Finals week was almost over! I had almost gotten all of my final exams done. I couldn’t wait to see how I did, but more than anything else, I was ready to get home to mom. I could tell she was getting weak. I didn’t want to think of her not living long enough to receive a transplant, but it was really hard not to. I just knew I would feel so much better when I could see her for myself. It was really bothering me, so after dinner, I went for a run. Singarti was running full-on through the woods until we made it to the waterfall. As soon as I sat on my rock, I felt weird. Singarti growled, “Someone is here. The warriors haven’t caught up to us yet either, so be prepared to fight.” I turned around and saw a huge man with coal black hair down to the middle of his back. It framed a pale face with dark brown eyes. I was immediately under his spell. It felt like the mate bond, but Singarti was apprehensive. I asked her, “Singarti, is he our mate?” She replied, “I don’t know. It feels like it, but I don’t trust it. Don’t let him mark us for now.”
The man approached Singarti, “Hello, mate.” He took off his t shirt and asked, “While your wolf side is absolutely stunning, I would love to see your human side.” He put his shirt behind a tree, “I will leave this here for you to put on.” I walked behind the tree, shifted and put his shirt on. I walked back to where I was and he asked, “Can I ask what your name is?” I replied, “I’m Adele. Would you like to walk back to my grandparents’ house to meet my brothers and grandparents?” He shook his head, “I don’t think so.” He puts his hand against my cheek and I felt tingles, then everything went dark. When I opened my eyes, I looked around to find totally unfamiliar surroundings. The room was dark, the bed was huge and I saw a man who said he was my mate standing over me. Singarti growled, “We are not mating with him or marking him until I know for sure that this is the mate bond.” I reply, “I couldn’t agree more.”
I looked at the man standing before me, “Can I at least know the name of the man who says he is my mate?” He approached me with a wide smile, “My name is Dune and you are my mate.” The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it, for some reason. I groaned as I ran my hand through my hair, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. It must be the stress of finals.” He smiled, “You were only out an hour while I brought you here.” I asked, “So you knocked me out and you are still calling me mate?” He explained, “I didn’t physically knock you out. I just cast a spell to make you fall asleep so that I could get you here. I knew you would want to go home first and I couldn’t do let you do that. We are mates. We belong together. You belong with me. Now.” I asked, “If you were really my mate, you wouldn’t want to hurt me.” He replied, “I didn’t hurt you at all. I only made you go to sleep.”
I countered, “Until I know that this is the mate bond for sure, we will not mate or mark. I need to trust you before I can commit to you for life.” He asked, “Why are you doubting this is the mate bond?” I shrugged, “Just a gut feeling.” I was not telling him where his spell fell short. He took a deep breath and smiled, “Okay then, this is my room. I can show you to a guest room until you feel comfortable sharing a room with me.” I nodded, “Thank you. I think that would be for the best. Would you happen to have any clothes for me?” He replied, “There are some in the closet in your room, but you won’t need them for a while. At least not until I can mate and mark you. You will not leave this house until then.” I countered, “If you trust the mate bond, why are you locking me up? Are you afraid that I will run away?” He laughed, “Not at all. There are other dark warlocks who live close by. They will try to take you from me if we are not bound.”
I asked, “So you are a dark warlock?” He nodded, “I am.” I nodded, deep in thought, when he asked, “Does that bother you?” I shrugged, “Not really. Especially if you are who the Goddess gifted me with. I will never question her reasoning.” He raised his brows, “But you will question mine?” I shook my head, “You are human, she is not. You practice dark magic, she does not.” He took my hand and showed me to my room, “This is your room. You might want to get some sleep, my love.” I nodded, “Thank you.” I led him out of the room and shut the door. I locked it and tried to mind link my brothers. Something was blocking it. I thought that I would try to call mom and dad tomorrow, but then I remembered that my phone is at grandma’s. I was really sleepy, so I decided that I would just go to bed for now and try to see if he will let me call my family tomorrow. I’m sure they will be worried if I’m not back by morning.
I don’t think I had ever had to work so hard at going to sleep. I was a little upset and thought that he might try to sneak into my room, and my bed, while I was asleep. I knew good and well that he was not my fated mate. He knew about the sparks and the pull, but he must have thought that if he could mimic the physical signs, then Singarti would be convinced. However, my wolf is more cunning than most. She is not easily swayed. I finally decided to use my omega waves. I tapped my foot on the floor and the area around my bed turned bouncy, like a trampoline. At least then I would know if he tried anything like sneaking into my room while I slept.
