Alpha Magic

Prologue

Prologue

HALLOWEEN NIGHT. ONE year ago.

Ruby

Our mothers said that three of us were Fated, blessed. What she meant was, I would be stuck with these two pain-in-the-a*s best friends until my dying day.

“So, are we going to do this, or not?” I asked my friends, staring at each of them in turn. “Because there’s no going back after this.”

My heart was pounding like a runaway train and if we didn’t cast the spell now, I was afraid we’d never have the guts to do it.

The wind moved through the trees around us, rustling the leaves and signaling a Fall storm was on its way. We were gathered outside beneath the full moon and dark, starless sky, on a large piece of property in the middle of nowhere.

No one could see us, and as long as we never said a word, nobody would ever know about our little adventure on this night.

This Halloween night. Our joint twenty-first birthday.

Tiffany, the blonde bombshell of our little group, nodded fiercely. I could see the determination in her bright blue eyes. She wanted this as much I did.

I turned to Bella, who had her teeth buried firmly in her lower lip.

I rolled my eyes. “Come on, Bella. You know we can’t do this without you.”

And I meant that literally. Bella was a powerful witch and without her magic, I wasn’t sure Tiff and I could pull off a spell of this magnitude.

She frowned and I could see the hesitation in the set of her shoulders, in her dark brown gaze.

I narrowed my eyes at the girl who’d been practically a sister to me since the day we’d been born. “Come on, Bella. Please.”

We’d been talking about this spell for years, planning every part of the complex incantation. Waiting until the night we were old enough... powerful enough... gutsy enough, to pull it off.

Suddenly Bella’s gaze hardened, and relief poured through me. I knew that look. She was on my side now.

“Okay, Ruby. I’m in. Let’s do this.”

I grabbed my two best friends’ hands and they grabbed each other, forming a perfect triangle of strength.

We were three witches born on the same day, the most powerful day of the year for our kind. All Hallows’ Eve.

Our mothers were best friends, united in the abandonment by the fathers of their children. They’d made sure we grew up together, strong, bonded, and most of all, loyal to one another.

We clasped hands and glanced down at the book between us, a spell book I’d found ten years ago, hidden in my mother’s things. A powerful spell book that had belonged to my late grandmother.

We began to chant in an ancient language that no one used anymore.

I closed my eyes, having memorized the spell years ago. I spoke my part and my friends spoke theirs. Each section was a call to the magic that rippled in our veins. To Fate. And most of all, to the unconditional love that we all desired and craved.

Over and over we chanted our words, the magic in our blood, in our ancestry, simmering and bursting at the seams.

I could feel the heat in my body building until sweat rolled down my face. I didn’t stop, and neither did Bella or Tiffany. The power of our combined words swirled around us like a hurricane, and I clung to the spell, focusing everything I had on this night. This one moment, where we would make sure that we’d never end up like our mothers, abandoned and alone.

My eyes opened. The ancient book floated in the air between us. Bella was watching the book with trepidation and Tiff grinned when she caught my eye.

We began to speak louder, the words in our hearts building naturally as the spell came to a crescendo. I stared at our joined hands as white light built between our clenched fingers.

There was a sudden surge of power, and the urge to finish the spell gripped me. I nodded at my honorary sisters and together we spoke the last of our parts. There was no going back now.

As we uttered those last few words, the white magic we’d conjured shot into the air above our heads, exploding into a spectacular spray of fireworks highlighted against the dark night sky.

The impact of the explosion blew us back and apart, each of us landing with a thump on the grass.

I groaned as I rolled onto my side to take pressure off the bruised parts of my backside but I didn’t look away from the sky as the magic exploded, then seemed to disappear.

A small amount of disappointment hit me. I’d expected more than some white fireworks, then dissipation. Though what I’d thought would happen, I didn’t know.

As we sat on the ground surrounded by nature and trees and the gorgeous country house off in the distance, peace stole over me.

“Is that it?” I asked, and as though in answer, the spell book that had been hovering in the air between us, landed in the dirt. The front cover closed, all signs of magic, gone.

