The Gentle Witch And Her Fierce Alpha

Serena

She hummed to herself as she strode through the forest, her voice sweet and musical as it soared through the quietness. A wicker basket held in one hand as she clutched her faded long green dress in the other to prevent it tripping her up. Birds chirped along to her song as they viewed her above on their perches, used to her presence in the place they called home.

There it was. Serena's blue eyes lit up as the blueberry bush beckoned, it's bright blue berries ripe and ready for plucking..With reverence she knelt down in front and placed her basket on the floor. 

"I thankyou for the bounty I am about to pick" she murmured to the plant, touching its leaves softly with one hand. She had planted the bush many moons ago and once it was fully grown it had never failed to supply her with new fruit each year. 

With gentleness, she began to pull off the berries and carefully placed them into her basket, careful not to squish them. 

Serena talked to all of her plants as she planted, watered or fed them. Without fail she always thanked any plant that provided food as well, thanking them for their sacrifice. She didn't know why it just felt natural to her and right for some peculiar reason. Serena also never took more than she needed, lestnaome other poor soul or animal needed the food as well. 

Once she was finished she stood back up and placed the basket on her arm, turning around and heading for home with a gentle smile on her face, the sun so nice on her face and the air refreshing in the early morning. Then she heard her name being screamed, flinching at the shrillness as it Hurt her ears.

"Serena come and help me" it screamed and she sighed at her sister Xantha's voice. She would recognise that voice anywhere she thought wrily as she rolled her eyes and quickened her pace 

Xantha met her at the door, toes tapping impatiently as she swept her long black hair back from her face impatiently, dark brown eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"Where have you been" she hissed as Serena began to apologise.

"I'm sorry Xantha, I was out picking berries to make a pie for dessert tonight." 

Her sister frowned but stopped her tirade as she spotted the blueberries in the basket. Blueberry pie was her favourite as Serena knew and Xantha felt a tiny bit pleased at her sister remembering it. 

"I need you to clean my Purple dress and shine my black boots before tonight" she explained in a much milder tone.

"Oh" Serena exclaimed "what's going on tonight?" 

Xantha met her eyes squarely "it's for a ritual" she told her and Serena deflated. "I didn't think you'd want to know the exact details."

Serena shook her head, defeated. Her family consisted of dark witches except for her and she now knew never to question what they did when they performed their rituals and spells. Because she never showed any signs of magic after turning 16, when a witch comes into her powers, her family had deemed her a failure and only let her stay if she did everything they wanted. Her mother Isadora in particular had felt affronted at the fact that not only was Serena without powers but that she also lookes nothing like her mother or even a shred of cruelty in her 

Privately her mother had waited without bated breath until Serena's eighteenth birthday on the very rare chance that her powers would come in late. But her eighteenth birthday had come and gone last week and Isadora had given up completely on her youngest and focussed her attention on her other two more deserving daughters.

"Will you all be home for supper" Serena asked quietly as she made her way into the kitchen, Xantha following. For a moment Serena could have sworn she saw a look of regret on her sisters face, but just as quickly it was gone. 

"We will eat supper after the ritual and dessert. Just put it aside as usual" Xantha said briefly "I have to go get supplies so make sure you get that dress cleaned. Mother is already gone to prepare and she took you know who with her so it will just be you here while I'm gone."

Xantha went to turn.but stopped suddenly "mother put a spell that will alert her if you wander too far away from the house towards the border. It will also completely paralyse you until she removes it." Her voice was soft but grim and Serena nodded her understanding. 

She watched her sister head out the door with envy. Several times Serena had tried to leave, unable to bear the knowledge that her family took delight in hurting others. She just wanted a life away from them, to have a family and fall in love with a nice man. But her mother refused to let her go, always finding where Serena tried to vanish before eventually placing spells whenever she couldn't keep watch on her troublesome daughter. 

Serena trudges up the stone steps and headed into Xantha's bedroom. She took in the unmade bed, clothes piled on the floor and shoes tossed around the room with dismay. She needed to find that dress and she suspected it was buried in the pile of clothes. Groaning she began to tidy her sisters room, folding and putting the clothes away, happily finding the dress in the process. She placed the shoes in the bottom of the closet and grabbed the pair of boots that she hoped were the correct ones before hastily making the bed. 

She quickly hand washed the dress, scrubbing any stains that were on it out and rinsing it as hard as possible. There was no way it would dry in time, not if Xantha intended on going to the ritual early. She listened cautiously as she hung the dress on a hanger and closed the bathroom door, heart thumping. The dress was creased from being left on the floor and even if she hung it in the sun it would still be looking worse for wear. 

Serena would have to fix it while she was alone and had the chance. She closed her eyes and concentrated, breathing deeply in and out as she imagined a small flame bursting out of her hand, imagining the heat and the way it flickered as it moved. Success! She grinned as a small burst of flame erupted in the palm of her hand and she slowly and carefully brought it near the dress, moving it up and down to dry and remove the creases in the dress, until it was perfect. 

"Thank you" she breathed as she extinguished the flame..Everytime she drew on her magic, she feared being caught in the act by her family. Her magic was very different to theirs and Serena thought that might bee why they couldn't sense it, or because it was not very strong. She shined the boots until they gleamed and just in time to. She had no sooner stopped when she heard the door to the cottage burst open and Xantha's voice call out "I'm home."