Page 28 of Her Bully Alpha

I knew that, but it couldn't hurt to keep trying. We had cut the trip short and headed home after the glass incident. I didn't know what Sam was or what magic she possessed, but I didn't want anyone else to sniff out the difference.

The smell was gone now, but I was still trying to get it to come back. We had been trying since yesterday and all morning. Sam looked like she wanted to punch me rather than try again.

I sighed, thinking maybe I needed to look into magic and how it came out. I knew little about it; it wasn't part of any reading I did growing up. Or at least, if it was, it never caught my attention.

Sam rested her forehead against the counter and groaned. "This is exhausting. You kept me up late last night, and it's only six in the morning, Jay. Let me enjoy my coffee at least briefly before you start telling me to do this."

I slid the coffee I brewed for her across the counter. I should have known better than to hold it hostage.

She perked up, taking a long sip. I tried to rack my brain about how to get it to come out. Had she just shoved it down so long that it was starting to surface? Had she used it before, but never knew about it? How could someone go this long without knowing they had magic? Was that even possible? Had she done other things and not realized they were connected?

"Have you had a glass break around you before?" I asked, tapping my finger on the counter.

Sam shook her head. "No, nothing like that. I honestly would have thought it was just weird if you hadn't said I smelled different."

I drummed my fingers on the counter. I stared at her. She cupped her coffee mug closer, and her shoulders relaxed. She looked the same as she had yesterday, but was different entirely.

Different types of people held magic, but until she used it, we couldn't pinpoint exactly what she was. I'd come across witches and seers before. But I knew little about how they used their magic or what pulled it out for them.

"Was your mother really a human?" I asked. I had wondered if maybe she wasn't; they all kept it a secret. Or maybe her mother never told anyone.

Sam paused her hands, and she raised an eyebrow at me. "What?"

I shrugged. "Was she a witch? Did she keep it hidden and make us all think she was just a human?"

Sam shook his head. "No, my mother was a human."

"Are you sure? She never did anything odd…or nothing weird ever happened before?"

She shook her head again. "The oddest thing my mother did was add pineapple to her pizza, which wasn't even odd. My mother was perfectly normal and human. She had no magic."

An idea popped into my head. "Did she ever give you anything?"

Sam set her coffee down. "Like what?"

"A family heirloom? I know some magic users have objects their parents put magic into to protect them, and some put spells on others to contain them. I heard once a mother put a protective spell on a necklace to keep her child safe when she went to school."

Sam's eyebrows went up. "But wouldn't that stop once my mother died?"

I shook my head. "No, spells can last long after a person has died. Some can't be undone until another removes them."

Sam shrugged. "She gave me a hairpin. It was one of her favorite ones."

"Where is it?"

"Upstairs."

I followed Sam upstairs to retrieve the hairpin. I stood in her doorway as she walked into her bathroom. I looked over the space and all the changes she had made.

The room was different, with the green walls and photos all over the space. I glanced at the other bedroom, which she turned into a living room and office.

It was her old apartment. Plants were put everywhere, and her couch was in the corner. Her desk was on the other side of the room, and it was flooded with light since she had left the blinds up.

I looked back to the room and noticed a few pictures were sitting on her vanity. I walked over, taking the pictures in. I grabbed the closest one and noticed it was a family picture. It had to have been over fifteen years ago. Sam looked to be maybe six in the picture. Her mother was holding her while her father stood next to them. Henrik stood in front of them, his parents both had their hands on his shoulder.

I stared at her and her mother. They had the same features. They had the same hair and the same nose. They smiled the same, and as plain as her mother had always appeared to me, I suddenly could see just how beautiful she was.

She had a brightness in her eye, a happiness I didn't think was possible. They all looked happy, unaware of what the future would look like.

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