Defying the Alpha

by Emilia Rose

  “Isabella needs to go,” Scarlett said to Jane, canines glistening with thick yellowish saliva. “We can’t rule the world with her in this pack and in this world. She’s the only thing standing in our way of domination.”

  Jane’s eyes trembled, switching between dull greens to her bright emerald color for a mere moment. Then, Scarlett snapped her fingers, and everything from there happened in a complete blur.

  Raj shrieked. Vanessa sprinted toward me. And Jane pulled a silver dagger from behind her back, aimed it at me, and slashed it through the air. Just as the knife was about to pierce my skin, Vanessa shoved me away. The blade slid right through the center of her chest, cutting through her sternum like a hot knife in butter.

  “We need a doctor,” I screamed through the mind link as I scrambled to my knees and pressed my hands against Vanessa’s wound, so she wouldn’t bleed out. Tears streamed down my cheeks. “We need a doctor now.”

  This was all my fault.

  “Why?” I shouted at Jane through the tears. “Why would you do this?”

  Jane dropped the knife, letting it impale the muddy forest floor. Under the moonlight, her face contorted back and forth between stunned, surprised, and shocked, her eyes shifting through a hundred shades of gold, as if she was struggling with something inside of her—a beast who wanted to be free.

  “Vanessa!” Jane shouted.

  Roman growled at Scarlett, teeth lengthening into canines. “What the fuck did you do to her?”

  Scarlett wrapped her arms around Jane’s shoulders and pulled Jane in front of her like the fucking wimp she was, using people as fucking shields to stay alive. Whether she was Dolus or still Scarlett, she had always been and always would be a weak piece of shit.

  “I need a doctor now. Someone, please,” I pleaded through the mind link.

  But nobody was responding.

  Kylo scooped Vanessa up into his arms. “I’ll take her to the hospital.”

  “Make sure she gets to my mom,” I said. “And come back quickly, please, Kylo. We’re going to need you.”

  After he sprinted through the forest toward the hospital, I turned back around to see Scarlett sneering at my Roman, her red lips in a cruel smirk.

  “Don’t want me to hurt your precious sister, do you?” She let out a bone-chilling laugh. “I know how much she means to you … but she’s already gone, Romie.” Scarlett grazed her knuckles against Jane’s cheek.

  Like a cat would with their owner, Jane closed her eyes and brushed her head against Scarlett’s neck. “Yes, mate,” she said as if she had been mind-controlled and completely forgotten about what she had just done to Vanessa—her best friend.

  Raj roared beside me and lunged at Scarlett, but I grabbed his wrist and yanked him back. Scarlett wanted us to fight. She wanted us to break, physically and mentally, so she could bring us down. She was working with Dolus … or maybe, just maybe, she was Dolus herself.

  “Jane,” I said her name softly and stepped forward. Dark clouds moved overhead, blocking any sort of sun or moonlight. “Do you really want to kill your luna?” I asked, watching her brow jerk. “Do you want to kill your brother’s mate? Do you know how devastated he would be to know that the only family he had left killed his own mate?” I continued.

  Jane’s lip twitched again, but talking to her about her family and friends wasn’t enough to get her to snap out of the trance.

  Scarlett whispered something in her ear.

  I stepped closer to her, eyes locked on to Jane’s. “Do you know what your mate would do if you killed his partner and the leader of the Lycans?” I asked. “The woman who saved you and him from that vicious man we once called Ryker?”

  “He would break,” Scarlett said, stroking her hair and smiling down at her. “Just like we want him to break. You’ll be doing good work, Jane.”

  Tears welled up in Jane’s dull eyes. She parted her lips to speak but couldn’t say anything. She moved them some more but didn’t utter a single word, only some small gasps.

  Roman furrowed his brows at her. “What do you want, Jane? Anything.”

  Her skin flushed a deep red. My words had seemed to hit her right in the heart. And while I didn’t want to hurt her, she needed to pull herself out of the trance that Scarlett had put her in. Hurting her might be the only way.

