Her Savior Alpha

I held my head in my hands, the steam from the hot coffee before me heating up my face. Long gone were the days of black coffee with Archer; I had my signature creamer and sugar in it, the sweetness

“What’s your problem?” A snooty voice met my ears. Grant appeared, placing a hand on the counter, leaning against it and cocking her hips. Her scarlet hair fell in ringlets around her shoulders.

I looked up at her, eyes blearily. “Just, uh, haven’t been able to sleep.”

I didn’t mention my head pounding or the well of despair in my belly.

“Something worrying you? Insomnia? I got some melatonin.”

“No, more like... the mate bond still acting up.”

Arched eyebrows, Grant slid into the stool next to mine. “No way. You’re telling me you still feel the effects of the bond even after he basically rejected you?”

Biting my lip, I nodded, taking a sip of my coffee. “He’s not doing well emotionally after what happened, and I can feel when he’s struggling. Even though my wolf knows it was rejected, I still can’t keep Reily our of my thoughts. It’s like a chemical imbalance, and it’s really messing with me.”

I didn’t mention the other reason why it distressed me. My bond with Reily not only ruined my focus (and sleep) but I was concerned about trying to mate with another. Even though Archer was supposed to be out of the picture (for now; I still didn’t know how I felt about his identity), I still wanted to find love. Who didn’t?

“You know, I think I know what you need,” Grant started hesitantly. “I read it in some books once.”

“What is it? At this point, I’d try anything!”

If there was a way to dissolve the soul bond between werewolf mates, which was generally unheard of since most wolves were content with their partners, I would do t in a heartbeat. But I guessed my case was an anomaly.

“Basically, it’s a ritual that breaks the bond between two mates. Usually both would have to be involved in order to break it on both ends. But if the mates have yet to finalize their bond, like in your case, then only one person needs to do it.” Grant explained.

I nodded, processing the information. “So how does this ritual go?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but I can give you the books you need,” she said. “As you can imagine, wolves rarely have this sort of issue, so the ritual has been buried in a corner somewhere around here.”

“I see. Please, Grant - Alpha Grant - show me the books, and if you can, with the ritual. I’d be in your debt,” I begged, looking straight into her eyes that seemed to crack from their icy facade everyday.

Grant simply scoffed. “You don’t need to call me Alpha whenever you want something, I’m not stupid. Also, I’m the one in your debt, dummy.”

I laughed into my mug as I drank my cooling coffee, syrupy against my tongue. “Whatever you say, ma’am.”

“Don’t call me ma’am either,” she grumbled.

I never imagined I’d get to a point where I’d enjoy playful banter with Grant.

***

In preparation for the ritual, I looked into the books Grant found in the attic’s dusty boxes. Speaking of attic, I no longer had to be confined to the tiny area anymore. I got my own room now, which I was eager to start decorating the way I wanted. Grant was surprisingly generous as an alpha.

As I sat at my new desk, with a direct view with the wide window outside, I bent over one of the book, A Guide to Corrective Supernatural Rituals. According to the text, the way to break the mate bond was something out of a witch’s grimoire. It required drawing a complicated symbol onto the floor or ground, large enough for my body to fit into.

Then, I had to make a set of three drinks: a potion or tincture of sorts, each with different ingredients, and each with a different purpose. The first was of verbena and __, meant to prepare the soul for the bond break, reinforcing it against the effects of literally tearing it apart from its fated partner. The second drink was supposed to help me let go of the emotional and psychological ties that held me to my mate. The last potion would be the final push to unbind me from the connection. It all seemed a little unnecessary, complicated. Too much like some sort of dark spell. It all needed to be performed on a full moon, exactly thirty minutes before midnight and would take that entire duration. That was good; I had almost a week until then. It would give me enough time to prepare.

Shrugging, I grabbed my notepad and wrote everything I needed to gather: chalk, various herbs, bottles...

On the day of my ritual, I scouted the house looking for Grant. I found her in the front hall.

“Hey Alpha,” I said, chuckling at how she huffed at the title. “Just letting you know that I’ll be doing the unbinding ritual tonight.”

