Chapter 3 : Battle in the Woods

Ferrah

Alpha King Onyx Hale was the source of the pull that had lured me through the early morning light into the deep forest. The feeling in my chest was bubbly and pleasant and I hated it. It was the same feeling I had when I was a young girl and the boy I liked smiled at me, but this was much more powerful.

This was undeniable and no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t will it away.

The Alpha King was standing there in front of me and I was frozen in one spot and staring at him like a starstruck fool.

I wanted to lash out and attack him. This was the first time I had been face to face with him since he killed my family. Plus he was alone, there were no guards to get in my way. It was almost unheard of for him to travel without at least his beta by his side. This was the best chance to kill him that I was ever going to have.

But I couldn’t move.

My mind couldn’t accept what was happening right now and as I struggled within myself to understand what I was feeling, I was unable to make my body respond.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his handsome face as he stared at me in surprise. He clearly hadn’t heard me coming until I stepped into the clearing. Part of me was pleased that I had managed to sneak up on him, but that was a very far away thought right now.

My heart was racing in anticipation and my face felt warm as I stood there looking at the man that I was supposed to hate. But I couldn’t deny what I was feeling. The pull that had brought me to this spot was stronger than ever and it was coming from him—or more accurately, it was leading to him.

Of course, I knew about the concept of mates. They were all too common with wolves and seemed to be the only way that they formed romantic pairings. I had heard that some witches experience the strange phenomena, but it wasn’t common at all.

It was a magical magnetism that created unbreakable emotional bonds between witches. As far as I knew, an instance of mates hadn’t been recorded in any coven for centuries. This just wasn’t something that happened to us.

Most witches thought that it was nothing but a fairytale.

How could this be happening to me?

Why, when all I had wanted for half of my life was to kill this man, was I feeling this warm, gentle sensation in my chest as I looked at him?

It wasn’t possible. I couldn’t have a fated mate, especially not the Alpha King. The fates couldn’t be that cruel, could they?

I closed my eyes tightly and took a deep breath.

It was hard to look at him. I couldn’t forget what he did to my coven. He killed everyone that was precious to me. I knew his eyes better than anything because they had haunted my dreams every night since that horrible day.

They were exactly the same as he stood there before me now as they had been all those years ago. There was no mistaking that he was the man responsible for all of the pain and loss I had been forced to endure.

This pull inside of me was a lie. It was some kind of trick, it had to be. There was no other possible explanation.

My eyes flew open and fixed on his. Those were the eyes of a killer and I would never forget it.

I lifted my hand and performed a quick series of hand motions, then sent a blast of magical energy directly at his head. The white hot blast was on track to strike directly between his eyes.

His gaze went wide as he saw the blast and he dodged just in time. The energy smashed into a tree behind him and left a smoldering, blackened circle on the bark.

I didn’t give him a chance to counterattack. I threw a volley of blasts at him and let out a scream of rage. All of the hatred and grief I had carried with me was pouring out of my hands.

The magic slammed into the forest floor and nearby trees as he dodged. The silent forest was filled with the sound of explosions.

I wouldn’t let this chance slip through my fingers. He had hurt so many people and he had to pay for it. The bloodshed wouldn’t stop until he was dead.

He dodged my blasts like it was child’s play and my anger grew stronger each time I missed. I ran toward him with my right hand outstretched. I spoke a quick spell that brought a magical blade into existence and slashed at him.

He swayed out of reach of the blade and I backed him into a large tree. I swung back and put all of my strength into my next slash, intending to finish him in one powerful blow. But instead, he dropped to the ground and in an instant he had transformed into his wolf form.

The blade connected with the tree and cut a deep notch through the trunk.

I glared into his eyes, which were the same in his human form.

My anger was only growing as he thwarted my attempts to cause him even a fraction of the pain that he had caused me. He was a coward, running away from my attacks without making any attempt to fight back.

Finally, he lunged forward and snapped his jaws at my wrist. I released my grip on the sword and it dissipated in a flash of light as it fell.

