The Gamma’s Secret Witch

Bonds and Brotherhood

ASHER

I had just walked out of my mate's house, I couldn't exactly bring her back with me, as soon as Griffin found out that Tabitha was a witch, and that her sister was behind members of our pack being attacked by black magic. He would insist on keeping her locked away in the pack house's dungeon-like cells, but I didn't want to be away from her, I was torn. I raced to a nearby tree line where I had stashed a small duffle bag. I quickly took my clothing off and shoved them into the bag. I didn't need another outfit getting shredded to pieces because I didn't take it off before shifting.

Once everything was quickly put away, I focused on my wolf Liam. I could feel my bones snapping out of place and elongating before resetting themselves. I could see the reddish-rusted fur of my wolf start to sprout from my skin. It didn't take long for me to shift from my human form into Liam's majestic wolf form. I grabbed the small bag in my large jaws and launched myself into the forest. I didn't want to keep Griffin waiting. He already wasn't thrilled with me for abandoning my post and not checking at the end of my patrol. Liam pushed faster through the forest as we raced down toward the packhouse.

"What are we going to tell him, Asher?" Liam asked me. I had been thinking hard about this one and honestly, I had no idea. I could say I thought I smelled something and followed it, but that wouldn't explain why I didn't check in, I was the Gamma for Goddess sakes and that was patrol 101. "Liam, I don't know, we can't tell him about Tabitha, not yet." I said back to my wolf. I knew he agreed with me, it was the best decision to keep Tabitha out of it, I wouldn't be able to live with myself seeing my mate locked away.

Bursting through the tree line, I beelined to the back door of the packhouse, shifting back to my human form on the way. The minute my feet hit the deck I dropped the bag I had been carrying and quickly got dressed again. I walked through the back door which was made out of solid wood and closed it behind me. Right now, all I wanted to do was rest. I walked through the dark halls, when I heard my Alpha's voice ring out in my mind. "Meet me in my office Asher!" was all he said before cutting off the mind link. It was late, everyone else would likely be sleeping, Everett might be the only person Griffin would have kept up with him. But, I'm hoping that it was just my Alpha who I would be meeting. Griffin, Everett and I had been friends since we were children, we grew up together in this packhouse. Meadow and Ainsley came into the picture later, after we had started school.

They were a couple of years younger than us, but Meadow has always had big dreams even as a kid. It wasn't a surprise when we found out she was Griffin's mate making her our new Luna. Ainsley on the other hand was more reserved. She had always been the source of level-headedness, especially with Everett, they had gotten officially married last year. This also meant I was the last of us to meet our mates, and now that I had, I couldn't even talk to them about her.

I climbed the stairs towards Griffin's top floor office. He and Meadow had that floor to themselves, the third floor belonged to Everett and Ainsley, I had the second floor for myself. I reached the fourth floor and crept down the hallway, I really didn't want to wake Meadow or I would never hear the end of it.

When I got to Griffin's office I softly knocked on the door. "Come in Asher" I heard Griffin say from behind the closed door. I sucked in a deep breath before opening the door and was thankful beyond belief that it was just him there, sitting behind his desk waiting for me.

I took a seat on the two-seater couch that was pressed up against the wall, Griffin was dressed very casually. I could see he was wearing a plain white t-shirt, and that was matched with a pair of track pants. "Where ya been Ash?" Griffin asked me. His voice was gruff and he sounded exhausted. Griffin rested his head on his steepled hands, with his elbows placed tensely on the desks surface.

I looked at my friend, my Alpha and could see that in fact he wasn’t exhausted, he was spent. His chocolate brown hair that was usually perfectly styled went in every direction and his usual hazel eyes were red rimmed and bloodshot. I knew I would eventually have to tell him about Tabitha, but made the conscious decision to not do that tonight.

"I thought I smelt something while on the tail end of my patrol, I decided to follow it and see if it led anywhere useful. Before I knew it I was lost in the woods, it was an area of the forest I had never been to before. I'm sorry Grif." I said, trying my best to sound as truthfully sincere as I could. I wasn't lying about the smell and about being in that area of the forest before. I just left out the part about the raven-haired beauty I couldn't seem to get my mind off. I needed to see her again, soon. I needed to figure out how this was going to work, all I knew was that I couldn't get my mind off of her.

Griffin seemed to accept this answer and moved on without giving it another thought. "Get some sleep Asher, it's late. I just wanted to check in, the woods can be dangerous even for us wolves. Until whoever is using evil magic has been dealt with, not even we are safe." Griffin explained sleepily. He got up from his chair,and walked around his desk. I had already stood up, Griffin stopped a few feet from me, I caught the look in his eye.

"I'm glad you're okay Ash. Just, make sure you check in next time" He said, giving me that all-knowing look. I nodded curtly and proceeded to follow him from his office. Griffin headed to his bedroom, Meadow would be waiting for him, even if she was asleep by this point.

We said our good night's and I continued down the hall to the staircase. Quickly making my way to my second-floor bedroom. I did hate that I was the only one out of my group of friends that hadn't found their mate yet. Meadow and Griffin had been together since Meadow was still in high school. On her eighteenth birthday they began dating, and a year and a half later they had officially tied the knot.

Ainsley and Everett were nearly the same, we wolves respected the mate bond, we may have been wild kids, the three of us boys, but we never slept around, and we didn't casually date.

When I got to my room, I flopped down on my bed face first and groaned into the pillow. I was beyond exhausted from my adventurous day. I rolled over and sighed, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and quickly scrolled until I found Tabitha's contact in my phone.

I tapped on it, highlighting her name. I pulled open the message screen and began typing. I wanted her to know that I was still thinking about her. It was pretty late so I figured she would be asleep by now. I needed to see her again, and soon. I finished typing the message and hovered over the send button.

I debated for a good long minute before sending it. Eventually, I hit send on the message. There was so much more I wanted and needed to know about her. Images of her flashed through my mind. Her pale cream colored skin with that straight jet back hair. Her large blue eyes looked innocent, but I could just tell she wasn't a goody-two-shoes. She had perfect heart-shaped lips that were painted bright red. I remember seeing the look of fear mixed with determination in her eyes when we squared off in the forest.

I sat up on my bed, placed my phone on my nightstand and proceeded to stand up. I needed a nice long steaming hot shower and I needed my pillow. I stretched and made my way towards my ensuite bathroom. I started the shower letting the water warm up as I got undressed. I dropped my clothes in a pile in the corner and climbed into the shower.

As the water hit my skin I sighed. The hot water was really helping to relax my tense muscles. The longer I stood under the stream of water the better and more relaxed I felt. I quickly washed my hair, scrubbing away the dirt and grime of the forest. Once I was clean to my liking, I stopped the shower, opened the door, reached out and grabbed a large towel to wrap myself in. I dried my body off then focused on quickly towel drying my hair. I grabbed the pile of clothes and the towel and deposited them into my laundry hamper before I headed back to my room.

I had a large closet that wasn’t quite a walk-in one but close enough. I grabbed a pair of pajama pants and boxers and quickly slipped them on. I walked over to the light switch and flicked it off. Slowly making my way over to my bed again, I saw the screen on my phone light up. I was curious who was trying to get a hold of me at such a late hour. It was after midnight so I hoped it was important.

I was exhausted and was looking forward to crashing out for the next few hours. I picked up my phone and a smile spread quickly across my face as I read her reply. I didn't respond to the message, I was too tired but it still made me smile. I placed the phone down again and pulled the blankets back and crawled underneath them. It wasn't long before the warmth and the darkness took over and I drifted off to sleep.