The Alpha's Desire 5 (10 page)

“I’m a horrible friend,” I whispered to my sleeping one, hoping that was all it was. “I’m so sorry. For everything. For lying. For leaving. For getting you into this mess.”

“Shh, Christina,” Lex soothed me. “She knows you are sorry.”

Chloe didn’t have little memories with wolves from being a child, not like I had, and it still had taken me some time to adjust to the fact that werewolves existed even when they were transforming and fighting right in my own living room. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for Chloe to try to grasp onto this whole new world that was my life, to try to figure it out with no magic of her own.

“They could’ve taken her in human form,” I repeated, not sure if I had said it out loud or to myself. It didn’t really matter. I said it more to reassure myself than anything else, though anyone agreeing would be more than welcome. “Although it still would have been traumatizing to be taken by a group of men regardless.”

“Maybe they snuck up on her,” Lex offered. “They could’ve put something over her mouth to breathe in and put her to sleep almost immediately. Or, they could have injected her with something. Maybe she had no idea she was being taken or attacked other than that brief second. It looks like they just wanted her as bait to lure us here, not to hurt her or they would have already. It wouldn’t be Daniel’s way, to leave her unharmed, but Daniel’s dead, so we can’t know what’s going to be next. We can’t truly know what they want.”

“Let’s get her unhooked and take her back to the vehicle. When she wakes up her arms are going to be sore, or she may have a headache if drugged, but at least she will be alive and hopefully not traumatized from whatever came before this,” Nira said as I stood back up, giving my back a few good rubs as I had done so.

It took some time for a couple of the vampires to struggle with the chains. They had to literally break the metal piping that the chain had been strung around. After, one of the vampires picked her up, leaving the chains to hang around his neck to take the pressure from her arms, as the cuffs were still around her wrists.

“Don’t worry, Christina,” the vampires holding Chloe said as I followed closely behind him. “We have something in the SUV to cut off these handcuffs. It will not be the first time we’ve had to do that sort of thing.” He followed his words with an eye roll followed by a friendly wink.

By the time they got her into the vehicle and had begun working on her cuffs, we began to sense and smell the other wolves. The lookouts started to move to warn us as the line of wolves appeared, standing just down the road from us. They seemed to be twenty strong, as if the entire pack waited for us. My group didn’t have nearly the same numbers, but we would fight anyway.

“Shut the door,” I barked. “If, no when, she wakes up she doesn’t need to see this.”

“Zeke will stay with her,” Nira gave her orders to the vampire who’d carried Chloe to the SUV, as she’d announced it to the others. “That way she will have a vampire to guard her, a supernatural in human form, if she wakes up. Plus, he can give her something to put her back to sleep until we can get back to the safe house. We have our own rags laced with drugs that put one quickly and harmlessly to sleep. We need them at times to save panicking humans that we need to quietly escape with. And, if anything happens, if anyone comes to the SUV, Zeke will be more than able to protect her. Actually, Zeke, just drive away if you need to. Don’t fight. Just save her. We have enough vehicles for the rest of us to squeeze into if need be. Chloe comes first, though I know I don’t have to tell you that.”

“No, but I know that Christina needs to hear it. Go, get them. End this shit. We’ve all had enough. Chloe is safe with me,” he said, giving me another wink.

Zeke, a tall slim vampire with a boyish grin had climbed into the back with Chloe even as Nira had been explaining herself.

I thought with a momentary grin that Chloe would like him, find him very attractive if she had met him in a bar. He was just her type, tall, dark and handsome. Dead. Yes. But she wouldn’t know that. At least she had that hunk to wake up to, I heard my friend’s voice echo from another time in my ear. Once Zeke had shut the door with him and Chloe safely inside, I turned then to look at the situation we had before us. The two groups just stood there in a stalemate, a little too reminiscent of the cabin. No one moved a muscle. The true werewolves couldn’t be waiting patiently for us to get Chloe to safety, so I didn’t understand what they were waiting for. Pure intimidation, I guessed, a flexing of their muscles by showing how many of them there were compared to us.

The other Royals began to transform into werewolves while the vampires kept their stance, ready for battle, ready to protect if they attacked at just that moment of transformation. Some of them had already crept out into the shadows to flank the pack since they were faster, more agile than the wolves. Almost immediately, as the vampires started to disappear into the darkness, the leader from the cabin that had inspected Daniel’s body started to charge forward. I recognized him from his markings. Even in the dark, out a step ahead of the pack, the ring of white lined with black, like a collar of fur, stood out, making him distinct.

Revenge showed in his eyes, directed only on me as he closed the distance between us. Something in me began to unravel, to snap, even as I prepared to turn into a wolf myself. The power of the transformation, the magic in me that grew to be consumed, amplified, grew to a degree never achieved before. A surge of energy shot through me. I felt electric, invincible, and ready to end this, no matter what it took. With each leap he took, the gravel under his large paws kicking up clouds of dust, the details of the world around me grew more distinct.

