Mated To The Alpha Bully

7

I clenched my jaw, wondering what exactly was going on, but before I could open my mouth to ask, the three of them began chanting. All of their eyes glowed, making the room light up like we were outside at noon on a cloudless day. I shielded my face from the sudden brightness, a sharp contrast to my dark cell, and that's when I felt the spell settle over me like a straight jacket, pressing and squeezing, as if it was trying to eek something out of me. I opened my mouth to scream as silvery light shot out of me, right from my chest. What the—

It felt like an explosion, and when my vision cleared, all three Sun Witches were on the ground. Roxandra looked shaken as she stood up, and she shouted a word in another language I didn't recognize. The other two Sun Witches scrambled to their feet and advanced on me. I held my hands up, too confused and disoriented to fight back as they grabbed hold of my arms. Before I could respond, they pulled me off the cot and pushed me to the floor.

"What was that?" Jordan's voice called out.

I’d been so shocked by the explosion of power that I hadn’t even heard Jordan approaching, but when I looked up, he stood outside of my cell door, eyes on Roxandra.

“Our suspicions were correct,” Roxandra said, as she smoothed two slim hands over her robes and pulled herself back together before standing tall once again. “She’s part Moon Witch. Strong, too. Whoever her mother was, she was powerful.”

My mouth fell open. Kaden had said my mother was probably a Moon Witch, but there had been no proof of it, and with my father dead, there was no one to ask either. Now there was no doubt in my mind Kaden had been right. Of course, that changed nothing. I still didn't know who she was, or where she was now, or why she'd abandoned me. All this knowledge did was leave me with more questions about my past.

“What caused her powers to awaken?” Jordan asked.

“They must have awakened when she gained her wolf," Roxandra said.

That made sense. My wolf had been locked away for the first twenty-two years of my life, and I’d never exhibited this sort of magic before. I’d been called to the moon, but I’d just thought that was how it was for every Cancer shifter. It was only on the night of the Convergence when I'd first tapped into my power.

Roxandra looked over at me, a slight frown on her face, and in her eyes, I saw fear. She was afraid of me, or afraid of my powers at least. “She needs to be controlled, or killed before her powers become stronger.”

Killed? I glanced wildly at Jordan. Would he listen to the Sun Witches on this?

"Killing her is not an option," Jordan growled. "She's my mate."

"She's more dangerous than you know," Roxandra hissed.

"She's. My. Mate." His voice was so ferocious that even Roxandra stepped back from it. "I've got it under control."

“As you say,” Roxandra said, though she didn’t sound too happy about it.

"After the full moon ceremony, she'll be completely bound to me," Jordan said. "Then we'll be able to use her magic to our advantage. She could be a valuable asset."

"Very well. I strongly urge you to keep her locked up until then." She cast me one last look, lip curling in distaste, and nodded to the other two witches. They couldn’t seem to let go of me fast enough, nearly tossing me away from both of them, like they thought I might hurt them. Right. Me going against three fully trained Sun Witches? I hardly understood my own powers, let alone how to use them against others.

The three Sun Witches left without casting a backward glance. Jordan lingered, watching me as I sat on the floor as I tried to get a hold of myself to return to my cot again. The spell they'd used had taken all my energy with that burst of unexpected magic, and now I could barely move.

Jordan took my arm and lifted me up, helping me to my cot. Desire swirled in me at his touch, and I so wanted to lean against him and let him take care of me. Give in, the mate bond whispered. Why fight it?

"I won't let them hurt you," Jordan said as he set me down on the cot. Then he lightly touched my hair, smoothing it down almost tenderly. The mate bond purred inside me, wanting more.

"No, you just want to use me." I jerked away with the last of my strength and he dropped his hand with a scowl.

"Everyone is a pawn in this game," he said in a cold voice. "Even me. But together, we could be king and queen instead."

He left without saying anything else, and I breathed a sigh of relief when he was gone. It was too hard to think when he was around. The mate bond clouded my mind, making me doubt my instincts and twisting my emotions into knots.

I sagged back against the wall. I couldn’t deny it any longer. I was part Moon Witch, which meant that my mother hadn’t been human, and Kaden’s theory had been correct. That didn’t give me any answers though, and Dad wasn’t alive for me to ask him any questions. He probably wouldn’t have answered them anyway. Had he even known my mother was a Moon Witch? I had no way of knowing.

It didn’t matter that I’d just woken up about an hour ago, I felt the intense urge to nap. That bolt of energy that had hit the Sun Witches had taken most of my strength with it. I collapsed onto my cot, not even bothering to pull the thin blanket up over myself. I just curled in on myself and closed my eyes.