Filed to story: Wolf Crying Mate of the Alpha by Jazz Ford
‘The only other option is to break the bond, but we don’t know how to, and it appears that we don’t have much time left.’ If you wish to save Luna, you must bring her to Pandora’s Box right now,’ she warns.
Magnus growls and battles his inner demons. He doesn’t want me near Alec, but he also doesn’t want me to die. With no choice, he grabs a blanket and lifts me up with it to avoid his hands being burnt from skin contact. Yiselda dashes out the front door. Reaper and Magnus rush after her. Yiselda grabs the back of Magnus’s shirt and drags him into the circle as they approach.
For a brief period, my eyelids flutter open, and I get a glimpse of someone else walking out of the portal, but they didn’t follow us inside, instead whoever it was darted into nearby shrubs. I extend my arm and gestured to the shrubs, hoping to draw the attention of whatever is lurking there. But, with no time to spend, Magnus ignores his surroundings and my arm’s motion and rushes into the door. He is captivated by the enormous mirror Yiselda stepped through, but he does not have time to linger and enjoy it before leaping through. Yiselda opens the door on the right and says, ‘Materialise,’ and a book emerges, ‘Sprouto Spawniate,’ she adds, dropping the book at her feet. Magnus steps back as the book grows into a staircase, Reaper flies ahead and hovers by the dark wooden door.
‘I must warn you, Magnus, Alec is in a worse state. You mustn’t be afraid to hand her over to him. Blood mates will never hurt their blood flames, no matter what,’
‘What do you mean he is in a worse state?’
‘I have been trying to persuade him to sever the bond or at least tell me how to do it. Because he refuses, I’ve been depriving him of his daily sustenance of blood, which leads vampires to become unstable and somewhat wild,’ she says and opens a large black door with strange marks and drawings on it.
‘I don’t think I like the sound of any of this Yiselda,’ he says following her through the dungeon. He sees the Grimghouls as he walks past. ‘They are more vicious-looking than I ever imagined them to be,’ he says.
‘Don’t get too close to them, they will rip your hand off, if not your whole arm., given the opportunity.’
We can hear agonising moans emanating from further up as we approach the Shadow Reapers who are spell-sealed in their area of the dungeon.
‘Alec,’ I murmur softly.
Magnus stiffens and a sombre expression develops on his face as he approaches the cell where Alec is.
Alec snarls and hisses. He appears to be physically and emotionally warring with himself. Yiselda was correct when she defined his current situation as unstable and somewhat wild.
‘This is supposed to be the vampire king? Yiselda. I’m not handing Nina over to that monster,’
Alec pauses, stares at Magnus, and snarls his fangs. Magnus’ wolf teeth expand and he growls in response.
‘Now is not the time for a snarl off,’ Yiselda says to Alec and Magnus. Alec drops his eyes to Nina laying weak in the arms of Magnus. His expression softens, and he reaches out to touch Nina, but Magnus steps aside and pulls me closer to his chest. ‘It burns,’ I gasp, biting my lip and forcing it to bleed. My skin feels as though it is on fire. I open my eyes and tilt my head to see Alec looking at me longingly. His skin is red and covered with blisters, and I can see blisters forming on my arms as well. As I weep, the pain becomes unbearable.
‘It’s okay, my darling,’ Magnus replies as he prepares to remove the blanket, he’s using to hold me.
‘Alec, you must stand aside so we can place her in the cell with you,’ Yiselda commands. Alec moves to the rear of the cell, where he can’t be seen. ‘There is a spell in place at the entrance of his cell. Do you see the line of salt here?’ she asks Magnus.
Magnus nods.
‘Do not break the line, place Nina over it and then step back immediately. Yiselda unlocks the door, it creaks as she pulls it open. Magnus hesitantly stands at the entrance, his hands tremble as he is about to give me to the person he loathes, the very one he doesn’t want me near, my second mate. Removing the blanket, he ignores the burn that heats his flesh and gently lays me on the other side of the line. A tear falls from his eye and lands on my cheek. My hand touches his cheek. ‘I love you, Magnus,’ I say. ‘I love you too Nina,’ he says and steps back. Yiselda closes the cell door and locks it just as Alec swoops in like a flash of light and snatches Nina up, returning to the shadows of his cell swiftly. The moment Alec swooped me up, the burning pain immediately subsided and was replaced with sweet, warm tingles. Alec cradles me in the corner, his back turned to the cell bars. As he caresses my face, I can see his skin is healing. I cup my hand over Alec’s and he pulls me closer to him. We gaze into each other’s eyes, his aren’t his normal light brown they usually are but mostly black. I can see he is straining himself from doing something but I’m not sure what. Our lips draw closer to one another, the blood from my lip drips down my chin and his eyes momentarily light up. And I realise he wants blood, my blood, and is fighting himself from taking it. I smash my lips onto his and kiss him fiercely as he savours every drop of blood from my lips. He tenderly grips and sucks onto my bottom bleeding lip with his as we eventually separate, not wanting it to finish.
