Filed To Story: Claimed by the Alpha I Hate Book Read Free
“Figure this out and tell Nolan …and don’t go off on your own looking for answers.” Her sharp features softened, only partially hiding the flash of pain in her eyes. “…you can always call me to come with you…if someone else isn’t available.”
Someone else, someone who could shift.
From the distant look in her eyes, I knew she was thinking back to when she had truly been whole.
Even though I saw the explosion of happiness on her face every time Giovanni stepped into her line of view, I knew she’d always long for that missing piece of herself.
Only in her memory could she taste and feel the cold waters of the streams we would stop and drink at, inhaling the air of the forest-taking in the beautifully harsh world around us. Forever trapped reliving the bliss of the wind rushing through her thick fur, of her feet thundering against the ground as her muscles burned and her senses sharpened.
“I promise, I’ll call you.” I told her, silently hoping it wouldn’t come to that-but there was no way I’d let it show.
‘She already feels weakher wolf is on edge from being trapped…our kind isn’t meant to live like this.’
Maya whined, flattening her ears.
‘Other than make another deal with the shadows, there’s nothing I can do for her.’ I replied, and the words broke my heart.
As if she could see my internal battle, Breyona changed the subject to something both lighter and heavier.
“Is that her?” She gasped, leaning in to whisper in my ear. “…the woman with your dad, is that his mate?”
I had called Breyona late that night to give her a rundown of everything that happened. She answered the phone bubbly but out of breath and spent the hour gasping as I told her about Brandon kidnapping me from the c***h.
“That’s her…” I nodded, but my eyes didn’t move from my dad. “…her name is Flora.”
“Flora…she’s very beautiful.” Breyona’s voice softened as she said her name.
While I watched the middle-aged werewolf with thick salt and pepper hair, his flannel ironed and jeans unstained, Breyona watched the woman. Her honey blonde hair was curled at the ends, and her soft figure was an hourglass in the sundress she was wearing.
They stood at booths directly across from one another, their backs turned as they faced the display cases. College students wandered down the pathway in between them. Both had their eyes on everything but one another yet gravitated closer and closer.
The one dad stopped at was selling cupcakes by the dozen. He looked down at the rows of heavily frosted cake, but really he was listening to what Flora was saying to the vendor of a macaron booth just ten feet away.
“He doesn’t even like cupcakes.” I snorted quietly. Breyona’s lips twitched and she glanced my way with a budding grin on her face.
“It’s not right for us to eavesdrop on your dad…” She whispered, not even attempting to look away.
When Flora finished her purchase and turned around, she sucked in a harsh breath. “…forget what I said, I’m not missing this.”
Dad’s back was turned, but I saw the way his shoulders stiffened when Flora turned around. He could feel her eyes on him just as I felt Nolan’s. His movements were awkward as he quickly pointed to a cupcake and fished some ones out of his pocket.
Breyona squealed and quickly clamped her hands over her mouth when Flora took a step towards him.
She stood in the middle of the gravel pathway. Groups of students and kids parted around her, paying no attention to the woman whose hand trembled as she lifted it. It hovered there as though she might tap him on the shoulder.
Breyona and I were holding our breaths, our faces turning pink as we waited Somehow, I knew dad was holding his breath too.
“Oh, no…” Breyona whispered, slowly lowering her hands from her mouth.
Flora lowered her arm, the momentary look of curiosity drained from her face. Indecision and fear replaced it, smothered it until she took a few steps backwards and vanished with the crowd.
Dad’s shoulders fell, and he turned around to stare at the space she’d been standing seconds ago.
“…do you think your mom would be angry at himfor noticing her?” She asked the question that was currently running laps in my dad’s head, and quickly her eyes beginning to water.
Dad hadn’t wanted to come to the séance. He claimed his presence would be a distraction, and that the questions he had would take hours to answer. Even then, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the truth. The only thing he asked of me was not to mention him to mom.
I couldn’t go against his wishes. Not when I saw past the unbreakable strength in his eyes to the pain he hid from the world, but I also couldn’t stand to see him miss this chance at happiness.
“No, I don’t think she would be.” I replied, my chest sinking as dad tossed the cupcake into the nearest trashcan and stalked off in the opposite direction. “…when I was a kid-before I knew they weren’t mates, I always thought there was something weird about them…I saw how your parents were with each other, but mine never acted that way. I always thought they treated one another like…like friends.”
