Page 12 of Alpha Bride

Emily huffs as she struggles in my arms, “ She’s not going to retaliate; she’s just frightened. Don’t you dare hurt her.”

The patrol ignores her and goes after the girl. I ignore her, too, until they’ve gone, and then I spin her around as if she weighs nothing and pin her against the nearest tree to stop her from struggling.

“What the hell were you thinking coming out here? Alone?” I growl, my anger barely contained. “You could have been killed out here.”

She gasps, her chest heaving as she stares up at me in shock. “I had to help her,” she whispers. “She’s a rogue, but far too young to be alone. My coven gave her my number weeks ago when she wouldn’t go with them; this is the first time she called. I was trying to bring her in before Malik got his hands on her.”

I shake my head at her naivety. The disconnect between us is clear. She seems to have no idea of the danger she’s in. “You can’t do this again,” I tell her firmly. “It could have all been a trap. Did you think of that?”

She looks away. “I couldn’t just leave her out here injured,” she says quietly.

“Why didn’t you call me or the patrol?” I demand, my voice harsher than I intend.

She looks back at me, her face hardening. “I don’t trust them,” she says simply.

The implication is clear: she doesn’t trust me, either. The feeling is mutual. But as I look down at her, still holding her firmly by the shoulder, I notice the warmth beneath my hand where we’re touching, seeping into my bones, our bond flourishing under my touch.

It’s intoxicating, and it scares me.

Her eyes flicker to my lips, and I can feel the magnetic pull between us. The tension crackles in the air as our gazes lock, and I want nothing more than to kiss her senseless right here and now. Her breaths are coming fast and hard, and I don’t think she’d stop me.

“Why do you make me feel this way?” I whisper into the darkness.

She looks up at me, her bright green eyes defiant but questioning. “I was just wondering the same thing,” she replies quietly.

The moment drags on in an agonizing haze as my wolf demands control, my grip on her tightening. Suddenly, the patrol appears from the dark, carrying the injured witch, who appears almost unconscious. Emily ducks under my arm, rushing toward them. “What did you do to her?” she demands.

McCabe sighs before muttering, “Nothing, I don’t hurt little girls. Or little witches. She fell, running like a fool down a ravine. Lucky she’s not dead.”

Emily’s angry features soften into something closer to concern. “Right, okay. Sorry.”

McCabe nods, looking over at me. “We’ll take her back to the clinic and get Doc to check her over.”

I nod as the patrol starts walking ahead, and then turn back to Emily. “House. Now,” I demand. “And don’t ever do this again, or so help me, goddess, I’ll have you confined to your room.”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” she says quietly, and walks ahead of me in complete silence all the way down the trail.

I follow her, desperately trying to ignore the gentle sway of her hips or the way her defiance sent a jolt of lightning straight to my cock. I find myself considering more and more what it would feel like to just give in to her bewitching—it can’t feel worse than the torture of denying it.

Chapter 6 - Emily

Back in my room, I pace. Out of rage, worry, or indignation, I’m not sure. Probably a combination of all three. Tristen refused to let me accompany the witch to the clinic. Instead, I was sent back to the house, and he even made some of his betas wait on the porch to make sure I didn’t sneak out again.

Ridiculous.

I don’t even know that poor witch’s name yet. She’s obviously from an outlying small coven and looks barely sixteen—I’m surprised Malik hasn’t already snapped her up. By the looks of it, she doesn’t trust anyone. And probably for good reason. I doubt she’ll trust shifters anymore after tonight. Or me—she probably thinks I lured her there just to get snatched. It was a miracle she called at all; my coven sisters tried to reason with her, but she preferred to stay out in the forest. We barely got a chance to talk before Tristen turned up and ruined everything, but it sounds like Malik overcame their magical defenses, and she was the last one left.

Does that mean he’s going to break through ours, too?

We’ve long suspected the runes wouldn’t hold. Malik can absorb powers from different supernatural species; it stands to reason that if he gains enough magic, he’ll be able to eliminate the runes. However strong they are, there must be a limit. We’ve tweaked them several times, increasing their potency as we try different variations, but the fear that Malik could simply walk straight through feels frighteningly realistic after talking to the girl.

And here I am, locked in my room like a naughty child. I may not have any practical magic, but I’ve adapted and mademyself invaluable with my knowledge of runes. I need to talk to the girl and work out if our defenses remain stronger.

I may not really be a luna; it was a fake bond. Tokenism. But I feel a responsibility for the magical defenses, or at least the theory behind our runes. I still need my sisters to actually enact the magic, something that I will always find embarrassing. Most of them are nice about it. If anything, they just pity me. But living in a coven with no magic isn’t always easy, and the kindness of a few never quite countered the outright hostility of the others. I know Marian only let me stay because she loved my mother, and for that, I know I should be grateful.

Witches like to think they’re so different from shifters, but the truth is that both value strength. They just demonstrate it in different ways.

Running a frustrated hand through my long hair, I stop pacing and sit on the bed, my previous rage quickly fading to sadness and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. I allow myself a rare moment to wallow in it all, finding myself pulled back to that night in the forest with Tristen when he rejected me. The whole thing feels like a weird dream, and I still struggle to understand why it has affected me so much.

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