The Alpha Legacy Boxed Set 1-7

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The Alpha Legacy Boxed Set 1-7 Page 34

by Holly Hook


  We follow, leaving Leonora with the worst.

  "Did you set this up?" Alesha shouts. "Is this a prank?"

  "No. I swear. I'll explain if—"

  "You freak!"

  Diving into the trees, I brush past pine needles as I find my coat, lying under a tree and open like a soft bed. The others turn back in the underbrush nearby, popping and stretching. In the dark, the rest of the pack are shifting shadows. Standing over my coat, I reach for the human inside. The thought of Alesha speeds the transformation. I'm still self-conscious of my nudity in front of regular humans. Joints pop and skin pulls as I stretch, and the cold wraps around my bare, furless body as I straighten, pulling the coat around myself and then pull my boots back on. At least it's thick.

  "Better," Cayden says, walking up and buttoning his long coat. Remo and Everly dress behind us while Leonora keeps trying to calm Alesha down.

  "You witch!" Alesha shouts. "You're with them!"

  "Be quiet or they might come back," Leonora says. My hearing picks up her nerves.

  "Maybe she shouldn't have gone out there with that leather sack," Everly mumbles.

  "Cayden, are you okay?" I ask. The lingering despair fades by the minute, but it reminds me too much of the time the old alpha died.

  "I'm fine," Cayden says. "That bomb just threw me a few feet."

  "I think it did more than that," I say, drawing close to him.

  The sounds of rope rubbing rope follows. Leonora's untying Alesha. Through my hearing's dulled in human form, I can still detect noise better than a regular person.

  "You're free," Leonora says.

  "Now I'm calling Tiffanie and I'm getting out of here," Alesha huffs. She storms across the clearing, but the adrenaline smell remains.

  "Wait," Leonora calls, disappointed. "Did you get bitten or anything?"

  "No. Don't tell anyone about this, okay? Or I'll make your life a living hell."

  "What a bitch," I say under my breath.

  "Let her storm off," Cayden says with a sigh. "We'll hear her screams if she runs into trouble on the way back to her car."

  We stand inches from each other. The last of the despair vanishes as we hold each other in our gazes. A visceral tug between us returns, begging me to draw closer, to touch him, to taste him. My urges have grown since October when Cayden treated me as his full mate. I know what I want. And Cayden's smile tells me he wants the same.

  Cayden flicks his dark hair from his perfect forehead and turns the corner of his lips up into a teasing smile. Behind him, light from Alesha's phone swings as she navigates down the trail, but she's far enough away she won't see us.

  Cayden takes my cheeks with his warm, perfect palms. I breathe his scent as his hazel eyes study my body. Everything tingles. I trace my finger down Cayden's exposed collarbone.

  "Would you two get a room?" Everly asks, walking past us to retrieve Leonora. Remo's already left to get her.

  "Lighten up, sis," Cayden says. "This is what non-emotionally stunted people do."

  She leaves us with silence and falling snow. "Leonora? Don't bother chasing her."

  "I wasn't going to let that bomb hit you." Cayden closes his eyes and leans down to kiss me.

  I do the same. Our lips brush and then I lap up Cayden's wild taste. Our bodies press together, and despite the coats now between us, the tingling over every part of my body intensifies. My heart races as I wrap my hand around his back, then slide it up his neck to entwine my fingers in his messy hair.

  Cayden gasps and pulls away.

  I drop my hand as he backs into a tree, sucking down air. His lips move like a fish's and I wonder if he's trying to say something.

  "What's wrong?" I ask, heart racing.

  He catches his breath and peels his gaze from the ground. "I don't know." Cayden grimaces again for a second. "We were just getting caught up, and then this lightning bolt of pain just shot through me and I couldn't breathe for a second." He swallows. "I promise I'm not pulling my crap again. You're my mate and it'll stay that way."

  "I know you weren't pulling crap," I say. "There's a difference between that and you hiking up your shoulders and pushing me away with a nasty look on your face. Are you sure you're feeling okay?" With each word, I struggle to keep a lid on my panic.

  Cayden smiles at my words. "I'm fine now. That only lasted for a second."

