Queen Alpha (NYC Mecca Series Book 2)

by Leia Stone

  Trying to follow their example, I turned to the magic born. “Thank you, I’ll be in touch,” I said to Baladar. He nodded, and I knew I would see him again very soon. After I processed the fact that I was part fae, I’m sure I would be hungry for more deep, dark secrets.

  Violet peeked her head out of the car then. She hadn’t bothered to get out. “This is cute but I’m starving, so…”

  With a shake of my head, and a few chuckles, I strode back to the car. Stepping inside, and settling back into the rich leather seats, Kade’s arm brushed mine when he dropped in next to me. Nix was too huge to come inside, so she had taken to the sky, Finn following her. Those two were fast becoming the best of friends. Which my familiar had never done with any others. Ragnar the Red Queen’s lynx had been a friend, but still on a superficial level.

  Kade and I were very close in the back seat; his scent wrapped around me, trying to cloud my mind and dull my senses. Shifting to see him better, my mouth opened, and before I could censor myself I said: “Want to grab some food with us?”

  It was just Kade, Violet, and me in the car. Calista and the guards were in the second royal vehicle.

  Kade’s lips did that quirking thing where the dimple appeared and his eyes got all swirly. He was amused by what I’d said. Which part I had no idea. I wanted to ask him, but I was afraid of the answer.

  Finally he said: “I can manage a quick bite, then I must get back to my people.”

  It was good that he was staying a little bit longer. We needed to fill Violet in on the plan for the next full moon. That was very important. This was what I was telling myself anyway. It had nothing to do with the fact that I wasn’t ready to part company with him yet.

  Hitting the intercom for the driver side of this beast of a car, I told Blaine about our plans to grab some food at the local pizza place.

  There was a slight pause. “Are you sure we should go with such little guard? You and the king in one public place … you’re making it very easy for the fae.”

  “Blaine, you stress like an old woman,” I said, trying to inject some humor into the situation. He was so serious lately. “We’ll be fine. We won’t stay long. I promise.”

  I heard his sigh and then the comm cut off. Seriously, we had some guards, plus Finn and Nix. We were strong. A couple more guards wouldn’t make any difference if fae attacked en masse anyway.

  Blaine chose Vinnies, which I had expected. The owners were wolf shifters and they had a special private party room in the back that they allowed me to use. Not only for my own privacy and safety, but also because humans frequented their restaurant and us sitting close to them for a long time would make them sick.

  It was kind of ironic that for the most part the queen’s security measures were in place to safeguard against a bear attack, and I was about to dine with the bear king.

  Once Kade, Violet, Calista, and I were inside and seated around four large triple meat pizzas – Blaine, Monica and the other guards stationed about the room keeping watch – I started to tell everyone what we had learned from Baladar, focusing on his plan to try and fix the mecca. Violet leaned over listening intently, which was good, because she was a fundamental part of this plan.

  The magic born was nodding. “Yes, that makes sense. If you and Kade can both see the mecca, then you will be able to work together to send it back! You’ll know exactly how much to send and how much to keep so that we don’t give the fae more power than is fair.”

  I picked off a huge chunk of sausage and popped it in my mouth. “You make it sound easy, Vi, but I’m sure tons can go wrong.”

  Kade, who had to be on his seventh slice of pizza, met my gaze. “I won’t let anything go wrong.”

  The usual flash of mecca surged between us, and before I could say anything Calista pulled out her tablet and said, “I have your first batch of potential mates ready for viewing, Your Majesty. Would you like to cull some of them now?”

  My stomach clenched; she had done that on purpose. She’d picked up on this … thing … between Kade and I and she had acted to bring it to a screeching halt.

  My wolf howled, and my trigger temper went into overdrive. I didn’t want to shout at my advisor in front of everyone, so I stood abruptly. “Excuse me. I have to use the restroom.”

  Violet stood as well.

  “Alone,” I clarified. She nodded and sat back down, not arguing; she understood.

