by C Davis
“Natalia! Get the doctor!” I scream out worried for my mate.
The doctor works on her trying to figure out what has happened, but fails.
“Alpha, we need to get your father over here with his witch. Someone has spelled her, and the only way to find out what spell it is, is to get a witch over here.” He says worriedly with fear.
Now, I know why Duke was here. It wasn’t to rile me up, it was to distract me so someone could cast their spell on her.
My gut feeling about Duke earlier was right. When he walked away without a fight; his plan had already been put in motion.
“I promise baby, I’ll make him pay,” I tell her, even though I know she can’t hear me. All I can do now is wait for my father and his witch to show up, and hope she can tell me what's going on with Lana. She has to know what spell someone cast on her.
Please baby, just hold on a little while longer.
Be my strong mate, Lana.
My sister looks at me in sympathy and the doctor gives me a sad smile letting me know they're all here for me. I won't be okay until I see those beautiful hazel eyes open up.
CHAPTER 10
Lana
Everything I thought I knew about myself was all a lie. My parents weren’t my parents, and I wasn’t a full-blooded wolf. I was half-witch and half wolf. His words rang over and over in my head. I was adopted and my real parents were dead. The people I thought were blood to me weren’t even related to me at all.
Why had my biological parents given me up?
Were they protecting me or did they just not love me?
So many questions were running through my head and the only ones that held the answers to them were dead. I remember that dream I had when a woman told me all would be explained, and to be patient.
Was this what she was talking about?
I’ve tried to open my eyes so many times, but something is preventing me from doing so. It’s like there’s a force holding me down. Open your eyes, Lana. I can see a woman in the distance, and she’s coming right towards me. Her long black dress flows through the wind as she gracefully comes closer. Her dark hair blows around her face, and her eyes glow a deep crimson red.
“My child, you have to wake up. Go back to him. He needs you more than ever now.” She says stroking my hair.
“Wait, who are you?” I ask, just as she disappears into the fog. Who was she, and was she talking about? Jaxson, or someone else? I can hear everything around me start to shake and make my body convulse. My body shakes uncontrollably, and my head pounds forcing me down on my knees. I can feel my eyes burning with hot tears as I scream out in agony.
The pain is too much for me to handle; then everything around me changes, and I’m back in Jaxson’s bedroom. I can see him looming over my body with a sad expression, and crying as he strokes my hair. Tears stream down his face as he whispers in my ear. “Please baby, open those beautiful hazel eyes. I need you to come back to me.”
A woman stands over my body chanting, and that’s when I notice she looks familiar. She was the woman I had just seen. Is she a witch? She continues to chant when the room suddenly goes dark.
My body jerks into a sitting position, and I gasp for air holding my throat. I’m back in my body, and Jaxson rushes over taking me in his arms kissing all over me. “Baby! I was so scared I’d lost you, but you came back to me.”
The woman stands next to me, and grabs my hand chanting again. “You were spelled, but I put a protection spell on you so the next time they do it, it will mark their hands hexing them instead of you.”
Someone had spelled me, but why?
This had to be Lorenzo.
I’m sure it was.
Lorenzo was as evil as they come. A toxic waste ready to invade your body killing you on the inside. He was the definition of pure evil, and I’m pretty sure if you looked the word Satan up in the dictionary his face would be next to it. He was a monster, and proved it every day I stayed with him. I tried so many times to leave, but somehow he always found me. He punished me every time I ran. He punished me for not submitting to him, and I hated him for that.
More importantly, he ripped my soul away, along with my wolf. I thought my wolf was gone for good, but that changed the minute I met Jaxson. He was my savior. Thank you, Jaxson. Thank you for saving my wolf.
“Who did this to me?”
He growled, and his body became rigid making his eyes grow dark with anger.
“I’m handling it, baby, don’t worry about that.” He told me with a hint of venom dripping from his mouth. He traced his hand down my neck touching his mark sending tingles down my body.
Do you want to play this?
I can play this game too, baby.
He shivers as I take my finger touching the mark I left on his neck. He’s now the one under my control, and I’m loving every second of it. The way just one finger can bring the all-powerful Alpha to his knees makes me feel stronger than I’ve ever felt before.
“Jaxson.” I bring my finger down his chest.
“Please…Lana.” He says between breaths as I drag my finger lower stopping above his zipper.
“Please what, Alpha Jaxson?” His breathing starts to increase as my hand grips him by the belt loop of his pants. He’s fighting the urge to take control, making my wolf howl in excitement. His eyes glow the color of blood. The beast is out, and he wants to play.
“Wait, Lana. Before we continue, I have to tell you something. When your eyes glowed, they weren’t yellow. They were red with black outlining them.”
Running to the mirror, I focus on my eyes and it’s just like he said. They were red with black outlining them. My hand touches the mirror and it breaks in a million pieces.
“What’s happening to me?” I panic pacing back and forth.
“Your witch side has awakened. Calm down baby, I’m calling my father over. He’ll know what to do.” He calls his father, panicking just as bad as I am right now.
Calm down, Lana.
It’ll be okay.
Deep breaths.
In…out.
In…out.
