Avoiding Alpha (Alpha Girl) (7 page)

“Okay. Okay.” He slammed on the brakes, and my seatbelt strained to keep me in my seat. “Is that who I think that is?”

“Yes.” For once, it wasn’t my own fear I was feeling. It was Dastien’s. I couldn’t imagine what would make him so afraid, but whatever it was, I wanted it gone.

I un-clicked my seatbelt, jumped down from the car, and started running to meet him.

Dastien bounded toward me in wolf-form. I stopped in the middle of the dirt road and he tackled me to the ground. Thank God we’d done so much training lately. I knew how to take a fall without hurting anything. Or, more accurately, without hurting anything too badly. I hit the road, careful to curl into my stomach so my head wouldn’t slam into the compacted dirt. Wolf-Dastien ran his nose over every inch of me. He growled when he got to my hand and then licked it. And then sneezed on it.

“Gross.” I wiped my hand off.

He did the wolf-version of a grunt, which came out more like a whine.

When he was done with his inspection, he plopped down on top of me and rubbed his nose against my neck.

“Jeeze. You weigh a million pounds. Get off.” I tried to move him but he wouldn’t budge. “Babe. I can’t breathe.”

He got up and pushed his forehead to mine. His relief was staggering, but the terror that something had happened to me still bubbled under the surface. He growled, and his alpha-ness ran through me. My skin stretched and itched.

He was bringing out my wolf. My heart raced. “Stop.” My insides mushed around as I tried to fight the change. “Cut it out.” I met his gaze. “Stop it right now!” I threw as much power as I could into the command and he instantly calmed down and stepped back.

I sat up, breathing like I’d run miles. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

He howled.

Great. I didn’t speak wolf. “Chris? What’s his problem?” The fear and anxiety that Dastien was still giving off made me on edge, ready to attack some unknown enemy.

“Honestly, I have no idea,” he said from the driver’s seat.

I stood up and brushed the dirt off my jeans. My bum was a little sore from the fall. “Maybe next time don’t tackle me so hard, okay?”

“I could give him a few lessons on tackling—”

Dastien growled, cutting off Chris. When I’d first gotten to St. Ailbe’s and tried to make a run for it, Chris had chased me through campus and tackled me mid-shift. Then, he’d hit on me while I was trapped beneath him and he was still naked from shifting, which my mate now took exception to.

Dastien brushed against my hip—not giving me even an inch of room as I went to the trunk. When it wouldn’t open, I banged on the hatch. “Unlock it, please,” I said to Chris.

The lock clicked and I grabbed a pair of sweats and flip-flops for Dastien. Meredith had stashed some stuff in the trunk after the whole vampire thing. Apparently, all Weres should have at least a few pairs of sweats and flip-flops in their cars for emergencies. I dropped pants, a T-shirt, and the sandals on the ground by Dastien, and zipped up the bag.

By the time I closed the hatch, Dastien was back in his two-legged form. He was wearing the pants, but didn’t bother with the shirt before pulling me into his arms. I took a breath with my face pressed against his chest. A shudder ran through him.

“What’s wrong?” My voice was muffled by his body.

He squeezed me tighter, then let go enough to look down at me. His eyes were still bright gold. “You disappeared.”

I was missing something. “No. I went to my cousins’ house…”

He brushed the hair from my face.

“I know I wasn’t supposed to, but I had to go.” I paused. His fear was slowly fading. “Why were you freaking out?”

“I…” He closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. “I thought you died.”

“What! Why would you think that?”

“All of a sudden, you were gone. I couldn’t feel you through the bond. You weren’t there anymore.” He pulled me against his chest. “I thought you were dead,” he said the words softly.

It wasn’t just me that felt the bond disappear when I went through the gate. He’d felt it, too. Only he didn’t know the reason.

I was a complete dumbass. I should’ve called him. This so wasn’t winning me the Mate of the Year award.

“I’m sorry.” I wrapped my arms around him. “Can’t get rid of me that easily.”

His hands tangled in my hair as he pulled me back into his chest. “Just give me a second and I’ll pull it back together.” His heart was still racing. “I’ve had close calls, seen my life flash before my eyes, but nothing like what happened when our bond went dead. I saw our whole future disappear. All the things we’d never get to do. Getting married, having kids, going to see Paul van Dyk play…”

Married? Kids? I was going to pretend he didn’t say that stuff. Instead, I reacted to the only thing on his list that I could mentally handle. “Paul van Dyk?”

