ROMANCE: Awakened by the Alpha Bear (Werebear Fantasy Billionaire Romance) (New Adult Contemporary Alpha Male Bear Shapeshifter Paranormal Romance Short Stories)) (21 page)

Bound
to the Warlock

Chapter One

It’s been one year, and her anger towards
the people who murdered her parents had intensified tenfold. She felt like a
boiling pot of water about to blow its lid. Adrianna Marsden closed her eyes
and counted back from ten. It was a technique she learned to calm herself in
order for her to think rationally.

She was standing in the exact spot where
her parents were murdered in the hilly woods at the edge of Barclay, known as
the hidden city, stretching for miles into the unknown. It was a fairly large
place in the Midwest, a place where people came to renew their spirits and
recharge their batteries. A place to renew love and have wishes granted. It was
the locale where the most powerful witches lived, protected from the outside
world by spells, and only can be entered into by invitation.

Adrianna opened her eyes and took a deep
breath. It was her mother’s birthday, and she must be calm when she paid her
tribute. She had already gathered the stones to prepare the altar, and now, she
placed a square piece of purple cloth over the stone altar. Next, she sprinkled
dandelion seeds and sunflower petals. In the center, she placed a purple
candle.

A sound in the nearby bushes caused her ear
to prick up and she stood, listening carefully. “It could be a rabbit”, was
what ran through her mind. Then, she heard the sound more distinctly this time.
She could hear the sound of twigs snapping and dried leaves crunching, and she
knew that someone was near.

The sound got nearer, and she felt the
presence of someone by the hairs pricking up at the back of her neck and the
aura of orange. She turned and he was leaning against a tree looking directly
at her. They sized up each other for a moment, and then, he started moving
forward.

Adrianna clenched her fist, gritted her
teeth, and tried not to show her annoyance at the intrusion. She knew this was
a public place, but for crying out loud, couldn’t he just have passed her by?
Why did he have to stop and come over?

Adrianna suspected that he was about six
feet three inches. She also noticed his broad shoulders and his thigh muscles,
how they moved when he walked. His stride was more like a saunter, and she
waited to see how far he would come. His aura was confident but friendly, so
she knew she had nothing to fear. He was dressed in jeans and what looked like
a football jacket over his T-shirt.

There was a slight breeze. This interrupted
her sunflower petals and some swirled in the breeze. As he neared her, about
fifty feet by now, she made out that his hair was black – not brown, as she’d
suspected and his eyes were hazel. His well-defined cheekbones made him quite
attractive.

“Blessed be,” he greeted with a deep voice
and an easy smile.

She hesitated at the greeting. Apparently,
he was Wiccan. “Blessed be,” she hesitantly returned a half smile that didn’t
quite reach her eyes.

“I’m Garret,” he reached his hand out to
her and she took it. His huge hand enveloped hers in a warm grip. “Didn’t mean
to interrupt, I like the serenity of this place. I always come here to
meditate.”

She wanted to tell him to get lost, but
that would be rude. However, she did not wish to tell him why she was there
either.

“Do you mind giving me some time? I’ll be
done in about fifteen minutes,” she told him, trying her best to let her voice
reflect a calmness she wasn’t feeling.

“No worries, I’ll just take a walk, enjoy
the fresh air,” his eyes softened as they looked at her altar.

As he walked away, Adrianna could not help
but notice his tight butt and the way his movements reminded her of a graceful
leopard. She shook her head and turned back to her task, letting out a deep
breath. She picked up her knapsack, which she had placed beside the stone
altar, and retrieved a small photo of her mother. She placed the photo on the
altar and knelt, clasping her hands together as if to pray.

“Blessed be,” she bowed her head slightly.
“Happy birthday, Mom. Say ‘hi’ to Daddy for me. I’m home from school, Mom. And
I am going to find those responsible, if it’s the last thing I do,’’ her voice
cracked as she choked back her grief to replace it with anger.

The memory of the last time she spoke with
her parents was prominent in her mind. It was the day she went off to college.
Her mom told her how proud she was of her that she’d chosen her own path. Of
course, she’d been taught the way of Wicca, but she’d also wanted to experience
life outside of Barclay and had been accepted at a university back east. It was
about six months later that she learned that her parents were killed. She’d
wanted to return home immediately, but a letter her mother left, made her
change her mind.

It was as if her mother knew something like
this would happen. In the letter, it said that no matter what happened, she should
complete her studies before returning and make her own choice to become a
practicing witch, only if that’s what she wanted. She honored her mother’s
wishes as much as she could.

Another mild gust of wind rustled the trees
and puffed up some dry leaves. Her multi-colored tie dye ankle length skirt
whipped around her legs. A wisp of golden hair caught her blue eyes and she
blinked. A flock of birds squawked and they flew overhead, their wings flapping
as they moved from tree to tree.

Adrianna replaced the photo in her bag and
placed the bag strap on her shoulder. She squinted her eyes up at the sky,
noticing a few dark clouds rolling in.  Another gust of wind whipped her
shoulder length hair around her face, blinding her for a few seconds.

“It’s going to rain,” his deep voice came
at her. She settled her hair and look at the man she’d met earlier.

Oh God, not again, it’s him!
  She
silently groaned. “I hope it doesn’t before I get out of this woods,” she
complained, agitated.

Getting to the bottom of the small mountain
usually takes an hour or so, and she was hoping that the rain wouldn’t break
before she reached home. She had no umbrella and was wearing a tank top. She’d
be soaked in no time if she was caught in it.

“There’s a cabin down the path about a half
a mile away from here. We can shelter there if the rain catches us,” he said
with a grimace, looking up at the sky.

“We?” She asked, her voice squeaking a
little.

