Chapter 19

DarkBeauty357

“Leah, come look at this.” Christie motioned me to come forward. I looked at the dress through the window.

“It looks nice,” I said.

Christie scowled at me. “Then you have no taste.”

I just shrugged my shoulders.

Grace and Christie continued to look at all the stores, but we haven’t found anything interesting.

This morning Christie and Grace asked if I wanted to go into town with them. Actually, they practically dragged me out of the house. Alec didn’t seem too surprised they arrived. I’m positive something is going on, or I was just over thinking.

So, my morning consisted of Grace and Christie talking to each other about their mates. I never liked to gossip or talk about my personal business, thankfully, they never asked about mine and Alec’s relationship.

“I went to the doctor’s office yesterday,” Grace said.

Both of our attention went to her. “Why?” I asked.

Christie asked, “Are you okay?”

“No... He said the chances of me having children were less than two percent. Even if I did get pregnant I would probably die at labor.” Grace’s face held shame and defeat. You could see she was mentally exhausted and ready to give up.

“Awe, it’s okay. I’m sure Rem wouldn’t care if you can’t have children.” Christie said.

“That’s the thing. I feel like a horrible mate. All males want their line to continue on and I can’t give that to him. Plus, I wanted to have children too.” Grace pours her heart out to us. The urge to hug her became stronger as I saw her eyes tear up. “I’m sorry guys. It’s just this is been troubling me for quite a while.” She says in a hushed voice.

Christie and I both hugged her. Other people that are passing by were giving us strange looks. Clearly, they never have seen a group of girls awkwardly hugging in the middle of the sidewalk.

“At least you guys have Ava.” I tried cheering her up.

“That is true. I treat her like one of my own. Besides Rem, she is my world.” Grace agreed. She nodded her head, “And at least I still have a lot to be happy about.”

“Right. I’ve known Rem for a long time. He might have done a lot of things he shouldn’t have but he always wanted a mate.” After saying that, Christie looked like she regretted saying that.

Grace’s face turned hard like stone then back to being soft. It was almost like she was incapable of being mad. “I know. I’ve heard of all the girls he had been with, including you. At first, I was mad and upset but he is different than before.” I could feel a little tension in the air.

Christie looked embarrassed, “I’m sorry. If it means anything I really regret it. Now that I have a mate, I can easily see that I seriously fucked up.”

“I’m sure he would understand based on what you told me,” I said to Christie.

“We’ll just see when I actually tell him. I’m not sure about how he’ll react though because he is very protective. He can be hotheaded too. Last night, when I brought Chris to mine and my sister’s house, a guy whistled in my direction and he went off the rails.” She looked scared to tell him.

“The sooner you come clean the better. Secrets and lies will tear a relationship apart. Rem told me the first night because he felt so guilty.” Grace advised her.

“I plan to tell him soon but it’s hard,” Christie said.

Grace comfortingly caressed her shoulder. “I hope everything goes well.”

“Can we get something to eat? I’m starving.” Christie asked and we both hungrily agreed.

The way back to the pack was the longest twenty minutes of my life. Not that I didn’t like to spend time with the girls I just found it suspicious. I stayed back in the back seat, my favorite place to sit in a car, and watched them. Smiles on their face and they were constantly glancing at each other. They probably thought I didn’t notice but it was way too obvious.

I leaned forward, “Are you guys hiding something?”

“No, why would you think that?” Christie gasped trying to pull off an obvious lie.

“Because your voice just went two octaves higher.”

Christie focused on the road and ignored me.

“Let’s not focus on that. Let’s focus on why the only thing you bought was a wooden broom.” Grace changed the subject. They were definitely hiding something, I guess I would just have to wait and figure it out.

I looked at my wooden broomstick that was lucky enough to fit in the car. “I like this broom a lot.” I defended myself.

“What did Alec not have one?” They both laughed.

“Not one like this.” I smiled at them.

Grace continued to drive without further distraction.

When we pulled up to my house I got out of the car filled with shopping bags from Grace and Christie. My job was very easy because all I had to do was carry my broom. I guess you could say I was a little weird, but it’s just nothing really interested me except for the Witch Craft store. I would definitely have to go back again because it had items that could be useful. I remember looking around at the store and I remember the weird looks the girls would give me. I had to be careful about what I bought because I could tell some things were fake.

I carried my broomstick toward the house. I turned around and watched the car disappear, waiting for Charlie to return by my side again. He visited me during lunch but then left because we couldn’t talk to each other without me sounding like a crazy person.

When Charlie showed up I asked, “So tell me. What does Alec have planned.” By this point, curiosity had already eaten me up. I knew Alec had something to do with it.

