Tears blurred with a mass of buildings and people. Her mind flashed back to her nightmare, she saw a glimpse of a shadowed face staring at her through the blackness. Were the old man and her kidnapper the same person?
She wanted to be free from all of it.
Christy sniffed, taking a deep breath. No, she couldn’t give up. Running away never solved anything. She found herself outside a cafe, a glance inside showed her Ronan sitting there with another man, who stood up just as she pushed the door open.
She and the stranger locked eyes for a moment. By his scent and rough clothes, she knew what he was. A mongrel. All anger and fear from the attack faded as she strode across the room to her bodyguard.
Christy slumped into the seat across from Ronan, who avoided meeting her gaze.
Now she wanted to know why her bodyguard had been meeting another mongrel. It was easy to spot clanless shifters from the way they dressed and smelt.
Lola always said Christy would never think bad of Ronan but that was untrue.
His eyes widened when he saw her.
She brushed her long hair off her face. She met his cool blue gaze head on.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I’ll ask the questions.” She might not be an alpha, but she still had rank over him. “Why were you meeting a mongrel?”
Ronan let out a breath. He looked weary and she doubted it was just from last night’s hunt. “I followed a lead.” It didn’t sound like a lie, yet she doubted it was the truth either.
“Don’t you dare lie to me, Ronan. I deserve more than that from you,” she hissed and growled when a waitress came over. “Tell me why you’re here with an outcast.”
“Not all mongrels are bad, Christy.”
“Ha! Mongrels murdered my mother. All of them deserve to die.” Her hands clenched into fists and her inner wolf whined at the edge of her mind as it started to wake up.
“Your secret is safe. I took care of it,” he told her.
She didn’t flinch away from the fact he’d maybe killed her attacker. Shifter laws were very different from the human ones. She knew he had and would kill to keep her safe.
Christy leaned forward. “I know you’re hiding something from me, Ronan. You always keep part of yourself back.” Talking about his secrets felt easier than telling him what happened to her at the shop.
Ronan looked down at the table as if it held answers. “Not here,” he said finally. “Let’s go home.” He rose, took her arm and led her outside.
“No, Ronan, I want answers. Right now.” She glared up at him, she wouldn’t just let this go.
“Christy, we can’t talk out in the open like this,” he hissed.
Christy pulled her arm away. “Why not?” she demanded. “If mongrels are trying to kill me then I’m sick of being kept in the dark.”
She hated feeling powerless. Worse was her father had promised her to the Imperious clan’s leader as his bride. Christy hated her fiancé. She’d never met him in person, but she knew him by reputation.
Being here among humans had given her the pretence of having control of her life, but she knew that would end any day now.
“It was a rogue mongrel, that’s all he was.”
Ronan had always been a good liar. She’d seen that over the past ten years he’d acted as her bodyguard. But she knew him well enough and he’d just lied to her.
She felt a pang of sadness. Despite their relationship, she knew they could never be a real couple. Not out in the open anyway. There were times he reminded her there was a line between him being her bodyguard and her being a princess.
Christy only shook her head. “Bastard!” She turned and stormed off into the throng of city goers.
Her feet pounded on the pavement as she fled.
“Christy, wait!”
Hot tears rolled down her cheeks, she wiped them away with the sleeve of her coat. She didn’t know if it was the shock of what had happened or the sting of his betrayal. Damn him!
Her wolf had started to wake up and it wanted out. She’d give anything to run, to not feel closed in by the towers of stone and steel. But she’d never be able to outrun Ronan. He was fast and powerful, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try.
Muttering a spell Magda had taught her, Christy took off. A car screeched to a halt as she pushed past it. Buildings and people blurred until she found herself in the centre of Hyde Park. She wanted to shift the confines of her human form and run, let her wolf free.
Instead, she kicked off her shoes and let her feet touch the cold, damp grass. It would have to be enough for her and her wolf. She never let her wolf out, she wouldn’t give it the satisfaction.
Christy brushed off her tears. He is your guard, not your friend, or even your boyfriend really. She wished it could be different. She had loved him ever since the day he’d walked into her father’s mansion. None of the other men in her clan had seen her as anything but the alpha’s daughter – except him.
Yet he’d saved her once again.
Christy paced back and forth, a few passers-by stared at her walking barefoot. The cold didn’t bother her.
She felt his presence before he said anything. “Go away, Ronan,” she growled.
“I’m sorry for lying.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, staring at the ground.
“No, you’re not. Everything you are is a lie,” she hissed, sending leaves flying into the air with a wave of her hand as she shook off the need to shift. “I don’t where you came from, but I know you’re not from my clan. Besides I don’t expect anything less from you.”
She didn’t know why this had all started to come out, maybe she was just tired of the secrets. Of all of it.
“That’s – true,” Ronan admitted. “In part. There’s a lot you don’t know about me – which I wish I could tell you.”
She met his gaze and saw the pain in his eyes.
“The mongrel – he was hired to watch you. I don’t know by who, but I’d guess it was Alec again.”
She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
After last night’s escapade, she knew her father would demand she return home immediately.
