Page 50 of Her Destined Alpha
“It’s a locating spell... they’re looking for me,” I said quietly, glancing up at the cloudy night sky.
“You mean they’re coming?” he asked. I nodded, making sure to keep my face passive, my heart clenching painfully.
“It’s a powerful spell, and as I’m hiding myself… it’s hard for them to locate me. They will track this mark. It pinpoints me and is kind of like a loophole to the spell that I’ve used. Give it a week at most before they find me. You should go, Rayhan… because when they do come, they won’t spare you.”
Our eyes met, and I knew that, despite everything, I didn’t want him to get hurt because of me. I owedhim that much.
“Walk away, Rayhan. Go home.” I turned away. I needed to run… again. His following words made me freeze.
“I am home. Wherever you are, Kitten, that’s my home.”
A Touch of Lipstick
Rayhan
We had gotten home, showered, and were sitting with fresh mugs of coffee made by my kitten and some store-bought brownies that were lying around.
The spell had shaken her. I had seen the fear and despair in her eyes and the way that flicker of hope had faded from them. We were sitting on the rug in front of the fireplace, our mugs in hand. The smell was welcoming, mixed with hers that I had become so used to…
“So, you really want to know?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure I’ve been clear enough,” I said, tilting my head as I looked at her.
The black top she wore was clingy, and I was trying my best not to focus on the fact she was not wearing a bra, the fabric clinging to her boobs. Paired with leggings, the full black outfit made her look even smaller than usual.
She nodded and took a deep breath.
“I was an illegitimate child born of an affair or something. I have never known my birth mother. She left me on my father’s doorstep when I was a baby. All I know is that from the start, I was called the daughter of darkness. Maybe my mother was a dark witch, I don’t know, but I disgusted everyone. My own so-called family treated me poorly. I can’t really blame my stepmother; knowing her husband had had an affair, I was that horrible reminder.
“The Coven sealed most of my powers, considering me a danger… One of the high witches of the Coven in Salem made sure I learned to read and write. She was probably one of the rare ones who treated me well, but when we moved to England, there was no one to watch how my family treated me. They stopped my studies and pushed me into cooking and cleaning. My elder half-sister and stepbrother made it a daily pastime to bully me…”
I listened to her speak about her past in an emotionless voice, as if she was immune to these memories. Her gaze was fixed on her mug as she took a deep, shuddering breath and continued.
“When I was thirteen, I was sold to a warden.” A warden is a male born of a witch mother. So, her family sold her? “He was trying to revive his dead wife. Being a dark witch, necromancy is a strong point, but if you aren’t trained, things can go terribly wrong. I practised many dark spells, he even brought sacrifices to use… after all, every life cost another…” The pain and guilt in her eyes made my heart clench. She had been a child forced to commit crimes against her own will. Yet they called her darkness.
“I ended up killing him and reviving some sort of monster. I don’t know if it had any essence of his wife left… but… I’d had to kill it too. I escaped from there, and it was shortly after that when Endora found me.” From one abuser to the next. She had been through way too much shit. It was time she actually got to live her life…
“You’ve been through a lot,” I said quietly.
“Well, after hearing what else I have to say, I’m sure any sympathy you feel for me will be gone,” she said with a more sardonic smile.
“Try me,” I challenged, taking a sip of my coffee. She had magic in her hands, no pun intended. The coffee tasted so damn good.
“You know how you keep saying that if it weren’t for my help, Endora would have done much worse?”
“Hmm.” I nodded
“Well, I’m the one who gave Endora the power she had. I contacted the witches of the past. She wanted access to some dark magic, magic that I now know how to use. She would force me until I reached my limits, I wasn’t allowed to stop until I had retrieved the answers she sought. See this hair? I was born with brown hair. She started pulling on my life force for some of the spells, and this is the result. Her greed for dark magic and power drove her humanity from her…” She shivered and took a deep breath.
“Sadly, apart from what I was taught as a child, everything else I’ve been taught was dark magic. I guess I really am the daughter of darkness… and now it seems the Coven wants me. Probably to punish me, to get the spells from me or to use me. God knows.” Her voice was pained, despite how much she tried to hide it. Her face held bitterness. Her mug rested on her knee as she drew shapes distractedly in the rug fur with her other hand.
“She tortured you and forced you to perform those spells for her. I don’t see how you can even be blamed for that. Let alone hold that against yourself,” I said, reaching over. I ran my fingers through her damp white hair. “You should never have gone through any of that. I promise you, from now on, you’re not alone. You don’t need to accept me as your mate, but as a friend, I am not letting anything happen to you. We will get through this one way or another.”
Our eyes met, and I saw the storm of emotions in hers. My hand was still threaded in her hair until she reached up and slowly moved it away.
“I don’t want to give you false hopes,” she whispered, looking down.
I knew what she meant; the chance that she’d never be able to accept me. I didn’t believe that, though. She may not have realised it, but she was already letting me in. She didn’t get repulsed at my touch. She was opening up to me. I didn’t care how long it would take, I’d wait. Even if it was so goddamn hard.
