Fated for the Alphas: The Complete Collection (Nine Book Paranormal Romance Box Set) (44 page)

“Stay calm,” Lia whispered to herself. “That’s not the plan.”

As one, they stopped ten paces from Shade. Raid and Cougar stood behind him, looking alert and ready for anything. Shade seemed at ease, and possibly even gleeful.

He smiled. “Lia. How lovely to see you. I hope you enjoyed your time away, because I won’t be letting you out of my sight again.”

She kept her face as expressionless as a stone. She wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of a reaction.

“Quiet today, hmm? No worries. I’ll have you moaning for me soon enough.”

Beside her, Kane let out a snarl.

Shade just laughed. “Don’t be rude. I make the rules now, unless you’d like me to spare fewer of your former pack members?”

Somehow, Kane kept silent.

“That’s what I thought.” Shade stuck out his chest, his eyes grazing over the shifters behind Kane and Lia like he was sizing up new recruits. “Welcome,” he said, “to the Shadow pack.”

His silken voice made Lia shudder. It made her think of being in the dark.

“Don’t worry, you’ll enjoy being members of my pack. It may take you some time to get used to serving under a competent Alpha, but you’ll adjust.”

Lia flexed her hands. She was so close to letting her claws slide out. She’d love to swipe the smile off his cocky face.

“Of course, none of you can be entirely trusted. You’ll have to sing me a sweet song to convince me to spare you. I want to know what you plan to bring to my pack, and what you plan to do to prove your loyalty to me. If you don’t submit to me, it won’t be pretty. There’s still time to run. I won’t look too hard for you. But things will get ugly if you ever return.”

Shade was pacing before them now, a revolting spring in his step. He loved this, Lia realized. Bringing down the Twin River pack, preparing to break them. It must be his finest hour. She tried not to smile. It would give the game away.

“Are you ready, then?” He seemed to add extra silk to his question. “I’ll accept nothing less than a full and unconditional surrender. You know what that means, don’t you, Kane?”

Kane scoffed. “You keep talking about a surrender. What gives you the idea that we’d surrender, to you of all people?”

Shade’s expression darkened. “Of course you’re going to surrender. I killed your brother. I fractured your pack. I broke you.”

Kane sighed. “We’re only going to ask you one more time.”

Ronan stepped out from behind his guard. “Why would we surrender?”

“When did you… How did you…” Shade’s face turned an alarming shade of purple. He bared his teeth, his eyes darting among them as if trying to determine who was to blame for his lack of information.

He took a breath, trying to compose himself. “It seems I was mistaken. I won’t make such a mistake again, I can assure you.” His eyes pierced Lia, as if he was coming up with a special punishment just for her.

She held his gaze. She wasn’t afraid of him, not when her Alphas stood beside her.

This seemed to make him angrier. He tore his gaze away, lip drawing back in rage.

“You’ll regret this,” he said. “I’ll make sure of it. Just remember, I would have been merciful. My allies might not spare you.”

“Your allies?” Kane looked around in an exaggerated fashion. “You brought someone with you?”

“Not yet,” Shade said, “but soon enough. You won’t be mocking me then.”

“You didn’t bring anything from your bag of tricks today?” Kane asked. “No allies? No mage? Not even any reinforcements?”

“What?” Shade turned pale. “Why would I—”

Kane examined his nails, which were sprouting into claws. “No one to save you? What were your plans for us again?”

“I… I…”

Ronan nodded.

Huck, Orion, Flint, Duke, and Cage sprang forward. Shade shifted, racing out of the meadow, Raid and Cougar right on his heels. He still looked pale even under his black fur.

“And stay out of our territory!” Kane roared.

Lia doubled over with laughter. The sight of Shade running for his life, his tail puffed out in alarm, was too much to take. So much for their unconditional surrender.

***

The pack gathered in the meadow for an impromptu victory feast. Birch beer flowed freely, and they passed around smoked meat until the hunters returned with a promised buck. The deer was quickly prepared, and soon everyone had chunks of venison on sticks.

Lia ate until she was stuffed, happily letting juices run down her chin. She was slightly less cold by the roaring fire, pressed between Kane and Ronan, and safe with her pack. Fox and Dash pretended to be Shade running across the meadow, while Lark, Dove, and Cricket chased them. They let their pursuers catch them, each trying to shriek more shrilly than the other as they died exaggerated, gruesome deaths.

