Alpha Tessa

The sun burned bright against my face. I sat on the teak table, reclining on my elbows in my parents’ backyard. The scent of sizzling beef made my mouth water. My stomach growled, and I knew I’d eat at least a dozen burgers before all was said and done. For the first time since I’d been turned into a werewolf, that didn’t feel totally weird.

My birthday barbecue was off to a solid start. Everyone had been goofing off since we got here. I let their voices wash over me as I grinned. Axel—my brother—and Adrian were talking witchy stuff as they tossed a football back and forth. The rhythmic slapping of their hands against the ball was unexpectedly soothing. Mom was inside, making side dishes to go with the burgers. Dad was at his usual post, tending the meat.

Chris and Meredith were asking Donovan about strategies he’d used against vampires. Donovan showed them a move that sent Chris flying into a nearby tree and I snickered.

“Way to show him,” I yelled.

Dastien sat on the bench beside my feet, running his fingertips up and down my leg and sparking waves of goose bumps. His ever-present calmness seeped into me, and I was content to close my eyes and sit in the quiet, soaking up some rays while we waited for food.

“Tessa. You know you can’t get tan anymore?” Meredith broke me out of my Zen state.

I cracked one eye open. She was nearly recovered from her run-in with the curse gone bad. It’d only been two days, but she’d managed to gain back some of the weight she’d lost during the ordeal. She’d changed her dyed hair from pink back to blue, and I liked it better. The color made her bright blue eyes pop. But then I was a little biased. I’d kill for blue eyes. Mine were dark brown.

Meredith munched on chips as she hopped onto the table next to me.

“What are you talking about? Of course I can get tan.” I bumped her shoulder with mine. “This is me sitting under the sun, getting a healthy dose of rays. I’m half Mexican. My skin browns.”

“Not anymore.” This from my mate, Dastien.

I sat up. I liked having a little color. I’d been a pasty shade of white, but I wanted to rectify that before the weather turned cold. “What? Why not?”

“The sun has to damage your skin before it can tan. You’re healing your skin cells too fast to tan,” Meredith said.

I groaned as I stared down at my pasty legs. I’d worn shorts specifically so I could get some color. “I’m seriously never going to tan again?”

“Nope.”

Oh, man. Just when I thought I had the whole being-a-werewolf thing figured out, something else popped up. “Dastien?”

“Yes, cherie.”

“You bit me and now I’ll be pasty-pale for the rest of my life. I officially hate you. The ceremony’s off. Call Mr. Dawson. Tell him it’s done-zo mugun-zo.” I tried to pull my foot away from him, but he gripped my ankle. I gave him my best I’m-pissed-at-you face, but the jerk grinned back at me, showing off his dimples.

Those two dents in his cheeks got to me every damned time I saw them. It was a little pathetic how easily he could win me over.

Dastien’s gaze roved over my bare legs, taking in my shorts and tank top, before meeting my eyes. Heat burned me from head to toe. He stood and leaned over me, running his nose up the side of my neck. “You love me,” he whispered against my ear.

“Not anymore,” I lied.

He placed a kiss on my neck. “I can hear your heart racing.” His voice was gravelly and I shivered. He moved to kiss my lips but hovered a centimeter away and then pulled back.

I grabbed his T-shirt, tugging him back to me.

“Kisses are for people who actually love me,” he said, but he let me pull him down anyway.

“Fine. Ceremony’s back on. Against my better judgment, I love you. Even if I’m going to be pale for the rest of my life.” I stopped him right before his lips touched mine. “And I better be the only one who gets kisses.”

He chuckled. “From me? Of course.” He pressed his mouth to mine, and my stomach did a nice flip-flop.

A chorus of gagging noises sounded around us, but I didn’t care if we were grossing out our friends. I deepened the kiss for a second. His tongue barely touched mine before he moved back.

“Your dad’s over there,” he whispered.

Whoops. “Right. Well, maybe you could stop trying to make out with me.”

“And maybe you could stop pretending you don’t love me anymore.”

“Touché, Mr. Laurent.”

A throat cleared next to us. I pulled back to find Dad giving us the stare down. “Sorry, Dad.” I gave him a sheepish smile. “But hey, it’s my birthday. I’m eighteen. I can do what I want, right?”

Dad raised an eyebrow. His hip was cocked to the side, and he held out a grill spatula, ready to smack Dastien if he got too handsy.

“Within reason, of course,” I added.

“Mmm.” He sounded skeptical, but the apron he was wearing, which read ‘Why you all up in my Grill?’ killed some of his intimidation factor.

