The Green Witch and the Alpha

Chapter 4 : Ian

The tingles from where Samantha held my hand sent a wave of desire through me that called to my wolf side. I watched her walk up the stairs, and fought the urge to grab her by the hips and bite both cheeks of that big, round ass. After a moment, I finally turned and faced Moira.

“Your eyes changed color again,” she said looking at me closely, “and you look like you’re two seconds from throwing that girl over your shoulder and running off with her. The mate bond must be intense.”

Moira’s two-toned gaze bore into me and made me feel like I was being dissected. Damn, I hope she can’t read minds, I thought, especially after she threatened to shoot one of us earlier.

“What did you want to talk about, Moira?”

“Straightforward, as always. I like that about you, Ian.” She paused when we heard the back door open and the sound of people coming out. “Walk with me; let’s have this conversation in the shade.”

We stopped under a big oak tree far away enough to give us privacy as the other coven members resumed their duties for the day. Moira looked up at me and smiled, but there was an edge to it that wasn’t entirely friendly.

I crossed my arms in front of me and felt the back of my jacket strain across my muscles. Shouldn’t have worn this stupid suit, I thought, and hoped it didn’t rip in front of Moira.

“Get it out, Moira; let’s hear about how I better not hurt a hair on Samantha’s head or you’ll shoot me with your little gun,” I pushed a little of my Alpha aura toward her when I said that; humans could still feel the authority behind it, just not as strongly as werewolves, who would fully submit.

I had anticipated a Mama Bear act from Moira. While I was glad Samantha had someone to look out for her, she’s an adult in charge of her own decisions and I’d made it very clear the ball is in her court. She didn’t need to be protected from me. Plus, the Alpha side of me was irritated at the thought of Moira threatening me over my own mate.

Moira narrowed her eyes at me and slowly clutched one of the pendants she was wearing.

“Ian, my dear Alpha, not only had you better not hurt a hair on Samantha’s head, but you better not put a single bruise on her heart, or one dent in her self-esteem. You won’t need to worry about my gun because I’ll put so many curses on you, you’ll wish I had just shot you with a silver bullet instead.”

She pointed a finger at me and pushed it into my arm, “We’ve been building that girl up since she joined us several years ago and I won’t have you undoing even a sliver of that.”

“She’s not a girl, she’s a grown woman,” I countered. “And I would never harm her. She’s my Goddess-given mate, the other half of my soul, to be cherished by me every day of her life.”

“What if she decides she doesn't want to be ‘cherished‘ by you? What will you do then?”

“If you’re asking what I'll do if Samantha chooses to reject me, I’ll respect her decision and move on, even though it would be painful for me. I’m hoping it won’t come to that, but if that’s what she decides, I won’t force or coerce her to stay with me.”

As much as Moira’s eyes freaked me out, I stared directly into them, hoping she could see how genuine my feelings were about this.

“I’ve been looking for my mate since I was 18 years old, Moira; I’m 32 now. There have been other women but nothing serious, since it would have to end when I found my mate. I’ve watched as all of my childhood friends have found their mates and started families, wondering when the Goddess would send the One for me. I don’t take the mate bond lightly and am willing to do anything for Samantha, even if that means we move at an agonizingly slow human pace.”

Moira just stood there, her face an unreadable mask, and held onto her necklace as she studied my face. She suddenly slapped me on the arm and broke into a wide smile.

“Alpha, you are so damned earnest, it makes my teeth hurt!” she sighed before continuing. “I believe you. I believe you want to cherish Samantha and will never intentionally hurt her. Many times, though, the ones who love us cause us the most harm even when they did not intend to.”

“What do you mean by that, Moira?”

“It is not my story to tell, so you’ll need to talk with Samantha when she is ready to share details, but I will say this: Her family did not treat her well. They made her feel terrible about her body, her looks, and made her think her powers were a manifestation of mental illness. She’s had to do a lot of shadow work to accept the parts of herself she was taught to hate. That’s why I’m so protective of her. I cannot have you undoing the work Samantha has put into herself. Be thoughtful. Be intentional with your words and actions. Be mindful that she is not a werewolf; you will need to be proactive in teaching her about your kind, and be patient with her questions. She will be the outsider; it’s up to you to make her feel included in your world.”

“I understand, Moira. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“That brings me to my next concern,” Moira continued. ”There is the issue of your pack. You and I both know they will s**t bricks, excuse my language, over having a witch for a Luna. You need to figure that part out fast. Get in front of it before you end up with a bunch of rebellious wolves tearing Samantha down and challenging you for the Alpha position.”

“They can try,” I said with certainty, “but I’m the Alpha for a reason. You want to talk about shitting bricks, come see how my pack members react when they’re told it’s their turn to spar with me. Plus, I've been putting extra time into training since you told me to stop screwing around with women at that meeting. Had to vent that frustration somewhere.”

Moira furrowed her brows, “When did I tell you that?”

“Three years ago, at our first meeting. You told me to ‘stop whoring around’ so I could find my mate.” I paused, and stared at her. “Also, you told me your vision showed that my mate was close, yet you never thought to mention she’s a member of your coven. It’s been a long three years, Moira. You owe me a damn explanation.”

Moira’s jaw dropped. She started laughing so hard, there were tears coming out of her eyes. Then it happened.

Traitorous witches.

My dad’s words popped into mind. Had Moira deliberately kept my mate’s identity from me? Was this a joke to her, or had she withheld that knowledge to use it to her advantage some day?

