by B M Griffin
“That was not part of the deal,” she spoke though her teeth, something that was becoming so regular she was surprised she hadn’t ground them down to dull nubs. “I never agreed to be your show pony.”
Kevin shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s just say, I’m adjusting our terms. That is, of course, assuming you still want to make sure your pack and your little boyfriend remain safe.” When she didn’t respond he just smiled and reached for the doorknob. “I’ll give you a little more time to think about it, but Shayla, you should make up your mind sooner rather than later. I’m not well known for exercising patience.”
Kevin shut the door and Shayla waited until the sound of his footsteps faded away before she collapsed on the bed, and she let out all the emotions she’d been trying to lock up. She couldn’t do this anymore. She thought she could, but Kevin wasn’t going to stop. He was going to push her until she did one of two things: caved and followed along with his wishes, or snapped and killed him. Neither would sit well in her heart. She hadn’t been made for this, for hurting people, for killing them, and it was ripping her apart. She’d given up her life with Adam, and for what, so Kevin could force her into doing things she’d been trying to escape.
Shayla stood up from the bed and wiped the tears from her face with the back of her arm. She was done. She wouldn’t be bullied anymore, and she wouldn’t let this narcissistic asshole hurt anymore of the people she cared about. She would do what needed to be done and then she would go home, back to Adam, and pray that he would forgive her for leaving and take her back. She knew what she had to do to ensure Kevin’s pack wouldn’t attack hers, or anyone else’s again. It meant she would have to do something she’d hoped to never do again, but she couldn’t think of any way around it. She was going to challenge Kevin and take his place as alpha. It was the werewolf way. Jared had done it to make things right in their pack when Mike lost his way, and she could do it now to save everyone she loved. She could do it. She had to.
****
Adam
Adam shot up in bed. He’d felt her. For the first time in weeks, he’d felt Shayla. He’d been worried that something terrible had happened to her. He couldn’t feel the connection that they’d had since his wolf began bonding with hers, but it had just slammed into him like a wrecking ball.
He was down the hall and banging on Jared’s door in record time. “Jared! Jared, you’ve gotta get up!”
Adam started pounding on the door again and nearly slammed the side of his fist into Jared’s nose when he finally opened the door. “Adam, what the fuck.”
His voice was shaky when he spoke, “It’s Shayla. I can feel her again.”
The door to Jared’s room was snatched wide and Megan was there, her hair mussed up and matted to the side of her head, but it was the look on her face that drew the most attention. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot from lack of sleep and crying. He could see the tears were threatening to spill over once again.
“You know where she is?”
Megan’s voice came out in a broken whisper. Adam hadn’t seen much of her since the night Shayla agreed to leave with Kevin. She’d kept herself locked up inside Jared’s room. Based on how often Jared said she cried herself to sleep Adam was surprised she hadn’t lost her voice all together. She believed Shayla was dead, a possibility he’d firmly rejected.
Adam closed his eyes and concentrated on the hum that was his connection to Shayla. Could hear Megan rambling and he focused harder to drown her out so the only thing that made it passed his barrier was the humming in his soul.
“Adam?”
His eyes flew open when he heard Shayla’s voice in his mind. It was really her. His heart started doing summersaults like a gymnast in his chest. It was the first time the thing had truly beat since he woke up and found out she was gone.
“I know where she is.”
“We’ll leave right away,” Jared said. “I’ll have everyone meet us downstairs in ten.”
Jared turned back into his room and Adam called his name. “Hey, Jared.” Jared turned to look at him. “Thank you.”
Jared shook his head. “She’s pack and that makes her family. You don’t have to thank me for anything.”
Adam didn’t agree, but he knew there was no point in arguing with his friend. Jared blamed himself for letting Shayla leave with Kevin. Blamed himself for not fighting harder to make her stay, but Adam knew it wasn’t his fault. When Shayla made her mind up about something there was no stopping her. Closing his eyes, he focused on Shayla. “I’m coming to get you, Shay. I love you.”
****
Adam couldn’t believe that Shayla had been so close all along. He’d followed the pull of their connection to a large house in the middle of the woods about only fifty miles from Jared’s. The pack was making their way around the perimeter of the house, getting a feel for whatever security that Kevin had in place.
“Lou says there are at least two guards at all of the entrances,” Jared said.
Adam just nodded. He was ready to go in. Ready to get Shayla back, and he didn’t care how many guards there were, or how many werewolves were lurking around inside, they weren’t going to stop him from getting to his mate.
A loud blast sounded off inside of the house. Purple light briefly flooded the house through every window Adam could see. “Shayla.”