“Yes, we are going down the hill, so I
thought we might as well go together?”

“Oh, I thought you wanted to meditate or
something,” she said quietly.

“I’d rather go down before the rain,” he
replied, lifting his brows.

Adrianna started walking into the band of
trees away from the clearing. There was a hiking trail. She got into that and
headed down the familiar path. She heard Garret walking behind her and her legs
picked up speed. She wasn’t scared of him. She was just uncomfortable walking
with a strange man in the woods, one who seemed to know the Wicca ways.

“I didn’t catch your name,” she heard him
say behind her.

She turned her head without stopping,
replying through her clenched jaw, “I didn’t give it.”

At that moment, a few large drops of rain
pelted her arm, stinging where they hit her. When she left home, it was a sunny
morning. Who could tell that it would end in a rainy afternoon? It was around
three o’clock and the dark clouds were quickly rolling in, making it seem like
late evening.

She figured that the darkening sky matched
her mood perfectly. She moved quickly among the trees, her eyes looking for one
with wide branches to shelter from. Too late, it started pouring and she had
two choices, stop to take a beating or walk in the rain and still get a beating
from its heavy drops. She decided to walk, with Garret following close behind
her.

The ground was becoming quite sludgy really
fast. She regretted not wearing her usual jeans and sneakers, but she wanted to
wear what her mom would normally wear. The tie dye skirt was one of her mom’s
favorite things and she wanted to feel close to her, since it was her birthday.

“The cabin’s down there!” She heard Garret
shout through the rain. She turned to look at him. He was pointing to a track
off the beaten path.

“I’m not coming with you,” she scrunched
her face and shouted back at.

“Okay, see you around then,” he replied,
taking off his jacket. “You should take this,” he handed his jacket to her.

“No, I’m fine,” she shook her head from
side to side.

The rain was getting into her eyes and she
wiped her face with her hand. She could start to feel the cold rain chill her
slender body. Garret ignored her and placed the jacket around her shoulders and
it immediately started to warm her. For a moment, through the chilly rain,
their eyes met, and just in that moment, she felt heat run up her cheeks.

“Don’t worry about it, take it,” he smiled
and his face seemed like a welcome ray of sun.

“Thanks,” she beamed, tightened the jacket
around her, and continued down the path. She wondered if perhaps she should
have gone to the cabin. It’s a cabin she knew well, but thought it a bad idea
to go there with a man she’d only just met.

She’d gone there with her parents as a
child, and it was an old abandoned place. It wasn’t a place to get caught in a
storm with a strange man, one who looked like Garret. He was good looking,
obviously friendly with a nice smile. He was the most dangerous of them all.

The rain continued pelting her as she made
her way down the slippery path. Her sandals were slipping off her feet, and she
had to trudge carefully. It seemed the wind was also picking up so she had to
be extra careful about flying debris. She brought the collar of the jacket up
over her head and tried to squint her eyes to see through the rain, but it was
difficult.

She’d gone about a hundred yards when she
lost her balance and fell on her ass, sliding a couple of feet down the trail.
A scream escaped her as her romp hit the muddy ground and she twisted her
ankle.

“Ouch! God, damn it,” she yelled. She
barely managed to scramble over to one of the trees and leaned against the
trunk, still sitting on her derriere. “Ugh, what now?”

She was getting cold and certainly very
hungry. Garret’s jacket was soaked by now and provided little warmth. She badly
needed to be out of her wet clothes and would give anything to have gone to the
cabin with the stranger. At least, she would have been warmer rather than
looking let like a wet hen.

She’d closed her eyes when she felt
something move beside her and was about to scream. Her eyes popped open to see
Garret, all soaked, his dark hair pressing to his scalp and his muscles printed
out beneath the wet shirt he had on.
Gosh, he was all man
, was all she
could think as relief washed over her.

“What are you doing here?” She shouted over
the sound of the rain.

“I followed you. How could I leave you all
by yourself?” He replied at the same pitch.

“I can’t move. Twisted the ankle,” she told
him with a grimace.

“Come, let’s move in a slant across the
path. That way, it’s easier.”

He helped her to get up and slipped an arm
around her shoulder on the side of the twisted foot. It was slow going, but
they reached the cabin quicker than anticipated. Something was different about
the cabin. It was not as she remembered it. As they neared, they could see
smoke rise from a small chimney.

By this time, the rain had slowed to
moderately steady showers. It was getting colder and she was beginning to
shiver; however, her foot was feeling much better. She figured the cold rain
had soothed the ache a bit, like a natural ice pack.

Garret knocked on the door, and after a few
minutes, a man, perhaps in his seventies or eighties with gray hair and eyes to
match, opened the door. His wrinkled face stared at the two of them blankly
before he spoke.

“What cen I do fer you folks?” He made no
move to let them in.

“Hello sir, can we shelter for a bit? We
got caught in the rain,” Garret replied politely.

The old man looked them both up and down,
“How do I trust the both a ya, that ye aint some robbers come to take me
possessions?”

Adrianna tried to suppress a giggle and
turned her face and buried it in Garrets’ wet shoulder.

“Sir, I assure you. We aint want yer
treasures,” Garret replied, mimicking the man’s drawl. She could hear him
trying to restrain himself as well.

“Very well then, come on in. But be warned,
I know karate,” he warned and stepped side.

There was a wonderful aroma of brewing
coffee and roasting rabbit coming from a small corner of the house. There was a
door leading off to what looked like a tiny bedroom and in one corner was the
cooking area with a small stove. There was a fireplace which was ablaze, and
that’s where Adrianna headed. The fire immediately started to warm her.

“Thank you,” she turned and said to the old
man who was staring at her curiously. “Is something wrong?”