Untamed Series

ALPHA JORDAN

“We’re close.” Danny’s voice is barely a whisper as we reach a small clearing beside a stream. We both step cautiously. We freeze when we spot the woman sitting on a rock beside the stream, water swirling around her like a protective shield.

The water is not touching her, but her dry strands of hair are flowing and swaying as if she were submerged.

“It’s rude to stare.” Her voice sounds as if it is coming from all around us at once. The water flows back into the stream, and her hair falls around her.

“We weren’t staring; we were just observing.” Danny gives her a playful smile.

I should feel concerned with how comfortable he is around this witch, but I can see why he’s made friends with her. She’s amazing.

“Observing silently, from a distance, while trying to remain unseen. Yeah, that’s not creepy at all.” She stands up in a graceful, fluid movement and turns toward us with a smile.

“We are the beasts of the night. We lurk in the shadows. We are the evil in every children’s book ever written,” Danny retorts with a playfully wicked grin.

“According to Disney, I am a more formidable villain than even the big bad wolf.” She jumps down from the rock and ambles over to us.

“Cora, I am glad you came back.”

She smiles at Danny and pats him on the shoulder.

I’m surprised at how envious I am. She likes him, I can tell. She’s never looked at me like that.

“I knew I would miss you, big guy.”

She glances at me, and she’s all business now. “I’ll need you and your soon-to-be mate to wear these amulets I’ve made. They will help to magnify your intentions. As long as you are clear in your mind and heart about what you want, this will begin the creation of the bond.”

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out two amulets. One is a wolf howling at a moon that is made of opal, and the other is a wolf’s tooth made of obsidian. I place the wolf’s tooth amulet around my neck and feel a rush of heat flow through me. I don’t entirely like the feeling, but I keep it on.

“Aw, no presents for me?” Danny playfully whines.

Cora looks at him with sheer amusement. She removes a necklace from her own neck and reaches up, sliding it over his head.

“This will offer you protection from evil. It’s warded against dark magic.”

Danny looks fondly at the amulet around his neck, then directs his gaze at the emerald orbs of the little witch.

“I was only playing. I can’t accept this.” He begins to remove the necklace.

She stops him. “It is a gift, and I want you to have it. It belonged to my father. Look how nice it is on you. I think it was never truly meant for me.” She smiles up at him.

I have to interrupt this love fest. “I have made arrangements for you to stay in a cabin on the edge of the main pack grounds. It will allow you privacy and nature. None of the pack will bother you. Danny, can you escort Lady Laurent to her room and give her this amulet? I will take Cora to the cabin?”

Danny raises a brow, but nods. I know he is questioning why I am having him handle my mate-to-be while I handle the witch. It should be the other way around. I am asking myself the same thing. Danny rushes off to take care of Laurent, leaving me alone with the little witch in the woods.

“Shall we?” I motion in the direction of the cabin that is almost a two-mile walk from where we are.

“Lead the way, alpha.” We begin our walk in silence, and I simply observe her, noticing the way she seems to marvel at the simplest things that nature has to offer.

This might be our only chance to talk without anyone else around. Danny told me about her past. If I’m going to trust her magic, I’m going to need to know more about her. “Why did you separate from the council?”

Her steps falter, but she recovers fast. “They tasked me with something that I refused to do. When I refused, I was put on probation. A week later, I found out that they had another coven take care of the task they had tried to force on me. I reacted violently and ended up doing things that I would be punished for, so I ran.”

I lower my gaze to the ground, soaking in the information as we continue walking. At least she’s being honest with me. “What about your family? Did you just leave them behind?”

She stops, and when I turn to face her, her deep green eyes are staring at me, studying me in a way that seems almost intimate.

“My mother died in service of the council. My father—he died shortly after.”

I see the glistening of tears in her eyes. She blinks them away, then resumes walking.

“That must have been hard.” I immediately want to kick myself for saying something so obvious.

“They died doing what they thought to be the right thing. I lived because I did what I thought was right. Life is all about choices, and we all must bear the burden of those choices. They bore their burden just as I bear mine.” Her response is clearly rehearsed, but the emotion in her eyes betrays her.

“And what choices do you bear the burden of, little witch?”

She smirks, and it makes her look adorably devilish. “If I told you, I would have to turn you into a toad to ensure your silence. So, I get that you have to find your mate and make little wolf babies to continue your family line. But why are you taking a mate that is not your fated mate?”

I am stunned by the boldness of her question. “It is my duty as the alpha to ensure that I am at my strongest, and the only way to be at my strongest is to have my luna at my side. The were council requires that I take a mate and produce an heir within the first decade after ascending as alpha. It is all political bullshit, but it is what it is.” I was so frustrated about my situation that I almost walked past her.

“So, you are taking someone who is not your fated mate. Won’t that mean that not only don’t you get your fated mate, but that your fated mate will never be able to find his or her mate either? It is one thing to condemn yourself, but it is an entirely different story when you are dragging someone else into the fray with you.”

I can hear how sad she is for whoever my fated mate is.

