The Green Witch and the Alpha

Chapter 11: Ian

Morning was my favorite time of day. I usually woke up ready to get cracking for the 5:30 training session, my mind focused only on the work needed to push my pack warriors to the best of their abilities. But the morning after Samantha‘s phone call, there was an added layer of excitement as I would be able to see my green-eyed witch.

I was also hard as a rock. Every cell in my body longed to be fully with my mate and it had permeated my dreams. They had started with the memory of that day at the farm when we were holding hands in the gazebo, then devolved into pure smut; with those glasses and her ponytail, Samantha became the star of my very own naughty librarian fantasy.

Dammit Dave, why did you have to bring up Mrs. Thompson? I thought.

I had enjoyed the conversation on the phone with Samantha and was looking forward to talking more with her. I wanted her all to myself today, and looked forward to hearing her sweet voice as we got to know each other without Moira and the others around. I noticed Samantha had a slight accent that popped out more on certain words and got stronger after she yawned. There were so many things I wanted to learn about her from her, before looking at the file I’d asked Dave to dig up again.

After an early meeting at the office, I headed to the coven’s cafe: Strange Brews & Bakery, Too. I had only been here a couple of times before. Usually Carol would come in and pick up something for the both of us. But I had canceled the meeting that was supposed to happen the day we went to the coven’s farm. We were going to come here to meet Cora and Dakota, and check out their operations as a formality.

The retail space next-door to their café had recently opened up, and they wanted to expand the kitchen so they could start catering events. Part of our deal was that they would exclusively hire pack members for the catering crew. Even before Samantha was revealed as my mate, we were already destined to have our pack intertwined with this group of witches.

The cafe’s morning crowd was thinning out when I arrived. As I waited in line, I noticed a person behind the counter staring at me while placing muffins into a box. Something about their beige-colored hair and knowing, lopsided smile seemed familiar. It clicked just as I stepped forward to place my order.

“Hi. You’re Ian, right?” she held her hand out to shake mine. “I’m Cora.”

That’s why she looked familiar; I’d seen that same smile on Moira and Jimmy. Cora and her brother even had the same color hair but both of her eyes were light brown, unlike Moira’s and Jimmy’s intense two-tone gaze. When I shook her hand, she held it for several seconds then released it after that same sly smile came back. There was the same buzzing sensation when Moira had held my hand, only not as strong.

“Dakota’s in the back. Would you care to step around the counter and join me?” She turned and spoke to the girl wiping tables, “Emily, text me if it gets busy again. We’ll be in the back and then upstairs for a bit.”

Cora motioned to the doorway behind her, and I followed. She closed the door behind us, and we walked by shelves full of ingredients in the little hallway until we reached the large, open space in the back. There were several stand mixers and metal work tables on one side of the room. There was a tall, muscular person with what looked like a sizable amount of red hair tucked into a hairnet pulling trays of muffins out of one of the ovens.

Cora introduced us, “Ian, this is Dakota.”

Dakota smiled at me, “Hi Ian! It’s good to meet you finally. Like Cora said, my name is Dakota, and my pronouns are they/them/theirs.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Dakota. My pronouns are he/him/his,” I extended my hand to shake theirs. “Quite a grip you got there. Seems like every baker I’ve met has incredible hand strength.”

Dakota chuckled a little at that comment, then Cora interjected, “Dakota, do you have anything that needs to come out in the next few minutes? I was thinking we could show Ian around and talk through the plans for next door.”

When Dakota indicated nothing needed their attention for a while, we walked around a little. After they showed me everything in the production area, we walked upstairs where they had an office and a storage area. We sat at a small table while Dakota opened a laptop and pulled up plans for the catering business.

“Ian, we’re glad you came by,” Cora said, keeping her voice light. “We missed you the other day and were worried something had happened, like maybe you decided against going into business with us. But then my mom called…”

There it was; that teasing, one-sided smile I’d come to be wary of from her family.

“So, you and Sam, huh?” Dakota said while still tapping on the computer.

I nodded and kept my expression neutral. Just the mention of my mate spurred a shot of pure bliss straight into my heart, but it was obvious Cora was trying to read me right now and I didn’t want to give too much away.

When I didn’t elaborate any further, Dakota continued, “Tough break for an Alpha, being given a human for a mate.”

“Did you do something to piss off the Goddess?” Cora added.

I bristled at that slightly. They were both testing me; of that I was positive, but I still didn’t like any hint of negativity about Samantha being my fated mate.

“While it may be unusual for a werewolf to have a human for a mate, the Goddess bonds together mates who balance and complement each other,” I replied, and tried to hide my irritation. “I don’t why Selene wants Samantha and me together, but I welcome it as a blessing.”

