ALPHA (Mackenzie Grey #3)

by Karina Espinosa

  “Thank you,” Jonah said as Bash nodded in appreciation. I didn’t say shit.

  Henry chose this moment to cut in as he tucked away his phone. “Sir, Malcolm is being escorted out of the city. Where is he to be taken?”

  The King’s features hardened. “Feed him to the wolves,” he growled.

  “S-Sir?” Henry questioned in confusion. The other Alphas froze, not understanding either.

  “All of the St. James family,” the King said. “I want them gone and a list of his successors sent to me by morning.”

  “But your highness,” one of the Alphas attempted to argue.

  “Would ye like to join him, Wilson?”

  “No,” Wilson shook his head and his eyes fell to the carpet.

  I didn’t understand what was going on, but I was sure what would happen to the St. James family wasn’t going to be good. I pitied them. Although the ones I’d met so far had been horrible people, I didn’t want to assume their whole family was too.

  “You can’t punish all—”

  “Henry,” the King interrupted, ignoring my protest. The Alpha nodded and left the room once again to carry out the order.

  “This is a warning to ye all. I am the Law. Make sure yer Packs hear it loud and clear, aye?”

  The Alphas bowed—including Sebastian and Jonah.

  Those hard gray eyes turned back to me. He straightened in his seat and adjusted the lapels of his blazer before he said, “I’ll give ye two weeks.”

  He ended the Skype call and the screen went black.

  It wasn’t a suggestion, it was an order. I was going to Scotland.

  Chapter Two

  I took a big gulp of city smog as we tumbled out of a back exit of The Plaza Hotel. A black SUV waited for us, its tinted windows so dark we couldn’t see inside. The back alley was quiet, the blaring horns and squealing tires a distant sound to the scurrying of rats near the trash cans.

  “Per the Kings orders, Lincoln will drive you to wherever you see fit. American guards will accompany you until your arrival to Scotland. Come along now,” a human employee of the hotel ushered us inside the car, attempting to hide us from any onlookers. His nametag said Lewis and I wanted to ask how the hell he knew about us. He had to be human, or was he something else?

  Sebastian and Jonah crawled in without protest and the ‘but’ was ready to slip out of my lips when Bash tugged me inside, shaking his head. Lewis slammed the door shut and the car shot forward, splashing yesterday’s rain when the tires hit the puddles.

  The SUV had that new car smell and was completely sound proof. I felt trapped inside of a bubble. The quiet was too loud.

  “What the hell…” I murmured. “What just happened?”

  Jonah snorted. “We made a whole bunch of noise and now we’re criminals. That’s what happened. You both are such hot heads, we’re lucky—”

  “You didn’t have to come,” Bash interrupted.

  “Of course I had to! You two would have gotten yourselves killed or worse.”

  “What’s worse than death?” I quirked a brow.

  “You don’t want to know,” Jonah deadpanned.

  “We’re screwed. Royally fuckin’ screwed,” I sighed. “He’s going to sentence us to death: medieval style. Probably chop our heads off or hang us. Oh my gosh, what if he burns us like in the Salem witch trials?”

  “Wrong era, Mackenzie. And none of that will happen,” Bash rolled his eyes.

  “Okay…but he has dungeons, right?” They stayed silent. “I knew it,” I whispered.

  “Whatever it is, we’ll face it—together,” Jonah said with a small smile.

  I paused. “I don’t know whether to fist bump you or slap you upside the head for being such a sap.”

  “I concur,” Bash said. “We’ll most likely get separated once we arrive. They’ll try to pit us against each other. We can’t let that happen.”

  “My father is going to kill me,” Jonah’s face fell. “I can’t believe we killed all of those wolves. What have we done?”

  “We did what we had to do,” I clipped out. “It was either them or us, and I will always choose us.”

  Bash nodded. “Now we just need to be vigilant. There’s about three SUV’s following us. The King is watching.”

  The driver drove over a pothole, our heads almost hitting the car roof.

  “My apologies. Where to, Miss. Grey?” Lincoln asked, his eyes never leaving the road. I could only see the back of his military-style, shaved head and green eyes through the rear-view mirror.