He laughed so hard he fell to the ground. “You’re just going to have to step inside. I’m not telling you this one.”

I gave him a blank stare as he was on the ground laughing when I stepped over him.

I was at the doorstep when Charlie yelled, “Have fun!”

I walked in the kitchen to set my broom down in the corner.

Everything was quiet and I cautiously looked around the house. It was too quiet. I was about to go upstairs, but then I heard a sharp whistling noise followed by something hitting my back.

It didn’t hurt that much. I looked at the ground only to find a nerf gun styrofoam dart.

I chuckled, “Really Alec. What is this?” I joked.

I bent down to pick it up and then another dart hit me in the face. That hurt a little.

“Ouch!” I cupped my eye that was now tearing up.

“Oh fuck, my bad.” Alec appeared in front of me in seconds. “Let me see.” Alec examined my eye then when he was done he kissed my forehead.

“A nerf gun?” I questioned. “Why?”

He smiled, “Follow me.”

He held out his hand and I accepted it. As we walked he continued to talk, “When I was younger Alice, Rem, and I would all have nerf gun battles. Our parents would love to see us go around the house and shoot each other, but all the guns had been put up in the attic.” We stopped in the kitchen, outside a halfway opened door that led to the dining room. “While you were gone I brought them back out.” He opened the door and motioned to all the guns and darts that were laying on the floor.

“Woah. That’s a lot.” I almost broke into a full grin. My siblings and I would have nerf battles too and I was always the champion.

“When we played no one could beat me.” Alec challenged.

“Is that a challenge?” I asked.

“I don’t know is it?”

“I will beat you. You better believe that.” I threatened.

He chuckled, “You pick first then.”

I walked in and grabbed my most favorite toy guns. I made sure they were all loaded and I also took some extra darts just in case. After that I watched Alec do the same. Then we both went to separate parts of the house to start.

I walked from one room to the next watching my back and still looking for Alec. I had my first gun raised and the second gun was in a holster. I peeked into the next room and saw Alec with his back facing me. He was looking around the other corner to see if I was there.

I aimed my gun steadily and fired the first dart in our battle. It bounced right off his lower back and he used his werewolf speed to quickly turn around and shoot me. Two darts hit my shoulder before I hid behind the wall.

I jogged quietly into the next room and I could hear his heavy footsteps following me, so I ran upstairs.

I knew he was following me so I went into his room. Using my magic, the door slammed shut. I hid in the corner, away from the door, waiting for him. The room was dark so I was going to use that to my advantage. I heard the door jiggle and I unlocked the door.

As expected, Alec walked in and immediately looked around the door. He thought I opened the door by hand and he was wrong. His back was facing me and I carefully walked toward the door that was wide open. His back was still facing me as he searches in all the wrong places.

I was almost near the door when suddenly the floor creaked. Alec stiffened and I knew I had been caught. I shot a dart at him then took up running.

We played for about an hour. Laughs and nerf darts filled the air, and when we ran out of darts we would have to rummage through the house for more. I forgot how fun this could be. Pretending to be a kid again.

At this point, we were tied up. Whoever got the next shot would win. This part of the game was intense. This was my chance to prove to him that I was the best at this battle.

I crouched down to catch my breath because we had been running around the house for most of the battle. The hairs of my arm raised and I could tell Alec was near. When I heard something fall and shatter, I presume a glass vase because that’s what it sounded like, my suspicions were confirmed.

Alec appeared in my vision and fired bullets before I even raised my gun. I knew I had to do something or else I would lose.

Everything turned to slow motion. I wasn’t the best at performing this skill but I had to try something. Insuvai had taught me how to slow down moving objects but she wasn’t the best person to learn from when it came to that particular skill. Velvezhi was the best out of the three that could stop moving objects in the air but I knew that she wouldn’t teach me. So I used what I had.

When the darts stopped centimeters from my face I smiled in triumph because of two things. I had been successful and I also fired my last dart which landed in the center of Alec’s chest.

I won!

“Ha, loser.”

Alec glared at me, “That’s not fair. You cheated!”

“Um. It’s called magic.” I replied.

Alec walked to the floating darts and he stared hard at them.

“That is pretty cool.” Alec reached out and touched a dart but they all fell to the ground.

“It took me a while to learn that,” I said. I felt accomplished and I’m sure it showed.

“You still cheated.” He pointed out.

“You used your werewolf abilities and I used my witch abilities. All is fair in war.” I shrugged.

Alec shrugged and sighed in agreement. “Congratulations on your victory because it will be your last.”

We both laughed. “Thank you. This was very fun.” I said.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Alec said.