Dakota had stopped typing to look at me while I was talking. Cora glanced at them before returning her gaze to me, that sly smile back in full force.

Before either of them could say anything else, I continued, “A union between the two of us is not going to be easy and I’m already working on how to handle this with my pack. But I need you to know that I think Samantha is amazing. My Beta pointed out that she’s exactly my type, and I couldn’t agree more. From the little time we’ve spent together I can tell she’s smart, kind, and brave. I mean, she slapped an Alpha werewolf without hesitation.”

They both chuckled slightly after I said that. Cora looked at Dakota, who c****d an eyebrow and shrugged their shoulders before they started typing again.

“So, I heard you are supposed to ‘court’ Samantha, like something out of a 19th-century romance novel,” Cora stated. “Have you thought about how you’re going to do that?”

I ignored her mocking tone when she said “court”. Not sure where she was going with this, I answered with a simple, “Yes.”

After a long moment of silence, Cora threw her head back and laughed loudly. She and Dakota glanced at each other before she turned to look at me with eyes full of mischief.

“Oh come on, wolf boy! Give us something here to work with; we’re on your side,” Cora said. “Your aura lights up like the Fourth of July anytime Sam’s name is mentioned.”

She looked at me shrewdly, “You got it bad, and it’s not all the Goddess-bond, either.”

Dakota piped up suddenly, “Sam likes anything with berries or cinnamon, the color black, and flowers of any kind.”

“Get her some peonies,” Cora tacked on. “If you're going to ‘court’ her properly, get her a bunch of peonies. They symbolize romance, among other things.”

“It wouldn’t be weird to give flowers to a Green witch who works on a farm? I want to get her something special.”

Dakota answered, “Nah, most of the flowers we grow there are for the pollinators or products, not for bouquets. Sam will love them. Trust us.”

Traitorous witches, I thought, then pushed that sentiment away.

“What color?” I asked. “Even if black peonies exist, I don’t know what kind of message that would send.”

“Oh yeah, they exist,” Dakota replied. “It’s actually just a really deep purple. But I see what you mean, worried about the message they might send.”

Cora c****d her head to one side, “What color comes to mind when you think of Sam?”

“Green,” I said without hesitation. “I think of her deep green eyes. But also pink. I don’t know why, but something about her feels like the color pink.”

Cora nodded, “Your aura turns mostly pink whenever she’s mentioned. So back to my question: how are you going to court Miss Samantha, besides using our ideas?”

“Well, I was thinking we could spend some time together, getting to know each other. It’s going to be tricky since, as I’m sure Moira told you, we’re keeping things private until I figure out how to deal with my pack. In fact, I was planning on taking her some coffee after our meeting here was over.”

Cora smiled, “Sam texted me, wanted to give me a heads up you’d be picking up something for her. Just FYI, coconut or almond milk only for our girl; she just prefers the taste of those in her coffee. Oh, and she’s a vegetarian. Just wanted to mention that so you don’t like, surprise her with a fancy steak dinner or anything.”

I thanked them both for the ideas, then we went over a few things for the catering business. Dakota and Cora thought my plan to assess my pack members’ opinions on witches by approaching it as a part of the business alliance was a good idea. Cora said she could help when she interviewed the folks who wanted jobs on the catering crew; she could tell when others were being dishonest or had hidden hostility.

They sent me off with coffee and treats for myself and Samantha and asked if I’d take some muffins for the rest of the coven. I told them I’d do it gladly, and thanked them again for the ideas and support.

-

My time with Samantha was too short.

When I saw her standing by the front of the main house, there was nothing I wanted more than to stay with her all day. When I turned for a minute, I noticed she untucked her shirt to make it looser. I hoped Samantha didn’t feel self-conscious around me. When she led me to the little sitting area, she kept pulling at the back of her shirt, and I’m pretty sure she busted me checking out her ass.

As we were sitting down, I had to fight the urge to pull her into my lap so I could nuzzle her neck and breathe in her scent. I wondered how long before she’d feel comfortable doing something like that. The pull of the mate bond was overwhelming and while I wanted to go slow for her, I feared it may drive me mad.

When Samantha asked about the rejection process, there was a slight pain in my heart as I assumed she was leaning toward doing that. The longer we talked, though, it seemed like she was just asking out of curiosity. I was glad she’d brought it up, though, since it led to a discussion about betrayal pains.

