by Cooke, CJ
An older woman broke from the crowd, with silent tears running down her cheeks. She walked over to us, and I realised she must be related to Britt. Kyle was still holding her in his arms, and she hovered her hands over Britt, almost afraid to touch her.
I didn’t know what to say to her. What right did I have to interrupt her in her grief? Tears filled my eyes, and Liam pulled me close against him again. He was the only thing keeping me standing up. Kyle gently placed Britt’s body down on the grass, and the woman pulled her into her arms, buried her face against her neck and finally began to wail.
A middle-aged man broke through the crowd, people moving to make way for him. I could tell just by looking at him that this was the Prime Alpha and Kyle’s father. Not because of how people moved to clear a path for him, but because Kyle looked so similar. There was no other option. He was big. And I meant, not only was he tall, but I’m pretty sure his shoulders would span the entire length of my torso. He had the same sandy hair as Kyle, but he was starting to grey around the edges.
He wasn’t smiling when he walked towards us. He had a sombre look on his face that he seemed to be using as a mask, over the fact that he was really fucking pissed off. Everyone was so entranced by what he was about to do that no one reacted when I glimpsed the first bit of movement from the trees. And no one saw as the first demon burst out of the treetop and flew towards the Prime Alpha.
Chapter 6
Kyle
Aria’s wings burst from her back so quickly that she had shifted by the time her feet left the ground and she leapt at my father with a short sword in each hand. Not realising the danger behind him, my father saw Aria’s attack coming towards him and assumed it was meant for him. I saw the half shift take place as his hands partially shifted into deadly claws. If Aria hadn’t seen it too and rolled to her side in the air, he would have cut straight through her. Instead, she flew straight over his shoulder and impacted with the demon mid-air, cleanly taking its head from its shoulders with one slice of her sword.
All of the Elites immediately drew their weapons, myself, Liam and Sykes included. The pack seemed to take a second of shock before the screaming started, and everyone fled for their lives. My mind momentarily slipped back to the battlefield the Academy had transformed into, and I felt it’s need to spiral, out of control. We couldn’t do this again. It felt like it took me an age to pull myself back together, but in reality, it must have been less than a second.
My father had spun on the spot when Aria cleared his shoulder, clearly thinking she would turn and attack him from behind. When he saw her cut down the demon, he began to shout orders at the pack to flee and hide and for the pack guard to make a stand.
Aria was hovering in the air, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she scanned her surroundings, waiting for the next attack. Everyone braced waiting. Then with one beat of her wings, she flew into the treetops nearby. We could hear the sound of fighting but couldn’t see anything through the leaves. It wasn’t until a demon head, and then the rest of its body fell to the ground a few seconds later that we knew Aria had succeeded. The rustling in the trees was the only way we could track her movements until a second head and demon body fell to the ground a short distance away from the first.
Aria landed on the ground a few feet away from me, and I had my sword sheathed and her in my arms before I could even think about what I was doing. Liam and Sykes quickly followed, and the clearing fell into silence while we all stood there, embracing our mate. This really needed to stop.
When we pulled away, Aria’s eyes found the Headmaster, and she confirmed, “Those were the three I lost track of.” He nodded in acknowledgement at her.
As I looked around, I realised that most people had fled the clearing. There was only us, the Headmaster, Caleb, my father and the pack guard. The only non-fighting person who had remained was Britt’s grandmother who was still knelt on the ground weeping over Britt’s body.
Aria must have seen her at the same time I had because she walked over and knelt at her side. When she placed her hand on her shoulder, Margie looked over to her and then fell into Aria’s arms weeping, while she whispered gentle words to her. Aria wrapped her wings around them, cocooning her away from the world, and the rest of us just watched them in silence.
My father walked over to me and looked me over. I wondered if he would be proud of the fighter Aria had trained me to be. I knew I looked imposing with the double-edged sword sheathed at my back and still wearing the fighting leathers Aria had gifted us. Probably not, he was bound to find some flaw in me. He actually surprised me when he clasped my shoulder with his hand.
“I’m glad you came back to us, son,” he said, then he looked at Sykes and Liam. “That you all managed to come back to us.”
Because we were all the same age and Liam had been adopted into the pack, the two of them had nearly lived in the big house with us. My father had always been a harsh man. Wyatt said it was the pressure of responsibility and that, in some ways, it could break a man. But there were times when I would glimpse a different side of my father, and those times were when the three of us were younger and tearing around the big house like young boys were want to do.
“But it seems there are some things that need discussing and here is not the place to do,” My father looked over at the people behind us. “Dominic, Caleb, will you join us in the big house? Wyatt, have the guard patrol the grounds to make sure there are no more nasty surprises hiding out here.”
And with that, he just turned and walked away from us, back to the house. I suppose that was my limit of fatherly concern for the rest of the year reached then. He could be a dick when he wanted to be. I hadn’t missed his dismissal of Aria, not even having the decency to thank her, let alone invite her to join us.
Wyatt gave orders out to the guard and then walked over to Margie and Aria, kneeling beside them.
