Page 64 of The Alpha's Forced Bullied Mate

Once the pot was really boiling, Faye added two red rose petals and watched as the petals buoyed on the surface of the water. Within seconds, the pedals were sucked down into the center by a vortex. The water turned a rich forest green and then darkened to obsidian. It looks like mud or some kind of peat. I stared at the concoction, feeling like something was going wrong.

I touched Faye’s shoulder. “Do you feel that?”

She shuddered. “I don't like the look of those clouds.”

I moved my hand to her upper back to rub the area. “It’s okay if you’re nervous about this.”

“It's not me, I swear.” She held her hands over the pot, searching the thick fluid for something. “It feels like someone's trying to interfere.”

I tried to figure out what she meant by looking into the pot, but I couldn't see anything. I wasn't even sure how this was supposed to look. “How can you tell?”

“It just feels like something's wrong. Do you feel that?”

I nodded solemnly. “Do you think someone's trying to mess with us?”

“I don't know. I don't know anybody else who knows magic like this. It feels stronger, like it's perverted somehow,” she cringed while holding her temples as she cowered into herself and stumbled back. “Ow, my head…”

I caught her by the waist. “What's going on? Are you okay?”

She cried out as she buried her face in my chest. “It feels like there's an ice pick going through my head. Oh, Goddess, make itstop!”

I pushed her hair out of her face, trying to look into her eyes. “Is it a headache? What is it? Is it the magic?”

Tears flooded the edges of her eyes as she scrunched up her features. “No, stop talking. Don’t show me that. Not my baby!”

Her teeth chattered as her skin turned so pale it was practically translucent. Shadows grew around us, gaping faces, hollow eyes—the demons were here.

The demons were trying to interfere.

I shook my mate. “Faye,Faye!”

Her eyelids shot open, revealing cloudy white eyes and a blank expression with a grin that bordered on sinister. There was no trace of color in her. It was like there was a sheer white curtain hanging over the irises and pupils. “You'll never have me.”

I squeezed her shoulders. “What are you talking about?”

Her voice split off in different directions, going high and going low at the same time. More shadows grew, engulfing us, a hurricane of dreadful faces I didn’t want to describe. “You'll never have me because it's not meant to be.”

I squeezed her shoulders again, giving her a quick shake. “Snap out of it, Faye.”

Something had gone terribly wrong with the ritual. Above us, the barrier had broken, invisible holes allowing these wretched creatures into our space. As they swirled around us, her hair began to float. It was a lot like that hurricane she made in my living room.

Was she possessed? Did she have a secret dark side that hated me? Feeling helpless, I tried to crush her into a hug, tried to soothe her, rub her back, and run my fingers through her hair. I tried my best to ground her, to keep her in this dimension and on this earth.

“Whatever's going on, just fight it, okay?” I ran my fingers through her hair. “Fight it, Faye. Fight it because I love you—and I know you love me, too.”

She gasped while she dug her fingers into my chest. “No, it can’t… Hector, I'm trying. I can’t fight this!”

“Yes, you can!” I embraced her, closing my eyes while using my alpha connection to tap into our bond—and then I released the valve that had been holding everything back. “You can because you’re my mate. You can because you want to. I believe in you.”

She whimpered. Despite the horrifying sound of the wind whipping around us, I heard that shaky whimper. It broke my heart to hear her nervously admit, “I’ll fail…”

I hugged her fiercely. “You’ll never fail at loving me. I promise.”

It felt like we stood there for ages. I kept hanging onto her, kept her in my arms, kept her wrapped up as much as I could. I protected her from the whirling storm, the sea of faces. Though they never lashed out at us physically, I could tell by the radiant tide of sinister smiles that they were doing something to her mentally.

She went quiet, so I stepped away to check her face. Another sinister smile. Her eyes were still glossed over. I gritted my teeth and crushed her into another hug.

“You’ll never have her,” I boomed at the demons surrounding us, “because you’ll never love her like I do!”

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