But then she thought of her mother and how it would utterly destroy her to lose not one but two daughters. It was selfish of Allegra to even consider leaving. Sighing, she forced herself to step away from Caspian.
“Allegra, please, see past the wolf,” he implored her. The wolf was such a small part of him. He was so much more than that. If she only could see him for the man and not the beast.
“It’s not that,” Allegra said softly, her eyes trained to the forest floor.
“Then what is it?”
“Some years ago, my sister left our coven. She took to dark magic and was cast out. It destroyed my mother, and I became all she had. If I were to leave also…” She couldn’t complete the sentence. She bit her lip and pinched back tears. How could she have been so selfish? And for a werewolf?
“There is nothing wrong with following your heart,” Caspian assured her.
Allegra looked up at him. He was so impossibly handsome with his dark features and eyes that sparkled as though they were made from precious gems. She felt safe in his arms, in his embrace. There was no denying that they were destined for one another. She’d felt it the moment they kissed.
But she had another destiny to fulfil, her destiny as a witch.
“I can’t just run away from my coven.”
“That’s exactly what you were going to do when you thought me a mere man!” Caspian retorted angrily.
“But you’re not, you’re a werewolf! If my coven were to find out—”
“They’d kill you.”
“What?” Allegra’s eyes widened in horror.
“If they knew you’d been with a werewolf, they’d kill you. Your coven is notoriously savage.”
“No, they wouldn’t kill me!” Allegra felt dirty as she spoke the words. They soiled her mouth as she released them. “My coven aren’t savage! They are protectors of nature!”
“No, they are manipulators of nature.”
“You’re lying!” Allegra was growing defensive of the home she’d previously been willing to turn her back on. “My coven would merely cast me out, they’d never kill me!”
“Since your sister was banished, have you heard from her?”
“What? No, but she was banished, forced to live in exile.”
“But you’re witches. Couldn’t she send you some secret message on the wind for your ears only? Just to let you know she’s okay.”
Allegra was speechless. Of course the thought had crossed her mind. She often wondered why Uma hadn’t made contact with her but she never considered for even a second that it was because she’d been killed. No, it was impossible. Caspian was just trying to get inside her head and saying anything he could to make her leave with him.
“Please, Allegra, trust me,” he held his hand out to her, urging her to take it. “Run away with me. We’ll live with my pack as man and wife.”
Allegra looked first at his hand and then into his eyes. She wanted to accept his offer, to run away and never look back. But if his accusations about her coven held any truth then she’d need to warn Iris. She’d also need to demand the truth from her mother. She wasn’t sure she could accept Uma’s potential demise until she’d heard it from her.
“But you said you knew other witches,” she challenged as she suddenly remembered their previous conversation.
“I do.” Caspian nodded.
“So you’re lying about my coven!”
“No.” Caspian shook his head. “I know exiled witches from other covens. They talk of your coven and the dark magic practiced there.”
“There is no dark magic in my coven!” Allegra almost laughed at the absurdity of the accusation. Her coven practiced magic only to serve nature. Although even as she told herself it was ridiculous a flicker of doubt danced at the back of her mind. It was the uncertainty she’d always felt toward the elders of the coven. Something about them just never seemed right to her, though she wasn’t sure what it was. It was just an ill feeling she had. An ill feeling that never left but never offered any explanation for its existence and so Allegra just tolerated and didn’t question it.
“Allegra, please, I just want to keep you safe. I love you.”
They were three small words that most girls wait a lifetime to hear. In any other circumstance, Allegra would have surely swooned to hear Caspian say them. Instead she narrowed her eyes in to angry slits. She felt that he was trying to manipulate her, to lead her away from the safety of her coven.
Safety. Allegra was suddenly painfully aware that she was beyond the reach of the coven’s magic. She needed to get back. Night would soon be upon them, as would the choosing ceremony. She had to make a choice, and she had to make it swiftly.
“I love you, too,” she admitted in spite of her reservations. “But you lied to me. You misled me. And you lie to me still.”
“I’m not lying!” Caspian cried. “I promise you that all I say is true! If your coven learns that we’ve been together, they will kill you.”
“No.” Allegra refused to accept that it was even a possibility. How could her coven, the place where she had grown up, be capable of bestowing such harsh, finite punishments? Surely she would have known?
“Let’s just leave, right now, and be together!”
Allegra stood, suddenly frozen to the spot. To follow Caspian would be to follow her heart. But her heard was screaming that she must return to the coven. She had to know if all he said was true. Uma couldn’t be dead, she just couldn’t be.
“I’m going back,” Allegra said with certainty.
“No!” Caspian called after her as Allegra began to run back through the woods, back the way they had come together when they were lost to their love.
She ran blindly, letting only her senses guide her. Twigs caught across her cheeks, leaving long red angry marks upon her pristine skin. Each time they caught her it stung, but Allegra refused to stop and acknowledge the pain. All that mattered was getting back. She heard footsteps behind her in pursuit. At least she hoped they were footsteps. A part of her panicked that Caspian might have reverted to his wolf form to chase her.