Something had changed. Even with my still human ears, I could hear his breath, his heart beat. The dust around them all grew clearer, like more distinct particles, every atom visible as a speck of glitter. Even the storm, still brewing in the clouds, I felt. The humidity became rain on my body, sizzling on my hot skin. The lightning not yet struck made every piece of hair stand on end.

As the world around me became crystal clear, my thoughts cleared as well.  My whole person became more stable, more ready, unlike I’d ever felt before. Calm. Brave. Stable. Ready. Able. I’d never been all of those things, and yet, at this moment, as my magic coursed through me in an almost violent tempest, it made me a better woman, a stronger wolf. Invincible.

Chapter Ten

Daniel’s successor turned his gait at the last minute, and went right for Lex. My instinct to help him out was detoured by another wolf coming straight for me. Still in human form, along with Lex, we jumped up into the air, sidestepping the approaching wolves, as our magic buzzed around us, made us the balls of light and energy that transformed us into our wolves in seconds. This move alone angered the true werewolves, like throwing the ease of our transformation in their faces. After being a witness to their transformations before, the way their bodies jerked about, more seized, their skin ripping apart as fur appeared, I more than got that.

The blood and gore of it all, hearing the bones break, watching them shake chunks of  skin from their coats had been terrifying, something unlike any horror movie had ever done or any special effects team could ever hope to emulate. I felt sorry for them another second before a true wolf got in my face. He came at me, mouth open, teeth dripping with saliva, a ferocious growl to match the deranged glint in his eye. I ducked under his mouth, using my shoulder, easy on all fours, to barrel into him and knock him to the ground, literally taking his four legs out from under him.

As I did so, I got a glimpse of Lex being bitten by the alpha. Lex yipped, a high pitched sound mixed with a fierce growl, as the alpha tore at his neck with his teeth. Heat boiled up inside me, tightening my muscles, accelerating my heartbeat, even blurring my vision as the wolf opposing me jumped on my back. My entire form shook, violently, my rage growing, again, tossing the other wolf like a rag doll as Lex wrestled with his opponent. The tearing of skin, the sound of jaws snapping, tightened my stomach, made me sick even as my magic built.

I couldn’t do magic in my wolf form, but as my opponent came at me again, the energy inside me made me feel like a pressure cooker about to explode. Everything around me seemed to slow, from the dripping of blood onto the earth to the howls, like cheers after a good hit that rose up and disturbed the already unstable night air.

While my opponent tossed his body, turning from his back to right himself, the world moved in slow motion around me, as if the power that threatened to end me could slow time itself. The sound of fangs elongating in a vampires mouth clicked in my ear as I watched them descend, Nira’s mouth opened as she jumped at a wolf. Another set of wolves, tangled up in each other, rolled slowly, mouths trying to bite, but chomping only air. The crack of a tree trunk, the wood unable to take the hit of a wolf that had been pushed into it echoed around me, the sound radiating out, in a wave, making the very earth tremble.

Even that, the connection I had to everything, from the anguish of that tree, to the drowning cry of the blood soaked grass, it hit me, affected me, struck me as profound. I had a lesson to learn here. The very world, the magic inside me, it wouldn’t take me away, it would make me rise above it, control it, as I had its blessing to do so. The Royals had talked about such a thing, but I’d thought it their luxury, given their untainted bloodline.

I straightened rather than cowered, as Lex’s body fell. His heartbeat strong, shock more than anything taking him down, still, it was more than I could bear, especially as in touch with the world as I was at this moment. I had it within me to stop it, to connect with every element, to alter the movement of each atom, to move the world, to alter people, to save each and every one here. These were fundamental truths I didn’t shy away from.

No more violence!
The words screamed through my head.
Not another angry bite will be taken. No more pushes or growls. No more hating. Not one more wolf or vampire will die! Not another single drop of blood will be shed!

Before I realized what was happening to me, I lost control of it all from my rage to my magic to these truths. A powerful mix, the fighting around me stopped if only because I’d turned into a white hot ember, a mass of light so bright, I might have been blinding them all permanently. Part wolf and part woman I yelled the single word,
stop
, part human language and part growl, a sound foreign to even my ears though I knew I made it. The world responded.

All at once, everyone there fell to the ground, just collapsed like someone had instantly put them all to sleep. As my light died down, and my body returned to fully human, I looked around me, in shock a moment, wondering if I had somehow killed them all. Yet a confidence, a strange sensation, took over, reassured me that they were all fine. I moved to Lex first, grabbing him around his neck, hugging his large wolf head to my body. As his warm blood ran over my bare skin, he shook his head and opened his eyes.

“You’re alive,” I cried with joy, as he turned back into a man, my arms still around his neck.

“Yes. I guess I am. I, uh… what did you do?” he asked. “One minute I was fighting, and the next my girlfriend is some sort of torch, half wolf, half human, blinding white light streaked with reds and yellows and blues, erupting, literally. For a second, I feared you would self-combust, but then everything went from white to black. It was like I passed out, though a calm surrounded me first, circled around me like a warm blanket, hugging me before my eyes closed and my thoughts disappeared.”