  “Your mate would reject you,” I said, stepping forward. “Your brother would disown you. All of your friends would hate you for it. You would have nobody left. Not your parents. Not your brother. Not your mate. You’d become a lone wolf and have to fend for yourself, with nobody to see or talk to, except yourself.”

  When Jane let out a piercing, pain-filled scream, Scarlett said some more of her sorcery shit under her breath. Jane began to seize back and forth, foam filling her mouth and leaking down her chin. Suddenly, charcoal darkness permeated through the whites of Scarlett’s eyes.

  “You’ve served me well, Jane,” Scarlett said, voice as deep as a man. “Thank you, child.”

  As Scarlett stepped away from Jane, Jane stopped seizing and collapsed onto the ground.

  Before she could smash her head in, Roman caught her in his arms and started muttering, “No,” over and over again.

  Raj snatched her from Roman, held her to his chest, and pushed a hand through her chocolate-brown hair. “Baby, no. Come back to me. Come back. Snap out of it, Jane,” he pleaded, voice cracking.

  From afar, I could hear the steady beat of Jane’s heart, but she was unresponsive.

  Scarlett had done something to her, something evil.

  Jane snapped her arm out and wrapped her hand around Raj’s neck, eyes completely black.

  Raj collapsed on the ground, holding his neck. “Jane,” he whispered. “Jane, please. It’s me, your mate.”

  “I have no mate,” Jane said. “Except Scarlett.”

  “Please, Moon Goddess, help us,” I begged, knowing that it wouldn’t be any use.

  Scarlett chuckled deeply. “The Moon Goddess is gone. I locked her away. She will never return.”

  It was official. Kylo and I were the only ones who could save our species now.

  Chapter 39

  Isabella

  The Moon Goddess had been defeated. The woman we had worshipped for centuries was trapped in corruption until we could help her escape. Her power hadn’t been strong enough to keep Dolus away, and I didn’t know if anything would be powerful enough to defeat him.

  Would mates still form? Had the Moon Goddess given us the power to choose our mates when she left this world? What would happen during full moons? Would my moonflowers on my windowsill still glow for her deep into the night?

  I didn’t know, and it terrified me.

  Dolus now stood in front of me as Scarlett and smirked.

  I stared right into Scarlett’s black eyes and bared my teeth at her. “I’m not afraid of you, Dolus. I am building an army to destroy you. Tearing down one person isn’t going to tear down us all. Together, we’re strong enough to defeat you.”

  Scarlett smiled a bit too sweetly at me as someone ran through the woods to our west. For a moment, I thought it was Kylo coming back to help me end this once and for all, but Derek emerged from the woods, breathing hard.

  My eyes widened, warmth filling my body. “Derek, it’s you. You’re okay.”

  Derek shifted into his human form and smiled at me, showing me his pearly-white teeth. “Isabella,” Derek said, almost as if nothing had ever happened to him.

  He walked closer to us, standing between Scarlett and me. All I wanted to do was wrap my arms around his body and pull him close.

  Yet when I stepped toward him, Kylo—who must’ve gotten back from the hospital—caught my wrist and pulled me back, his gaze focused on Scarlett. “What’re you doing?” he asked me.

  “Derek,” I said, pointing toward him.

  Derek’s smile widened even more. “Izzy.”

  “There isn’t anyone here, Isabella,” Kylo said, grip on me tightening as he pulled me
closer to his chest. “She’s showing you things that aren’t there. She’s in your head. Don’t let her stay.”

  “But …” I shook my head. Derek was really here. “He’s here. He’s right here.”

  “No,” Kylo said against me, “he’s not.”

  My stomach tightened as a lump formed in my throat. I pressed my lips together and stared at Derek, but …

  What if it’s all in my mind? What if she had already corrupted me in the mere few moments that she had been here?

  I looked back at Scarlett. “Where is Derek?”

  “He’s right here,” she said, pointing toward Derek, who had his arms outstretched for me to hug him.

  Goddess, I wanted to touch him so bad. I didn’t want him to still be gone, out there in the wild for so long.

  “Why don’t you give him a hug? It’ll prove it to you.”

  “Where is he? What are you doing to him? Where have you taken him?” I asked, tearing my gaze away and refusing to believe that he was here in front of me.

