Chapter 189
Read Alpha Asher by Jane Doe Chapter 189
I softened my voice, knowing he’d hate it, but it was all I could think to do.
“You scared me for a minute there. When you came into the bedroom, you weren’t yourself. It was like
your wolf had taken over, but there was something wrong with him. I know he’d never, ever hurt me, but
this was different. You were both different.” I exined, ncing at the two-way mirror where I knew
Zeke was currently watching.
Asher went still, his muscles growing taut where he sat against the wall. He closed his eyes and turned
his face away from me.
“I forced myself onto you, didn’t I?” His voice dipped low,ced with rage and disgust.
“No, not exactly.” I shook my head, cing my hand on his arm.
With his lip curling, he pulled away from my touch. I tried not to let it get to me, but rejection stung in my
heart like a shard of ss. Anger had me reaction, along with frustration for everything we’d been
through. There was no way in hell I’d let him beat himself up over this. This, of all the things we’d
endured together, would not be what caused us to drift apart.
Snarling softly, I pushed off the cot and slid onto hisp, wrapping my legs around his waist. The feel of
his solid form, a wall of muscle against my soft skin, lit my insides and filled me with aforting
warmth. It took concentration not to let my mind stray to the fact that he was naked, or that he’d been
the only one not to finish earlier.
“Look at me, Asher.” I demanded, cing my hand against his cheek, feeling the rough stubble
beneath my fingertips. “There’s so much more to this than you know.”
He turned and looked at me, his eyes guarded and closed off in the way that I hated so much.
“Is there? I felt your fear, and I liked it. Zeke and Brandon had to pull me off of you, didn’t they?”
“The only time I was afraid was when I realized you were going to hurt me.” I retorted, my voice
sharpening at the disgust that tinged his words. “You wanted death and blood, but somehow that
changed, and you started wanting…something else. I only fought because when I looked down our
bond, your wolf hadpletely taken over. Whatever caused it to take over also made it feral. When
you started…doing things to me, I quickly stopped fighting.”
I had to force thest bit through gritted teeth, ring at Asher as my face turned beet-red. He’d better
not force me to borate any further, because if he needed me to spell it out for him, I’d definitely die of
embarrassment. Just then, Zeke’s voice chimed in on the speakers, deepening my blush until I
contemted never leaving this cell.
“Trust me, man. You uh, you weren’t hurting her…” He said, chuckling lightly. “Brandon and I did have
to pull you off to get you into the cell, which we only did because you’d gone feral and spent thest six
hours as a wolf sprinting through the woods on a one-man mission to get back here. I think what’s
more pressing is why this happened and what made youe all the way back here.”
Some of the ire faded from Asher’s eyes, but there was still a note of disbelief that lingered. I sighed
quietly and opened my mind to him, reying the events in my head from the moment he’d ced his
hand over my mouth, up until his brother and best-friend barged into the bedroom.
Asher watched the memory to its conclusion, hearing every one of my thoughts and feeling the rush of
sensations that overtook me. Trapped beneath me, I felt his cock stir and watched as his eyes
darkened, swirling with flecks of glittering gold.
‘You little liar…’ His raspy voice trailed across the bond, flowing through the mind-link. ‘I did force
myself on you, what you didn’t mention is how much you enjoyed it.’
I startled a bit at the sound of his voice, clearing my throat even though I had no intention on
responding out loud.
‘Look, I’m still working through that fact myself. Maybe we can revisit that part at ater time. ‘ I replied,
flushing as I looked away.
Asher’s eyes, still swirling with gold, pinned me in ce. His hands found my hips, squeezing gently
before letting go.
‘Believe me, we will. Once we’ve figured out what happened to make my wolf go feral, we’ll have a long
conversation about this.’
Just then, the cell door slid open, and Zeke’s head appeared around the thick metal. His eyebrow was
already raised, and his lips twitched as he took in Asher and me.
“As much as I hate to interrupt this moment you two are having, I don’t need any more reminders my
sex life is severelycking. Seeing as I no longer have to worry about my closest friend killing me, I
think it’s safe to let you out.” He smirked, and the expression only deepened as he took in my heated
face.
Asher’s face twisted into a grimace. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I could go feral again and actually
hurt somebody.”
“I don’t know, man. I think you’ll be alright. Nothing like this has happened before, which means if
magic is involved, then it’s because of something recent. Once we figure out what triggered it, we can
find the cause.” Zeke shrugged, “Until then, this pack needs it’s Alpha.”
For a moment, Asher was silent. Seconds passed and just when I thought he’d refuse a second time,
he answered the one question we’d all been thinking.
“I think L is what triggered it.” He stated, not a hint of doubt in his voice. “I heard her scream for help,
and something just snapped.”
Zeke tilted his head, “You screamed for help?”
“It’s a long story, but yeah.” I nodded, “Breyona actually came to the rescue.”
“How? Isn’t she hours away with Giovanni?” Zeke questioned.
Asher hit me with a pointed look, one that said we’d talk about my impromptu mission to the Vampire
Lairter on. With little more than a huff, I pushed myself off Asher’sp and held out my hand. He was
a bit reluctant to take it and leave the cell, but I knew that Zeke was right about this pack needing
Asher. Together, the three of us sat at the metal observation table, the ancient book on my family line
wedged between us all.
