by Celeste Raye
After a few minutes, he tried to calm everyone down and introduce Connie. Even the kids knew what Connie was, and they were looking at her, interested. Not only was it unorthodox to have a witch among them, what was even more surprising was the fact that Frank had brought her. Frank never brought anybody into the house, especially not a woman. Everybody was wondering what she was doing there, and it was quite easy to let their minds go to all sorts of conclusions.
Once everyone seemed to relax and he had introduced her to as many people as he could, they decided to get something to eat. Connie was overwhelmed, and he wanted to help her. There was no telling what was going through her mind right now, and Frank was still trying to figure out what the attachment was between them. He still wanted answers, but his curiosity was definitely going more towards his immediate desires at this point.
He made sure, after a moment, that Connie was given some space. It was a trying day for her, and his extended family was a lot.
Frank got her upstairs and gave her one of the spare rooms that they had. The house was huge and had been in his family for generations. They could probably triple the occupancy and still have space for more. Once he got her situated, Frank went back downstairs because he knew that he had some questions to answer. Dennis, in particular, was giving him hell.
“What are you doing?”
Frank smiled at his older brother because he’d known that conversation was coming. Dennis was older than him by a few years and he was a lot more careful than Frank was. Obviously, his brother was worried about the fact that he had brought a witch amongst them, but Frank knew from his gut feeling that what he was doing was right.
“Just helping out a friend.”
“When did you start becoming friends with witches?”
“She isn't just a witch. I don't know what exactly it is about her, but she's special. I was in the middle of a walk when I passed a bar and she drew me in.”
“You know how those witches use their magic. There's no telling what kind of spell she put on you, or there could have been some kind of sound in the air that was imperceptible to you. There is no telling with those women.”
Frank told him that he did not think that was the case at all.
“She almost got attacked, and I ended up having to kill two guys to save her. I don’t think that has anything to do with a spell.”
His older brother's face lit up, and he covered his mouth for a moment. It all made sense to him.
“You're telling me that you were the one that put those two humans down in Chicago this weekend?”
Frank did not want to admit to it, but that's precisely what happened. It wasn't like he meant to attack humans, but they were trying to get to Connie, and he couldn't let them hurt her. Whether it was right or wrong, he wasn't going to be able to change what happened.
“I didn't mean to. Things just got out of hand pretty quickly, and I raged out. What can I say?”
“What you could say is nothing. The news has already spread through the clan, and the elders are asking questions. I don't think they want to find out that it was their Alpha the whole time. You put us all in danger.”
Frank sighed out loud and tried to show that he was not interested in having that talk. While he knew that bringing a witch to the clan house was probably a bad idea, there was nowhere else that he could bring her.
“So why is she here?”
“You seem to forget that I am your Alpha, even if you are older than me.”
“And you seem to forget I don't give a shit about all that. All I care about are our people and making sure that they're safe. This was sloppy. It could have rippling effects that we haven't even seen yet. I hear that investigators are searching the woods closest to the area for animals. How long do you think it'll be until the people around here talk about all the bears in the woods?”
Frank just shrugged because he didn't want to have the conversation. He knew that he had messed up, and he knew that he continued to mess up, but it didn't mean that he was going to change anything. He wasn't going to let anything happen to Connie, even if it made things a little bit more complicated for him. It wasn't like he was used to it being easy anyway.
“Whatever will be, will be. For one reason or another, I was supposed to meet the witch, and then I was supposed to help her. She about killed me when I tried to help her, but she didn't mean to. Believe it or not, she found out last night that she's a witch. I don't know why, but somebody has been hiding Connie. I've never met a witch that didn't know what she was.
“And you believe her?”
His older brother said it in a scoffing way.
“You should have seen her face, Dennis. Yes, I think that she is telling the truth. If not, she's the best damn actor I've ever seen in my life.”
Dennis just shook his head again.
“I've never seen you like this before. You never put yourself out there for a woman. You have never endangered your whole pack because of one either. What is going on?”
He kept asking the same question, but Frank was not giving him the answer he was looking for.
“I don't know how to describe it, Dennis, but she's the one.”
Dennis gasped.
“You can't mean to...”
“I do. She is my mate. I don't know how or why, but she is. I will have her Dennis, and I don't give a damn if the clan accepts her or not. You keep that in mind when you start talking to people. I will walk away if I have to.”
“All of this for someone you met yesterday?”
Frank stopped for a moment because it was a serious question. He was taking on a lot for a girl he just met. Was she worth it?
“Yeah, Dennis. All of this for Connie.”
Chapter Twelve
To say that Connie was overwhelmed would have been an understatement.