Holding one hand on her stomach, Moira stood straight again; she had doubled over at some point while laughing.

“Woooooooo!” she exclaimed while wiping her eyes. “ Thank you for the ab workout. You really took those words literally, didn’t you?”

I growled at her, my patience almost completely gone.

Moira’s fixed an icy glare on me, “You better fix that attitude or I’ll fix it for you. I’m already pissy from you pushing your aura at me earlier. You may be a grown man and an Alpha but I’ll lay you on your ass if needed.”

Not f*****g likely, I thought. I noticed she had clutched that same pendant again.

“I found out Samantha is your mate when you did. My “visions”, for lack of a better term, are not clear pictures. Sometimes images come through, sometimes it’s just words, phrases, or emotions. That day in your office, it was a combination.”

“As for the other part,” she continued, “I could sense how much you longed to find your mate. I had no idea if you were actually ‘whoring around’ or not, but I figured a good-looking man like you, with an Alpha’s appetites, was not lacking for partners. All I meant was you should start putting more energy into looking for your mate; you know, by getting out there and visiting some other packs. I had no idea you would take a vow of celibacy.”

I looked at her, dumbstruck.

“Moira, I visited other packs all the time with the hopes of finding my mate. Now I know I didn’t find her because my mate is not a werewolf, but I wasn’t complacent. I kept looking.” I paused, still trying to get my irritation at her under control. “You definitely made it sound like sleeping around was keeping me from finding my mate.”

She shrugged and released her necklace. “Maybe I could have phrased it differently. I was feeling a little salty from those comments you made about witches and wanted to take you down a notch or two.”

“For the record, I didn’t enjoy repeating those things to you, and certainly didn’t believe them myself. Most of that stuff came from the older pack members, and I think they were pulling that nonsense from fairytales they’d heard as children.”

Moira c****d her head to the side a little, “All fairytales have at least a grain of truth in them.”

Before I could decide if I wanted to ask Moira to elaborate on what she knew about that, she started talking again.

“How set in their ways are your people?”

“That’s a fair question,” I replied, “One of the reasons I asked that you hire my people for this project is because we need to move past these old prejudices. Most of the members my age and younger go to both of your coven's shops, so I think they’ll be an easy sell. It’s the pack members my dad’s age and up who will be a problem. I'll talk with Dave’s father about it. He’s very open-minded and is good with the elders.”

I looked into Moira’s eyes again, “You’re right to bring all of this up. I need to figure out how to address it before Samantha interacts with the pack. It will help that she’s just a Green Witch and that your group has been peaceful for the past three years.”

Moira flinched at something I said but I wasn’t able to catch what it was.

“Ian, how open do you want to be about you and Samantha? Do we need to keep that information here for now?”

I nodded, “I think that’s best for now. Sorting out issues with my pack will take time, and I don’t want Samantha to feel any pressure from others. You going to talk to your people about it?”

“Yes,” she said, “I’ll make sure they know that what happened earlier, stays here at the farm. They'll understand the need for discretion.”

We walked back to the house together, where I saw Dave and Connor were waiting on the porch.

“Three years! That is impressive,” Moira smiled before she stopped abruptly and her face became serious again.

“Remember what we spoke about. I like you, Ian, but I do not know if I like this mate bond situation.”

I turned to her, “Moira, I understand. I’m not sure why the Goddess paired me with Samantha, but I’m looking forward to getting to know her better and I hope she feels the same. I will, as you said before, be mindful.”

When we got back to the house, I told Moira we could skip the tour for now. They’d already sent specs and photos to us, and Dave had thoroughly vetted their financials and digital footprint. I was ready to get out of this suit, and Dave and Connor seemed on edge. They probably wanted me to fill them in on everything that had happened after our showdown by the stairs.

We went over the terms of the contracts drawn up for our business alliance with Moira and Coco, the coven’s resident attorney. Jimmy was supposed to be there, too, but Moira told him to take care of something in one of the greenhouses. He had the nerve to wink at me and smile as he left.

Ballsy, jackass, real ballsy, I thought, acting like you didn't tell your mother to shoot me an hour ago.

Dave and Connor gave me a hard look when I asked Coco if she would create the document Samantha had asked for before we signed off on everything else. They were chomping at the bit to leave so I could get them caught up on everything.

Samantha, who had the greenest of eyes, framed perfectly by her tortoiseshell glasses. When we were in the gazebo holding hands and waiting for Moira to finish the spell, I was happy to have the opportunity to study her face more closely, and had memorized every freckle and the shape of her lips. Her hands were so soft; I wondered if her skin was soft like that all over.

Seeing the bond like that was amazing. At one point, I could have sworn Samantha shuddered slightly, like she could feel the mate bond. I needed to ask her about that later.

In the end, the meeting went quickly since we’d done most of the legwork beforehand and the documents were ready to be finalized. The coven would have free use of the acreage bordering their land, new hires for additional manpower would only be from our pack, and we would receive a weekly percentage of their edible crops once the expansion was finished and in production.

In addition, we had an informal agreement with the coven for help with naturopathic remedies. Our new pack doctor was young and more open-minded than the previous one, and had asked about approaching the witches for help with folk remedies found to be viable by modern standards.

We were finally done; contracts finalized and signed. I had hoped to see Samantha again before leaving, but Moira said she was working on a project. I would have to just wait for her phone call tomorrow.

Now, it was time for the inquisition during the car ride back home.