The Alpha's Desire 5 (12 page)

Zeke reached out once I stood as my wolf, petting my head I knew, to show Chloe that the wolf was not mean. I turned to look at my friend, in my mind hoping that in some magical moment she would just accept me, like they all eventually did in the movies. Only this was real life, and instead of kind words of amazed acceptance, Chloe let out an ear-shattering scream right before she passed out.

Crestfallen, I changed back to human, snatching my clothes up as tears, hot and large, spilled from my own eyes.

“I’m sorry, Christina. She’ll come around,” Zeke offered.

“Just give her something to make her sleep again for a good long time. She deserves it. If you don’t mind, can you then keep track of her? We will take her to the same place we are taking the true werewolves. We’ll just keep her asleep until we find out where that is and can get there and get situated. Then, I’ll deal with her again, hope that at some point she can come to accept all of this.”

“I think they only pass out three or four times before they accept it generally. She has two out of the way already,” he said, trying for a sympathetic joking tone.

I gave him the best smile I could muster which barely moved my mouth before thanking him and going out to get an update from Nira and Lex on where they were at in our plan. I’d only taken a few steps before Lex hung up his phone and rushed to my side, scooping me up in his arms in a tight hug that took my feet from the ground.

“Sorry. Didn’t look or sound like that went well at all,” he whispered in my ear before placing a gentle kiss on my cheek.

“No, it did not. How are things on your end?” I inquired with a long sigh that exhausted me just to let out. “And, make it good news. I’m holding on by a thread here.”

“Yeah, how are things?” Nira offered coming up to us. “Because I have good news. My friend is bringing by two trucks that we can load the wolves into. He will take them wherever we want them. So, where do we want them?”

“Well,” Lex said. “The Royals, in true Royal fashion, acquired a building not that far from here, right after we left for the States. They already have a team of workers cleaning it up. They are giving them the day off so we can bring the werewolves there. Then, you can wake them up and explain to them the proposal. They think they can use a spell to stop their curse, and then another spell, our spell, to make them magical werewolves if they wish. Or, they can just go on to normal lives too,” Lex said with a smile on his face. “I have the address, so once we get them loaded, we can take them right to the facility. It’s only twenty-five minutes away.”

“Good,” I said. “I’m glad this is all working out. At least my magic held, keeping them asleep while we bound them up. I hope the conversation with them goes better than my one with Chloe did.”

“I hope so too,” Nira exclaimed, shaking her head. “Sorry, kiddo.”

“How is everyone holding up?” I turned to ask the crowd of naked werewolves in human form and vampires coming their way.

“The wolves have been bound,” a vampire offered.

“Good. Everyone all right? It has been a long, very long, day and night.”

“You know we last longer than most,” Josh said. “Don’t you worry about us. We will get this done and then take a well-deserved nap in a day or two.”

“Once we get them to the facility, we should be able to sleep in shifts,” I muttered. “Until then, I believe we all deserve large coffees.”

Chapter Twelve

As we drove, the ribbons of orange and purple on the horizon had completely disappeared. The sun had come up on what would be, at least meteorically speaking, a perfect summer day, all sunshine with temps in the low eighties and a nice northerly breeze. I longed for a run with Lex on the island, but instead, trudged toward the new facility while the others carried wolves, paws bound together, into it.

The Royals had purchased an old, now abandoned strip mall that sat out in the middle of nowhere. The parking lot had rows of grass and weeds growing up through the cracks in the unattended pavement. A series of orange cones stood sentinel around a larger hole, some having fallen on the job right into it. The outside of the building, once white with a red awning, stood weathered, with only half the signs marking stores still there.

A bakery and bookstore was still marked with big, sun-faded red letters, while a clothing store and another I didn’t recognize the name of had dark outlines where letters used to be. It was sad how many businesses now sat as ghost towns these days.

“We will use one of the back storage rooms, the biggest one, to put the wolves in,” Lex said, directing the troops. “And, don’t worry Christina, as we have tied up werewolves before, we tied them so when they wake up and turn human they will remain bound. The ties crisscross their bodies. With one pull, the knots will slip and tighten around them after the shift.”