“
Merde
.” He laughed. “That was supposed to be a surprise. For your birthday.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. He’s coming to Austin next weekend.”

I grinned. “Best gift ever. I can’t wait.”

“It was kind of a selfish gift. I wanted to go dancing with you.”

“Feel free to be that kind of selfish whenever you want.” I pulled him down, and pressed my lips to his. He lifted me and I wrapped my legs around his waist. The feel of him against me was all-consuming. Heat raced through my body as my tongue brushed his. I squeezed my legs tighter around him and he nipped my lip.

I couldn’t get close enough to him. It’d been like this since I first met him, and my obsession with him seemed to be getting worse instead of better.

Chris cleared his throat. “I’m still here. In case anyone was wondering.”

I pulled back from Dastien, resting my forehead on his. “Way to kill the moment, jerk,” I said to Chris, but I couldn’t look away from Dastien. Not when his need to be with me filled our bond.

“
Je sues désole, mon amour
. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

I pressed a small kiss to his lips. “Babe. It was my fault. But I’m fine. We’re fine.”

He took a deep, shuddering breath. “Right.” He closed his eyes, saying nothing, but he didn’t need to. I could feel his love burning through me as the last of his panic slipped away.

“Let’s go back,” I said.

“Probably a good idea. I might have run out in the middle of teaching the freshmen a new maneuver.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure the rumors will be flying.” Everyone on campus knew that the only person to freak out the ever-steady Dastien Laurent was his mate.

Dastien set me down, and I hopped in the backseat. When I turned back to him, he was by the door, holding the T-shirt in his hand. I couldn’t help but stare at his naked torso
and the way his muscles moved as he shoved his arms into the gray cotton. He paused mid-motion, arms raised above his head, and looked at me.

I licked my lips and he grinned, dimples and all. Heat burned through my body. Both mine and his. It was too much. I was seconds away from jumping him.

“If you guys force me to chauffeur you while you make-out, I’m going to lose it,” Chris said.

Dastien yelled something in quick French at Chris before getting in the car.

Chris laughed and said something back.

“In English, boys.” Otherwise, I couldn’t understand a word of what they were saying.

“I said that in the interest of those around you, maybe you can tone it down a notch,” Chris said. “Or twenty.”

My cheeks were on fire. “Shut up,” I said as I hit the back of his seat.

Dastien slid across the seats and pulled me to him. “I’ll never be upset that you’re attracted to me. Don’t be embarrassed.”

“Easy for you to say. Jerk,” I said. “Maybe don’t be so hot next time. What was with that look? That pause with the shirt over your head? Jesus. I’m pretty sure my heart forgot to beat for a second. Are you trying to kill me?”

He laughed.

I shook my head. Guys were nuts. “Let’s get out of here.”

When Chris started driving, Dastien linked our hands together. “Did you feel our bond missing?”

“Yeah. I did.” I winced. “But I brushed it aside as a side effect of being on their territory. Going through the gate onto their land wasn’t exactly the most comfortable thing ever.”

“You didn’t think about calling me?”

“I’m sorry. The bond’s there when I need it and otherwise, it feels a little snoopy to be checking on you all the time. Not to mention distracting. I’m having enough trouble in my classes as it is, thank you very much.”

He smiled at me, but it wasn’t exactly genuine. Man, I sucked.

“I was so focused on Meredith, I didn’t even think that it’d affect you. Or that you’d notice.” The look he gave me told me what he thought about that. “Sorry.”

He squeezed my hand, letting me know it was forgiven, but I’d try not to mess that one up again.

“They warded their lands. Covens typically tell the alpha of the pack closest to them where they are so that any run-ins can be avoided, but no pack members actually go there. We always meet on neutral ground,” Dastien said. “My best guess is that the ward either keeps people away from their compound or keeps intruders from escaping.”