Time to change the subject. “How’re the burgers?” My stomach rumbled again, and Meredith put a giant bowl of Doritos in my face. I grabbed a handful and shoved them in my mouth.

“Nearly done, kiddo. We’re five away on this batch.”

That meant that thirty burgers were almost ready. Dad had upgraded to a giant custom-made grill after the whole going wolfy thing. Even though I lived at St. Ailbe’s—everyone’s favorite boarding school for werewolves—my parents liked me to come home for Sunday lunches now that I was considered stable and allowed off campus. I was welcome to bring friends, but werewolves ate way more than humans did. Thus, the super-sized grill.

“I’ll get the buns ready.” Meredith helped me line up plates and we dropped two buns on each one.

“Who wants cheese?” Dad called out.

Everyone yelled out some form of ‘yes’ or ‘me’.

Dad chuckled. “How about this, then? Anyone not want cheese?”

Silence. As it should be.

I handed Dad the stack of cheese slices and he got to work.

Once everyone had burgers and Dad had reloaded the grill, we settled down around the table. Meredith sat next to Donovan. His chin-length wavy brown hair was tucked behind his ears, and he couldn’t keep his eyes off his new mate.

“You guys are so cute,” I said.

Meredith tossed a chip at me, and I successfully caught it in my mouth. I raised my hands in the air. “That is how it’s done, ladies and gentleman.” I couldn’t believe how much my coordination had improved over the last few weeks. Before, I’d have been extremely lucky not to get an eye full of salt and vinegar.

Adrian kept chatting about magic stuff with my brother. Axel looked a lot like me. We had the same dark brown hair that tended to curl more than either of us liked. Adrian had darker skin, and his black hair was a little spiky. I liked that they got along so well. For the longest time, Axel had been my best friend—my only friend. I didn’t want him feeling excluded now that I was a Were.

Mom scanned the table, making sure that everyone’s plates were full. She smiled and turned to Chris. “How is your latest piece coming? The sculpture of the tree?”

Chris waved his hands as he described the way he was constructing the limbs.

I sat between Dad and Dastien. It was a good spot. Two of the most important guys in my life.

Looking around the table made me feel full, not because of the mountain of food, but because of the changes that’d happened in the past few months. This was the first birthday I’d ever had friends over to celebrate with me. It meant a lot.

So much had changed, and even if it had been hard, it felt like all of that was for a purpose. Now that I got to have moments like these, I really truly appreciated them for what they were.

Mom once told me that the bad days were there so you could really enjoy the good ones. It’d been at a time in my life when I was having nothing but bad days, and it hadn’t gotten any better. For years.

I could see her point now. She was right. If I had to go through years of bullying to get here, then that was okay by me. This was amazing.

Maybe it wasn’t much. A handful of friends and some burgers. But to me, it was everything.

Dastien kissed the top of my head. “You okay?” He could feel my emotions through our bond, and when I wanted to, I could speak to him through it.

I looked up into his amber-colored eyes. “Yeah. Really okay.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely.” I took a big bite of my burger.

Then dad dropped the bomb. “So, I want to talk to you two about the ceremony tonight.”

I started to choke. Yup. Today had been going just a little too well. A little too perfectly. This was probably the last thing I wanted to talk about with my father. Especially in front of everyone.

The blissful moment was officially over.

Dastien patted my back as I coughed and gulped down Mom’s homemade lemonade. “Sure,” I said when I could talk again. “What about it?”

“From what Michael’s told me, this is like getting married. You turned eighteen today, which means you’re still way too young to be so serious—especially about someone you barely know.”

Oh jeez. The problem was that I used to agree with him, so I didn’t really have a leg to stand on. Even a week ago, the thought of going through the whole bonding ceremony had given me severe heart palpitations, but somewhere in the last forty-eight hours, my perspective had changed. When I finally shifted forms, I’d let go of what I thought my life was going to be like and accepted what it was now. Being wolfy no longer scared me, and I was more than ready for the ceremony. It would cement my bond to Dastien, and that was something I wanted more than anything.

Dad was right about one thing, though. It was like getting married, except for werewolves, there was no such thing as divorce.

Do you want to wait? Dastien asked through our bond.

You bit me. I think it’s a little too late for you to back out.

I’m not backing out. I’m just trying to consider your father’s position.

“If I might say something.” Chris smiled, but I was all too aware of the apology in his eyes. He was going to say something I might not like.

“Sure,” Dad said.

