It only took one blow.
Before I could even change into wolf form, I had been struck in the back of the head with enough force to knock me out. When compared to the physical one, the blow to my ego had been the most painful. He had wanted to spare me the unnecessary hurt and at the same time humble me. It had worked greatly on me and I even felt gratitude for the well-deserved lesson. My wolf didn’t share the feeling. Although I had been but an inexperienced pup at the time, the loss to the centuries-old vampire was still a bitter memory to my longest companion.
It’s just really hard to trust a vampire. I could almost picture him snarling in distaste.
Blake is a good man, you know that. And he really was. He had, 8 years back, taken under custody an orphaned she-wolf. Rumor was she was treated like a princess despite her not being his mate or anything. He just saw her as a sister.
Hmm, was all he let out in agreement. My wolf’s bitterness aside, he was a little bit of an old-fashioned dude – for not wanting the help of a vampire in doing some house cleaning chores could only be the result of his still old-fashioned ways. There was a time when blood flowed freely, when werewolves bared their teeth at the simple sniff of a vampire’s scent, when vampires showed their fangs at the merest provocation and sometimes for no reason at all, when witches tried to remain neutral but always ended up involved in some way or form... but that era had ended and it was all thanks to The Troublemaker.
As I held Jasmine’s lax body in my arms, bridal style, I concluded that the past didn’t matter all that much really. I could only hope she learnt something from all she had watched tonight for only the present should be of importance to her.
“As you can see, justice was made,” I heard Blake talk to the now free vampire, “I don’t want you to hold a grudge against werewolves. Look at what his grudge did to this man,” I had to admit I sometimes envied how nonchalant he could sound and how unnervingly unfazed he always appeared to be, “Alcohol can’t get you drunk but it sure can help you loosen up a bit. Drink, party, feed, cry and then carry on with your life. Whenever you get angry at the fates that made you meet on this day this particular angry wolf, remember the execution you’ve just witnessed. If it doesn’t help much, come find me. I’ll be happy to help you vent out your frustrations.”
The woman had nodded to each and every piece of advice while tears flowed down her cheeks. A throaty “thank you” was her sole goodbye before she swooshed out of the forest, Blake’s contact information safely tucked in the pocket of her pants.
“Did he have a mate, family or a good friend that’ll miss him?” Blake could be unbelievably thorough, nobody could accuse him of the contrary, that was for sure.
“Yes, me,” Michael, the werewolf who had been standing next to the alpha and the beta, bit out, choking on his words, sorrow and anger mixing in his dark pools of brown, “He was my best friend.”
“Well then, would you like to take your anger out on me?”
“I’m fine,” was the terse response. With the way he said it, the look in his eyes and the stiffness of his body, it was safe to say he wasn’t fooling anyone.
“Aren’t you angry I killed your best friend? Aren’t you angry I made him suffer more than what was necessary? Had I ripped his heart out, it would have been much quicker, yet I chose to burn him alive...”
“Stop it!” The werewolf growled, gripping his hair tightly, his eyes blackening briefly.
“Michael!” Kyle admonished in a sad tone of his own.
“Just come at me,” Blake taunted, flicking his right hand in a goading manner, “I’ll take it easy on you. I’ll only block and dodge your attacks.”
A few angry growls later, Michael changed, only to break into a run in the opposite direction, disappearing into the lushest part of the forest.
“Ah, pride!” Blake sighed in a knowing tone.
“What were you trying to accomplish anyways?” Andrew’s annoyance-coated words couldn’t have been more foolish if he tried.
“He’ll want to fight someone sooner or later,” was the only response he got before Blake turned and walked slowly towards me.
Just as he approached, Jasmine mumbled a few unintelligible words before coming to.
“Well, hello there,” was his teasing greeting. His white teeth were showing and all trace of the cold executioner from earlier was gone. One could almost believe it was not the same man... only it was.
In the meantime, I asked the most obvious question, “Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah,” always the adorable one, Jasmine was blushing furiously while averting her eyes. “You can put me down now.”
I complied and received a small “thank you”. She was being unusually – albeit understandingly – shy and it was so cute I wanted to kiss her senseless.
Now’s not the time, I inwardly scolded myself before winking at her.
“I’m not used to such...” she trailed off, not knowing how to describe what had transpired without offending Blake or making light of the situation.
“I understand,” he shifted his eyes to hers before continuing in quite the same flat tone, “I don’t want to be the big scary wolf here – no pun intended – but know that if you mess up, it won’t be pretty.”
I turned to stone and started imagining the worst while regretting at the same time the idea of bringing her here. My heart thumped loudly in my ears and my breathing quickened for a short while before I regained countenance. My wolf, on the other hand, was still raging and I had to block him out so I could hear the rest of the conversation.
“I know,” she sounded calmer than me and that, to say the truth, helped me loosen up a little bit, “it’s just a little bit hard to get used to all the power.”
“Well, the greater the power, the harder it is to control but you have to make it happen. I’d hate to have to come for you,” his gaze shifted to my face as he finished, and I immediately understood the double entendre. He’d have to come for us both since his executing her, no matter if she had deserved or not, would probably result in my snapping – and thus my getting killed too.