  “Uh…hold on,” I mumbled as I fished for my phone. “Crap I forgot it’s still at the station,” I groaned as I fell into the car seat. When I was arrested for the murder of Joey Deluca—a Pack member sent by Logan—a few days ago, all of my possessions had been taken. My fake attorney—a wolf from the Chicago Pack—bailed me out, but it was in such a rush I ended up leaving all of my things, which worked out for the Chicago Pack since I was held hostage. If I went back to the precinct to pick it up, that meant a long and complicated talk with Detective Garret Michaels that I wasn’t looking forward to.

  “Here,” Jonah handed me his cell phone.

  “Thanks,” I opened his call log and dialed the last call made. It rang twice before Amy picked up.

  “Jonah?”

  “It’s me,” I answered. “Where are you?”

  She sighed. “We’re at the church, Emma won’t leave without seeing you. Gosh Kenz, I’m freaking out over here. What is going on?”

  I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. I never wanted to get my best friend involved in any of this, but I was secretly glad she was. Amy was the only person I could count on, and the one who would stay up with me tonight while I cried out all of my frustrations. I needed to tough it out a little bit longer.

  “We just left The Summit, we’re on our way. Sit tight, I’ll explain everything soon.”

  “Okay, be safe,” she whispered before ending the call. That was Amy. At a serious time like this, she never whined or piled me with a million questions. She waited until I was ready, when it was appropriate.

  “St. Paul’s Cathedral,” I said to the driver.

  “What did she say?” Jonah asked.

  “Emma won’t leave. They’re at the Church,” I said as I rubbed at the red stains on my hands. All those wolves we killed. It was all for nothing and I felt the urge to vomit. Everything from the past few days hit me in blows and I thought I was going to be sick.

  “Breathe,” Jonah whispered as he rubbed circles on my back. “Everything will work out for the best.”

  Sebastian grunted his doubt, and while I agreed that things wouldn’t be alright, not for a while, I still rested my weary head on Jonah’s shoulder. Hope was what I needed, and that’s what he had, even if it was wishful thinking.

  ****

  Scattered across the altar of the abandoned church that housed the vampires of New York City was the rest of our dysfunctional group awaiting our arrival. Amy was the first to see us, and hopped off the steps with blazing speed, her red hair a flame in her wake.

  Tattooed arms wrapped around me as if she feared I’d disappear. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” I said, hugging her back.

  Lucian, the Head Vampire of New York City, and Jackson, Jonah’s twin brother, strolled up behind Amy taking in our messy attire.

  “What the hell happened?” Jackson asked. “Did you bathe in the blood of your enemies?”

  I grunted, “No, jackass.”

  “At least someone is in a better mood,” he rolled his eyes. “What’s the verdict?”

  Sebastian had already started to peel off his t-shirt and Jonah slouched onto one of the pews. Leaving me to answer the questions.

  “He’s giving us two weeks—”

  “Two weeks! They’re going to execute you?” Amy shrieked. “How could you let this happen?” she yelled at Bash. She went to slap him but Jackson was quick enough to stop her.

  Bash sigh
ed. “You girls watch too much television. The three of us are flying out to Scotland for a tribunal. He’s giving us two weeks to tie up loose ends before we’re taken into custody,” he said.

  “What?” Amy’s eyes widened.

  “The three of you?” Jackson asked, surprised for the first time.

  “Brother, it was a blood bath,” Jonah recalled. “We killed most, if not all of the Kings guards.”

  “Have you lost your minds?” Jackson exclaimed. “What the hell were you thinking? That’s a death sentence! Count your lucky stars they didn’t rip out your hearts right then and there.”

  “We know, Jack,” Jonah sighed. The group hushed as we soaked in our fates. We had two weeks before we said goodbye—possibly for good.

