MATED TO THE ALPHA AND HIS BETA - Season 5 Episode 85

Stella

Selena sobered up, her laughter fading to silence. “You’re serious.”

“Yes.”

She tilted her head to look me over. Her eyebrows knitted together. “Last night…they were all circling me, like they were sharks and I was a bucket of chum. It was making me crazy, you know? Like, I just wanted to dance and have a good time.”

“You keep calling them other things, but I know what you mean. I heard you scream.”

“Some asshole grabbed my butt. But I put him in his place. Nobody else really noticed. I didn’t think I screamed. Maybe I shouted a little, but the music was so loud…” Selena’s voice once again trailed to silence. She coughed into her fist. “Okay, this is freaky.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t want to be freaky.”

For a moment, I thought she was going to give me another sarcastic comment, but my aunt only nodded. “I get it. You can’t really help it, though. Can you.”

“I guess not.”

“Is that why you changed how you look?”

It was my turn to nod.

My aunt sighed and let her head fall against the back of the chair. She stared at the ceiling. “I used to think I wanted guys fighting over me, you know? I wanted to be so pretty, so special, so…

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whatever.

“Oh, gosh. You are so pretty!” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them, not that I wanted to. My aunt was beautiful. “If anything, I wish I looked more like you.”

“None of those men want me, actually me. They aren’t even attracted to me because of how I look or dress, or the sound of my voice, or my sense of humor. None of that shit matters to them, because the only reason they’re panting after me like they’re the ones in heat is because my ancestors aren’t all wolf shifters.” She let out a harsh chuckle that sounded like it hurt her throat.

“I know that. I’m sorry.”

This time, she didn’t tell me to fuck off. She rolled her head to look at me. “You say you can help me, though?”

“I did last night.”

She let her face tip toward the ceiling again. “Is that why they all of a sudden started leaving me alone?”

“Yes. I felt your distress, and I couldn’t watch it anymore. It felt like they were getting ready to hurt you. At least some of them wanted to.”

Selena sat up, her body shaking with a shiver of revulsion. “That’s so fucking gross.”

“I don’t know if any of them would have, but they were thinking about it.”

“I know. I could feel them, too. But you made them back off?”

I nodded. “It was just a little pulse. A tiny push. I didn’t want to get in their heads too much, so I didn’t do anything they’d be able to really feel. I just kind of shielded you from them. Made you…”

“Not invisible,” she said. “I’d have noticed if you’d done something that intense.

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“No. But a little transparent, maybe?” I chewed the inside of my cheek, trying to remember exactly what I’d done. “I just kind of nudged them into wanting something else. Another beer. A dance with a different partner. It won’t last, I mean, they might start feeling like they want to pursue you again.”

“But you could nudge them again, right?”

“I think so.” I took a few seconds to scan my internal library, calculating different ways I could keep her safe from the toads. Or the sharks. Whatever it was she wanted to call them. When I focused on her again, my aunt was sitting up with an odd expression.

“It really is kind of like watching a computer work through a program,” she said. “I don’t mean for that to hurt your feelings, Stella. It’s just that you get this distant look in your eyes. Then you come back.”

“I’ll work on that. You can help me. It’ll be part of the fitting in.”

Selena sighed. “I don’t know, kid. I don’t think your parents will be cool with you going to bars with me. I mean, they can’t be down with you using your Celestial powers to change yourself so you can go out partying.”

“My Abba…it was his idea.”

Selena’s eyebrows shot up. “Get out of here right now.”

Confused, I stood but she waved me to sit again.

“No. I mean, I’m just surprised that Mason would do that.”

“He feels out of place, too. He wanted to help. And even though I bungled it on my own, if you help me, I think it could work.”

“Does my sister know about it?” When I hesitated, Selena laughed. “That’s a no. Well, that’s fine with me.”

“You could forgive her,” I said.

She shrugged. “I could. We’ll see.”

“So…you’ll help me? And let me help you?”

“Yes,” she said, then leaned forward with a wicked grin. “But not here in town. I’ll have to take you someplace else.”