But when he did eventually catch up with her, after just a few minutes, it was a very human hand that grabbed her and almost made her come tumbling to the ground. Panting, Allegra turned to face him, her legs quaking beneath her at the sudden loss of momentum.
“I can’t let you go,” Caspian told her, his breath still level and controlled. “I love you, Allegra. We belong together.”
Allegra wanted to snatch her hand back and continue running back to the safety of her coven but she couldn’t ignore the feelings that pulled her toward him.
“I love you,” Caspian repeated as she stepped toward him, and he cupped her face with his other hand.
“I love you,” she admitted. In spite of everything, her love for him overshadowed all the doubts, all the fears.
“I feel like I’ve always loved you,” she added tearfully. “As if I’ve waited a life time for this moment, to finally be woken up.”
Caspian kissed her. The kiss was hard yet tender against her lips. The kiss cemented their love for one another.
Allegra reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck as the kiss deepened. Her entire body began to tingle with suspense as their tongues entwined. Caspian ran his hands down her body, savoring every curve.
The first time they’d been together, Caspian had taken charge but Allegra wanted to take the lead this time. Coyly, she pulled back from the kiss and began to lower herself on to the forest floor, guiding Caspian to join her.
Just before she lay on the ground, Allegra freed herself of her dress and Caspian released an impressive groan as he took in the view. The leafy ground felt surprisingly soft against her bare skin as she lay down.
Caspian hurriedly shed his own clothes and then positioned himself above her, planting soft kisses on her cheeks and nuzzling her neck.
Allegra reached up and grabbed his head so that she could whisper suggestively in his ear, “I want you.”
There on the forest floor, Allegra released a gasp of delight as they commenced making love. Caspian’s long hard member slid effortlessly in and out of her, making her body surge with pleasure.
“Allegra,” he uttered as the bliss overwhelmed him.
As his movements became more intensified, Allegra cupped his bare buttocks with her hands and held him tightly against her, forcing him to penetrate deeper.
Caspian cried out, unable to conceal his joy. “You feel amazing,” he told her, breathing hard.
“So do you,” Allegra whispered, her heart racing in her chest.
Caspian continued to make love to her on the bare ground as they both drew closer to climax. Allegra felt her own body start to knot as an orgasm was imminent, but just before it arrived, she pushed Caspian off her and entrusted him to lie on his back on the forest floor. Wide eyed, he obeyed, his solid dick standing to attention caring not for the cool late afternoon breeze that danced around them.
Allegra straddled him, locking her legs either side of him before slowly lowering herself down as she took his full length inside her.
“Oh, God,” Caspian groaned with pleasure. He placed his hands on her backside and gave her a playful slap as she began to ride him.
Allegra’s breasts bounced up and down freely as she built up momentum. Beneath her, Caspian watched her with wide-eyed glee, relishing every second. As the speed intensified, she felt her body knotting itself once more and she came as she rode him, gasping and panting as she ran her hands down her own breasts.
Caspian felt her tighten around him as she came, which instantly brought him to climax. He let out a deep, guttural moan as he finished before leaning his head back on the ground, panting.
He had no words. She had blown his mind.
Allegra untangled herself from him and lay on the ground beside him, nuzzling his shoulder. Caspian turned to kiss her on the forehead before directing his gaze back at the sky above them, which hung heavy and gray.
“I’m sorry I ran from you,” Allegra whispered as she traced shapes upon his bare chest with her fingertips.
“It’s okay, I understand why you did.”
“But you’re right. We do belong together.”
“Told you.” Caspian smiled triumphantly, turning to reveal a satisfied grin.
Allegra blushed and stretched to plant a soft kiss upon his lips. “So what happens now?” she asked casually, wishing they could just remain naked together on the forest floor, spending their days making love and sleeping.
“We should return to my pack,” Caspian advised. “We’ll keep you safe.”
Allegra turned and looked in the direction of her coven. The pull of home guided her back, as it always had since she was a little girl. Could she really abandon everything she had known? Had they really killed Uma?
“I have to return to my coven,” Allegra said decisively.
“But why?” Caspian rolled over on to his side to face her, his brow furrowed with concern.
“You might think them dangerous and wicked, but they are my people. They would never hurt me. I at least owe them goodbye, especially my mother and Iris.”
“And what about the choosing ritual?”
“I obviously won’t partake in it,” Allegra reassured him. “I’ve already chosen,” she added with a flirtatious glint in her eye.
“What if your coven won’t accept that?”
“They’ll have to!” Allegra declared. “Because it’s my choice, and I’ve chosen. I’ve chosen you. I’ve chosen us. We are going to be together no matter what.”
Caspian drew her in to his arms and held her tightly. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he swore, kissing her forehead.
“Nothing is going to happen,” Allegra stated. “I’m returning to the coven to say goodbye to Mother and Iris. That’s all. They’d never hurt me.”
