Page 4 of Brutal Alpha's Forced Mate

“Don’t.” My voice is sharp, but it doesn’t faze him.

Theo’s not the kind of guy who dances around a point. He’s more like a battering ram, and right now, I can see him lining up his swing. “We need a witch, Gray.”

I knew it was coming, but the words still make me sick to my stomach. I drag a hand over my face and drop into my chair. “You think I don’t know that?”

“I think you’ve been avoiding it,” he replies, crossing his arms. “Look, you’ve done an amazing job keeping this pack strong. But we’re outmatched, Gray. The other alphas in the area have an edge that we don’t. Damien and Alec both married witches. They’re personally protected and have magical reinforcements at their backs. Us? We’re relying on claws and sheer stubbornness.”

“And we’re still standing,” I snap.

“For now. How many more attacks can we survive? How many more names are you willing to add to that list before you admit we need help?”

I stare at the casualty report, and my chest pulls tight. He’s not wrong. I hate that he’s not wrong.

“Witches don’t exactly fall out of the sky, Theo,” I finally comment. “And even if they did, what makes you think one would come here? It’s not like we have a stellar reputation when it comes to welcoming witches.”

Theo smirks, but there’s no humor in it. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe we offer them a decent paycheck. Or protection. Or, I don’t know, the chance to not be burned alive in some backwater town. Take your pick.”

“You’re oversimplifying,” I argue. “It’s not just about finding a witch. It’s about finding one who won’t run the secondthey hear the word ‘shifter.’ Or worse, one who doesn’t decide to curse us all the moment they feel slighted.”

Theo’s quiet for a moment, and when he speaks again, his voice is lower, almost cautious. “You know someone who wouldn’t run.”

I freeze, and my pulse ticks in my ears.

“Jaslyn,” he says.

Her name alone hits me with more force than the report ever could. It’s been ten years, but the memory of her is sharp enough to draw blood. Reddish-brown hair that caught fire in the sunlight. Eyes as green and alive as a forest after rain. She was everything natural and feral, chaos wrapped in a fiery package.

And I banished her.

I lean back in my chair as the weight of the memory settles over me. “She’s gone, Theo. I made sure of that.”

“Doesn’t mean she’s dead,” he counters. “Look, I’m not saying that what happened was easy. Hell, I agreed with your call back then. But the world’s changed, Gray. Witches aren’t the enemy anymore. They’re allies. Partners.”

“She killed my beta,” I point out. “Whether it was an accident or not, Carter is dead because of her. And if the other packs had found out we’d been harboring a witch—”

“Would’ve been game over for us,” Theo interrupts. “I get it. I do. But Carter’s been gone for a decade, and so has she. And there’s no stigma against witches and shifters anymore, obviously. You made the hard choice to protect the pack. But you and I both know there’s more to that story.”

I draw in a long, heavy breath. He’s not wrong, but admitting it feels like a betrayal after she killed one of our own.

“She wouldn’t come back,” I say, more to myself than to him. “Not after what I did.”

Theo shrugs. “Maybe not. But you won’t know unless you try. And let’s be honest—what choice does she have? A witch without a pack or coven is vulnerable, especially one like her. Either she’s scraping by somewhere, or she’s…” He trails off, but I know exactly what he’s thinking.

The image hits hard: Jaslyn, shackled and broken, her fire extinguished in some underground hellhole. I shake it away. No, not Jaslyn. She was always too resourceful, too fierce to let the world get her. If anyone could’ve clawed their way back to solid ground after what I did, it was her. She had this way of bouncing back, of staring down every insult, every sneer with defiance in her eyes and a smirk that dared you to try harder.

I look away, staring out the window at the forest beyond. “Even if I wanted to find her, it’s been ten years. She could be anywhere.”

Theo leans back with a wide grin as if he’s already won. “You know as well as I do that witches leave trails. Subtle ones, sure, but they’re there if you know what to look for. And if you don’t, I bet we could hire someone who does.”

I’ve thought about her over the years—where she ended up, if she learned to control her magic, if she ever forgave me. But thinking about her and dragging her back into this world are two very different things.

Still, Theo’s right. If she’s out there, she might be our only shot.

I rake a hand through my hair and lean forward, planting my palms on my desk. “Fine. I’ll look into it. But this stays between us. No one else can know.”

“You’re doing the right thing, Gray.”

“Get out of my office,” I grumble, but there’s no heat behind it.

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