“And, we have camping equipment in one of the SUV’s, in case of overnight jobs,” Nira added, “so while we are dealing with the wolves, you know so that you don’t touch and wake them, you can set up an air mattress and grab a blanket for Chloe. Zeke will carry her in. She can sleep as long as needed.”

“Thank you all,” I said to both Lex and Nira, raising my voice enough to offer it to those standing around us, the ones out of the SUV’s waiting for their instructions as the delivery trucks full of bound wolves parked beside them.

I tended to Chloe in a back room, an old office cleared out except for a pressed wood desk and a rather nice, fake leather office executive’s chair. Having pushed them into a corner, I’d set up the air mattress, covered by a nice sleeping bag which Zeke set Chloe on. As she slept peacefully, I poured out my heart to my friend, telling her everything, exactly as it had happened from that first night with Lex, to the attacks and the magic, to the true and Royal werewolves, to the island, and up until now.

I’d cried, which ended up rather cleansing, giving me the emotional courage to go through with waking up the werewolves and convincing them to see things our way. The coffee Josh had brought me had had a part in it too. I’d gulped the sugary, chocolate mixture in-between taking breaths and talking to Chloe. Once they’d called me to come into another back room to wake the wolves, as I walked out the door of the office, Zeke had grabbed me and hugged me tight.

“You are an amazing woman, Christina. You have been through so much and are the stronger for it. Chloe is lucky to have a friend like you. She will come to see that too, in time. Good luck,” he’d said in my ear, a big smile on his face when he’d pulled away. “We are all rooting for you. The past seven months have shown us that you can carry the weight of the world on your shoulders and magically get us all to a better place. You are truly Royal in every sense of the word.”

“You will never know just how much I needed every one of those words right now. I’m better for knowing all of you vampires. I wouldn’t be here without you.”

By the time I got to a stock room, one long space that ran the length of a few of the stores, I had bolstered myself up for my task, feeling more positive about how this would go. In fact, I felt like I was making a difference, giving these wolves a chance at a better life. Surely they would see any break from the grotesque pain of their transformation as a welcome gift.

With Lex and Josh in human form, on each side of the true wolf, the alpha, holding the ends of the ropes that bound him, I touched his shoulder. I watched him wake, shake his head, and growl. Lex and Josh braced, holding him as he tried to get up.

“Please stay calm. We are here to offer help. The help that Daniel wanted. If you will trust us a minute, I will explain just how we can break your curse,” I got out in a rush of words at the thrashing wolf who tried to growl but only managed to slobber through his muzzled snout. “Please turn so that we can talk. The ropes are only a safeguard. We want to talk, not fight, and last we met, you didn’t seem to want to do anything other than kill us.”

When his transformation began, I stepped aside and found it hard to watch but felt obligated not to turn away either. While his transformation back to man was not quite as brutal, a shedding really of the wolf, it was still a bloody and horrific sight. The wolf cried out, a sound in the night I’d thought as a child a mere howling at the moon. I wondered how many times it had not been.

Lex and Josh pulled, letting the slip knots pull tighter to his human form. I’d offered him a blanket to cover his nakedness, but he had only jerked, throwing it off. He had not the mobility to fully do so, but he managed to make it bunch around his middle, which did serve as all the cover a man really needed. I’d woken the alpha first, hoping to convince him so he could help with the others.

“What the hell did you do to us, you witch?” the alpha yelled, making Lex growl and come forward to get between us, but I put out my arm to stop him.

“I merely put you to sleep, to stop the violence. We don’t want any more loss of life. I am so sorry that Daniel was killed. He honestly left us no choice, but I didn’t want that to happen again.”

“Right! Why would you care about us animals? You magical ones have it all, a nice secret island, money, a transformation like a light show, while we have lowly cabins in the woods, scraping by on blue collar wages, and being forced to turn once a month in a horribly painful way, more when we have to fight,” the alpha spat out.

“We know, and if Daniel had just asked us for help he would have gotten it. Instead, he took it upon himself to hate us, to hatch a plan to kidnap one of us and force us into helping. None of that was necessary,”

“That’s not what he said. He said he asked the Royals and was turned down,” the alpha argued, his voice deep and tense, but calmer.

“Then he lied,” Lex added, standing right beside me still. “The Royals were never asked. They want to help. They bought this whole facility to do just that.”

