The Alpha Legacy Boxed Set 1-7

by Holly Hook

  Cayden grunts and squeezes Lawrence's neck even harder, and Lawrence leans over, almost like he's lost hope. His chest doesn't expand. He's giving up.

  And Cayden isn't. He won't let go. He won't let Lawrence lay a hand on me.

  Lawrence slumps over, but Cayden stays on his back like a parasite. The big guy falls over, not far from where his grandmother settles and gasps for breath. Blood continues to gush from her throat and she falls over, losing her coordination. Even a Guardian Wolf won't recover from such a wound. I struck an artery. She'll bleed out and weaken before she has the chance to heal. Her flesh tries to pull together, but the sound is weak and distant. And as the seconds pass, it weakens even more and vanishes. The rug stains a permanent red, and Lawrence falls to the ground, forcing Cayden to lose his grip on the bigger man's neck. But it doesn't matter now. He's unconscious. Not breathing. And he won't be getting up again.

  Cayden stands from the floor. He's pale and looks like he might throw up. Cayden. He's killed.

  And so have I.

  Abigail takes one final, gurgling breath before she stills forever.

  The air in the room feels as if it's leaving. For the first time, I realize what I've done. I've killed two other Nobles. A bad taste rises in my mouth and I slap my hand over it. “What have we done?” I ask.

  Cayden swallows and forces himself to speak. “We did what we had to. They were banished. When banished Wolves come back into a territory, the other pack members have a right to kill them. I bet you felt it. So did I. It just felt like the right thing to do.”

  “But we--” The whole room smells of blood and death.

  Cayden holds me in a glare that shocks me. “Even Nobles follow these pack laws. It's ingrained in us and I bet it's there for a reason. These two were going to kill us both. We just defended ourselves.”

  I eye the dead white wolf on the floor. Her paw begins to shift back into that of an old woman. Even Abigail, the oldest Wolf I've ever seen, died to violence. And Lawrence...all he wanted to do was protect his pack and make his grandmother happy. He lies on his side, the life gone from his eyes.

  In the other room, Mrs. Russell makes another grunt sound, probably not even audible to Cayden. I turn away from the bodies on the living room floor and run to the bedroom, because if I let myself think about this, I know what'll happen. Cayden follows on my heels. The Russells can tell me everything else that's going on. Maybe the fate of my aunt. Noah and Olivia, too.

  I pull open the bedroom door. Just as I predicted, the Russells sit against the wall, bound and gagged with yellow ropes Lawrence and Abigail must have found outside, judging from how dirty they are. Dirty cloths dig into their mouths so much they're pushing their tongues into their throats. Mr. Russell struggles to breathe, and the sight of the two makes every inch of guilt over killing the invaders vanish. They just might have hurt these two had they been sitting here much longer.

  “Shit,” Cayden says. “Get them out. I bet they can't breathe.”

  Mr. Russell is worse off, so I untie the cloth around his mouth first. His cheeks are purple as he struggles to breathe at first, and then he sucks in a gasping breath to get some oxygen in his lungs.

  “Those two,” he says. “They broke in. My wife and I didn't have time to defend ourselves. They're with Edwin. He's turned on all of us.”

  “Welcome to the club,” I say. “Why did he turn on you?”

  “Because we refused to side with him,” Mr. Russell says as I work on his wrists. “He called us. Said we had to help kill you or we'd be shamed again. He delivered an ultimatum. We tried to warn Leonora, but before we could, those two Wolves broke in. They must have been waiting just outside the door.” As he speaks, Mr. Russell turns his gaze to the floor. He fears he's making another mistake.

  “Get up,” Cayden says. “Did you two hear anything else?” He's mostly freed Mrs. Russell, who now leans over and sucks in air.

  “Edwin said something about having your aunt captive. He says he has bargaining chips and that our cooperation would help to free them,” Mr. Russell says.

  “They have my aunt?” I ask, my voice turning high and almost squeaky.

  “They?” Mrs. Russell asks. “Others are working with Edwin?”

  So we each just have part of the story. The Russells must not know about the Hunters working with Edwin. I explain that part to them, plus the part about them commandeering a bus.