My ultimate goal was to get Samantha to accept me and become my Luna. But I would never force her into anything; if she felt like this wasn't what she wanted, I would accept her rejection. What I could not let happen, though, was for her to reject me without doing it properly and have to suffer through betrayal pains when she moved on. My pack was my first priority. I needed to lead them to the best of my ability and I couldn’t do that if I were incapacitated by pain that could be remedied with a simple sentence.

It seemed like in the end she understood. I hoped my trust was not misplaced. For now, it looked like we were still on course for getting to know each other. It was hard to ask her out on a “date” when I essentially was inviting myself to her home at the farm, so I was elated when she offered to have me over for dinner on Sunday.

Moira, of course, had to make an appearance. I was positive Cora had called her mom and I was going to get another round of threats from her and smarmy Jimmy, but she just had questions about some of the workers from the pack.

As I was driving away from the farm, I recalled the warmth of Samantha’s smile. I’d noticed she didn’t smile much. She didn't look sad or even serious, she just looked pensive. My sweet mate seemed to be thinking deeply all of the time.

When she did smile, though…I could understand what Cora meant when she said my aura lit up. I could feel it, like Cupid’s arrow had landed straight in my heart and set off a series of explosions that rivaled any fireworks show.

-

Still coasting on the high from spending time with Samantha, I walked into my office looking forward to hearing what Dave’s dad, Johnny, had to say and positive I would get some answers. When I’d called him and asked for a meeting to talk about the complicated history of werewolves and witches, the part about finding my mate had been left out.

The look on his face when I told him was priceless. He’d always been so calm as the pack’s Beta, which was needed as my dad tended to be a hothead. But I swear I saw his blood pressure physically rise inside his body.

He wiped his hand down his face and kept it on his mouth a few seconds before he leaned forward in his chair to respond.

“As Jack would say, holy f**k, we’re in the s**t now!” Johnny stated.

I rolled my eyes internally; my dad said that for everything from rogue attacks to bad weather to having a bad game of golf.

“Johnny, I’m going to tell you what I told Dave and Connor: I will not reject Samantha. She is my fated mate, and I will respect that the Goddess put us together for a reason.”

He shook his head, “And I’m not asking you to. It’s just that this situation is f*****g complicated.”

I chuckled a little, “That’s exactly what Dave said, and I agree. Look, I could really use your help with the older pack members. I need to ascertain why their attitudes toward witches are so strongly negative, then turn those around so they’ll accept her as my Luna. I remember hearing stories growing up and will admit to feeling a sense of distrust around witches. But I’ve never seen this coven, or any other witch for that matter, do any of the things these stories have taught us.”

“Ian, you're like a son to me, you know that,” Johnny replied. “I want to help you because this is your mate we’re talking about. But I would like to meet with her before I agree to anything.”

“That can be arranged. Can you at least tell me why the older werewolves seem to hold witches in such contempt? Connor, Dave, and I have started talking with the younger members and they don’t seem to have such strong feelings.”

“Have you ever talked with your dad about this?” Johnny had a look on his face like he wanted to say more.

“Whenever the subject came up in the past, he’d say the phrase ‘traitorous witches’ over and over and mutter about not trusting them,” I replied as my frustration grew; it seemed like he was deflecting.

“Look, you know how humans talk about the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ as the bad guy in a lot of their fairy tales? I think werewolves have always seen witches like that,” Johnny observed. “Witches couldn’t be controlled by the Alpha and they seemed to be the only people with access to wolfsbane. There were probably some bad interactions between our kind and theirs, and it grew from there.”

“I had thought something similar, and appreciate your sharing your thoughts as well,” I answered. Perhaps this wasn’t going to be as difficult as I’d thought.

Johnny looked at me, his brow furrowed, “Here’s the thing, Ian, there was something that happened a long time ago with our pack and a witch. There are some old folks who were around when it happened but you really need to talk with your dad about it.”

I had hoped to put off telling my dad about Samantha for as long as possible. If I were to call him and start asking questions about an incident with a witch that affected our family, he’d figure out something was up. I needed to think about what to say to him. The last thing this situation needed was for Jack Balfour to come back to Hunter’s Moon, riled up about witches.

“I’ll call him,” I said. “But not for a few days. I’ll speak with Samantha and Moira and set-up a time for you to meet her. You can even check out the farm while you’re there; see for yourself that the coven is peaceful. Then as long as you feel comfortable doing so, I’d like your help with the pack elders. I want the majority of the pack to accept Samantha when I announce her as my mate and Luna. She will never accept me if the pack does not accept her.”

Johnny stared at a spot on the floor for a second, thinking it through. He looked up at me, his eyes crinkled and full of warmth.

“Alright, son. I’ll do it. I’ll help you get your mate.”