A Lover and A Liar

A Dangerous Spark

"Alina." Julian saw how her body stiffened when he said her name, but for his surprise, she did not turn her head back. She kept walking. "Alina!"

Finally she did stop, but her back was still facing him.

"What is going on?" His voice was soft, only for her to hear.

Alina took a second too long to respond, "Nothing, Your Highness."

"Stop," Julian demanded, which had came out more a pleading. "Stop calling me that." His hands went to rest on her arms that were already hugging her body as he turned her around slowly. "Alina."

She wasn't brave enough to look at him, but Julian's heart broke at the first tear that slid down her beautiful cheek. He didn't know what was going on, why she was suddenly crying, but at the same time he knew so well. He felt it so well, it was like her pain was his own and the suffering she was feeling, he did feel that too.

Slowly, his hand went to cup her right cheek and his thumb wiped away the tear. When Julian expected for her to look at him, she only closed her eyes and leaned her face on his hand like her life depended only on that. The other tears that rolled down her cheeks gave her away fully.

And it felt overwhelming. The need to protect her, put a smile on her face, get her on his arms until she was satisfied of being there was all Julian and his wolf could think... and feel.

As if they had a mind of their own, his lips rested on her temple first, leaving lingering scared kisses that were no more than a brushing of his lips, but the way her body trembled under his touch made it seem like he was doing much more than that. Then, still on their own accord, his lips slid down to her closed eyelid, and he felt the lashes were still wet with tears. It made him want to kiss her tears away.

And that's exactly what he did.

"Julian," she protested weakly, her eyes flying open for a split second.

"Shhh, Alina, close your eyes."

She closed them again instantly.

"Lovely," he praised, his lips moving down to her jaw, the sensations making her tighten the grip on his shirt desperately. And everything else had already slipped away from Julian's mind but the needy howls of his wolf and the quick breathing of the woman he had in front of him. Stopping her from crying just with his lips.

"Julian..."

"Julian."

Two voices said his name at the same time, and when he came to his senses of what was exactly happening, he made two abrupt steps back. His wolf growled disapprovingly, confusing Julian even more, but Katherine calling from the dining hall once more made everything become clearer to him.

That was not how you comforted someone.

That was not how a wolf who already had a mate should feel for someone else.

This was all wrong. Julian knew it and it made everything more difficult somehow. It made looking down at the hurt on her honey eyes more difficult.

But Alina knew this was a mistake, right? She was Katherine's friend.

"I should go back," he told her. "Katherine..."

"She's waiting for you." It seemed like all the vulnerability of the few seconds ago was gone and she had put up her polite, kind but reserved wall once more. He knew he had to be thankful about it. At the end this was just a moment of weakness and nothing more, but then why did it almost disappoint him? Why did he want her to somehow fight for him? To at least say something, admit that there was something between them. A spark. Something that if they kept pursuing, would only become so dangerous that it would hurt people, them included.

Or was it only his imagination?

Because all she did was force a smile on her face and bow down to him. She literally bowed down to him even after he had told her countless of times to call him by his name, to treat him like a friend.

Did he even want to have her as his friend? Was that enough?

Scared to find the answers to those questions, Julian turned and walked away to his mate first.

This was for the better. If he kept reminding himself he had a mate waiting for him, this stupid mess he had started to create would stop having any sense.

...Hopefully.

***

She saw him walk away.

To her.

Every step he took was gracious somehow, like he was born, raised to do just that. To invade this castle's hallways with his presence and seek respect from everyone and anyone. Which he had, Kings and Queens believed their Gods and Goddesses blessed them with the responsibility of leading their people.

Alina didn't know how true that was, however. All she knew was that her mate was walking away to another female that had claimed him, and the worst of it all was that Alina had no one to blame for that but herself.

And it was eating her inside, something that she so much named as jealousy and desperation at picturing them together, it was feeding on her soul as the minutes passed by. A piercing pain started spreading on her head as she took it between her hands and tried to ease it with her powers somehow.

It didn't work, it was not something magic could fix.

Not this at least, but magic could fix the mistake she had made years ago.

She had to try, for herself as selfish as it felt, but mostly for Julian. Someone as kind and perfect as him, someone that kissed her tears away like no one had ever done in her life before, deserved someone to fight for him.

With determination, she walked down unknown hallways that looked all the same, filled with paintings, candlesticks, and what else. This place was so big, Alina doubted someone knew where to go without a map in their hands.

Suddenly she bumped on someone, and if a strong hand wouldn't wrap around her body she would find herself face down on the floor.

"I am so sorry―" She stopped when she looked up at the young male face in front of her. Alina had been right when she had thought all werewolves, at least in this Royal Court were so goddamn good-looking.

