by Jude Marquez
The silence around us was so absolute, I felt like we had entered a vacuum in space.
The old man cocked the gun.
“If you kill him, I will let them all go. I will let them do what they want to you. I will let them cut into you over and over and if you dare die, we can bring you back and start all over,” I hissed.
“You’ll come with us?” The old woman said.
Artie’s blood was spreading across the cement and I was trying not to look at it.
“Yes,” I said.
“Without a fight. You’ll come willingly?” She pressed.
I nodded.
“Fine. Raul, step away from the boy,” she ordered.
The old man dropped his gun reluctantly and Zeke pushed past him and scooped Artie up in his arms and brought him over to Lou.
Lou pulled the two of them into the forest.
“We still have the other one, so don’t try anything else,” the old woman said.
I turned and looked back at them, all the ones that had willingly stayed by my side and bled so freely with me. They had fought for me and without them, I would have died a thousand times over.
But my youngest brother, the closest thing I had to a child, was dying and what kind of leader, what kind of Alpha, would I be if I let the most powerful magic in our world die?
I wouldn’t.
All of our choices led us here, but it was my responsibility to answer for them.
I looked down, away from their eyes.
I caught sight of the cuffs on my wrists and a thought struck me.
The only magic that alphas had, the only thing that we could call on, was the magic to render our prey helpless in a sleep so deep that they couldn’t be awakened from it. Not unless we wanted them to.
But as I stared down at the cuffs, I felt a voice whisper to me. It was as old and dusty and worn as the temples our people used to worship at. It was as blood soaked as our history and I felt it somewhere deep inside of me, where that alpha power lived, and turned to my brother.
Eli.
He stared at me with a mixture of confusion and betrayal and anger and concern. I wished I had the time to explain to him but I knew that someday he would understand. Someday, every single part of me would be part of him because that was how the alpha power worked.
The Ortega line would not end with me.
It wouldn’t end at all. Because Eli would be the one to carry it on and he would do what he had to do. He was the very best parts of me and when my life left my body, the power that lived in me would return to him.
But they wouldn’t kill me right away. That wasn’t their way.
So there was time, too much time, that Glenwood Lock would go without an alpha, without its guardian and that couldn’t happen. Not while I could still breathe.
I pulled Eli into a hug, wrapped my arms around his shoulders, and closed my eyes. I let myself breathe for a moment, breathe him in, the smell of home and safety and comfort, and behind his back, I unclasped one cuff.
“Watch him. You were always better with him, anyway. It will be a lot, okay? You will feel you are drowning but you aren’t. If you feel you are, just remember that in all my life, I have never loved anyone more or trusted anyone more. Listen to your instincts. They won’t guide you wrong,” I whispered in his ear.
“Don’t go- please- I don’t want this. I can’t-” he babbled in my ear.
“You can and you will. They made you for this,” I said and pulled back. I raised his palm to my mouth and just below his thumb, I bit down until I felt the blood well up.
He barely noticed. I could feel his heart beating out of control and he was breathing harshly.
“Rely on your pack. They are your port in the storm. It will hurt, but learn from it. Don’t live in it. Listen to Artie. Do you hear me?” I said and shook Eli.
He nodded.
I pressed the cuff to the blood on his hand and snapped it closed. But it was just blood and leather, just a thing, without direction. Without the intent.
Even magic had its rules.
I took a deep breath. “Ne maca tlen ne tlatzitzquia,” I whispered, the words coming out of my mouth like it was a language I was born to.
Eli stared at me, blinked and shook his head.
“Now, dog!” Bianca half screamed behind me.
“Do good,” I whispered to Eli, “Tell Artie not to let it all be hate. Tell him I loved him more than the sun loves the earth, more than the wolf loves the moon, more than I have words.”
Then Billie was thrown forward as they jerked me back and I had to force myself still as they shackled me and jerked me away.
The last thing I saw before they put a hood over my head was Eli’s face.
And his eyes.
His alpha-black eyes.
Epilogue
She told me it would hurt, but she never told me how much. She never told me it would hurt so much that it would steal my ability to move, to breathe, that the alpha power would take over every single part of me and force me to do things that I never thought I could.
Celia was my sister. She was the leader, the Alpha.
Until she gave it to me and turned my eyes alpha black.
How she remained gentle with this kind of power flowing through her, I’ll never understand.
But I understood something.
That I would burn the world down until I got her back.
The last thing I saw was Bianca jerking a hood over her head before she threw Celia into the trunk of a car.
Distantly, I heard Artie scream, but I knew Lou was working on him.
Trust your pack.
I did. I trusted Lou to bring Artie back to me.
Billie was weeping at my feet. Stephen scrambled forward and reached for her.
Then he was pushed back, hard, by a power unseen.
I realized that they left the witch behind with a few of the guards.
Dante, Stephen, Savannah and Zeke were standing, staring them down all while the witch smirked at them.
She thought they couldn’t touch her. Not with Artie so injured and Lou trying to bring him back.
She had never met an alpha.
Not one like me, anyway.
No one had.
“Don’t kill them,” I whispered, trembling with rage. “They have a message to carry.”
I reached down and pulled Billie to her feet.
She gasped when she saw my eyes.
“Shh,” I said. “It’s just me.”
She was bleeding. I had to take her to Lou.
I looked at the other three. “Don’t kill them.” I repeated.
Then I carried Billie to Lou.
Then, the screaming began.
WE SEARCHED FOR AZOLATA that night and when Artie was feeling better, we tried a tracing spell.
There was no sign of him. It was like he never existed except in our memories.
And every time I looked at Eli, his eyes were black and I could feel the rage coming off of him like he was the ocean and I was the beach, waiting, waiting, waiting.
Waiting for Eli to come back to me.
When he finally slept, days later, I put my hand to his forehead. “I can’t find you,” I whispered. “Where did you go? Why can’t I find you?”