Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
He relaxed a little as my shadows calmed his.
“Are you okay with this? I know Derik and Kai are on opposite sides, but where do you stand with the link thing?” I asked, and he chuckled beside me.
“Derik isn’t on the opposite side, he’s trying to be the voice of reason, but we all know what we can feel coming from him. He’s excited, he wants this.”
“Do you?”
“I want you. If this is how I get that, then we have to,” he said, but there was a hesitation in him; even my shadows paused within him for a second.
“But you don’t like the idea of Tabitha doing another spell?” I assumed, and I felt him nod.
“Everything has a price. I don’t want you paying it,” he said, and I leaned back to look at him.
“Then let’s go inside and find out what it is before we agree,” I said, then stepped away from him and grabbed his hand, leading him inside as Kai jumped onto the porch, just out of the way of Ruby’s playful nip.
She looked like she was almost laughing as she sank back into the water, backing away.
Kai grinned and walked ahead, looking back over his shoulder to make sure we were following. We were, and I led Brax inside, hoping whatever the price was for the link, that I was willing to pay it.
37. The Pain
“I knew you’d eventually be here with this request.” Tabitha smiled, standing over an altar that hadn’t been there last time.
The living room was dark, with flickering candles, petals, a strange scent, and a silver bowl on a stand covered in a velvet curtain draping down.
I walked forward to see what she was doing standing over it, sniffing the aroma steaming out of it.
“You’re already preparing it?” I asked, letting go of Brax’s hand and giving a little sniff of my own. The cinnamon and thyme were strong. Then lavender. It didn’t seem so scary.
“Of course. This takes two days to put together, but you are right on time.” She beamed and stirred the small pool of clear water in the bottom of the bowl.
“Of course she is. Then we don’t know what went in it,” Brax sneered, and Tabitha glared at him.
“Do not be disrespectful. You’ve already forsaken the gems you are meant to wear during this visit, which I have graciously forgiven due to the time restraints, but I will not tolerate the attitude, Braxton. Especially when you are asking for a favor,”
she snapped, and it was the most testy I had seen her with the wolves.
“A favor. Because you will want it returned,” he bit back, and she smiled.
“Naturally. You well know, nothing is free.”
“What do you want in return, Tabitha?” Derik asked, stepping in, which was probably a good idea because I was pretty sure Brax was about to piss Tabitha off even more.
I stepped back from the brewing potion and grabbed his hand again, soothing his shadows with my own.
“A time will come, soon, I’m sure, where Cain will need you. You will go to him. No matter what else you have to do or attend, you will drop it and go to him. All three of you.
“This is my price, and it will require a binding oath, I’m afraid,” she said, still stirring, sniffing, and sprinkling more things from weird pouches into the broth.
Brax’s hand tightened in mine, his anger polluting me as even Derik frowned.
“Tabby, that’s a lot to ask. I cannot promise to leave if it endangers Lorelai,” Kai said, crossing his arms.
Tabitha smacked her hands together, brushing the last of whatever powder she had into the bowl.
“You can and you will because you are here, which means my price could be higher and you would still pay it. Shall we continue?” she asked, putting her hands on her full hips.
Cain walked out from a side room then holding a dagger and handed it to Kai.
“Trust her, she knows what she’s doing,” Cain said, and Kai sighed, looking between me, Derik, and Brax.
“We need her linked before the Summit. I don’t see any other choice, and unless any of you do, I’m making the promise,” Kai said, pausing with the blade in his hand, ready to cut.
Derik narrowed his eyes, then gave a single nod. Brax clenched his jaw and glared as he gave the tiniest agreement.
Kai cut his hand.
His blood poured from the cut and onto his hand before his skin absorbed it and it became perfect calligraphy across his forearm. It looked like it burned, as Kai’s jaw clenched.
Derik cut next, then Brax. As soon as the oath was on them all, it sank into their skin and disappeared.
“If this backfires, I’ll kill you,” Brax warned Tabitha, and Cain growled back his own warning.
Tabitha put her hand on her son’s chest.
“Settle down. I wouldn’t have made the deal if I had believed it would end in that outcome,” she said, hobbling back to her ingredients station against the wall and whispering something to one of the thick purple candles before blowing it out.
She dusted her hands off on her apron, then sighed and turned to me.
My heart raced as she smiled.
“You ready?” she asked.
I nodded, swallowing hard as I stepped forward to grab Tabitha’s hand. She led me to the bowl, then looked at the alphas.
“You just gonna stand there, or do you want to be linked too?” Tabitha asked.
Kai and Derik stepped forward, but Brax looked hesitant, watching Tabitha with wary eyes, taking slow steps.
He finally joined us around the stand where the bowl was, and Cain began moving around us, outlining us with a purple dust. I wanted to ask what it was, but I didn’t think it would matter, as long as the spell worked.
It seemed so surreal to be a human surrounded by witches and werewolves, like I had woken up in some strange dream that I didn’t want to leave.
The humans in my village knew witches existed, of course, but when it had come to the great war, the witches had all stepped back, refusing to get involved in territories between vampires and werewolves.
They had spoken of balance and not being able to use their magic for anything but maintaining it. I assumed that was another reason to be wary of their magic.
I wasn’t as wary now, though. I wanted the link as much as they did.
Maybe it was stupid or naive, or maybe I should take longer to explore my options, but if we did this, they would be mine in more ways than I could’ve hoped for.
Being human, my connection to them was limited, but I wanted everything they had to offer me, and being linked was the deepest that went. If it helped keep me safe too, then that was a bonus.
“What do we have to do?” I asked.
Tabitha stirred the mixture, more steam pouring out as it started bubbling. “Drop your blood in, you each drink, then your souls will do the rest.”
She hummed, then looked at Cain over my shoulder, where he had finished the circle. “Have you readied the bedchambers?” she asked, and he nodded.
“Yeah, it’ll be a tight fit with all four of them, but it’ll work,” he said, and I frowned.
“All four of us to do what?”
“A forced mating, a marriage in magic, a link of this kind. All require consummation, my dear.” She smiled as if that wasn’t turning my cheeks scarlet.
“Well, that’s going to be weird,” I admitted, and she laughed.
“Don’t worry, once the link hits you and demands consummation, you won’t care where you are.” She chuckled.
“Like the heat?”
She thought about that, then grinned.
“Hmm, similar. This will be more internal though. You may not even connect physically, but the rest of you will link to whatever it is in the alphas’ souls that appeals to you most.
“Physical attraction is weak, easily manipulated, a simple, breakable connection; this link will run so much deeper than that,” she explained, still pottering about with ingredients and stirring.
“Will it hurt?” I asked, not sure what compelled me to.
Her smile wavered, and she paused before nodding.
“If the link does what it is meant to, then yes. The pain at first will be excruciating,”
she admitted quietly, then carried a bottle of liquid over.
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?