Alpha Returned: A Rejected Mates Reverse Harem Shifter Series (Feral Mates Book 3)
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“You’re wolf shifters. You are our natural enemy. You’re going to be executed, but first I want you to tell me what you were doing going to Rylan’s compound.” Her voice is pure ice. “If you’re honest, you can save yourselves from being tortured first.”
“We’re allies, I tell you!” I insist.
“We are! We’re from the pack out of Nashville!” Elon insists. “We’ve been working with the demons there to broker peace. Ask Keros and Del … they’ll tell you!”
The older woman eyes Elon curiously, then turns to a younger man on her right. “Go get them. We’ll see if these shifters speak the truth.”
There is silence until a few minutes later, when Del and Keros are brought forward. They gasp when they see us, and I must admit to feeling some relief at the sight of them.
“Do you two know these shifters? Who are they?”
Keros nods. “Yeah, we know ‘em. That one there, he’s supposed to be the alpha of the Nashville pack.”
“Are these the ones who tried to broker peace with the demons?” she asks further.
“Yes. They’re … friends,” Del answers slowly, as if the words taste strange in his mouth.
“Why are you in Florida, if you’re part of the Nashville pack?” she demands of us, coming closer. “I thought shifters didn’t cross into each other’s territory. Are you here to join Rylan, as your mate did?”
I know immediately that I’m going to have to take a page from Sydney’s book and find a way to befriend these people who have been our enemies from so long.
“No, we’re not joining them, and she didn’t really join them either; she only went with him on the condition that he spare the lives of every wolf and demon in our territory.”
The woman turns to look at Del and Keros. “Is this true?”
They both nod. “Yeah, it is. We’d be dead if it wasn’t for her.”
She turns back to us. “Why were you going to Rylan’s then?”
Teague answers her. “Sydney had a vision from the goddess. I know that you serve a goddess too, and some say it’s the same goddess. We were to get a sacred flower for her and deliver it to her, and with its nectar, she will be able to kill Rylan, and we’ll all be free of him.”
The older woman cocks her eyebrow. “The Crimson Death flower?”
“That’s a myth! It doesn’t really exist!” comes a cry from someone behind her.
“It does exist,” Elon shouts back. “We’ve just been through hell and back getting it for her.”
“It’s in my backpack,” Teague adds. “Be careful with it, it’s delicate, and there’s only one. We’ve got to get it to her so she can end Rylan for good.”
The backpack is brought to the woman, and she takes the silken pouch from it, looking through the lightly woven material at the flower within.
“My goddess … it is real,” she murmurs, and even I am surprised.
“We do worship the same goddess; that’s true,” She admits. “I will have one of our succubi get this to Sydney at the compound. In the meantime, we will be keeping you captive at least until Rylan is dead, one way or another. We still have every intention of blowing the compound up to stop the wedding if he isn’t killed before the ceremony. We aren’t taking any chances. He has to die, one way or another. There’s no other price that can be paid.”
“But if you blow up the compound, my sister Isla and Sydney will both die too,” I shoot back at her. “Give Sydney a chance to use the flower!”
“We are giving her a chance. She’ll get the flower, but the wedding cannot happen. We are willing to lose two innocent shifter lives if it means Rylan will be dead too. She has until the ceremony to stop him, or we take action. In the meantime, you remain our prisoners, and you will be freed upon Rylan’s death.”
Chapter Fourteen
With the wolf pendant in my pocket, I’m about to walk out of my quarters when I nearly collide with Elise. She looks furtively around, and I can smell her fear and anxiety heavy on the air. It’s different from it was after Kera was killed. This is something new.
Something stronger.
I step back into my sitting room and pull her in with me, closing the door behind her.
“What is it?” I ask, eyeing her worriedly. “Are you all right?”
I’d given her a message to take to Isla, and now I’m afraid she might have been caught giving it to the demons who take Isla her food. Though as soon as I think it, I know that can’t be it.
She wouldn’t be standing here alive if that was the case.
“I’m all right,” she assures me, glancing once over her shoulder conspiratorially before reaching into the laundry hamper in her arms and lifts out a silk woven bag. “I was told to bring this to you. Be very careful touching it. It’s deadly.”
My heart nearly leaps up into my throat.
I take the small sack from her and a smile spreads wide over my face. It’s the crimson flower. I know it even before I undo the drawstring to peek inside. I can see its color, and I know in an instant that my boys, my brilliant, brave boys, have been successful in my mission.
Even separated, we’re tied together.
“This is our ticket to freedom,” I confide in Elise quietly. “A way to get rid of Rylan. I’m still on your side, and I still want to find a way to peace between our kinds. I hope you know that.”
Elise bites at her lower lip, considering something for a moment. The moment doesn’t last long before she leans in to whisper to me.
“Our army has planted bombs all over the compound. They’re set to go off on your wedding day, right before the ceremony … if Rylan isn’t killed by then. The leaders say that they can’t allow the ceremony to take place, and they will give you between now and then to do what you will to Rylan. But if he’s still alive right before the ceremony this place will explode and the war will begin. Any survivors will be killed by the demon army.”