  Mr. Russell shakes his head. “Then we have bigger problems than I thought. I thought Edwin and the two Wolves were the extent of the danger.”

  “Hey. You two were kept out of everything as much as we were,” Cayden says. “The Noble Order's split in two now. I don't even know what to call the splinter group.”

  “You know, I'm wondering if it was Edwin who let slip to the Savages that my family was still here all those years ago,” I say. “And he needed to blame someone else.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Russell look at each other. Then Mr. Russell shakes his head.

  “There's a reason he's the way he is. Believe me,” I say. Brett's taught me a lot about pyschology just by example.

  “I like her theory,” Mrs. Russell says. “Maybe Edwin doesn't belong in the Noble Order at all.”

  I open my mouth to say something funny, like Noah would do, but nothing comes out. Maybe the splinter group is the Noble Order more than we are. After all, they're just trying to stop Romulus from taking over the Nobles. But if they have their way, the Nobles will slowly fade away instead, since Aunt May is too old to have children of her own. I'm the last link in that department. At least our side has a chance at fixing this. Right?

  “Get up.” I help Mr. Russell to his feet. The poor man is stiff. He's been sitting on the floor for some time like this, unable to move. Joints pop as he straightens up. “We have to get the others who are out in the woods. Leonora's fine. We got the Karina girl and Cayden infected her. She's turning right now. We did it so she can't go back to the Savages. It was the only way. Brett's cooperating but he's not in a good place right now, so stay away from him. He doesn't want to drain us but he doesn't know how to stop.”

  He nods. “I understand. We'll keep distance from him.”

  “Oh, and by the way, there's a mess to clean in the living room,” I finish.

  Mrs. Russell grimaces and shakes her head at Cayden. “I was dreading that.”

  They would have heard. Of course.

  “No one will come looking for Abigail and Lawrence,” Cayden says. “You won't have any jail time if we can bury them fast enough. But we don't have time for burials right now.”

  I remember Matthew. That took two hours for a few Wolves to dig a pit for his body. Even though they were traitors, Lawrence and Abigail deserve a burial, too. It just feels right if even the worst of the Savages can get one. But Cayden's right. We don't have time. Getting to Olivia's house means everything right now.

  “We have to go,” Cayden says. “We'll tell you two what happened on the way to the place we're meeting. Come on. Can you both walk?”

  “We're not leaving until I pluck that single gray hair from Edwin's chair,” I say.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Karina is in the full throes of turning when we get back to the clearing after our two-mile hike through the woods. The Russells slow us down as they walk, and Leonora looks at them, questioning, as we approach. She, Remo, and Everly stand well away from Karina and Brett as they wait for us to reach them.

  “Olivia's house,” I say, heart pounding. “I'll explain everything on the way there.”

  Brett looks down at his sister, who rolls over. Though she's unconscious, she has the most pained grimace on her face I've ever seen. If I didn't know better, I'd say she's dying. But Brett picks her up without a word, expressionless. While Karina looks to be in pain, Brett looks dead inside. And he is. He's lost his whole reason for being.

  But he continues to walk as if an autopilot.

  Karina moves on to screaming as we keep inside the trees, well
away from town, and circle around to the opposite side of Breck where Olivia's mansion is. By the time we get there and near the back of the property, which butts up against the woods, Brett has to clamp his hand over Karina's mouth to muffle the noise. That doesn't block out the sound of her muscles pulling and her bones shifting. Cayden looks at me with a grimace as we near the back wall of Olivia's property, which towers over our heads. The evening sun starts dipping under the horizon.

  “We can't climb this,” Mr. Russell says.

  “If you don't mind one of us carrying you, we can get you over,” I explain.

  Mr. Russell grimaces. “We couldn't go around the front?”

  “I'd rather not let anyone on the street see us if the Hunters and Edwin are around,” I say. “Since I haven't heard any police sirens, I'm willing to bet they're not sitting in jail for stealing the bus. You know, I'm wondering how they got away with that.”

  “Magic?” Cayden asks.