“I haven’t told Henric yet,” Ronan admitted.
She looked to him, saw truth there. “Why?”
“Because now you’re turning twenty-five, Alec can claim you. I wanted you to keep this life for as long as possible.”
Christy threw her arms around him. Not caring if Lola or one of Alec’s spies saw them.
Ronan returned her hug. “Christy, we can’t do this.”
“Right.” She pulled away. “Let’s go home. There’s something I need to tell you.”
It felt good to return to the warmth of her kitchen. Ronan always seemed more at ease whenever they were home. Lola left them alone too.
She told him what happened at the shop, said that she suspected that the old man had been Alec’s warlock, Oren. She didn’t know what Alec’s creepy henchmen wanted with her, but she knew it was nothing good. Ronan confirmed the suspicion when he caught the warlock’s scent on her, but didn’t explain how he what the old man smelt like.
Ronan’s jaw tightened. “Why would you go there?”
She met his gaze. “I wanted a way out. I don’t want to be shifter anymore.”
“Chris, there’s nothing wrong with being a shifter. Why…”
She held up a hand to silence him. “It doesn’t matter now, I got away,” she said. “Why would Alec spy on me? I thought he didn’t know about London.”
“You know you can never hide from him for long. He considers you his property.”
She scowled. “Yeah, and Papa doesn’t do a damn thing about it.”
“You know how important he thinks the union between the clans are.”
Christy put her head in her hands. “What am I going to do, Ro?” she asked. “I can’t marry Alec and become his broodmare. But if I refuse, I’ll be cast out of the clan. I can’t become mongrel. The only way out t
his for me to become human.”
“That’s never been done before and you know how dangerous it would be. You could die!” he snapped. She blinked, surprised by his sudden anger. “It’s your choice you mate with – my mum always told me that.”
Christy smiled, sniffed. “I wish I could have known my mother.” She liked it on rare occasions when he gave her snippets of his past. If she pushed for more, he’d shut down. “What was your mum like?”
“I don’t remember much.”
Christy sighed. “What are we going to do?” She voiced the unanswered question between them.
Ronan let out a breath. “You already know the answer. I have to call your father.”
“But this wasn’t a mongrel attack like before, it was one of Alec’s creeps.”
“If Alec is working with mongrels Henric needs to know. You know the laws.”
She laughed. “Alec is a beta too. Even if he consults with mongrels my father won’t challenge him over it. The merger between the clans is the only thing he cares about.”
“Maybe not, maybe this will show him mating with Alec is bad for you and the clan.”
Christy shook her head. “No, he won’t change his mind. I’ve been begging and pleading with him my whole life. He’ll never change,” she said. “Preserving the future of the clan is the only thing that matters to him. Why he doesn’t run those bloody mongrels off I’ll never know.”
He folded his arms, leant back against the counter. “There are more mongrels there than you think.”
“Yes, and they deserve to die. All of them.”
“Just because they’re clanless doesn’t mean they're all bad.”
She shook her head. “Don’t let my father hear you say that.”
“Chris, you know I have to call him. It’s less than a month until your birthday anyway.” He pulled out his mobile.
She groaned, took it from him. “I know, then I guess it’s inevitable. I have to go home.”
Chapter 5
Christy watched the island loom into view. The alpha’s island or Sanctuary as it was known to shifters, sat just off the Cornish coast and had been the alpha’s seat of power for over five hundred years. It was shielded from humans by magic, but shifters could see it clearly.
Her heart pounded at the sight of her former home as the boat raced across the churning Atlantic Ocean. She hadn’t seen her father in almost fifteen years when she’d left after he had decided she’d be safer living on the mainland. Christy knew it wouldn’t be a warm welcome. Seeing the island again felt like glimpsing a death sentence.
“I promise I’ll talk to your father about what happened,” Ronan said as he steered the boat towards the pier.
“It won’t do any good. My father won’t change his mind over the engagement.” Christy brushed her long hair off her face as the salty sea spray washed over her.
“Whatever happens you know I’ll always be by your side.”
Her lips curved into a smile but it only brought a little comfort. She had to be the one to talk to Henric. It was about time he realised he couldn’t control her anymore.
Even if it meant the ultimate sacrifice.
When they pulled up, one of Henric’s men came to help Ronan tie up the boat.
Christy took a deep breath and jumped onto the dock.
Lola and Ronan scrambled after her, carrying their luggage.
Up ahead several people had gathered. One man stood out. Tall, dark and imposing. Power rolled off the alpha like waves hitting the shore.
She let out a breath, not realising she’d been holding it, made her way towards them.
She ignored the guards, and instead threw her arms around a woman with short grey hair and warm green eyes. “Mags.”
Magda laughed and returned the hug. “Good to have you home, child.”
Christy turned to Henric, who stood stoic and unmoving. “Papa.”
With his salt and pepper hair and military bearing the alpha made most people cower with his overpowering presence. “Welcome home, Christiana.” He stood, arms crossed.
What did you expect? A hug?
Christy had been terrified of him as a child but now felt nothing but anger. “Where’s Mal?” she asked, not bothering to greet him.
