Fated To the Alpha by Jessica Hall
Chapter 277: Marabella POV
One week Later
Jonah dropped me off at the hotel, my brother was still here, and we were still no closer to finding a way to open that d**n coffin. Kyan had been on edge. The more time I spent with my brother, the more he questioned me, yet now that we weren’t sure we could even open the coffin, I debated this entire thing.
The grimoires offered nothing, and Dominic’s presence became less and less. He was having trouble coming through to me, and half the time was spent trying to decipher what he was telling me. Lately, it was like static interference.
He could never stay long, and he tried to tell me it was because my bonds to my mates were sealed entirely now. It made no sense to me, but he explained the more I relied on my mates, the less I needed him, which was quite bothersome because I needed him to figure out how to open the coffin.
Stepping out of the elevator, the apartment door was wide open. The Hotel had been shut down since the incident. Jonah and Kyan couldn’t obviously risk someone falling out a window, but most of the repairs were done, and as I stepped into the apartment, men were fixing the windows on this level finally.
Eziah sat on the couch with one of the grimoires in hand, flicking through the pages. He had been different the last couple of days, his moods changing rapidly, which wasn’t helping me. We had been clashing, and then arguing with Kyan about when he was leaving was driving me insane.
He hated my brother, which was understandable, but if he knew why he was here, maybe he would have a change of heart. Yet if I couldn’t open the d**n coffin, it was for nothing, and he would be even more angered that I dug his father up for nothing.
Mum had also been fiddling with the fates trying to see ahead, but besides the occasional nosebleed and headache, she couldn’t see much because Eziah and I were directly involved in that future, futures she couldn’t see clearly.
“Hey,” I tell Eziah, sitting next to him. His aura radiated out angrily, and he stunk heavily of liquor. I glance at him to find his eyes bloodshot and huge dark circles under his eyes.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just not sleeping well,” he mutters, glaring at the workers who were nearly done and cleaning up the mess from replacing the windows.
“Find anything helpful,”
“No, it is mostly in old Latin,”
“You mean Italian?” I ask. Eziah shakes his head.
“No, Latin is similar, but it is mostly a d**d language. Not many speak it anymore, and then some are in old Gaelic, which makes no sense since they are completely different languages. Don’t suppose Dominic is around to translate,” I shake my head, and Eziah sighs.
“Why couldn’t it be open sesame or something easy,” Eziah laughs darkly, and his eyes flicker oddly.
The men leave and shut the door behind them, and Eziah gets up off the couch. “F*****g finally,” he g****s, heading to the cupboard and pouring a drink.
“Eziah, it isn’t even 10 AM,” I scolded, watching as he sniffed the bottle he opened, he made a face, and the smell of vodka hit my nose.
“Leave me, I have hardly slept, and if I have to sit here trying to work out what the heck those stupid symbols mean and whatever language that c**p is, I will do it drunk,” he says, raising the glass.
“Cheers,” he says with a wink before downing the glass. I shake my head, looking at the open Grimoire.
“How are your boy toys?” he asks and I shrug, not bothering to answer since he was in a mood, and knew, it would only lead to us arguing. Two things I had come to learn about Eziah in the last week.
Was that he had a drinking problem, and depending on his mood depended on what sort of drunk he was. I had questioned him multiple times about what was wrong, but he never told me. Or flat out told me it was none of my business.
He falls onto the couch and leans forward, placing the jewelry box we had been practicing on trying open, yet it wasn’t the same. Kaif had sealed it shut with his magic for me the other night, yet not even he was sure how Dominic sealed the coffin.
His only answer was that Dominic must have locked it so that only his magic could open it. Magic I had no idea how to use, but Kaif was also becoming wary of taking over.
Kyan had been questioning him relentlessly, and I was at the point I was willing to tell him and take Kyan’s wrath, but at the same time, I didn’t want to hurt him if we couldn’t open it.
Kyan lost it the other night when he woke up while I was snooping in the basement with Kaif, and he f0rced control back, which scared the living daylights out of me. When he grabbed me, demanding to know what I was doing. Kaif had f0rced back control, and I managed to convince him he dreamt it; however, I knew that excuse wouldn’t work again.
I was pretty sure he knew I was lying through the bond. Shaking that thought away, I turned back to look at the Grimoire. I sighed, symbols and emblems that made zero sense to me.
Eziah and I set to work trying to unlock the jewelry box. Going through different spells, the day had passed by quickly, and by the end of the day, I was becoming exhausted, channeling absolutely nothing. Magic was hard, and I wasn’t a witch, so the feeling for power wasn’t the same. It required concentration and natural ability I didn’t have.
Eziah was half-tanked as he grabbed another spellbook. He snickers laughing at me, and I shake my head.
“Okay, I will stop laughing, try this one,” he says, squinting at the book. His energy was making me feel drunk, he couldn’t even walk straight, so I had no idea how he was able to read.
“Give it here and let me try reading it,” I tell him reaching for the book. Eziah chuckled, pulling the book from my reach and hugging it.
“I am an advisor. You are a spell caster,” he slurred, and I rolled my eyes. With a huff, I sat back down next to the coffee table.
“So you need to channel your inner power,” Eziah says, and I shake my head.
“Just tell me the d**n spell Eziah or give me the book.”
Eziah slurs his words, and I get annoyed, intending to go home. He is wasting my time.
“Wait, wait, musculus sphincter ani,” he slurred.
“What, that doesn’t sound like a spell,” I tell him, reaching for the book, but he pulls it back.
“I’m advisor, you spell caster, now cast away,” he says as I glare at him.
“Time is ticking, and Jonah will be here to get you soon,” Eziah says, and I shake my head. Sitting down, I look at the jewelry box, holding it in my hands. “musculus sphincter ani,” I murmur. Eziah laughs, and I glare at him, he had been b****y laughing at me for the past hour every time I tried.
“With more enthusiasm and louder, I got a good feeling about this one,” he says, and I raise an eyebrow at him.
“Are you being stupid? Show me that,” I tell him.
“I know what I am doing. Maybe if you had listened better, you would have opened the d**n box, now do your magic, and you let me do the translating,” Eziah tells me, giving me a stern look.
I grab the box, feeling for Dominic’s magic, and repeat the phrase “musculus sphincter ani,”
“Louder, clearer, pronunciation, is that word?” Eziah says.
“You b****y try then,” I tell him, and he shakes his head.
“Do you want to open the box or not,” Eziah says, swigging from his bottle. Gone were his glasses, and now he was resorting to drinking straight from the bottle.
“musculus sphincter ani,” I repeated, and still nothing.
“Are you sure you are saying that right? It sounds like some disease,” I tell him, and he snickers. I eyed him suspiciously, but he raised an eyebrow at me.
“Now, would I waste your time? Your time is my d**n time. Now try harder,” Eziah snapped.
Shaking my head, I kept repeating the spell; however, nothing happened. When Jonah walked in, he stood behind Eziah while I glared at the box having been set back on the table.
The box moved on the table, and I gasped.
“See, try again,” Eziah snickered.