The Alpha Legacy Boxed Set 1-7

by Holly Hook

  "Your alpha will suffer soon," he warns, flicking the hairs between his fingers.

  "I'll lead you to her," I say.

  "Good. Is your pack with her?"

  "I don't know," I say.

  "What do you mean by that?"

  "I mean I don't know. Are you stupid or something?"

  "What happened to your royal manners?"

  He's just like Brett. That means he has sore spots.

  "At least I'm not a coward," I say.

  Mr. Hayde flinches, giving me a sense of satisfaction.

  "Don't you want your daughter?" I ask. "We have her in a shed in the woods. Far away. I don't know if the pack is there right now. I came out here on my own to look for Brett." That part is true.

  As if looking for a lie, Mr. Hayde studies my face. "Lead the way. But know if I sense one ounce of you plotting against me, then I'll curse your alpha into death. And it won't be swift."

  I think of Cayden writhing in pain. The image will haunt my nightmares forever, and Mr. Hayde will do it. "Follow me."

  "On the condition that I remain at least fifty feet behind you at all times. I'm watching, and I'm better at it than you think. You don't have to be a Wolf to be aware."

  "I know that."

  Maybe I'll have time to convince Mr. Hayde to lay off, or that we can protect his family from the Savages, but it's a long shot. I have maybe a one percent chance. So I turn away and listen for any mutterings. He stays quiet, telling me that unless he can do magic with just his mind, he isn't cursing Cayden again yet. "So, why did you curse Cayden the first time?" I ask.

  "Once you're apart, the King can take you."

  "That sounds disgusting. And more believable that Matthew is his descendant. Is he really immortal?"

  "Yes. He is Romulus, the first Savage Wolf. He was blessed by the ancient gods."

  "The Roman gods?" I walk, crunching snow as loud as I can, trying to alert the pack. The best chance I have is to get them to sneak up on this guy. Karina might send him visions right now for all I know, warning him of the danger.

  "All of the gods are valid," Mr. Hayde says. "And they are rarely kind."

  "I figured as much," I say as pieces click. "So, you're talking about that legend. Romulus and Remus. The dumped princes raised by a wolf."

  "The two had many descendants. Some were human. Others were pure Savages. Still others pure Nobles. Matthew is one of Romulus's human descendants. And by the way, Romulus killed Remus."

  "I see the family resemblance." Why is Mr. Hayde explaining all this? It's as if he doesn't expect me to survive and take this information to anyone who can do anything about it. But I have to keep him talking so he doesn't focus on cursing Cayden.

  "So do I," Mr. Hayde says. "It is the source of his power. Like a bomb ready to light, so to speak. I doubt Matt will stay stable long enough to be useful. When a human descendant of Romulus gets infected, he devolves into a pure animal within a year. The influence on his psyche is too much."

  "Matthew deserves it," I say. "Don't you want to kill him?" I raise my voice. Cayden has to hear me. I'm within a mile of the cabin. The wind blows in that direction. They have to smell me, too. Me, and the warlock. They'll know what's happening.

  And I have to keep the warlock from knowing.

  "That won't take long."

  The wind picks up, carrying our combined scent to the cabin as I walk over boulders and onto a narrow game trail that smells of deer. The man follows, fifty feet behind me as promised. I hear his fingers brushing together, playing with the hairs. Nothing shows that he's dropping them. If he does, I'll have the advantage. That's all that needs to happen.

  "Where is my daughter's shed?" the man asks. "I know she's in a basement."

  "It's an old ski resort building," I fill in, keeping my voice strong. My years of acting come in handy. "We put her in there. Are you stupid or something? You've got to know about the one at the base of the Peak if you've been here at least thirteen years."

  "Yes. The one that got abandoned back in the nineties," he says. "Continue walking, please."

  Mr. Hayde sounds smug and satisfied. Good.

  So I turn off the game trail, heading to the distant peak. It'll take us away from the Lowe cabin, but I have no other choice.

  And in the distance, joints pop. Someone's shifting. I can't smell who it is in the wind, but fortune is turning in my favor. And I don't know why. This man is stupid and didn't do a spell to stay undetected well, it's wearing off, or Leonora got much better at witchcraft and is helping me.

