ALPHA(33)

“Wow, Jackson voluntarily spending time in a human town? He must really like you!” She shouted, while I blushed, thankful that she couldn’t see me. The night had been perfect and was mine and Jackson’s third date. I’d kind of been hoping that it would end up with him ravishing me in the car, or the woods - I mean I wasn’t really fussy - but he’d been a perfect gentleman once again. Dammit.

The drive over had been lovely and I’d been in awe of the beautiful surroundings. I knew Jackson was uncomfortable leaving the town to hang out with humans, but he’d done it for me and I admired him so much for it. He’d told me on the way to dinner, that although I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about the shifter town or the pack, that I was in no way a prisoner there, and if I wanted to visit the local areas then I could. I loved the fact that he always thought about my well-being, and my feelings for him were growing stronger by the day. Our relationship was so new, but I felt like I’d known him forever, and I knew I was ready to take our relationship to the next step.

“Well, we know that spell definitely works!” I shouted back over the door, remembering the horrible way I felt when Jackson had driven us back in to town after the meal. Jackson - being a total sweetheart - had looked mortified and apologised for causing me distress but I assured him that I was completely fine and the bad feeling soon evaporated. It was similar to the feeling I had when I’d first arrived in the woods and my car had broken down. Had my car not stopped working, I would have driven through and never stopped in the place, purely because of the negative vibes I was getting from it.

I heard the door open from Jasmine’s fitting suite, and heard her voice right outside my own door.

“Yeah, those witches really know their stuff.”

I finished dressing myself before Jasmine’s words registered in my brain. I opened my door and looked at her in confusion, as she stood outside with her arms full of clothes and a smile on her face.

“There are witches too?”

“Well, yeah. Who else do you think could cast a perimeter spell like that?”

“Hold on. Actual witches?” A smile crossed my face and Jasmine laughed.

“Yeah. They live in their own private towns, but they are a lot more suspicious than we are. They tend to live in places humans would never go anyway, like mountains and caves. We do them favours, and they help us out, hence the spell.”

“Wow, that is so cool.” I felt like a child who’d just been told all of the characters from my fairy tales were real, and I was so excited.

“Can I meet them sometime?”

“Sure. I’d be careful, though. If you thought us lot were hostile around you to begin with, you haven’t seen anything yet. The witches don’t hate humans, but they don’t want to socialise with them either. They’re relatively peaceful, but if you mess with them you’re bound to regret it within about five minutes.”

I felt scared, but also so excited at this whole world which I had been thrown in to. I couldn’t wait to find out more about it.

Laura laughed at the eager look on my face and we walked to pay for our purchases, before heading out in to the sunshine. As we walked around the street corner, two men who I didn’t recognise suddenly appeared, blocking our access to the street. I looked around nervously and noticed that we were the only people around, and I hoped that the guys were just passing through and would leave us in peace.

“You’re the human?” The first man growled, before pushing me up against the wall and blocking me in. My heart started to pound as I saw Jasmine try to get to me, but the other man held her firmly in his arms whilst she fought to get away from his grip.

“And?” I said, sticking my chin out with a defiance showing a confidence I didn’t feel. “So what if I am?”

“You’re coming with me.” He growled in my face, before latching hold of my arm and pulling it so hard I cried out in pain.

“No!” Jasmine and I both shouted at the same time, while the two guys just laughed at our failed efforts to get away from them.

“Get off her!” Screamed Jasmine, and the man holding her was laughing as he had to put in barely any effort to keep her in his grip. They were a lot stronger than us; and that terrified me. I planted my feet firmly on the ground, but all I could grab was air as I could feel him pulling me further and further away, towards a black van which was waiting on the side of the road. I knew that if I ended up in the back of that van, then my chances of survival would be significantly reduced, so I fought with everything I had. I scratched and – I know it’s awful - but I spat at him too, to try and get him to release my arm. My pulse was pounding in my ears and all I could hear was the men’s cruel laughter and Jasmine’s screams as I got further and further away from her. All of a sudden, I heard feet pounding the pavement and I slumped in relief to see Tyler and Ethan rounding the corner, running towards us with rage on their faces.