Alpha Ryker's Little Witch

Tamara's POV:

"Hold it there." I untangled myself from the black cotton sheets, muttering curses at no one in particular. Somehow during the steamy session, my legs had been caught up in between the messy beddings.

After untangling my legs, I swung them over the edge of the bed, planting my feet on the comforter that had fallen off during our mating. The jacquard comforter set was fully black with visible two-tone rectangular patterns. Its feel on my feet was exquisitely velvety. Had I not been mad at the moment, I would have taken my time to feel on the material.

"Tamara."

"Give me a minute." I picked up the material and put it back on the bed messily. I needed to think properly without his emotions running through our bond distracting me.

I paced on the long fluffy rug area, making it possible for me to avoid the long runs of the soft-hued wide plank hardwood flooring. My eyes took in the whole bedroom, taking note of how the place boldly screamed out masculinity. The walls were painted with black matte paint, contrasting with the white-painted ceilings. A large window stood across from the foot of the bed with sheer curtains hanging loosely, framing the window perfectly.

Three black-and-white moon art prints decorated the space above the grey headboard. I couldn't help but find his decor quite appealing, especially since it was dark but inviting at the same time. I observed a black-and-white shelving with a long frame matching lamp beside the bed.

The feeble attempt to distract my repetitive thoughts, however, proved futile. It couldn't stop my mind from running a thousand miles, trying to possibly digest the Alpha's words. Murdered.

The word took charge of my uneasy rousing thoughts, flashing repeatedly in my mind. My mate's emotions made their presence known, too, through our newly confirmed bond. Why had he kept it from me for this long?

"Your mother begged us, Tamara. She made us promise not to tell you until the right time." He stood from the bed, draping a bedsheet on my nude body.

"I can't have a proper conversation with your delectable body fully exposed to our ravenous eyes."

"Neither can I," I shamefully muttered, hoping that he hadn't caught onto my utterance.

"You do know that I am a werewolf, an alpha at that." Of course, he had heard my muttering.

"I can also hear your thoughts," he added mockingly, pulling on his previously discarded boxer briefs over his god-like body.

"Come sit." He held my hand, pulling me slowly toward a grey sofa that stood near the window.

"Your mother..." He paused, taking my hand into his.

"She...uh...she knew that she had been poisoned." He rubbed circles lazily on my small hand, sending sparks all over my body.

I listened in quietly, giving him space to tell me everything he knew. There was no doubt in my mind that he would table it all out for me.

"She came to me the moment she had ingested the poison, with her journal and spare keys to your house." He watched me closely before continuing.

"We talked about one person only, and that was you, Tamara. She put you under my watch, and I owed it to her after everything she had done for this pack."

"Owed it to her? You let the pack mistreat me for something I have no control of." I shook my head unbelievingly, wondering how my mother could trust her only daughter with the Alpha.

"I knew you could defend yourself, Tamara. You just chose not to. How do you think I intervened that day back at the forest?" he questioned seriously, his face void of any jokes.

"I knew you were there that day, even without following you. Somehow, someway, I knew you were uneasy in some type of way, and I decided to check whether everything was okay. Had I not trusted my instincts, things would have been very different."

"That doesn't explain how you found me that fast." A frown creased my forehead at the thought.

"My wolf could follow traces of your scent."

"But I mask my scent very well," she confusedly stated.

"I couldn't tell why then, but now I know our bond played a part. I can't, however, explain why it took so long for the confirmatory yellow light to glow around us." He seemed to think about his next words; I could feel mixed feelings about his point of view on the current situation.

"When I saw you standing a few feet from Jax, my wolf went suddenly ballistic. I swear I couldn't even control our actions as he took over and shifted midair. The need to hurt him overcame the need to defend Janette as a pack member. My animal was bloodthirsty just imagining the harm Jax would have caused on you."

This revelation made me shamefully turned on. His words reminded me of how I ended up masturbating that night after watching his wolf dismember Jax.

"Then he wouldn't stay calm even days later, and that's the reason why I ordered you to help out in the pack house." He hangs his head in shame and regret. "What do you mean?"

"I wanted your scent all over the pack house, my little witch. It was the only thing I could think of that would calm my wolf."

"But this doesn't really explain why or how my mother chose you to watch over me." I steered the conversation back to where it had begun.

"I am the Alpha. Of course, she'd trust me with your life."

"No, she would never do that unless she was sure about something both of us had no idea about." I paused, trying to come up with a plausible explanation for her actions. "Unless..." I paused.

"She already knew that we were mates." I had finally connected the dots.

"What do you mean?" He frowned at the possibility, pulling me closer to his profile.

"My mother had a reason for doing everything she did. She always had one, no matter what. She told me that my life would change the moment I turned 25... She even asked me to embrace anything that came out my way the moment I hit 25 years of age." I remembered her words crystal clear as day, words she had spoken 5 years ago.

"She must have at least had a clue about our bond, but still, it doesn't explain why my healing powers never worked on her." She had been sick for almost a week, and my powers seemed to worsen her condition.

She had asked me countless times to let it go. She had even gone as far as accepting her fate and had blessed me on her death bed. Knowing her, she wasn't one to give up, but she just let herself lie on that bed. "Do you know who poisoned her?" I honestly didn't anticipate the answer.

"Unfortunately, no, but I do know that she was poisoned with munzee, a rare but deadly poisonous plant. Actually I have only seen it once in my life," he explained, the name of the plant capturing my attention. "She knew the antidote of the plant. In fact, she had it in a gold chalice." He shook his head yet again.

"But she poured it all on my office floor, then handed it to me. She told me that you would need that chalice in the future, and only then was I supposed to hand it to you." His words were a shock to my very own ears. Why would she sign her own death by pouring out the contents meant to heal her? Did she not care about my feelings at all?

I didn't know what to think or feel at that moment. She had no right to leave me when she had a choice to live.

Did she even love me?

"She loved you so much, Tamara," my alpha mate soothed.

"But why?" I weakly asked, looking into his eyes with my own glossy ones.

"There's one more thing," he added, taking a deep breath as if he would force his next words out.

"She talked about a prophecy." He paused.

"She said that she had to die, for her death would pave way for a greater being."