  My muscles tense. I don't dare look back or say anything. My nerves rise and I know if I try to talk calmly now, I won't sound genuine. The man rubs his fingers together again. He knows I can hear the threat.

  "Could you stop that?" I snap. "I know you hold Cayden's life in your hand."

  "You're right. I do."

  I up my pace, leading the warlock farther away from the cabin. There is an abandoned ski resort building near the edge of our territory, and it's been boarded up for years. It should match what Mr. Hayde saw in the vision his daughter sent him. I hope she can't send him more details than her immediate surroundings.

  "How much longer?" Mr. Hayde asks. He's getting impatient.

  "We have a twenty-minute walk ahead of us, human pace," I say. "Once we get there, you need to drop Cayden's hairs, and then I'll show you where your daughter is."

  "I need to see her first," he says. "Then we will talk."

  Mr. Hayde isn't worried about the Lowes or Aunt May. He came for me. Cayden will smell us. And without me there to stop him, he'll pursue. Even Everly can't get him to listen.

  "You want your daughter or not?" I whirl to face him.

  He's smiling. He thinks he's won and that he'll turn me over to his precious King. "I want a couple of things."

  "We're almost there," I say. The abandoned building will have to distract him for a moment. That's where I hope the pack will ambush him.

  We continue our walk and I go off the trail, leading Mr. Hayde through a mile of underbrush that slows our progress. Far behind me, twigs snap. Two wolves follow, but I can't smell them with the wind blowing in the wrong direction. The other two must have stayed with Karina, not realizing that it's already too late to bother guarding her.

  But I know who one of them is.m And my heart about stops as I remember.

  Maybe Mr. Hayde is hoping Cayden will kill himself at the abandoned building. He won't have to work any more magic.

  The land slopes upward and far ahead, the trees part. A distant ski slope shows a lift, miles away and thin against the icy blue sky, carrying someone up to the top of the slope. But in the foreground, a lower hill waits, complete with an old, broken down lift where one of the cables has snapped and landed on the ground like a dead snake. Halfway to the top, the old tourist building, formerly a warm red but now flecked with peeling paint, waits with boards over its windows and a metal sign reading DO NOT ENTER. PRIVATE PROPERTY.

  No one will see us out here. We're just flecks, if that, to the people having a good time enjoying their winter vacations. The active ski slope is miles away.

  "What a disgusting place," Mr. Hayde says as he emerges from the trees behind me. He huffs from the climb. He might be a warlock, but he's still human.

  I face him as his breath swirls in the air. "A perfect place for your family members. We gave it a five star rating. I imagine you don't have much while living with the Baltic Wolves. What do they give you? An outhouse?"

  Mr. Hayde scowls. I won't tell him I know about the mansion. That will put Brett in more danger. Maybe he's already dead from his sister being with us.

  "I know you've seen the mansion," Mr. Hayde says. "Do you think I didn't expect my son to play the protective older brother and send Karina to you? It's why I let Matt pretend to threaten her. Karina and I have planned this all along."

  My jaw drops. Brett played into his father's hands?

  He'll be furious.

  "Matt re
ally threatened her for real, like it or not," I say. "Think about that."

  "Now, show me where my daughter is. And I know about the two Wolves coming up behind us. Dark spirits are everywhere in nature. I've bound many to my will over the years. Do you understand?"

  "Huh?" Shock overtakes me and I suck in a cold breath. It invades my lungs, freezing me from the inside.

  "They report to me with visions and even manipulate the world for me at my word," Mr. Hayde says. "I'm sure you wouldn't want a falling tree or some other freak accident to claim the members of your pack, would you? Especially not your alpha and that gray-blond wolf running beside him."

  Chapter Seventeen

  Aunt May.

  She's coming with Cayden.

  We face each other on the snowy hill for what feels like minutes, but in reality it's just a few seconds. Twigs continue to snap behind Mr. Hayde, somewhere far down the hills. Cayden and Aunt May—it makes sense they'd be the ones to try rescuing me—will break out of the forest in a couple of minutes.

  The wind slows as if shocked by the horror. When they do that, Mr. Hayde will work deadly magic on those hairs and by extension, on Cayden. I could charge him, but not before he does something. The confident look he sends me tells me that.