I asked Singarti, “What are our chances of fighting our way out?” I could feel her shake her head, “No way, lady. I’ve been talking with his bear. There is no way in hell we are going to do this on our own. There are roughly one hundred dark warlocks here. Twenty live in this house alone. Plus, there are cameras and bugs in here. He is keeping a close eye on us. Let’s face it, lady. We are a prisoner… not a mate.” I sighed, as I continued to act like I was asleep, “I figured that. When you didn’t go crazy upon meeting him, I knew he wasn’t our mate. Now we need to survive until we are rescued.” She affirmed, “I got you. We will not let anything happen to either of us.” I smiled in my head, “You’re the best, Singarti.” She rolled her eyes, “Of course, I am. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to us. I’ll keep talking to the other bears here.” I sighed as I yawned, “Sounds good. Let me know what you find out. I’m going to try to sleep.”
I hadn’t been asleep long before I heard my doorknob turn. I tried to act like I was still asleep when I could feel his eyes on me briefly, then I heard the door shut. I asked Singarti, “Did he leave?” She sighed, “He left. His bear said that he is going to try to get you to accept him today.” I mentally rolled my eyes, “He’s not going to get me to accept him until he meets my brothers, at the very least. I will not have a mate who does not accept my family with me.” I asked, “What was he doing?” She replied, “He was just checking to see if you are awake. He wanted to try to catch you in the shower.” I sighed, “I will not allow him in there with me. I have already told him I will not mate or mark him until I trust him.” She agreed, “That’s what we will both do. I will claw his eyes out if he tries it.” Just then, a young lady walked in looking weird. Singarti chuckled, “Already on it. She’s looking a little freaky.” I smiled at her as she sat a tray on the table next to my bed and walked out without saying a word. It had scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns, a biscuit and gravy on it. Singarti speaks, “She is a she-wolf. Her wolf wanted me to tell you not to eat the biscuit. It has wolfsbane in it.”
I nodded, “Okay. Well, now I know what he is trying to do.”
I got out of bed and looked in my closet. I found outfits of all kinds, but none that really appealed to me. I’m not a dress kind of girl and the closet only contained the skimpy dresses that are very short with super low necklines or cut-outs so big there is very little holding the top and bottom together. I went to the dresser and looked through it. I found a pair of leggings, and over-sized t shirt, then found a pair of socks, a bra and underwear. I took the clothes to the bathroom, locked the door and searched the bathroom for cameras. I found one over the toilet, took it down and smashed it after flipping him the bird. While I was in the shower, I heard the doorknob to the bathroom turn, but he found that I had locked it. After my shower was done, I got dressed, brushed my teeth and brushed out my hair. When I walked out of the bathroom, Dune was sitting his grimy ass on my bed. I threw his shirt at him, “I do not consider any of those clothes in that closet something I would wea
Micah POV I woke this morning for the last day of final exams. I immediately walked across the hall to wake up my brothers, then next door to my sister’s room and find she is still gone? What the hell? This is not like her at all. There is no way in hell she would miss the last day of final exams. I went to the kitchen and found grandma in tears, “Grandma, where is Adele?” She just shook her head and pointed to grandpa. I went in the living room and asked, “Grandpa, what is going on?” He replied, “She never came back last night. She left in the early evening last night.” I ran to the garage and saw her motorcycle, so she couldn’t have gone far. I asked, “Was she in wolf form?” Grandpa replied, “Yeah. She outran the warriors who were assigned to protect her, and they went to her rock. When they got there, she was gone. They tracked her scent as far as they could, but it was like she just disappeared.” I asked, “Have you called our parents yet?” Grandpa responded, “Not yet. I want to gi
Micah’s POV I nodded, “I remember Dune, but that was in kindergarten.” Zach shook his head, “No. He has been trying to get him to go out with her for the past ten years. Alex and I have been trying to fight him off, but his magic is pretty powerful.” Uncle Nico asked, “Any idea where this guy lives?” Alex shook his head, “No clue. We haven’t been able to follow him anywhere because he teleports away from us.” I asked, “So why haven’t the two of you told me about this? I had a feeling back then that we were going to see him again. That’s why I have spent my entire life concentrating on my warlock side. I have been strengthening my magic all this time too.” Alex asked, “Can you teleport?” I shrugged, “I’ve never been shown how. Dad has been the one training me. Maybe I should get King Billy.” Zach and Alex laughed, “That doesn’t matter now. Dune was really powerful the last time we saw him. The only reason he got away then was because Adele kicked his ass. As soon as he was down, we got