"My Lady," he whispered, but he didn't let her go from his grab until Alina walked a step back first. "It was completely my fault."

She smiled a bit at him. "It wasn't, but thank you."

"Cedric," the handsome man introduced himself. "The Gamma."

"Oh." Alina had no idea how the packs worked, but she realized it must be similar to a coven. And she knew the Gamma position was a high-rank one, whatever it meant. "I'm Alina."

"The witch guest, yes, everyone is talking about you and how close you seem to the King." Before Alina had a chance to ask him what he meant, he pointed out, "You seemed in a bit of a rush," something that was indeed true. "And lost."

"I wasn't lost," Alina defended herself courageously. "I was just... in a search for the library."

He shrugged one of his shoulders. "Which means you were lost. But I can show it to you if you want."

Her guts would usually tell her not to follow strange men who turned into wolves in empty, dark hallways, but for some reason Cedric seemed nice. Like he just wanted to help her. And on top of that, he was Julian's Gamma. If something happened to her, he would have to explain things to his Alpha King, right?

Just the thought of Julian, his sweet smile and soothing touch gave her some reassurance. And reminded her what she was here for in the first place.

"Of course, if you have nothing more important to do."

"Something more important than helping a pretty Lady? I don't think so."

Alina had to smile at his smooth flirting. She didn't remember the last time she had been around men this respectful. The male specie that were the clients of the inn she worked in sucked, definitely.

She followed him around for a few minutes, but they didn't seem to reach their destination anytime soon. "You aren't going to turn into a wolf and kill me, are you?"

Cedric stopped and laughed at her for a few couple of seconds. "And why would I do that?"

Alina shrugged. "I don't know, I'm a witch. Maybe you don't like witches."

Cedric seemed to find her genuinely funny. "Believe me, I do. A lot." He opened a giant door as he spoke, welcoming her inside the biggest, most beautiful library she had ever witnessed in her entire life. It was like another world, one that Alina had never thought existed.

She was left speechless.

"These are just books, why do you seem like you're in paradise?" Cedric said, his voice teasing.

"This is my definition of paradise, Cedric. Now help me find the sector for the Grimoires."

His brows narrowed. "Which means?"

Alina groaned internally. "Books with spells written in them!" she explained. "Just bring me the librarian, Cedric. I don't think you're really going to help me with this."

Cedric didn't seem anywhere near offended by her remark. Instead, he brought one of the sweet old she-wolves that was in charge for taking care of the library, who was happy to help Alina in what she needed.

Which still didn't help much. The books about magic and different kinds of Grimoires covered almost one quarter of the library. "This is going to lead me nowhere," Alina sighed, using her magic to pull the books from the higher shelves she couldn't reach.

"That was smooth," Cedric pointed out, clearly not having any idea how serious this was. Not that Alina could tell him. How did you tell the Gamma that you put a dark spell on his Alpha years ago so he could feel the mating bond to someone that was not his mate, and now wanted to find another one to reverse it because apparently he happened to be your mate instead?

It was way better if she kept her mouth shut.

With the piles of books on the floor, all around her, Alina sat down legs-crossed and took the book closest to her, which apparently didn't even cover witches' and wizards' magic. It was mostly about elves, and she had to roll her eyes at that. The librarian didn't seem to be really specific before she walked away like she had solved Alina's life problems.

"You don't sit like a Lady, now, do you?" Cedric teased, sitting down on the floor in front of her and picking one of the books, mostly for his own entertainment, because clearly he had no idea about spells and witches' language.

"And how do Ladies sit?" Alina asked, her eyes walked down on the lines of the page in front of her.

"Clearly not like... that." He laughed.

She gave a simple shrug, not really bothered. "Well then they're missing out a lot in their life if they don't."

When she raised her head to look at him, she expected everything else but not amusement in his brown eyes. "Seemingly they do," he just told her.

Alina went over countless of books, but there was no trace of what she was looking for, for her biggest disappointment. No Grimoire talked about spells that included the messing of the mating bond, and it made her feel even more conscious about the heaviness of the situation.

What if a reversal spell did not exist?

What if her mistake would case Julian so much?

What if it would cause her her own mate?

"So, what are you searching for this intensely?" Cedric's voice snapped her back to reality. "Are you planning on casting a spell on our King?" Alina raised her head at him so fast, her neck almost snapped, and her eyes went wide in surprise. "Will you turn him into a frog? Maybe like that women will stop talking about how gorgeous he is."

Alina burst in laughing, covering her face with her opened book until she felt tears sprang on her face. But she wasn't so sure if they were because of how much she was laughing, or because of how miserable she felt inside.

Perhaps, a salty mix of both.