Not only had she figured out that she was a witch, a real-life witch, but Connie also found out that she was staying in a house with a bunch of shifters. They were kind of like werewolves, but she had seen Frank, and he turned into a bear. Connie didn’t even know what she was supposed to think about that.
If it was a dream, it was one of the strangest dreams she had ever had. And it was almost as strange as the dreams she’d had about Frank after meeting him. Considering she didn't even know him and only met him once, it had not made a lot of sense. Though, being around him now, it did.
He was that type of guy that was very easy to fall for. Connie didn’t know if she believed what he said about fate. She still didn't know if she even believed in fate, but something was pulling them together.
The problem was, she didn’t know where to start. It was all so confusing and happening so quickly. What was the point of it all, and who were those people that were after her?
Connie heard a knock at the door later, and she had the door locked tight because she was freaked out. She didn't know any of the people, and Connie got a strange vibe from a few of them. Knowing that their kind and hers did not get along very well did not make things any easier. Nobody was mean to her per se, but they were definitely looking at her with curiosity, as well as something else.
She wasn't going to answer the door. She didn't know who it was and only when Frank said something on the other side of it did, she even approach it. Connie opened the door and found the handsome man staring down at her with a smile on his face.
“Good, I was hoping that you weren't asleep.”
“I don't know if I'll ever be able to sleep again, honestly.”
“It's a lot to take in, huh?”
She agreed, and he chuckled.
“Well, I would like to introduce you to some people. You up for it?”
Her initial knee jerk reaction was no, not at all. Connie was really worried about meeting the people downstairs. If he wouldn't have told her that they all hated her, maybe she could have looked at it differently. But knowing that they didn't like her, just because she was a witch, something Connie didn't even know about yesterday,
made it hard to go in with an open mind.
“Do you think that's a good idea?”
“Yes, I do, Connie. I want you to get to know the people here and for them to know you. It's important to me.”
Connie wanted to ask him why. It's not like she was going to be there very long. In the morning, she expected to tell Frank that she was ready to go home. Connie still wasn't even sure that there had been somebody bad at the house. It could've just been a weird feeling on his part.
“If you are sure that you think it's a good idea. From the way you were talking about it earlier, I didn't think that they would want to be around me. I don't care either way because I don't have the same prejudices that you do. I can't, because I didn't even know what I was yesterday.”
“Nobody was saying anything to you because you're with me. Just understand that I am the leader of this place. If anyone treats you poorly, you tell me and I will take care of it immediately.”
“You're the leader?”
He agreed, and he seemed rather proud of it, but she did not exactly know what that meant. It just sounded a bit strange to her. What would a leader do?
“If you think it'll be a good idea, then I will do it, but I don't want to.”
“Well, thank you for being honest with me. I know that this has been one hell of a day, but I promise that you will be treated well here. I won't let anything happen to you.”
Of all he said, that was the one thing that she truly believed. She wasn't sure if he actually could keep her safe from what she needed to be kept safe from, but she knew that he would certainly try. He gave her a feeling of safety, even though the last day or so had been one of the most unsafe times of her life.
With no other reason not to say yes, she agreed to meet some people. He said that it was important to him and she didn't know why, but it didn't matter. He had saved her. Without him around, Connie did not even want to think about what could have happened.
It was later in the day, and Connie was relieved to see that most of the people were gone. It wasn’t as full as before, and most of the children were already in bed for the night. The house was quiet, and she was able to breathe. She was still nervous to meet his family because of what they felt about her and her kind. It was hard to be around people that automatically didn't like her because of what she was.
“You don't have to worry; nothing is going to happen to you here.”
“I know. I just hate the idea that they don't like me. I know it's strange, and it really doesn't make any sense, because it's not like it matters, but I've always been driven crazy if someone doesn't like me.”
Now she had a whole house full of people that didn't.
When they got out to the main living room, there were at least six people she hadn't noticed from before. He introduced her to all of them, but there were a lot of names to remember, and she tried her best.
When they got to the last person, it was a young woman, and she was looking at her rather strangely. Connie didn't know what to think of her, but then she realized how she was different. This woman was not a shifter; she was something else.
“It's nice to meet you, Connie; my name is Dahlia.”
She shook her hand, and there was a bit of electricity between them.
“It's nice to meet you, Dahlia.”
“It's always nice to meet a fellow witch. Especially with this group. You're going to have to tell me how you managed to go this long without realizing what you are.”
That was a question she didn't have an answer for. She didn't know why she had been left in the dark for so long.
Dahlia wasn't the only one that had questions. Other parts of his family did as well. She didn't want to say the wrong thing, and she didn't want to embarrass Frank or herself.