We both stared at each other and it became awkward.

“So what do you want to do now?” I asked. I wondered if he was free for the day or if he had pack work to do.

“It is up to you. I have no work to do today because I finished it all last night.”

“Honestly, I just want to get to know you more,” I suggested.

“That’s perfect because I want to get to know you too.”

We decided to make brownies and sit on the couch to talk.

The brownies had just been put in the oven, Alec and I sat down on the couch.

“Your hair is growing back fast,” Alec observed.

“That is one of the perks of being a witch,” I replied.

“What are the other perks?” He asked.

“Witches don’t age. We only die if something or someone kills us. Human sicknesses don’t affect us, but there are certain sicknesses that only witches develop.” I explained.

“So I won’t be able to live with you forever?”

“Actually my Grandmother Velvezhi, the one who killed me with a dagger, has a werewolf mate who is my grandfather. She put a spell on him to where he doesn’t age either. It’s basically the werewolf form of mating. It’s to ensure that the mate of a witch will not die, but it’s very painful.”

“I’d be willing to do that to be with you,” Alec said and held my hand. He traced little circles on my skin and it soothed me.

“Really? You want to be with me forever?” I asked.

“Forever and always. I want to make you happy, to make you mine, to have children with you. I just want you to be mine.” He said. I knew his words were purely the truth since the mate bond did not make him want me. Alec, himself, actually wanted me.

“I want the same things,” I said.

“How many siblings do you have? I think I know but I just want to make sure.” Alec asked.

“I have three brothers. I am the only girl.” I answered. “Alice is your only sibling. I already know that, but who is Jenna? You mentioned her once before, but I just want to make sure.”

“Jenna is my aunt. She is the only relative I have beside Alice. Everyone else is dead.”

“I’m sorry...”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.” Alec squeezed my hand.

“How was your trip back to your old pack?”

“It was nice. Everyone missed me a lot. I got to spend quality with each of them too.” I missed my family as I recalled the time that I spent with them.

“And how did they react when you mentioned my name? I’m sure, at least one of them wasn’t thrilled that you are my mate.”

I told him about how Mark was when we first saw each other again, and the arguments that I had with him about Alec.

“He sounds nosey as fuck. Do I need to speak with this new Alpha?”

“He’s not nosey. He is just protective.”

Alec nodded his head and let it go. “Well, I’m glad you had fun.”

Throughout our conversation, I noticed that Alec would often glance at my hair. “Is there something wrong with my hair?”

“No. I just don’t like short hair, but it will grow back.” He said.

“Why do you like long hair so much?” I asked.

He smirked, “You’ll figure that out later.”

I laughed and shook my head, closing my eyes for a couple of seconds. “Have you ever been ice skating?” I asked.

“My family never really had time to go out and socialize.”

“Then would you go with me one time? I think it would be fun.” I asked.

“Okay. I will probably suck, but I’ll do it for you.”

Alec switched his position on the couch and he pulled me closer toward him. I was now leaning halfway on his body as I hugged him. His arms wrapped around me and his chin rested on my head.

We stayed like that for the remainder of the time. There was no talking but it was nice. Quiet company is sometimes the best company. It felt relaxing to be like that with him. It was just me and him for once. His strong muscular arms that wrapped around me made me feel like I was in heaven. It was almost like it was too good to be true because it was so blissful. A nice state of tranquility.

I almost fell asleep but then I remembered one of our conversations. “So you said that you wanted children? How many?” I asked.

“It is up to you. You’re the one carrying them.” Alec said.

“Just tell me how much you actually want. I’m curious.”

“At least four but I actually want six.”

My eyes widened, “That’s a lot.”

“Which is why you would ultimately have that choice. How many would you want?” He asked in return.

“Around three, but I wouldn’t mind having four or five.” I knew that wolves always had a large number of children. I was just afraid of childbirth so that was going to be a problem for me. That has been my fear since childhood. “I do know that I want the first one to be a girl.”

“Why? You know that rarely ever happens.” Alec questioned.

“I know and that’s why I want it to happen,” I replied. Deep down inside I knew that the chances of that happening were extremely rare. “If it was up to you, how many girls and boys would you want?”

“Only one girl and the rest would be all boys,” Alec answered.

I continued to cuddle with him until the brownies were done. When the timer rang we both got up to check. As I was walking I couldn’t help but think.

Alec opened the oven and searched for something to grab the hot glass.

“I can do it!” I partially sang in a happy voice.

He scowled at me, “Do you want to burn yourself?”