  "Maybe we need Leonora to check you out. You said she was the medic."

  "No. She said that." Cayden flexes his biceps. "I'm Noah. I can handle anything."

  "You're pinning your alpha male traits on my friend?" I'm glad to see Cayden trying to joke around. He's not as good at it as Noah, though. Cayden's talents are dancing and singing.

  "Anyway, I don't know what that pain was," he says, serious again. "Maybe the warlock did something or injured me. I don't know much about warlocks. Us Noble Wolves don't see the dark kind often. My parents used to say they used witches and warlocks for some of their rituals, but those were always kept out of sight. It's weird they did one in the open where anyone could have stumbled on them."

  "I agree," I say, walking up to Cayden. I reach out, giving him the option of taking my hand. Every muscle tenses and I almost take it back, but Cayden reaches out and gives it a squeeze.

  "No pain," he says. "So it's not your touch that caused it. That's a relief."

  The pull returns as I take a breath. Things feel normal again.

  We enter the clearing. Leonora and Remo stand near the post, now empty. Though it's dark, I spot Remo wrinkling his nose. The acrid stench of the smoking bag of herbs remains. A spot of melted snow looks dark against the expanse of white, now dotted with blood and covered in wolf prints. Leonora tucks her freezing hands into her coat pockets. And Alesha has already gone. Her footprints storm to the trail leading back to the gas station.

  We need to talk to Leonora.

  Before I can mention it to Cayden, he lets go of my hand and approaches her. "Do you know what that warlock did?"

  "It was dark, and I was ducking behind the trees," she says. "I'm sorry I didn't come out and help. I was just getting a protection spell ready, but I should have cast it before the fight. That would have made better sense. But I saw something flaming that flew, and then an explosion like fireworks were going off." She stares at me and Cayden, squinting and trying to see in the dark. Only the waning moon shines overhead and provides light.

  "It hit me," Cayden says, raising one hand. He speaks in a deep, confident voice worthy of swooning. "I pushed Brie out of the way before it could explode. I smelled gunpowder in the bag. Herbs, too. The warlock tried to throw an old-fashioned bomb at us."

  "Or did he?" I ask. I want to give Cayden the chance to open about the phantom pain. If anyone knows about warlocks, it's Leonora.

  "That guy could have done a lot of things with herbs," Leonora says. "Don't look at the movies if you're trying to learn about witches and warlocks. We don't use wands and instead work with what the earth gives us. Well, I suppose one thing is right. Good witches and bad witches both exist."

  "We figured that out already. Do you know what spells the warlock could have done?" I ask.

  "First, he tried to poison us," Everly says. She kicks the wooden pillar which still has ropes hanging from it. With the third kick, it cracks and falls into the snow, making an indent.

  "Anyone could have done that," Remo says, "with the right herbs."

  "Some plants can cause reactions in humans when they're cut," Leonora says, sounding more confident than before. "Or burned. I'm sure that also applies to wolves. He might have been burning wolfsbane, which would have repelled you and the Savage Wolves."

  "Even evil witches would have to protect themselves from the Savages." Cayden paces around the fallen pillar, leaving new footprints in the snow. "Savages care about nobody. All they value is power and dominance."

  "The second one had gunpowder," I say. "And it smelled different from the first."

  Leonora screws up her face and look
s at Remo. He shakes his head.

  "That could be a lot of things," Leonora says. "Different herbs have different meanings and he could have used them in a spell before throwing them at you. It's likely a spell he did ahead of time."

  "The ritual was planned to bring us out here, then," Remo says. "Matthew never meant to make Alesha his mate. He waited until Leonora saw him take her into the woods because he knew we'd come after her. That means he knows Leonora's with us." He sidesteps closer to her, protective.

  "I felt a weird pain through my whole body when Brie and I were in the trees," Cayden says. "And no, it wasn't Everly slapping me."

  His twin crosses her arms and grins.

  "This isn't funny," I say. "What if the warlock did some kind of poison spell?"

  The air thickens with seriousness. Leonora looks at Cayden. "Are you feeling okay? There are poison spells out there. Not that I'd ever do them."