“Your parents loved each other. He wouldn’t be so torn up about noticing Flora if he didn’t love your mom.” Breyona frowned.
“They did, and I know dad still loves her…” I replied, looping an arm through hers as I steered us in the direction of the car. Grandma and Nolan spotted us as we walked down the gravel pathway, their faces lit with the same warm emotion. “…but there are different kinds of love.”
Sean stopped us just as we were getting into the car, his arms piled high with sweets. Like dad, he chose to stay behind for the séance. He hadn’t spoken much of the day mom died, but Sean found closure for that on his own.
In a way, Sean made getting over mom seem easy, but I knew the truth. No matter how disciplined, a person could only take so much pain. The agony of losing your mate was said to be the worst in existence. Just the thought of Nolan fading was unbearable. Never hearing the husky sound of his voice in the morning or feeling his hair through my fingers as he showed me how loved I was with his lips and tongue; it was a fate I wouldn’t wish on any wolf.
Some part of Sean seemed to be at peace when I told him that mom looked happy, that the smile she had was genuine and warm. I wasn’t sure if I’d have some talent for spirit magic like Cordelia or if my skills were elsewhere, but I liked to think that Sean wasn’t alone as he crossed the grassy courtyard to join his patrol friends.
As Nolan pulled away from the curb, the car was engulfed in silence that felt much too loud. Watching dad and Flora, then talking to Sean, it distracted me from why we had come. I still had news to break to my grandma, news I hadn’t yet processed myself.
f I was surprised grandma had a witch for a sister, I wonder how she’d feel. Then again, I was horrible at guessing her reactions.
“Whatever it is you’re all keeping from me, you might as well spit it out. The silence is making my ears ring.” She huffed, pinning me with her stare as we locked eyes through the passenger mirror.
Drawing things out would only grate on her nerves, so I eased into it the only way I knew how.
“The séance went…well. Mom showed up, and she gave us a list of ingredients we need to undo the binding spell. Cordelia has them all, but there’s one on the list we don’t have.” I took a deep breath, and then another. Maya encouraged me from the darkest depths of my mind, reminding me of all our glorious accomplishments as she left me to tell grandma alone. “We needed the blood of the witch who casted the spell, but she…she’s d**d. The only substitution is blood from a direct relativelike a sister.”
Grandma blinked, “…what do I have to do with this?”
The decades old wisdom that was etched into every fine line and blemish on her face began to fade. Its loss made her look younger, more unsure of the world and her place in it. I had only seen a handful of pictures from grandma’s childhood, and not one featured another sibling.
“You have a sister, grandma…she’s the one who bound my powers.” I hated the look of uncertainty on her face as she connected the dots. The one person who had an answer for everything was now speechless. “Did you know about her? Did you know she was a witch?”
This time we all sat complacent as silence filled the car like gallons of ice water. Higher it inched, but quiet we remained. The tension had grown so thick that Breyona had no choice but to crack the window open to s**k in a deep breath of fresh air.
By the time the tires crunched over the gravel of the house Cordelia and Rowena were occupying, we were all ready to fling ourselves from the car. Grandma got out first and put her hand on the hood to steady herself.
Fear struck my heart like lightning, because not once in my life had I ever thought grandma looked her age. The light that filled her made her youthful but standing there with her eyes closed and head bowed, she looked like a tired woman who was just now realizing she’d spent her entire life in the dark.
“We’ll be right inside.” I told Nolan and Breyona, nodding up at the house when neither one moved.
Once the screen door rattled against the frame and clicked in place, grandma began to speak.
“Pa kicked her out when I was nine…they had a huge fight. I don’t remember what it was about anymore. It felt like it would never end, then suddenly Evelyn was gone. They wouldn’t tell me what happened, only that she chose a new family. I remember hearing ma cry a lot. Thinking back on it, I’m not sure she ever stopped.” Her voice held no weakness, only unequivocal strength as she squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. “I had no clue she was a witch. I don’t know why she wouldn’t have told me all those years ago, why our parents would’ve…I’m left with all of these questions, and there’s no one left alive to answer them.”
There was nothing I could say or do to fix things, so I wrapped my arms around her and inhaled the sweet scent of lavender and confectioners’ sugar.
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?