Page 24 of Pitch a Witch
The Alpha’s stillness was unnatural.
Predatory.
“The strength of the magic in the Byrne bloodline apparently comes from generations of deals between my ancestors and some of the fallen. I don’t think there are soul contracts involved, or Danika couldn’t make one with Leviathan when I was born … I think. That last part is speculation, so don’t take my word for it.” My teeth rasped over my lower lip. “Add that to our inherited ancestral magic and you have Danika—a powerhouse on two legs with no one capable of standing against her apart from a celestial being.”
Alex whistled low, his gaze as wide as I’d ever seen it. “No wonder she wanted you hidden from magic as long as she could.”
“That’s not why she turned me into a dud.” It would’ve been comical to see his eyebrows climb as high as they did, but there was no humor left in me. “Apparently, my mother flipped Danika off and fell in love with my father. That’s what complicated things, and baby Hazel couldn’t contain the magic, so it had to be sealed. According to Danika”—I took a deep breath and exhaled with a loud huff—“he was, or is, a Fae.”
Alex barked out a surprised laugh that sounded like it was more out of shock than anything else. “Now, that makes perfect sense.” Shaking his head, he stabbed his fingers through his hair in bewilderment. “I should’ve guessed that some Fae magic was involved.”
“You’re not upset?” The Fae were nobody’s favorite. They were cunning, selfish, and cruel beyond belief when something stood between them and what they felt entitled to. Or so I’d heard. I’d never met one.
“With you? No.” Alex kept shaking his head, making the waves of his hair dance on top of it. “Fae magic is closest to nature, so it’s raw and wild. Unpredictable and instinctual. Just like our wolves. No wonder you felt like a kindred spirit from the start and we accepted you as pack. Although we are removed for many centuries, wolf shifters are descendants from wargs, which are Fae.”
“I didn’t know.” It was my turn to be gobsmacked.
“This was extremely helpful.” Excitement shone in his mismatched gaze, and for the first time since I walked into his office that morning, he genuinely smiled. “Nature is chaotic and volatile, but that is something I do understand—unlike witch magic. We know what we are dealing with now, so it’ll be easier to help you learn how to control it.”
“Really?” His enthusiasm was addictive, and hope bloomed in my chest. “But the book is still blank, the useless thing. We have no idea where to start.”
“Amber showed you how to control your emotions already. We start from the beginning.” Gulping the entire contents in his mammoth mug, he plonked it down and stood. “Practice between us is long overdue, Hazel. I hope you are ready.”
The feral baring of teeth he gave me looked ecstatic, but it did not promise fun times for me.
At all.
“You should grab another coffee maybe? You did say you were tired.” I rushed to get my dumb ass out of training with the Alpha. “Your shirt is inside out, too. Go change it.”
Alex kept eye contact as he ripped the t-shirt over his head and tossed it in my face. It smacked me on the nose, and I scrambled to catch it as he prowled out of the office.
“Let’s see what you’ve got, witch.” The Alpha’s dark chuckle sent a chill down my spine.
16
“This is not funny.” My grumbling was not doing me any favors.
Alex refused to allow me to hide inside the separate building the pack had specifically designed for training. Instead, he waited with the SUV running until I joined him, then drove us to an open patch of land surrounded by a dense forest in the middle of nowhere. No amount of dragging ass helped when I followed him, and I even ground my teeth at the extra pep in his step.
“It’s not meant to be,” the Alpha pointed out as he circled me.
“I’m not even dressed for training.” Counting on his dislike when I spoke about designer clothing, I hurried to make my argument. “At the rate I’m going, I’ll be broke by the end of the week if I keep messing up all my outfits, Alex. Do you know how much these pants and blouse cost? Do you?”
“Oh, in that case.” The stalking stopped, and he straightened. I breathed a sigh of relief. “By all means, let’s go back so we can give the demons, the vampires, and the Blackwood pack a call to make sure they let you know when they are planning on attacking you. We don’t want you wearing something you are not comfortable fighting in. They should know that if your outfit is expensive, it’s a no-go.”
I glared, unimpressed. “You are hilarious.”
“I know.”
That was all the warning I got.
In a pulse of magic, he exploded with a ripple in the air, and instead of the man, a gigantic gray wolf bared his elongated canines at me. With a yelp, I jumped back, and I could’ve sworn the animal smirked at me. Easily at seven feet tall if he stood on his hind legs, Alex in his animal form was roughly two hundred and fifty pounds of muscle and bigger than any natural wolf could ever be. Shaggy, coarse fur rustled when he shook himself, and my heart skipped a beat the moment his massive head lowered, and his ears pinned to the back of his skull.
“Umm, easy now, big guy, mm-kay,” I blabbered, nervous as hell. “You said we’d start from the beginning.”
With a shrill scream, I threw myself to the side, rolled roughly for a few feet, and scrambled on my knees when he pounced. My arms and palms ended up all scratched up from twigs and sharp rocks that did their best to split my skin, the bastards. His reputation aside, I had no problem physically fighting Alex. My issue was I didn’t want to hurt the Alpha if the cursed magic decided it would be a fun thing to try and fry us a wolf. I had to look Amber in the eye eventually, and that was news I never wanted to pass my lips for as long as I lived. Shifters might be tough, but demons were stronger, and I had quite a few kills under my belt when I’d still been a dud.
“I’m not going to fight you, Alex.” Snorting air through my nose, I hissed at him. “This was not the plan. I could hurt you.”
