Stellaluna

Control

Sebastian

“Come on Bastian, focus!” Marcus said, punching me in the chest. I looked back at him and growled, delivering three swift punches straight to his stomach. He doubled over and groaned. I just looked back at the girl. ‘Evangeline.’ Rowan growled at just the thought of her name.

Stop. You know we can’t expose ourselves.

So you’ve said. I don’t care about any of that! She just flipped us off! He growled, growing more agitated.

She might be the exact reason we are here. Now calm yourself, I told him firmly. Rowan just grumbled and retreated to the back of my mind. Marcus was right. I did need to focus. Yet I watched her offering her hand to the alpha. Laughing. Some rogue shows up the day before the alpha’s witch disappears, and now she embarrasses the alpha in front of everyone. It’s just too suspicious to be coincidental.

I gasped and jerked forwards when the alpha pulled her underneath him, and watched as she smiled and ran her hands all over his body. Is she here to seduce the alpha? Did they send her to-Oh. It was impressive watching him sail away like that I won’t lie. I shook my head and grabbed Marcus and left. Explaining my concerns on the walk to the ‘castle’ as they called it. It was a poor imitation of one at best, and an oversized ramshackle of a monstrosity in reality.

“We need to keep an eye on her at all times. Understood?”

“Yes, master” Marcus answered in a robotic voice.

I rounded on him and grabbed his shirt collar

“Did you see her? Did you see the marking on her neck? Do you see the way she talks with the alpha? She just met him not even a full day ago! Something is happening here, so either pay attention and obey my commands or f*cking leave” I growled, letting him go and swiftly walking away.

“Listen I’m sorry okay, I really didn’t understand how important this was to you,”

“Important to me?” I whirled back, “This is important for all of us. We are here to see why the south is attacking our territory and who is helping them. As soon as we figure that out then you can rest easy knowing your family and your mate are safe.”

I saw him gulp and immediately felt bad. He had just found his mate when we left. It was cruel to bring her into this.

“I’m sorry, I just need you to understand what’s at stake here. Marcus you will be my beta when I ascend.”

I grasped his forearm and he grabbed mine back.

“I will let Perry and Alana know immediately and we will take shifts monitoring the girl. I’m sure Alana can befriend her.”

“I doubt that but tell her to try.” I sighed, rubbing my hand over my face. Alana was.. not nice. Especially to other girls. Marcus told me she was a ‘classic Regina George’, whatever that meant.

I waved him off and headed to my room to shower. It was the room across from hers. I stopped, my hand on my doorknob, and sniffed. I caught the faint sweet scent of vanilla, bergamot, and patchouli? I couldn’t tell. I went inside and headed straight to the bathroom and turned the cold water on. I stared at myself in the mirror.

“Come on! You have a mission. You cannot mess this up.” I whispered to myself.

Yeah. You have a mission. I don’t and I need out if you’re going to torture me like this. I’ve been cooped up for way too long.

Gahhh. Fine I will let you out tonight. But if you do anything.. I threatened. He knew exactly the lengths I would go to protect my kingdom.

I hopped in the shower and almost froze my d**k off. The cold water is icy here from the nearby snowy mountains, but it was exactly what I needed. I quickly finished up and tossed on a white shirt and some gray sweat pants. I went to the back of my closet to my suitcase, put on a pair of thick work gloves, and opened the locked silver box inside. I took one of the many vials inside and drank it, tossing it back in one go. I put everything back in its place and headed to dinner in the alpha’s private dining hall. Only the betas and gammas were there, and my people. I sat down next to Alana,

“Where’s the girl and the alpha,” I mindlinked them.

“She hasn’t shown up yet Bastian. I tried looking for her but the alpha must have taken her somewhere.” Alana answered, batting her eyes at me.

I ignored her and closed off the mindlink, irritated. Twenty minutes went by before Alpha Ryder arrived smiling to himself, and dinner was served.

“Oh I apologize, I thought you all would’ve already started eating.” His beta rolled his eyes at him and I spoke up,

“It was an honor seeing you at training.” His beta, Flynn started laughing and alpha Ryder glared at him.

“Oh you should’ve seen it Alyssa!” He told his mate, “Evangeline got the drop on him not once, but TWO times! It was amazing!”