I was unphased by the loss of the weapon. It clearly wasn’t the right method of attack against him. He was too fast to be hit by a bladed weapon.

I took advantage of his proximity and held my palms out towards him. I sent raw magical energy shooting towards him in a bolt, but he managed to roll out of the way just in time. The singed patch of ground where he had been standing spoke to the power of the blast. If I could just hit him, I could end him. I just couldn’t pin him down, though.

He was just too fast.

I yelled in frustration and sent several more blasts after him. I was getting sloppy as I got angrier, but I couldn’t help it. My emotions were running too hot for me to focus like I should. This damned magnetic pull in my chest was making it impossible to focus on the task at hand.

I couldn’t lose, not after everything I had endured to prepare for this day. I would not lose to him.

I clenched my fist in front of me and started to recite a spell. My voice was loud and unwavering, despite how erratically my heart was beating. I felt the magic flow through me as the spell took effect. The skin on my right hand felt like it was burning, but I didn’t stop. I was building up a powerful attack that would kill him in a single blow. All I had to do was hit him.

He was a few yards away, sizing me up. I was standing still and that made me an easy target for him. I hoped that the temptation of attacking while my guard was down would be enough to lure him in close.

He was clearly wary of what I was doing. His eyes kept darting between my hands, which were crackling with energy, and my eyes. But he wasn’t able to resist the opening I had given him.

Just like I hoped.

He launched himself at me and I raised my hands and released the spell.

I smiled. My aim was true, there was no way he could dodge me in midair.

This was it, I had him.

I watched intently as the blast of the spell flew toward him. To my horror, he twisted himself in mid-air, shifted into his human form, and dodged the blast.

Before I could react he had landed and slammed into me.

We fell to the ground and I shoved at him with all of my strength. He grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head. I thrashed beneath him.

“Get your hands off me!” I yelled.

But it was no use.

I couldn’t get free no matter how hard I pulled. My wrists were bruising from his grip and he didn’t seem to be putting any effort into holding me. I screamed as loud as I could and put every bit of strength I had into trying to free my wrists.

Until he leaned close to my ear and snarled, “Stop it!”

I collapsed back and lay still beneath him. The only sound between us was our heavy breathing. I was glad that I had at least winded him, but it didn’t ease the disappointment and grief that my failure to defeat him caused.

I closed my eyes tightly and did my best not to cry. I let my parents down. I let my coven down. All of my training was for nothing.

I didn’t want to open my eyes. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing how miserable I was. I knew that he was about to kill me, and I did my best to remain silent as I waited for the blow to come.

I don’t know how much time passed before I realized that he wasn’t going to do anything. Our breathing had calmed and the weight of his body above mine had become almost comfortable.

My heart was still beating quickly, but I knew that was because of his proximity.

Against my better judgment, I opened my eyes and gazed up at him. He was staring back at me and his expression was impossible to read.

All of the anger that I had for him was there, but it was muffled by the pull as it reasserted itself over me. The warmth that flowed through me as I looked into his eyes made me feel sick. I was disgusted with myself for feeling any sort of soft emotions toward this monster.

I pulled lightly at my wrists, but he made no move to release me. His eyes were still locked on mine as he hovered above me.

Was he feeling this pull, too?

The idea horrified me. He should have killed me by now, but he hadn’t. Why? Did he have something much worse in store for me?

As disgusted as I was by this betrayal of my own body, I could only imagine that if the Alpha King was feeling the same pull toward a witch, he would be insulted and enraged.

He hated witches more than anything, that’s why he was determined to wipe us out. At the rate he was going, he would succeed in that goal.

So, why was he just holding me down and staring at me?

I wanted to ask him, but I couldn’t speak. I knew he wouldn’t answer me anyway.

I couldn’t stop looking at him. I couldn’t deny the way my body was reacting to him. And as much as I hated myself for it, I liked the way he was holding me.

I was in so much trouble.