As I instinctively submit to Alec, my head tilts up. On my unmarked side, his teeth skim across my nape. The tingling sensation that floods through my body cause me to gasp. His teeth suddenly sink in, he moans from the sensation of drinking my blood. He withdraws his teeth and looks endearingly into my eyes. Raising my hand to his face, I gently wipe the drips of my blood from Alec’s lips.
‘My, Luna, my darling, my Queen,’ he says.
Reaper caws and looks pleased that Alec has become my second mate.
‘Alec,’ I say and wrap my arms around him. We spend some time in a loving embrace before Alec licks the puncture marks he made on my neck. My body arches and I gasp at the thrilling feeling that soars through my body.
Magnus had walked over to the Shadow Reapers before we had kissed as he couldn’t bear to watch us. Usually, a mate would feel horrendous pain when the other mate became intimate with another person. He thought it was odd he felt no physical pain, just jealousy.
We kiss passionately again and when we part, I notice my skin has completely healed along with Alec’s. Magnus storms over to the bars.
‘That’s enough now give me back my mate,’ he scowls.
‘Magnus,’ I say standing up. Alec grabs me and holds me to his chest.
‘She is my blood flame,’ Alec says in a firm tone.
They glare at one another. ‘Alec, it’s okay. Magnus is my mate, I need to go back to him,’
Alec cups my face with both of his hands. ‘When will you be back?’ he asks.
‘Tomorrow,’ I say. Alec looks at Magnus for confirmation. He squeezes the bars. ‘Nina is my soul mate. She is my whole world. If bringing her back here each day keeps her alive then… so be it,’ he growls, clearly not pleased with the concept but also knowing he has no other choice for the time being.
As I approach the cell door, Alec immediately spins me around and kisses me gently one final time before I see him again. Magnus is emitting a deep growl. Yiselda unlocks the door, and I gently walk over the line to leave the cell. Magnus quickly throws his arms around me and kisses my temple and the opposite side of my neck, nuzzling into my nape. Alec is the one who lets out a deep growl this time.
‘I’m sorry,’ I say to Magnus as I look him in the eyes.
‘It’s not your fault, it had to be done,’ he replies softly, attempting to mask his pain.
‘Let’s go home and spend some time together. Just you and me,’ I say.
He nods and grabs my hand in his as he leads me out of the dungeon. We enter the portal and spend the afternoon swimming at Shadow Crest Lake and climbing the biggest trees we can locate, just as we did as kids.
We don’t spend a single moment apart till we return to Pandora’s Box the next day.
Knowing how to access the dungeon, I don’t wait for Yiselda.
‘I’ll wait here at the entrance,’ Magnus frowns not wanting to see me near Alec.
I cup his face and kiss his lips. ‘I’ll be back soon,’ I say.
I take the key hanging on the far wall and unlock the cell and step over the line of salt. Before I see Alec, he has already swept me off my feet and smothering my face in kisses.
‘Alec,’ I giggle.
‘I’ve missed you,’ he says.
‘I missed you too,’ I say.
We kiss, and he strokes my face with his thumb. ‘I wish I could take you somewhere wonderful, like for a picnic on a mountain top or a dance beneath the stars,’ he says thoughtfully.
‘I wish I could just get you out of this dungeon,’ I sigh. ‘Did you really set those creatures onto the humans all those years ago?’ I ask.
Alec looks away for a moment then nods his head with regret.
‘Can you tell me what happened? Can you tell me about Juniper?’ I ask.
‘It might be easier if I show you instead,’ he says.
I’m confused until he shuts his eyes and hovers his hands slightly over each side of my head. A ball of light appears and blinds me. When I open my eyes, I’m no longer in the dungeon, but rather travelling along a cobblestone path in a village. There are individuals on horses everywhere, as well as ladies on foot holding shoals over their heads and baskets packed with bread and fruit.
A beautiful young woman runs into me, shouts, ‘Sorry,’ and keeps running. I chase after her as she rushes up the road and into a little cottage dwelling. ‘Sorry, I’m late grandma,’ she apologises.
‘Juniper, when are you going to be on time?’ says her grandmother.
Juniper laughs, ‘Probably never Grandma,’ she says. I raise my head over the window sill to peer through it.
Juniper stuffs a loaf of bread and a couple of bottles of small bottles into the basket. They look just like potions