Behind The Alpha Book 2 WES

WES

“Jesse.”

We stood at the edge of a foothill as a very bright, beautiful woman floated down from the top.

She was so bright, we had to shield our eyes.

“Aurora…Darlin’ Can ya kill the lights?” Jesse says as he turns away from her.

“Oh.” She giggles. “I forget sometimes.”

Her bright sun level light dies down.

We all face her. She’s beautiful. Bright yellow, but-length hair, milky skin and big, round yellow eyes. She definitely checks as the nymph of the sun. Her pale yellow ground length dress, blows gently in the breeze.

Of all of Theas sisters I’ve met so far, Aurora is the nicest.

“Jesse. Look at you. I swear you get younger every time I see you.” She laughs as she reaches in for a hug.

“Pretty easy to keep young when you can drop your skin.” He chuckles back.

“Thea. My baby sister. Come here.” Aurora hugs her too.

“Hello, Aurora.” Thea grins.

Aurora pushes Thea back. “You’re getting enough sun? Everything’s good? I can up it a bit…” She fawns over her sister.

Thea nods with a smile. “Yes. Everything’s fine. We’ve come to take you to safety.”

“Safety? Whatever for?” She blinks at all of us.

“From our daddy?” Jesse crosses his arms.

She nods. “Right.” She chuckles. “You know I float around turning the sun on and off all day, I forget almost everything.” She laughs and waved us off. “It’s so nice for you to think of me. I really appreciate it. All of you are so lovely.”

I lean to Thea. “She’s…um…really bright and chipper.”

Thea nods. “That’s why she’s in charge of the sun.” She takes Auroras hands. “So you’ll come with us?”

“Well, I guess. I can pretty much control the world’s light from anywhere. Why not? I think it would be fun!” She bounces on her toes.

I step up to her. “Hi. I’m Wes. If you want to come with me, we'll set you up in a truck.” I offer my arm and she takes.

“Wes.” She grins. “What a wonderful name! Can I just say, that is a lovely tan. Did I do that?” She points to my skin.

My brows go up. “I guess you did.”

She leans to me. “You’re welcome.” She laughs and taps my chest.

“Thank you.” I look over my shoulder to Thea who just shrugs.

After the interestingly weird encounter with Aurora, we had to find Faye who was not too far from Aurora.

“Now, Faye is a bit aggressive with strangers. So be on your toes. She’ll listen, but she has very little control over the strength of her magic.” Jesse informs as we head to a field Jesse saw her last.

“What’s with the instability of these women?” I ask.

“Welcome to nymphs.” He kicks back in the truck as it bounces and jars down the gravel roads. “They are unpredictable. Alluring. It’s why they’re always beautiful women. They get their kicks by being targets of affection. The problem is when they decide the games over, they have no middle ground on emotions. They’ve spent a long time in their elements and have adapted their lives to it. They can flip on a dime and mess you up. It’s best to be on a nymphs good side at all times.” He eyes me and arches a brow.

I lean on my knees and tap my fingers together. “Good advice.” I bite my top lip.

“Take it to the bank, friend. You want in, this is your lifeline." He wags a finger at me.

I lean back. Ok, I’m up for that challenge. Keep Thea happy and I won’t end up dead. Some of these guys have it worse I guess.

It was about an hour before we got to the field.

“Now. There’s ear plugs in your packs. Use them if you value your lives.” Jesse warns the Alphas.

“Why? It’s just wind. She’s not like a mermaid.” Peter says.

Jesse arches a brow. “Yeah. She’s worse. Her voice can lure you anywhere. She gets her claws in ya, you’ll never be seen again. She can blow you anywhere she sees fit. So if you don’t want to end up in the Antarctic, mind yer ears.”

“As long as she’s not throwing fire, I think we can handle it.” Darcy says smugly.

“Question. How do we capture her?” Brody asks.

“Once she sees she can’t influence us, she’ll die down and listen.” Jesse informs.

Sawyer smiles. “So she’ll just come with us.”

Jesse nods. “Once she’s contained in her tank, it’ll be safe.”

“You people are the weirdest family I’ve ever met.” I chuckle.

“You don’t know the half of it.” Jesse bounces his brows.

“I can’t wait to find out.” I smirk.

In a small area of trees we get out and put our ear plugs in.

“Now, this is her last known location. With this many men, she won’t resist coming out.” Jesse walks ahead into the field.

“Alpha bait. I like it.” Sawyer smirks.

“Just watch yer back.” Jesse tries to get these guys to take this seriously, but you can tell they think they got this in the bag.

He leads us into the center of the field. There’s rolling hills with flowers and a ravine. We walk through the long grass.

Thea's in the center of us while we all circle around her. There’s a slight breeze, but nothing that indicates a nymph.

We get about twenty feet off the edge of a cliff and Jesse back tracks.

I follow him back into the field.

“FAYE!” He calls out. “Faye! It’s Jesse!” His voice rolls across the grass covered mounds.

We wait for anything to happen.

“I don’t think she’s here, man.” I say with my hands on my hips, watching the guys pull out their ear plugs.

“WHERE IS SHE?” Mateo calls to us.

Jesse shrugs. He turns back to the group.

“Jesse. What’s that?” I point to the sky just past the cliff.

He looks to where I’m pointing. “Uh…Damn!”

He breaks into a run. “EAR PLUGS! NOW!”

“EAR PLUGS! EAR PLUGS!” I bark too, but it's too late.

Faye came in with gale force power. She blew at Jesse and he was blown back into me. With more power, we were both thrown across the grass.