My breathing starts to slow down, and I feel my body relax letting me know the breathing is calming me down. What the hell was that in there? What did I do? Jaxson’s words ring in my head over and over. My witch side had awakened, and I had no idea how to control them. I’m like a ticking time bomb walking around. I could have been holding Gabriel when that happened. I could have hurt him.
His father looked at me curiously, then shared a look with his son. “Maybe it has something to do with my witch putting the protection spell on her, or maybe her powers surfaced because of the mate bond. This all started happening the minute you marked her.”
Jaxson’s head hung low with guilt. “Son, it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known this was going to happen.” His father tried to tell him, but Jaxson shook his head violently.
“No! It is my fault no matter how I look at it.” I try to calm him down, but he rips my hand away.
“Don’t touch me!” He hisses with so much anger, and runs outside. He’s afraid to touch me. He doesn’t want me because I’m different.
His father wraps his arms around me trying to give me some sort of comfort. The pain rips through me making me howl. “I-I…He doesn’t want me because I’m different.”
“No, don’t think like that. He does want you, but he’s just afraid. He’s afraid he’s going to lose you. Jaxson already lost someone before, and doesn’t want that to happen to you. He’ll come back.”
The comfort he tries to give me doesn’t do anything for me. It just makes me cry even harder, breaking me in two. It takes all the strength in me not to run away from this place, but I know if I did it would be a mistake. If I left, he would find me and punish me. Maybe even kill me this time.
“Can you excuse me?” I say running outside in the same direction Jaxson did.
My feet carry me through the woods towards his scent. The closer I get the mor
e scared I get. What if his father was wrong, and doesn’t want me anymore? I run even faster, and the next thing I know I’m knocked down falling on my back. His red eyes meet mine making my emotions take over once again.
“Please Jaxson, don’t leave me!” I beg him.
He looms over my body, and confusion is written all over his face. “I’m not leaving you, you’re mine. I just didn’t want my wolf to hurt you.”
He cups my face connecting our lips, and sliding his tongue in my mouth. I can feel his emotions as he possessively claims my body. His hands slide down to my waist, and slip under my shirt making me moan against his mouth. His mouth moves down my jawline to his mark, making everything so much more intense.
“Jaxson,” I whine fully submitting to him. I can feel his hot breath on my neck as he grinds into me. I hear a voice, making me feel embarrassed. I’m caught once again in an awkward position.
“Jaxson. I need a word with you.” He growls in frustration at being interrupted again.
“Fine! We’ll have to finish this later, go back inside.” He whispers in my ear while glaring at Cole.
Walking in my room, I see a dark figure in the corner. It's too dark to see who it is, but something tells me that I need to get out of this room and fast. He shoves me to the wall gripping my throat. “So delicious. It'll be fun watching as Jaxson breaks completely. Not yet, but soon little hybrid. Soon. I'll be back for you.”
He released my throat, and before I know it he's gone. It was too dark to see who it was, but the voice sounded so familiar. I've heard it before. Maybe all this was just a hallucination from all my stress. I can't even tell anymore.
Who was he, and what does he want from me?
CHAPTER 11
Jaxson
I could smell him on my territory before Cole even spoke. I knew he was there, but couldn’t figure out where. My blood boiled at the thought of him being near my mate. He wouldn’t touch her again, and that was final. He’d already crossed a line, and he knew it. He was toying with me.
“He’s back? Why?” Cole frowned at me, sniffing the air.
He was just as angry as I was by now. He’s fighting his wolf on whether or not to go to Natalia. I didn’t like the fact they were mates, but there was nothing I could do about it. They were fated to be together. If I even dared forbid them from seeing each other, then I would only be hurting my sister. I still didn’t like it though.
“Yes. Duke is back, and I think he’s the one who was behind Lana being spelled.”
My brother was back, and he was once again playing his sick games with me. He was starting a war with me that I would make sure I won. Duke won't win this time.
He was shamed after what he did to the pack. My brother was sleeping with the enemy, and giving the dirty bitch information on our pack. Then, he tried to steal Tara from me. Now he’s back to steal my mate, and my throne.
You won’t get it, brother.
Not this time.
They say the path a man chooses to take defines who they are. The path he chose was the wrong one. It made him into what he is today. A cold, heartless bastard. He doesn’t care who gets hurt in his path as long as Duke gets what he wants. It doesn’t even matter if they’re human, or not. He’s slaughtered numerous times without even blinking an eye.
I’m waiting for you.
Make your move, brother.
This time I’ll be ready for you.
“What are you going to do about him?” I massage my temples, trying to calm myself down.
“I’m going to kill him! He snuck in the house, and was touching my mate.” I growled out in anger. My beta and I shared a look, and I knew he was feeling the same thing I was. Rage coursed through our veins just at the thought of him.
I could hear my mate's thoughts, and her heartbeat thumping so hard. She was in danger.
“I have to go, but you need to fix things with your mate. As much as I hate to say it, make her see you two are destined to be together.”
I rush into the house, and see her breathing hard, and her face pales when she sees me.
“What happened, Lana?” I ask her, softly brushing her hair away from her face.