  While I saw him, Kylo didn’t. And if Kylo didn’t see him too … it must all be in my head.

  Scarlett smirked and glanced at Derek, whose smile turned into one of pain.

  He sat in a dark prison cell, his body completely naked and covered with open scars spewing blood. He gazed at me with tears in his eyes. “Izzy! Izzy, please help me. She’s … she’s hurting me, and I can’t stop it. I’m not strong enough. I’m weak. I’m so weak,” he said, voice broken.

  Seeing Derek so defeated, I lunged at Scarlett again and was pulled back by Kylo. If only just a bit, Kylo’s touch calmed me enough to think clearer while my mind was foggy with hate and rage.

  To my left, Roman ripped Jane off of Raj, who had deep puncture wounds in his neck. Jane flailed her arms and legs as Roman held her tighter and tighter, trapping her arms so she couldn’t break free. She let out another piercing scream.

  When Scarlett said, “That’s enough,” to her, Jane stopped immediately and fell limp in Roman’s arms.

  I gulped. Dolus had more power than I’d thought.

  But why wasn’t he attacking us directly? What was stopping him from inflicting physical damage? Why did he have to use Jane and Derek to hurt us? Something wasn’t fucking right, and I didn’t want to wait for him to make his next move.

  “If you want to hurt me, then hurt me, but leave my friends alone,” I said.

  To my surprise, Dolus lunged at me. I dodged out of the way of his first attack, closed my eyes for a single moment, and opened them up to see a hundred Scarletts around the woods, all sprinting in my direction.

  My gaze flickered to each one. Everything was happening so quickly that I couldn’t pick out who was who or which one was the real Scarlett. And when I looked back at my friends, they all turned into her too.

  Roman was Scarlett.

  Jane was Scarlett.

  Raj was Scarlett.

  Kylo was Scarlett.

  I was alone, so terribly alone.

  “Roman,” I called out, bracing myself for impact.

  One of them was going to attack me and hit me, bring me to the ground and kill me if I wasn’t careful. I squeezed my eyes shut and then reopened them, hoping that they would disappear. Yet when I opened my eyes, they were even closer.

  Someone stuck me hard from behind, and I smacked against the ground with a thud. Rocks cut into my palms and split open my knees. I stumbled up to my feet and turned around to see ten of her stalking toward me.

  My lips quivered. Dolus was fucking with my mind. He was inside of it, trying to get me to break.

  One leaped at me, shoved me to the ground, and hopped over me, attacking a Scarlett from behind me. I dug my nails into the dirt and pushed myself back up.

  Goddess, what was I going to do? I couldn’t tell who was who.

  There were three others fighting in front of me, who I assumed were Jane, Raj, and my Roman. I took a deep breath, trying to focus on the ground.

  “Someone,” I said through the mind link, hoping to contact a warrior from the Lycans.

  Yet nobody responded.

  We were going to die here. We were all going to fucking die.

  But I wouldn’t die without a fight.

  My nails lengthened into sharp claws, my teeth hungry canines. I shifted into my wolf and charged at all the Scarletts. When I collided with one, I sprinted right through her, and she disappeared into thin air.

  They were penetrable.

  So, I continued to run toward each one, bracing myself for impact but never hitting anything. Most of them disappeared into thin air while some of the stronger ones lingered in the forest. I gazed around for my next victim when someone hit me from behind and knocked me down.

  I flew forward and smacked against a tree trunk, branches stabbing into my underbelly. From the intense pain, my wolf forced me to shift into my human form. I grasped my elbow, trying to pop it back into place before she could attack me again, but she hit me straight in the spine.

  Doubling over into the dirt, I posted my palms on the ground to try to stand, but she was really fucking strong. I used all my strength to turn onto my back and stared right up at her. But it wasn’t Scarlett; it was Derek again—at least, an image of him.

  “Do it,” I spit at him through clenched teeth. “Try to kill me.”

  He wrapped his hands around my neck and squeezed. “Roman and Kylo will choose me once this is all over. I’m going to break them. I’m going to make them suffer because of you, whore.”

