Enslaved To The Alphas-Chapter 253: Lift A Finger

Mira quickly summoned her defensive magic and vanished into the night. Or rather, slipped into the shadows themselves, and quickly escaped the little alcove without looking behind. She had not idea that because she had been spooked, she had used magic that she otherwise would not have dared to use in company. And in that single move, she had left the three lords frozen in stunned silence.

A long time passed before anyone moved. Finally, Lancelot was the first to recover."Interesting," he muttered.

With the silence broken, the three of them exchanged shocked looks until Zai finally found his voice. "She just disappeared on us... and she used that magic so smoothly? That was dark magic, wasn’t it?"

Kalyn, suddenly feeling empty without her weight in his arms, looked down and sighed."I never thought someone could use such magic. It felt like it was part of her. She didn’t even need a medium."

The three fell quiet again.

Over the last few decades, the dark witch clan had slowly faded from sight. After their former leader died in a dark-magic accident, an accident caused by a magic that if successful, would have made the dark master stronger but brought shame to the entire clan...

It was only after his death that it was discovered his magic had turned too dark and far too beyond what others found morally acceptable. And so the clan quietly withdrew, mixing with other witches and even with humans, trying to erase the mark of shame he had left on their name.

But their retreat had raised many questions. People had been unsettled by how easily they disappeared and by how different their magic felt compared to other clans.

Only recently, under the leadership of their new master, Aron Mast, had the dark witches begun to gather again. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"I heard Aron Mast is a regular visitor at the Stav household. And as we all know, he is exceptional at magic. Could it be that he taught her?" Lancelot wondered, his brows drawn together. Honestly, he had met the young man a few times, and he did not like him much.

There was nothing wrong with him, just an instinct that warned him that Aron Mast was not as easy as he looked on surface. And a future mate of theirs being close to him did not sit well with him.

"He visits at most twice a year. And I doubt he would be able to teach a young girl so much in such a short time. Maybe that girl is being taught secretly by Lord Stav? He has always been known to support dark witches. After all, he did adopt her... so maybe, to avoid upsetting the others, he spread those rumors that he wouldn’t teach the girl magic until she was of age and had her learn secretly?"

Even as they wondered about the mystery of her magic, Zai was no longer listening to their guesses. He was staring at the spot where the shadows had swallowed her whole. He had already figured out the kind of magic she used, so the question of who taught her meant little to him.

What mattered to him was something else entirely-what else could she do with that power? The thought lingered, and a slow, curious excitement stirred in him. He did have a few ideas...

As if sensing the direction of his thoughts, the other two men turned to look at him. Lancelot’s expression tightened in warning, and Kalyn straightened with sudden alertness as if they were thinking the same. The three of them rose to their feet almost at the same time.

No words were exchanged because after years of friendship, they didn’t need any. From the moment she had vanished into the shadows, everything had become clear. All three of them knew who they were interested in wooing and who could their predicted mate be.

As for, getting to know her, well, they had their ways, even if she hid in the furthest corner of the world, they could find her.

***

The next morning, all three Lords were eager to set out for breakfast, hoping that they would finally have a chance to meet with the Mira Stav.

As they walked down the corridor, Kalyn broke the silence first as he muttered. "I want to hold her again. Do you think there will be dancing tonight?"

Zai gave him a sideways glance and a slow smile. After all, Kalyn did not need to explain ’who’ he was referring to. "If you want to dance so badly, you can always ask Lord Stav to arrange some for you. As for holding her again-based on what you told us-all you have to do is shift into your wolf form and scare her into fainting. Because, I doubt she will let you hold her willingly other than that."

Kalyn groaned. "How was I supposed to know she would get so frightened? I was only curious about the butterflies. She looked like she had never seen a wolf before."

"She probably hasn’t," Lancelot said, shaking his head as he explained. "It seems she wasn’t the only one who was terrified. From what I understand, in this far-off village, no one has actually seen real werewolves. They think we are only a little larger than the forest mutts." He let out a sigh. "This morning, the maids were whispering about ’dark large wolves’ prowling the trees and claiming it’s a bad omen for the upcoming golden moon."

Zai snorted. "For the Light witches, everything is a bad omen. A falling leaf, a crow on the roof, a wolf in the forest... if they could, they would blame the weather on bad omen too."

"They did, actually. I heard one of them say last night’s wind felt ’unsettled’ because the dark witches must be meeting in secret to come here, following their master."

"At least they are consistent," Lancelot said dryly.

Zai shrugged. "Let them talk. None of it matters. What matters is..."

Even before Zai could say the words, the girl on his mind appeared in front of him. Wearing a simple skirt and top, her hair tied in a loose braid, she looked beautiful...