I hadn’t told anyone else just yet, simply enlisting Thelma to help grab some needed plants for one my newest healing concoctions. I figured it would be better to share the news after it was complete, if it worked.

Grant’s surprised eyes turned to me. “You’re doing it today? Alone?”

“Yeah, but I thought I’d notify you in case anything happens, you know?”

“You didn’t tell anything about this you?” Her words hit the hammer on the head.

She nodded slowly, then lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “Alright, I guess. Good luck.”

While I got myself ready to go through the ritual, Archer appeared in my head, his stony face, his warm smile softening up the edges, his dark, stormy silver eyes, his gentle touch grazing along the curves of my hips.

I hadn’t spoken to Archer in a long time.

Shaking my head out, I tried to focus. But I couldn’t help but wonder where he was, what he would think of the ritual. To be honest, I wished he was right beside me, going through the ordeal with me, supporting me like he always did.

I thought about what he had said before. My heart shattered when he broke the news to me; this whole time, he was exactly what I had feared. A spy scheming to betray me, pretending to get close to me to stab me in the back. Just like Reily had done. Now look where that left me, forced to do an ancient ritual to break the mate bonds and be free.

With white chalk, I drew thick lines across the dusty surface of the cursed basement where I had spent so many dark lonely hours, where Reily had nearly bled to death. I figured it would be fitting to do the ritual here, since I didn’t want to go out at night and bring attention to myself. Besides, Grant was in tonight and could help me, along with any of the other guards surrounding the area.

The drawn lines formed a circular shape of multiple rings, with lines crisscrossing the middle, where a hexagon filled with triangles stood out. In every triangle I had placed six gemstones: amethyst, jade, garnet, citrine, onyx, and moonstone.

In my satchel slung across my chest, I took out three bottles with stoppers, each a hypnotizing color. I placed them in the very middle, before the place where I would sit. The first bottle shimmered a pool-green, the second a sparkling pale lavender, and the third a murky reddish black, looking the most ominous out of them. But I had made them myself - and I had to admit it was the most enjoyable part of the process - so I knew none of them were poisonous. As for taste, I couldn’t vouch for that...yet.

I sat there in the drawn hexagon, checking my watch: two minutes until eleven thirty. I was as ready as I’ll ever be. I ran over the latin incantations written in the book; I had to memorize them before the ritual.

After two minutes, I took a deep breath, trying to forget Archer training my breathwork during our meditations - it seemed so long ago.

Gripping the first potion in my hand, I closed my eyes and recited: “Rogo praesidium inchoandi solvendi.” Then I uncorked the bottle and threw it down my throat, swallowing as fast as I could. It didn’t exactly taste good nor was t bad; it was like how a mountain river might taste - fresh, cold, littered with pine needles, rocks, fish, and other rubbish stuck at the bottom.

Warmth bubbled inside me, expanding throughout my extremities. Opening my eyes, I realized a glow began to form around me, lightening the basement far better than the measly candles I’d brought down. I felt strings of hot light wrap around me, not painful but certainly taut, winding around my arms and body, my neck, my legs, like vines. A similar feeling spread in my heart, and it sped harder as threads tightened around it.

I breathed, reminding myself that it was exactly what I’d read.

It was time for the second drink, the fizzy looking pale purple. Chucking the stopper away, I called out breathlessly, “Dimittis me a viverra motus.” Gulping the sickly sweet taste down, I threw the empty bottle to the side, feeling the liquid tingle down my esophagus.

Here, I had to focus. I pulled Reily’s face to the surface of my mind. I visualized every detail of his eyes, mouth, hair, body, clothes; his mannerisms, let his words echo in my mind. The few positive memories leading up to the failed mating ceremony came to the forefront, as did the plethora of dark memories of being bullied and beaten year after year. I made the decision to release the good; the hopes, the promises. Finally, I focused on the reasons I could not mate with Reily, why I had to do the unbinding ritual.

Tears could not help but squeeze out the corners of my eyes as I went through this mental exercise. With every thought I had, it felt like a part of me was leaving, quite literally leaking out of my soul. The book had mentioned that this was the leftovers of the mating bond’s uncontrollable attraction that had to be extracted. After this stage, Reily would no longer have that rosy glow around him. With a crackle, faint purple light gushed from within me.