Flint made them all go around in a circle and say what terms they’d accept for Shade’s surrender. Ronan went first and said he would accept the surrender of Shade’s head, but only if it was detached from his body. It only got more grisly from there.

“Is it safe to be celebrating like this?” Lia asked Ronan quietly. “Couldn’t Shade come back at any minute?”

Ronan gestured to the heights. “Sequoia’s keeping watch. Besides, Shade won’t be back any time soon, not when he was so surprised. He doesn’t like taking chances. He won’t want to face us again unless he knows he can win. Besides, we really humiliated him today. He’ll need some time to lick his wounds.”

He made her feel a bit better, but Lia didn’t want to let her guard down. Shade was capable of almost anything, except being a decent person. And what was that he said about his allies? Was that a bluff, or had he found someone as despicable as he was?

Kane and Ronan got pulled into another reenactment of Shade’s defeat. Lia slipped out of the crowd and across the meadow. She wouldn’t go far. She just wanted to think for a moment. Surely she’d be safe right inside the woods. There was no way Shade would try to snatch her now, not when he’d just been sent running with his floofy tail between his legs.

She walked through the trees, letting their leaves slide over her skin. She wished she could make them flower to mark Della’s passing. Her little magics had still not returned, and she missed them. But she’d give them up forever to have Della back for one moment, to hear her call Lia “chickpea” one last time.

Lia sniffed. She hadn’t even realized she was crying.

She stood still, taking a deep breath. Della said she wanted her to be happy. She’d try, for her mother.

A twig snapped nearby. Lia froze. It couldn’t be Shade. It couldn’t be. She couldn’t go back to the dark.

Barely breathing, she ducked behind a tree. She was too scared to shift. If she made any sound at all, he would have her.

Her heart almost gave out when someone passed by her tree. But it wasn’t Shade. Lia squinted. Could she possibly be seeing this right?

A little girl was walking in the woods. As far as Lia could tell, she was wearing nothing but a long white shirt. She didn’t even have shoes. Lia frowned. What on earth was a child doing out here, all alone?

The girl kept walking. Soon she’d be out of sight. Lia was torn. She had a bizarre instinct to protect her, to warn her of the dangers of the woods. She wanted to take her to the fireside and get a good meal in her. But why should she? She didn’t even know the child. Potentially, there wasn’t a girl at all, just one of Finn’s illusions.

Lia’s heart sped. Shade could have set a trap for her. She’d have to get back to the meadow, as fast as she could.

Slowly, she eased around the tree.

Her foot found another twig. Its snap rang in her ears.

The girl whirled around. “Mommy!” She ran forward, throwing her arms around Lia’s legs.

Lia stepped back. “I’m not your mommy, honey. Do you need me to help you find her?” Maybe the girl wasn’t an illusion. She felt real enough. But how had a little girl found herself alone in the wilderness? She gazed into the woods. “Where are your parents?”

The girl giggled. “You’re funny, Mommy.”

Lia shivered. There was something strange about the little girl’s eyes. It felt a bit too much like looking at her own reflection. Then again, maybe she was just imagining things. There had been countless birch beer toasts.

The girl tugged on Lia’s hand, her face solemn. “The witches are coming, Mommy.”

“What?” How could she know about the witches?

“You said to give you a warning. They’re coming.”

Part Seven

Chapter One

Lia stepped back, her mind reeling. “I said to give…
me
a warning?” Who was this little girl, and how did she make Lia so thoroughly confused?

“You said you were glad I warned you. I don’t want you to be sad. I want you to be a happy mommy. So I had to warn you, even though you said not to come back this far.” The girl laughed. “But it’s so easy, Mommy!” Then she skipped away, humming.

“Where are you going?” This might be the strangest child Lia had ever met, but she still couldn’t let her go traipsing off into the woods all by herself.

“Back to you, Mommy. Otherwise you’ll worry about me.”

“But I’m right here.”

The girl didn’t seem to be listening. She kept skipping into a dense stand of trees, and soon she was almost out of sight.

“Wait!” Lia called. “What’s your name?”

