by Leia Stone
Relief flooded my chest. “What? You planned all of this, didn’t you?”
Kai grabbed my waist and held me close. “Since the moment I knew that Layla and RAIDOS would stop at nothing to have you.”
I kissed him.
‘You stupid idiot. I love you.’
He smiled and kissed me deeper. ‘I love you too. Remember that.’
I didn’t like the ominous message. “How did you get so many werewolves to reveal themselves?”
Kai shrugged. “I called every pack that you had found a mate for and told them you needed a favor.”
Hah! Before I could retort, helicopter blades whirled in the distance. I broke away and saw a look of sadness etched onto Kai’s face.
Devon and Alexa burst through the trees in human form and immediately began shifting. This was only Alexa’s second shift.
“Kai, they will capture, experiment, and torture every last one of us now,” Alexa said as she was shifting.
She screamed in pain, but the shift was happening with as much grace as she could manage.
“Plan B,” I told Kai. “Let’s leave the country. Let’s run.”
Kai looked at me, his look said good bye and I didn’t like it. “Too late.” He shifted.
Shit! I shifted too. Max stayed human and held up a gun. Men were repelling from ropes. Max pointed the gun right at them and let bullets fly. One guy dropped to the ground with a sickening thud. This isn’t what I wanted. Why couldn’t they leave us alone!
I counted twelve RAIDOS guys, heavily armed, running at us through the trees.
‘Where is the rest of the pack?’ I asked Kai. I knew Seattle pack drove home the night before, but India pack was still around, and our pack as well.
‘My father’s pack is split, fighting the vampires in Portland and here on the mountain. Half of our pack is at the park meeting with the humans. The other half is guarding Emma and the women. It’s just us.’
The men were moving closer and Max shouted over the noise. “Go back now and no one else gets hurt. There are things you don’t know. The vampires are killing your people and keeping them hooked on heroin. We want to help stop that. We’re on the same side.”
Good, he was trying to reason with them.
One of the men responded by pulling the trigger on a harpoon type of gun. A thick silver chain net flew through the air and wrapped around Kai’s body. It clinked tight underneath his belly with some sort of magnets. His head was sticking out and he was trying to shake it off.
‘No!’ I took off running and clamped my teeth down on the metal chain trapping Kai’s body. One of my teeth snapped off. It was burning his skin, I could smell it. Why didn’t he take the silver immunity serum!
I heard Devon and Alexa growling and fighting, Max’s gun was going off. It was like time was going by really slow, but at the same time everything was happening too fast.
The man holding the other end of the harpoon pulled on the net and Kai almost fell, but kept himself upright. Kai bared his teeth and bit down lightly on my neck skin, just enough to break the skin. Ow!
‘Aurora, I name you Alpha of this pack. I transfer pack bonds to you willingly. Blood of my blood.’
No! I felt tons of little strands of energy, like ropes binding themselves to me. ‘Alpha, Alpha, Alpha,’ the pack chanted.
‘What? Kai. No!’ I screamed.
Another silver net flew through the air toward me. In one quick motion, Kai clamped down on my neck skin, like a lion mother would to her cub. He picked my body up and flung me high up in the air, tossing me forty feet into the side yard. My howl cut through the crisp morning air and I hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of my lungs. My ribs snapped. The empty net hit the ground right where I had been standing. The man who had Kai, hooked the net line onto the helicopter line and all of a sudden Kai was being hauled up into the air like a circus animal.
‘Kai!!!’ Hearing my desperate scream terrified me. There was nothing I could do.
‘We need back up at Max’s, now!’ I shouted into the mind of the entire pack, which I could feel was my pack. Alpha power coursed through my veins.
I started to run and I felt myself limping as my bones tried to regrow from my fall.
‘I’m coming, Kai, hang on,’ I told him as they loaded him into the helicopter.
‘No, they want you. They want to kill you. Stay back,’ he pleaded.
‘No way!’
I was headed for the harpoon gun guy, who looked at me with a sadistic grin. He dropped the harpoon gun and raised another, sleeker more deadly looking gun. I didn’t care. He would die for taking my mate. If I didn’t get to Kai soon, I could lose him forever.
The man raised his gun toward me and I picked up my speed, launching myself into the air and knocking him over. I was tearing at his neck when I heard Max’s voice from behind me.
“Look out!” Max screamed. I slowly turned just in time to see Devon leap into the air between me and another RAIDOS agent who had a huge samurai sword. He cut Devon’s head cleanly off.
‘No!!!’ I began to shift and the half human, half wolf wail that came from me sounded like it was from another planet. Mist poured from my skin uncontrollably. Trees shook. The samurai man grabbed his ears screaming. Devon’s eyes were open and staring vacantly at the sky. A sharp pain struck my chest as Devon’s essence left the pack bonds. Then I felt Emma’s pack bond crumble in despair. No. No. No.