  "My daughter," he repeats.

  "Follow me."

  I march uphill to the abandoned building, which is halfway up the small mountain. Beyond it, only thick layers of snow wait, bunched into drifts that leer over rocks. The flecks of paint look like blood on the building. Some rest in the snow, blown off by the most recent storms. I eye the front door and kick it in, hoping Mr. Hayde doesn't realize the nails aren't new. The door swings into darkness, revealing an interior made of rotting wood, fungus, and dust. A single desk with a bell stretches out in the middle of the room, and the bell is so choked with dust and cobwebs it's hard to tell what it is. I step into the room as Mr. Hayde reaches the door, casting a large, robed shadow on the far wall where skis once stood. But they're all gone now.

  "The basement," Mr. Hayde says. "She's in the infirmary, right?"

  I don't know whether ski resorts have them, but I imagine they must if people could injure themselves. "The infirmary," I say, glad this is working out. Once Mr. Hayde is in the basement, I might have the chance to move. How, I don't know, but seconds matter. Cayden and Aunt May have a better chance of survival on the hill. If they reach it in time, trees can't fall on them.

  I climb over the counter, but Mr. Hayde opens a turnstile which squeals as he moves through. Stairs lead down to a storage area, long abandoned. I smell more mold and tons of paper, along with rotting coats and boots. I stand and wait for Mr. Hayde to descend. If he goes first, I can push him down the stairs and buy more time. It might stun him enough to let me attack him.

  He still holds Cayden's hairs. "Go ahead," he says. "Ladies first."

  If I argue, he'll know. My heart races and every muscle tenses. Outside, wolf paws hit snow. Mr. Hayde won't wait much longer. Seconds at the most.

  "We're coming down, Karina," I say. "I brought your father."

  "Karina?" he asks. "I know you're not gagged. Respond."

  I suck in a breath.

  Silence, except for the approaching Wolves.

  And then something bangs into the door, making it fly all the way open again. A growl follows and then another. Cayden and Aunt May are here.

  "No!" I shout, holding up my hands at the black wolf and the gray-blond wolf in the doorway.

  Both skid to a stop, shaking off snow. Aunt May growls at Mr. Hayde, peeling her lips back. She's not cursed. She can attack. Cayden does the same, but lingers. His whole body trembles. He's fighting his alpha instinct, but I fear it'll win. His eyes glint with authority and protectiveness.

  I might kill him right here in this shack.

  "Don't!" I shout.

  I'm the only thing holding them back.

  "Do you see this?" Mr. Hayde says, holding up the hairs.

  Even in the dim light, Aunt May and Cayden focus on them. His pupils widen.

  Mr. Hayde steps forward. "I've already done most of the rite to end your life. I only have to say a few more words, and the dark spirits will descend on you whether you protect your mate. Charge me, and it's done. You may kill me, but it won't matter."

  He might grasp for straws. But I know he can do it.

  "Why did you wait?" I ask. "Why didn't you kill him before, then?" I'm just stalling.

  Mr. Hayde grins and looks at me from the corner of his eye. "We need you."

  The three words seem to darken the room. It's as if his dark spirits are filling the shack, leaking in through the cracks in the walls and crawling out from decaying layers of earth. They dance and swirl at the corners of my vision as Cayden growls in frustration.

  Mr. Hayde intends to kill Cayden here.

  And then take me to the Savage King.

  But I can't let that happen.

  "I'll go with you," I say.

  "But I still don't have my daughter."

  "You knew she wouldn't be here," I say. "We still have her and you don't know where. Drop those hairs, and we'll take you to her."

  "You Nobles are too soft to harm her."

  "You sound like Travon," I say. But he's right. Even after what she did, I could never bring myself to kill a girl my age.

  Aunt May dares a step into the room, but Mr. Hayde holds up the hairs. "Three words," he says.

  She stops. We're in a standoff.

  Mr. Hayde seizes my arm. "The Savage King will be happy to have Brie," he says. "She's only half Wolf. She can be turned to his side. The King needs a mate."

  "Ex—" I start, but Cayden growls and charges.

  Mr. Hayde's got him.

