Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
“But I know that wasn’t him, he would never do that,” Ryleigh pleaded.
I knew my alphas didn’t care about Vaughn like I did, but I owed him my life. And the only reason our child was alive was because he had shown mercy, he had believed in the wolves.
I couldn’t let them abandon him.
“We have to save him.”
“We’re a little short on wolves right now, beautiful,” Derik said, but I shook my head.
“No, Galen said there was something I could have to slow down the contractions,” I said, turning to Galen, who was pulling on pants my mom handed him with a blush on her cheeks.
“It won’t work for long. The contractions are getting too close together.” Galen eyed my stomach, and I made Kai put me down.
“Then give it to me. How long will that give us?” I asked, still holding Kai to help me stand.
Brax kept his shadows inside me, soothing the aches every time they came, but Galen was right, they were getting more intense.
“An hour. It’ll stop them for an hour at the most,” he said, and I’d never heard him sound so unsure. “It will dull them, and even then, I’ve never used them on a winter born with your kind of magic.”
I nodded, turning to my alphas. “Go stop the witch. I’ll take the herbs. Galen and Mom can monitor me, while Cain and Beenie can go get Vaughn back,” I urged.
Kai growled, his denial shadowed by Derik’s outright refusal.
“We’re not leaving you,” Derik bit, but I needed everyone to be okay, not just me.
“The witch is too powerful; you are the only ones who can slow her down. Galen can tell you when I’m close and you can come back.
“And Cain can heal Vaughn when he gets there. He might even have information, a weakness we don’t know about,” I said, trying to convince them.
I couldn’t let the pack take on that witch knowing they were going to a slaughter if they didn’t have the alphas. My alphas gave them a chance.
“Spitfire,” Brax said, pulling my mouth against his, kissing hard before leaning his forehead on mine, “how are we meant to leave you when you are about to have our child?”
“Use your shadows, Brax. Slow her down and then come back to me. I’ll wait for you,” I whispered back, but my mom tugged my arm.
“Sweetie, it doesn’t work like that. The child will come when it is ready, not when you are.”
“Not if I take the herbs. Go get them,” I ordered, not arguing and not backing down.
It was the only way to keep everyone safe.
Galen looked hesitant, then nodded and walked off.
“Lorelai–“
“No, Kai. I can take care of the baby with Mom and Galen. You all need to go and make sure there is a realm left for it to be born into,” I said, pain piercing my words as I clenched my jaw shut.
I didn’t want to argue, I wanted to get it done. I needed them to do this.
I couldn’t give birth knowing that seconds later our child could be at the mercy of vampires because we did nothing to protect the border.
“Cain, get Beenie and go to my village. In the men’s huts, underground, there are cells. Find Vaughn, heal him. Understood?” I ordered, and he nodded, taking off, not even waiting for permission from the alphas.
“My mating bond is very against this,” Derik admitted, frowning, and I nodded.
Mine was too.
“I know. But it has to be–” I was cut off when my entire body shook with a pain so fierce I cried out, falling to the ground.
Brax caught me before I hit it, and I gasped into his arm. My magic was searing hot in my body, screaming, hissing.
I cried out again as my shadows fought it away from my stomach, but my bones felt like they were melting.
Cain hadn’t gotten far when he jumped over the banister, landing in front of me, his eyes bright and his brow furrowed.
“What’s happening?” I gasped, and he snapped his head to the alphas.
“The border! Adrenna’s there, she’s siphoning the magic into her. It’s pulling from Lorelai,” he rushed, his tone desperate as he pushed his own healing into me, but it did nothing, just put more pressure on my body.
He yanked it back. “I can’t heal her.”
“Fucking try!” Brax snapped, holding me against him as I clutched my stomach, the pain too much for me to talk through.
“I did! She’s right. The only way to stop this is to stop Adrenna.
“Lorelai won’t survive the birth without that magic in her. She hasn’t had the potion in weeks, the bite only once a day, she’s not strong enough,” Cain said, standing up and backing away.
Despite my organs screeching inside me, I still felt the tension that pulled at everyone.
“She is strong enough. She’ll make it. Galen and I will help her with whatever herbs we can.
“You three need to go and yank that bitch off the border because I swear to all that there is, if you stay here and she dies because of it, a witch will be the least of your problems,” Mom snapped, her mom voice hitting something inside me that I remembered from childhood, like when I did something she had told me not to or I needed to remember a new rule of the village.
“Go,” I whispered, “Stop her.”
Galen came back through then, frowning at me. “We’ll get her upstairs,” he said, taking me off Brax, who reluctantly let me go.
“We’ll be back soon. Hold on, Little Human,” Kai said, then kissed me, holding my cheek a second longer before stalking out the door.
Derik took his turn, saying nothing, but his words were in the feelings he sent through the link, so that was enough.
Brax gave me one last caress of his shadows before pulling them away, and I slumped against Galen. Without Brax’s shadows, only mine could fight the turning magic inside me.
I kept fighting the entire way up to my room.
Galen laid me down on the bed as Mom fussed around with hot water and linen, opening the windows for fresh air.
“Ryleigh, go get some more blankets,” Mom ordered. “Galen, give her the damn herbs already.”
Galen smirked and pushed the bottle under my nose. “Breathe it in, winter born,”
he said, and I did, the smell sharp.
I sucked in a breath, then coughed, wincing as it made the pain worse.
I fell into my head, clutching the links tight as I trembled, Mom coming over to hold me, brushing my hair back as she held my hand on my stomach.
“You’re strong, Lorelai, you’ll get through this,” she whispered, kissing my forehead.
I nodded, my eyes clenching shut as I checked the links again. My alphas were wolves, running fast, trying not to let their worry in. But my magic was faulty now, and the wolves were all feeling it.
“Pull it back, they can fight as humans. They’ll survive, you won’t,” Derik said in my head.
“I have no control over it. If I try, my shadows can’t fight it. Tell the wolves to shift back to human on their own,” I said back, and Derik disappeared from the link for a second.
“We’re almost there, Spitfire, just hold on,” Brax said reassuringly, and I swallowed hard, my body sweating from the pain, from the internal fight it was fighting.
But the contractions were less, and that was something. The herbs were working.
“They’re going to shift back, but they’ve almost cleared out the humans. Then they’ll come to the border to help.”
“The village women will stay behind to protect you in the mansion, just in case, until we can get there,” Derik said.
I kept my eyes closed, rubbing my tight, aching stomach, gritting my teeth against the scream that tried to escape. “And Cain?”
“Vaughn’s scent is there, but there is blood too. He’s searching.”
“I found him.” Cain’s voice came through, and I let out a sigh of relief. “He’s not in a good way, but I can heal him. It’ll take a bit though.~”
None of us responded. I shut out the images and focused on breathing, the war of magic and shadow inside me making my skin feel like it was stretching too far.
I curled my legs in farther, tears falling down my cheeks as I clenched my jaw against the pain.
“What if it’s too much? The magic leaving me? What will I be left with?” I asked Mom, and she gave me a small smile.
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?