  "I'm fine. It was just for a second," Cayden says. "He threw a wolfsbane bomb at us."

  "Did anyone else feel weird when Cayden got hit?" I face Everly and Remo.

  Everly nods as her eyes widen. "It was almost like the time with our dad."

  The air goes from thick to suffocating. The Lowes don't talk about the moment their father, the old alpha, got killed by the Baltic Wolves.

  "I'm fine," Cayden says, squaring his shoulders. "I don't want you to worry. Whatever he tried must not have worked. And we shouldn't stand out here. For all we know, the Savages could gather the whole pack as we speak. Why don't we go to Leonora's place so she can do her job?"

  * * * * *

  Cayden drives despite my pleas for one of us to do it instead. Even if I'm his mate, he's still the alpha, and I'm supposed to just have a lot of influence on him. It's influence that's not working right now. He wants to convince us all he's okay so we stop freaking out.

  The roads make knowing Cayden could have another pain attack any second worse. I grip the armrest on my door as Cayden navigates roads now barely visible. We crawl back to the Breckenridge limits on hills and curves, following the tire tracks left by Alesha's car. The tracks are already half-filled and I'm guessing she left ten minutes before we did. So much for waiting on Tiffanie to pick her up. We pass a spot where her tracks do a dance, widen, and then continue down the road. And at the same spot, we slip towards the ditch.

  "Ice!" Everly shouts.

  "I want off," Leonora says.

  "Not out here," Cayden says as he regains control. "We're still outside our territory."

  Huge flakes fall, thickening until we can't see far in front of us. After a tense half hour of crawling, we pass the sign for Breck and another, closed gas station. We're back in our territory.

  "Are you sure you can get us up to Leonora's cabin?" I ask. The road there is just a path through the woods.

  "I will," Cayden says. "Worst case, we walk. We're safe now. Even Leonora won't have to hide."

  "I'm not useless," she says, reaching over Cayden's shoulder and slapping her hand on the dashboard. "I'll do a healing spell on you once we get home, just in case. There should be room in the greenhouse."

  I wait for Cayden to refuse in that alpha male way of his, but instead, he nods. "Thank you."

  Leonora grins and sits back down as Cayden makes the turn down the hidden drive and hits the gas, forcing the SUV uphill. We slow from a crawl to a creep. Tires spin, struggling to get traction, and even Cayden lacks the skill to get the vehicle to the cabin. I see why the Russells don't use cars.

  "We walk," Cayden says.

  He links his hand with mine once we're out, and the five of us make our trek up to the cabin. On the way, I text Aunt May with my free hand.

  Home safe. The girl is fine. Will tell you about it later.

  Have another half hour of work. Sorry I couldn't go.

  While Aunt May is also in the pack, she wound up stuck working at our store tonight. With finances still tight, she can't afford to close the store every time there's pack business. So she's spent her night worrying if I'd come back. I feel terrible. I wish I could solve our problems. In desperation, I've even offered to work at the store for free to cut down on her expenses, and though her eyes want to cave, Aunt May refuses.

  We might have months left before we close down.

  And we can't afford to move away. Breck needs us.

  But as I walk in silence with Cayden up the snowy road, I force those thoughts away. I'll worry about Cayden first and feel much better once Leonora gets out a bunch of herbs to heal him. She's an expert on them. Whatever the warlock did, she should be able to reverse it.

  Leonora's cabin is almost full dark once we reach it. Only orange firelight sneaks out from the front window. Leonora's parents sit inside, dark shadows against the fireplace. I haven't spoken to them much or even seen them a lot, but when Leonora knocks, a man answers the door.

  Her father has her freckles and wears dusty overalls from chopping wood earlier that day. He smells of tree bark and melting snow.

  "Where have you been?" he asks her. "And why are the Wolves with you?"

  "They needed me."

  "I told you, Leonora. We don't get into Wolf business anymore. It's not safe," her father says. "We need to let sleeping matters lie." He flicks his gaze at me for a split second.

  I jolt, shocked at his reaction and his words. This is the first time I've met her father face to face, and I expected him to help us. Now I know why Leonora doesn't know the details of Breck's past any better than I do. I sense a hidden history here that no one wants us to know.