  Someone shouted toward the east, and then Derek was shoved off me and tackled to the ground, a silver knife sliding through the back of his throat. Naomi stood over Derek, a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. I grasped her arm. All the other Scarletts disappeared, and the seven of us were left in the woods together.

  As if the silver knife had had no effect on him, Derek stood up and pulled it out. “We’ll meet again, Isabella.” He hurled the knife right back at us.

  I pulled Naomi to the ground as it whizzed right over her head and hit a tree. When I looked back up, Scarlett was gone, and the real Derek sat against a tree, clutching his broken ribs and open wounds.

  “Get Jane,” Kylo said from beside me to Roman as he scooped me up into his arms. “I got Isabella.”

  When they started walking toward the hospital, I scrambled up into Kylo’s arms and stared back at Derek, who still sat in the middle of the forest, frowning at me and begging me to come get him.

  Tears welled up in my eyes, and I frowned. He wasn’t real, just a figment of my imagination. Fake. Made up. Not really there. Not really breathing. Not really real … but he looked so real and so hurt.

  Kylo held me tighter, so I wouldn’t scurry out of his hold and run toward nothingness. I wrapped my arms around Kylo’s neck and continued to stare back at Derek until I couldn’t see him anymore. I squeezed my eyes closed, my nails digging into Kylo’s back.

  “I’m coming for you, Derek. Stay strong,” I said through the mind link, though I knew he couldn’t hear me.

  Tears streamed down my face.

  For the first time in my entire life, I felt helpless. I had two mates by my side, I was stronger than I ever had been, and I had led the Lycans to victory time and time again, but I couldn’t destroy Dolus as easily as I’d thought I’d be able to.

  Kylo opened the hospital door and walked into the building. Doctors scrambled around the waiting room, ushering us to rooms to be checked out. They had probably expected a bloodbath and open wounds, cuts that wouldn’t heal for months upon months, but what they got was much worse.

  Roman was grasping an unresponsive Jane in his arms, holding her tight to his chest, whispering that this would all be okay. Tears flowed down his cheeks, his lips quivering. He was yelling for someone to help his sister … but nobody knew how to help her. What could they do to someone who had been attacked by a demonic god’s magic?

  Dad pulled Jane out of Roman’s arms and told him that they would try thei
r best to help her. As he carried Jane, he hurried to one of the back rooms, followed by Mom and a flock of nurses and doctors. I stared at the busy, bland hallways and almost broke down into tears, but I held my shit together because Roman and Raj were too far gone emotionally for me to be a mess too.

  “Please … watch Roman,” I said to Kylo. “I have to go check on Vanessa.”

  “Wait.” Kylo grasped my hand and pulled me back to him. “Are you okay?” Brows furrowed together, he stepped closer to me and tucked some hair behind my ear. “Dolus targeted you with that last attack. I want to make sure that you’re good. Everyone needs you, Isabella, even me.”

  “I’m okay,” I whispered, but my voice wavered.

  Everything had happened so fast; I barely had time to register it. All I could think about were my friends and how they might die or be corrupted because of me. If I had actually believed it was Derek and run into his arms, everyone might’ve died.

  I glanced back up at him through tears. “If I’m not, I’ll tell you and Roman. I promise.”

  After a few calm moments amid the chaos, Kylo released my hand. I shakily walked down the hall and looked in each room for Vanessa.

  Rachel—the woman I used to work with—gave me a half-smile from the counter. “Vanessa?” She nodded toward the stairs. “Room 506.”

  Once I made it to Room 506, I stopped in front of Vanessa’s open door. In a bed with her eyes closed and a ventilator attached to her mouth, Vanessa lay so still with her blonde hair pushed to one side, chest patched up with some gauze.

  “Vanessa,” I whispered. My fingers trembled when I reached for her hand. “Vanessa, I’m so sorry.” I slid into the bed with her, resting my head on her shoulder and wrapping my arm around her stomach, like she did to me whenever I slept over at her house.

  Fat, ugly tears streamed down my face. I bit my lip to hold back my cries, but I couldn’t. My body heaved back and forth on the bed next to her.