A vein in his forehead twitched but his eyes betrayed no emotion. “On patrol near the Outland. He’ll be home soon.”
“Good.” With that, she hoisted her pack over her shoulder and headed along the track towards home.
The Stargaza mansion loomed like a diamond with its gleaming white walls and enormous windows that felt like a hundred eyes watching you.
Christy headed straight up to her room. It looked just like she remembered it. Same four-poster with lilac linens, same purple walls, same blue curtains, same furniture.
“I missed you, Mags.” She hugged the old witch again, glad for the warmth of her embrace.
“I missed you too, Christy. You're looking more like your mother every day.” Magda ruffled her hair.
She flinched. Was that why her father had never shown her much affection and seemed so determined to marry her off?
“Did Papa tell you why I’ve come back?”
“He said a mongrel attacked you.”
She shook her head. “That’s not all.” She explained what had happened the night of the attack. “I think Oren attacked me in London.”
“Why would he?” Magda frowned.
“I…don’t know.” She wanted to tell Magda the truth, but admitting why she’d gone to see the old man didn’t feel right yet. She’d have to ease into asking Magda for her help.
“I used magic again,” Christy admitted. “If Papa found out...” She shuddered.
“He won’t. It’s our secret, remember?”
“I had to tell Ronan and Lola too.”
“Of course.”
“Magda, what am I going to do?” She slumped onto the bed. “My magic keeps coming to the surface. I can’t control it.”
“Did you practice like I showed you to?”
Christy nodded. “Yeah, but it doesn’t help. Not anymore.”
“We’ll start some training then or I can cast a spell to rein in your powers.”
She shook her head. “No, don’t do that.” She sighed. “It’s less than a week to my birthday.”
“Alec and the Imperious clan will be coming to talk to your father in two days.”
Christy groaned. “I won’t mate with Alec. Is there a way to...”
“We all make our own destinies, Christy. Remember that.”
Christy headed down to the gardens and spotted her younger half-brother, Malic, there. With his dishevelled dark hair and dark eyes, he looked very much like their father.
Sneaking up on him, she said, “Boo!”
Mal jumped. “Hey! How did you do that?”
She laughed. “Because I’m better at being stealthy than you are.”
“It’s good have you back.” He hugged her. “Fancy a run while I patrol?”
“You bet.”
Gold light shimmered around him as he shifted into a large white wolf. Christy held back. She had only ever shifted once, didn’t think she could do it again.
“Aren’t you going to change too?” Mal asked.
Er, no. I’m a bit tired from the trip. So I’ll just run along as I am, she said. Her cheeks flushed. How could she tell Mal she didn’t know how to shift?
She ran after Mal as he took off through the thicket of trees. Henric never let her go on patrols in the past, but nothing would stop her from having a run.
Missing the city life? Mal asked in thought.
I’ll miss the freedom I had there. It’s nice to be surrounded by nature instead of concrete. Christy jogged alongside him, ruffling his soft ears. What’s been happening here?
Not much aside from more people leaving to live on the mainland. There will be no more clan left soon. Malic stopped moving, scanning the other side of the island called the Outland. The outsiders or m
ongrels lived there.
I heard a mongrel attacked you, he growled, hackles rising.
It was one of Alec’s thugs. Ronan tracked and killed him.
Why would...
Christy scowled. Because he’s a bastard. Alec wants me all to himself – like he owns me.
You and Alec are wrong for each other.
She snorted. Tell that to our father. I won’t mate with him, Malic.
Chris, you know the price for disobeying the alpha. He looked up at her with the same hazel brown eyes she had.
So be it then. I’ll become a mongrel if I have too. I lived among humans long enough. I can go back there and make my own life. Christy paused. I want to become human.
Mal whined as he stared up at her. Is this because of Ronan? You’ve never sounded like this before. Has something happened between you?
This has nothing to do with him, it’s about me. I’ve changed a lot since you last saw me, little brother, Christy admitted. I have magic too.
I know.
What? She gasped.
Your mother had magic too. That why the mongrels attacked her. She used it to save you when you were born, Mal said. Chris, you can’t become human, being a shifter is part of who you are.
If it’s what I must do, I'll do it. I'm tired of being the alpha's daughter. She crossed her arms and leant back against a tree.
Chris, you won't have the clan’s protection anymore. Even if you stop being a shifter, how do you know you won’t still have magic?
What else can I do? Papa's been planning out my life since Mama died giving birth to me.
Mal butted her hip with his nose. Talk to him.
He won't listen.
It’s worth a try, if the worst happens I’ll make sure you’re taken care of.
They move on through the village of thatched cottages. People stared at her as she and Mal passed by.
She caught the sound of uneasy whispers. No doubt her return had proved to be a hot topic of gossip among the Stargaza people. Just the same as it had been when she was a child.
The clan had always ignored her, hell she was sure most of them were afraid of her. She didn’t know why though. She heard her mother’s name being mentioned among the onlookers.
The Alpha's Daughter: Shifter Clans Series Book 1 Page 3