I ran from that hell hole faster than I ever moved in the past. My last magic high felt nothing like it, I felt superior and in ultimate control. I began to wonder if the magic from the barrier did something to me. There was no way the witches were going to catch me, at least not on foot. They wouldn’t risk copying my speed and facing withdrawal. If it meant getting away from them; I’d take the uncomfortable times later.
I made it back to Celestin pretty quickly. They hadn’t taken me all the way back to the Coven Village. Everything was bright white; I could make out the houses and people through hazy images of red. I knew way in the back of my mind where I didn’t care, the situation wasn’t good; the heavy magic was screwing with my control and overall state of mind.
With Kevin’s betrayal I knew my house wasn’t safe. I was seeing red for different reasons when I thought of him, how could I have been so stupid? I snuck into Caleb’s house as the place to wait out the high. I didn’t think he was home; the compound would be the safest place for him, Jamie, and the pack.
“Evangeline?”
Caleb was standing in his living room as I made my way from the kitchen backdoor. “Oh, you are home.”
“Where have you been? What is wrong with you?” he didn’t know what had happened to me or that there was even a looming threat he should be worried about. The Coven broke whatever deal he made with them.
I grinned, “I don’t know, what’s wrong with me?” my voice sounded pretty condescending in my ears.
His blue eyes were concerned. I could see a little clearer out of the sun. “Your hands are glowing and your eyes are…what happened?”
I walked over to the mirror near the mantel and took a peak at myself, my hair was wild, and my eyes instead of black from the magic were a very weird bright shade of blue. I was still wearing the dress I had worn to work.
Caleb called my name. “What happened?” he asked again.
“A lot changes in more than a decade. Kevin changed,” I felt my hands growing hot as I thought of him. “He sold me out.” I felt out the energy building and the mirror I had been looking in shattered.
“Evangeline, stop using your magic before you reach a place you can’t come back from.”
I glared at him. “Don’t use that voice on me, you can’t control me! You can’t talk me down into submission.” I hated him for trying. My hands went wild again and that time the picture on the wall suffered. I watched the glass shatter to the ground.
In that time Caleb being ever the sneaky one snuck up behind me and gripped my wrists. “I want my house to be standing after this.”
I tried to pull my hands free but he was stronger than me even in my heightened state. I needed my hands to cause real damage. “Don’t make me hurt you. I still have some tricks up my sleeve.”
“Stop it.” he kicked my feet out from under me sending me to my knees. He pinned my top half down on the couch cushion in front us, my knees were on the floor. “Tell me what happened.”
I wanted to kill him. I tried to get out of the hold but his heavy chest had me pinned, his damn hands were like chains on my wrists. The heat of his body surrounded me with suffocating intensity. “Your little plan didn’t work and this one isn’t going to work.” I was bursting with energy and he felt it. I felt him struggling to keep his own control in check; his hands were shaking against mine.
An Alpha werewolf didn’t lose control easily.
“Stop it.” he growled against my neck, the gruff of his voice racing through me like a touch.
The sound of his temper sent a wave of craving through me. Everything was so extra sensitive and he wouldn’t let me go! “Caleb…” I started biting on the sofa cushion to muffle the sounds crawling up my throat.
“Damn it, stop…” he let out a whine before biting down on my neck. He was trying to dominate me and when the bite wasn’t enough he grabbed my wrists with one hand and moved the other under my skirt.
I gasped in anticipation.
With his mouth still on my neck he pulled my panties down to my knees and then unzipped his own pants. I screamed out when he entered me, nothing should’ve ever felt that good and alive. He was holding me down but everywhere I felt his body against mine was like heaven. He moved his hand up my bare hip as he moved inside of me. I wished he’d let me go so I could touch him. I wanted to see his eyes and find out if they were as yellow as I suspected.
Hours later, the high started to ease and everything went black.
When I woke up I was on some floor, I sat up and realized I was at Caleb’s. I couldn’t remember how I got there or anything else since the Elders locked me away. I sat up and hissed as a pain shot through my legs, I looked down and saw scratches. The living room was a mess, the coffee table was clear across the room and the couch was on its back, was there a fight? I kept looking and found Caleb on the floor too, he was on his back with his shirt off. There were scratches all over his chest.
I moved closer to make sure he was alright. “Caleb?” I knew it wasn’t wise to wake an unsuspecting wolf but I wanted to know that he was ok. I called his name and slowly he woke, his blue eyes were slightly dilated. “What happened?”
“You don’t remember?” he asked and I shook my head. He looked away from me and sat up. “Neither do I.” he said hesitantly.
“The Elders had me locked up and then I woke up here.” I stood from the floor and suppressed a groan, my legs were on fire. I put the couch back upright and sat on it. I kept looking around and saw broken glass on the floor. “They’re probably looking for me now. Do you think they found me and we fought?”
Caleb’s expression grew pained. “No. I need to tell you something.”
I noticed something next to the couch leg and grabbed it. My underwear? I turned and looked at Caleb with wide eyes. “What?” he didn’t say anything, he again turned away from me. I thought about the last time I escaped the Coven witches and how the high affected me sexually. “No, please tell me we didn’t. No, this is impossible.” I started to pray I couldn’t have made such a stupid mistake.
“You somehow escaped from them but you had to have used a lot of magic because when you got here you were out of it. Your eyes and hands were glowing and you broke the mirror and I wanted you to stop. I tried….things got out of control.” He explained with his back facing me. I saw more scratches on his back, I must’ve done that to him.
“No kidding.” I glanced around the living room in horror. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t say that, I’m the one who took advantage.” He looked disappointed in himself for not having control; for not being able to handle the situation better.
“My powers screwed with your control, I know that. Um let’s just forget this ever happened and never mention it again.” I couldn’t face the fact we had sex, I didn’t want to accept it as true. There were lines and we definitely crossed them to the point of no return. “Kevin had something important at stake and gave me up to protect it. Nothing is going to stop the Council from wanting me to pay for the witch’s death.” I moved toward the door.
“No.” Caleb jumped in front of me. Being as tall as he was all I saw was his chest and how farther down he had a bite mark just above his pants. “I have another solution.”
My face was hot with embarrassment. “Please just let me go.”
“If you denounce yourself from the Coven and join another pack they’d have no say over you.” He was speaking of the century old laws for supernaturals.
“No, I hurt one of their own they’d come after me no matter what.” I didn’t want to accept what he was saying. When I ran from the Coven and my family I vowed to never let anyone control me again.
“No, not at the risk of the pack retaliating. It’d be bigger bloodshed and they don’t want that.” Caleb explained, he had put a lot of thought into his argument and probably researched it to know that much.
I looked up into his eyes. “Stop saying ‘pack’ when you mean ‘you’, you want to be my a
lpha.” And that’s what it kept coming back to; I knew he wanted it since he first saw me shift.
“The pack can protect you; it’s more than just the Coven coming after you. I know that Nathan approached you.” he spat the other wolf’s name with hate.
“I can handle it.”
“It’s a doubled edged sword. You handle Nathan and others like him with magic which would expose the Coven and adds another reason to the list. Being a part of my pack isn’t a jail sentence; I’m not as strict as you want to paint me. Mikey works for a vampire so there’s no problem there, Jake…well because of Zoe he’s involved with everything.” He must be nervous because he was breathing a little hard, his abs defined more and more with each deep breath.
I would’ve laughed at that if I wasn’t silently freaking out and felt backed into a corner. Everything he was saying was true and made a lot of sense but it wasn’t what I wanted. “I need to think about it. Can you please move?” reluctantly he did.
Chapter 24