He didn’t wait for Jared or the rest of his pack to respond before he shifted and went running toward the front doors like lightning in the night. What he found when he got inside, sent a rage through him like nothing he’d ever felt before. Shayla was pinned against a wall. She was in her wolf form, purple fire and all, and he couldn’t figure out what in the hell was holding her up there. There were no chains, and no ropes-not that they could have held her anyway-there was nothing. It was like she was suspended by nothing but air itself.
“Shayla!”
“Adam, oh God! You’ve got to get out of here.”
Even in his mind he could hear her fear, and he could feel it deep within his soul, but what could possibly have her so afraid? She was the most powerful werewolf he’d ever known.
“I’m not going anywhere without you,” he told her.
In the next few seconds, Jared and the rest of his pack came rushing into the house. They all pulled the same stop and stare as Adam when they caught sight of Shayla.
“What the fuck?” Jared said.
They moved in closer and that was when Adam spotted him. Kevin was standing below Shayla, his back to Adam, but he quickly turned around as they approached and they all came to a dead stop when they saw his face. His eyes were black as night except for his pupils which were blood red. His face was the source of nightmares, black and scaly, and his mouth was stretched wide in the most terrifying smile Adam had ever witnessed. Oh, and his teeth, even a werewolf didn’t have teeth as razor sharp as the daggers lining Kevin’s gums. Adam had never seen anything like him and he had no idea what he was. What he did know was that Kevin Hall was no werewolf. At least not like any he’d ever encountered.
“Hello, Adam. I’m so glad you could join us,” Kevin said. “See, your girlfriend up there got this bright idea in her head that she could challenge me and take my place as alpha. She had this silly idea in her head that if she issued a challenge I couldn’t refuse and my pack couldn’t intervene. I suppose if we followed werewolf law, she’d be right, but luckily for me that’s not something I’ve ever been too concerned with. Most of my pack know not to challenge me, unfortunately, Shayla underestimated my powers. She assumed, like I’m sure you all have, that there wasn’t anything special about me. Never underestimate a man because he prefers to let others handle the dirty work. That’s just smart business. Did you all really think I could have grown my pack this large without having a few big secrets of my own?”
“What are you?” Adam sneered.
“Oh, I’ll tell you what I am and that’s more powerful than you. See, I found a way to become stronger, become more than just some mediocre
werewolf, and make myself something truly powerful. It was easy, really. All I had to do was give my soul to the devil, and in return, he made me this.”
Kevin waved his arms around himself like he was showing off a new shiny car or some shit. Had he not seen himself? He was one ugly S.O.B. and Adam had heard enough.
“Too bad for you it’s not gonna help you survive this night.”
Adam lunged for Kevin and all hell broke loose. He called out to Joanna to help get Shayla down right before Kevin flicked his wrist and sent Adam crashing into a wall on the other side of the room. Adam got right back up and launched himself at Kevin again with the same results. Fuck! This was going to make shit a bit more complicated.
Kevin was busy laughing and waving his fingers at Adam, taunting him, when someone crashed into him from behind. Kevin’s body was immediately engulfed by Shayla’s purple flames and Adam smiled inside. “Good job, Shay.”
“No Adam, run!” Shayla yelled. “That won’t hold him long, trust me.”
He kept his eyes on Kevin while making his way across the room to Shayla. He watched as the flames diminished, and it looked as though Kevin was somehow absorbing them.
Kevin smiled in their direction and winked at Shayla as the last of the purple flames died out. “You’ve got to do better than that Shayla.”
“Holy shit!” Adam thought.
Shayla crossed the distance between them, stopping when her and Adam were side by side. “That’s what I said,” she told him.
Adam met her eyes. “Together?”
She nodded. “Together.”
They both forced all their power to the surface. Shayla encased in vibrant purple flames, and Adam in blue. The speed with which they launched themselves at Kevin made them look like nothing more than a flash of light. Adam sank his teeth into Kevin’s arm just as Shayla caught his thigh. The arrogant asshole let out a shriek so piercing the glass in the surrounding windows shattered, tiny shards flying everywhere. Adam released his hold on Kevin’s arm and sank his teeth into the throat of the beast. He struck Kevin fast and hard with the intent to kill, and when he felt the bones in the back of Kevin’s neck crush under the weight of his bite and Kevin’s body going lax he was convinced he had succeeded.
Shayla released her hold on him and Adam followed suit. Kevin’s limp body fell to the ground. Adam checked for any sign he was alive, but there was no heartbeat and no signs of him breathing.
Adam looked around the room and saw that all of the fighting had stopped, and werewolves were quickly shifting back to their human selves. Adam and Shayla followed suit and as soon as he was back on two feet his arms were around Shayla, and he brought his mouth down over hers kissing her with everything he had. He could feel the pieces of his heart falling back into place, the dark pit his should had become shined brightly as he reconnected with his mate.