“You won’t have to.” He smiled at her confident response, bid us goodbye, and then was on to his nonchalant way.
Chapter 31
This Is It
“Set spells are risk-free,” I saw my father’s eyes narrow slightly at that, so I hurried to continue, “or to put it more correctly, set spells are those in which the risk, if any, is known. On the other hand, improvised spells can give the desired result, but the risk is unknown; they are to only be used if there’s no other way.”
Reciting such a basic rule, as if I was a grade schooler, was not my idea of testing the results of my special “witchcraft lessons”. Set spells were, for the most part, old, written in Latin, and proved to be efficient. Every witch knew that much. I sometimes wondered if this oral test wasn’t some kind of late punishment for my blowing-up-a-tree episode. With the ten days I had taken off school, I was able to learn a bunch of set spells other than the rudimentary ones. And most importantly, I was able to fully commit to my training.
Controlling my newly found ability was no easy feat but I at least had gotten to the point where I wouldn’t activate it by mistake. I had no intention of going through a trial like the one I had witnessed. I had also no desire to make my dad volunteer into an assassination squad formed especially for me. No mistakes were allowed. No innocents – human and supernatural beings alike – were to fall victims to my anger outbursts.
Controlling the exact where of the explosion and its intensity was something I had yet to learn. No surprise there because it could take months or even years to complete that step. And since this was no war era, there was no real rush. I could take my time and master it to perfection.
I answered all my dad’s questions accurately and was rewarded with a satisfied smile.
“Now, do you realize how greenhorn-ish it was of you to blow up that tree?” He demanded with a raised eyebrow from where
he sat at the kitchen table.
Now, that was a low blow.
I left the wall I had been leaning against and replied in a sincerely apologetic tone, “I couldn’t help it then, but I won’t make the same mistake twice.”
“Yeah, let’s hope you won’t,” was his somewhat clipped response.
I only realized he had thrown water at me when it hit my face.
“What the hell, dad?” I shrieked, the cold life essence making me shiver. My hair was almost instantly soaked. My face was soon dripping, and my clothed shoulders were gathering the remaining water.
“What’s the matter?” His tone was that of an innocent witness whose only fault was to have been present at the scene.
“You know what!” I really hated it when people played innocent.
What was wrong with him? What was he thinking?
No words were uttered for about twenty seconds, but when he spoke, from where he was still sitting, it was not what I was expecting, “What I do know is that your fear of werewolves, albeit justified, has to be overcome.”
“I...” I was taken aback by the change of topic, and got a case of frozen blood and slow thinking, “I’m trying, I’m trying.”
“You have to try harder,” he sighed, rising to his feet, “according to Jonathan, your fear could be smelt from miles away at the trial.”
“But I...”
“And that was before Blake The Troublemaker had even introduced himself,” he finished, putting emphasis on before.
“I wasn’t that scared,” I sighed, angrily wiping water off my face, his claims making me more irritated by the second.
“So you think,” he shrugged nonchalantly, “Jonathan – you know, the alpha-ultra mate you wanted to reject only because he was a werewolf – has better senses than you and could tell just how scared you were.”
“I was neither hyperventilating nor trembling, I...”
My attempt at defending myself was cut short, “Your fear has to cease now!” His ferocious demand startled me, making me doubt this was the same man who had been happy I had answered every question correctly a few minutes ago.
“It’s not something I can control,” I snapped, sensing my body temperature rise sensibly. Anger bubbled within me, making me see red and imagine countless endings to this charged conversation; all of which included violence and blood. Truth be told, I was almost tempted to give in to those urges. It would be so easy to do so too.
And just then I realized what this was all about.
“Seriously, dad!” I rolled my eyes while pursing my lips in unmistakable annoyance.
My father approached me and gently stroked my wet hair, “You did not snap. I’m proud of you.”
Getting drenched was something I hated, and he knew that. Guilty people claiming they were innocent was something I simply could not tolerate. He knew that too. My fear of werewolves was a touchy subject and that was a widely known fact.
He had been testing me – it was that easy! – and he almost had me too.
“No opponent is above taunting you with a known weakness. Remember that, sweetie,” he said as he kissed my forehead affectionately before pushing me gently towards the kitchen door where mom stood watching silently. “Now, go take a shower. I don’t want you catching a cold.”
“Yes, dad,” I readily agreed, feeling drained after the whole ordeal.
That evening, when I explained to Jonathan what had happened with my dad, he found it both funny and smart of him to do that.
It was a beautiful night, we were in the forest, and that allowed us to admire the star-filled sky. As cliché as that may sound, nature soothed me greatly. Having checked the weather forecast beforehand, Jonathan had prepared a picnic for our tenth date.
This was our last try-date.
This is it! I breathed out a heavy sigh before finally confessing my well-thought-out, never-so-awaited decision, “These last ten days, I enjoyed being with you, Jonathan. I won’t reject you.”
I had decided to follow my heart, my rational thinking be damned. I did not want to regret not giving him – us – a chance. The alpha-ultra had won me over. His seduction had been unusual – nobody in their right mind would take their date to a bloody trial, right? – but effective.
