slithered out of the tip, wrapping itself around Elsa. “You're so foolish for thinking my own spell would work on me.” Elsa screamed in pain and the other boys continued to fight. In this moment, all was lost, and Freja hissed a little to call her serpent forth. The white, two-headed snake emerged from under the door of the bedroom, ready to strike Elsa once and for all. Just as the snake was ready to strike, Freja cackling, Elsa making one last attempt to say the spell, Zamir appeared out of nowhere, taking Theo out in one fell swoop. The lion and black wolf fought to the death right then and there, and if Elsa didn't do something soon Zamir would kill him. Strong as Theo was, no one, not a single soul, could match the great black wolf, the once great warrior-general Zamir.

  The crystal glowed hot at this point. “Please stop!” Elsa screamed at the top of her lungs, as Zamir's claw tore into Theo's flesh, sending blonde fur everywhere. “I can't take this anymore. I don't know what you want. I don't know what to do.”

  “There's nothing to do, my dear,” Freja said. “Except die. You could do that favor for me.”

  If Elsa didn't do something soon, she would witness the wild and crazy Zamir, in all his strength, tear apart the one person she ever truly loved. She watched his violent claw rip apart Theo's flesh and his angry teeth sink into his neck. After a few second, Theo's lion form lay there silent, lifeless. Zamir turned to Freja, ready to eat her now, and it was clear to Elsa that Freja was deathly afraid of Zamir. He lunched at her, and shaking, Freja held up her wand. “Not so fast, Dark Prince. If you touch me, she dies,” and Zamir looked over at her, his eyes almost busted with a radioactive green at this point. Zamir didn't want to hurt Elsa, and Freja could kill her in a single snap of the wrist, so fighting Freja meant killing Elsa.

  The crystal continued to glow red and hot, burning through the table. Elsa tried to use the spell one more time. But she was losing energy fast. “Dark solitudes.awful wells.” Nothing happened, and Elsa sank further into a darkness in her mind, her eyelids getting heavy, losing focus. “Heavenly contemplation.dwells.” Again, nothing.

  “My heart.the heat.leave me.” She trailed off, nearly unconsciousness. As she approached the breaking point in her journey, the point at which she truly had given up all hope, floating in mid-air by a magical blue wire, her true love dead at her feet, murdered by the shifter with
whom she shared some mysterious, inexplicable great passion she would never fully understand, as he tried to save her, there was one thought that emerged from the depths of her grief. She spoke it aloud.

  “Ok, you win, God. I love them both. I made a mistake. I don't have the answers. That's the truth.” And with that, she dropped her head, ready for anything, accepting her fate as it might come, given the circumstances. The crystal, as it lay on the wooden floor, suddenly glowed to life, brighter than anything, and a red and ruby light flooded the room. Far away in her mind, Elsa could hear Freja scream as the blue wire wrapped itself around her own neck, slicing off her head like an angry Medusa, sending it rolling across the floor. Elsa fell to the floor, her energy returning as the crystal's red hue brought Theo back to life. Elsa could see his chest, now in human form, move ever so slightly. She grabbed his hand and spoke the only words she could think to say.

  “Theo,” she said, breathing heavily, “I'm back.”

  ---------

  Elsa rushed outside to find Zamir, afraid something had happened to him. At the edge of the forest, she could see him standing there, the same mysterious expression on his face, simultaneously evil and passionate, even in his wolf form. He took one look at her before entering into the forest silently. Elsa wondered if she had broken his heart, or whether he cared at all. The emotions oscillated between anger and jealousy. She stood there with Theo and Augustus, feeling more alone than she ever had. But looking back at Theo, she realized she could finally form her relationship with him, however damaged it may be.

  ------------

  The days and months after Theo's fight with Zamir were hard. He struggled to recover from his injuries, as he fought the only creature in existence who was stronger than he was. Elsa did everything she could to nurse him back to health, and after much apologizing on his part for trying to kill her, they started a new life together. Augustus watched over Elsa for a few days, but told her he needed to venture back into the forest, to find his brother and his friend. Elsa understood and wished him luck. Augustus, along with Elsa and Theo, was finally free of the Forbidden Forest, and he decided it was important for him to make peace with his past. He knew the Forest would let him be as long as he stayed honest, told the truth, and didn't try to be someone he wasn't. All these lessons he learned from Elsa's epiphany, and she knew he would be all right. He knew Dorien was out there, in the forest, and he wanted to make sure he had not captured Niklas and Kirbleitz. Augustus knew had an obligation to save them, find them, and show them the way out of the forest. He wanted to teach them what Elsa and all of them had learned.

  Elsa and Theo continued to make a life together, in the aftermath of all that had happened. He loved her with all his heart, but he knew her situation--that the moment she tried to choose him over Zamir was the moment the forest would pull all of them back into its clutches. So Elsa remained faithful to Theo, but still occasionally wondered about Zamir and whether he would ever come back to her

  Theo and Elsa finally would get the chance to consummate the love that burned between their hearts so long ago. Elsa could see through her own nature that Zamir was waiting for her, somewhere in the distance, and even though she tried to communicate with him during the day, she only managed to talk to him at night in her dreams. Maybe one day he would return to her, and when that day came, she would decide what to do about the two men whom she truly loved, the two men who completed each half of her divided soul. She laid the crystal on her nightstand, fearful but excited for the possibility that it would, in the not so distant future, come sparkling to life.

