Spellbound Mate

Althea’s POV~

I’m walking in a field of daffodils. An amazing field of yellow with the sun on my face. They are my mom’s favorite flowers. My mom.. I spin in a circle…I call out Mom? I hear her sweet tinkling laugh and before she can utter a word, I am flying towards her and into her arms! She hugs me tight and said “Oh my munchkin! How I miss you!” Kissing me all over my face like she did when I was a child. I hear my dad say “Hey! What about me? Where are my snuggles???” And I leapt at him! I am so happy! I am with my mom and dad and my heart is singing! Sit with us, Munchkin..we have a lot to talk about my mom says. So I sit and my dad pulls out a picnic basket with all my favorite foods. He had pizza and lasagna. He had strawberries and cheesecake. Hot chocolate..Yummy! My mom looks at me and begins to speak.. “When I was a teenager… I started my first day of school at Gold Moon High School. Everyone knew I was human.. I hid the fact I was a witch.. I was a freshman… and a bit of a nerd. At lunchtime, I sat alone at a corner table..reading a book. Nobody noticed me. No on bothered me. I was eating an apple when the outside doors opened up. In walked three Gods.. the most beautiful boys I had ever seen. The one in the middle, stood taller than the other two and I knew in an instant he was my chosen. A witch doesn’t have a mate…per se… we won’t wither away if we aren’t with our chosen. We feel the pull..the want…but love has to build for us. This Adonis marches straight to my table and leans down…he says ‘stay away from me. I don’t want or need a human mate’ and I sat back and smiled at him and simply said ‘Ok..but when you change your mind.. better hope I’m still available’ and ohhh ho, he didn’t like that a bit! He punched the table and said ‘remember what I said’ and again I smiled and said ‘You, too’ and he walked away from me. It hurt! Man did it hurt. The tear droned on… I made friends..I went out.. I learned my chosen was a junior and captain of the football team!! But I also learned he was the Alpha-to-be of the GoldenMoon pack..Phillip Gold! My chosen. He was everywhere. I couldn’t turn a corner that I didn’t see him. And my feelings were growing..my heart hurt all the time. But I acted happy. I acted like I wasn’t bothered. School let out for the summer and a new boy joined our group of friends. He was cute. He was sweet. And he was funny. And he wanted to date me. I told him no. That I didn’t want to be in a relationship…he hung out with us all summer. And in the fall, he enrolled in our school. When I asked where he lived he was always vague. He was vague about nearly everything. He would follow me around. He was always finding reasons to touch me. He began to torment and bully other students. He would make fun of this one kid, habitually. I befriended that kid.. I felt so bad for him. Nathan got so mad at me. Said I was undermining him and risking his reputation…told me I was his and he wouldn’t stand for it. I pushed him away and he slapped me. Phillip saw it and beat the hell out of him. Nathan wasn’t in school for a week…in that time, Phillip had started talking to me. He asked for forgiveness and a second chance…so I was already half in love with him and said yes! We spent that first week just getting to know one another. I told him I was a witch, but to protect myself, I didn’t let anyone know. He said keeping it a secret would be a smart strategy. When Nathan showed back up at school, I told him I didn’t want to see him anymore! I was with Phillip and I had nothing more to say. He went crazy! He destroyed the library and was expelled from school. The next few years, we would see him. Hanging out at the diner. He would show up at parties. We found out he was the Alpha of a little pack called MountainRidge. My senior year Phillip ascended to Alpha and we started planning my Luna ceremony. The night before my ceremony, my girls and I went to town to pick up my gown. We had heard Nathan had met his mate a few months back and she was expecting a baby. I was so relieved! He had seriously started to give me the creeps. As we girls were leaving the boutique we were grabbed and thrown into a car. We woke up in cells…somewhere underground. Three days went by. We hadn’t seen a soul. No food. No water. On the fourth day we heard footsteps..and I looked up into the malicious eyes of Nathan Hawthorne. He said I told you..you are mine” I felt an intense amount of anger! My mother was abducted!! My dad picked up the story.. “Once we got word of the kidnapping, I had paws on the ground. We picked up scents of MountainRidge wolves. I sent trackers out to scout their pack…but we kept coming up empty. Finally, on the fifth day, one of the trackers caught sight of Nathan. He seemed to be heading off packlands and was acting suspicious. The tracker followed him. He saw him enter a small shed just off their southern border and mindlinked me he thought he had found where my Luna was. I told him to sit tight and we would meet him. I got there about 45 minutes later. I had nine warriors with me. We had been there about an hour when Insaw Nathan come out. He was covered in blood. He left a guard on the door as he shifted and ran back to his pack. I stormed the shed..killing the guard, I ran in and opened a little door. There were stairs leading down to what I could only describe as a dungeon. And there was my beautiful mate. Hung in chains and beaten nearly to death” I felt such a burning anger, I was sweating. I whimpered and wanted to hurt someone. My dad continued “I was so furious! I called our warriors to meet me, while I sent the girls back to the infirmary with the trackers. And I headed directly onto MountainRidge packlands and killed anyone in my path. I challenged Nathan for his title with every intention of killing him. He submitted almost immediately and ran..like the coward he is. I now had a second Alpha title I didn’t want. I disbanded his pack and found places for his people to go” My mom picked up the story. “I healed and we had our ceremony. Two years later you came along. Fast forward 14 years…I was out gathering herbs for poultices and a huge brown wolf charged me..I barely had time to link your dad before I drew my last breath.” My dad says “I arrived and saw her lying there. Her chest and throat ripped apart and I howled. I howled and sobbed and wanted to die “ i felt such intense anger my head began to pound. I had tears streaming down my face. My dad continued “I had to pull myself together. I had you to think about and I couldn’t disappoint your mother. I got it partway together and life moved on. I met Anna and she seemed a sweet woman with a son a few years older than you. I married her. Legally. But I never marked her. One night, we were drinking wine and enjoying time together…I thought. The next morning, I woke up groggy. Not myself. I couldn’t feel Alec. I called to him but he didn’t answer. And I realized I must have been dosed with wolfsbane. That is when I was called to the courtyard and Michael challenged me. We fought and it got bloody. But I didn’t have my wolf. So when he shifted he ripped my throat out before I had a chance to defend myself. As I lay dying he said my father took your wife and I took your life” Lightning crashed all around us…the wind picked up and rain came down. I sat straight up in Roman’s lap and said I know who murdered my parents!