Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
“If he is turned back, he will be back to how Adrenna remembered him?”
“Yes.”
“And what about Adrenna? Without magic, will she be the same as he remembered?”
Tabby turned her head to the side, assessing something in her wise eyes before smiling and nodding.
“Yes. She will be a love-sick human, in love with her human soul mate.”
“So we just have to convince her. And the witches,” I sighed, and Tabby sipped her tea.
“So it would seem.”
“What is the price, Tabby? For taking the magic from Adrenna and for asking this of the witches?” Brax asked, walking over with a calculated gaze on Tabby, who tightened her shawl around herself.
“I cannot see that, Braxton. You know that.”
“Convenient,” he snarled, and I snapped my eyes to him. He seethed but pursed his lips, and he stepped back.
“We may not know the price, but what are our options? Let Adrenna keep coming for us, let the beast go after her without backup? That hasn’t worked, and now we are just waiting for the vampires to attack. It’s not good enough; she is the threat to our heirs. We have to get rid of that,” I said forcefully, my words fading into silence as Brax huffed and walked away.
“I’m going to sit with the twins. I’ll agree with whatever plan you need me to, but the witches’ consequences might be more than we’re willing to pay. Last time it was almost Zale’s life, remember that, Spitfire,” he warned before going inside to replace his shadows with the twins. I swallowed his words with a heavy heart and a sinking stone in my stomach.
“So we don’t add him to the pack. We find Adrenna, then we assess. Once we have her locked up, we can see if we can convince the witches and find out what giving them back to each other is going to cost us,” I murmured, not willing to be as headstrong about it as Brax’s reminder hit me where it needed to.
I couldn’t rush into this the way I wanted to; I had to think through things, remind myself that there were consequences. It was hard to do when all I wanted was Adrenna and the threat that came with her, gone. But some prices were too high, and I needed Brax’s pessimism to remind me of that.
I sipped my tea, shivering as it heated me up from the inside, the bite of winter not as harsh in the cover of the gardens and Derik’s body brushing against mine.
“We’ll keep sending out hunting parties; the beast can go with them,” Derik said with finality, and I nodded.
“I’m going too.”
“Little Luna, I will shackle you to the bed before I let that happen,” Kai warned, but I gave him my sweetest smile.
“And I will fight you, win, then go anyway, so how about we just agree that I am going and if you care that much, then you can come too.”
Kai glared, but I saw the smirk he tried to hide.
“I’ll come with you.”
“I’ll stay here,” Derik said.
“I’ll watch over Zale and Enzi,” Brax said in our minds, and Tabby sat there, sipping her tea, grinning.
“It’s a marvelous thing when pieces come together, isn’t it?” She teased with her cryptic messages, and I smiled, understanding she meant us but not much more than that.
“It’d be nice if we didn’t have to though, the witches could just come down and help,” I sighed, but Tabby shrugged.
“They’re on their own schedule and will only come down when they need to, not a minute before. They won’t interfere either, so don’t think they will do anything that will affect this war, only personal things that won’t be construed by the balance,”
Tabby eyed me, saying her words carefully.
I knew I was meant to read into them, see something that she was hiding in there, but I didn’t have it yet.
“More tea?” Mom asked as she came out, Galen standing at the edge of the gardens again. He was a faithful stalker; I’d give him that.
I nodded, smiling up at Mom as Tabby gasped, her teacup clinking against the small plate in her shaking grasp. I frowned at her reaction, but her gaze was on Mom.
“It is…not possible,” Tabby murmured, putting her cup and saucer down, standing on a quivering frame. She stepped closer to Mom, who smoothed her dress down, clearing her throat at the attention.
Galen stepped forward, his eyes narrowed on the interaction, the icy air tense.
“Tabitha, I’m Pearl Valarian.” Mom smiled, not showing her intimidation as she offered Tabby her hand. Tabby ignored it, her eyes taking in every inch of my mother before tightening her shawl in her grasp and circling her.
“You are so…human,” she breathed, and Mom chuckled awkwardly. I didn’t even know how to respond; it was weird to say the least, but I wasn’t even sure what it was.
I looked up at Kai, who just smirked and circled his finger at his temple like he was explaining everything by implying Tabby was crazy, and she was, but usually it made sense, or came with some kind of promise toward answers, but this was not that.