My heart sped. I had no idea what might come out of Chris’ mouth—he could be a little unpredictable at times—and if Dad was already worried…

“They can talk to each other without speaking and read each other’s emotions,” Chris said. “So they’re pretty much as together as they can be already.”

Why the hell was he bringing this up? It only made us sound like freaks. And honestly, it was something that I was still adjusting to.

Dad twisted to stare at me more fully. “You can?”

I shoved my burger in my mouth, not sure what to say. “Mmm.”

“John. Leave them alone. She’s going to be fine,” Mom said.

“She will be,” Donovan agreed. “I know it seems rushed and odd, but this is totally normal. Especially for True Mates. You couldn’t find a better match for your daughter. He’s financially sound, responsible, and would do anything to make sure Tessa’s happy.”

Great. Now they were talking about me like I wasn’t there. This was too awkward. I jammed another bite into my already full mouth so that I couldn’t be expected to say anything.

“Am I the only one who thinks this is completely insane? She’s—”

“John.” Mom’s voice was a warning to drop it.

“No. She’s my daughter. She’s still practically—”

“She’s eighteen—”

“Exactly. Still a child. People change so much between eighteen and twenty-five. She doesn’t know who she is yet or who she even wants to be. She—”

“Stop it. Like it or not, Teresa’s legally an adult. If she hadn’t been bitten, she would’ve been starting her transition as leader of the coven.” Mom blew out a breath.

God. This was mortifying. Did they have to do this now? On my birthday? In front of everyone?

“I know you’re worried, but I’m not,” Mom said. At least that was something. “This is her life now, and we need to at least try to be understanding and supportive.”

I swallowed the last bite as I looked between them.

“She’s only eighteen.” Dad muttered as he got up to flip the burgers.

I caught Mom’s attention as I swallowed. “Thank you,” I mouthed.

“Give him time,” she said softly. “He didn’t think his baby girl would be moving on so fast.”

“Me neither,” I said under my breath.

Dastien poked me in just the right ticklish spot, and I barely suppressed a squeal.

“What? It’s true,” I whispered to him.

Dad cleared his throat. “Who wants more burgers?” His voice was a little gruff, but he at least he didn’t try to argue anymore. Thank God.

All the werewolves held their plates up.

Dad shook his head. “I gotta say, it’s impressive how much you kids eat.”

Donovan chuckled softly. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties, but I was pretty sure he was older than a few of us put together. As one of the Seven—the council governing all the packs—he was extremely powerful. From what I understood, he had to have been around for a long time to gain the power for that position. It felt rude to ask his actual age, but I was curious.

Once we were done with the burger portion of the meal, we cleaned up and moved inside. Mom went into her room with Axel and came back with two giant sheet cakes.

“Whoa. That’s a lot of cake,” I said.

Mom laughed. “Well, I wasn’t sure how much to get.” She looked at Donovan. “Too much? Not enough?”

“I’m sure it’ll be just grand, Gabriela.”

Mom blushed at Donovan’s accent. I had to admit, it was pretty hot. I lived for the times he said ‘ehm’—the Irish version of ‘uh.’

The doorbell rang. I paused what I was doing. Pretty much everyone who knew where I lived was already here. “I’ll get it.” I cut through the house to find my cousins Claudia and Raphael on the porch.

I never saw them unless something was wrong. “Hi. What’s going on?”

“We just wanted to stop by and wish you a happy birthday.” Raphael wore his usual khaki shorts and flip-flops. His black hair was cut short, and he rubbed his hand back and forth over the top of it as he spoke.

That was a surprise. I didn’t think they knew when my birthday was. “Thanks.” I swung the door wide and waved them in. “You got here just in time for cake.”

Claudia gave me a hug. Her hair was pulled back in two braids, like always. She wore a flower-print sundress. “Felicidades.”

“Is that Claudia?” Mom asked from the kitchen.

“Yes. And Raphael.”

Mom appeared and gave them both hugs. “Come on in. We’re lighting candles.”

I cringed. “Oh, we’re not doing the whole singing thing, right? Because that’s really not necessary. We can skip straight to the cake part.” I hated getting sung to. It was embarrassing.

“We absolutely are singing.” Mom pushed me into the kitchen. “Get in there,” she said as she slapped my butt.

I jumped. “All right. All right,” I said as I rubbed my stinging tush.

As soon as I got back in the kitchen, everyone started singing. I wanted to shrink into the ground. I’d never had so many people be around for this, so I avoided their gazes and stared at the cake. When the song was done, I leaned down, made a wish, and blew out the candles.