  "There are no sleeping matters anymore," I say, getting my composure. "Did Leonora tell you the Savage Wolves are trying to get back into Breck?"

  "Without the Hunters, we're no longer relevant," Mr. Russell says. "Our purpose died with them. From now on, Wolf business stays with them." His tone is final.

  "But we can help," Leonora says. "If you'd just—"

  His gaze goes down to her belt. "You took my Wolfsbane Dagger."

  "I needed to protect myself."

  "Get inside," her father orders. "Stop messing with the Wolves. The last thing this town needs is another war. We can't reveal what we have, though I fear it's too late. I won't lose my daughter."

  "With what we have?" I ask.

  But he holds the door open all the way, glaring at me and waiting for Leonora. I glimpse an oil lamp on the kitchen table and a wood stove in the kitchen. Leonora's mother sits on the couch, doing embroidery on a tablecloth and sewing butterflies. She waves at me, but turns her critical gaze on her daughter. Leonora's in major trouble tonight.

  "Leonora has one more thing to do," Cayden says. He projects his voice through the house. "She needs to make sure we're healed from any wolfsbane or poison spells before she goes inside."

  "And we won't leave until that happens," Remo says. He speaks as if he's said this to her father many times before. "We're only going to the greenhouse. Your daughter's safe." But as he talks, he's careful to keep a distance from Leonora. Her father doesn't know about their relationship, then.

  Mr. Russell wrinkles his mustache. The fireplace spits and crackles. "Be quick," he says. "And then my daughter needs to come inside so we can discuss how she'll stay out of danger."

  Leonora hangs her head as we walk to the greenhouse. I hadn't realized her parents were like this until now. No one connected to the past wants to embrace what they are. It's a recurring theme around here. Aunt May and my father suppressed their natures all their lives. Cayden's parents never shared why they moved the Lowes to Breck or why they thought they'd find safety here. And now the Russells want to get away from witchcraft and Wolf affairs, despite helping both the Hunters and the Noble Wolves fight the Savages in the past. Something's adding up.

  But she gets her composure. "Okay," she says, digging into her leather bag and drawing out five green candles. "I'll set up a chalk circle in the greenhouse. We have room. I have to gather materials and a few essentials oils so that might take a wh
ile."

  "It's fine," I say. Cayden staying healthy means everything. We can't afford to lose him again. Last time that happened, Matt almost hurt people at the dance.

  "Leonora!" her father shouts, opening the front door. "The others go home if you don't need them here. Then once you're finished, that boy leaves, too. No excuses." His words leave no room for argument.

  Cayden and I look at each other. "I guess I should go," I say, hating the words. "Promise you'll text me and tell me you're okay once Leonora finishes."

  "What? You don't trust me?" she asks with a grin. "Worried I'll turn Cayden into a frog?"

  He grimaces. "Is that even possible?"

  "No," Leonora says. "It's impossible to turn one creature into another. Forget all the flashy magic you see on TV."

  I want to know what Leonora will do. I've never watched a magical rite before. It's clear magic is a part of Breck and of the history I don't know. My family worked with these people in the past. Leonora's parents might hold keys to everything I want to know and they're pushing us away.

  They've taken Cayden's place as the Most Frustrating People.

  "You'd better go. I'll tell you about the rite when we're at the store tomorrow," she says. "Promise."

  I nod. "Promise." I lean over to kiss Cayden on the cheek. The sense of warm connection sweeps over me again, making me gasp. Whatever the warlock did must have been temporary.

  But the warm feeling vanishes as soon as I separate from Cayden. "Goodnight," he says.

  "Night," I finish, drawing a grin.

  Chapter Three

  I get home right when Aunt May comes in the door.

  And I want answers. It's a long shot, but I have to try.

  She rubs the bags under her eyes when she walks into the kitchen. So I soften the conversation intro. "Long day?"

  "I spent a lot of time calculating expenses," she says. "You know, I might take you up on working for free. In exchange, I'll let you borrow my car if you need it. I know yours has been making that new noise every time you drive it."

 

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