The Witch's Alpha

Chapter 32

"Alyssa? Hey, Alyssa! Wait up!"

Stopping, Alyssa turned and looked over her shoulder trying to see who was calling her name. Who she saw made her heart begin to beat nervously in her chest. The woman was in her early thirties, had short wavy brown hair, hazel eyes that almost looked too big for her face, and was about five-three.

"Hey, girl! Long time, no see. How've you been? We haven't seen you at the meeting in a while. Everything going ok?" Donna Henson asked as she finally caught up to Alyssa, Janice, Verona, and Marie as they left the coffee shop.

The four women had become the best of friends in the two weeks since Alyssa and Declan had completed their mating bond, and were often seen together. Verona and Marie had easily accepted that Alyssa and Janice were human. They had also encouraged Alyssa to work and hone her powers, trying to get her to master her gift. Janice, ever the quirky one, just wished she could do something special, until the other three made it known that her unwavering optimism, not to mention her ability to just go with the flow and her weirdness, were qualities they each wished they possessed.

"Oh, Donna! Hi, you remember Jan? This is Marie and Verona," Alyssa stalled by introducing the older woman to the group. Even though Donna had to look up at her, Alyssa could still feel the power emanating from her short stature.

"Of course! Hello ladies," she said waving at them, "it's nice to meet you. I'm Donna, Alyssa's High Priestess. How have you been, Janice?"

"I've been good, thanks. How about you? How's the cauldron?" Janice asked with a grin, knowing Donna hated stereotypes.

"Jan..." Alyssa warned, while the shorter woman glared at her friend.

"Anyways," Donna said, turning back to Alyssa, "is everything ok? Like I said, we haven't seen you at the Circles lately. We're worried about you."

"I'm fine, Donna. I've just been busy. Actually, I've been meaning to call you and set up an appointment so you could read my cards. I have some things I need clarified by a reading," Alyssa said, trying to come up with an excuse to speak to the woman about her powers.

"Oh, ok, well, I'm free this afternoon if you want. I could come over and give you a reading in, say, an hour?" Donna said as she glanced at her watch.

"Actually, I've moved, so..."

"Well I could come to your new place. You know the cards are more accurate with the more energy they get from the read," Donna told her.

"Ok. Let me just check with my ma--my man," Alyssa said, barely catching herself.

'Lys, do you think it wise to have a hag- sorry, an unknown witch- in the pack house?' Verona mind linked her.

'Rona, you know I can protect the pack from any threat, magical or otherwise. Besides, Donna's not like that. She's been my mentor for the last three years. And I really could use some guidance in trying to figure out why my powers are growing.'

'Ok. I guess I'm overreacting. I'm sorry, I guess I need to get over my aversion to witches,' Verona sent with a laugh.

'Thank you, Rona. Love you, girl,' Alyssa sent back, with a laugh of her own.

"Uh, ok," Donna said, confusion on her face as she looked between the two women. She knew something was going on, but she didn't know what. "Do you need to borrow my phone to call him?" she asked, digging in her bag for her cell phone which earned her a laugh from all for women.

"No, that's ok, just give me a minute," Alyssa told the other women before connecting to Declan.

'Hey, baby girl,' she heard him greet her.

'Hey, baby. Listen, I ran into Donna while I was with the girls. Do you think it'd be alright if she came to the house to do a reading?'

'Do you think that's safe?' Declan asked, worry crossing his face as he sat in his office.

Connor immediately sat up and watched his alpha. He knew he was talking to Alyssa, but he was concerned something had happened while she was out with his mate and sister. Declan noticed Connor's anxiety, and mentally made a note to find out what was bothering his friend.

'I promise, nothing will happen, baby. We both know I'm strong enough to protect our pack.'

Declan grinned at her use of "our" when describing the pack that made up their family. 'That's fine, beautiful. Besides, this is your house too, and I want you to feel comfortable here. No matter what,' he told her, love flowing through their link, making her smile.

'Thank you, Declan. I love you. We'll be home in a few. We're just going to drop Jan off first, ok?'

'Ok, baby. See you soon.'

*

Alyssa walked into Declan's office, Donna close behind her. So far the house had been empty, and she suspected that he'd told everyone to hide for their own protection.

"Hey, honey,"she said as she walked in and spied him sitting on the couch. "Declan, this is Donna, my priestess. Donna," she began but trailed off when she turned and saw Donna standing in the doorway, looking at Declan with recognition flashing in her eyes.

"Oh my gods," the short woman gasped. "You're an Alpha wolf!"

"Hello, Donna," Declan greeted as he stood, wrapping his arm around Alyssa. "It's nice to meet you. And yes. I am the alpha of this pack. Won't you please come and have a seat?" He asked, gesturing towards one of the love seats.

"Is this why you needed to talk to me, Lys?" Donna asked.

"One of the things, actually. Please, hear me out before you make a judgement."

"Why would I judge you?" Donna asked, confusion on her face.

"Well, Declan's told me some about the animosity between witches and wolves," Alyssa admitted.

"Oh. I see. And you thought I'd judge you for having a wolf as a mate," Donna said dejectedly. "Alyssa, I know it's never been brought up during the circle, but our coven doesn't care who anyone is with as long as they're in a happy and healthy relationship. We would never judge you because you're with a wolf. It saddens me that you would think otherwise."

Alyssa could feel the blood filling her cheeks as shame filled her. She was so sure that the coven would be judgemental towards her because of Declan, she hadn't realized that she had just done the same thing.

"I'm sorry, Donna. I asked you not to judge me, yet I basically did the same thing towards you and the others."

"No need to be sorry, Lys. We are all guilty of it at some time or another. I'm just glad you are able to allow us back in," Donna said with a small smile. "Ok, so what else did you need to talk about?"

Alyssa took a deep breath before launching into her story. She told Donna about leaving Kevin, starting her kickboxing, finding her way with the help of the Craft. She explained how she had been kidnapped by Kevin and how the Goddess had allowed her to escape.

"So what powers do you have now?" Donna asked.

"Well, I can astral project, I can talk to Pack members telepathically, but I'm not sure if that's from me or from Declan, I can feel and manipulate energies, but you already knew that one, I kinda projected a ring of fire when Kevin tried to attack me, and I've become telekinetic..."

Alyssa became increasingly uncomfortable as Donna continued to stare at her.

Taking a deep breath, Donna at glanced at the ground, not wanting to alarm Alyssa as she told her, "I think I know what's happening..."

"You do?" Alyssa asked as she gripped Declan's hand tightly.

"I think," Donna said, taking another deep breath and finally looking up at the couple seated on the couch, "you have been chosen as the Lady's vessel."