Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
My steps crunched over leaves and branches as I walked with Lorelai passed out in my arms.
Her heartbeat was steady, so was the baby’s, but I still pushed my shadows in, joining ours together to keep them both as strong as possible as they healed.
I could heal later, once she was safe in the city walls.
“Thank you,” Derik breathed through the link, and I smiled.
“For helping her defeat a fire demon?”
“For getting to her in time. That explosion should have killed her,” Kai growled, and I grimaced.
“It was trying to. Does Cain have any information from Tabitha?” I asked.
Cain had left as soon as the explosion had hit to go and find out what the hell we were dealing with. He was still out of the link, so I had no idea whether he had made it or not.
“He’s still there. But the wolves are feral here, so we don’t have time to go check on him. He’s in the attic of the mansion with his candles doing whatever he does to talk with her.” Kai scoffed.
I hated that they left him alone to do his magic whenever he wanted. He could be a part of this.
“Don’t, Braxton. He is a part of our pack, we would feel it. He will feel your disconnection. It weakens us.”
“What’s wrong with the pack? Feral how?” I ignored his condescension and moved on. I would never accept Cain the way they did. Not when I knew what he was capable of.
“They’re having trouble fighting back their wolves. We’re holding them off, but there are a lot of them, and even with Galen, we’re a little outnumbered.” Derik sighed.
I checked through their eyes, wincing as I saw the gnashing teeth and angry red eyes surrounding the entrance to the mansion.
Galen was there, casual as ever, his face stoic, his hands in his pockets as he bared his teeth at any of the wolves who dared to come forward.
My brothers were giving warning growls in alpha voices, but it was only reaching half of them.
I pushed strength back through to reinforce the alpha tone, and Derik released a howl that I heard from where we were.
I grinned as they all froze, whining and whimpering, howling back before sinking to their knees. The pack link was a frenzy of emotions, and I had to back away from that so I could concentrate.
I was so focused on my shadows on Lorelai, my alpha strength in the link, that I heard the crack of the branches behind us when it was too late–it was already too close. I knew we were being followed.
I broke into a run, ripping my strength back and forcing my aching body to do what it needed to keep us safe.
I just hoped it was enough.
30. The Boundary
LORELAI
I was jostled awake by my body being shaken, panting and howling in my ear.
My eyes flung open, and I frowned up at Brax, who had gritted teeth and was carrying me in strong arms. He was running, and I had no idea why, but his glance down at me was filled with worry.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as he ran.
“We’re being followed. Probably hunted, and they are taking this all the way to the city,” Brax growled, glancing over his shoulder.
I looked back over his shoulder too, gasping as I saw the humans chasing us. They weren’t being shy; they were focused on keeping up.
“Put me down, we can both run,” I said, hoping that would help, but he shook his head.
“You’re too slow.”
“Am not,” I bit back, but he chuckled through his labored breaths.
“Yeah, you are, Spitfire. You’re about to pop, there’s no running for you,” he said, and refused to untuck me from his arms. He was probably right anyway.
The forest blurred around me before there were arrows sailing through the air toward us. I froze and threw up a shield, the arrows bouncing off it.
I blew out a breath of relief, the idea that he could have gotten hit while I was passed out stressing me out.
I rubbed my stomach as the tension pulled at it, hating that the fight wasn’t over yet.
“Why are they chasing us? Surely they know the city is protected by wolves?” I said.
He shrugged, pushing harder with the shield stopping their waves of attack.
“That’s what I’m worried about. The wolves are feral right now, and the wind has turned. The chill means snow will fall within the day. They will get stuck in it, and yet they advance.
“None of this makes sense anymore, but I need to meet with the others before we can decide what to do,” he said just as the city came into view over the hill.
He moved faster, and I had to admit, he was fast, much faster than I thought a wolf could move.
I had seen them run before, but with my shield stopping anything from reaching us and the humans forcing us to keep moving, it had us making up time unlike anything I had seen.
“The humans are still on us!” Brax growled in our link.
Kai growled and Derik huffed.
“So are the wolves. Winter is here. Run, Brax,” Derik ordered.
I curled farther in, holding as much of my own weight as possible so he could move us faster across the plains.
The humans were closing in though. I had no idea how they were moving so fast, how they were keeping up, but they were.
They were coming closer, and their swords were drawn. The arrows stopped, and they bashed against my purple shield, testing it for weaknesses.
I had to admit, it was weaker than normal. Every hit felt like it was directly on me. I winced, grimacing as I fought to keep my shield up against them as we barreled into the city.
Brax put me down inside the gates, and I kept my shield up at the threshold. The humans stopped, most of them grinning and smirking, pacing.
Brax snarled, his roar making the gates clank as they closed.
Then the snow started. Soft puffs of white that seemed so innocent and gentle but were detrimental to the wolves. There would be no full moons for three months, and they were already feeling it.
The gate sealed shut. I left my shield up, but the humans didn’t retreat.
“What are they doing?” I trembled as the snow soaked through my clothes.
Brax pulled me into him, his frown and worry piercing our link.
Howls and roars erupted in the eerie silence, and we turned our heads in the direction.
“We have to get to the mansion,” he said, but his eyes went back to the humans.
They weren’t leaving. It was creepy as hell and made my skin raise in little bumps across my skin as they watched us step back.
“Do the spell,” one of the humans said, his voice deep and husky.
I stopped Brax from retreating. “They’re doing a spell.”
“Impossible. Humans cannot wield magic,” Brax said, but he stepped closer to the gate to watch with me.
The humans ignored us, pulling pouches from their belts, satchels of a black dust. I coughed as I felt it. It was suffocating, making me choke and draw in ragged breaths.
I backed up quickly with Brax as they sprinkled it across the line of the gate and my shield.
They poured it along the wall line as well, and I coughed again, the snow and eerie tension still making me uneasy.
Cain came over then, his lithe body running toward us as he snarled.
He shouted some words in a foreign language, and every human flicked their eyes to him, black and unmoving, before they went back to pouring their dust.
“Fuck,” Cain bit, and pulled us back. “Don’t touch the wall. You’ll burn,” he said in a deathly dangerous tone.
“Burn?”
“Yeah. They’re locking us in.”
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?