Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
I pushed them from me, sending them to hunt down my brother. The shadows knew what I wanted and did as I asked, going down the path, through the trees, latching on to a scent that was barely my brother anymore.
I gulped and pointed down the path. “That way. Start that way,” I murmured, and the wolves took off.
Derik gave me one last look over his shoulder then shifted, and he was gone too.
Cain waited, holding the daisy chain before leaning back against the tree.
I ignored him and waited for the shadows I had roaming the forest to find the scent again, indicating a direction for the wolves to follow. It was hard to give directions in a forest though, and everything looked the same.
“I think he’s in the forest, not on the path. Tell them there’s a huge tree coming up, bigger than the others, turn right into the forest there.”
Cain closed his eyes and did that. I peered at him as his eyes turned purple.
“Can you not shift?” I asked, assuming that from the fact that he rode Kai instead of running.
“No. Only partially. I get the cool fangs and claws without the hair.”
He smirked, and I smiled at the charm laced through his words. He was friendly, and my heart warmed around him despite the tattoos and piercings that intimidated and would freak the hell out of my village.
“Why doesn’t Brax like you or your mother?” I asked, and he tensed.
“He’ll tell you the story,” he murmured, and I nodded, even though every fiber of my being wanted to demand an answer.
“Hmm,” I said, hoping he would actually tell me what was wrong. It seemed to be the one answer Brax wouldn’t give me.
I kept my shadows out. They were heading in the same direction when something slammed into me.
I went flying back against the tree as my brother’s shadows panged against mine, entwining around them as I tried to yank them back. They squealed in my head, and I clutched it.
My head spun from where it had hit the tree as Cain rushed forward. I fought my brother’s shadows, but they were so powerful, drenched in darkness.
“Don’t fight me, little sister. It’ll make it worse,” my brother said through the connection he had forced on me.
I yanked on mine, calling them back as Cain alerted the wolves what was happening, but I wasn’t sure what he could tell them.
Not even I knew what was happening. I didn’t know where my brother was or how he was attacking my shadows while I was using them.
I couldn’t see him, but he was everywhere, his scent filling me.
“Stop, Lucas!” I cried out, holding my head as it swam.
Blood leaked from my nose, from the gash in the back of my head, and then he was there and Cain was being thrown across the forest.
“Little sister. I knew you were eccentric, but I never pegged you as a traitor.” He glared, his face pale, dark shadows under his bloodshot eyes. He looked insane and not in a negotiating mood.
He was not the brother who had sent me daisy chains and letters.
A flash of purple streaked the forest, and Lucas spun away from me, but he landed on his feet, facing Cain, who was ready with more purple magic dancing across his fingers, his fangs and eyes glowing.
“You are under arrest, winter born. You are wanted for questioning regarding the disappearances of multiple humans and the murder of at least three pack members.”
Lucas scoffed as I used the tree to help me up, my shadows slowly reeling back to me, damaged and raw.
Their power had seeped out, and I had no idea how to give them energy again. They sank back inside me, and I almost collapsed at the heaviness.
“Those humans are serving a higher purpose. They were sacrifices for the greater good,” Lucas said, and his voice echoed like it wasn’t his own.
I hated hearing him sound like that. I had only heard his voice a handful of times, and it was already being distorted.
“Kneel and put your hands on your head. I really don’t want to take you out in front of your sister.” Cain sighed, and Lucas laughed maliciously.
“Not to worry, hybrid. No such thing is going to happen,” he said, and I saw the shadows at his back, getting ready for an attack–so I launched. I had no idea what for or what I was going to do, but I had to stop him from attacking Cain.
I landed on my brother and knocked him sideways, but he was quick to recover, sending a wave of shadows over Cain, burying him in them, encasing his body, keeping him still beneath them.
I couldn’t even see his face anymore, but the cold, sinking feeling in my stomach made me sure he was dying.
“Let him go!” I screamed, and Lucas shook his head.
“You should have stayed with the humans, Lorelai. You would have said yes by now if you had and then we could take over those pathetic wolves together.
“It wouldn’t be humans living off scraps anymore, it wouldn’t be winter borns getting cast aside like dirt, left to die in the snow. We would be the ones they feared, gave their offerings to. I could love who I wanted,” Lucas said, and I shook my head.
“I know they treated us like shit, Lucas, but you can’t get revenge like this. The wolves will kill you, and I just got you back,” I pleaded, but he wasn’t listening.
He snapped his head in the direction of the forest as howls swept through it. My alphas were almost there.
Lucas knew that too because he grabbed me around the waist, the other hand clamping around my mouth as I screamed and kicked and bit to get free.
But then my shadows were bursting out of me, sending Lucas flying. I wasn’t sure how I did it, but I had this overwhelming urge to fight, to not be taken by him.
I wanted to stay with my alphas.
He grunted and rolled across the ground, then got up with a visceral glare. And then he narrowed his eyes harder, and before I could stop them or react, his shadows pushed out of him, shoving me back.
I tried to fight, but their hold was too strong.
He kept shoving me back, through the shrubs, grass, wildflowers, past the trees, my dress and my flesh getting torn and scraped, my feet scuffing the ground as he dragged me back, walking forward with a determined smirk.
“You shouldn’t have picked those savages over me. I could have taken care of you.
We could have been in this together, but if you are so determined to be together with them…”
He stopped as my foot sank, his shadows holding me over the edge of a cliff.
I gasped, my heart racing, panic clutching me as I fought against the hold, scrambling for my own shadows, trying to find whatever feeling had shocked them out of me before.
I looked back over my shoulder, tears streaming down my face.
“No! Lucas, stop!” I screamed, but he shook his head.
“Say yes.”
I whimpered, shaking my head. “I can’t. I don’t want to hurt the humans or leave my alphas,” I whispered, and that had his grip tightening on my waist, strangling the air from me.
I gasped in breaths as he held me on the edge of the cliff. I couldn’t see what was at the bottom, but I knew I would be dead when I got there. His intent was clear in his eyes.
Roars and howls went off in the distance, and pain shot through me.
I could feel them, the alphas. I could feel their panic as they tried to find me. My scuff marks should be easy to track, but all it would take was one step and I’d be falling.
“You can die together too then,” he said, and then he let go.
The shadows unwrapped from my waist, and just as I sucked in the breath I so desperately craved, he let me fall.
28. The General
I didn’t want to die. I wanted more time with my alphas, and I wanted to protect my mom from whatever shitstorm Lucas was bringing on his hunt for revenge.
I had no choice. I had to survive.
Lucas spun away, disappearing into shadow as I fell. It was the last I saw of him, but I wasn’t going to let it be the last time he saw me.
I closed my eyes, the idea terrifying since my stomach had dropped the second I had fallen off the cliff, but I forced myself to focus, using my memories to help coerce my shadows to help me.
I remembered Derik’s smile when we were alone, just the two of us, the connection in Brax’s eyes when our shadows played, the devotion in Kai’s every action toward me.
It was everything I had ever craved, and I had it. I didn’t want to lose it. I didn’t want to say yes, no matter the future I missed out on because of it.
I don’t know what part of my thoughts convinced my shadows to trust me again, but it worked, and then I wasn’t falling anymore.
They burst out of me, wrapping around me like pure silk, soft and light. They warmed me up from the inside out and held me suspended in the air.
I pried open one eye and looked at the ground, gasping when I saw how close I had come to being impaled on the sharp rocks at the bottom of the cavern I had fallen into.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?