I eyed Derik, who shrugged.
“You are a Valarian, that is obvious, but the rest of you? No, that is not,” Tabby said, and I raised a brow as Mom looked between Tabby, me, and Galen, who promptly stepped forward.
“Your opinion is respected, Tabitha, but when it is making my precious Pearl uncomfortable, I’m afraid I must insist on you keeping it to yourself,” Galen said in a polite, passive-aggressive way, but his deep, warning tone had Tabby stepping back.
She gave Galen a respectful nod before looking over Mom again.
“Enzi got a lot from you, Miss Pearl. A lot more than our Lorelai here.” Tabby smiled before sitting back down in her seat and sipping her tea like she hadn’t just made everything weird.
“Is that a bad thing?” she asked, and Tabby shook her head.
“I wouldn’t suspect so. Not if Lorelai is anything to go by.”
“Oh, that means she is going to be trouble but worth every second of it,” Mom said, and I smiled up at her. I was not an easy child, but she made me feel like I could have been the literal devil and she still would have looked at me with those proud eyes.
It made everything different, and I wondered whether my brother would have been who he was if my father had looked at him like that instead of feeding his delusions. Probably not.
Pain pierced my heart, memories of Lucas filling my thoughts. I had trusted him, I had laughed, smiled, hurt with him, and he had betrayed me. It still sat like cold, dark obsidian in my otherwise light heart, and I didn’t think it would ever heal, but it was still hard to remember.
“Oh, of that, I am sure,” Tabby chuckled before emptying her tea and putting her cup down again. “I should take my leave. Ruby won’t be happy if I stay out much later,” she said, and Mom frowned.
“Who is Ruby?”
“My alligator, of course. Cranky bloody thing, but loyal as anything,” Tabby said, leaning on her cane heavily as she began to walk from the gardens.
“I’ll get you to the carriage, Tabby,” Kai said, going to help her, and she put her arm through Kai’s before giving us a wave.
It was a dismissive gesture that had me wondering if we would ever get away with something like that. Tabby was all smiles and warmth most of the time, but I felt the electricity in the air ready to zap anyone who dared cross her–I wasn’t brave enough to test that.
“That’s because she’s terrifying,” Derik whispered once they were out of sight. I laughed, agreeing with him.
“Well, that was the weirdest thing I’ve experienced since I came here, and I have seen a lot since then,” Mom breathed. I nodded.
“Yeah, she’s like that.”
“Any idea what she means?”
“That she doesn’t think Enzi is all human. That she has magic in her blood, and Tabby’s theory was a genetic link. I’m assuming she meant she believed you were that link,” Derik explained in a better way than I could, because I was still processing.
Mom had always been the normal one, the human, the one that did everything she was meant to do as a lady of the village. If she really carried a magic gene in her body, then it was something we had to find out about, in case it affected Enzi.
It hadn’t so far, but Lucas and I had made it to eighteen before we were thrown under the bus by what we were. So, I wasn’t holding out hope for fate and its plans when it came to the twins.
“I’m human, and whatever she sensed, I would prefer if we pretended like it didn’t happen. I like being just a human,” Mom said, frowning as she smoothed her dress down again–it was a nervous habit she’d been doing my whole life.
“You are much more precious than just a human,” Galen said softly, grabbing her hand and kissing the top of it. Such a gentleman, much more refined than my alphas, but I think my mom needed that after the crassness of my father.
No, she deserved it. Mom blushed and pulled her hand away, clearing her throat.
“Shall we get out of this cold then?” she said, heading inside before anyone could argue or agree. Galen disappeared with her, and I stood from the bench seat.
“I need to go explain things to the council,” Derik sighed and stood up.
“I should go tell the beast.”
“Kai can handle the hunting plans with Tatum. I don’t want more than ten wolves gone, and I don’t want you coming back with a single scratch on you. So, as long as Kai agrees to the terms, then you can go.”
“I didn’t realize we were negotiating,” I raised an eyebrow at him.
He smirked. “Then you’re not paying enough attention.”
“Or maybe I’m not making any promises or compromises. I’m going tomorrow, I’m going to find Adrenna, and I am going to make sure she knows who owns her now,”
I said, making Derik’s grin widen.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?