I looked up to see Kai being strapped into the helicopter, he was thrashing and biting. He had seen what happened to Devon. He was too high, there was nothing I could do. I felt something inside of me break free, something dark and wild. The mountain began to shake a little. I needed to calm down. In that moment, I knew I had enough untrained magic inside of me to kill everyone on this mountain if I didn’t get it under control. It was the Devi. She was powerful; I had her power at my disposal if I could learn to use it.
Max was talking to me with his hands outstretched in a sign of peace. I couldn’t hear him. I could only replay the sound of the sword cutting through Devon’s spine. Of my alien scream. Suddenly, my chest pinched again and I felt Emma’s energy go completely dark. She was wracked with pain. As Alpha I was able to feel them all, intimately. She was devastated, she couldn’t breathe. The baby.
I looked up at Kai as the helicopter took off.
‘Rest in peace, my brother,’ were his last words and then he was gone.
Death
I wanted to mourn, I wanted to kill, and to freak out and try to shift into a bird and fly up to save my mate, but I couldn’t, I needed to find Emma.
I felt power coursing through my veins. Alpha power. Max’s words came to me.
“Aurora, calm down.” His eyes were lowered. Respect for my Alpha status. I took a deep breath and the trees stopped shaking. Max had killed the samurai man or I would have already.
Alexa was sitting in wolf form, in shock. Her paws were glowing blue. RAIDOS used to be her people; she felt like it was all her fault. I could hear her thoughts. She wanted to run away and leave. She thought she was a curse and she didn’t belong anywhere. She had a deep respect for Kai and me. She felt awful.
I walked over to her. ‘You did good. This isn’t your fault, and you aren’t going anywhere. You’re family and your place is with us now.’
She lowered her eyes and nodded. I could also hear her thinking about different locations she knew of that they might be taking Kai. Good, let her figure that out while I went to Emma. I ran. I ran faster than I ever had before, partly to shake off this horrible feeling of Devon and this feeling of responsibility for a bunch of werewolves that I wasn’t ready for.
When I followed my nose and neared the place Emma was, I could hear the sobbing. My stomach dropped. I couldn’t do this. How did Kai do this? I could feel EVERYTHING. Her pain, her love, everyone’s pain. They all loved Devon, they all felt his energy leave the pack. They were all mourning and it was driving me crazy. I threw on a loose dress from a la
undry basket by the door.
I slowly opened the front door to see Emma weeping on the floor. Diya, Izzy, Maya, and Anna were trying to comfort her. Alphas must be strong for their people, show no weakness. I didn’t know if I could be. I was grieving the loss of my mate too, not like hers though.
She looked up at me like a child lost in the woods.
“What happened?” Her voice shook, her eyes poured tears, her nose ran.
“I’m sorry Emma, I should have protected him better. He died saving my life.”
Her lip quivered. “He did?”
I nodded and then the tears came. “He jumped in front of a threat and saved me.”
Emma smiled weakly and held her belly, tears ran down her cheeks. “Then it wasn’t a waste.” Sobs wracked her body.
Maya came forward. “Dying to protect your Alpha is the greatest honor a werewolf can have. He is a hero.”
How could I have handled it differently? Maybe I shouldn’t have gone after the harpoon guy, I should have made sure Devon and Alexa were safe first. I didn’t know how to be an Alpha. How can I protect everyone at once?
Emma looked up at me and her green eyes pierced right through me. She held my gaze longer than I thought would be possible for such a submissive, there was a streak of dominance in her.
“Aurora, this wasn’t your fault,” she declared.
Oh Emma, in her greatest time of need she was trying to reassure that I was okay. I ran to her and we held each other and cried. Suddenly, she hunched over and grabbed her belly groaning. Diya jumped between us and lowered Emma onto the couch. I could hear Diya’s thoughts. This was too much stress, she could miscarry, she needed strict bedrest. Everyone needed to leave.
“Everyone out! Emma needs rest. Diya, stay with her,” I commanded as Alpha power oozed from my voice.
I knelt by the couch and took Emma’s hand. “The man who killed Devon is dead. I will make sure that everyone else involved here today, dies too.” I let Alpha power seep through my bonds. That was a promise.
Her eyes looked fierce, she could only nod. Then she curled into a ball and faced the couch.
I stood. The time for politics and alliances was over. As far as I was concerned, you were either on our side or you were dead. Mist crept from my pores. They will regret this day.
I threw open Emma’s front door and Max was waiting with Alexa and Raj. They were speaking in hushed tones. I felt for my mate bond with Kai. He was unconscious but alive.
Raj watched me make my way down the steps of Emma’s porch. A light smattering of rain fell. Raj was on the council and so I wasn’t sure of his position on the humans knowing about our race.
“Kai did a very stupid thing telling the humans.” He told me.
Well, I guess he was against it.
“Maybe not!” Trent called from the side of the house. He was hiking up from a walking path in the woods and he was followed by a bunch of armed humans.
Trent was worried about Diya, he was also mourning Devon. I could feel everything.
