THE WITCH AND HER ALPHA

Chapter 9

Raquelle woke up that morning feeling a whole lot disgruntled. For someone who slept pretty early the previous night, she was feeling super tired that morning.

She had some kind of nightmare but she couldn't exactly remember what happened in it and she was scared because whenever she had really bad nightmares like that, it found a way of becoming true.

It was something she had always had. She wouldn't exactly call it a gift because it was more like a curse to her. She hated that she had the power to know when something bad would happen.

Once when she was a kid, she had a dream that her mom got fired and it happened. When she was fourteen, she had a dream that her crush at that time would embarrass her publicly in front of the entire school and once again it had happened.

The last time her visions came into play was right before her dad died. Two days before his passing, she had a nightmare that he was leaving her and telling her goodbye. At first, she thought it meant he'd be going on a long trip until she got a call from the police telling her that her dad had died in a car accident.

She remembered feeling devastated. She remembered all the feelings of guilt she had. She felt like it was her fault because some force in the universe tried to warn her but she chose to ignore it and not do something about it.

It took a while for her to stop blaming herself for his death especially with some help from Flora and Fauna. They made her see her nightmare in a whole new light. Instead of seeing it as a warning she ignored, they told her that life was giving her a chance to say goodbye to him because she wouldn't be able to physically.

She hadn't had any of those kind of nightmares until today. What was even scarier though was that she couldn't remember anything.

She honestly just wanted to go back to bed and wake up feeling all refreshed but it was as if her mother heard her thoughts.

“Baby wake up. You know Drake will be here to pick you up soon. You don't want to keep that fine boy waiting", her mother yelled from downstairs.

Instead of replying, Raquelle simply placed her pillow over her ears to drown out the noise.

“Raquelle Raven Myers, get up from your bed or I will get up that stairs and get you up myself", her mother yelled again.

Raquelle groaned but sat up. Once her mom started yelling out her middle name then she was serious.

Reluctantly, she got out of bed and stalked to the bathroom. She turned on her tap and splashed some water on her face.

Just as she closed her eyes, a vision flashed in her head. In the weird vision, there was a girl in a clearing in the woods, tears sobbing uncontrollably and she was yelling no no. The vision was a little blurry so she couldn't make out who the girl was.

As quickly as the vision came, it disappeared. That was really weird. That had never happened to her before though. She decided to ignore it. She already had bad vibes about the entire day and stressing about another thing wasn't going to make it easier.

She brushed her teeth and took a shower and she got out to get dressed. She selected a white tank top over dark jeans and she wore a long lavender jacket over it. She paired the look with black boots and wore her hair in two braids on her head.

Wearing her jewelry and grabbing her backpack, she walked downstairs to find her mom eating breakfast.

“Well someone certainly took forever getting ready", her mom said, a smirk on her face.

“Good morning Mom", Raquelle said, going to the kitchen to help herself with some breakfast.

“Good morning honey. Did you sleep well?" her mom asked.

Raquelle considered telling her mom the truth but she didn't want to worry her. “Yeah I did", she replied, not meeting her mom's eyes.

“Raquelle, are you alright? You seem a bit... off", her mom pointed out.

“Oh I'm fine. I'd just rather be in bed than go to school today".

“Are you sick or something? Maybe you should stay home today after all", her mom suggested.

Just as she was about to agree, the same vision from before flashed in her head again but clearer and she saw that she was the girl from the vision.

“Raquelle are you okay?" her mom asked, beside her.

Raquelle blinked a couple of times to clear her vision. “Um, yeah I'm fine".

“Maybe you should stay home today after all. You're looking a little pale. I'll call the school", her mom going to get her phone.

“No mom!" she yelled, stopping her mom in her tracks. “I'm fine really and I can't afford to skip school today.... It'll mess with my perfect attendance record".

She made a show of smiling big for her mom to see she was fine but her mom still looked skeptical.

Raquelle didn't really care about her attendance record. She just got a really big feeling that she better not skip school that day.

“Are you sure honey?" her mom asked.

“Positive mom. I'm fine. Really".

“Alright come and eat your breakfast".

Just then the horn of a car honked and Raquelle knew Drake had arrived.

“Sorry mom. I'll grab breakfast on the way. Can't keep Drake waiting", she said as she began moving to the door.

“But wait—"

“Love you mom. See you later", Raquelle said, cutting her mom off with a kiss on the cheek. She ran out the door before her mom got the chance to say anything else.

She headed into Drake's car and heaved a sigh of relief.

“Woah, what's up with you?", Drake asked, “you look like absolute hell".

She glared at him. “Gee thanks Drake, every girl loves hearing that".

He tried to cover his laugh with a cough.

“Sorry. I meant, what's wrong? You don't seem yourself today"

Raquelle fastened her seatbelt, letting out a sigh. There was no use being mean to him. After all, she was glad to see him.

“Let's just say, I woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning", she explained.

