Page 14 of Resurrecting the Witch
He was already a full resident in Haven Pass and had been here since he was a pup, but he was the only alpha left of his pack and was raising his siblings, so it made sense for him to join us so we can help him with different things as they came up. We’d all been here varying amounts of time, we’ve already seen some alphas come and go, but we seemed to need the connection more than some of the others.
I didn’t mind so much; it was nice to form a bond with them I hadn’t felt since my first life.
“I haven’t told her all the details yet, but it was fine,” I admitted. “The food at your restaurant was delicious, brother. I meant to tell you.”
He gave a small nod, and I didn’t miss the way his mouth quirked up at the praise.
“I’ll tell her more of the particulars soon, but it didn’t seem like proper first date conversation.” I also didn’t want to freak her out. She probably didn’t want someone who was dead the last few hundred years as a mate.
Or someone who didn’t sleep and needed to hunt and eat an animal brain every full moon.
“She’s the damned founder of this sanctuary, bro. I’m pretty sure she’s seen or heard of shit way weirder,” Arch said.
The bastard read my thoughts despite my shields being up and I glared at him at the invasion. He had the confidence, in my experience, only a vampire could muster. If you had to feed on other’s blood to live, you had to be charismatic in ways most people weren’t, especially if you lived here and needed explicit consent and had a tracker on your mental magick that made it impossible for you to control anyone without alerting every authority on the island. Apparently, it didn’t stretch to reading other people’s thoughts though since he kept worming his way into mine whenever the bastard felt like it.
“I need to prove to her I can take care of her before I tell her I have a hunger for brains. Also, would you think someone who was dead until last year could provide for you?” I asked the circle and received a bunch of nods in return. This was my biggest fear, that she’d think I wasn’t worthy of her because I was still learning about this new time. “I know I can take care of her; I would do anything for my mate, Iwilldo anything for Cliona. She is mine. But she doesn’t know that yet. She seemed nervous to date and like she didn’t really want to be there.” I had learned over the last few months to show my true feelings in this group, and it hadn’t led me astray so far. In fact, since I shared more, I had built a small brotherhood of my own that felt stronger than from my own time. I met Arch’s black eyes across the circle, and he gave me a sympathetic look in return, accepting my worry without berating me for it.
“What if she didn’t need to be taken care of? What if she could take care of you?” Dr. Luna asked.
Everyone boomed in laughter at the thought, me included. I laughed so hard and felt Grom’s big orc hand slap against my back at the joke.
“Please, good doctor,” Grom said while wiping tears from his green face that was several shades darker than normal from all the emotion. “Like an alpha, especially a warrior from Lady Orla’s own force, wouldneedto be taken care of. You are a riot.” He slapped Dr. Luna on the back as well since he sat between us, and the poor bloke’s shoulder looked like it might dislocate.
I flinched at the mention of my previous mistress, something I knew I’d have to tell Cliona about eventually. The thought of that vile female tainting my mate’s world filled me with rage that was hard to control.
“I forget who I’m with sometimes.” Dr. Luna offered us a small smile and continued as we settled down. “I know how this group is, but what has some of our homework taught us about letting others help us? This island isn’t run like anything from thesídherealm, or like Lady Orla’s forces.” The doc gave me a pointed look. He knew about my and Lady Orla’s horrid past and that she might have had something to do with my waking up in the first place. I cringed at the thought of her vileness infecting Haven Pass, or of the thought my brothers could still be trapped with her. “Or an orc mountain with clan rivalries.” Another pointed look to Grom. “Or a vampire coven that lures in humans for food.” He pointedly looked at Arch, and Lavinia laughed. “You need to remember this island is a sanctuary, not a place to exert your dominance or assume folks hereneedto be taken care of.”
“There are plenty of ways to exert dominance that don’t involve being a brute,” Lavinia added. She might be the only female alpha in our group, but she was worse than all of us with her need to control a situation.
“Yes, we get it, you are a proper female and above us all,Vinni,” Arch said, looking into her eyes in a challenge where most of her power was held.
The outer green of her irises that told the world she was in control of her stare turned quick to a deep bloodred that warned anyone she was about to lose control of her snakes. Arch wasn’t threatened by the display, he only smirked in the way I knew she hated. I looked at Dominic who shook his head at the exchange.
“Say that again, blood-sucking beast,” Lavinia said between her clenched teeth that gave away her rage away even if her eye color hadn’t already done so.
“Lavinia,” Dr. Luna commanded in a voice that made me question if he didn’t have a bit of alpha in him himself.
She blinked away from Arch’s gaze and her eyes were immediately green again. She was getting better at her control; her power was something immense I don’t think any of us fully understood.
“Don’t lose control because some dickweed makes a bad joke.”
“Who are you calling a dickweed?” Arch asked the doc while Grom laughed again and called Arch a dickweed under his own breath.
“That was impressive how quick you turned it off like that,” I offered Lavinia.
This is where fae alphas tended to differ from others. We didn’t just dominate or put others down to show our strength, we lifted our brothers up, so we all succeeded.
Or at least worthy fae did.
“Regardless.” I tensed at the deep voice on the other side of the circle as far away from me as he could get. “It sounds like you haven’t fully made your claim on her. Maybe she would like a real fae who wasn’t already killed to show her the strength she could depend on.”
“Warren,” Dr. Luna interjected before I had a chance.
I bared my teeth at Warren, the only other fae in this Alpha Group and one of the few I had met since moving here. He was also the only person on this island I truly hated from the moment I met him. Something was off with him, and I couldn’t place what it was that kept me on edge. Generally speaking I was a male that got along with most, but Warren’s entire essence rubbed me wrong.
“I’m simply stating fact,” he replied without taking his brown eyes away from me.
His bright red hair was down in loose waves that hung near his shoulders and I wanted to rip it from his scalp until he begged for mercy for daring to make a claim on Cliona before I’d even fully offered myself to her.