“Hey I got her once” he said smiling

“That’s only because you took advantage of her good will like the sore loser you are! Mentally and physically hahahahaha” he laughed as the alpha threw a fork at him.

“No way! Did she really take you down Ryder” Alyssa asked, incredulous and wide eyed.

“It was a sight to see,” Marcus added

“Do you think she’d teach me?” She asked.

“Wha. I’m the alphas beta and you want some girl to teach you ??” Flynn cried.

“Some girl that you were too scared to fight, Flynn!” Ryder laughed.

“I’d be happy to teach you some moves if you like, beta Alyssa,” Alana said, smirking. "You must be so busy with all of your.. stuff. You mustn't let yourself go."

“Ah, thank you..” she said quietly, looking at her mate.

Even I heard how fake that sounded..

I groaned internally. Alana needed lessons on how to play nice.

She’s doomed, Rowan said simply.

Dinner progressed much the same. The girl, Evangeline, never showed up. Marcus managed to get some friendly conversation with Beta Flynn going, and even made the Alpha laugh once. I handled my own pretty well, but Alana.. it’s a good thing she’s an excellent fighter. Perry reported he was doing well with the guards, as he was currently taking his shift on patrol and getting information from them.

After we finished, I informed Beta Flynn I’d be going for a run and jogged outside and to the lake. I ran two laps around the lake and stopped at the farthest edge from the castle, to undress and neatly place my clothes at the base of tree trunk, where the roots had come up and created a sort of bench. Now naked I looked up at the moon, and a smiling crescent looked down at me. Rowan came forward, unable to wait anymore, and we shifted. Once fully shifted we padded to the lake so Rowan could take a drink. Rowan was black, with amber colored eyes, long canines, and like me, just generally big. I sat back and gave him control. He deserved it. It had been a week since we got here and this is the first time I’d let him out, when we used to go on patrol every night in my pack. I let my thoughts wander as Rowan hunted. It didn’t seem like the western king had anything to do with the south, but I couldn’t be sure yet. His pack never seemed to leave the compound, and seemed quite content staying in this bubble apart from the rest of the world, but they trained heavily for hours a day. Even the women and children.

Their borders were impassable, with only one heavily guarded entry point. And yet, they seemed surprised as one small rogue had made it through undetected, until she was nearly in town. Perry had been on patrol that night. He said she had just shown up out of nowhere, and waltzed right down the path to the compound. She didn’t seem concerned at all about facing the small army that awaited her.

The young woman was an enigma. A mystery that I needed to figure out. Because if there is one thing that is dangerous, it is the unknown. I recalled the memory of her on her balcony last night. I was about to go for a run then, when the wind blew and I caught a scent so mouthwateringly delicious I froze and caught sight of her. She stood, unaware of anything, her eyes closed and her skin glowing. I thought she was a phantom at first. Her beautiful ghostly face framed by shimmering white silver strands of hair blowing in the wind. I watched as she pushed her hair behind one ear and opened her eyes, my heart thudding in my chest and Rowan wanting to get a closer look. I closed my eyes and when I opened them she was gone. I thought she really was a ghost until the next morning when she sauntered in with a satisfied smile on those full peach colored lips of hers, having just reduced Thomas to a child throwing a temper tantrum. Thomas was older than the alpha, who was twenty four and the same age as me. It was well known that though he was the alphas cousin, he had tried to take his position when the former alpha passed. He lost in the challenge and was demoted to a lowly omega. Part of the guard due to his training. Rowan had nearly lost his mind and demanded I take her right then and there. He very nearly took control and did just that. This girl.. this woman.. I sighed. It had only been one day, and she was causing me so much turmoil. I really needed to clear my head of her.

I leaned forward in my mind, until I could feel our body, and took a deep breath, before I was shoved back again.

Oh no. Rowan had caught a scent. Of sweet vanilla, bergamot, patchouli, and a bit of citrus. I could tell we were close by as I could finally fully smell her scent. It was intoxicating. Sh*t. I tried to take control but Rowan had blocked me out.

Rowan you can’t do this! She doesn’t even know! The potion blocked out our scent she won’t recognize us!

