Taken For The Alpha ✔️ - 53 - Wattpad
Taken For The Alpha ✔️
by Midika
YOU ARE READING
Taken For The Alpha ✔️
18+ read at your discretion! My hands tremble by my sides. "Don't sleep with her..." He steps toward me, his eyes dark. "Why not?" "Whatever you were planning to do to her tonight, do it to me instead," I whisper.
Ayah has always been unremarkable in every way other than in the power she wields. Since she was little she has been able to heal even the most fatal of wounds. Because of this, her father has locked her away, keeping her powers safe from the outside world. That is, until a man appears below her balcony, giving her a glimpse into the freedom she could finally have. However, the moment she starts to trust him, he takes her captive, revealing his identity to be a powerful Alpha who needs her to heal his younger sister. But when the girl's illness becomes impossible for Ayah to heal, she is dragged on a journey beside the Alpha to find an amplifier. On the way she learns their connection goes deeper than their heated attraction, to a soul bond neither can deny.
Word Count: 2195
I lay flat on the couch, staring up at the ceiling.
"This is going to be so much fun!" Blake shrieks animatedly, clapping her hands together.
I turn to look at where she sits at the small table before the couch, arranging a brightly coloured puzzle...or, at least she was, until I told her about Zaon and I's plan.
"No, it's not," I grumble, disheartened. "In fact, it's my worst nightmare."
After Zaon and I returned from the cave with his magic friend, Estelle, we devised a plan to find my mate. I vehemently disagreed at first, but he insisted it would be the only way for me to start making connections in hopes of finding this mysterious male.
"A magical ball hosted just for you? Sounds fun to me." Blake picks up a puzzle piece, examining it against the dull stream of light coming through the living room window.
I dig the heels of my palms into my eyes, suppressing a groan.
Zaon is in charge of the guest list to the ball he plans to host for me, which doesn't make me feel good about my prospects. After all, what would he know about my mate? He claims the Goddess will bring him to me, as my mate, and that if we are lucky, he will attend this ball.
I somehow doubt that.
"It's the finding my mate part that causes me the trouble." I drape my arm over my closed eyes, wondering if I should take Blake and Riley's offer to find freedom elsewhere.
What if my mate is a terrible male? What if he pins me down to a life I don't want? What if he takes me far from here and I never see the people I care about again.
The thought makes me roll onto my side to face Blake, unease twisting in my stomach.
Blake's expression morphs into a pout. "Finding a mate is everyone's dream. This is so romantic—"
"Leave it, Blake. She clearly isn't interested in being with her mate," Riley mutters.
My attention lifts to where my husband stands at the window, staring through the gap in the curtain to the snowy world outside. He just returned home from work, still in his guard uniform.
We haven't spoken much since our wedding ceremony last week. I've made it clear to him, over and over, that I am grateful, and each time he's assured me this is what he wants. Yet, I can't help but feel overcome by guilt every time I look at him.
"You're just jealous," Blake bites back at him over her shoulder.
He scowls at the back of her head before risking a glance at me. "I'm not...whatever."
I swallow uncomfortably, reaching for my glass of water. I suspect Riley might be having romantic feelings toward me, but I haven't been able to confirm it.
Honestly, I'm not sure I want to...
"My mate will learn upon meeting me that there can't be anything romantic between us," I disclose, setting my glass back down.
Blake shakes her head, a wry smile playing at her lips. "Good luck convincing him of that."
That's exactly what I'm afraid of. The only mate bond I ever experienced led to my mother being trapped in an ailing body she should have been released from decades before.
"Zaon will keep him in line." He's agreed to do as much. He'll do anything to have my heal Iris. "I just need the mate bond to heal Iris. Once that is done, I'm out of here."
If my mate doesn't want me to leave, I'll do so anyway. Even if I have to slink from the shadows of night to do so.
Blake pins me with a look. "He will pursue you to the ends of the—"
"Please stop. The more you stay, the more I think this is a bad idea." I groan, stuffing a cushion over my head.
What other choice do I have but to attend this ball tomorrow? I want to heal Iris, and guests have already been travelling through the town and up to the palace to settle in.
Over breakfast, I stared out the window at the carriages moving by, wondering if my mate was in one of them.
"Maybe it is." Riley's voice makes me lift the cushion away tentatively. "This is dangerous, Ayah."
"I have no other choice..."
He scowls in a way that seem characteristic of him recently. There's always a frown embedded between his brows, even if it's subtle. When I ask him about what is bothering him, he dismisses me with a strained smile.
I adjust on the couch as he approaches, giving him room to sit next to me. "One word and we'll get you somewhere safe."
Blake nods in agreement.
"I know. Thank you," I murmur.
While I don't have many people here, I have them, and they are already becoming my favourite people. They care about me beyond my powers, and what I've done for their mother in the past.
"Well, if you're set on finding your mate, you need to know what to look for." Blake divorces from her puzzle, facing me. "Physical symptoms won't manifest until you allow yourself to feel them. Truly."
I wrap my arms around my middle. That's not going to be easy.
"Perhaps I may help."
My attention drifts up to hallway where Blake and Riley's mother, Lydia, has emerged from.
I thought she might not welcome me into her home, since I've married her son and have no intentions of ever falling in love with him, or at the very least, sharing a bed with him. But she has been kind and gracious, understanding the complexity of my situation.
Blake straightens, grinning. "Oh yes, my mother and father were mates before he passed."
