Page 220 of Alpha Mates

If there are two supernatural species that do not bode well together, it’s witches and werewolves. Even more so than the age-old feud between the witches and vampires, their hatred runs in a tireless loop, its origins shifting on every storyteller’s tongue.

I don’t care why others don’t like them. I started hating the vile species the night one of them tried to kill me as a pup. It had been a pride-fuelled retaliation after a coven tried to settle on our pack’s edges, only to be driven away by my father.

I didn’t like witches then, when they hexed me out of spite, and I certainly don’t like them now.

My lip curls, a snarl already gathering at the base of my throat as I prepare to shift. Never mind the pulse hammering in my chest, or the way my instincts scream that this fight isn’t tilted in my favour.

Even weakened, I should be able to take on a single witch. But I can sense the power radiating from her where I stand, and this is no ordinary witch.

Magic breathes around her, enough to draw a hush from the surrounding woodlands. I can feel it pressing against my skin, trying to stir the kind of fear that makes you run. I ignore it and ready for a fight.

The witch doesn’t move. She watches me warily, waiting for the moment I will attack. But I’m not that stupid, so I stay still—and so does she.

We stare at each other for a long moment before she takes a careful step back. I stay perfectly still, as does she, before she takes another. Mirroring her movements, I retrace my steps, watching closely as she edges closertowards the meadow’s edge before, with one last look, she darts past it and disappears.

A moment later, the thick foliage I hadn’t even realised had risen around us collapses, revealing me to scouts scampering in the distance.

“Alpha!” the first calls, already rushing over while I scan the tree line, but there’s no trace of her.

“Let’s head home,” I say, backing away slowly.

I have no clue why the witch didn’t attack, or what she’s doing in these woods, but I have no intention of us sticking around to find out.

Beckett waits for me at the border, his green eyes teeming with concern.

“They said they smelled a witch,” he says as I approach. I shrug, and he frowns. “Julian.”

“We’re back in one piece,” I mutter as I walk past him. “Everyone’s fine.”

Only I’m not fine. Nothing is.

“I’ll walk you home,” he says, falling into step beside me. “Make sure you get something to eat.”

I don’t bother replying. As I pass my watchful pack, I struggle to keep my head up.

They murmur words of encouragement as I walk by, paired with mournful looks that I don’t deserve. They worry for me, for Aiden too, but their support just reminds me how deeply I failed not just Aiden, but them as well.

I don’t know if Beckett is still behind me when I stumble into our home, but I don’t care. I grab the shirt I left on the couch this morning, bringing it to my nose and keeping it there as I gather the courage to face our room.

It’s horribly empty without him. Too quiet. Too still. I hate it.

I hate all of this, and not knowing how to end it makes my eyes well with fresh tears. I hide them in Aiden’s pillow along with the sobs that crawl up my throat as I climb into our bed. The stuffing muffles the sound, but it’s not so efficient in handling my pain.

I’m alone, and I no longer know how to live life alone.

After I lost Oliver, I was forced to figure it out. It was the most miserable I’ve ever been, but I learnt how to do it. I convinced myself I could keep doing it, even while I’d hoped and prayed for a mate who might end the loneliness. Someone who’d love me the way my parents never did, to make it easier to bear all this suffering.

When that someone appeared in the form of Aiden Calderon, I thought I was cursed. Another punishment for daring to hope. But then I actually got to know him. Not the loud, obnoxious Aiden who made my life a living hellfor sport. Not the Aiden who somehow bit me before we even had teeth, or strutted around with a patronising smile and a penchant for trouble.

I got to know the Aiden who couldn’t start the day without a hug and a kiss. The Aiden who thought the bloodier his burgers, the better. The Aiden who made stupid faces whenever you caught his eye in the mirror.

The one who made it easier to push through all this. The one who held me like no one else ever had—the one who loved me the way no one else ever would.

I fell in love with that Aiden. I couldn’t help it, didn’t stop it. I loved every second of it.

Aiden wasn’t just my mate, he’d become my person—my rock—and now he’s gone and I can’t do this. I don’t care how weak that makes me. I just can’t.

I can’t do this without him.