  My gaze swept over Calista, who I expected to look mortified, but instead she was wearing her look of stubbornness. I knew she thought what she was doing was best for me, but it was not her call to make. I had already taken steps to distance myself from Kade, so all she’d done was make things very awkward.

  Needing to calm down, I blasted past Monica; her blond hair whipped around as she followed, but I held my hand up. “Bathroom. Alone.” I attempted to smile at my dominants, but wasn’t sure it was very convincing.

  Letting the doors slam behind me, I did a quick room check. There was an old woman washing her hands. She’d jumped when the door slammed shut, scowling at me.

  “Sorry,” I murmured, deciding I might as well use the facilities while I was in here.

  Stepping into the stall, I practiced some deep breathing, trying to clear the red haze from my mind. Of course, with a shifter’s sense of smell, deep breathing in a toilet was so not a pleasant experience.

  Why was I so angry? I felt like I was on an emotional rollercoaster when it came to all things Kade. I had agreed to take a mate, but after our fight the other day when I told him about it, it felt crass to just bring it up like that, to basically throw it in his face. No doubt everyone there knew Calista had done that deliberately.

  After finishing up, I opened the door ready to head for the sink, when I came face to face with the old woman again. She was standing there peering at me with eyes that were not of this world.

  Oh crap.

  “Mon—”

  Before I could finish shouting for my guard, the woman threw her arm out and slammed me back into the wall behind the toilet. Then she raised her arm, dragging me upwards using her powers, tight tendrils of magic choking the oxygen from me.

  I tried to be calm, tried to think, but it’s amazing how easy it is to panic when a dark fae has cut off your life-giving air.

  Finn! I need you. Dark fae in bathroom of Vinnie’s. Hurry.

  I just had to survive long enough for him to get here and help me. Allowing myself a moment of stillness, I focused on my training with Kade. This woman was using mecca magic to hold me in place, and I was queen of the Earth side of the mecca – the stronger side now.

  Taking hold of the electrical essence of my power, I let it crash out of me. With that one push, I broke the magical binds that held me and sent the woman flying backward into the sink, breaking it off the wall.

  She was on her feet in milliseconds; her old-lady illusion dropped and I was face to face with a snarly female fae. She was taller than me, at least six feet tall. Her hair was blacker than death, her skin tinted with a greenish hue, and she had wide fae eyes and pointed ears. Not to mention the small nubby horns atop of her forehead, which told me all I needed to know. Not that I had much experience with it, but one would think horns were never worn by good people.

  On my way, Ari! Finn’s message blasted through my mind and I could feel his anger.

  Monica was banging on the door now but it wasn’t opening. Looked like I would need to get out of this one myself. My wolf was rattling my human body like a cage, trying to break free. We hadn’t shifted for a while, which had my control shot. She was not going to take no for an answer, and I liked the idea of letting her fight the fae.

  I dashed into another one of the toilet cubicles, sending my energy out to bar the door. I channeled as much as I could, pulling from whatever mecca was inside of and around me. A heavy thump slammed into the door but it held. I ripped my clothes off and let the energy of my wolf wash over me. Another thump on the door, but I couldn’t lose focus. Sh
ifting took time, but I needed to be quick today. The third rattle squeaked the door open a little, but my mecca binding pushed it back.

  “You can’t escape from me, Princess.” The bell-like voice brought bumps across my skin. It was oddly singsong and creepy. “We’ll end this before you end us all.”

  I wanted to care about what she was saying, but I was too busy having my body crushed into pieces and rebuilt. When the shift was almost over, I lost control of some of the mecca shield I’d erected; the fae crashed into the door and nudged it open a few inches. My energy didn’t shut it again, so she managed to get her arm and leg through, inching the rest of her body through the gap.

  She screamed out a war cry and lunged for me, her hands wrapping around my wolf legs. She then tossed me back out into the main part of the bathroom, and I yelped as I crashed against the wall. My side ached for a few moments as I shook off the hit. Water was pouring from the busted sink behind me, coating my fur.

