The Ash Witch and the Alpha

Magic

Tristan avoided Diana for the first time since he met her, despite his wolf’s protests. She had clung to him, kissed and caressed him in the way only a mate could, yet she had pushed him away the moment it was clear how much he wanted her. He couldn’t think straight when it came to her, and it was starting to show. His Alpha duties were being neglected, so he threw himself into his work. His heightened sense of hearing picked up the discord during meal times, how the pack’s budget was dented by his endeavor to make a witch their Luna, how he hadn’t been training with the other warriors as often, how they almost wished he had not found his mate.

So he worked, he trained with his Gamma, he made sure to stop by the school house and talk to the young ones about what having a wolf would be like, he even made sure the kitchen staff knew how grateful he was for accommodating his menu requests as of late. Tristan stayed away for two days and he hated every moment of it. Everywhere he looked, he pictured his mate there. Would Diana bake brownies with Mrs. Smith, the head Omega, or would she spar with Luke, his Gamma? He pictured her walking through the forrest, planting an herb garden for her concoctions, he wanted her to be his Luna, to be a part of his pack, his family.

Maybe he had grown soft, because when the pack that shared a border with his had come to discuss the land dispute, he had welcomed them with open arms, sat down to dinner with them, he hadn’t even seen the attack coming. The Beta simply told him to give them the three acres or they would take the entire territory by force, no true wolf would respect a man mated to an Ash witch. The rumors had spread about them, he knew, but hearing the coldness made him growl. He didn’t think twice when he snarled at the man, breaking the fragile peace.

The guards outside shifted, Tristan could hear the snarls and soon enough, it was war. He mindlinked to the men upstairs, telling them to guard Diana’s door and when he didn’t get a response, he verbally told a young woman cowering to go upstairs and barricade herself and Diana in. The girl didn’t have a wolf yet and he didn’t have time to guide her. She had brought Diana meals before, she knew where to go.

He focused on his pack, on protecting them. Tristan bolted out the door and shifted, clothes shredding, jaws clamping down on the first unfamiliar wolf he saw. ‘Was this planned?’ he asked himself as more wolves descended. He mindlinked his entire pack at once, “Get the children to safety, warriors to the packhouse.” This wasn’t something they were unprepared for, simply something they never thought would happen. But the Silver Sky Pack had a new Alpha, young and thirsty for power and to throw his weight around, one who thought Tristan weak for who the Moon Goddess chose to be his mate.

Tristan was b****y from the snarls and snaps of necks as he defended his pack, the wolves seemed to keep on coming. The full moon cast a glow on the bloodshed as he fought, the night chill rattling his fur. Three wolves attacked him at once and he yelped, focusing on one as the other two attacked his flank, he was lost in the battle when every hair on his neck stood up at once.

Every wolf paused at the blinding light, and Tristan snapped the wolf’s neck before turning to see for himself. Witches had a glow, soft and warm, it was how to tell what they were. Wolves and vampires were known by scent, witches by sight, the more powerful the witch, the brighter the glow. It made it easy to avoid an overpowered one and know who to trust. Diana had a soft glow when they met, yet under the light of the moon, she was radiant, unearthly, divine…and completely nude, her hair dripping wet.

“Get…away…from…my…MATE.” Her voice was echoing, as if she were speaking with a thousand voices all at once, it was terrifying. The light grew brighter as wolves bared their necks to her and some turned tail and just ran. The Beta who had insulted them both before looked petrified, begging for his life and Tristan smelled his mate’s scent on him. He moved to attack when Diana lifted her hand, eyes dazed, and with a twist of her wrist, the wind howled and the earth beneath the man’s feet opened, consuming him whole. It was terrifying.

The scent of daffodils overwhelmed the remaining wolves and they all looked to him, questioning their own sight. Tristan shifted to human form, hoping it would make him more recognizable to the overly powered witch. He held out his hands, attempting to be non-threatening, lest he be turned into a field of flowers as well.

