The Alpha Legacy Boxed Set 1-7

by Holly Hook

  "Seriously. Are you secretly dating my sister?" Cayden asks.

  Brett snorts at him as we get off the bus in front of the hotel. "This is a place of history. The cult used to take excursions here to celebrate Romulus's victory over his brother. Said it was part of building the link to the Savage King." He steps down onto the sidewalk in that cocky way of his. "Never came myself. Neither one of us were involved at the time."

  I follow, the contents of my stomach (and there isn't much) lurching. "The whole cult knows where the gravesite is?"

  Brett whirls on me, and since he's grabbed his sister's arm again, he half-drags her by mistake right on the sidewalk. "I thought you'd come to that conclusion yourself? How else would I know about the gravesite? Never been there myself, but I've heard the stories. Our awesome father used to show us pictures and tell us where it was so we could be faithful cult members when we grew up. Ta-da!"

  Cayden and I exchange a glance. My mate's eyes harden. We both must be thinking the same thing. Brett should have told us this a long time ago, like right away.

  "Why didn't you tell us this immediately?" I ask.

  "Because I thought you'd figure that out?" Brett asks.

  Cayden pulls on the back of my shirt so that I'm pressing up against him and he's breathing on my neck. It's another protective move.

  My face heats. "Brett, you're an idiot. That means the cult could figure out where we're going if they got even the slightest hint that we've left town. They know what we want to do. I thought you had figured that out." We're even, but now that I know what's been bothering me, panic explodes and replaces the dread.

  Behind us, the bus closes its door and pulls away. I see the hotel we're standing outside of is called the Portrait something. Its lavish interior, complete with a water fountain, tells me that if the cult comes to Rome on excursions they must have money, just like Brett. For all we know, they're on a plane over the ocean right now.

  "Is there anything else we need to know?" I ask Brett.

  He balks. "I never went on these things myself. But they never used hotels, so we should be safe here. The cult always used safe houses."

  "Did the cult ever tour Rome itself?" I ask. "Did they plan to come back here or catch a whiff of what we were going to do?"

  "Karina?" Brett asks. "You were closer to everyone."

  She snaps back to life. "There are so many romantic Italian names that I don't know. When Father told me about his trip, he focused on the battle site." For once there isn't much hatred in her voice.

  The four of us stand there, staring at each other. "We have to take our chances," I say at last. "If the cult doesn't know exactly where we're staying, we should make it through tonight. If they're even on their way."

  "We had better," Cayden tells Brett.

  "It depends on if Karina is lying," I say, glaring right at her. It's late and I don't have patience for her. "Karina. Are you telling the truth?"

  Then she gets ugly on me, fixing me in her hateful stare. "I don't know!"

  The night seems darker and though the stars are out tonight, they fade out of existence as Karina continues to stare me down. Her dark spirits are at work, ready to descend on us, and already I feel a faint pressure in my chest. Cayden groans and releases the back of my shirt. He's feeling his curse, too.

  "May you suffer misfortune," she says.

  "Sis!" Brett says. "You're not going to accomplish anything by getting all witchy on these guys. They're just trying to help both of us."

  But it's too late. Karina's gaze shifts to the street, which the bus has left empty, and I follow her gaze to a limo parked well down it, dark and lifeless. Or at least, I thought it was lifeless. All four doors open at once, and just like in a scene from a bad crime movie, six people step out at once, clad in black robes with red trim. The leader, a stereotypical witch with a hooked nose and deep wrinkles, glances at Karina and nods with what must be reassurance. Artemis. The high priestess of the cult.

  Karina's somehow called them here before we even got on the plane. The drugs didn't stop her after all. Romulus's cult has beaten us here.

  Chapter Seven

  "Back away from the freaks," Cayden whispers, throwing his arm out to push me back.

  I take a sharp breath. The curse. With half the cult members here, Brett won't be able to hold the dark spirits off Cayden if he tries to protect me. Next to me, Cayden lets a growl rise from his throat and he grabs at his leather jacket with his free hand.

  "No." I leap in front of Cayden.