  After the knife Edwin used on me, I'm willing to believe it.

  “The more I learn about my uncle, the more I see the truth,” Mr. Russell says, shaking his head.

  In the end, I take both the Russells over the wall. As soon as I jump over and down into Olivia's expansive yard, I smell two reassuring scents: natural makeup and the storage room of the Drama club. Olivia and Noah. They're both here, somewhere inside the house, and on the next sniff, I detect a whole concert of nature scents in there with them. Many of the Colling Wolves made it back. But Aunt May isn't with them. Her meadow scent is absent.

  “We shouldn't tell them about Lawrence and Abigail yet even though we were in the right,” Cayden whispers in my ear. I hadn't noticed him coming over the wall.

  “I won't. We'll keep them away from the Russell cabin,” I say.

  Somewhat reassured about the wall around the grounds of Olivia's house, I watch as Remo jumps over it with Leonora in his arms, and Brett finishes sloppily with Karina in tow. He stumbles at the top of the wall and comes to life for a moment. “Holy shit,” he says. “An Olympian couldn't have done that.” He lands near us and a wave of weakness comes over me a second later, so Cayden and I back away to a safe distance. But we don't have as much room to work with here.

  “You still have the hair I gave you?” I ask Brett.

  “In my pouch. Are you sure it's Edwin's?”

  “It smelled all old and musty like him,” I say.

  Karina screams underneath Brett's hand. I watch all the muscles in her left arm seize and spasm. It's painful to watch.

  “We can't have her screaming like that,” Remo says.

  “We'll just have to deal with it,” I say. “In.” I point to the back sliding door, a door I broke through once before to get inside. “It's us,” I announce as we enter.

  Of course, Dr. Bertram is gone from the house, working one of her long shifts at the hospital. Her sterile scent is barely present in her own home, even the kitchen. Even after Olivia's injury and broken leg, she's still been pretty absent in her daughter's life. We all enter the kitchen and one of the Colling Wolves, Natalie, meets us in the doorway that leads to the spacious living room.

  “I'm glad you're back,” I say, and it's genuine.

  The middle-aged woman nods, all business. “It was an ugly fight. I fear we got too close to you, but the Savages started running back into their territory like they were retreating and we had to chase them. I thought they had detected you.”

  “It was the fault of the girl we captured. I knocked her out,” I explain. Then I step aside to let Brett come in the door, still holding his sister. She groans in pain, eyes still closed.

  Natalie nods at her. “I see she won't be going back to the Savages.”

  “She sure won't,” I say, motioning her into the living room. I have to see Noah and Olivia. “Did anyone get hurt?”

  Natalie trails me. “Don took an injury but he's healing. We all stayed close together as we fought and gave the Savages a run for their money.”

  So the attack went well. I'm glad. I enter the living room to find the Colling Wolves, all in human form and dressed, sitting in a circle under the skylight. Noah and Olivia sit together, unhurt, at the mostly unused fireplace.

  “You're okay!” I rush over to hug Noah.

  “Yeah, we're awesome,” he says. “I can only really hug you with one arm since the other one is still super sore when I move it wrong, but--”

  “It's okay,” I say. “The Hunters didn't try to attack you?”

  Noah stays true to his word and hugs me with just his one arm. Olivia gives me a fake glare. I grin at her. I'm so relieved they're okay and the Colling Wolves didn't suffer any fatalities she can glare at me all she wants.

  “One of the Hunters shoved me against the wall of the gas station when they started shooting. Guess they thought I was just a bystander. Then me and Olivia got in my car and fled the scene before that could happen,” Noah says. “I barely got out and had to run over a curb since their bus was blocking the way out. I don't blame you guys for running. There's no way your SUV could have squeezed past the bus. I think I got some blue tour bus paint on my car, though. One of the other Hunters tried to shoot out my tire. I bet they wanted to take us hostage.”

  “They shot at your tire?”

  “Well, they missed. Guess they didn't train to slay tires all that well.” Noah releases me and joins Olivia.

