Page 24 of Unexpected Alpha's Claim

Reaching the end of the hallway, I walked down the stairs, keeping one hand on the wall to steady myself. My heart was beating so fast it felt as if it was going to explode. I might have been well away from the library, but my mind was a different story. My thoughts were stuck in time, at the moment when I had finished reading that prophecy, when my eyes hadn’t been able to focus on what was in front of me. They were again stuck on that yellowed page. I remembered something my grandmother had said to me once.

“Our lives are written, pumpkin. You cannot change your fate.”

My sweet nana… Sophia Greenwell, the gracious old lady with her silver hair and a constant, broad smile. Truth be told, I hadn’t believed her, not even as a child. Like every other little girl, I was too busy worrying about my toys to pay attention to her words of wisdom. Later on, I’d decided that we were all responsible for our own fate. That it depended on the choices we made. Yet, this witch, this Penelope, had predicted Raul and I meeting. Falling for one another. How could I have ever imagined that some ancient witch would predict what I would do?

As I reached the bottom of the stairs the sounds of chatter met my ears. I slowed down, recognizing Erica and Stacy’s voices coming from a room to my left. The door was partially open, and I spotted Stacy standing in front of a bed and gesturing at Erica.

“There she is…” she said, her voice hardly audible as our eyes met in the dim illumination.

I walked in, feeling as if my entire world was crashing down around me. The weight of all that I had just learned was a crushing weight on my head and my heart. I didn’t have the space to try to explain all this to them, no matter how much I knew they would want to know and want to help.

“Girls, can you please give me the room?” I requested. “I’m sorry. I just need to be alone for a while.”

“We know,” Erica announced, leaning onto a dresser.

“You do?” I asked, looking between the two of them in surprise.

“Yeah,” she affirmed, pushing off and moving towards me. “We were just talking about all the craziness you’re in. Helenashowed us a book when we got here. I assume from how pale you are that she showed you too?”

“Pardon me for sidetracking but, getting here wasreallycool,” Stacy said, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “I mean, one minute we were in your living room, and the next, we were in thisamazingplace.”

“Helena really needs to work on her manners,” Erica groaned. “She showed up out of nowhere, wouldn’t give us her name and asked us to follow her. Who the hell does that?”

“A hundred-year-old witch,” I said, with a heavy sigh. “Did you read the book? Did you get to the best, or the worst, part? Because believe me, it gets better. According to some other witch, a man who can turn into a wolf falls hopelessly in love with me and I fall for him, too. And if I die before he does, he won’t be able to take the pain. He’ll fade away slowly like a flower without water.”

Tears pressed hard against the back of my eyes. The effort to hold them back gave me a pressure headache.

“Look, I’m not going to pretend I know how you feel. I don’t,” Erica said as I dropped onto the bed. “It’s obviously a very complicated situation, and…”

“Complicated?” I looked up at her, furrowing my brow. “No, Erica. This is not just complicated. It’s beyond everything I’ve known all my life. It’s the exact opposite of everything I’ve been taught. Witches? Men who can transform into animals? Wolves almost five feet tall at the shoulder? Prophecies?”

“Five?” she gasped, her eyes widening.

“Mon?” Stacy’s voice made me shift my attention to her. “I get it. All this is insane; I’m not going to argue that, but…” She paused and got down on her knees in front of me. “Do you like this guy?”

I hesitated. I didn’t want to say it because if I did that would make it real. Right now, it was only feelings in my chest and in my head. If I said it out loud, it felt like that would change. It would put it into the world. I would have to admit Penelope was right. And that carried a whole lot of baggage with it. I worked my mouth, trying to force myself to deny it but I couldn’t. The truth was too deep, too bold.

“Very much,” I admitted at last, nodding slowly. “Why? Does it make a difference?”

“Because that’s what you should focus on,” she said, tilting her head to the side. “If you didn’t, I’d tell you to get the hell out of here and never come back. So, what if he’s not entirely human? He’s been good to you, hasn’t he?”

“He’s beengreatto me,” I corrected, a small smile forming on my face as I thought of the heat between us and the way he’d protected me.

“What about the other thing?” She asked, her sly smile indicating what she meant.

“The verdict’s not in yet,” I laughed. Leave it to her to bring it down to its most basic simplicity. “I was trying to seduce him when we got interrupted by a couple of his kind. He is a great kisser, though.”

“Then, screw everything else and enjoy it,” Stacy said, offering me another piece of advice. “You need something good in your life, Monica. All you’ve had lately is misery and sadness. Aren’t you tired of that crap?”

“Yeah,” I agreed. And it was true. My life had been a shitshow for a while. I’d left the city to get a fresh start. My current situation sure as hell wasn’t even a glimmer of an idea when I’d moved, but there was no denying it was a new thing. As fresh as it could possibly be. Beyond imagining even. “You both know that’s true.”

“She forgot to mention how much he turns her on,” Erica teased, leaning over towards me. “Did you hear what she just said? Our girl was actually trying toseducesomeone, and those bastards wouldn’t let her.”

I stared at her for a long moment in stunned silence. All the stress, worry, and building pressure in my head suddenly broke and I burst into laughter. I laughed so hard it hurt, and I clutched my stomach. My dear friends joined in, cackling along with me and then they joined me on the bed and we tangled together. As the gales of laughter gave us relief, Erica set her hand on top of my head.

“I hate to repeat myself, but I’ll make an exception tonight,” she added, as she stroked my hair. “Go for it. Don’t let anything stop you from being happy. Not witches, not huge wolves, not prophecies… Nothing.”

I chose silence as I threw a sideways glance at her. I extended my arms, and I pulled them both in for a side hug. Their approaches were different. Stacy’s was more romantic and Erica’s was realistic, but nevertheless, they shared the same endgame. As usual, they were trying to help me see what was best. For me. Holding them both in my arms, I realized and accepted that they had a point. I had found someone who cared for me. Someone capable of awakening my senses and my sexual instincts alike. Someone who made me feel loved and cared for in a way that I’venever had before. It would have been an awful shame for me to let him and the possibilities to go to waste.

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