The Alpha's Temptation

For the next week Tania spent her time in translating the arcana book of Onduri. The spells were tough and with every other spell, she would feel tingle in her body. It was like the magic of the spells would ripple over her, play over her skin like gentle waves on the surface of water. Sometimes she would brush up her skin forcefully as if to remove the feeling and sometimes she would giggle when honey-yellow tendrils of magic would coil and curl and flutter around her. It was as if the dark arcana book in Onduri liked her.

The dark spells weren't easy to translate. Tania was doing only one or two pages a day. Whenever she would read out the incantations, the magic would flow out of the arcana towards her, as if attracted, entranced. One night when Eltanin returned, he found Tania sleeping on the bed with honey-yellow tendrils of magic floating around her gently, touching her, caressing her like a lover. The arcana in Onduri was open and the tendrils were emerging from it.

When Eltanin went to wake her up, the magic tendrils coiled tightly around her and formed the shape of a snake. The moment he tried to touch her, they lashed at him with the speed of an asp. Eltanin swiftly removed himself from there. He rushed to the book that was lying open on the table and closed it. Only then did the tendrils uncoil and diffuse in the air. He woke up Tania and related the incident, but she did not seem to recollect that she even slept.

A strong wave of fear cruised through him. He wondered as to whether getting the book translated by her was even right or not. After that incident, Eltanin locked the Onduri arcana in its place and brought another one.

"Are you sure?" asked Tania as she frowned at the book in front of her on the table. "What about the last one? I haven't even finished it and I quite like it."

"I am pretty sure," he said as he circled his arms around her waist. "This is it. Can you recognize the language?" He kissed her on her temple.

She tilted her head and then opened the first page of the book. As soon as she brushed her fingers over it, her palm tickled. "This is one of the powerful languages," she replied. What she didn't say was that this was also a dangerous language. "Klafesh." Closing her eyes, she spoke the words the invoked the book to reveal itself. And when the symbols revealed, they were dancing. Adrenalin gushed in her as she pinned a symbol with her hand and spoke words for it to settle down. The symbol wiggled beneath her finger but settled nonetheless.

Eltanin watched her doing it and was mesmerized. "You are so talented, Tania," he remarked.

She giggled. "I think any scribe at monastery can do it." But she was wrong. No scribe at the monastery had dared to read Klafesh. Long back one had tried, but his tongue had started bleeding. He continued to read it, but in a few days, he was found dead in his room with blood flowing out of his mouth, nose and ears.

"This book is going to take a long time," she informed him as she fondly rubbed his arm. She had started accepting him slowly. Over the last few nights, she loved when he pulled her close to his chest and they slept for the night. Her nightmares had stopped completely.

However, she was hyper aware of Eltanin's shaft that would somehow nestle in between her hips all the time. It was as if it had found its place. And she was astonished that it was always so hard that it tented his pants or pajamas all the time. It poked her a lot and she couldn't help feeling something coiling in her belly. When she clenched her thighs, she could listen to Eltanin sniffing the air like a wolf. His arm would curl tightly around her and sometimes he would even out his head over hers. He would keep murmuring, "How will I survive the night?" She would feel his manhood pulsating against her.

She had started seeing many mermaids now. They would come and sit and stare at her for long hours as she translated without disturbing her. Tania had started growing used to them and internally wished that one day she could swim just like them in the water.

"You can take as long as you want to," he said.

Over the past one week, she had grown very comfortable with him. Every other day, Eltanin would wrench out a promise from her and she had to concede to it. Yesterday when she was fed up staying indoors, she wanted to go out. Eltanin had made her promise that he would take her out only during the nights and only when she slept over his chest. She had declined and he coaxed her all through the night, but she didn't agree. Now Eltanin was afraid that she might run away anytime soon. He thought of a way which would surprise her.

"Also, you said you wanted to go out."

She jerked her head back to look at him. "Are you taking me out right now?"

"I am."

She squealed with joy.

Eltanin chuckled, pleased that he made her happy. He held her hand and took her out of the room. This time instead of going to the door that led to the tunnel, he led her to a dimly lit corridor. Only one torch lit space in its dull glow. "Where are we going?" she asked, feeling excited.

He looked at her and smiled. He didn't speak a word. They reached a heavily crafted wooden door. It had a wyvern crafted on it with rubies in place of the eyes. Eltanin touched the knob of the door and the rubies glowed. Tania cowered beside him but he grasped her shoulder.

He opened the door and brought his mate to the secret garden of the royal palace, one where only the royals were allowed or rather where only the royals could enter. At first, he thought that the door would not open for Tania. However, he just wanted to take his chance. When the door cracked open, he took a breath of relief. He guided her inside the garden.

When Tania entered the garden, her eyes became wide with surprise. The apple tree in front of her was stunning.

Eltanin dropped his hands from her shoulders to let her walk in the front towards the tree. He could feel that she was astonished. He wasn't expecting anything less, and he wanted to introduce his mate.

Tania padded her way on the soft grass to the tree. The place was shrouded with a light mist and the golden apples sparkled when they caught a glint of the light from the oil lanterns that burned at the periphery of the garden. She stopped breathing, shocked at the sight. She stopped beneath the tree and stood there, watching the apples. She brought her hand to the one that was hanging low to feel that what she was seeing wasn't an illusion. Not able to resist, she plucked the apple and suddenly something hissed behind her. She recoiled and spun.