Her feet were hovering above the ground but lowered as he approached, repeating that it was okay, they were safe. Her blue eyes seemed to lose the electric spark as the light around her began to dampen, she blinked rapidly and collapsed into his arms, breathing deeply, inhaling his scent. It seemed to bring her back to her normal self, her glow soft and warm again, “You’re n***d…we’re both n***d…oh god.” Diana blushed scarlet and her eyes rolled back as she collapsed into his arms.

Luke was the first to approach with a blanket from inside, which he gingerly placed on the witch. “Is that…is that why you sealed her magic?” He asked after a moment, clearly shaken. No one had ever seen what they just had: a witch in the glow of the full moon, turning a man into fertilizer. It was petrifying.

Tristan didn’t know how to respond so he simply looked around and barked out orders, “Bury the dead and tend to the wounded.” He walked upstairs, saw the talisman that kept her locked inside on the floor, crushed, next to the body of the girl he had sent up there, her shallow breathing told him she was alive, barely. “f**k…” He could smell her blood, she must have been thrown against the wall, her body crushing the magic item that kept Diana inside.

When his mate stirred in his arms, he paused, unsure if he should carry her inside or take her somewhere else, the room reeked of the other male and it made his wolf growl with displeasure. Diana blinked her eyes open, clearly groggy. She stared at him, blankly, unsure how to act in that moment, n***d in his arms.

“Lizzie!” A panicked child’s voice rang out, a boy clamored up the stairs, a woman hot on his heels. The boy had tear tracks down his dirty face and immediately buried himself in the unconscious girl’s neck, breathing deeply.

Tristan froze, unsure of what to do for the first time. The pack had not been attacked during his tenure as Alpha and the mock battles he participated in never included civilians. “Will you get me a shirt or something?” Diana’s voice was soft, still groggy but she wouldn’t take her eyes off of the weeping child. She moved to release herself from Tristan’s arms and he was reluctant, “We both need clothes.” She pressed and he agreed after a moment’s pause. Her legs were shaky and she lowered herself next to the child, pulling her hair in front of her to give a facade of modesty as Tristan bolted into the room and grabbed the first articles of clothing he saw, a pair of sweatpants and a robe. He tugged the pants on and draped the robe around her shoulders.

“What’s your name?” She whispered to the boy, who blinked at her with wide, frightened eyes. The women who had chased him up the stairs glanced between the boy, Tristan and Diana, unsure whether to intervene.

“Please…please don’t turn Lizzie into flowers!” The boy burst out, not answering the question, he was frightened and it made both Diana and Tristan frown, “She can’t die, please, she can’t!”

“I…I won’t…” Diana’s face showed her hurt plainly, the most expressive he had ever seen her. Tristan watched her, trying to figure out if she had actually meant to do that sort of magic. The witch he had hired said her powers were minimal, yet what she displayed was anything but. “Can I help her? Is that okay?” The boy stared at her with mistrust before nodding ever so slightly. She gave him the ghost of a smile and he moved away from the unconscious young woman. Diana turned to Tristan, “Can you lift her up? I need to see what’s wrong.” Confused, Tristan simply obeyed, everyone inhaled sharply at the slashes on the woman’s back. A wolf can partially shift, gaining heightened senses and sharp claws while still appearing mostly human. If the Beta were not already buried, Tristan would have killed him himself after seeing such wounds. What kind of man slashes a woman like that, a girl who was barely an adult? The woman on the stairs, who he knew vaguely, what was her name, Meg? He couldn’t remember, but she was visibly debating on whether to intervene, so he glanced at her and held a hand out, gesturing for her to wait.

Diana frowned severely, “What’s your name?” She repeated to the boy, slipping her arms through the sleeves of the robe, trying to appear as non threatening as possible.

“Luca.” The boy said after a pause. His fingers were clinging to the woman’s shirt. “Lizzie is my sister.”