His eyes widened in surprise before happiness won him over, and he flashed me a beautiful smile. Said smile was still tugging at his lips when he kissed me a moment later. He was neither punishing me by staking a claim nor devouring me in a passion-filled moment. He was simply conveying his happiness, but the kiss still left me breathless.
“You don’t know how happy you’ve made me,” he let out in a husky voice as he laid his forehead against mine, his electric blue eyes boring into my own light blue ones, making me lose the faculty to process linear thinking for a moment.
“I can guess,” was my smug, smirk-accompanied comeback.
He chuckled then vowed to make me happy and promised me I won’t regret it.
“I kinda want something,” I drawled in a deceptively sweet voice, a small shy smile making its way on my face.
“Anything.”
“I want to fight a werewolf,” was my serious reply.
“Sure,” he readily agreed before exploding, “wait! What?” He put a few feet between us to see whether I was serious or not, for the idea seemed ridiculous apparently.
Damn, for an alpha-ultra, your mate sure can be slow, the snarky side observed.
“A mock battle really but I need to fight a werewolf if I ever want to get over my fear.”
He remained silent for a minute or so; minute during which he rubbed his temples a little bit – did he have to shut off his wolf because of me? – and tried to understand my point of view while weighing the pros and the cons.
“I’ll see what can be done,” he sighed, surrendering, while mechanically rearranging his messy hair into the same messy look.
“Seems like the big bad wolf is putty in my hands,” I teased while grabbing a fistful of his thin dress shirt, brining him closer to me so his lips would go back on mine.
A disturbingly arousing growl was all the answer I was given before he made sure to show me just how much I, too, was affected by him.
This was an alpha’s seduction, baby, and alphas do not fail.
Epilogue: Tattoo
No attention, no boys, no drama, no troubles.
The idealistic motto I had been fond of for years seemed really far away when I looked wistfully out of the window. Jonathan had undoubtedly turned my world upside down. I, who had been more than mildly reluctant to find a mate, was actually quite happy with the outcome of the alpha’s seduction.
Being in a relationship with Jonathan had been easier than getting over my fear of werewolves. Indeed, it barely took me two months to fall head over heels for him, whereas I had to spend several months challenging werewolves before I was finally able to vanquish my fear. And damn had I needed to do it! No alpha-ultra’s mate should be afraid of werewolves. That would be completely and utterly ridiculous.
When graduation came, I was only too happy to be rid of high school. That said, it wasn’t all I put behind me that day. Loving an alpha-ultra wasn’t just about status and power. With it came responsibilities and obligations I had not even dreamed of before.
Having found me, Jonathan had no reason to keep on travelling in search of his mate. And having seduced me into being his, he could no longer delay his return. All I was allowed was the time to finish my senior year – and the deal couldn’t get any better than that. I had to leave my hometown at the end of the day, and that was final. I had to leave my family, Seth and Celia behind. Needless to say, my happiness was not complete that day, but I had Jonathan, and the knowledge comforted me somewhat.
“I promise to visit,” I tried my best to keep the tears at bay as I bid everyone goodbye at the airport.
“You better!” My brothers and Karl shouted simultaneously, making me smile despite the lump constricting my throat.
&nb
sp; “Maybe we’ll be three to visit the next time we come,” Jonathan chuckled, drawing me closer to him, effectively making all the sad tension dissipate.
“Ewww,” my younger brother made gagging noises while my other brothers had a fit of laughter at him.
“Make my little girl happy,” my father drawled in a dangerously flat tone while looking Jonathan in the eye.
“I will,” Jonathan nodded curtly in response, determination etched on his features, all jokes forgotten.
****************
“Did you really have to bite me alpha?” I looked at the mark in the mirror, my tone that of a whining child while my lips were actually smiling tenderly. We had been together for many months, and yesterday, at long last, I gave him my first time. Truth be told, I was happy I waited because he made it unforgettable. He took care of my every need and made sure I was ready before finally taking what was his. I had never felt so complete and he had never been so happy.
Jonathan was a great leader to his people and a loving mate. But that wasn’t all; the old gray-haired couple that were his parents had accepted me in the family so easily, one could be forgiven to believe I had never been anything but a member of the family. They made me feel at home despite the palace being nothing like it, no matter how you looked at it.
“You know I had to babe,” Jonathan came to hug me from behind and kissed the top of my shoulder lovingly. The arm he put around my waist made me feel weak to the knees. The kiss, on the other hand, left me wanting much more, while his scent made my body drown in delicious, uncontrollable desire.
I could not let my hormones get the better of me though. I had to make my point. “Hmm, you’re getting a tattoo that says Property of Jasmine Peterson.”
“You realize I’m a werewolf, sweetie,” I gave him a so-what look, to which he added meekly, “with our healing, we can’t get tattoos.”
“And you realize I’m a witch,” I retorted with all the sickly sweet tone sass I could muster, “I can make it happen babe.”
The Alpha's Seduction (The Forbidden Mates Book 1) Page 12