  “What I don’t understand is how he found out about me? No one on our side of the pond wanted to tell him until I joined a Pack,” I questioned. It was one of the reasons I was in this whole mess. Alphas wanted a shot at the throne, and I was the quickest stepping stone. The minute I got off my red eye flight from Los Angeles back to the East Coast, I had a target on my back. Alphas from all over the country wanted to mate with me and some went to extremes: another reason why things had to change with Lunas. I was going to be forced to join a Pack whether I wanted to or not. That was the submissive behavior they expected from a Luna and a lone-wolf; I had no say in the matter. Not that I let any of those rules stop me—but still.

  “I told him,” Lucian declared, his blond hair slicked back into a low ponytail at the nape of his neck. He stood before me in his typical all-black slacks and button up. He was always dressed-to-impress.

  Everyone turned to the vampire who had been silent until now. He was my only ally when I’d first been found by the Brooklyn Pack. If it wasn’t for Lucian, I would have never had the year of freedom I’d been given in Los Angeles. Although if I were being realistic, it wasn’t freedom, more like refuge graduating to a fugitive.

  He cleared his throat. “Your father and I are very good friends, Pet.”

  “He is not my father,” I corrected.

  “Semantics,” he waved me off. “I knew of his ignorance to your existence and when I realized how out of hand things were getting, courtesy of your friends,” he smiled at Bash and Jonah, “I dug up his phone number and spilled the glorious details.”

  I huffed. “I don’t know whether to thank you or give you the finger.”

  “He isn’t a bad man, Pet,” Lucian said, his tone the most serious I’d ever heard. His watered down British accent came out every time he spoke the nickname he’d given me.

  “He’s a stranger and a murderer. The jury’s still out on whether he’s a good guy.”

  “A murderer?” Lucian asked in confusion.

  “The Lunas were slaughtered on his command,” Sebastian relayed. “A royal decree from his personal office was issued for their execution and Mackenzie’s. He said it wasn’t from him, but that doesn’t make sense.”

  Lucian tapped his chin. “If Alexander says he didn’t do it, then he didn’t. Have any of you spent time in the Royal Court?”

  The wolves shook their heads.

  “I have,” the vampire divulged, “and it is a place of many lies, secrets, and deception. Pet, you have an enemy there, the only question now is who.”

  “I’ll answer that when I get there,” I said. My mind had already begun stringing a plan together on how I could escape imprisonment and expose the person who killed my friends. Once I arrived in Scotland, someone would try to kill me. The massacre of the Lunas failed to take me out, but in enemy territory, they would not make the same mistake twice.

  Sebastian glared at the vampire. “Did you know who Mackenzie was when she first arrived?”

  Lucian’s eyes twinkled with mischief as he waved his hands in the air in dismissal.

  “You did, didn’t you? Bastard!” Jonah exclaimed.

  “I should wring your skinny little neck!” Bash growled.

  “Easy. I’m sure Lucian had his reasons, right?” I turned to my pale friend.

  “You’re defending this leech? He could have prevented this!” Jonah yelled. His chocolate eyes blazing gold in fury.

  “If you need someone to blame, go ahead and point the finger at me. I don’t mind,” Lucian volunteered. His demeanor relaxed as if he didn’t care that they would burn him at the stake if given the chance.

  By no means was he innocent in this whole ordeal, but Lucian went out of his way to protect me when he didn’t need to. Whether it was with good intentions or not, he did me a solid that I would never forget.

  “No,” I said, my eyes flashing at the two wolves. “I mind.”

  “Kenzie,” Amy tried to smooth things over. “How about we get you cleaned up. Emma has been asking for you.”

  My gaze never left the two idiots I cared for, as I nodded to my best friend. It was unorthodox for a wolf to side with a vampire, but I didn’t follow tradition. They should know that by now.

  ****

  After using one of the showers in the rooms that had been for the nuns, Amy handed me a t-shirt and jeans from the bag she packed before heading over here. I had spent more than a half an hour scrubbing the dried blood off my skin, and I wasn’t entirely sure I got rid of it all in my hair. Lucian didn’t have any shampoo or hair products I could use.

  “What happened, Kenz?” Amy quietly asked. A single tear escaped and slid down her rosy cheek. “Are they really…” she choked before she could finish. I knew what she meant.