She’s our mate! She will recognize me! He growled. I could only look on in horror as we approached the lake. He would want to take her, mark her.

Listen we will tell her I promise, but she won’t recognize us. You’ll hurt her. The potion could harm the bond. She will reject us! You don’t want to hurt her do you? I was desperately trying to dissuade him. But the idea of hurting her seemed to deter him a bit as he slowed down. We broke through the clearing and stopped, as we gazed at the glowing creature sitting on the ground inches from the lake, leaning back on her arms, her eyes closed once again and her face tilted to the moon.

Evangeline

“Thank you again!” I told Ryder. After we finished training I asked him to show me to Hypatia’s library. He cheerfully obliged and we chatted as we walked.

“How do you know Hypatia?” I asked him

“Well,” he looked around before pulling me towards him conspiratorially, “truth be told, she’s always been here. Since before me, my father, and my father’s father were born.”

“How is that possible?” I gasped,

“Hypatia’s history is a long tale, one that even I do not know fully. But she has served the alphas of this pack for as long as anyone can remember. Though I should say, serve isn’t the right word. Hypatia serves no one but herself.” He laughed. And I recalled their conversation this morning.

“Yes, I can tell” he nodded his agreement and continued

“Hypatia does help guide and advise the alphas of this pack. She is a powerful seer. Most of the books in her library are written by her.” He pulled me around a corner and to a large ancient looking wooden door, where he pulled out an antique golden key, and handed it to me. “She left this for you. You are free to come and go as you please. But do be careful, very few have access to this room.” I nodded and pushed the key in the lock and gingerly turned it, afraid it might snap. To my surprise it unlocked, and the heavy door slowly opened itself. I went to retrieve the key but it was gone. I gasped and looked back at Ryder quickly.

“It will open to you now. You’ll get used to her spells soon enough,” he laughed. I walked through the arched door way and felt magic crackle in the air. There was a great many more spells in this place. The room was just as large, if not bigger than the pack dining hall. Solid, wooden shelves that matched the door, lined every single wall, all the way up to the arched, chandelier clad ceilings. There were a couple of red velvet couches and chairs set up, and an endless amount of desks of varying sizes spread out, with books and parchments covering each one. I got an overwhelming sense of deja vu, as I looked around.

“Are you okay, Evangeline?” Ryder touched my arm reassuringly.

“Oh yes I’m fine,” I laughed it off. He stayed with me for a little while longer, fetching me a glass of water and sitting me down on the very comfortable red couch.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright? Dinner is probably ready, would you like to eat?” He fretted.

“Yes yes I will be fine mother,” I laughed,

“Oh dear oh dear poor girl,” he sang in a high pitched imitation of an elderly woman and pinched my cheek, making me laugh even more.

“Off with you!” I waved my hands at him, “don’t you have a kingdom to run?”

“Yes but I’d much rather be with you,” he smiled. I didn’t quite know what to say to that and just laughed and waved him away again.

“I think I am going to skip dinner tonight, I really want to explore here.” He bid me goodnight, still joking around and I looked around the library. Some of the parchments and books on the desks were unfinished, written in languages I didn’t know. I touched one, the letters curly and particularly beautiful, and was transported to a sunny field of pink and white tulips, the tinkling sound of children laughing in the distance. I quickly pulled my hand away and was back in the library.

Is it a spell? I wondered

I don’t know. Try touching something else.

I went to the book shelf and swiftly ran my fingers along a row of books, my vision filled with flashing images, a mans face, wrinkled and smiling, a babbling brook, and a little boy hopping rock to rock across, a baby swaddled in linen, men in metal armor in the midst of battle. I dropped my hand, looking at it. It looked normal.

I think it’s us,

I think so too, I didn’t sense a spell emitting from any of those.

Well Hypatia did say to come here and test our abilities. I mused, looking at an impressive grandfather clock.

“Goddess it’s three am already???” I quickly walked out, the door shutting itself behind me, and jogged outside, flabbergasted at the dark night sky, with the moon floating high and stars twinkling here and there. I looked around and there wasn’t a soul in sight. I wasn’t even remotely tired. I decided I would take this chance to explore more. And I did want to visit the lake! I was interested to see what memories this one held.