Dastien pulled me into his side while Mom cut the cake. “What’d you wish for?”

I glanced up at him. “I can’t tell you. That’d nullify my wish.”

“Does it have anything to do with tonight?” He squeezed me, and all I could see was him.

“Maybe.” I gave him what I hoped was my best flirty look.

“What’s happening tonight?” Raphael asked, dragging me back to reality.

I wasn’t sure how I should answer the question. La Alquelarre—the coven—had been pretty pissed about Dastien biting me. My cousins had been cool though, no matter what the rest of the other brujos thought. They’d even helped me out a few times.

Dastien gave a small nod and I took that as the okay to tell. “The full moon is tonight, so we’re formalizing our bond.”

The twins shared a long look, before Claudia turned to me. “I thought you were waiting until after the Tribunal.” She said the words carefully.

I knew that the relationship between the pack and la Aquelarre was strained, but the way her hands fisted at her sides made me realize she was a little more upset by this than I’d thought.

I should’ve kept my mouth shut. This was totally going to come back to bite me in the ass. We were rushing things because Dastien and I wanted a stronger case when we defended ourselves at the Tribunal for the whole biting thing and all the drama that had happened afterward. If the brujos started interfering… “No. We’re doing it tonight,” I said as casually as possible.

“Are you sure about joining into this kind of a bond? Once done, it can’t be easily undone. Not even by us,” Raphael said.

I didn’t like the threat of them breaking our bond, let alone the fact that that was even possible. Should I lie? I asked Dastien through our bond.

He shrugged.

Way to be helpful. I’d grown up being told honesty was the best policy. Guess that applied here. “Yeah. I’m sure.”

The twins gave each other another long look.

A horrible sinking feeling crept over me. It was like someone had just walked over my grave, and all the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

I’d come to know that feeling well. It usually meant bad things were coming. It wasn’t exactly a premonition—I didn’t have those. My visions were only of the past and present, but every once in a while I got really good gut feelings about what was going to happen.

As soon as I answered, I knew in my soul that I should’ve lied. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, but we should go. Let you celebrate with your friends.” Raphael smiled, but the expression wasn’t real. “Felicidades, prima.” The way he said it, all soft, made it sound like an apology.

They left without another word.

The room was quiet. Frozen. We all knew how the rest of the coven felt about Dastien and me, but I hadn’t realized that extended to my cousins. It had to be a recent development—as in the last couple of days.

Had I majorly screwed up? And if so, when? I’d borrowed their books to help Meredith, but I’d give everything back if that would fix whatever was wrong.

Or maybe I was being too sensitive? Dad’s reaction already had my defenses up.

I swallowed. “Anyone else think that visit was off?”

Donovan nodded. “Aye. I think we’ll be hearing from them again soon.”

“They couldn’t stop the ceremony, could they?” I asked.

“I don’t think so?” Dastien said.

“You don’t think so? Was that a question?” The wolf in me rose to the surface and I buried my face in Dastien’s chest before I started sprouting claws. I couldn’t let my wolf free in the middle of my parents’ kitchen. I inhaled deeply, letting the scent of him calm me.

He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me tight. “It’s going to be fine,” he murmured in my ear. “Dono, should we call in some reinforcements?”

“We’ll have plenty on campus, but I’ll let word out that we might have trouble headed our way. We’ll get you through this, Tessa, even if your coven shows up.”

I pulled away from Dastien and scanned my friends’ faces. No one would meet my gaze except for Donovan. His arms were crossed as he frowned. Not exactly encouraging.

“Shit. My birthday just got sucky, huh?”

“Who wants cake?” Mom said in a false cheery voice.

“Me,” I said. Might as well head off this bad feeling with a massive sugar high. “I’ll just take all of one sheet and maybe half of the other.”

“Eating your bodyweight in cake isn’t going to fix this,” Axel said.

“I disagree. Cake will totally help,” Meredith said. “Ice cream, too.”

I laughed, but it was forced.

I’d spent weeks dreading the full moon, but now that I’d finally shifted for the first time, I was pretty damned excited about the ceremony. I wanted it so badly that the thought of it not happening made me feel stabby. There’d be another chance next month, but I didn’t want to wait. We needed it now so we could get through the Tribunal.

Hopefully Dastien was right and we were overreacting, but I had a feeling we were exactly right. With just a few words, I’d screwed over both my birthday and my first full moon ceremony.

I’d bet my life that we’d be seeing more of the coven before the moon rose.