By the end of it, Connie was feeling a little bit better. Frank had helped her. It was like he knew when she would get into uncomfortable topics and he would swoop in and save her, but he did it in a way that made it so no one suspected that it was because she was so out of her element. The man just seemed to know how to make everything better, and she was thankful for that.
When they got back to her room, he asked her if she needed anything else for the night. There were several things that came to mind, but she kept them to herself.
“No, I think I'm just going to go to sleep. It has been quite a day.”
“Yes, it has. It certainly was not the way I thought this day would go.”
“What did you think would happen then?”
Frank smiled and shrugged.
“I don't know, but not this.”
And then he started to kiss her. She fell into it for a moment, but then something came to mind that made her pull away. Denise.
Connie had run off because Frank said there was danger, but she had forgotten all about her friend and Connie was bothered by that. She had known Denise most of her life, and she hadn't even asked if she was safe. Would he even know?
“I hate to ask, but did you feel anyone else in the house when we were there earlier?”
“What do you mean?”
“I'm worried about Denise. She was there when we left, and I don't think she was going anywhere. Do you think they did something to her, or did you not notice her there?”
There was a moment that his smile seemed to falter, and Connie had a feeling that was the only notice she was going to get. What he told her next was said in a tone of voice that she didn't believe. Of everything that he told her and how honest he had been, why was he lying about it now?
“I didn't feel any humans there, Connie.”
“Are you sure?”
Another flicker in his eye and then his expression became stoic.
“I'm sure, Connie. We can go back and check tomorrow. Get some sleep now, and everything will be fine in the morning.”
He said it in a soothing tone, and it made her think that he was trying to handle her. But what was he handling her for?
Chapter Thirteen
Frank thought that the day had gone pretty well. He had spent most of the night before trying to locate Connie with very little information.
When he had gone to her house earlier in the day, Frank honestly hadn't even known what he was doing there. He knew that there was some draw that he had to her, but never would he have imagined that she would be sleeping in his spare bedroom now. Or that he would have introduced her to his family. That was something that he had never done with another woman before, so why her?
She came out of nowhere and now he had to figure out what he was going to do.
The house had a lot of questions about the new edition and what her place was in the hierarchy. The problem was he had no idea. All he knew for certain was he wanted her close to him. It felt like she was in danger and he would do anything to keep her safe.
Since he had had such a long day, he was tired and laid down to try to get some sleep. Of course, he was thinking about Connie in all sorts of fashions, and it made it hard to sleep. What made it even harder was when someone started knocking on his door.
“Who is it?”
He heard his brothers voice and wanted to know what he was doing there. When he got to the door and opened it, he could see that Dennis had a worried look on his face.
“What’s wrong?”
“Your witch is gone.”
“My witch? You mean Connie?”
Dennis nodded his head in agreement and Frank felt the first surge of worry go through him. Why would she leave? Where would she go? The answer was suddenly clear, but Frank didn’t want to be right, not about this.
“What do you mean, she's gone?”
“Someone saw her leaving earlier, and I think she took your car.”
“How long ago did she leave?”
His brother shrugged his shoulders like he had no idea, and that made Frank mad. It wasn't because his brother had done anything wrong, but because she had left in the first place.
And then he thought about the last thing that
she had asked him. He had lied to her because he did not want her to leave. Now, he saw the error of his ways. She had known somehow that he wasn't being truthful, and now she wanted to find out for herself. It didn't take him long at all to figure it out. She had gone back for her friend, her human friend.
What worried him the most was the amount of power that he had felt in the house. If it wouldn’t have been so strong and raised his hackles as much as it did, he most likely would have just went in with her.
There had been someone very violent waiting for her, and because he lied to her and had not wanted to take it upon himself to help her take care of it, she was going to be in danger. He had done all of it to keep her safe, but now the complete opposite was coming true. He should've just told her what was going on, then maybe she would have stayed.
“Earth to Frank, what's going on, dude?”
“Not much of anything, Dennis. I guess I need to go check on her and make sure she's alright.”
“Why are you chasing after her like this? She’s just a broad, witch or not.”
Frank sighed loudly, because there was no point in trying to talk to his brother. His brother was the careful one. He was the one that was always ten steps ahead of everybody else because he had sat there and thought about it. He was the planner, and Frank had always been one to just go for it. There was no time for planning now.
“Because she's going to be the next queen, Dennis, and I want to make sure that she's safe. She has some bad people looking for her: witches. They must have felt her when she used her powers to take me down. I don't know. All I know for certain is she's walking into a trap, and I need to make sure that nothing happens to her. How long has she been gone?”
“I don't know, maybe thirty minutes. Maybe you should just let her go.”
That was not an option, and he told his brother that he was going to come help him.