Adele’s POV I watched as the techs came in and took down all of the cameras and listening devices. Then I pulled one tech aside to hand him the smashed camera that I had pulled from the bathroom, “Is this the one you were looking for in the bathroom?” He nodded, “I’m sorry, princess. It was Dune’s orders.” I laughed, “I knew it was his idea. Not yours. Thanks for taking them down. I need to know; are there any more cameras?” He nodded and turned his back to the remaining camera, “There is one on the dresser, aimed at the bed. It’s in the bear statue. If you smashed that, you could make it look like you found it. If you got close to the TV, you would see it. That show you gave him this morning really pissed him off.” I smiled, “That’s what I was hoping for.” Then I walked away from him and sat on the bed, “Thanks for getting all of them out.” As the tech walked out, I locked the door and slid my foot across the floor, slightly, causing a sheet of ice to form in front of the door. Afte
Micah’s POV I felt a lot better after hearing from Adele. It energized my efforts to find her and rescue her. Judging by the looks on my brothers’ faces, it did the same to them, after I told them about our conversation. We all went to the pack house and used Uncle Nico’s conference room after mom finished mind linking with Adele. I could tell she felt better after hearing her voice. When this is all over, I know my mom will collapse for a couple days. She is running on pure anger and fear combined right now. She will until Adele is home, where she belongs. I don’t blame her. I will be surprised if my brothers and I sleep at all tonight. I came out of my own thoughts to hear King Billy suggest, “I have a spy in the Dark Warrior Coven. I would be willing to bet that he has her in the main house.” I asked, “You’ve been able do that without risking your warlock?” He replied, “I’ve been doing it a lot lately. They’ve been growing in numbers over the last ten years, so I have a few warloc
Adele’s POV When mom mind linked me to tell me that Gabe was actually a white warlock, acting as a dark warlock, I was really happy about that. I’m glad there is at least one person here who is on my side. I had finally gone back to sleep when I heard, “Adele! Are you awake?” I answered, “Huh? Micah! What’s up?” He asked, “We are just worried about you, sis. Are you really as okay as you are telling mom?” I could tell he was relieved to hear my voice when I answered, “My face is a little sore from the hit, but it’s not that bad. I can still sleep through it. Was I dreaming when mom said a warlock named Gabriel would be helping me?” He chuckled, “You were not dreaming, sis. It’s true. We are hoping to do it tomorrow. As long as Dune doesn’t start some shit, it should go okay. In the meantime, you should probably not try to provoke him.” I laughed, “What’s the fun in that? He looks hilarious when he gets red-faced mad.” He warned, “But he could also open up a whole new can of whoop ass
It had been three days since I got back. My external wounds were healed, but my mind was a mess. My emotions went from one extreme to another. One minute I was beyond pissed and I was ready to kick someone’s ass. The next minute I was scared to death and I was hiding in my room with my hands over my ears. It honestly felt like Dune was trying to get into my head. I kept hearing him tell me that I can’t escape him and that he will mark me. I needed to get his voice out of my head. I hadn’t been to my rock since I had been back. I didn’t know if I wanted to go there. Dune had ruined that for me. He had taken so much from me and I didn’t know if I would ever be able to get it back. I wanted my peace back. I wanted my happiness back. I wanted my life back. Right now, I’m studying for my last final exam… Psychology. My brothers had been able to get it rescheduled, and I needed to be able to pass it if I wanted to be able to finish my degrees online. As I read all of my chapters, I came to
After a brief explanation of what I went through while waiting for Alex to come out of the classroom, we relaxed into the seats of dad’s van while we rode to our grandparents’ house. I suggested, “We should go see grandma and grandpa before we leave. I mean Grandma Gabi’s parents.” Mom nodded, “I think that’s an excellent idea.” Mom took out her phone and called them. When she got off the phone, she turned to me, “We will go for supper this evening. We leave for Colorado tomorrow.” Zach moaned, “Aw, man! Why supper? I’ll be miserably full all night.” We all laughed as I poked my brother in the ribs, “Go for a run after you eat. Run some of it off.” Zach replied, “Who can do that? Who can stuff themselves until it’s painful then go on a run. It’s impossible to move, much less run.” I laughed, “You just don’t know how to discipline yourself.” Mom added, “You need to learn to control how much food you put in your mouth.” Micah laughed, “I’ve tried telling him how to do that a lot, but he