Filed To Story: Claimed by the Alpha I Hate Book Read Free
Fragments of the past and future were just within reach for the witches able to practice Divination. Most needed a reflective surface like a pool of water or even a crystal ball, but others more powerful need only sheer will and determination. Divination itself was incredibly accurate, but it was the future that could change on a whim.
Where Divination itself was considered a passive form of magic, Elemental was its complete opposite.
The two women that had chased Brandon, Clara, and me through the streets came to mind, stirring up a feeling of dread that left me with a dry mouth. I could still feel the heat of her flames and hear the rage in her voice when she realized we managed to thwart them.
Clara had mentioned that Elementals were rare, coveted amongst witches to the point that they would send them off to be specially trained and raised by other Elementals. The entire thing felt wrong even back then.
The number of elements and the ways that they could be manipulated were near endless, varying in power from monstrous waves to small sprinklings of hail.
I’d been neck deep within the thick cut pages when I noticed grandma’s small form flit from the kitchen and out the front door. In her hurry to take the plate of cookies in her hand outside, she’d left the front door cracked. Try as I might, I couldn’t help but listen in on their hushed conversation.
“Anything? Anything at all?” Grandma asked, growing more urgent the longer Dad was silent.
“I’m not feeling much of anything…well, except for the usual pain.” He replied with a gravely voice, noticeably rougher than usual.
Grandma slipped inside and closed the front door, her expression solemn as she shook her head at
Rowena and darted back inside the kitchen. The clank of pots and pans rattling against one another d*****d out her quiet muttering. Rowena’s lips fell in a sympathetic frown, and with her high cheekbones and elfish features, she appeared much younger than her mid-twenties.
“Rarely do spells work the way you intend the first few times.”‘ I caught her telling grandma in a hushed voice. “You’ll get the hang of it; I know you will.”
When she emerged from the kitchen I pretended to be hard at work, craning my head back over the book even though my mind no longer cared for the handwritten words. Only for a couple of seconds could I pretend to be oblivious to the failed spell my grandma had tried. Eventually my nagging curiosity won out, but before I had the chance to ask, grandma came into the living room. Her hands were full of baking supplies along with a large tote on her shoulder.
“Grandma, you heading out?” I inquired, catching her before she could flee out the front door. The promise I made to Emilia came to mind. “I had a favor I needed to ask you. Do you think you could get in contact with Chris? One of the trainers wanted to offer him a job. I know he most likely won’t take it, but I told her I’d try.”
Grandma paused, and from the way her slender eyebrows lifted, and lips parted, she hadn’t expected me to ask that particular question.
“I’ll give it a shot, but knowing Chris I’ll have to threaten him first, and threats are much less effective when sent through the post.” She huffed, a disgruntled look crossing her face though I knew she missed her old friend. Moving away from her cottage hadn’t been what she wanted, but she’d done it for me.
“Any particular reason you’re in a hurry to leave?” I mused, slowly closing the book in my lap. It would’ve been useful if I could figure out how I did that trick with the front door, but my magic seemed more than happy to lay dormant now that I had use of it.
Grandma had her hand on the doorknob and was in the process of opening it when she said, “Claire’s friend is getting married tomorrow night and she asked if I’d help with the desserts. I have a lot of baking to do and very little time to do it.”
Momentarily forgetting the odd exchange between her and Dad, I felt surprise morph my face.
“Someone’s having a wedding in the middle of all this?” I gestured to the room around us, even though my true meaning rang clear. There wasn’t a single one of us here that could forget the events that transpired just the other day.
Grandma tilted her head ever so slightly, her eyes relaxed and understanding. “If you can’t count on love in the midst of tragedy, then what good is it?”
Those were the words she left me with, because half a second later she slipped through the front door and instantly began bickering with Dad. The two of them were quick to leave, putting down the road in
Dad’s beat up Nissan.
“Don’t you dare…”‘ I called out to Rowena, who was in the process of fleeing as well. “What kind of spell was she trying to do?”
“I’d tell you not to repeat this, but your grandmother will find out either way. She’s a very intuitive witch,
I’ll give her that.” The red-headed witch sighed, shrugging a shoulder as she settled onto the couch.
“She was trying to heal your father’s leg. It’s tricky magic, but he was more than willing to act as her test subject.” A softness filled the depths of her mossy eyes, “…from what I’ve heard, Flora has a fondness for dancing. I can only assume your father has access to the same information, and what better place to dance than at a wedding?”
