Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
I pulled back and turned to Derik and Brax, who were looking around at the mist that was waist-high. It really liked them, clinging and swirling around them.
I laughed and stepped back from them, seeing through the mist to the wolves that were covered in blood with desperate, angry eyes.
“Step back,” Derik warned, but I shook my head.
“No, it’s okay. I can help,” I said, the magic whispering in the air.
I thought only I could hear it, but they could too this time. It grew louder as the mist moved around each of them, and I felt every part of it.
My magic was an extension of me, a conduit for it to do what it needed, and I wish I had listened to it earlier. I thought the pressure was normal, but it was begging to help.
It had helped at every turn, and I had put it in a cage. I shouldn’t have, but I was making the right decision now. I could feel it in every part of me.
The magic filled every single member of the pack, finding everyone in their homes and out of it, and I closed my eyes as the alphas stood, wary and watching.
Brax’s hand grabbed mine then, and I looked up at him.
“You feel it?” I asked, and he nodded, leaning down to me, whispering words only I could hear.
“I feel the promise in their whispers,” he breathed, and I frowned.
“Promise?”
“You will be mine, Spitfire. I’m sure of it now. We just have to be patient, but our mating is written,” he said, kissing my neck behind my ear, and my entire body shivered with a warmth, a searing heat that filled me with the same promise.
My grin widened, and I kissed him back. “See, you’re not broken, Brax,” I said, holding his face.
He kissed me again, but the gasps of the wolves interrupted us.
I turned to them, smiling as their fangs grew, their eyes turned, their claws extended.
“They’re turning?” Derik said, looking between them and me with wide eyes.
“The border magic fed their ability to turn. The moon just activated that, but my magic is the same.
“If I activate it myself by putting the magic directly inside them, then they can turn too,” I said, explaining what my magic had whispered to me, not in words, but in feelings and imagery that had pieced together what it needed for me to trust it.
Kai howled, grinning as his canines dropped. He licked them before eyeing me.
“Impressive, Luna,” he said, and I did a curtsy, a teasing one with a grin.
“Wolves, let’s run the perimeter, check for weaknesses in the wall, any stragglers, although I am sure our luna has taken care of those.”
Kai winked, and the pack howled together before they all shredded their clothes, turning into huge wolves that towered above me, and taking off to run.
Derik stepped forward then, wrapping me in his arms before running a hand down my stomach. “And you feel okay? You’re not in pain?” he asked.
“No, I feel stronger, like using the magic means it is filtered out for the fresh stuff constantly, not all caged and seeping into my bones,” I said, feeling it in my arms and legs, but not as a weight, as a strength.
“The new eyes look good on you.” Derik smiled then, kissing my cheek, holding me against him still.
“New eyes?” I asked, and he pushed the image of what he was seeing in his mind into mine.
My face was there, but it looked different, my skin so perfectly clear it almost looked fake, with bright purple eyes that glowed in the darkness.
I clenched them shut, reopened them. They were still there.
“Woah,” I breathed, a little enamored by them.
“Exactly my thoughts,” Derik said, then let me go and put my hand in his.
Brax grabbed my other one. “No word on Tabitha?” he asked.
Derik shook his head. “Not yet. Let’s get back and check in on the humans, then we’ll see Cain about it,” he said, and Brax nodded.
They led me back to the mansion, my mist dissipating as it seeped into the wolves and settled in there, giving them all the ability to turn as they wanted.
It only solved one problem, but it was something. It meant they would be more in control when the humans finally showed their hand.
It didn’t solve the issue of the rogue witch though. That was terrifying.
Going up against humans was something I was handling, but going up against a witch? I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to magic my way out of that one, even with the wolves’ help.
A witch had magic too, and they had proven they were quite strong already. I had no idea whether I was stronger, but I had to hope I was.
“So the wolves can turn now?” my brother asked as we moved up the steps to the mansion.
“Yes,” Derik said, and Lucas frowned.
“You’re sure that won’t be too much in the long run? Against a witch?” he asked.
Derik shrugged. “The magic trusts her and she trusts it. We have to also,” he said, and that trust made my heart pulse. I needed it more than I thought I did.
I snuggled into him, and he kissed the top of my head.
“My shadows are content. They trust her magic, so I do too,” Brax said, and Lucas let out a sigh.
“Well then, I will try to offer the same faith,” he said, but his jaw was clenched, like that was hard for him to do, and I suppose it would be.
He was a vampire, but he had been a human intent on ending werewolves. He was probably fighting every belief system that had been drilled into him to be here with us.
I appreciated the effort, but I was not into his doubt bringing down my moment of epic magical problem-solving.
We moved into the mansion, the lobby cold, and I shivered. Galen and my mother came through from the sitting room to the side.
“Ryleigh is not well,” my mom said, and I frowned, looking to Galen, who looked expressionless.
“I thought her pains stopped?” I asked.
“They have come back, but her body is not laboring; it is too early for her. Galen is trying to figure out what is causing it, but so far, it is a mystery.
“I was thinking we could go talk to her, have some tea?” Mom asked, and I nodded, linking my arm through hers.
“We’re going to go talk to Cain. Don’t leave the mansion,” Derik said, and I nodded.
He left with Brax as my brother followed us through to where Ryleigh’s room had been moved. She had been given her own room for the baby; it had a bassinet and rocking chair already.
It hit me then that I was not even close to being ready for my baby. I had nothing ready. Fear gripped me for a second before Brax’s shadows were inside me, soothing me.
“We’ve got it sorted, Spitfire, relax,” he said in my head, and I let out a breath of relief.
“Are you in pain?” Mom asked, and I shook my head.
“No, quite the opposite. I’m…happy,” I said, even though the word seemed so weak for what I felt.
I was content, warm, loved, and it was such a good feeling, but behind that was a settling-in warning, like we were almost there, almost at the part of our war where everything would come to a head and our fates would be decided, one way or the other.
“I am glad for it, darling.” Mom interrupted my morose thoughts, then stepped into Ryleigh’s room.
Ryleigh had her long dark curls splayed out over her pillows; they were propped up behind her as she read a book, her one green and one brown eye scanning the pages quickly as she chewed on a muesli bar.
Her bed had a pot of flowers next to it, with a jug of water.
Vaughn sat next to her on the other side. He looked up when we came in, a smile pulling his frown apart.
“Lorelai,” he said, standing to greet me.
I nodded in return. “Hey,” I said, then went to Ryleigh.
“Rye,” I said, and she looked up, her puffy eyes red from crying. Over the book or the pain, I wasn’t sure.
She smiled a wobbly smile, then put her book down, going to sit up farther, but at her wince, I stopped her.
“It’s okay, stay comfortable,” I said, and sat down next to her.
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?