Tiffany stood first, brushing the dirt from her tight pants and groaning as though annoyed by the mess.

Bella and I got to our feet too, the excitement and build-up to this day beginning to leach the strength out of me.

It was over. It was done. Now, all we had to do was wait for the spell to come to fruition. For the men—our men—to come to us.

And patience, although I’d been told was a virtue, was not one of my strengths.

“So... back to the house for a celebratory drink?” I suggested, forcing some excitement into my tone.

We’d brought some alcohol with us. Why wouldn’t we, when we could finally legally drink in the human world?

“Sounds like a plan,” Tiffany said with a flick of her long hair, and together we turned and trekked back to the house that Bella’s family owned.

I glanced down at my hands, expecting something to have changed. But as I glanced at each of my friends, it seemed that nothing was different for any of us. Not physically, anyway.

I wondered if our loves, wherever they were, had been hit with our magic. Could they feel it, even now? Were they searching for us?

Once inside the little house in the woods, we flicked on the lights and used our magic to mix up cocktails the color of the sunset—red, yellow, and a splash of purple.

“Perfect.” I picked up my glass that had been resting on the counter.

Tiffany and Bella plucked up their drinks as well, raising their glasses to clink with mine.

“Happy birthday,” I said, and they chorused back to me.

Sharing a birthday with my two best friends had been trying at times, especially growing up. I’d never had my own party, or a single day when I could feel simply special just for being me.

But now, I loved it.

We all took a sip of our first legal drink and grimaced at the amount of liquor I’d poured in.

“Wow, that’s strong,” Tiff said, blinking rapidly.

I nodded, swallowing hard as the vodka and gin mix slid down my throat.

Bella gulped awkwardly, shuddering before she set the drink back down on the counter. She waved her hand over the table in front of us and conjured up a whole feast of savory and sweet snacks. Chips, chocolate cake, cookies, and crackers with cheese littered the surface in front of us.

She was the best at making food. Actually, she was the best of everything when it came to magic. But luckily for us, as the most introverted of our trio, she never threw it in our faces.

“Oh, perfect. Thanks, Belle.”

I grabbed some chips and stuffed them in my mouth. I hadn’t eaten dinner with all the nerves surrounding tonight.

Bella sighed and I glanced up at her, raising my eyebrows in question. It was obvious she wanted to ask me something.

“What’s up Bell-Bell?”

“Do you think it worked?” she asked, speaking aloud the question we all wanted answered.

I shrugged, forcing myself to appear nonchalant, though I was anything but. This spell would hopefully change the course of all our lives for the better.

I gave her the only answer I could. “I don’t know. I hope so.”

“So do I!” Tiffany said, her tone exasperated. “We’ve only been planning this forever.”

I conjured up some stools and we all sat down around our little birthday feast.

We chatted and ate, drank and laughed, celebrating our whole lives ahead of us.

Through the night I hoped that our magic was working its way to the men for whom we were destined, because the spell we had woven together tonight was a spell that called out to destiny. For our one, true love.

All three of our mothers had been abandoned before we were even born. We’d grown up around sorrow and loneliness. Heartache.

None of us wanted that for ourselves or any future children we might have.

So tonight, we’d sent out a call for the men who would love us for all eternity. Our perfect matches. Men who would stand by us. Love us. Never leave us.

We wanted them quickly of course, but they would answer the call when they were good and ready. Or at least, that was what I assumed.

Whether that be tomorrow, next month, or next year, I would wait. And I knew Bella and Tiffany would, too.

Because only Fate could be trusted with such an important a decision as the person we were meant to spend the rest of our lives with.

Born to three single mothers, not a father between us, we had trust issues aplenty. I, for one, wasn’t going to just date anyone.

And I certainly wasn’t going to fall in love with the first guy who happened to look my way. I’d rather be alone forever than live with the pain my mother wore like a heavy coat.

So hopefully, Fate and our own magic would not let us down, because we’d risked everything tonight to make our futures happen.