“Watch.” I raised up my hand and it slowly became red like fire. No flames erupted, I made sure of that. When my hand was a nice shade of red I grabbed the dish and sat it on the counter. “All done.”

“How did you do that?” He looked at my hand as it returned to its normal color.

“All witches can control an element. Mine is fire. Before I died, I didn’t really know how to control it, but Insuvai and Achira taught me a few things.”

Alec grabbed a knife and began to cut the brownies that we were going to enjoy. When he was done I grabbed a corner piece and I felt like I was in heaven.

“Adding chocolate chips was a good choice.” Alec ate one too.

I nodded my head.

Alec’s head snapped in the direction of the back door. I believe he heard something that I didn’t.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Something is at the back door.” He said. We both walked to the back door and as I got closer I heard the sound of persistent scratching. Alec opened the door and my deer ran into the house. I definitely wasn’t expecting that.

He was jumpy and scared as he bucked his small horns in the air. He was frantic and he slipped multiple times.

It took me a short amount of time to calm him down. I didn’t want him to hurt himself. I was now whispering and petting him.

“That’s strange...” Alec trailed off.

“There has to be a reason why he would actually come into a house of a wolf,” I stated the obvious. “It is okay, Dash,” I whispered to my deer.

“You named him?”

“Yeah, I play with him a lot when he comes around.” I looked at Alec. His eyes became glazed over. Someone was mind linking him.

When he returned I asked, “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

“Guards found a female rogue near our house during a round of patrolling. Come with me because I’m not leaving you alone.” Alec said.

Without saying another word we both got our shoes on. Making sure the doors were locked, we walked together in the forest. Dash followed me and cautiously looked around. Alec lead me in the direction while holding me around my waist. His grip was firm and tight, and I knew he wanted to keep me close at all times.

I assume he felt more comfortable with me in his arms because he never loosened his grip at all. Dash stayed by my side distancing himself from Alec.

The wind blew hard against the trees. After each and every day that passed the weather was getting worse. I wouldn’t be surprised if it snowed soon. I just wish that snow would come quickly because I loved playing in the snow.

We arrived at the scene and there was blood everywhere. A naked female, covered in blood, was shivering on the ground. Her blond hair was scattered over her face and the guards seemed to be helping her. That meant that she wasn’t a threat. By the treatment they gave her I wondered if she was in our pack because I don’t recognize her, but I’m sure there were more pack members that I haven’t met.

Alec dragged me with him and he approached the female. We both kneeled down beside her.

“If she is the rogue, who attacked her?” Alec spoke.

I figured that she was a rogue by his words. Wolves could tell those things, especially an alpha. The woman opened her eyes and it filled with pain. Before any of the guards could speak, the woman said, “Another rogue attacked me.” Her voice was weak and she started to cough up blood.

I hated seeing others in pain, so I grabbed her hand and she didn’t reject me. I saw Alec give me a weird look.

“Kuṇamaṭaiya,” I whispered as quietly as I could in hopes of no wolf hearing me. I was taking away some of the pain she was feeling to make death easier for her. I knew she wouldn’t survive because her injuries were too severe to make it in time to the pack doctor. Especially, since the clinic was located on the other side of the pack.

The woman sighed in relief as her pain lessened. “I was just passing through with my son. I didn’t want to cause trouble and then I realized I was being followed. I hide him. Please. Please find my son...” By every word, her voice became weaker. “Please find Noah...” That was her last words.

Alec growled, “Find the pup and bring him to me.”

Four guys shifted and searched the forest. A younger guy eyed me and Dash, who never left my side.

“Luna, you have a buck beside you. Are you planning to eat him later?” He looked puzzled.

I laughed, “He is my pet. One that Alec doesn’t agree with.”

Alec just muttered something under his breath and rolled his eyes.

It wasn’t long until a guard, in wolf form, appeared with a small wolf pup. The guard had the pup by his scruff, and the pup seemed to be very feisty. The pup growled and tried to bite the guard. One growl from the wolf sent a message to the pup and he instantly stopped.

The pup was dropped to the ground, and before he had a chance to run off Alec growled making the pup stop in its tracks.

Lucian appeared with his golden eyes and he deep thunderous growled made every one pause.

Dash crashed into my side, shivering in fear, but he didn’t leave me.

“Shift!” Alec commanded by using Lucian’s alpha tone.

The pup shifted in fear but I knew Alec wouldn’t hurt him. The boy had dark blond hair and looked no older than five.

“What are you going to do with him Alpha?” Someone asked.

Alec was thinking for a second.

“We could see if Xena and Alice want him. I think it’s a good idea because they can’t have kids.” I suggested.

“Good idea,” Alec said.

~🖤~