He looked at me, eyes flashing to gold for a second before going back to their normal amber. “It didn’t even occur to me that you would go after we talked. I thought you went to class, and I felt you start to get agitated and the distance between us—that you were physically far away. I knew you’d gone there, and the bond disappeared and…” He trailed off and echoes of his terror rang strong through our bond. “I thought—”

I squeezed his hand, cutting him off. “I really am sorry. I honestly thought you wouldn’t notice it, and moved on with what I was there to do. I wasn’t planning on staying long.” I paused as a thought hit me. “How much attention do you pay to our bond?”

Holy shit. My mate was blushing. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him blush.

“Please tell me you’re not going all creeper on me and looking in twenty-four-seven.”

“
Creeper
? Really? You’re my mate.”

I widened my eyes. “What would you call it?”

“Keeping watch. You do have a tendency to get yourself into crazy situations.”

“I don’t do anything—”

Chris started laughing, but turned it into a cough when I hit the back of his seat.

“Barging in on the coven’s compound first thing in the morning qualifies as a crazy situation.”

He might have a point. I guessed that I did stick my nose in a few places it didn’t belong. In my defense, if I hadn’t stuck my nose in, bad things would’ve gone down in the pack. But before I met Dastien, I totally stayed out of trouble. “My life was totally normal until I met you, buddy.”

“Says the girl who had visions whenever she touched anything. Yeah, I don’t buy that for a second.”

I smacked his arm. “Not funny.”

Chris chuckled from the front seat. Great. I was getting laughed at by both guys in my own car.

“Come on. It was a little funny,” Dastien said.

I tried to keep from laughing, but ended up grinning anyway. I leaned into him and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

“Did you call me ‘buddy’?” He murmured as he brushed a kiss on my head.

“I may have, but that’s beside the point,” I muttered mostly to myself.

Chris cleared his throat. “How’s Meredith?”

Any laughter I felt died.

“The same,” Dastien said. “She’s knocked out, and we’ll try to keep her that way for as long as possible. Did you learn anything?”

“Oh, they’ll break the curse. But only if I let them put the same curse on me and move there indefinitely.”

Dastien growled.

Whoops. I probably shouldn’t have said that aloud, even if it was bothering me. I would’ve been fine if they wanted me to stay and learn their ways maybe once a week, but foregoing the pack and letting her curse me—no way.

I could almost see the steam coming from Dastien’s ears as rage boiled along our bond.

Still, if I was going to have an equal relationship with Dastien, then keeping things from him—especially something like this—wasn’t the best call. If the situation were reversed, I’d want to know. “Claudia gave me some books, but unless I submit, and I won’t—”

“Damned right,” Chris said.

“
And
I won’t,” I said again, talking over Chris’ mutterings. “They can’t—or won’t—do anything else to help Meredith.” I started to climb across the seats to get back in the front passenger side, but Dastien stopped me.

“We’re still moving.” His deep voice rumbled with worry.

“So? I’m a werewolf and pretty much unbreakable, even if Chris wrecks.” I brushed a kiss on his forehead, and stepped over him, into the front seat. Just because he worried, didn’t mean I’d let him coddle me.

“Don’t wreck,” Dastien said to Chris.

“Thanks for the advice, dude. I’ll do my best.”

I snorted.

“Seatbelt,” Dastien said as soon as I sat.

Seriously? The guy needed to calm down. I was fine. I would stay fine. It was Meredith we had to worry about. I reached to the floorboard and pulled the three books out of my bag.

The first one was two inches thick with a navy blue cover and embossed silver letters on the front that spelled out
McCondry’s Basics of Magic, Spells & Curses
. The second book was small, about the size of a pocket guide. The cover was a dark brown and very worn-in, but it didn’t have a title. I opened the little book and a page fell out.

This book could seriously use a rebinding.

I placed the page back in and read the handwritten, tiny print. Different people had scrawled all over the page, crossing things out, making replacements, and underlining words. I wondered who, and how many witches, had owned the book before me, but that didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that I had it. From what I could tell, these were actual potions. The boil-things-in-a-pot kind.

The last book was the newest. The hardcover had a glossy finish.
A Practical Guide to Witchcraft
was printed above the image of a girl standing with an odd-looking chemistry set. The spine cracked with newness when I opened it. I quickly flipped through the pages since I didn’t have to turn them as gingerly as I did the others. It looked like my metaphysics text, complete with exercises after every chapter, but from a
bruja
perspective instead of a werewolf one.