  The head priestess approaches with confidence that terrifies me. Equally scary is the fact that we didn't detect them until now. Karina sidesteps away from us, ready to run back to her people. She still doesn't get it.

  "Can you kindly give us back our member?" Artemis asks. Her voice is scratchy but full of fake syrup. "Karina?" She turns her hawk-like nose to her, but bites her lip and runs her tongue over her two front teeth.

  "Don't go to her," I say. It's a trick. Artemis might be old and experienced but I see her lie. Artemis doesn't care about Karina. The look in her eyes is cold and calculated.

  "I..." Karina takes a step towards the cult and stops.

  "They're going to hurt you!" I shout at her. I hate to reveal the truth in front of this old witch, but I have to. We have to keep Karina with us. "They won't let a Noble Wolf back into the cult."

  Karina turns a hateful glare on me and the world pulses with darkness. But Artemis leans back, closing her mouth into a stormy frown.

  "Brie, back away," Cayden says. He puts his body in front of me, leaving me to look over his shoulder.

  "Walk over to us, Karina. And we will be on our way." Artemis's voice crawls over my skin as she eyes Brett, and then one of the men who stands at her side.

  He has a gun in his robe. I smell the cold metal and the sweat around his palm. Dark spirits aren't necessary to take Brett out when something else will work better.

  I have the feeling he's loaded the weapon with silver bullets.

  "They have a gun!" I shout.

  "What?" she snaps her gaze to me.

  The warlock by the car, a cruel-looking man with a scar down his face, draws his weapon. The pistol is old, cold and lifeless, with bullets clinking in the chamber. And he’s training his stare not on me or Cayden, but the Hayde siblings.

  “Stay away from her,” Brett shouts, jumping in front of his sister.

  “Brett!” Karina shouts.

  Artemis steps aside, robes sweeping, to give the shooter room to aim.

  Strength flows into my limbs as the protective urge comes over me. It’s my job to protect the Haydes. They’re our people now. I leap and grab Karina’s sleeve, yanking her back, and Brett’s, too. With a heave, I make the two crash into me as the gun fires. The bullet whistles through the air, seeking its mark, only to spark off a light post where Karina stood.

  The bullet lands and rolls down the sidewalk. It’s silver, all right.

  “Get inside!” Cayden shouts, shoving me towards the hotel entrance.

  Darkness swirls as Brett crashes into the door beside us. The cult members shout at each other, but Cayden, back to me, forces me back into the hotel doors before I can listen to their orders.

  “Get inside,” Brett shouts, opening the one beside me. I’ve lost grip of him and his sister. He shoves Karina, whose eyes are widened in shock and fear—into the empty lobby.

  Cayden and I follow. There’s no time to shift and attack the cult. We can’t outrun bullets. Outside and out of sight, the man reloads his gun and I hear the click of another bullet snapping into place.

  “What’s happening?” Karina asks.

  “She tried to kill you,” I say. Yeah, blunt, but she needs that.

  Karina glares at me and shakes her head. It's not sinking in yet. But there’s no time to smack my head on the wall.

  “The elevator,” Cayden says, pointing to some lavish metal doors on the other side of the water fountain. He grips my hand, squeezing
so tight I can't feel my pulse there.

  “Do not go in the elevator,” Brett shouts.

  Yeah. That could be bad with the cult being able to use dark magic. Outside, footfalls approach the glass doors. Three cult members are coming and I hear a finger curling around a trigger.

  “Stairs!” I shout. We’re still faster than them.

  “They didn’t just try to kill me!” Karina shouts.

  “They want us both dead, sis,” Brett shouts, pulling her around a corner and into a stairwell.

  Cayden and I bolt around the corner after them just as the glass doors swing open, pushed by rushing bodies. I let the Haydes go up the steps first. The cult doesn’t want me dead. Just the people they know they can't take back. I’ll go last. They won’t shoot me, but they might Cayden.

  “Go!” I shout, waving him ahead.

  Cayden hesitates. He still wants to be the protector, and losing him will send me into darkness. So I shove him forward and he storms up the stairs without looking back.