“Ugh…” I push Jesse off me. “What the hell?”

“Shit!” He scrambles to his feet. “Damn it! Faye! You stop this! Right now!” He grabbed his hat off the ground and ran out to the field.

Faye started to sing and spin around the Alphas. They all started to melt toward her.

“NO!!” I yell as I run to them faster.

She crooks her hands and arms, coaxing them to walk forward and they a start to follow her wispy form to the awaiting cliff edge.

Thea turned to her nymph. Being a nymph and female, she’s unaffected by Faye.

“Faye! Don’t please!” She floated to her sister and tried to break her spell. Faye twisted her fingers at her and Thea flew backwards through the air. She turned to a bird and righted herself.

“FAYE! DON’T MAKE ME HURT YOU!” Jesse growls. He runs, tosses his hat, jumps into the air and turns to his eagle.

I run through the pack. “No! Jake! Darcy!....Peter stop!” I’m pushing on them, but they edge closer to the cliff.

The Alphas are caught in her web of seduction. She sang her song on the wind and used her looks to lure the Alphas and bend them to her will.

Faye continues to sing and call them. She twists and blows in the air. Her legs are just gusts and her light airy form floats over the ravine hundreds of feet below.

Jesse’s eagle banks and flies around her head. Thea rushes her and Faye disappears in a breeze then reappears in her nymph form. Her light hair blows all around her.

Jesse comes in for another fly by and tries to get in her face. She blows at him and he tumbles through the air.

“SAWYER! SNAP OUT OF IT!” I back hand him, but his face is still vacant. Glued to Faye. I grab his hand and realize…he’s still holding his ear plugs.

My head whips to the line of Alphas and then to the edge with is about 10 feet away now.

I rip open his fingers, pull them out and shove them in his ears. He stops and looks at me. “What happened?” He blinks at me.

“THAT!” I motion to the other guys. “Get the plugs in their ears now!” I order. Sawyer looks to his friends, Faye then the cliff.

“Oh fuck!” His eyes widen and he rushes to Brody.

“Brody! Fucking stop!” He shoves him back, but Brody continues to walk. His face is filled with puppy dog lust just like all the others.

“In their hands!” I yell at him.

He grabs Brodys hand and grabs his plugs. He shoves them in his ears.

I run to Owen and plug his ears.

Faye is still singing and wooshing around us. She’s starting to see it’s not working.

I put Ash’s in and he wakes up. That’s all of them.

We all stop at five feet off the cliff.

Angered frustration fills her airy face and she floats around us, singing louder. She’s kicking up the wind.

“STAY TOGETHER!” Jesse yells as he joins us.

Thea finds me and I hold onto her.

We form a tight group.

“GET DOWN! LOW!” Jesse yells.

The wind gets louder and faster as her voice and air spin around us like a tornado.

“HANG ON!!” I yell as I tuck Thea into me.

“WES!!” She cries.

“FAYE! IT’S NOT WORKING! STOP!” Jesse holds a hand out to her.

All of us get right down on the ground as she ups her attack. She lowers her face to those on the outside singing her heart out and kicking up the dirt. We have to cover our faces. The Alphas struggle against the powerful winds. She blows and sings as she spins around.

Jesse’s in top of us. “Any minute now! Hold on!”

She spun around us a few more times. Then let out a wind whistle out that the ear plugs could barely block. She screamed it in all our faces before dissipating into the nothing.

Debris floated softly to the ground as the wind died down.

“Holy shit.” Ash growls.

“You can say that again.” Graham says as he stands.

“Holy shit.” Brody breathes.

“Ok. What the hell was that?” Darcy fixes his hair.

“Yeah. Where is she?” Owen stands and straightens his shirt.

“That…was a nymph temper tantrum. Her power wasn’t working so she threw a goddamn fit.” Jesse wipes the dirt off his lips. “Lovely things they are. No offense, sweet Pea.”

“It’s ok. My sisters are not as tuned as I am.” She gives a half smile.

“Faye!” Jesse pushes through the group. “It’s over, beautiful. You might as well show. Where are ya?”

“Here.”

We all turn to a spot behind us by the cliff.

“Faye.” Thea runs to her sister.

“Thea.” Her voice sounds like wind through a tunnel.

Jesse walks up behind them. “Faye. I’m sorry. We have to move you.”

“Artemis.” She says.

“Yep. He’s headed this way, darlin'. If you don’t come with us, he’ll kill ya and that don’t sit right with me.” He cleans off his cowboy hat and puts his on.

She crosses her translucent arms. “Since when do you care, Jesse?”

“Look. I don’t have time for blame Jesse for everything imaginable, ok. I still have to figure out how to pin down Iris. So, are you coming or what?” He scowls at her.

“Your cloud is safe?” Thea asks.

Faye nods. “Yes.” She glances at Jesse. “Thank you.” She mumbles.

“No problem. Now let’s get you in the truck. No singin'.” He puts his finger in her face.

“The accommodations better be suitable.” She warns.

“Don’t worry. They are.” I smile.

With 5 of the elements secured, I’m feeling a little more relaxed. I know I just entered this, but the thought that someone is hunting these woman really bugs me. I think I feel for them just as I do Thea. I want to protect them like I would Grey and Mia. They really feel like family. I also have a connection to Jesse. A second brother. It almost feels like an honor to have his attention. My instinct tells me to help him and learn from him what it means to be with Thea and this family.

I want to give myself to Thea and I feel like Jesse will be able to help me do that.