  I got to my feet. My shift was complete now, which meant I could tear this bitch limb from limb. This was why I wanted the wolf. She was animalistic in a way I could never be. She would not stop.

  My wolf bared her teeth and the fae did the same. These fae kept coming to Earth, expecting I was an easy kill. Yes, I had guards. Yes, I was under constant protection, but none of that was because I weak. I would prove that right here and now.

  With blinding speed she launched at me, just as I sprang up to meet her halfway. I called the mecca to me, building up a shield so that when she reached for me her hands were blasted backward. She’d done the same thing with mecca, shielded herself, but in her case it was weaker than mine, which meant I was able to reach her.

  My jaws opened and I sank my teeth into the delicate flesh of her neck. Her blood hit my mouth and I wanted to recoil. It was like oil, a chemical taste. Mix that with the coppery floral smell coming off her and I wanted to vomit. But I held firm and shook her neck like a ragdoll, tearing through skin, bone, and muscle. Her razor-sharp nails slid down my back and I wasn’t able to maintain any shielding; she cut through my fur, peeling back layers of skin. My instinct was to detach from her neck, but I forced myself to hang on. I had no true idea how to kill a fae, besides what the magic borns had written on the board, but I figured it was similar to how to kill a shifter. Our regenerative power was in our blood, so I was going to drain this fae.

  My back was on fire with searing pain, but I kept ripping at her neck, trying to pull out the mecca energy I could feel inside of her – pull it into me. Draining her of power and blood seemed like a good fight plan. She’d surely need one or the other to survive.

  She fought with everything she had; my back had to be torn to shreds by now, but at least the mecca energy inside of me was only growing.

  That gave me the strength to fight the pain and hold on. It seemed to take forever, but eventually she slumped. Needing to make sure she wasn’t trying to trick me, I held on until I could no longer hear her heart beating.

  All of the fae who had attacked us so far, held vastly different levels of power. The ones who had struck at the vortex on the night of the Red Queen’s death had been the weakest. The dark fae who killed Derek was still the strongest so far. Both he and this female before me tasted of old, powerful magic. Hence the reason I was lying in pieces on the floor right now.

  The pounding on the door was louder now, rattling the hinges. “Arianna!” Kade was bellowing, very bear-like. An action I was pretty sure had been going on for some time, but I’d been too occupied to notice.

  Focusing back on the fae, I remained diligent. Her heart might have not been beating, but it took a few more minutes for the magic to fade from the fae. I felt the last of it drain, and in that same instant the door blasted off its hinges.

  I tried to shift away from the fae; I kept slipping in her nearly black blood, which was already coating my muzzle and body. It was thick, like oil, and I wondered if I’d ever get it out of my fur. Kade and Violet took in the whole scene, from the mangled horn-headed fae to my shredded wolf back. The bear king was partially shifted, in his massive form, clawed hands and bushy beard.

  “Damn, you go, girl,” Violet stated, and I gave her a weak but wolfish grin. I was pretty sure my best friend was incapable of being serious.

  I could sense Finn charging his way through the crowded restaurant.

  I’m safe, I told him, as I sucked up the pain and began to shift back to human form. This was the quickest way to heal my injuries and get back to fighting form. Of course I didn’t think about who was in the room until I was standing stark naked in front of Kade. Uh oh.

  Shifting in front of other wolves was no big deal. We had grown up doing it since we were babies, but shifting in front of the bear king after slamming on the brakes to our flirting was stupid. It was almost as if my wolf wanted him to see me like this. Kade’s eyes caressed my body for a second, barely long enough that I could even be sure it happened. There was a flicker of heat there, but then it was gone as he let his body change back from his partial bear to his fully human form.

  Violet stepped up to me, snapping her fingers as she walked. She now held a long white robe, which she tossed to me and I slipped into quickly. Finn’s power brushed against me as he barreled into the room, moving to my side. Sinking my hands deep into his fur, I let his calming presence wash over me.

