Chapter 29: Blast From The Past

*Kyle*
After returning home from the psychedelic session, which somehow left me more confused than when I walked in, I go to my library to clear my head, and my lungs, from all that smoke I had inhaled. However, that peace is short-lived when I see Rhia standing in front of me in my library. The sneer on her face tells me that she isn’t too happy with me. I have no doubt Thelma told her about what transpired last night.
“I need your help,” I start.
Rhia looks at me and frowns.
“I am trying my best not to turn you into a frog right now,” she says.
I chuckle. “Transformation spells don’t work on me. You know that.”
“Well, I can always try,” Rhia scoffs as she raises her arm as if she is going to cast a spell.
“Hold it!” I exclaim quickly before any damage can be done, and Rhia drops her arm again and chuckles. “Listen, I went to see a psychic in town today. They told me Thelma will not be getting pregnant until she falls in love with me,” I say.
Rhia snickers. “Never gonna happen, so keep dreaming.”
I raise a brow. What does she mean by that?
“Why couldn’t she fall in love? Women always fawn over me. I am a catch, believe it or not. I assumed she had already fallen in love with me after everything I made her feel these past few nights together.”
“Making her feel euphoria in the throes of passion, isn’t love. It’s just lust, a passing and soon-to-be-forgotten emotion. Also, you are a catch to who exactly? I know this is a sore subject, but I doubt your charms work on witches. Or even half witches for that matter.”
I feel anger percolating in my chest. I don’t want anyone making references to Selina, but maybe Rhia is right. I calm myself down.
“I need your help then. I want Thelma to fall in love with me,” I say.
“Really? After how you have treated that poor girl since her arrival, you need more than a miracle for that to happen.”
“How about a love potion?” I ask.
“Did you by any chance bang your head during your trip to the psychic? Love brewed in a bottle is synthetic–faux love that isn’t organic. If you want Thelma to love you, she has to do so out of her own free will. You will have to work really hard to restrain that pride of yours, Alpha Kyle, and treat that girl like the princess that she is. Maybe…just maybe, she will forgive you for being an ass, and if you’re lucky, there’s a sliver of a chance could love you. But, what will you do after she falls in love with you and gives you the child you desire? Throw her back to her people with a broken heart?”
I frown. I hadn’t thought that far into the future.
“We will cross that bridge when we get to it. One burden at a time. Now, how can I get her to fall in love with me?”
“Did you just call her a burden? Do you even care about her? You know what, go watch some rom coms. Pick up a romance novel or two. Listen to podcasts from love coaches and figure it out yourself. If at the end of all of this she is left with a broken heart because of you, I will find a way to turn you into a chimpanzee.”
I chortle as I stare into her irate eyes. “I heed your warning, madam.”
“It’s not a warning, Alpha Kyle. It’s a promise.”
As I run through the woods, trying to clear my head, the memories of everything that happened the last night I spent with Thelma rush back to me stunningly clear. Oh, gods.  I can’t shake the look of hurt and embarrassment that was embedded in her teary eyes when I ridiculed her efforts in being romantic. Now, I look like the fool, returning with my tail between my legs, so to speak, to try and get HER to fall in love with me…Oh, how the tables have turned.
I wonder how I can make it up to her. I really acted like an entitled jerk. Maybe I could take some vegetable oil from the kitchen and marinade my skin; I have seen how she always has oily skin each time we meet. Perhaps that is something she  will enjoy?
I hear shuffling in some nearby bushes, and I feel the fur around my neck standing on end. I look around and the sound stops. I have a feeling whatever has been lurking around this place is back. A low growl resonates from somewhere deep in my throat. I listen….Nothing but the sound of the wind, and the scent in the air, filled with the promise of a pending downpour.
I move around using all my heightened senses to try and find the lurking subject. Raising my snout in the air, I take a whiff….Leviathan!