“But—”
“I can’t promise your safety, Sydney,” she hisses, cutting me off. “You might be trying to unite us, but that doesn’t undo millennia of fighting between our kinds. There’s bound to be at least one of my kind that wishes you dead … and in the frenzy, they’ll find you. I know it.”
I stop and stare at her a moment, swallowing hard.
But that isn’t all.
“We have your mates,” she whispers, her voice dropping even lower. “Roman, Elon, and Teague. They’re with us. They’re being held until Rylan is dead, no matter how it happens. Then they will be freed.”
She reaches out to touch my arm. “Consider it a gift,” she says, carefully. “At least they’ll survive.”
Even if I don’t.
My heart stops in my chest and my mind zooms in several directions at once. “I have two days before the wedding to do this. I’ll do everything I can to make it happen. Thank you so much for telling me. Please, let me know if anything changes.”
Elise nods. “I will, my lady.”
She hurries off, and I take the flower into the small kitchen, placing it inside a glass of water and setting it in a corner of the library where it will blend in and not look out of place. I head out, hoping to find Rylan. After a quick walk through the compound to the front courtyard, I find Sergei, and pull him aside to a quiet corner.
“I wish to see Rylan as soon as possible,” I tell him evenly. I don’t want him to know what I’m doing. Rylan’s loyalty laws could get Sergei killed if anything goes wrong.
“I’m sorry my lady, he will not see you. Not until the wedding day,” Sergei answers with a gentle voice. He, like Elise, glances once over his shoulder. I wonder how much he knows … and how much he’s just sensing.
A gasp escapes me, but I manage to keep my truer emotions in. Panic. Fear. Anxiety. How can I kill him before the wedding if I am not allowed to see him?
“Why?” I ask simply, still trying to keep my voice—and my inner emotions—in check.
Sergei fixes me with a look.
“I
t’s because of what happened at the meeting you attended. He won’t have a repeat of that. Not now … when your wedding is so close. He can’t have his advisors’ faith in him wavering.”
“I see. Please tell him that I want to see him. I know he’ll say no, but I need you to try.” I look up into his face imploringly, and he nods. “Please, it’s important.”
“I’ll see if I can change his mind, and if he relents, I’ll let you know.”
“Thank you.” I smile, but inside me chaos is almost out of control.
I leave him and return to my quarters, where I ring for Elise—hoping to catch her before she’s gotten too far. She comes and I sit in privacy with her in my library.
“I know we only just spoke, but I have new information,” I say, taking her hand in mine. “Rylan won’t see me until the wedding. I’ve sent a message to him asking him to see me before then … but if he doesn’t allow it, then I won’t be able to see him until the ceremony. I must ask you please … please … go to your people and beg them to put off the explosion until after the ceremony. Just after. Not a day more. I can use the flower to poison Rylan the night of the wedding. It would be so easy to do, but as it is now, I just don’t have enough time. Elise, please!”
She nods, but I don’t see much hope on her face.
“I understand. I’ll go to them now, but I can’t promise anything. The army leaders are adamant that the wedding should not take place at all. They may not agree to wait until after the ceremony. Still, I will ask.”
A small breath escapes me, and though I know it’s premature, I can’t help the slight swell of relief.
“Thank you!”
She leaves me and I waste no time going straight to the hidden garden. It was the goddess that set this all into motion, I just have to hope that she’ll be here to see it through to the end.
Standing before the statue, I take the wolf pendant out of my pocket and press it gently into the stone. Closing my eyes, I set my hands on the statue of her, praying that the demons agree to wait. It’s crucial. I must have more options in case Rylan won’t see me before the wedding.
At first, nothing happens. At first, I think I’ve been abandoned yet again.
But then, slowly at first and then growing until it shakes my very bones, the statue begins to reverberate. I can feel the movement all through my body, even into my soul.
We are connected, she and I.
And that will make all the difference.
It has to.
Chapter Fifteen
The early morning sun casts a pale light around my room as it filters through the sheer white curtains over my windows. It’s the morning of the full moon. The morning of my wedding to Rylan. My stomach is in knots as my mind sits tight in a tangle.
I don’t want to marry Rylan, but that’s the least of my problems. He’s refused to see me until the ceremony, which means that I can only hope and pray that the compound won’t be blown to smithereens—triggering a war between age-old enemies erupts before I can take my vows to a man I can’t stand.
What a sorry fate that would be, thwarted just hours before I can try to set things right. All this painful waiting, the fear, the anxious anticipation … for nothing. To speak nothing of knowing I didn’t get to see them one last time.
Roman. Teague. Elon.
If I have one wish, it’s that I can at least lay eyes on them once more before it’s all over.
If the demons allow me a little more time, and the compound isn’t blown up, then I’m still faced with doing something I never thought I would do. I’ll be taking the life of another.
Most of me believes that his life is not mine to take, and yet when I see and feel the horrible memories of him killing Kera merely for bringing a letter to me … or him killing all the demons who came to sign the peace treaty, that belief wavers. He’s a mass murderer. A mutilator. Maybe I can feel something keenly different if I focus on that.
Not maybe. I do.