All I feel is frustration. “I tried finding my mate. I tried long enough. What would you know about the choices I have to make? Witches don’t have to deal with the struggle of searching the world for their mate. Don’t lecture me about things you know nothing about.”

I turn my back to her and begin walking when a loud, soul-shaking growl erupts from behind me. I whip around so fast that I feel like my head is spinning, or maybe it is the energy radiating off of the giant, white beast that stands where the little witch was that causes it.

Her beast sure is beautiful. The beast stomps its front paw into the ground and growls softly as it shifts and morphs back into the little witch. I watch as she slips a ring onto her finger and gives me a look that is weighted with sadness and suffering.

“I know more than you think. Run home, alpha. I can find my way from here.” She walks past me and disappears into the trees.

For a brief moment, it feels like all of the air left with her. Does her beast have a mate? Is it even possible? I should go back to the pack house, but I need to make sure she arrives at the cabin safely.

I storm off after the witch, letting her scent guide me. I slow my pace as I hear voices up ahead. I move to get a better look at what is going on.

Her long flowing hair shifts in the breeze, and her back is to me. Some man stands in front of her. How’d he get here, and why can’t I smell him?

His features are pale and his eyes are cold. His entire being seems ethereal and ghostlike, and he hovers several inches off the ground in front of her.

“Cora, would you just listen to me?”

“I am listening to you, but you aren’t listening to me! I have to do this one last job.”

“There’s no time. I’m worried about you, sister.”

“I promise you, Luca, I’ll be all right. Please don’t worry about me.”

“What the hell is so important about this job that you can’t just walk away?”

“I tried to walk away, but I couldn’t. Please, Luca, I need you to trust me.”

“Yeah, because that worked out so well last time.”

“You’re right, things went to complete shit last time. I have a friend working on ways to fix this, Luca. I need to know where you are so I can come get you. You would think that with your newfound abilities, you could give me some clue of where to search.”

“I can’t give you information that I don’t have, Cora.”

“Luca, I will come for you.”

“I know you will—and that is what scares me most. My mind is growing weak, Cora. I need to rest.”

“Rest well, Luca.”

She kneels down and grabs something off the ground before taking a few steps in the direction of the cabin, then she stops.

“I told you I could find my way, alpha.” She has her back to me.

I step out of the cover of the brush and trees. I want to go to her. Had she smelled me here? Her magic amulet is warm on my chest.

“I wanted to make sure you didn’t get lost.”

She turns her head to the side, her hair blocking my view like a curtain. “No need to spare my feelings, alpha. You don’t trust me. That isn’t exactly a well-kept secret. Your people are terrified of my kind, but do they even know why?”

I stop for a moment. So, she’s going to make me say it. “Well, we were attacked by a coven. It was nearly a century ago, but it is something that can’t be shrugged off and forgotten.” I continue my steady steps until I am standing beside her. Looking down at her now, I can see the glistening streaks on her cheeks. She had been crying?

“Perhaps your people should learn more of the history and evil of their own kind before they judge mine so harshly. We are all surrounded by a chaotic storm of good and evil. The actions of one do not speak to the hearts of the many.” She tries to wipe her tears away without letting me see, but the image is already ingrained in my memory.

I feel something for her that I shouldn’t. I want to be closer to her, and this confuses me.

So I follow her in silence until we reach the cabin. This small building once served as a quiet safe haven for my mother. Now it is covered in flowering vines, with her untamed rose bushes and lilacs growing freely. I cringe at the unruly state of the property, but the little witch seems happy. A look of complete awe grips her delicate features. She brushes her fingertips across the petals of a fully bloomed rose, then leans in to inhale its fragrance. There is a light dancing in her eyes as she tries to take in every small detail at once.

“I know it isn’t much, but I can have the pack groundskeeper come out and clean things up.”

She turns to me with her brow furrowed and her head slightly tilted. “Clean things up? This is perfect, just as it is. It’s beautiful chaos, nature at its finest. Please don’t send anyone.”

I study her features, not exactly sure what I am hoping to find. “This place was my mother’s. Those were her flowers. She used to sneak out here when she needed to get away. Even wolves can think the pack is a bit much sometimes.”

That gets me a small smile. I open the door and motion for her to enter. She steps inside cautiously, her eyes scanning the small space.

“This is perfect. Thank you, alpha.” She walks over to the small round dining table and turns to face me.

“I am glad you like it.” I want to linger, although I know I’m needed back at the pack house.

She leans back on the table and I can see a flash of emotion in her eyes. “So, when will I be meeting your future luna?”

I feel my entire being revolt at the thought of Lady Laurent. Then I feel the amulet soften how I’m feeling. She has agreed to be the mother of my heir, and I need that. Not everyone will find love in this life, I remind myself.

“I will let you get settled tonight and we can introduce you in the morning.” I try to keep my voice neutral. Judging by her expression, I fell short.

“Give her the amulet and keep your focus on your intentions,” she cautions as I turn to walk out the door.

I make the trip back to the pack house with my mind reeling from everything that has happened and everything that is supposed to happen. I’m supposed to keep my focus on my true intentions. What are my true intentions, though?

I should want what I told her—an heir for my pack. But what I want is to see her beast again.