  “What happened after that?” Cayden asks, joining me. I feel a bit of darkness coming from him. His insecurity is coming out and it's thanks to Brett standing in the kitchen which isn't far enough for us to completely escape his effects. Cayden and I might have to separate again.

  “Well, we drove back here and waited like you said,” Olivia says. “Leonora sent us a message saying we'd have a party.”

  “Good. That wall makes me feel a lot better,” I say. I look out the front window at the expansive front yard and the stone wall that rises eight feet high. “Did anyone call the cops about the missing bus?”

  Olivia nods. “I did. They said they'd look at it but heard nothing from the bus station.”

  A bad feeling fills my gut, but I'm not going to go out to the station and check on the staff. We can't risk that now. Too much is at state. The Colling Wolves look at each other and shake their heads. It seems Noah, Olivia, and then have been discussing this already.

  “Edwin and his Hunter friends are just as disgusting as the Savages,” Everly says. Then she sighs and shakes her head. “He just doesn't want to admit it.”

  Leonora's lip quivers. “I'm sorry for bringing him here.”

  I face her as Remo puts his arm around her. She looks like she's shrinking in his embrace. “It's okay. He was the only bad apple in your family. I've liked all the others.”

  “But they won't stand up to him. My great aunt just says to let him have his way and all the cousins are the same. Everyone's afraid of him and no one wants to say it out loud. My family hasn't been much help. I'm sorry.”

  “Leonora, if you hadn't brought them here, Romulus would have finished possessing Brie already,” Mr. Russell tells her. “Even Edwin helped to hold him off.”

  “But that's how he found out about her,” Leonora says. “That had to have been.”

  Duh. Of course. Abigail didn't help, either.

  “You still did the right thing,” Remo whispers in her ear.

  “So now what?” Brett asks from his spot in the back of the kitchen. I face him. He's set Karina down to thrash and groan among the chairs, but at least she's stopped screaming.

  “My Aunt May is captured by Edwin and company,” I say, voice shaking. “We have to get her back. I don't think Edwin will kill her yet since she's a Noble Royal, but he might eventually. He'll do anything to get to me.”

  “Why is Edwin so bent on harming you?” Don asks, rising from the couch. He leaves Allen and his mother sitting on either side of him.

  I've had enough of this. “We went over this. He's bent on harming everyone. Edwin has problems
,” I say. “He tried to use dark magic on me. He might be one of the Russells, but he's into dark magic and hid it from his family for years. I bet he's an agent of the cult.”

  That gets Don to slowly sit back down. No one questions me. I'm already on shaky ground. I hate keeping the truth from these Wolves, but we can't lose them. Not now. The thing is, I'm not sure how we're going to lead them to this Noble Royal burial ground so we can finally contact Remus.

  “And we need to figure out how to get May back,” Cayden adds.

  The darkness is sweeping over from him to me again. I'm sure he's feeling mine. Cayden shifts leg to leg like he's uncomfortable. Brett remains in the kitchen. Making him stand outside right now would feel really crappy, so I endure it. Besides, it's not that bad this time around. Maybe he's learning some control. So far, I don't feel any of the chest pressure.

  “I agree,” Everly says. “She's a Noble Royal, too, and we're going to need her.”

  “Yes. We will,” Don agrees.

  I'm not sure I like that. I eye the dying light outside. The sun's almost set completely and the night looks darker than normal. Maybe I'm entering my night as Cayden said he did after he lost his parents. It's a horrible feeling, like a constant set of dread, and it's then I can never blame him for acting like a jerk sometimes. The night isn't a pleasant stroll under the stars.

  But then I place my feeling of dread.

  “Brie?” Cayden asks.

  I cup my hand over my ear and listen. “Quiet.”

  The whole room tenses as I try to place my sense. Outside, far in the distance, footsteps approach, and I hear the squeak of leather with each step. Leather boots. Hunters. Maybe five of them, plus someone else approaching who wears tennis shoes and has a very slight limp. An older person.

  Edwin.

  I feel the blood drain from my face. They're walking up the street, straight towards Olivia's house, and they're showing no signs of deviating or stopping.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “It's them,” I mouth to everyone.