“It’s alright Luca, I can help Lizzie, I just need you to close your eyes and think about how much you love her.” Diana murmured. As soon as Luca closed his eyes, she began to glow, blindingly bright like before, only the aura was warm, comforting even. Tristan stared as the wounds on Lizzie’s back, clearly deep gashes from a wolf’s claws, knitted themselves together. Yet his own wolf began to pace and howl, “Hurt.” The wolf whimpered and then he saw it. As Lizzie’s back healed, Diana’s began to show a wound. With each gash that closed, her own back began to bleed.

“Oh Goddess….” The woman on the stairs whispered. Lizzie blinked her eyes open and groaned, causing Luca to open his eyes.

“Lizzie!” He shouted, clinging to her once more. “Look, Maggie, Lizzie is okay!” So that was her name, though it mattered little to him then, considering yet another over powered display of magic. Diana needed not speak or use an incantation, she simply willed it.

Tristan frowned, grabbing Diana by the shoulders to keep her steady, she looked pale, the smell of blood was driving his wolf into a rage. “Maggie, take Lizzie and Luca downstairs, have the Doc check them out.” The woman simply nodded and whispered a “yes, alpha” before doing as she was told, clearly in shock by what she had seen.

“What did you do?” Tristan murmured, bringing Diana back into his arms, clutching her chest to his as to not brush against her newly made wounds.

“You sent her to check on me, didn’t you?” Diana asked, ignoring his question with one of her own. “She got hurt because of me.” The steel in her eyes told him that wasn’t all she was thinking. It was because of him as well, because he had locked her inside, leaving her defenseless, he hadn’t even visited for a few days, driving them both into a frenzy.

“I’m sorry” was all he could think to say and she ignored him, pushing him away despite the clear look of pain on both of their faces.

She wouldn’t look at him, she simply walked back into the bathroom and started the bath. “Do they have peppermint in the kitchen? The fresher the better, if there’s a garden.” He stared at her but she refused to look at him, even as she disrobed, the angry gashes that were once on Lizzie now dominating her back. The steam from the tub rose up and she glared at him, “I need peppermint.” She repeated and he bowed his head, mindlinking to an Omega to have some picked and brought up.

He debated with himself of what to do but came to the conclusion that she was in no mood for him, so he busied himself with the mess around them. A chair had been knocked over, presumably from Diana’s flight from the now dead wolf, and he picked it up and set it back in it’s place. The room smelled of his mate and the hints of others made him growl, spooking the young man at the door with a basket full of peppermint. He placed it down and bared his neck before leaving and Tristan wasn’t sure if he had startled him or if Diana, in only a b****y robe standing in the doorway, had.

She continued to ignore him, despite the sharp intake of breath she took when she bent down to grab the basket. Diana brushed past him and filled the tub with the herb, eyes closed in concentration and her body flaring up with light again, brighter than before. The robe fell to the floor and she sunk into the water, submerging herself completely. The tub hummed slightly, a rattling sound filling the room as the water turned pink from her blood. The mint leaves swirled and then sunk and when she sat up in the water, they were clinging to the wounds on her back before withering. She twisted her arms but couldn’t reach them all and finally with clear exasperation asked him, “Would you get these off?”

He nodded, numbly picking away the herb, barely surprised to see the once deep gashes not pale pink lines, slowly disappearing before his eyes. Tristan wrapped her in a towel once the leaves were removed and she leaned against him, surprising him. “I’m still mad at you.” She said after a moment, “When I know the others are okay, I’m leaving. I…I can’t stay here.”

Tristan didn’t reply. Did she mean stay here as in locked in this room, or stay here, with him? Did she not understand how much he needed her, how much his wolf needed her? He couldn’t let her, wouldn’t let her, yet the seal on her magic was broken and outside of sheer force, he knew he couldn’t continue like this. He loved her too much.

So he said nothing, just lifted her in his arms and took him to their bed and clung to her, even as her breathing evened and she fell asleep, he stayed awake, willing the Moon Goddess to speak to him, to help him from losing another mate.