“Do you want me to go with you?” Caspian kindly suggested.
“No.” Allegra shook her red curls. “I need to do this alone. I’ll come and find you here when I’m done.”
Caspian continued to hold her tightly. “I don’t want to let you go,” he admitted.
“I’ll be back soon enough,” Allegra whispered. “I just have to do this. I have to leave on the right terms.”
She stood up and pulled her dress back on and made a vain attempt to tidy her hair, which was clumped widely around her head and full of leaves and twigs. She looked off into the distance toward the coven, toward her home. She hoped that Caspian was wrong. He had to be. They would never hurt her for following her heart, would they?
TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK THREE: The Witching Hour - Volume 3
***
The Witching Hour
***
Synopsis
When Allegra tells the witches of her coven that not only is she refusing to partake in the choosing but that she is also in love with a werewolf, they are beyond furious. They enact their worst possible punishment upon her; death by execution.
Caspian learns of the witches’ foul intentions for his beloved and sets off to save Allegra, whatever the cost. As the choosing ceremony commences, witches and wolves will be pitted against one another and war will break out within the Vale of Glendora.
***
The coven was a hive of activity as witches, both young and old, prepared for the imminent choosing ceremony. An archway adorned with wild flowers had been erected in the center of the village, surrounded by rose petals and placed on a raised stage.
Eager young witches were dressed in their finest clothes, their hair braided and woven with flowers as they prepared to partake in the ritual and meet the man who they were destined to be with for the rest of their lives.
Iris wanted to be excited, but her fears for her best friend over shadowed the revelry going on around her. She watched the village get decorated with dim eyes and sat patiently whilst her mother braided her hair without uttering a word.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Iris’ mother, Irene, noted. For weeks, her daughter had talked incessantly about the choosing, and now that the fateful day was upon them she had gone mute. It was completely out of character and concerned the older witch.
“Just nervous,” Iris lied.
“Don’t be nervous,” Irene enthused jovially. “The choosing ceremony is a joyous occasion in any young girl’s life. It marks your transition to womanhood.”
“Did you love father?” Iris asked innocently.
“What do you mean?”
“Before the choosing ceremony, did you love him? Or did you love him the moment you were chosen to be together?”
“Love doesn’t work like that,” Irene explained as she wove bright pink carnations into Iris’ braid. The bright color made her blonde hair seem even lighter and more ethereal.
“It doesn’t?”
“No, love takes time. The choosing is just that, letting you know who you are chosen to be with. Then love develops over time, years even.”
Iris frowned. This wasn’t the romanticized outcome she’d been anticipating from the choosing. She’d thought that the moment she knew who she was chosen to be with, she would instantly love him. Just as Allegra had said she’d experienced with her strange man in the woods.
“Can’t you love someone right away?” Iris asked.
“Not real love.” Irene shook her head and clicked her tongue.
“But isn’t that true love instead of real love?” Iris wondered aloud. “Like when you set eyes upon each other and just know?”
“That sort of love doesn’t exist.”
“But what if it does?” Iris persisted. “What if true love does exist? Shouldn’t we wait and seek that out rather than going through the choosing ritual?”
Irene ceased fixing her daughter’s hair and spun the stool around so that the two witches were facing one another. A stern yet scared expression was on the
older woman’s face.
“You can’t go asking such questions, you hear me?”
“Why not?” Iris felt there was nothing wrong with her line of questioning. She was merely trying to understand the underpinning ethos of the choosing ceremony.
“The choosing is essential. All young witches must go through with it.”
“Okay, I get that. I was just asking—”
“No, don’t ask,” Irene interrupted tersely. “Just smile and go through with it, do you understand? Don’t ask, don’t challenge.”
“But why not?”
A shadow passed over Irene’s face as she knelt down before her daughter so that she was at her eye level.
“They do terrible things to witches who refuse to go through the choosing ceremony.” She dropped her voice to a whisper when she spoke.
“I thought all witches go through with it,” Iris stated, following her mother’s lead and also whispering.
“All living witches do,” Irene replied gravely.
Iris felt a flutter of panic dance down her spine. She immediately understood what her mother was saying.
“I need to go,” she announced, getting up so quickly that she sent her stool across the wooden floor.
“Iris, don’t even think about running!” Irene warned.
“I’m not!” Iris reassured her. “But someone else is!”
***
Allegra watched the witches bustle about and decorate the main square from her vantage point just within the woods. She sat on a branch up a tree, not having worked up the courage to re-enter her coven yet. She knew that her news would not be well received. She kept glancing back in to the woods where Caspian was waiting for her. She owed her coven the truth, she was just nervous about imparting it.
“There you are!” Iris appeared at the base of the tree, looking distressed.
“Oh, hey!” Allegra smiled and waved at her friend.
Wolf Tainted Union: The Complete Collection - 6-Book Bundle (Books 1-6) - A Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance Page 5