“If it’s okay with you Margie, I’m going to take Britt up to the big house.” Margie nodded into Aria’s shoulder, and in a move gentler than I’d ever seen him capable of, Wyatt picked up Britt’s body and cradled it against his chest as he walked her up to the house.
There was a room in the basement where they prepared all the bodies of any wolves that died ready for the sunset funerals we held. It hadn’t been used for a long time. It was first set up during the race wars that followed the Fae leaving our realm. Once peace broke out, it was only needed if a wolf died during a dominance challenge.
Britt would be the first to be laid to rest down there in a long time. Ben, who had followed Wyatt over to her, knelt beside Margie and spoke gently to her before helping her off the ground and leading her away from the clearing, in her cabin's direction. Aria stayed kneeling on the ground for a moment alone. She looked so lost. Then she picked herself up and walked over towards us. Her wings shifted away, and she silently took my hand as we walked up towards the house where I’d spent my childhood. At this point, I felt like I could sleep for a week, but I knew there was no escaping the meeting with my father first.
We found them in the library. They’d already broken out the whiskey, and the room immediately fell silent as we walked in. All three looked at Aria, and it was fairly obvious they’d just been talking about her. We were either far too tired or just getting used to the fact that Aria was the most talked about subject now, but either way, we didn’t ask what they had been discussing. I just needed to get out of this room, into a shower and then sleep as quickly as possible.
“It seems our pack owes you a great debt Aria. Myself included. You have picked a good mate, son,” my father stated.
Aria immediately bristled at his comment, but she didn’t say anything. I knew the mating system was something Aria disagreed with and I doubted it would take long before Aria confronted my father about it. That, however, was a battle for another day—any day but today. We needed to heal from our earlier battles first.
An awkward silence fell across the room. Thankfully the Headmaster cut in. “W
hy don’t you go and rest. Aria, if you’re agreeable, I’d like to take you to see the pack seer tomorrow.”
“Sure,” Aria simply stated.
“Come on, sweetheart,” I said. “Let’s go get some sleep.”
She didn’t say a thing as I took her hand and led her away from everyone. I didn’t know if it was the pain of losing Britt or the shock of everything that had happened today, but it was like she was starting to shut down.
We passed Wyatt in the corridor, and he nodded at us before entering the library and closing the door behind him. Let them have their private conversations. We’d played enough of a part in today, and now it was time to find solace in each other and start trying to heal.
I led Aria up to our suite of rooms, Sykes and Liam followed us in silence. I’d grown up in the house, and I could walk around it with a blindfold on if I had to. Aria didn’t seem to be seeing anything at the moment, and I just wanted to get her safely inside our suite so we could take care of her.
We guided her through the double doors and sat her down on the sofa. Liam glanced worriedly over at me, and I crouched down in front of her.
“Sweetheart, are you hungry or do you just want to shower and sleep?”
Aria blinked at me and wrinkled her brow in confusion. When she didn’t respond, Liam suggested, “How about I go down to the kitchen and grab food for everyone while you shower, then you can eat something whenever you get hungry.”
Aria just nodded. Liam looked over at me, distressed, and I nodded for him to go. I took Aria’s hand, and she stood from the sofa. Leading her over to the bathroom, I lifted her up to sit on the vanity. She dropped her head and looked down at the ground. My heart broke for her.
She’d been through so much in the past 24 hours and looking at my grieving mate now was the most helpless I’d ever felt in my life. Sykes dropped to his knees on the tiled floor in front of her and began taking off her boots and then her socks. She just sat there, unmoving, allowing him to care for her.
The bathroom in the suite was massive. It had been designed for my pack and me, so that meant the shower was more than big enough to accommodate the three of us. I turned the water on to heat up and went over to the linen cupboard, to gather up some towels. By the time I came back, Sykes had gotten Aria undressed and stepped into the shower with her.
The water running off them quickly turned black from the demon blood we were all covered in. At least it wasn’t ours. I quickly stripped out of my clothes which had turned stiff with the dried blood. The leather had held up well, and I was hopeful the fighting leathers could be cleaned and useable again. I dropped them in the sink for now, where Sykes had left his and Aria’s clothes. We could deal with them later.
Stepping into the shower, I slid the door closed behind me. Sykes was holding Aria against him as they stood under the water just letting it run over them. I would have to check in with my brothers to see how they were faring as well. I was their Alpha, and it was up to me to make sure we all made it through this together. The only shower gel we had in this bathroom was sandalwood. Aria usually smelt of jasmine, and I’d have to try and remember to get some of her own things in the morning, but this would do for now. I quickly soaped up my hands and began to gently wash Aria’s back and shoulders. She leant onto Sykes, who continued to hold her and I could feel the tension draining out of her.
I worked my way down her legs, and then Sykes gently turned her around so I could make my way up her front. When I was done, she gave me a gentle smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. I quickly washed myself down and then opened my arms up to her, and she walked into them so Sykes could wash the remaining demon blood from himself. When he was done, he gently tipped Aria’s head back and washed her hair. It took three goes before the soap ran clear, and all of the blood was washed out.
