Page 24 of Betrayed Alpha Mate

No.

My magic can’t be tied to him this way.

Sniffing back the tears and tilting my chin up, I take a deep breath and then curl and uncurl my hands. Straightening my fingers out, I point my palms at the rug, mustering up all my mental strength to wield even a flicker of magic. An electric buzz sizzles in my palms, but it cuts off like a dying flame as quickly as it began, and my heart sinks with dread.

My magic only responds to Sean, but I refuse to give him that much power. I refuse to be bound to him like this, and I need to find another way to bring my powers out.

I have to call on my friends—my sisters—to start training without Sean’s help. That’s the only purpose of this mate bond with him: to get my powers to work.

Grabbing the apple, I take a huge bite, crunching the juiciness and making another firm decision to not let Sean get to me. I guess it’s something I’ll have to affirm to myself every day, but it’ll be worth it in the end.

My destiny is to be a witch and take down Merlin Grimes with my sisters, and I won’t let Sean ruin that for me.

That’s all he does—ruin my life. But I won’t let it happen a second time.

Chapter 7 - Sean

“I didn’t think she’d hop into training so soon,” Hunter voices as he stares through the window with a frown.

“Yeah, neither did I,” I say with a shrug, grabbing an apple from the basket and then stopping when I remember what happened two days ago.

I glance at the opposite side of the kitchen table, the memory still fresh in my mind of when Emily refused to have breakfast, her stubbornness shining through any act of kindness I attempted, and she’d grabbed an apple, too. She’d been so set on walking away from breakfast even though she was hungry, and in her haste, she tripped over her own feet.

I can still smell her scent as if she’s standing in front of me, the sweet notes of jasmine clinging to my airways as if that’s the only breath that gives me life. I’ve become so distracted by her that I find myself at home more than I am at the office, my life as a werewolf, as the alpha, taking precedence in my life.

It’s not a bad thing, considering my father offered to run the business for me while I’m supposed to be “honeymooning.” A sarcastic chuckle escapes my lips, prompting Hunter to turn from the window and frown at me.

“What’s up, dude?” he asks, watching me keenly as I make my way toward him.

I bite into the apple, staring out the window and watching Emily, Arianna, and Delilah chat underneath the patio, sipping their mugs of tea. It’s not any ordinary tea, but some special mixture of herbs and spices brewed over three hours, meant to allow them to tap further into their powers.

Powers that Emily refuses to use while I’m anywhere near her, even though the binding spell dictates that her magic is now linked to me.

“Nothing,” I reply nonchalantly as I chomp on my apple, turning to Hunter. “Why would anything be wrong?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugs. “You just haven’t seemed like yourself ever since—”

“The mating ceremony?” I grin, sending a playful jab into his arm. “Of course, I wouldn’t be myself, Hunter. I just got buckled.”

Hunter doesn’t buy my sideways smile, his eyes narrowing skeptically. “And? How do you feel about that?”

I snigger as I glance back to the window, watching as the witches rise and hold hands in a circle. “How am I supposed to feel? I’m in a fake marriage with one of our closest friends, and she doesn’t see me as more than the alpha of her pack.”

“Do you want her to see you as more?”

I turn back to him when he asks that question, a frown tugging at my brows. “No,” I lie. “Why would I want that?”

“You don’t have to hide it, Sean. I was in the same boat. I know what it’s like to pretend. It eats you up inside.”

“It’s not the same, Hunter. You and D were fated mates. Emily and I are not.” Another lie, but the history we share has been a secret all along. Perhaps mostly because I’m ashamed of what I did to Emily, and I’m too much of a coward to tell my friends that I was an asshole to her.

“Well, you might as well be fated mates. Delilah explained what the lunar binding spell is all about, and it sounds pretty intense.”

“It sure feels intense,” I sigh as I look at him with a nervous half-smile. “I just have to keep reminding myself that it’s not real. It’s not a fated mate bond. Soon, she’ll get her powers, the dark lord will be defeated, and we’ll figure out how to break the spell.”

“And until then, you need to be close to her, or her magic won’t work.” He nods to the window, and I look out again, only to see what he means.

Emily is struggling, frustration contorting her face as she attempts to broaden the golden sparks in her fingertips, and fails.