  "No!" I scream.

  Cayden makes it halfway across the building when he hits an invisible wall, bounces back, and collapses with a yelp.

  I can't hold back. The animal growls inside, full of rage, as Cayden rolls on the ground like he's trying to put out an invisible fire. Shadows dance and laugh in silence. Aunt May leaps over Mr. Hayde, teeth bared, as the pain of shifting erupts in my body and explodes every joint and muscle. But it's a whimper compared to the agony of Cayden's. Sadness fills me, ballooning by the second, and I know what it means.

  Cayden will die right here.

  Unless we kill the warlock ordering these spirits to hurt him.

  I have to kill a human.

  The room tilts as my clothes fall away and I wiggle out of my jeans and coat on four legs. Mr. Hayde backs against the wall as Aunt May advances, swiping with claws, afraid to bite and infect this piece of crap. Cayden continues to roll on the floor, surrounded by moving shadows on the edge of reality. I growl, reaching for the most primal parts within and hoping for once Remus wasn't too kind or too human. I growl and charge Mr. Hayde, leaping over Aunt May with teeth bared.

  He shouts something in Latin, and the building cracks around us. A beam falls from the ceiling with a whoosh, and I dodge in time to avoid it hitting me on the head. Aunt May yelps as the post strikes her haunch, and she flinches and darts away from Mr. Hayde. He uses the distraction to pull a cloth bag from his pocket. Once he lights it, I'm done.

  Cayden yelps again.

  Run, Brie. His voice is so full of pain I flinch. The wave of sadness, a despair so deep I can never crawl out again, rises into a tsunami and roars towards shore. It'll obliterate everything in its path.

  Mr. Hayde flicks a lighter.

  He holds it to the bag which ignites.

  I leap, not daring to breathe. Fumes rise and sting my eyes. Mr. Hayde holds the poison in front of him as smoke fills the space behind the counter.

  I fly through it, landing on his chest and knocking him to the ground. He lands on his back with a grunt as he releases the poison bag. It rolls away and hits the dry-rotted wall. The fumes fall to the floor where I am. My lungs burn. I need more oxygen than usual as a wolf. I can't hold out much longer. Darkness closes in. It could be the
lack of air. Or worse.

  Mr. Hayde eyes me with terror, begging for mercy.

  Before he can raise his hands to his face, I bite, sinking my teeth into his throat.

  He manages a horrific gurgle that almost makes me pull back and let him live. But against every fiber of my Noble being, I dig my teeth into soft flesh, scraping the bone of his spine as blood gushes into my mouth. The warlock makes a horrific whistling sound as air escapes through the new hole. It fills my head, lodging there forever while Aunt May watches my act.

  Mr. Hayde thrashes for a few more seconds.

  And then he goes still.

  I maintain my grip on his throat as Cayden also goes silent, lapsing into ragged breaths. He's still alive, clinging by a thread. The tsunami of despair stops right at the shore and calms. The shadows at the corners of my vision still, then retreat.

  Aunt May sucks in a breath.

  I raise my muzzle from Mr. Hayde's bloody throat. I've seen plenty of gore, but until now, it was that of deer and other prey animals. Never a human. I look away, stomach churning at the metallic taste of his blood lingers on my tongue.

  Aunt May and I look at each other. Dizziness strikes me as I breathe the fumes from the poison bag. I stagger back into fresh air as she keeps eye contact.

  I've done what no Noble should do.

  Terror pumps through me as I search Aunt May's blue eyes for understanding, but she turns away.

  And I hear the footsteps approaching the shack too late. Human footsteps, that of a young man and two others. I exhale, casting away the rest of the poison, and eye the door.

  Three figures, dark against the sun and snow, gather in the doorway.

  Mr. and Mrs. Russell, both with leather bags on their hips. They must have used magic to find us or they followed the wolf prints.

  And Brett, just tall enough to see over the counter. He reaches up, drops his sunglasses, and eyes Cayden, who still manages ragged breaths on the floor. Then he lifts his gaze to the bloody form of his father.

  Brett's jaw drops. He pales, opening and closing his fists. The Russells survey the scene in shock. Had I waited—

  A whimper rises from my throat.