The girl turned. “You know my name’s Lilah. You’re silly, Mommy.” Grinning, she ducked behind a tree.

“Come back, Lilah. I’ll help you find your parents.”

There was no response. In fact, Lia couldn’t hear anything at all, not even footsteps. Her hair stood up on the back of her neck as she walked into the trees.

Lilah was nowhere to be found.

Backing away, Lia turned and ran into the meadow. The girl had been so peculiar, and she disappeared just like Shade had. Was Finn getting better at his illusions? Then again, how would Finn know of the witches?

She broke into the meadow, which was filled with sunlight and celebrating shifters. It was hard to feel scared here. Ronan waved her over, and Kane handed her another cup of birch beer.

“I know we just ran Shade off,” Ronan said, “but can you please stay in the meadow? I can’t help thinking about what happened last time.”

Lia didn’t argue. Her need to be alone had vanished. She didn’t want Shade catching her off guard.

Kane took a large gulp of birch beer. “Lia can handle herself,” he said. “Besides, it’s not like you saw any trace of the Shadow pack in the woods just now, did you?”

She shook her head.

Kane laughed. “That’s because they’re shaking in their cavern, hoping we don’t come after them. Lia’s safe today of all days, Ronan.”

She hoped it was true. For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to tell her Alphas about Lilah. The meeting had been so odd, and back in the comfort of the meadow, it was difficult to believe it had happened at all. Even if there had been a little girl, she was obviously mistaken. Lia didn’t have any children. There was no need to tell Kane and Ronan. She didn’t want them worrying about a threat she might just be imagining.

The pack had begun to sing a ballad about an Alpha who planned to conquer the land from one coast to the other, but stopped fifty miles in when he found his mate. Flint sang the loudest, ignoring the fact that he was off-key as well as Sequoia’s attempts to silence him with her elbows. Everyone belted out the rousing chorus except for Lia. She couldn’t help but wonder if Lilah might be telling the truth, that the witches were coming.

She shuddered at the thought of Magda in the meadow. Magda couldn’t find her here, could she? The crone would ruin everything, just like she always did. Even the thought of seeing Lizabeth didn’t comfort her. Lizabeth probably had no interest in being her friend anymore. The thought was like a knife to her side. Part of her missed having Lizabeth as a friend.

Still, it was hard to sustain dark thoughts when there was such joy all around. Lark sat beside her, urging her to sing. When the chorus came around again, Lia joined in.

***

Her blood warmed over the next few days, until she stopped shivering in the sun. The crescent moon fattened in the sky, and to her immense relief, her little magics returned. Lia sat in the meadow with a flower in her hand, crying happy tears as she made it wilt and bloom. She probably looked crazy, but she didn’t care. Her magic hadn’t deserted her.

It took her the better part of a week, but she finally managed to visit Della’s final resting place. It was the place where Della had burned, anyway. By now, the wind had scattered most of her ashes into the mountains, forests, and streams. She would live forever among the green spaces she’d loved, but Lia would visit her here.

“Hi, Mom,” Lia said. The words came softly, like she was afraid of anyone overhearing. “It feels weird to call you that, but you are my mom. The best one I ever had.”

She ducked her head until the tears stopped. “I know you want me to be happy. I’m trying. Ronan is too, though I still think he has days where he doesn’t think he deserves any of this. Kane and I try our best to help him through them. I wish you were here. You’d know just what to say.”

Lia wiped an eye. “I wish you could tell me what to do. I haven’t told anyone about Lilah, but I would have told you. She’s this little girl who thinks I’m her mother. She told me the witches were coming and vanished into thin air. What am I supposed to do with that, Della?”

A soft breeze was her only answer.

She sighed. “I just wanted to come and say hello. I don’t want you to think I’ve forgotten you. I promise you, I won’t. But I wanted to leave you something.”

Kneeling on the soft ground, Lia pulled out a handful of seeds. She spread them carefully, making one of the symbols she’d seen Ronan paint on Della’s skin. When she was done, she urged the seeds to split, to quest, to grow. She sprinkled them with water as they dug in their roots and put up their stalks. Lia put every bit of her magic into them, and they burst into flower before her eyes.

The wildflowers traced the shape of an open hourglass, which Ronan had told her stood for a woman. In the bottom half was a spiral, the growing life of a child.