“What the fuck?”
Jared’s words pulled him out of his happy place and Adam and Shayla walked over beside him.
“What the fuck?” Adam repeated Jared’s words. “Where did the body go? He was right here. I left him here.”
Jared looked up at him. “Are you sure he was dead?”
“Yes.”
Adam looked around and spotted a couple of people he didn’t know, so they had to be members of Kevin’s pack. He got in their faces with his jaw clenched tight. “Where is he?”
The two men looked at each other, then back at Adam and one said, “We don’t know.”
“He’s your alpha. You can sense him.”
They shook their heads again. “He’s not our alpha anymore.” Adam cocked a brow at them. “You are.”
He held up his hand, blue flames coming to life and surrounding his palm. “I’m going to give you one more chance to tell the truth.”
“We are. I felt our bond to him break as soon as you sank your teeth in his neck, and then I could feel that same bond shift to you.”
Shayla stepped up next to him and put her hand on his shoulder. “They’re telling the truth, Adam. He did die.”
“Then where is he?”
“Remember, he said he made a deal with the devil. My guess is the devil collected.”
“So, you think he’s in hell?” Adam asked her.
“No, I don’t. I just don’t think he’s here, but I think we’ll hear from him again. He doesn’t give up, and now he’ll be even more determined to beat us than before.”
“She’s right,” one of the men spoke up. “If he isn’t really dead, or in hell, or whatever, he will come after you. All of you, and it’ll be bad.”
Adam felt his anger growing again, but Shayla took his hand and pulled him in closer to her. “He’s not here now.”
“But…”
She put a finger over his mouth to shut him up. “He’s not here, but we are and our pack is much larger now. We will work and prepare for the day he shows his face again, but for now, let’s just go home. We all deserve some time with the people we love away from all of this.”
Adam tightened his hold on her waist and bent to give her a swift kiss. “I missed you.”
“And I missed you. Let’s go home.”
He kissed her again. “Shay.”
“Yes, Adam.”
“I love you.”
She smiled. “I love you, too.”
EPILOGUE
Adam
“Adam, the door’s locked.”
Adam grinned when Shayla’s voiced popped up in his mind.
“Use your key, Shay.”
“Adam.” He could hear her eyes rolling. “If I had my key don’t you think I would’ve already done that.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have rushed out this morning.”
“Some of us have careers we’re trying to salvage and being late isn’t a part of the deal. Dammit Adam, would you just get your ass down here and open the door.”
Adam laughed. “Alright, I’m coming. Calm down before you burn the house down or something.”
“Adam.”
He opened the door right before Shayla brought her fist down on it again and she stomped passed him through the door, then came to an immediate stop.
There whole pack was there, Megan included, and the room was decked in flowers and little twinkling lights from floor to ceiling—he’d have to thank Joanna and Kelly again later. Shayla’s hands flew up to cover her mouth and when she turned around her eyes were glistening.
Adam dropped to one knee and held up the ring he’d been waiting to give her for most of his life. It had been his mother’s and he’d known he wanted Shayla to wear it since they were teenagers growing up.
“Shayla, there has never and will never be anyone else for me. I want to spend every day for the rest of forever showing you just how much you mean to me. I have always loved you. Will you marry me?”
Shayla threw her arms around his neck and crushed her lips to his. The room went crazy. When she finally pulled back she smiled at him and it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“Yes. I will marry you, and just so we’re clear, I have always loved you too.”
The End
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to my beta readers, Piper, Barbara, and Susan. I would also like to thank KP Designs for the beautiful cover work.
EXTRAS
Aurora is the leader of the underworld. She is unlike anything humans have ever heard of. She is neither vampire, werewolf, witch, angel, nor demon...she is everything in one. When Aurora meets Gregor, a human, she winds up saving his life when he’s suddenly attacked. Defying all laws against it, she brings Gregor to her home in the underworld. Aurora and Gregor are both drawn to each other like something powerful is pulling them together. However, there is a great war coming and it’s Aurora’s duty to protect not only her people, but the humans of earth from evil creatures known as the Shaitan. The Shaitan’s numbers have magically grown and they put everything into getting rid of Aurora and her kind so they might rule the earth. In the end,
Aurora and Gregor must accept their fate and come together if they stand a chance against the Shaitan.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bonnie Griffin, (a.k.a. B.M. Griffin), is currently working on her second book Aurora which will be coming soon. She is a happily married mother of two wonderful daughters and they are her why. Bonnie is from a small town in North Carolina, US. Reading and writing have long been Bonnie’s passion, and she is excited to pursue that dream.
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