  I follow. The stairs form a metal spiral, making me dizzy as I run. And worse, I can see the lobby below between steps. Three cult men run past the water fountain. Air whooshes as the first stops and raises his gun at the stairwell.

  “Brianna. Give yourself up and we won’t hurt your pack members.”

  It’s a lie. I inhale and continue. The air reeks of metal and terror. Even the cult members give it off.

  We pass the first floor landing. The building must have four levels, and I fear we’re going to have to go to the top. I hear people shifting in their rooms as we continue to climb. One man snores. A woman’s taking a late night shower. Someone else speaks on a phone in a language I don’t understand. Most of these people are tourists, and for a horrible moment I wonder if the cult will hurt them to get to us.

  My best hope is that they don’t want to draw attention to themselves in a major city.

  “To the top,” Brett whispers from above. He continues to climb, and though he’s out of sight, I can hear that he’s still holding his sister’s shirt sleeve. And despite what she says, she’s not trying to pull away anymore.

  The cult members downstairs have stopped moving, maybe wondering what to do. They’ll have a plan, I’m sure.

  “Can we survive a jump off the roof?” I ask Cayden.

  He stops just after the third floor and lets me catch up to him. I grab his shoulder as a tingle of excitement briefly washes over me.

  “I don't know," he says, hazel eyes wide and dilated.

  Downstairs, a single cult member—probably the one with the gun—approaches the stairwell. His steps, though quiet for a human’s, are as calculated as any predator’s.

  “That’s our best option,” I hiss.

  And then I hear the other two cult members leaving the building. The whoosh of the glass door follows.

  “Maybe not,” Cayden says. He lifts and eyebrow, telling me he’s heard it, too. Above us, Brett and Karina continue to climb without a word. “They’re setting a trap for us. Let me go down there and slow them down so you can get out of here.”

  No. Not this now. “We’re leaving together,” I order, as much as I know Cayden will hate it. I can’t bear to separate again. This time, it might be permanent. If the silver bullets don’t kill him, the curse might. The cult will make sure of that.

  The connection between us stretches with tension. I feel Cayden’s darkness flowing into me, his urge to be the Noble protector he is. “Brie, I know how to hold the curse off. Trust me.”

  I can’t. I just can’t. “Come on." I shove him onto the next step.

  The hurt that fills Cayden’s godlike eyes slams into my chest, making a ripple of darkness spread through my body. The pressure starts within, threatening to open the gates for the Savage King, but I take a breath, trying to focus on the time Cayden and I sang together on stage. Anything but this mess we’ve gotten into. He turns away from me, hiking up his shoulders, as we finish the climb to the fourth floor of the Portrait hotel.

  Brett and Karina wait in the hallway among closed doors and red carpet. Cayden speaks before I can. “The assassin’s at the bottom of the steps and the rest of the cult is outside. They want to make sure we have to leave through the stairwell or by jumping off the building. Either way, they’ll have some bad news for us.”

  He speaks like I don’t exist. My muscles tense as I step in front of him. We'll argue about this later. “We’re safe for now because the guy’s not coming up the stairs. I’d hear him. And the cult outside is waiting. We have time to figure out what to do.”

  “I doubt we have time to wait for the others to get here,” Brett says. He pulls Karina closer to him, though I don’t think she’s going to run at this point. She’s gone quiet again, biting her lip.

  “What can they do from down there?” I ask. I think of fire, but the outside of the hotel is mostly brick and not easy to light. Buildings are different here than they are in Breck. But the cult has the dark spirits at its disposal, with six cult members against two former members. Not good odds, unless Karina suddenly decides to cooperate.

  “I smelled those horrible herbs, so I’m guessing they’re going to smoke out the area around the hotel,” Brett says. “And those dark spirits find ways to get to people. They're hard to predict."

  “And we left them down there to plan,” I say, regretting it right away.

  “Brie, remember when I distracted Earl when he was shooting at us?” Cayden asks, blocking my view of Brett. Uh, oh.