That signaled the last potion’s turn, the one that looked like red death.

“Nunc me solve de custodia fatalis amoris!” I cried out, voice wavering. My hand shook as I brought the last bottle to my lips. The liquid burned down my throat like poison, and I had to stifle a choke, forcing it all down. At the final drop, a scarlet glow surrounded me, heating my skin and my insides. The chalk lines on the floors also gleamed, as if activated. The strings around my body tightened a bit painfully, and the threads around my heart threatened to burst it. I knew it wouldn’t kill me, of course, but the experience was not pleasant.

A strangled moan came from me as the effects of the ritual forced my body to turn, my limbs deforming and my bones shifting. As a wolf now, I laid in the circle, feeling the physical sensation of my mate bond with Reily: stuck, held back, burdened.

The feeling crescendos, eliciting low growls from me, then the bindings snapped and light blinded me.

Everything was dark. I simply breathed for a few minutes, before I realized my eyes were closed. When my lids cracked open, I lay on my side, my nude human body spread in the middle of the plain, white symbol. Nothing glowed anymore.

The ritual was complete.

My eyes fluttered closed, as I relished the cold hardwood floor beneath me. A sound a while later - I didn’t know how much time passed - dragged me out of the oblivion. Opening my eyes, I barely noticed Grant come over and yanked on my arm, not unkindly. She must’ve been looking for me and found me splayed on the basement floor, spent. “C’mon girl, let’s get you to bed.”

Leaning against her, we went at a snail’s pace to my new room on the second floor, beside hers. My body felt sluggish and heavy, but within, I felt lighter, freer. I felt I had ripped chains off my limbs. Once we reached my bed, I collapsed away from Grant’s hold and fell instantly into a dark, dreamless sleep.

***

The next morning, I awoke early, feeling energized for the first time in a while. My body felt healed and stronger than ever, while my chest held that same beautiful feeling of clarity and freedom. The wicked grasp of the mate bond had finally let go off me, and I was no longer held back by Reily’s inner pain. The world was at my fingertips. Of course I still didn’t know how I would act when faced with him, but so far, so good.

Now what?

The first thought in my mind was about Archer. I almost couldn’t wait to run to Archer and tell him...what exactly? I wasn’t sure. My hopes immediately crashed when I remembered we weren’t on speaking terms.

Well, I wasn’t speaking to him. Out of principle. How could I trust him?

But you do anyway, dear Vera, my wolf spoke gently, eternally perceptive.

Rolling my eyes as I ran off to the gym, hoping to work on my strength with the weights.

I thought you were so against me getting close with Archer, I shot back. She did try to interrupt our fun times back in Ciantown.

Yes, because I knew he was not who he made himself out to be. I knew he was an agent sent to take me, the lycan. But his admission of it was...unexpected.

Entering the gym’s entrance, I refilled my bottle at a nearby fountain. My eyebrows had risen at my wolf’s words.

Oh? I asked, urging her to tell me what she meant.

Yes. If he really meant to go through with his devious mission, he should have never revealed the truth to you. When he did, even I had not seen it coming. It was not something untrustworthy person would do.

So, what? Now, you’re on his side? Are you serious?

I neglected the changing rooms, since I was already dressed in leggings and an oversized t-shirt that showed my black sports bra beneath it. I headed straight to the weights area, starting off at the bench press. Laying down on the padded seat, I gripped the bar with the lowest weight I could handle.

On my third round of repetitions, I felt a familiar presence near me. The smokey scent of a body I knew well wrapped around me. Before I could do anything, a face framed by roguish dark locks peeked above the bar I held extending my arms.

“Wah!” I cried as my arms shook from surprise. The bar would have careened into my face if two hands hadn’t deftly caught it and placed it into its slot. I glowered stonily at their owner.

“What do you want?” I demanded, sitting up to face him. He towered over me and didn’t look like he’d been working out or anything.

“I was just passing by when I saw you. I wanted to see how you were... Grant told me about the ritual.” Concern passed through his eyes, his silver eyes which I had missed more than I thought.

I cursed our new alpha in my head.