Alpha of Alphas - The Lycan's Impossible Mate
Chapter 3

You can’t avoid werewolves when you're a witch. From a young age, they teach us to hate and fearthem, but what they don't tell you is how to handle it when you are fated to one. I can't be the firstwitch this has happened to. There must be some kind of record out there somewhere. Maybethere's a spell I can use that will break this bond thing between us...something that will spare usboth.

I don't go back to my aunt's flat. Instead, I run from the building, ignoring the waiting elevator,running down the five flights of stairs, and breathless I sprint out onto the beach. Taking my sandalsoff mid-run, I dash into the surf and dive into the freezing water, trying my best to get the image ofKane out of my head. I want to wash the way he makes me feel out of my body.

I come up for air, dive under a wave, and keep swimming. There must be something. Something.Anything. My mind is reeling, going over a thousand spells I've memorised over the years. I know afew that can kill werewolves, one that will interrupt their shift or trap them in their human form, anda particularly brutal spell that will rip the wolf from his body. Maybe that one will work. Nowerewolf, no mate bond right?

My limbs are numb from the cold, and my chest aches. I turn around to swim back and my heartsinks. I am too far out. How did I get this deep so fast? Did I swim this far without knowing it? Howis that possible? As if to answer me, a wave lifts me and carries me towards the beach, but almostimmediately a current pulls me back out, deeper into the ocean. I swim forward, trying to pullmyself out, but can't.

Shit.

Nevermind Kane. I'm going to die tonight. That will solve all my problems. I forget everything Iknow as the panic grips me. I forget the lessons Aunt Mildred taught me about how to swim out ofa rip current. I forget every magic spell I've ever learned — not that I think I can magic my way out ofthis one.

I flip onto my back and stare up into the night sky. Maybe, if I'm lucky, a shark will eat me and it willbe over quickly. I've always feared drowning. But this is what I get. It's karma coming to bite me inthe ass.

I have almost made peace with the fact that this is my end, when Kane breathes next to me. “Whatare you doing?”

Surprised, I turn my head to look at him and sink under the surface, I inhale and swallow about agallon of saltwater, before I feel something tugging on my ponytail, dragging me back to thesurface. Spluttering and wheezing, terrified, and panicking, I wrap my arms around his neck.Pressing myself against his warm body, I tentacle my legs around his waist. “Stop it,” he commands.“You'll drown us both.”

His warning doesn't sink in. If I let him go, I'll drown. Why does he want me to let go? Does he wantme to die? Does he hate the idea of me that much? I just hold on tighter, still trying to cough waterout of my lungs.

“Willow!” he barks. “I'll get you out, but you have to let go.”

Finally, my mind clears and the more rational part of my brain kicks in. He wouldn't have taken thetime to swim all the way out here if he wanted me to drown. I relax my death grip on his neck, andlet go of his waist. “Sorry,” I wheeze. “I can swim. You just startled me.”

"You are already tired and too far out to swim back. Didn't you hear me calling to you?”

“No,” I say through gasps of air.

"Okay, come on, we are going sideways, out of the rip current.”

He puts his arm over my chest and flips onto his back, bringing me with him. I lie back with my headon his shoulder. Closing my eyes, I feel myself relax. I let him swim me out of the current, giving metime to catch my breath. Halfway back to the beach, I try to stop him. “I can swim from here.”

He either doesn't hear, or doesn't care, he just keeps swimming. When I try to slip free of his grip,he tightens his hold on me. “Quit it,” he growls.

Giving it up as a futile fight, I watch the stars glide by, enjoying the way the cold water washes overme, the enjoyable difference between his unnaturally warm body and the freezing ocean. I can getused to this, I really can. I can imagine my life with him. No worries, no pain or fear, no littlefledglings crying out in the night. I shudder, and he loses his grip. I take the chance to break awayfrom him.

It's a fool's fantasy anyway. He doesn't want me, and even if he did...no one’s life is ever free ofconcern and sadness. No one is ever truly happy.

He doesn't try to stop me this time, but he stays by my side, even though he’s a much strongerswimmer, until the waves spit us back out on the beach. I fall on the soft sand, rolling over, staringup at the black sky.

Kane kneels next to me, a frown between his eyes, disapproval on his face. He rakes his fingersthrough his wet hair, smoothing it out of his face, and looking for all he's worth like a model in acologne advertisement. “That was stupid Willow.”

“No one asked you to interfere.”

“You would have drowned if I didn't. What were you doing, just floating there? You were almost outin the open ocean. You're lucky I saw you.”

"Why do you care?”

"You're my..." he bites off his words. “You know, most people are grateful after someone saves theirlife.”

“I wasn't dying.”

"Fuck, you're stubborn,” he swears and gets up.

He starts gathering his scattered clothes, looks at me, opens his mouth as if to say something, thenshakes his head, and pulls his trousers on over his wet boxer briefs. He's a remarkable sight. A godof a man. Every perfectly cut muscle glimmers enticingly in the moonlight.

He leaves me on the beach and starts trudging back up to the complex. I roll over onto my stomachand push myself onto all fours. Even though it's right on the edge of the beach, the penthouseseems very far away, and I am exhausted. My lungs burn from the inhaled seawater, and my limbsare led-heavy.

Halfway up the beach, Kane stops, drops his head as if considering something, sighs, and turnsback. “Come on,” he says, “upsy daisy.” With one fluid movement, he scoops me into his arms like aproper movie-perfect hero.

Where does he get the energy and strength from? I know werewolves have remarkable stamina, buteven he has to be tired after that swim. “I can walk,” I mumble defiantly. “I just need to catch mybreath.”

He snorts loudly and keeps going, carrying me up the beach, not saying a word until he deposits meback in front of Aunt Mildred's apartment. “Lock your door,” he says, “it's generally safe here, but...you never know.”

He's thinking about my aunt's killer. “Sure.”

“I have good hearing, if you're in trouble--"

“I'm not your concern, Kane. You said so.”

“It doesn't mean I want you to die...if you die it would--"

“Oh right, hurt you. That's what it's all about, right? You and your fragile feelings.”

“No, I really--"

I step inside the pink palace and slam the door in his face before he can finish his sentence, makingsure to lock the door behind me.

Tired as I am, I go to Aunt Mildred’s magic room before I go to bed. I root around her baskets ofcrystals, talismans, and potions until I replace what I'm looking for. Silver. A lot of it. My aunt didn’ttrust the wolves after all. I can feel the magic she cast on the various silver items.

Picking up a long, thick silver chain, I go to the guestroom. I just don't feel right sleeping in her bed,and wrap the chain around the doorknob, before locking this door too.

The silver, combined with the magic, creates an effective shield against the wolves. I don't know if itwill work against a shifter as strong as Kane, but he's not the one that scares me. Without botheringto change out of my wet dress, I stumble to the bed and crash on it.

I didn't just come here for my inheritance. I don't need it. I came to replace out what happened to myaunt, and now that I know she was murdered, as I suspected all along, I plan on tracking down herkiller...and when I replace him, he will pay for what he'd done.