  CHECK OUT HANNAH HEAT’S BBW PARANORMAL ROMANCE

  WATCHED BY WARLOCKS

  WATCHED BY WARLOCKS

  Hannah Heat

  Copyright 2015 Hannah Heat

  All rights reserved.

  Hannah Heat

  Watched by Warlocks:

  (Curvy Girls and Mysterious Princes, Erotic Paranormal Romance)

  Second Edition

  Book design by Hannah Heat

  Cover Image Copyright 2015, used under a Creative Commons Attribution License: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wunluv/4491802711/

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Watched by Warlocks

  by Hannah Heat

  ________________

  EXCERPT

  The wind whipped through the trees. The space under the front door of Ava's cottage had always seemed too big. Almost anything could crawl through with enough intent and persistence. The lock, too, was weak and shaky, and Ava was just waiting for a big black buck to come through and have his way with her. She looked across the smallness of her cottage, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she took a deep breath. She heard a sound emanating from the fireplace amid a soft, rolling thunder in the distance.

  She got up from her bed and made her way to investigate. She heard what she thought might be a wounded bird and stuck her head halfway up into the vent. The moonlight spilled down into the grating and there was a silhouette of some animal outlined in the chimney. She looked a little harder this time as a golden pair of eyes suddenly looked down on her. She pulled herself out of the fireplace and cut her brow in the process. Her heart racing, she thought maybe she'd done real damage to herself this time. There was no one whom she knew that could help her in this time of need.

  The door to her cottage thrust open and there was a blonde man standing in the darkness of the porch. Ava screamed. Without hesitating he entered her cottage and threw her on the bed. One by one, in quick succession, he ripped off her gown, pulled off her panties, and opened his mouth to bite her thigh. The present skipped forward by several minutes and Ava was naked with the man, as he plowed his manhood into her body, using her as his object, his toy, his possession.

  And then, Ava woke up.

  ________________

  Read the Expanded Novel Now!

  Check out the end of the book for an exclusive excerpt to Hannah Heat’s expanded novel, entitled Alpha Wolf’s Calling: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance. Check out the rest of the Hannah Heat’s catalog, available now on the Kindle Store. You can also get her books FREE with a subscription to Kindle Unlimited.

  More by Hannah Heat

  ________________

  CHAPTER LIST

  DEDICATION

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  ABOUT HANNAH

  MORE FROM HANNAH

  ALPHA WOLF’S CALLING

  WARNING: The following book is an account of one woman's nightmare come true. They say all good contains evil, and that all evil contains some good. If you are interested in experiencing the decadence, pleasure, and heat of passionate desire, step forward or you'll most certainly miss out.

  “Uncle Sam's gold…has, in this respect, a quality of enchantment like that of the devil's wages. Whoever touches it should look well to himself, or he may find the bargain to go hard against him, involving, if not his soul, yet many of its better attributes; its sturdy force, its courage and constancy, its truth, its self-reliance, and all that gives the emphasis to manly character.”

  —NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, The Scarlet Letter

  CHAPTER I

  This happened in 1656, the same year Ava's sister was married. In fact, all of Ava's sisters had married and she was now left alone, single, doomed seemingly to work as a waitress in a tavern on the main street of her hometown. Her job had perks, though, considering the dive was the only place in town singles
had to go on the weekends. Her tavern consisted of strong, wooden tables lined in a row; two candles lay on each end. The walls were log, packed with frozen mud, and surrounded a giant fireplace in the center of the place. Along the longest side of the tavern was a bar, where Mitch served ale, spirits, and other relaxing drinks.

  Ava was 22 years old, by far the oldest waitress in the place. Most of the girls looked up to her, but at the same time, took a protective stance to her when half-inebriated men entered before Ava's boss said she could go.

  "A man's hands are for work, not play!" they'd say.

  "Ava you tell me if them boys try anything, ya hear!?"

  Ava consented to her co-workers, but she could tell the other girls felt sorry for her. Somewhat curvaceous, from the poor side of the tracks, without consistent access to a bathing tub, Ava nevertheless possessed a striking beauty if anyone would take the time to notice. Her hair was a dark chestnut brown, her eyes emitted a near supernatural blue hue, and her skin was porcelain-like. Being judged prematurely by your appearance was an experience with which Ava found herself very familiar.

  Many people, not just her girlfriends, wondered why Ava hadn't taken an interest in specific men. And the truth was, not many men had taken an interest in Ava. But beyond that, Ava had a tendency to dream of a more perfect life. There was something in her nature missing, and the best way she could describe it to herself--or to anyone else, for that matter--was a nagging feeling of "being lopsided," overly endowed with certain traits found in all human beings, but mostly just in females, and underdeveloped in other areas, most typically found among males. Ask Ava about her talents in sewing, housekeeping, recording journal entries, and attending babies, and she could give a professorial lecture. But with regards to fishing, hunting, manual labor, or carpentry and blacksmith work, she couldn't even give you a moment's understanding. The truth was, if she stopped to think about it, Ava was constitutionally feminine, and there was something too relatable about the guys whom she knew in her hometown. Maybe you'd call it lack of mystery or surprise. They all seemed too predictable, too consistent, too one-dimensional: every one of them worked as a blacksmith, or jockey, or carpenter; every one of them wore the same suspenders in the same boring boots; each of them wanted nothing more than to stay home for the rest of their lives, making a living, working from paycheck-to-paycheck.