Any chance I had at studying was tossed out the window since all I could think about was my dad and a woman who had just woken up from a decade long coma dancing the night away at a strangers wedding. For a moment, I was dumbfounded. Things had changed so muchbecome so complicated in such a short amount of time that I was just now realizing I hadn’t even begun to process it all.
As I stood from the couch and gathered my things, my mind was a haze of denial and acceptance. It was Holly’s name on Rowena’s tongue that freed my thoughts and brought my attention back to the present.
“I thought I’d tell you before you left, Holly is progressing quite nicely since you found her that therapist.
I know it’s only been a few days, but she’s actively trying now in a way she hadn’t been before. From what she’s told me, even her nightmares are beginning to ease up.”
It was a bright spot in an otherwise terrible week, one that was made worse on the drive home when
Nolan mind-linked me to let me know he and his team of warriors would be moving out tonight. There had been an altercation between some Vampire’s and Alpha Bran’s warriors, both of which were much too close to our borders.
I had only a few short hours with Nolan before he had to leave. It was a naive hope that our time would be relaxing, free of stress or worries about what might come next. Not only was I terrified at what Alpha
Bran had in store, and worried for the Vampire’s I swore to protect and defend the pack against, but I quickly realized I had another problem the second I opened my bag and looked inside.
Some small part of me noticed it had felt heavier when I slid the strap over my shoulder and left the house Rowena and Cordelia occupied, but I hadn’t given it any thought.
Staring down at the pitch-black cover and odd textured leather, I tried to recall when I’d slipped the book of Protection magic into my bag. I was more than positive I hadn’t, especially considering the look
Cordelia had given methe one that told me she knew how badly I wanted the book.
Yet here it was, perched on the countertop of Nolan and I’s house, practically begging me to flit through the silver lined pages.
I hadn’t so much as skimmed my fingers over the cover page when Nolan came through the front door. Ajolt of surprise swallowed my voice and made my heartrate jump, forcing me to snap the book shut and slip it back into my bag.
Nolan rounded the corner and appeared in the kitchen before I could question my sneaky behavior and why the feeling churning in my gut told me to keep the book a secret-even from him.
The next few hours I spent with Nolan were anything but relaxing. Even after taking out the rest of my frustration in the cushy master suite he had designed for us, there was still plenty weighing on my mind. I’d always envied Chelsea for her lack of conscience, especially lately.
Both Maya and I knew that keeping Cordelia’s book was wrong and that thievery, no matter how it happened, had consequences. The urge to return it with a heartfelt apology was strong, but there was something even more powerful brewing in the back of my mind.
It had found it’s way into my bag for a reason, I assumed. One could only wonder if the reason was to look inside, to use its magic to protect my mate, pack, and kingdom. Even though the feeling lasted but a few seconds, it was the excitement that gripped my heart in its hand that ultimately influenced my decision.
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“Are you alright?” Nolan’s voice was soft, which was warning enough that I’d been quiet for far too long.
Unable to forget what had transpired not that long ago between him and a certain Judge, I lifted an eyebrow in his direction. With a drink in each hand, he abandoned the bar cart in the lowered alcove that served as our lounge and made his way to the canopied bed I was currently sprawled across.
I took the glass from his hand and took a drink, feeling the strong-scented liquor sting my lips before racing across my tongue. Forcing away a grimace from the taste was easy enough. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”
“You should.” He grunted, and from the deep scowl that hardened his jawline and made those soft lips of his fall, I knew his next words would be worth my while. Only after a long drink of his own did he finally speak. “I won’t apologize for what I did to Clint Armstrong, but I’ll admit I did act rashly.” For a split second, his eyes unfocussed and confusion filled their depths until all traces of gold faded from his iris’s. “I…I haven’t been feeling like myself lately. There was some part of me that wondered if magic was involved, but both the witches have checked me over and neither one felt anything.”
“Could it be stress? At training today, Cassidy mentioned we don’t know everything there is to know about Alpha’s. There’s a chance this could be what happens when an Alpha’s pack is threatened from all sides…” I stumbled for a reason, startled by the feeling of helplessness that encased my lungs.
Nolan didn’t struggle, he conquered. When he lost his footing he’d come back stronger, fight harder until his opponent snapped in two. Seeing him like this, with genuine confusion in his eyes, it was jarring.
“I know what stress feels like, believe me. I’ve had a lifetime of it, even before you stumbled into training late that first day.” He said, his voice quickly morphing from dry to light and amused. My own lips perked up at the sound of his laugh, and of the memory that pitted the two of us against each other.
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?