‘Diya’s fine. She’s inside with Emma,’ I told him. Wow, being Alpha was hard work, constantly having to keep everyone’s emotions in check, being able to communicate with everyone’s mind. I also had this underlying fear that someone would threaten my position as the leader.
I glanced at Alexa as the humans drew closer. ‘The second I deal with this situation, we’re going to get Kai back. So, I hope you have a good idea where they are hiding him.’
I sifted through her thoughts. Alexa and I were closer than most, now that I was Alpha, I could access all of her memories. She did know of a place. She didn’t think they would take him to the closest holding facility in Portland, they would go a bit farther to get him to the most secluded and heavily guarded facility. It was hidden in a stretch of woods near Seaside, Oregon. It was on the way to the beach. I had driven through there many times and admired the thick woods. I saw them for what they were, a good place to hide. I nodded to her.
Trent had approached our group with a bunch of our pack and a dozen humans. He waved his hand to a tall, older man with a handle bar mustache and grey hair. He had tan leather skin and a strong jaw. The man tipped his cowboy hat to me and readjusted his semiautomatic rifle.
“Howdy, ma’am. I’m Earl, the leader of the Northwest Militia Group.” He extended his hand and kept his eyes locked on mine. I forgave him for not knowing he was challenging me but my wolf couldn’t. I felt my eyes go yellow. Trent cleared his throat. “You shouldn’t stare an Alpha in the eye, sir,” he told Earl as I took his hand. Earl dropped his gaze.
“Apologies, this is new to us.” He shrugged as more and more humans came through the trees; they had backpacks and gear. It looked like they were ready for to fight.
“Don’t worry about it,” I told him. “Militia? You guys seem pretty prepared.”
He was handling it really well. He flashed me a big smile and I instantly liked him. My wolf did too.
“Our militia was founded in 1929. We are prepared for anything. An overthrow of government, martial law, earth quake, zombies.” He chuckled at the last one.
I smiled. “I’ll bet this falls in the zombie category.”
He nodded.
I watched more and more people come out of the trees. “How many of you are there?”
He puffed his chest with pride. “Six hundred and ninety-seven, ready to bug out at a moment’s notice. We have other chapters in other states. They are rendezvousing at their local parks as we speak.”
I gave a low whistle. Seven hundred! Oh Kai, you did the right thing. I looked back at Raj. His face was blank, but I could tell he was impressed with their numbers.
“Let’s walk,” I told Earl. Max moved to follow. “I’ll be fine, Max.” I dismissed him. Was Max my second? Where did that leave Kai? I shook off my thoughts. Once Earl and I were out of earshot, I gave him 100% honesty.
“Earl, I’m going to hit you with a lot of crazy stuff right now. Can you handle it?”
He nodded, but I saw a flash of fear flicker across his face.
“I was a human too, up until a few months ago.” I told him about my car accident and that werewolves only change humans if it’s to save their life. I told him about the vampires being after me for my blood. I told him that if they got my blood, they might be able to conceive. His eyes widened at that, but he stayed quiet and let me speak. Lastly, I told him about our experience at the night club and the information we had found out about not all vampires being bad. I left out the Devi stuff. It wasn’t relevant to gaining his trust. He had heard enough weirdness.
“Heroin?” He gave a low whistle. Anger replaced his fear. “Vampires hooking teenagers on heroin and drinking them dry. Oh, they’re gonna die.” He put a firm hand on his rifle.
I nodded. “We need your help. You seem like an old fashioned guy. Back in the day you could give someone your word and shake hands and you knew you had a solid deal.” I extended my hand. “Partners?”
He smiled and nodded, taking my hand with a firm grip. “Partners.”
We made our way back to Emma’s yard. “I don’t think I have lodging for all of you,” I said, embarrassed. Not very hospitable of me.
He laughed. “We’re preppers. We go on dry run camp outs all the time to test our gear. We could hunt and forage and live in these woods for a year if need be.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Well, my woods are your woods.” I opened my arms gesturing to the land. I told him about the heated barn and where the local creeks were for fresh water. He nodded and went to talk to his people.
Alexa ran over to me, looking stressed.
“What is it?” I asked. She had a small tablet that was playing the news.
“The entire country is in mass panic. Kai’s video was uploaded to YouTube. Other werewolves began coming out in public too and those videos were uploaded. There is no denying the werewolves race now. The humans are looting stores, vampires are openly killing humans now. Some werewolves h
ave been killed on site out of fear.” My stomach turned to dread. No.
“But it’s not all bad,” she continued. “Lots of footage shows militias banding together with local packs and taking out vampires. But they have called in the US government to treat this as a terrorist threat. They will be watching you closely, Aurora. If you want to get Kai …”
She spoke in her mind. ‘We need to sneak away. They will have eyes all over this mountain in the next few minutes.’
I nodded. I went to walk away to gather my things. She tugged on my arm. ‘We can’t bring too many people. A handful, in and out.,’ she said.