"How did you know it was him?" I ask her.
She sighs, leaning against the doorframe. She's healed nicely since being terminally ill, showing no signs she was ever so close to death.
"Him and I grew up together, actually," she exclaims, retreating into the depths of her memories. "At first I was resistant to him. We seemed to find our way back to each other constantly, and to be honest, it bothered me."
"Really?"
"Oh yes. I thought I couldn't stand him, but even I couldn't deny what I was feeling." She laughs a little under her breath.
A cavity opens up in my chest, vast and empty.
She lost her mate, and yet she is able to stand here, smiling at the memory of him. My father couldn't let my mother go, and now...I don't know how he is handling it, but I doubt it's well.
"What were you feeling?" I ask.
"It was more than attraction. I couldn't stand not being around him, and when I was, I felt...content," she says. "Every part of my body called to him, and every moment I was around him, I realised we were made for each other."
I look down at my hands on my lap. I've only ever felt a feeling similar to that once before, and it's been with Zaon. I know I'm attracted to him, but has there ever been more?
Being away from him this week has been surprisingly difficult. I've thought about him often throughout the day, and to the moment I go to sleep. But if I were mates with him, I wouldn't have any doubts.
I have to believe that. I can't be mates with Zaon.
"It didn't scare you?"
"Maybe at first. There is nothing like the mate bond, so it can feel foreign," Lydia clarifies. "But it is the best thing that ever happened to me. I loved my mate in a way that can't be explained to someone who hasn't experienced it."
I find it hard to believe she could feel so positive about the mate bond when she lost her mate. The severing of the bond can almost kill someone, yet she stands here, staring wistfully into space, recalling the nature of her relationship with him.
I shift an inch away from Riley next to me, feeling sick with guilt.
"Can it start as just sexual attraction?" I ask tentatively.
"Oh sure." She smiles gently. "But someone who is experiencing that may realise that a deeper look reveals feelings beyond the physical."
Should I look deeper beyond what Zaon and I have? Is there a chance that when I contemplate it in depth, I'll find I could truly come to love him?
No, there is no chance he's my mate. The Goddess wouldn't pair me with a male who is so complicated, who has a wife he wants me dead, and who would never let me go if he found out about any bond.
There is someone else out there for me. I have to believe it.
"At the ball this Friday, how can I find my mate at first glance?" It needs to be that way. I'll have to meet plenty of males, while ensuring I give each a chance to prove to me I am their mate.
"Feel for that intangible connection. Don't fear it, or it will conceal itself until you're ready," Lydia explains. "Be open and willing."
My head falls into my hands. "That's easier said than done."
I can't allow myself to get in my own way. I need what I need to do, and I can't stop until I achieve that goal. Otherwise, Iris will die, and I will have failed myself and Zaon.
"Even if you don't like the answer, don't fight the feeling," Lydia insists quietly.
"I'll try."
When I glance back up, she looks never, glancing between Riley and I.
"You don't happen to feel it for my son, do you?"
I stiffen, feeling Riley do the same next to me.
"Mother, stop," he grits out lowly, wearing his mortification all over his face.
"Riley is...he's been so kind to me, but I don't believe there is a mate bond there," I admit honestly, flicking him an apologetic look. "Trust me, I've searched. You would be the ideal mate."
His cheeks flush crimson, his gaze lowering.
"You are too kind."
I'm not just saying it to be kind, either. Riley would be the perfect mate for me, and he would understand if I told him I needed space. But for whatever reason, the Goddess has decided him and I wouldn't be compatible.
"Yuck." Blake grimaces, then shudders. "No, Ayah's mate is going to be handsome and romantic and incredibly wealthy."
"I don't care about any of that," I tell her.
"I'm manifesting it for you," she insists. "You're going to find him at this ball."
"It's such a stretch, I mean—"
"What makes the mate bond so incredible is that fate will send you your mate when you need them most. Fate will ensure you cross paths, regardless of what barriers must be torn down to get you there," Lydia assures me.
I nod, although I'm still uncertain.
What kind of males has Zaon summoned to his home for this ball? Could I possibly see myself being mated to someone willing to attend a ball to meet a female they know nothing about, relying only on an Alpha's testimony?
"We'll just have to see," I breathe.
"Zaon has gone to great lengths to try attract only the most worthy and likely of partners," Blake exclaims brightly. She intends to join me at the ball to look for her own suitor amongst the crowd.
"He's desperate for this."
"Or maybe he's denying the fact that he might be your mate." She wiggles her brows suggestively, laughing to herself under her breath.
"Blake!" I hiss. "Why would you possibly say that?"
"I don't know, maybe it's because he looked like he wanted to kill my brother for kissing you." Her smile is sly. "Maybe it's the obvious tension between you two and the—"
"Stop, sister. I've had enough." Riley stands abruptly, almost knocking his shin into the small table where Blake's puzzle is intricately arranged.
We watch him go silently, Blake pulling a face at his back.
"Zaon is not my mate," I tell her quietly.
She looks down at her puzzle, clearly unconvinced. "Are you certain?"
"I mean...he can't be." It feels so implausible. The Goddess would have to be playing a joke on me to make this true.
"It's time to look inward." Blake levels a firm look. "The ball is a great place to do it."
I sigh, sinking back into the couch.
Blake is right. And for the first time all week, I feel confident that I truly will find my mate at this ball tomorrow.
Whoever he may be.