  My eyes burned and my throat was tight, but I definitely couldn’t fall apart now. We had to deal with this situation and make sure there were no other attacks on my people.

  “Violet, get this body back to the castle and put it on ice. Calista!” I yelled. She poked her head in the bathroom door.

  “Please pay for the repairs to have the bathroom fixed and find out if there were any other attacks in the boroughs,” I said, my tone hard. She nodded, her tablet out, fingers flying across it.

  Kade took a step away from me, his face unreadable. “I should get back to my people. Make sure there wasn’t an attack there as well,” he said.

  There was so much wrong right now, not just with the fae attacking us, but also between Kade and me. Unfortunately, I had no time to deal with that. Neither of us did, so I simply nodded.

  “Be safe,” I managed to choke out.

  “You too, Ari.” His reply was soft, and then he was gone.

  The moment his bright energy drifted from the room, my body caved in a little. I realized then, in a flash of clarity, that it wasn’t possible for me to be just friends with Kade. There was so much more between us. Baladar’s story had only made it worse. In the beginning, bear and wolf were one. A team. Stronger together. Somewhere along the line we had broken apart something that was whole.

  If I were any normal wolf shifter I’d say screw the rules, I was taking what I wanted. But I was the queen, and selfish actions by me could bring down both of our races. Kade and I had to stop all of this, all the training; it was just asking for trouble. After fixing the mecca on the night of the summer festival, that would be the end of Kade in my life. Our people came first. The past was going to stay exactly where it was, in the past.

  Chapter Nine

  Summer fun. Summer love.

  The next two weeks passed in a blur of organizing, training, and endless searching through the Red Queen’s personal stores. I couldn’t help my magic born with the fae magic library. Only a handful of the books were written in English. If I really concentrated I could understand the language of magic, of the Tuatha de Danann, but it was too hard to do it in larger texts. I was thankful to have Violet in charge of this research. I trusted her implicitly, and she was the next best thing to me being able to oversee it myself.

  Of course, so far they hadn’t turned up anything of importance, although as more and more fae magic and history was uncovered, more and more it seemed that Sir Baladar was correct. Shifters were not evolved from humans, we were the offspring of fae. Wrapping my head around it was still difficult. Especially since they kept trying to kill me and my people.

/>   Since the day I got attacked by the dark fae in Vinnies, I had only seen Kade once, very briefly for a training session. We had planned to examine the dark fae’s body together, but somehow it had disappeared before we could get it to my royal home. I couldn’t figure out if I had a traitor in my mix, or if the Tuatha were becoming more paranoid about us finding out information on them. It felt like they’d spelled their assassins’ bodies to return home after death. Probably we wouldn’t have learned anything from the body, but it annoyed me that someone had snatched her away before anyone could check.

  Tomorrow Kade and I would kick off the summer festival on the Island, then together with Violet we would send the mecca back to the Otherworld. I had a million things left to organize, but it was lunchtime, I hadn’t eaten yet, and I desperately needed a break, so I snuck off. Some of my stress lifted as I wandered through the massive courtyard garden of the royal home; crossing into the world of green had a calm descending over me.

  Taking a good look around, I decided right then that I should spend more time here. The warmth of nature soothed my soul. In my opinion, the design and plant choices weren’t as beautiful as those in Kade’s garden, but it was still an amazing area, filled with large potted trees, rows of lavender, and other herbs. There were also long manicured rows of flowers, and a small duck pond near the back right corner. A few of my shifters kept the plants thriving and healthy. Kade took care of the garden in his own home, which was probably why it was so perfect.

  Kade…

  Dammit. He was distancing himself from me, and even though I should be happy about it, I found myself missing him. His wise council. His strength and kindness. It was often lonely as a leader, a life filled with responsibility, always having to hold yourself back from others.

  As if she had heard my thoughts, a sweet voice shrieked my name, and I spun to find Winnie barreling toward me, her familiar and harassed looking advisor trailing after.