Page 17 of Alpha's Magic

We were shouting at each other by this time, so naturally, Leo sat up, eager to get involved, pushing his long, wild hair out of his eyes and staring up at Lex with wide eyes.

“It was my fault. I wanted him to make love to me. I asked him to do it.”

“You stay out of this!” Lex shouted at him. He turned some of his fury on Leo, which made me feel immediately protective. I knew Lex was angry, but not because I’d claimed this omega. That was any Alpha’s right.

He was upset because I had offended his sense of the order of things. He’d wanted to speak to Harrison first and make sure they both believed Leo was telling the actual truth and not just what he believed to be true. He wanted to question witnesses and straighten out the succession to the Sudfarman throne and have endless discussions. He was a planner and a thinker and usually, I was too. But not this time. Not with this omega.

“We don’t know anything about this omega, other than the crazy stories he’s told us.”

“I know all I need to know to claim him. I’ve made no secret about how I felt for him, right from the start.”

“Feel for him? You claim now to have feelings for him?”

“Of course I do. The same as you had for Rory when you two first met.”

“Asher, I can’t forbid this—I haven’t been your Alpha in truth since moving to Igella, so I don’t have the right. But I can implore you to give it more time. Do this for me, Asher, if you care for my feelings at all. For the sake of our friendship.”

I blew out a long breath and then nodded, a quick up and down motion of my head, though I wasn’t happy about it. I was furious that he’d made our friendship a condition, although deep down, I knew he did it out of concern and love for me. The fact that we’d all—Lex, Wyatt and I—had done the same thing to Brandon when he’d decided he wanted Roxbury was not lost on me. It had caused Brandon suffering and had almost cost Roxbury his life. I hoped the outcome in this situation wouldn’t be nearly as dramatic.

“Thank you, Asher. Now let’s try to get some more sleep before we leave for Igella. We have a lot to do in the morning.”

He lay down near the fire, and I gave Leo a regretful look and a little shrug. He scooted closer to me and whispered softly in my ear. “Can I still lie in your arms? I’ll be good. I promise.”

I groaned, because I was letting myself in for torture, but his smile was worth it. He lay down and backed his little ass into my groin. His body was incredibly warm and soft and smelled sweetly of roses. I closed my eyes and prepared to suffer.

****

Leo

The next morning came before I was ready for it. I was shaken awake by Asher’s hand on my arm and sat up, feeling groggy and still a little achy. I saw right away that both the Alphas were dressed in clean clothes—they must have used their magic for that—and Asher handed me a full plate of soft, brown bread with creamy butter and slices of fresh fruit and even a couple of boiled eggs. Obviously, they’d used magic for that too, as we had no such rich stores in this cave.

I fell on it happily, stuffing the eggs in my mouth, along with the buttered bread. When I tried to put a piece of pineapple in too, Asher stopped me with a hand on top of mine.

“Slow down. No one will take it away from you.”

“I’m hungry,” I said, or tried to around a mouthful of food.

“I can see that. But slow down so you won’t choke.”

I grinned at him but did slow down a bit. I wasn’t used to such an extravagant use of magic—Grimora used his like a thrifty housewife, measuring out careful portions each day, but these two obviously had plenty to spare. Plus, there literally wasn’t anything left to eat by this point.

When I was done, Asher told me to stand up, and he conjured me a new set of warm clothing, thick socks and underclothing, tweed breeches and a shirt made of soft wool. He added boots this time and a fur cape with a hood. I checked again to make sure he hadn’t taken my amulet, but it was still there. I tucked it carefully under my shirt.

Meanwhile, the other Alpha, Lex, stood by watching me, his eyes full of heavy scrutiny. I didn’t think he liked me very much or at least he had reservations. Maybe because of what I’d said about his brother, but I hadn’t known King Harrison was his brother at the time. I resolved to be less mouthy in the future, in the hope of eventually winning him over, because he seemed to be important to Asher.

“Do you need anything from the cave?” Asher asked. “We may not get back here for a long while. Do you have any personal possessions?”

“Just a few things Grimora gave me.”

I’d had to flee my home and other than some old toys Grimora had made me years ago, his little chest and a few books, there wasn’t much here that I cared about. Still, it was hard to leave my memories behind, and I thought some of Grimora’s things might have some value.

I must have said some of that out loud, because Lex nodded. “I’ll obscure the entrance when we leave and make it impossible to find. I’ll send someone to come back later to go through the potions and elixirs he made.”

I packed a small bag with some books and a few of my old things, and we left the cave. Asher took my hand in his to lead me down the trail while Lex took the horses. Like I hadn’t been down the trail a million times before, but maybe they were afraid I’d make a break for it, even though I had nowhere to go. His hand was big and warm though, and it felt good in mine, so I allowed it. Not that I could have stopped him anyway. These Alphas were a law unto themselves and seemed to make things up as they went along.

When we reached the section of the beach where I’d made the funeral pyre, I pulled back, unable to go too close. I couldn’t bear to see what they were planning to do to his poor, blackened bones, and I began to shake and tremble the closer we got. I knew it was necessary, but knowing and watching it being done were two very different things.

So I sat on a rock nearby and gazed out to sea, while I heard them use rocks to break up the brittle bones and crush them into ashes. They probably used some magic to help, because it didn’t take too long. Asher came to ask me if I wanted his ashes in the sea and I just looked up at him helplessly. I thought that had been my plan, but it all seemed so long ago now.

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