Page 29 of Alpha Bride

The reality of the situation slowly unravels in my mind, and I realize I’m still gripping Marian’s hand. “Would I have that magic if it hadn’t been bound?” I ask, grappling with the notion that I’m finally understanding why I’m the only witch who didn’t have any practical magic all these years.

Marian nods. “I believe so. Along with your mother’s magic, I believe you would be very powerful. If you could control it,” she says before squeezing my hand.

“Why are you telling me this now?” I ask suddenly.

She looks at my stomach. “Your child,” she says simply. “I don’t know what might happen to your bound powers during a pregnancy. And Malik seems to find you particularly interesting, which should concern everyone.”

Looking up, I see Tristen’s truck arriving. How do I tell him any of this when he barely trusts witches as it is? For the first time, I really feel my mother’s absence, and as I look at Marian, someone I’ve always feared and admired, I realize she feels exactly the same.

Chapter 15 - Tristen

I punch the bag, taking swings in rapid succession and completely ignoring the grunts from Aiden, who’s trying to hold it steady. With another final volley, Aiden pushes it back at me, so it swings wildly.

“What the fuck, man,” he snaps. “Just chill, would you.”

I roll my eyes. “It’s not like I’m punching you; you just had to hold the damn bag,” I growl, walking off to find some water.

“Right,” I hear Aiden mutter and turn to say something to Ryan, who’s been standing to the side, watching. He’s probably just grateful Aiden brought some of his betas over for a group training exercise and has been sparring with me instead of him. I know I’m in a foul mood.

Who wouldn’t be in my position?

I had a suspicion that any conversation with Marian wouldn’t be plain sailing, but I did not expect the barrage of information that awaited me when I arrived at the coven. I could tell Emily was genuinely only finding it out at the same time, because she looked as shell-shocked as I felt.

I had wondered if our child would be more shifter than a witch, given that Emily has no practical magic. Now I find out that Emily has no power because her magic was bound before she was born, and she actually may be incredibly powerful. And no one knows what any of this means for our child.

And to top it all off, Marian has been lying to us this whole time. Pretending that Malik’s powers are a complete enigma when, in reality, she’s not only met someone with similar powers, but he’s also Emily’s father. I asked the inevitablequestion—is Malik himself her father? But Marian shot me down with such venom that I thought she was going to make me spontaneously combust. It appears she was closer to Emily’s mother than I realized.

Maybe more than Emily realized, judging by her reaction to all this. The fact remains, though, that Malik’s type of magic has been seen before, and Emily probably carries it within her.

Which means our baby is now wrapped up in this chaos.

My wolf was so enraged I could have easily blown up at Marian there and then, but the alpha and man in me knew I had to contain the situation. I’ve got too much at stake now.

I know I need to discuss it with my brothers. They have a right to know about Marian’s revelations. But with Callum not wanting to leave Ava so close to giving birth, and Aiden arriving mid-training, I haven’t had a chance to find the right words. I don’t even know what the right words might be. Emily and I have barely spoken about it. I drove her home after talking with Marian, and things felt tense; I held her all night, but it still felt as though there was a wall between us. Like we didn’t want to talk about it in case things blew up between us again. Everything feels too fragile, with so much at risk.

I take a swig of water, and Aiden comes up to me, dabbing his brow with one of the towels. “Tristen, man, you alright?” he asks, and I give him a curt nod. “I mean, we all get it’s been shitty lately, but that’s no reason to take it out on the bag.”

He smirks as he takes the water bottle from my hand and takes a drink, and I resist the urge to smack it out of his hand. We’ve always wound each other up, but I have a feeling my wolf is so on edge I wouldn’t be able to hold back today. So I curl my hand tightly around the bottle I’m holding and focus on notretaliating. I know I need to get some of this out in the open; my brothers deserve to know what’s going on, too.

I sigh, tossing the empty bottle into the trash. “Emily’s pregnant,” I say, and wait a beat for his response.

I don’t have to wait long. His face is a picture. “Well, damn,” he laughs. “And there’s me thinking you wouldn’t touch a witch. Turns out that isn’t a problem when they look as sexy as tha—”

I growl, reaching out my fist to grab his shirt. “You dare finish that sentence.”

My brother merely chuckles as my wolf rages before realizing I’ve simply risen to his bait.

“Fuck you,” I snap.

Aiden raises his hands, “Okay, sorry. I wasn’t just testing your wolf. Seems like you’ve got it bad,” he says, his voice slightly more sincere. “Well, this is great news, I guess. Have you told Callum and Ava?”

I shake my head, knowing I need to fill him in on the rest. He obviously picks up on my hesitation. “What’s going on, Tris?” he asks, all humor leaving his voice. “You're not happy about it?”

“I don’t know how I feel about it,” I reply. “I mean, happy about a pup. I never really thought about it, but I am. And Em…I can’t get enough, but she’s a witch and…”

“And you have beef with witches because Ralph told you to feel that way,” Aiden butts in, and I glare at him, but he simply laughs and leans against the cabin wall. “Tell me I’m wrong?”

I refuse to give him an inch more. “There are many valid reasons not to trust witches,” I growl, not wanting to go down that route. “But that’s not the issue. Not the main issue, anyway.”

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