There’s something strong and unbending in me, like a mountain that stands tall no matter what weather or circumstance of time may come to rip it apart. I feel unyieldingly protective. I will not allow him to injure or hurt those I care about, not anymore. There is power in me, deep in my core, and I don’t know where it comes from, but it feels raw and unbeatable.
It must be the full moon, I think.
That, and something else. I do still have a bond to Roman, Teague, and Elon … even if the only bond I’ve been reminded of lately is the one I share with Rylan.
It’s because of that, that I can’t help but wonder at why the demons would ever risk attacking us on a full moon. They know better. It’s a complete mystery as to why the demons chose today to attack, when every shifter in the compound will be at their strongest, and they must know that we have guests coming; shifters from all over the world.
Rylan was insistent upon that. He wanted to make sure that the other packs were well aware of just how powerful he was becoming through this marriage, how big his combined pack was going to be, and how much larger his newly gained territory. It’s always about power and control with him—the happiness and wellbeing of those around him be dammed.
I can’t stand that.
It must be this same thing that’s driving the incubi and succubi to attack today. A show of their own power. Proof that they can overcome … even when we’re at our strongest.
Not us. Rylan.
This is not my fight. I may be caught up in it, but I’ll not be placed on the same side as my captor.
“My lady … good morning. We’re here to ready you,” Mara interrupts the Gordian Knot of thoughts in my head. I blink and look over at her as she brings me a tray with my favorite latte on it.
I take it gratefully and sigh.
“Thanks.” I wonder if I should be drinking something stronger than coffee to get me through today … but then I remind myself that I must have my wits about me. There’s a solid chance I’ll lose my life today if things don’t work out well.
“I’ll start your bath.” Mara tells me with a smile.
I’m glad we’re not in a big hurry. The wedding isn’t until sunset, when the full moon rises, so I have the day to take my time getting ready for it, though I’d rather be doing just about anything else.
Elise brings out my wedding dress. It was handmade for me. It’s mostly silk, form-fitting to my hourglass figure, with lace down the back and sleeves. It has a long train, and the veil I’ll be wearing is long as well, but that was Rylan’s request. He thinks it’s regal to drag this thing out; literally.
Elise reappears with a silken negligee that makes my stomach turn. It’s two pieces, a sultry gown that’s lightly transparent over the breasts, and a thin silk robe that goes over it. My mouth drops open.
“What is that for?” I gasp—even though I know how stupid I sound. Of course I know what it’s for. I’ve just been so focused on the war and what I have to do to stop it, that I forgot what else might be awaiting me tonight.
Mara gives me a sympathetic look as she comes back into the bedroom. “It’s for your wedding night.”
“Rylan?” I ask coldly, narrowing my eyes.
“Yes,” both girls answer, and I roll my eyes and look away. More than the wedding, I am least looking forward to whatever is going to happen tonight. Maybe I’ll give him the poison before anything happens and then I can get out of it altogether. If I do have to go through with it, maybe it’ll be fast.
Maybe I can get him drunk at the wedding party and he won’t be able perform. Or maybe if I get him drunk, he’ll pass out and nothing will happen at all, and then I can poison him while he sleeps.
That thought at least brings some comfort.
My mind is a vortex of what-if’s and what-about’s, but there’s no one to talk with about it. I’m not sharing all the details with anyone, not even Mara and Elise. They know enough. No one needs to know more.
They have enough of a burden to bear.
Once I’m
bathed, the girls get to work on my hair and makeup. I eat as much as I can for lunch, knowing I won’t have an appetite for dinner either before this big night or after the ceremony, and if the place all gets blown up … I won’t need to worry about whether I ate or not.
Mara and Elise are nearly done preparing me to walk down the aisle when another succubus comes into my chambers with a message for me. I open it, and my stomach clenches. Elise’s eyes widen in fear.
“What is it, my lady?”
“It’s from my … my brother, I guess. Conan. He’s Isla’s husband. He came, along with the council from the Crescent pack,” I answer as my eyes fly over the message. “They’re here. All of them. They want the wedding to go forward as planned, and they will not help me to stop it in any way. He reminds me that this is the equivalent of a royal wedding, and it must be taken very seriously. He’s worried about Isla and he wants to see her as soon as the wedding is over. He wants me to tell Rylan to keep up his end of the deal. Rylan said he would release Isla once I married him.”
By the time I’ve finished speaking, my voice is hollow.
Conan. Of all people to tell me to go forward with the wedding … I didn’t expect it of him. I thought he’d want to at least try to get me out of this.
I guess I was wrong.
But I can’t hate him. He’s only thinking of Isla. Would I be doing the same thing if the roles were reversed?
The two demon girls keep working.
I stop and think back. “Actually, what he said was he would release her after his wedding night, but …” I trail off. Who knows if there’s going to be a wedding night. I do know that Isla is chained up, and if there’s any kind of explosion in the compound … she’ll never be able to get out. I still haven’t found out where she is. Everyone has managed to keep that a secret from me.
Even these girls. My handmaidens.
I don’t blame them. If I knew, I’d find her—and they know it. They’d be dead by the time I got back to my chambers.