The Alpha Can’t Sense His Mate

CALLA’S POV

My body froze, and I smelt him before I saw him.Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

“I see my Calla has grown much stronger than the last time I was here?” He stated more than asked.

“Welcome, Alpha,” Scarlett said from beside me, giving him a slight bow. “Our Luna has grown in leaps and bounds.” She added.

I remained silent.

Cole clasped his hands, “I can tell from what I see.” He noted, seeming pleased. “Don’t let me stop you. Ignore my presence and go on with what you have planned, I’ll watch from a distance.” He said, stepping into my front, “But first, I need to ensure she is alright.”

Cole said to no one in particular, and Scarlett stepped away, giving us privacy.

“You don’t look too good my love.” He said, pushing my face to meet his eyes. “Did you have a good night’s rest?”

I shook my head, “I am fine. I just found it difficult to sleep. Nothing a little rest won’t fix.” I gritted.

“Good,” He purred, smiling with an evil glint in his eyes. “You forgot to ask but my night was good. Beautiful even. I didn’t sleep a wink but I feel full of energy.” He let go of my face. “I will tell you all about it later on. But for now, let’s focus on practice.”

Cole stepped away from me and I could finally breathe. I didn’t breathe long enough before Scarlett stepped in. “Next on the list is killing wild animals without a spell.” She said and I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

What’s with her urge to kill things today? For some reason, I felt more bitchy today.

“What’s it going to be?” I asked, unable to feign excitement.

“Your enthusiasm is off the charts today,” Scarlett murmured and I knew she was through with my attitude, but I didn’t care.

I was not in the mood. I could apologise later.

“Are you ready?” She hissed and I nodded.

Immediately a giant serpent appeared before me. Its tail ran through the entire field and it rose its head, coiling to a reasonable height as it stared me in the eye.

I felt like a fish out of water and suddenly my mouth dried.

“Kill it!” I heard Scarlett urge from behind me, “Kill it before it kills you!”

That was all the encouragement I needed. It was either me or him, and he’ll be damned if I let it be me without putting up a fight.

Suddenly, I felt a flash scene in my mind, and a cruel migraine hit me in the head. I saw a bigger serpent in a larger field, pursuing me under a dark sky while I ran screaming what I perceived too be a spell.

Fear gripped my heart, and its beating increased to an all-time high. The serpent rose its head to the skies, making a boast of its size, and afterwards, came at me with an open mouth, ready to devour.

I ran like a fool, missing my step and falling to the ground. Horror filled me when I looked up and saw it coming at me. I could sense its deathly intent in that moment, another flash scene appeared in my eyes.

This time around, I was lying on the floor, eyes closed and expecting my death as the dark serpent launched for me, ready to end my existence. My head hurt, so bad that I held it in my palms, wincing and trying to make sense of what I was seeing.

“Calla!” I heard an aggrieved voice, it was Cole’s. “I didn’t train you to be so weak!”

“Ithra!” A similar but fiercer voice said in the darkness of my mind. “I didn’t train you to be so weak!” The voice added a moment later, but this time, I could taste the anger in the voice.

My body reacted to that anger. I didn’t want that voice to be angry. Every part of me kicked against disappointing that voice. I opened my eyes and the serpent was a few metres away.

I uncapped the power enclosed within me, channelling it to the beast with every bit of strength. I couldn’t be weak. I heard a voice that mirrored my own. I needed to be strong.

The determination and power embedded in that voice pushed me. It forced me to do more – to prove myself. I stared death in the eyes, and when I thought it was all over, the serpent turned into stone right in front of me.

I watched the serpent turn into stone and destroy itself, turning to earth. My eyes widened in shock, and my head swirled towards Scarlett and Cole.

The look on their faces told me they had nothing to do with that. Cole seemed shocked as he took me in, a moment later, a look of pride replaced it.

“Well done, Luna!” Scarlett praised, “I knew you would do well.” She said and for the first time, gave me a little bow.

I felt abashed. “Thank you. I couldn’t have done it without your expert guidance.” I said and suddenly felt tired – my body grew weak as the seconds passed.

The headache returned and I knew I needed some rest.

“Of course not. I only told you to kill the beast.” Scarlett held her ground. “I never taught you to turn it into stone. That was all you’re doing.” She said, and I felt her genuine surprise as she pushed further with curiosity. “How did you do it? What spell did you use?”

My headache grew. “I don’t know. I didn’t use a spell.” I said and realised just how absurd that sounded. I hadn’t performed such a feat without a spell before.

“What do you mean?” Scarlett probed and I felt the intense gaze of Cole. I wanted the ground to swallow me. How do I explain?

“I just kind of channelled the powers within me to the serpent,” I muttered, hoping that would answer enough.

“Why?” She asked, looking at me with a weird assessment. “Why did you do that? What did you hope to achieve when you set out to use that route?”

I felt confused. What did I set out to achieve? I just didn’t want to die! Isn’t that reason enough?

I don’t want to be weak… A voice with a striking resemblance to mine said again, and a bout of headache hit me.

“I just did it on instinct.” I snapped, wincing at the pain in my head.

Scarlett must have sensed my mood because she immediately dropped the conversation.

“You’ve exceeded my expectations today, Luna. Well done.”

What’s with her sudden address of me as the Luna? I felt irked and just needed to return to my bed.

“Thank you,” I said, desperate for dismissal,

“That would be it for today,” Scarlett finally said, “We are through with practice for today.”

Suddenly, handclaps filled the air, from Cole. “Bravo my Calla!” he said with a big smile, headed towards me.

Not again. I thought. The thought of staying here any longer with him rubbed off me the wrong way.

“You have exceeded my high expectations of you, my love.” He said, placing an arm around me. “It’s only right that I reward you.” He said, “Allow me the pleasure of dinner with you, love.”

“Sure, I’ll be honoured.” I gritted and he nodded his head, seeming pleased.

“Good! Now, before we call it a day, I’d like you to do a little more work for me,” He said. “You can call it the final practice for today,” He gauged me expectantly, “What do you say?”

I heaved a breath and nodded my head. It wasn’t like I had a choice in the matter.

“Beautiful!” He charmed. “Like I said, last night, I was having fun in the dungeons.” My eyes grew cold. “However, I didn’t finish up and as a final practice, I’d like to see you do exactly what you did to that snake to them.”

I felt fired up. He didn’t finish up the people he tortured for my sake? He wanted me to do the honours? Surely he had lost his mind.

“I feel tired, my love,” I said, fighting the grit in my tone as I sweetened him up. “I don’t have it in me to perform another spell.”

“Nonsense! You will do perfectly.” He said and raised an arm, beckoning on one of the guards. “Bring them in!” He ordered and the gates were opened.

Three bloodied men were carried by two guards, who dragged each of them till they were metres away from us, set up as targets.

My heart gripped and my face paled.

“Let’s make it more interesting shall we?” He said with a dark aura and evil glint in his eyes. “If you kill these three the same way you have killed the beast, I will throw you a feast.” He boasted, “If you don’t,” His eyes turned dark. “Then you will have six to kill tomorrow.”

I turned in shock, unable to believe he had just said that. And that’s when I saw it – the anger and malice in his eyes.

This was not a test. It was punishment – punishment for last night.

A guard walked forward and whispered something in his ear. “You have a few minutes to make your call, my love.” He suddenly said, trying and failing to put up a decent smile, “I’ll be right back.”