Alpha Brothers - The Trickster (book 4)

Chapter 10

Chapter 10
Bleu
I woke up to Graham's unusual warmth. Still in my sleep brain, I snuggled against him, wanting more of him.
Now I understood why women did everything in their power to win a man. Change their body, change their hair, their personalities. Just to have a man beside them at night.
But I understood. His warmth that radiated off him filled me. It comforted me when I thought nothing could.
And with my mind in Graham mood I couldn't begin to think about my nightmare.
It was worse last night. Harrison must have been using the other witches to communicate with me. To threaten me and scare me back to him. But I couldn't go back now. Yes, I was Graham's prisoner but I would rather be his than Harrison's.
"You smell so good," Graham groaned, waking me up from my sleep fog.
I had just slept with Graham. Oh God, I had just slept with a man. I mean, I didn't sleep with him, but I slept with him.
"Graham," I started, "What are you doing?"
"I'm...not goin' anywhere."
And that's when last night fully came back to me. In my fear, I had begged Graham to stay with me. Not only that, once he was beside me, the night terror stopped and didn't return.
Not wanting him to think anything of it, I shifted away from him and said, "Um, it didn't mean anythin'."
"I never said that it did," he chuckled.
I sat up, hugging the doona to me, feeling very much exposed. I was only wearing the cardigan that I had when I ran away. That wasn't the worse part. The worse part was the fact that I liked that I was half naked in bed with a man.
My whole body froze when I felt his fingers tugging at the ends of my hair.
"How did you get your hair so perfect?" he asked.
I frowned trying not to be affected by his hands combing my hair. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end at the pressure on my back. God, he was touching me.
"Why don't you ever answer me, Little Witch?" he asked.
"Sometimes, I just don't have the answer," I admitted.
"Okay," he started, "Are you goin' to tell me about your dream?"
Pushing the doona off me, I tried to escape.
"You think you can escape?" Graham said, blocking the door with his body.
"I-I don't want to talk about it," I told him, trying to use the strongest voice I could manage.
"Bleu, it's not normal to wake up screamin' like that."
"And how would you know!" I snapped.
"Because I use to have them."
I froze. He was lying? He had to be – he wasn't lying. He couldn't be. He bowed his head and looked almost ashamed.
"What about?" I asked before I could stop myself.
"It doesn't matter."
"What about, Graham?" I asked more sternly.
"It doesn't matter!" he yelled, "Mine aren't affectin' me now, yours are?"
"It doesn't work that way," I told him stealing a line I had seen on a movie once, "Y-you can't ask me to reveal the workings of my head when you won't do the same."
"I'm afraid of water!" he yelled.
I stumbled a little, shocked. He had just told me what he was afraid of. Oh my God, he had actually opened up to me. Oh my – wait, did he just say he was afraid of water?
"You're afraid on water?" I asked.
He shifted from foot to foot before he finally stopped.
"Okay, it's not water in general. I just can't stand bein' in water that's comes up above my knees. It's a long borin' –."
"Tell me about it," I buttered in taking a step towards him.
Surprisingly, he took a step back. The tables had turned and he was now the insecure uncomfortable one. He had turned into a little puppy. Bowing his head and trying to back away. His hand clung to the end of the bed, the only way to stop him from losing himself.
"I-I can't," he stuttered, not looking at me.
Without realizing, I had brought my hand up to brush his cheek. I became in a trance. His pale blue eyes shined gold as they looked at me and I felt my own sting. My heart started to race and I could feel my palm burn as I felt his smooth cheek.
Give in to him, my inner self told me, Give in to him.
Just as I was going to, he frowned.
"Ow," he whispered.
"What?" I asked, breaking my trance and backing away from him.
And just as I did, a hand print burned on his cheek. My mouth dropped, watching as he touch his cheek and winced, confused to what had happened. Did I just burn him? I looked down at my palm, trying to work out what I had done.
"Graham –."
"It's fine," he told me, hearing my uneven voice as I realized that I had hurt him, "I'll heal."
"I-I don't know what happened," I admitted, backing away as his took my wrist in his grip.
"It's fine," he told me again, "Trust me, I've had hickies worse than this."
It didn't make me feel better and I fought harder to get out of his grip.
"Okay, okay, bad joke. How about I take you to see someone?"
I frowned, finally staying still.
"What do you mean?" I asked, scared that he would take me to some place that would think I was a freak or take away my magic.
"Moira, she's a woman in the village and also a witch."
My mouth dropped and I felt my heart leap into my throat. It felt so good to hear that word that wasn't in the same sentence as, steal their power. But as relief settled, I remembered my night terrors. The night terrors where my ancestors would haunt me and shame me because of how I've use my magic over the last three years.
Just as I started to shake my head and back away from him, he frowned, "She's an old family friend and she can help."
"Help? How?" I asked, "I already know the answer. My magic is now evil and –."
"Evil?" he asked, "How?"
I opened my mouth to tell him when I just couldn't form the words on my tongue. I couldn't tell him that I had used my magic to force wolves to submit to a magic born alpha or that I had used my magic to steal magic from other witches.
"Graham, I've done something bad," I admitted, my voice barely audible.
"So have I," he admitted, making me frown, "Some of those thin's I don't want to tell you. Some of thin's I'll probably do my best not to tell you about. But Moira will help."
"How do you know?" I asked him.
"Well for one, I was always her favourite," I frowned, but he didn't explain, "And she's a witch so who knows what will happen."
"Graham, it's not that simple," I told him.
He shrugged, "I don't care. Please, let me do this for you."
I opened my mouth to tell him no but I couldn't say the words. I couldn't say no to him. The only reason I could think of was because I didn't want to.