Without wasting any more time, Iunched into what happened when Tristan and I left the pack in
search of the Vampire’s Bridgette had told us about. Leaving no stone unturned, I recounted
everything, from the warning’s the witches had uttered, to the way Breyona seemed to explode from
the shadows.
At the conclusion of my story, Asher’s snarl split the air.
“We’ll ughter them all before they get the chance to enve you.” He ground out, his eyes ring,
and jaw clenched. Seeing the look of worry on Zeke and I’s faces, he closed his eyes and took a deep
breath. “It’s alright, I’m in control. The witch said you made Breyona into a shadow creature?”
Zeke chimed in, reluctantly dragging his eyes away from Asher. “Don’t you have to make deals with
them to get them to listen to you?”
I shook my head. “No,tely they’ve been following mymands. Honestly, I don’t think it has to do
with my power as the Vampire Queen anymore. I think it’s the witch side of my family that’s allowing me
to do this, but with the way those witches were talking, it sounds like there’s a lot more I can do than
just control the shadows. Which is exactly why I brought this.”
I gestured to the book in front of me, with it’s leather-bound cover etched in solid gold that arced and
swirled in a delicate looking pattern. The spine of the book had the same design and was free of any
words that might allude to what’s inside. Asher’s hand found my own as I cracked open the cover, an
evesting source offort I knew I could count on.
He was still battling his own demons, the ones that continued to weigh on him and provoke his
protective nature, only now he had to swallow the fact that he himself had almost caused me harm. As
terrifying as that still was, separating from each other would only make things worse, that much I was
sure of.
The light scent of dust permeated the air, mixing with the slightly sweet and bitter scent of aged leather.
Each page sparkled as I turned it, the thick edges dipped in a gold paint that mirrored the cover and
spine. The first fifty pages were nothing but names, dates, and times, each one scratched within its
own little box.
“It’s birth and death records.” Asher murmured, tilting the book towards himself to read some of the
names written down. “Celeste Renaldi, Tamara Renaldi, Anastasia Renaldi…they’re all ancestors of
yours.”
“Goddess, this thing goes back thousands of years. Look at that, this is from the 14th century. See how
many of them died in Europe? Cause of death says ‘sickness. ‘ That has to be talking about the ck
Death. It wiped out millions of humans and werewolves alike.” Zeke murmured, his eyes wide.
Both Asher and I paused, craning our heads to look up at Zeke at the same time. Seeing the
expression on both our faces, he scoffed.
“That’s right, I can be smart and sexy.” He retorted.
It wasn’t impressive that he made meugh, but that he managed to coax a chuckle out of Asher,
lessening the severe look on his face.
The records of the Renaldi witches continued for another couple of pages. Starting at the earliest point
in history was a family tree. There were some dead ends where the names were scratched out or
erased altogether, but that wasn’t what we were looking for anyway.
Finally, after flipping through another fifty pages of my family tree, we came across something different.
The page in itself was in, but it was the words scrawled across the middle that piqued my interest.
‘Magic of the Renaldi Witches’
My heart skipped a beat as Asher turned the page. At first nce, theyout looked simr to the
magical textbook Cordelia and Rowena had me studying from. The various types of magic wereid
out in bold handwriting, and I was proud to say that I recognized each one.
The page started with protection magic, before working its way to natural, divination, sigil, blood, spirit,
and finally, elemental. Each of the seven types was covered on just a couple of pages. I’d just about
given up hope of finding anything new when Zeke turned another page and made a small sound of
surprise.
“Oh, look. There’s an eighth type of magic.”
I snapped forward in my seat, Asher as well. The coffee in my hand was long forgotten when Zeke
tapped the page, right where the word Conjuration’ sat in bold, blood-red letters.
“There are only seven types of magic, though. That’s all Cordelia and Rowena said existed.” I shook
my head in denial, but the words were printed right in front of my face.
Zeke bit down on his lower lip, his expression morphing into what I liked to call his ‘thinking face.’
“Mm, no it says it right here.” He murmured, tapping the page a second time. “An eighth type of magic
known to very few, dangerous and uninhibited in its absolute power, is Conjuration. Apparently, it’s run
Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.
in the Renaldi line for years, but it’s only given to the first born.”
I stared at the page, wondering if this was the magic the witches were so terrified I’d master. The whole
‘dangerous and uninhibited in it’s absolute power’ bit was worrisome, but that didn’t mean it was the
solution we were looking for.
The more Zeke read, the more I began to eat my words.
“What’s this magic do?” Asher asked, leaning in, and staring down at the book.
I was the only one flush against the seat, my spine rod straight as I watched the two of them. There
was something twisting and turning in my gut, growing more impatient as time passed. I had no name
for this thing, but if I had to guess, I’d say it was my magic. It knew we were close to getting answers,
and somehow I knew that those answers, they would change everything.
Both the guys stiffened at the same time, locking eyes over the withered pages of the book before
swiveling their heads in my direction.
“What?” I snapped, my tone harsher than I meant but the two of them were just staring at me, both
open mouthed with a mix of awe and worry in their eyes.
Zeke swallowed, “We found out what Conjuration is, and I see why the witches are scared shitless of
you learning to use it.”
“What is it? What can it do?” I asked, my heart pounding furiously in my chest.
Asher blinked, a look of pride softening the harsh angles of his face.
“That’s why they’re so desperate to have you under their control. Conjuration…it can do anything.” He
murmured, “it says here that you can quite literally shape reality. Your wants, your dreams-even your
nightmares, you can make them happen.”