Once we were out of the shower and dried off, Aria seemed to have come back into herself a bit, but she was still so quiet. I’d found an old fluffy robe in the closet I’d wrapped her up in, and we were currently sitting on the sofa eating the sandwiches Liam had brought to the room. Aria had downed two bottles of water and was now sipping on a cup of coffee. No one spoke, what was there to say? We were all lost to our own thoughts. Perhaps it would have been better to try and idly chat and fill the quiet, to bring our minds away from the memories of today. When everyone was finished eating, we all slipped between the bedsheets, cuddled together and fell asleep. We’d made it through the day and dealing with the aftermath could wait until tomorrow.
Chapter 7
Caleb
Dominic and I were called to the packhouse to meet with Marcus and Wyatt as soon as the sun had risen the next morning. I fucking hated Marcus! When Dom had come to us talking about the demon threat and asked me to join the academy staff, Marcus had all but forbidden it. He didn’t want the pack involved in this. He said it was a fool’s errand and that the threat wasn’t credible. When I went to the Academy anyway, he made it clear that my position in the pack was forfeit. In the end, it didn’t matter anyway, so many had died, and we had saved so few.
When we walked into the library, I wasn’t surprised to see Marcus sat behind that fucking desk he seemed to love so much. Wyatt was stood looking out of the window, deep in thought.
“Well, this is an absolute cluster fuck,” Marcus said, leaning back in his seat.
Dominic sat down in one of the armchairs. If I was him ‘I told you so’ would be burning to come out of my mouth. It wasn’t the time to gloat, given all that had happened.
“What do you plan to do?” Dom asked him.
Marcus just raised an eyebrow at him. “What if I told you nothing?” he challenged.
“Then I’d call you a fool,” Dom replied calmly.
This was a tense as fuck situation. My allegiance should lay with Marcus as the Alpha in the room, but this was Dom. If he was going head to head with Marcus, I’d stand by his side. I’d grown close to him over the last three years. He was my friend. He was more than that. He felt like pack. This place didn’t feel like home anymore, and I was having trouble reconciling my feelings with my wolf. This wasn’t his pack anymore. His pack was with Dom.
Marcus bristled at Dom’s comment but said nothing. He chose to turn his rage on me. “And what do you have to say for yourself? Three years of training and only a ragtag group of first years manage to fight their way out.”
Maybe he was right to blame me. But what did he expect? We’d tied their hands behind their backs when we chose not to tell them what they would be facing. Without that information, there was no way to properly train them for what they were about to face.
“We went over this last night,” Wyatt said, stepping in. “We need a plan. Why don’t we all get some breakfast and meet back here with actual ideas for ways forward from this.” I hadn’t seen Wyatt push back against Marcus before, it was interesting.
Marcus glared at him. “Fine, leave. I have other things to be dealing with now,” he said, waving us away in dismissal.
It was nice to see that even with a demon attack wiping out the majority of his younger generation, he was still the same as he’d always been. I could not for the life of me see why he would not take this seriously.
We all got up and started to file out of the room. I followed Dom out, and Wyatt closed in behind me. It was strange. I’d thought he would have stayed. Outside of the library, Professor Octavia was waiting patiently.
“Are you waiting for me?” Dom asked her in confusion.
“No, I’m here to speak with Marcus,” she said. She looked drained. I wondered how much sleep she’d managed to get last night. I hadn’t seen anything of her since we’d stepped through the portal. I didn’t know how she had managed to open the portal last night. We were all so drained by that point we could barely stand. She had undoubtedly saved our lives by doing it though.
“I’ll be leaving after the funeral,” she told Dom. “I’m going to return to the coven and take the other witches with me. We mus
t decide how we’re going to face this threat, as a people,” she explained.
“Do you think you can bring them to our side?” Dom asked her. He was thinking about the next steps already, preparing for the next fight. We couldn’t let this devolve into what had happened in the last war when everyone had refused to fight together. We wouldn’t have the Fae to rely on this time. We were so fucked!
She just shook her head sadly. Marcus called out for her, and she gave her excuses and entered the library, closing the door behind her.
Dominic turned to Wyatt and regarded him. I could tell he wanted to ask him to do something, but his connection with the pack was strained because of Marcus’ attitude.
“Where do you stand?” I asked him instead. There was more chance he would talk freely to me.
“With my Alpha,” he sighed sadly.
Something was going on with Wyatt at the moment, but I hadn’t been around enough to know what it was. I doubted he would confide in me now. We walked away from the library and out of the front door.
This place was beautiful. There was a part of me that had missed it. Before I left to join the staff at the Academy, I would never have thought I would go. This place stays with you. It worms its way into your heart and becomes a part of you. Or at least, that was how it used to feel. It didn’t feel like home anymore.
Once we were out of earshot, I turned back to Wyatt. I could see the conflicting emotions flickering across his face. Maybe it was time for some brutal truth. “I always looked up to you when we were kids. I would have followed you anywhere. I would have supported you in anything. I don’t know what is going on here, and I don’t know why you’ve never stepped up and challenged him. I have to assume you have reasons bigger than we can understand.”