“Well if you need any help making your day better, I'm your guy", Drake said.

Raquelle couldn't help but smile. That smile disappeared when he touched her hand and the same vision appeared again.

This time, she could see someone, someone she didn't recognize, floating in the air, laughing maniacally.

“Raquelle", Drake called but she didn't answer. She was staring into space, eyes wide.

“Raquelle", he called again tapping her and that snapped her out of it.

“Are you okay? You seemed a bit out of it there for a second" Drake mentioned, the concern sounding in his voice.

“Yeah I'm fine. I just spaced out for a bit".

“Are you sure you're fine?"

“Yes Drake. I'm sure. Now let's go".

“Alrighty then. First stop, let's go get you some breakfast", he said, casually, as he pulled out of her driveway.

“How did you... damn wolf hearing", she muttered to herself causing Drake to chuckle.

After making a stop at a diner to grab breakfast for Raquelle, they headed to school.

While eating, Raquelle decided to engage Drake in a discussion. There was still so much she didn't know about the supernatural.

“Hey Drake", she called.

Drake smiled. That was basically how she always called him when she wanted to ask him a question about his world. He found it adorable.

“Yes Raquelle", he answered.

“Tell me more about the witches. Are they like the witches we see in movies? Are they green with pointy hats and brooms?"

Drake laughed. “Well, I haven't seen any in a long time but I can definitely tell you that they aren't green with pointy hats and brooms. They look pretty normal actually".

“So how do you know they're witches?" Raquelle asked.

“How do you know I'm a werewolf?"

“I saw you shift".

“Exactly. You know a witch once you see her do magic".

“So they can do all kinds of cool tricks".

“Pretty much yeah".

“You know in movies, there are usually rules guiding magic, that prevents stuff like killing. Why would witches here be able to kill anyone much less werewolves who they're supposed to be friends with? It doesn't make sense", Raquelle said, sounding mad.

“Well technically Esmeralda and her army don't kill us".

“What do you mean?"

“There's a way Esmeralda became as powerful as she was and it definitely wasn't by killing off the werewolves. Although what she does is far worse".

Raquelle gave him a look that told him to go on.

“You see, werewolves and witches come from the same source, the full moon. Back in the day when we all used to be on the same side, whenever there was an external foe, werewolves could be stronger by drinking from a witches blood".

“That is the grossest thing I've ever heard", Raquelle commented, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

“I didn't exactly say it was delicious but it got the job done but it was only temporary. Eventually the extra boost they got would wear out but that was okay because we didn't always need to be extra strong. A rogue wolf discovered though, that if taking a witches blood makes you temporarily strong then taking her entire essence would be permanent".

Raquelle's eyes widened in surprise. Drake went on.

“Of course that idea didn't go down well with wolves because that would mean a witch would lose her powers and since we were on the same side, we would never want to endanger them. The wolf was cast out and never heard of".

“Okay but what does this have to do with Esmeralda?" Raquelle asked impatiently.

“I'm getting there. Anyway Esmeralda found out that if you could do that for wolves, you can do the same thing for witches. She developed and perfected a way to steal the essence of we werewolves and she has been stealing them for years, making herself stronger and stronger".

“So she takes your powers?" Raquelle asked tentatively.

“Yeah except taking a werewolves essence is very dangerous to us. We become shells of ourselves, a hollow body with no spirit. If you take our werewolf essence, we can't exist as humans or as wolves. We'd just be empty bodies, wandering aimlessly and that is a fate worse than death. Eventually, for the good of the pack, they'd have to be put down because there was no saving them. I remember when we had to do that to my parents".

Raquelle took Drake's hand at that, squeezing softly. He continued.

“It was the hardest thing my grandparents and I had ever done, losing your children, your parents that way. That's a pain you never get over. Mason is lucky because he never remembered it, never remembered them. They died not long after he was born. I remember when they had to kill them. My grandparents didn't want me there but I still snuck out to watch. Sometimes I wish I didn't. It hurt to watch your parents die. They didn't even feel anything because in a way, they were already dead. We were just putting their bodies to rest".

A tear fell down Drake's face. Raquelle brought his hand to her mouth and kissed his palm.

She could understand his pain. She didn't exactly watch her dad die because he died on the spot in the crash but she could understand the pain of losing a parent. She wished she could hug him but they were in the car. She settled for intertwining their fingers together.

“Thank you for trusting me with this", she said sincerely.

He gave a wry smile. “Well I've trusted you with everything else. What's one more thing?" he said.

They changed the topic to something lighter then as they continued on their way to school.

By the time they arrived in school, Drake had successfully managed to get Raquelle laughing.

She had forgotten her bad morning and was completely at ease with him. The laughter continued as they walked into the school together.

Raquelle was about to go to her locker when a peppy girl that was definitely a stranger bumped into Drake.

All of a sudden, her bad feeling came back in waves.