The Alpha's Daydream ✔️

Chapter 66

3755 words

"I never did like Joaquina," Ariella mumbled as she walked up the short hill to the cottage nestled at the crest.

"So I noticed," Malachi responded grimly from her side. Both were recalling the time Joaquina had nearly forced a tattoo on Ariella, causing her to flee with a numbness paralyzing her body in a mystifying way.

Now, hand in hand, they ascended the wooden porch steps and knocked solidly on Joaquina's front door.

The artistic shewolf opened it a moment later, her eyes wide and hair wild, as if she'd barely gotten any sleep overnight and instead stayed up, afraid for her life as rogues and demons attacked throughout the territory during the eerie lunar eclipse. Ariella wondered why she hadn't gone with the other shewolves and pups, or came out to fight. Remaining holed up seemed cowardly.

"Joaquina," Malachi addressed her in his powerful Alpha tone. "Tell me about my tattoo. What on earth did you ink me with? Don't try and lie to me, but give it to me straight. What is in that special ink you so fondly like to use?"

She seemed to shrink under his barrage of questions, especially when her eyes were drawn to his bare torso where the absence of her masterpiece was clear for all to see. Stepping back, her mouth quivered as she tried to form answers, but then she threw her shoulders back and looked her Alpha square in the eye. A bold light lit her brown eyes and she narrowed them on him.

"Why don't you come in and I'll give you all the answers you seek," she purred, her voice casting shivers over Ariella's skin.

As they stepped over the threshold into Joaquina's parlour, immediately a heavy presence seemed to weigh on Ariella's shoulders and she found it difficult to breath. Thick aromas of herbs and other scents permeated the room, a heady mix like burning incense. Swallowing down her discomfort, she clutched Malachi's hand tighter and felt him squeeze back in response.

"Come, take a seat," Joaquina offered.

"I'll remain standing. We're not here for long. Just tell us about the ink," Malachi fetched the bottle from the shelf behind her workstation and held it out of her reach, his eyebrows rising in surprise as she reached for it quickly. Before she could snatch it from his grasp, he tossed it to his other hand.

Ariella watched with careful scrutiny as Joaquina's entire body took on a cunning and possessive posture.

"Give it back, and I'll tell you," she bargained with the Alpha, wiggling her fingers as she held his cool stare.

"I don't think so. Tell me now, or I'll have to imprison you for obstruction of the truth and failure to respect your Alpha," Malachi demanded.

Joaquina pursed her lips and crossed her tattooed arms over her chest. "Your mother Seneca gave it to me. It is a very rare and priceless potion from her homeland."

"Her homeland...meaning Hell?" Ariella asked, trying to put the pieces together.

Joaquina's eyes flared, but she bit her lip in neither confirmation nor denial. It was obvious she knew more about the former Luna than she cared to share. "She never said where she actually fled from, just that her father was forcing her into some horrible arrangement and her brother helped her run away. She barely made it out alive."

The way she said it made the story sound so sad and pitiful, but Ariella knew better. She'd heard first hand from the King about the rebellion led by Lucius, and the choice each angel had made. Seneca had chosen to turn her back on the Creator of the universe, and was banished from the King's presence forever. Fleeing for her life had been a natural consequence when the battle lines were drawn and the loyal angels fought to defend their King's honour and authority.