“I don’t know really. I got so mad at all the violence, all the bloodshed around me. Then, everything changed, from the magic inside of me, to the way I saw the world. I think I communicated with it, like I got Mother Nature’s blessing. Then, I felt calm myself, confident actually, like the way you make me feel. Yet, I felt I could save the world. I guess after dealing with killing Daniel and then Chloe being missing all in one night, plus memories of you being here, seeing you get bit, I just lost it. My magic built up inside me and all I could think was that I wanted it all to stop. Guess it did. The earth listened to my thoughts. But, they are alive, like you, right?”

“I would assume so. You just touched me and I woke up?” he inquired.

“Right. I should find Nira and see if it works on her. They all have to be okay,” I said, helping him up, moving through the bodies, both wolf and vampire that appeared dead on the ground, my doing. “I know they are. Don’t ask me how, but I do. And, I know that I am the one controlling them. I decide when they wake. It is a heady feeling.”

“I can only imagine, but I do feel the change in you. I like it. You glow even without your magic around you. Your eyes are sparkling. You look beyond amazing, surreal. A goddess.”

“Oh, stop. We have to find Nira, and wake her up. Then, we can wake the others, well our others, and decide what to do with the rest of them.”

“Okay. I’m healing faster than usual. Probably you too. Let’s go find her,” he said as he stood, helping me up, a huge smile radiating on his face.

“Here!” I yelled, only a few steps later. “She’s right here.”

I bent down, letting my hand fall to my friend’s chest. It would be hard to tell if a vampire was alive or dead, as no heart beat and no air moved in and out of their lungs anyway. Nira began to stir, though, as her eyes opened up immediately.

“Oh, Nira, you are okay,” I said, the tears threatening in my eyes so obvious in my voice. “I knew you were, but to see it. It is a miracle anyway.”

“What did you do?” Nira said as I shook my head, like warding off sleep.

“I don’t know, some rage induced magic that put everyone to sleep or something. It seems though that when I touch them, well at least you and Lex, that you wake up. It somehow releases you from whatever I did. I wanted it all to stop, and the universe did my enraged bidding.”

“We should try to wake our others and then decide what to do with the true werewolves,” Nira offered, sitting up.

I shook my head, loving how on the same page we were. Yet, as I sat down, a wave of dizziness finally took me, a residual effect of all the power that had coursed through my body. The grass beneath me made me realize I was still completely naked. While I marveled at what had happened, looking over the bodies strewn about the bloody ground, some on the gravel parking lot and others in the grass beside it, my mind took advantage of the situation, forming a plan in my head.

“Are you feeling okay?” Nira asked, coming back down to crouch beside me.

“Just dizzy. I don’t know what happened to me exactly. I just need a moment. But, as I am sitting here dazed, somehow my mind got an idea, or the earth gave me one. I don’t know anymore. Anyway, tell me what you think. How about if I wake up our guys, and then you, not me, tie up the true werewolves, not to take them prisoner or anything, but to make them a captive audience as to the Royal’s proposal of helping them, possibly breaking their curse, training them as Royal werewolves who turn magically? Do you think it would work?”

“Hell, I think you are brilliant, and that we have to try. Without your magic, Christina, controlled or not, you have helped us in so many ways. I am, as I have said before, honored to know you,” Nira exclaimed as Lex crouched down beside us, taking one of each of our hands in his.

“An amazing plan. I too am honored to not only know you but to be your mate, my love,” Lex added. “You are both extraordinary women.”

As tears formed in my eyes, happy ones, I let them help me up. For the first time in my life, I walked proudly naked. Well, I had in front of Lex, alone, but not yet in a more public setting with the other werewolves. My insecurities from childhood thanks to my overabundance of curves still surfaced in those situations though I’d been fighting it, working on it. Tonight, though, I walked proudly among them. As the sun showed its first signs of rising, signaling amazingly a new day as if it too approved of my plan, I walked to each of the Royal werewolves and vampires, touching each one of them and watching them rise as Lex and Nira gathered them together, offering explanation.

“I need to go check on Zeke and Chloe,” I suddenly exclaimed. “I’ll do that while you guys bind the true werewolves since I can’t touch them anyway.”

“Go ahead,” Lex said. “I will help tie them up, but first I want to call the Royals, see if they have any suggestions as to where we should take them. Though it will be difficult, I think that we should load them into a van or something while they are still asleep. They will be easier to deal with if we wait to wake them someplace not so public especially with daylight threatening.”

“Even though it will take some effort, luckily none of us need as much sleep as humans either, so we can bind and load them. I know a guy with access to delivery trucks. He owes me one and said if I ever needed a favor to call him. So I will. Let’s get this project started,” Nira said. “Go Christina. Check on your friend. We have it covered here.”

I nodded before I turned to walk over to find where my clothes had dropped in my transformation. Chloe didn’t need to see me naked. That would shock the hell out of her before I even got to explaining anything. I smiled, hope shining down on me like the first rays of light that snuck through the orange and purple bands across the horizon. It had not rained. Right now, the emerging sun seemed to dry up the clouds as they thinned and all but disappeared from the sky.

“A good sign,” I sighed as I slipped into my clothes.