“Right,” he grumbled.

“Right,” I echoed. “Why the hell do you think that we went to all the trouble to take you alive, to transport you here unharmed? Just to kill you? We could have done that back at the factory where you meant to kill us. We want to help. All you have to do is let us. What other alternative do you have? In fact, I hadn’t thought it through, as things went rather fast since I came up with my plan, but if you refuse our help, I’m not sure what we will do with you. We can’t set free a group that only wants to kill us.”

“No, you can’t. So, what then? Am I to stay in ropes the rest of my life?” he challenged.

“No. I don’t know. So, don’t be stupid and agree to be trained. The Royals, both Edward and Catherine, are on their way here already. They have worked out a spell to remove your curse. Then you can decide if you want to be human or you want to be turned into Royal werewolves. All we ask in return is that you not go after us anymore. We only want a truce, and the trust would have to go both ways.”

“Just like that, huh?”

“Yes, just like that. You are new to this fight anyway. None of Daniel’s original pack survived. So, why would it matter so much to you? You can have it all.”

The alpha just sat there a minute, I guessed weighing his options though he really had none. Have your curse taken away or become some sort of war prisoner. Though I didn’t know that anyone had a plan for the latter. They had to be convinced.

“Some of the older wolves will never go for it. Curse or not, they have lived this way their whole lives. Daniel didn’t get the cream of the crop to help him from other packs, if you know what I mean,” the alpha said, and I got my first inkling of hope that things would go our way.

“So, what you are saying is that they were all easily swayed to his cause probably because they hate the curse. So, wouldn’t it stand to reason then that they could be easily swayed to get rid of it?” I asked, feeling my point stood for itself, but just to drive it home I continued, “As I see it, you have two choices, cured or prisoner. Which will it be? You don’t seem that stupid.”

“Wake them up. Then, as a show of faith, give us some time alone to talk. Keep us tied, guard the door, but give us time alone to discuss our options. Trust us.”

“Fine. Done,” I said, then looked to Lex and to Nira behind him for confirmation that was okay.

Both nodded, and we began the process of waking each up. By the time we’d left the room, it was still packed, wall to wall, only with naked, angry men I was more than happy to shut the door on and walk away. At least I didn’t have to be part of the verbal battle in there.

“So, looks like we have some time,” I said as we walked to an empty store front. “We have to wait for them to talk, and we have to wait for the Royals to arrive. I’m going to use it to go talk to Chloe, see if I can’t make some headway there too.”

“Good luck, babe. I can’t wait to get you home, back to the castle.”

“I think I’m going to stay,” Josh said.

“Stay?” I asked.

“Yes, these guys can’t train themselves. The Royals will need volunteers to stay here and train, to stay here and guard. They will also need someone to go back and stay in the house, keep it up and running. I think you two deserve that job. Christina has had quite the trail by fire this year. She deserves some downtime, not training, not fighting. You should have some time to just be newlyweds.”

“That would be amazing. Guess I hadn’t thought through who would do the training, or when we would return to the castle. I like that idea, and I’m willing, if Catherine and Edward agree, to take you up on the offer.”

I gave Josh a kiss on the cheek before whispering in his ear, “Enjoy getting to know Nira, too. She’s one hell of a lady.”

“I will,” he said with a wink.

“Hey,” I said, turning to the group of them, “do you think it would be okay if I had Zeke take Chloe and me back to her place? I think her waking up there would help. It would give her a sense of the familiar, a place where she can remember who I was as she learns more about who I am. I will have Zeke as protection, not that I should need any with that group tied up in there, literally and figuratively.”

“I think that would be fine,” Josh said, though all the other heads there nodded. “In fact, I think it is a great idea. You have more than put in your time with this group. We can take it from here.”

“Thank you,” I said, walking to Lex to throw my arms around his neck. “It’s all okay with you?”

“Absolutely. I love you. Come back soon.”

“I will. I may be awhile, but I will always come back to you. You are my life, the other half of my heart. I couldn’t have made it through any of this without you.”

“It is because of me that you went through any of it at all.”

“A price I would be willing to pay if asked. Being alive in this life, loving you, is far greater than the half-life I was muddling through before.”