She looks down to the floor, and I take two fingers placing them under her chin. Tilting her face upward to face me, I narrow my eyes. “What happened?”
My wolf was getting angrier by the second, and Lana was not helping. She was trying to avoid looking at me, and I wanted to know why. I guess I’ll have to play dirty to find out what made her worry. Bringing my finger up to my mark, I bring my lips close to her ear and whisper, “Tell me.”
She moaned under my touch making me smirk at her. She was responding so well, and I’ve barely touched her.
“I-I…Jaxson.”
I trailed my finger down her neck to the swell of her breast.
“Are you going to tell me, little mate?” I teased her smirking again.
“I-I don’t know who it was. It was too dark to see, and he said he would be back for me.” My body began to shake, and she seems to notice this.
She brings her hand up to the mark she left on me, and rubs it. I groan as I pull her on top of me.
“You’re teasing me.” I muse.
“You teased me first, Alpha.” She purrs in my ear, making me flip us over.
My body loomed over her small figure and her breath hitched. “I’ve told you what you calling me that does to me.”
Lowering my finger down to the waistband of her shorts, I kissed her neck and sucked on her skin. Her body squirmed making her brush against me and making it even harder to not take her right now. “I’ll see you in a bit. Make sure you lock the windows, and door.”
She pouted. “You can’t leave me like this.”
She was begging me to take her, but I couldn’t right now. I had to deal with my brother and to do that I had to find him. He was still here and waiting for me to commence in his game. He wanted me to come and find him. His sick and twisted version of hide and go seek.
“That’s what you get for teasing my wolf, darling.” Smirking against her lips before leaving her breathless on the bed. Next time, don’t tease me baby. Then, I won’t have to tease you. I smiled knowing what I would be doing tonight. I would have her ready, and willing in my bed.
My brother’s scent vanished at the territory line making me start to wonder. What game was he playing?
“Maybe he left,” Cole stated.
No, he’s still here. If he was behind Lana being spelled, he might have had a witch hide his scent so it would be even harder to find him. Everything was fine before he showed his face.
“No, he’s still here. I know he is.”
“You've lost your touch, brother. The old Jaxson would've been able to find me.” Duke smirks, leaning on the tree next to me. “She's making you weak. Maybe I should take care of her for you.”
He licks his lips as his canines start to elongate. I bare my teeth and shove him, knocking him to the ground. “You're not touching her! What game are you playing at? Why are you back?”
My claws come out as I wrap them around his throat as he stands up. He's taunting me trying to get a reaction from me. He wants me to react so he can catch me off guard just like he tried to with Tara.
“Isn’t it obvious? I want what rightfully belongs to me. Your mate… your son… your title.” He says cocking his head to the side, and sniffs the air.
“Mmm. Does she taste as good she smells?” He inhaled the scent on me, taking in my mate's aroma. I've had enough. I can't hold back anymore. I'll kill him, but not until I get some answers out of him.
My body shakes, and all I see is red as I shift into my wolf. I circled him like a predator stalking his prey. I bit into his ankle, swiping my claws deep in his flesh. I'm so far gone I don't even realize my father has shown up. Cole must have called him. “Duke! I told you never to come back. You’re not my son anymore.”
“I've got a better idea.” My father smirks as Cole jabs a needle in
his neck, and he falls to the ground.
“Take him to the cell, and lock the rabid dog up.” My father tells him as I shift back, and slip my shorts back on.
When Cole and my father talked, they had a plan. They were going to let us fight for a bit, then my father would show up surprising him. Then that's where Cole comes in, he injects him, knocking him out.
“Jaxson, why didn't you tell me he was stirring up trouble again?” I shrug my shoulders, and drag my brother to the house and lock him up.
He starts to come to when I lock the chains around his wrists and ankles. “You think this is going to stop him from finding her? He won’t stop until he has her power, and she’s dead. Natalia should have left her to die in that ditch!”
I grab his head, and bang it on the wall, knocking him out for now.
Everything is spiraling out of control, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. My brother’s words run over and over in my head. He said Natalia should have left her in the ditch to die, and that someone won't stop until he has her power, and she's dead. He had to have been talking about Lorenzo. It had to be him.
I've heard about when a wolf loses their mate. It's the worst kind of pain you can go through. You feel the mate bond ripping right from your insides. It's a little different for an Alpha, and his mate though. The entire pack feels it as well. They feel how it claws its way to the surface, making your wolf feel weak and defeated. I don't ever want to endure that pain. I don't want to lose her.
My men stand in front of me waiting for their orders. “I want everyone guarding every entry into the pack. Nobody gets in that isn't a member. You're dismissed.”
Everyone but Cole leaves. I need him to go and fix whatever he messed up with my sister. I can't stand a cranky Natalia. Nobody can. I feel sorry for him when she has a child. She's going to keep him on his toes, that's for sure. I scrunch my nose up at the thought of my sister, and best friend. The image of that would be horrifying.
“Go Cole, and fix it. I can't take any more of her attitude.”
Natalia storms in, and pounds her fists on my desk. “You tell Cole to back the hell off! I'm not his mate.”