  “I saw them, all of them. Blu was…her eyes were empty,” I murmured.

  “How could they…” she cried as her face collapsed into her cupped hands. I wrapped my arm around my best friend, pulling her to my side. She hadn’t seen the amount of death I had, and I hated that she had to go through this. Blu was her friend too.

  “I promise: we’ll find out who did this and they’ll pay. I’ll make sure of it.”

  Amy shook her head vigorously, her teary eyes looking up at me. “No, Kenz, don’t. Just leave it alone.”

  “I can’t. You weren’t there, Aims. It was a blood bath—a complete massacre! Someone has to pay for it.”

  “Like Logan?” she asked. “You made him pay for what he did to you, right? With his life? And how do you feel now that you got your revenge?”

  I swallowed my retort. The truth was more twisted and it scared the shit out of me. I couldn’t tell Amy how good it felt to end Logan’s life, to put him through the same misery he put me through, to snuff out the life from him without a second thought. He deserved what happened to him and even that wasn’t enough. What he planned to do to me was so much worse. I feared closing my eyes at night because he’d be there, with those taunting eyes and sinister smile, ready to haunt me for the rest of my life.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” I said as I pushed away from Amy and slipped on my dirty sneakers. “I’ll be in the cathedral waiting for Roman.”

  Without a glance, I left the room, leaving my distraught friend to grieve alone. I was an asshole.

  ****

  The cathedral was empty except for Emma who sat in one of the pews with Roman seated a couple of rows behind her. He exhaled a sigh of relief at the sight of me and I could only nod to reassure him that I was okay.

  Emma was intent on picking at her nails and her right leg bounced with anxiety. She didn’t notice me take a seat beside her. Her scrawny and lanky figure was that of a boy, which was okay in my book. She was only eleven. She didn’t need to look like a woman, not anytime soon if I had any say in it. Her strawberry blonde hair was braided down the back of her head, with a few short strands slipping out at the sides and getting in her eyes. She blew out a breath and a lock of hair flew up and back down on her face.

  “You know you can tuck it behind your ear,” I said and did as suggested.

  “I was lazy,” she muttered.

  “I see that,” I chuckled. “What’s up, Short Stuff?” I placed a hand over hers to stop her from p
icking at her nails.

  She sighed. “You hate me,” she said as she met my eyes. They were fierce, sad, and at the verge of a waterfall.

  My brows scrunched inward. “I don’t hate you, Emma. Why would you say that?”

  She pulled her hands away from mine. “Because you’re always sending me away! If I did something wrong, I’m sorry, just please let me stay with you.”

  “What? No, Emma, how can you think that? You did nothing wrong, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. It’s just not safe right now for Lunas, and I changed my mind. I don’t want you joining a Pack.”

  Her eyes widened a fraction. “B-But, I thought that was against the rules?”

  I smirked. “Rules are sometimes meant to be broken.”

  She bit her lip to stop from smiling.

  “I lied to you before. I told you that your mother was wrong, but she was right. Luna’s are like slaves and I don’t want you to be one. I can fix it.”

  “What if you can’t?” she mumbled.

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” I said. “You have to go back to California with Roman, Emma. It’s the only way we—I can keep you safe. When this is all over, I’ll find you. I promise.”

  She twisted her mouth to the side. “Can’t someone else do it? Why does it have to be you, Ace?”

  I felt my chest cave in on itself and my heart crumble into tiny little pieces. Why did it have to be me?

  “It’s just the way things have to be,” I gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Be strong, Emma. You aren’t a Luna…you’re a wolf. If they say otherwise, you give them hell,” I whispered and stood quickly before she could stop me.

  I went over to Roman who got up from his bench and met me half way. Without saying a word, he pulled me into his arms and held me. I tensed at his cold touch, uncomfortable with this sort of familiarity, and I hated feeling this way. Logan made me feel this way.

  “I’m not letting you go, Ace. You might as well relax,” he whispered in my ear.

  I relaxed a tad and gripped his shirt for support. I thought I was going to have a panic attack.