  “This is the cult and there are six of them." I should be the one going out there to distract the cult. They aren’t aiming to kill me—just make it so Romulus can take over. Everyone else is on their hit list, and I’m willing to bet the number one target is the man standing in front of me. Take him out, and I’ll go dark for sure. The sun will set permanently.

  “I'll distract them,” Cayden says. “I’ll shift. Jump. The one with the gun is inside, so if I jump out a window—“

  “No,” I demand, shaking. I seize Cayden's arms, hoping he'll stay with me and stay alive. He can't do this alone. Behind him, Brett and Karina shrink back.

  “What other options do we have?” Cayden asks. I sense my own authority pushing back on me. Cayden is the beta, after all, and almost as powerful as me.

  “Just let him do it,” Brett says. “I could, but I’m not leaving Karina, and besides, I’ve never done this shifting thing before.” He reeks of fear. Brett’s legit terrified.

  Karina cringes at the reminder of their changes. The hallway goes quiet. There aren’t many people up here—two who are sleeping in separate rooms—and a small window at the end of the hall. Cayden seriously wants to fall four stories and distract the cult. “You'll get hurt. Please don't do this." I kiss him on the lips, but he shoves me away. "Cayden!"

  “I'll be fine," he says, softening.

  "Come on," Brett says.

  My heart races with the thought of what might happen. Everyone stares at me, waiting to make a decision. I’ve just lost Aunt May in a way and now I might lose my mate, too. An ocean of terror swirls through me and my heart pounds, trying not to drown. No matter what we do, Cayden—and possibly the Haydes—could die.

  I swallow. “We need to leave together. I’ll jump out that window and—“

  Cayden turns away, growling and pulling off his jacket. Our connection screams and I flinch. Throwing his jacket on the ground with rage, he crouches, letting the transformation sweep over him. Black fur sprouts and hackles rise. Before I can stop him, the black wolf steps out of his now-ripped jeans, leaving his shoes behind, and bolts towards the window. For a moment, his red highlights shine under the hallway lights.

  And this might be the last time I see him alive.

  Cayden leaps, crashing into the window at the end of the hall. The black wolf, leaving me with nothing but that screaming tension between us, falls into the night.

  Chapter Eight

  The air whistles as Cayden falls. Time str
etches to eternity as I stand there next to Brett and Karina, unable to scream his name. Shock and terror paralyze my limbs.

  But at last, Cayden lands with a distant thump.

  I break my trance, bolting to the window at the end of the hall in less than a second.

  “What’s going on out there?” an occupant asks from a room to my left.

  I ignore him and reach the busted window.

  The wind whistles against the building as the city of Rome stretches out under us. A black wolf lies in the alley below, just feet from the main street, panting and flexing his limbs. I hear a bone creaking as it sets. Cayden’s broken a leg but it’s healing, and I see no sign of the cult in the alley below. Just dark cars are parked both ways. Cayden takes a gasping breath and pushes himself up on shaky legs just as Brett and Karina join me at the window, looking down.

  I want to shout to him, but I don’t dare. My throat dries as I take ragged breaths. The cult would hear me. My heart races and hurts.

  Cayden gets up.

  And then I hear the cult members down below—three of them from the front of the hotel—running to meet him at the mouth of the alley. At that fall, Cayden couldn’t mask the sound of impact. They heard him with their human ears.

  “I had nothing to do with this,” Brett says.

  “Shut up,” I say. "Cayden! Run!"

  The black wolf circles, searching for an escape. But footfalls echo from both directions. Some of the cult have gone to the back of the hotel. He’s entered a trap. But he looks up at me and growls a warning. Get back.

  I can’t leave. They'll kill him even without bullets. The air is thick with darkness that mixes with the night.

  “We should go," Brett says.

  “They’re going to kill him,” I say as Cayden turns away from me again.

  The black wolf bolts towards the back alley, where two cult members seem to be standing. I watch the dark wolf blend with the night and leap over the parked cars of the alley. A man screams and shuffles as Cayden collides with him, and at the same time, a lighter flicks and something catches. The shadowy forms of a Wolf and a wrestling man come into full view.