Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
“Then use the trust you have in me. Because I trust it, Kai.”
I went to the beast then, getting as close as I could before raising my hand to it. The beast studied it before inching forward, his head turning from one side to the other before nudging my hand.
“I want to let you out of these shackles. But I need you to promise you will only attack Adrenna if she comes near. You can stay here until you sense her, but when she is near, take us to her,” I asked, and the beast nudged my hand again, a second before bowing low.
I grinned and turned to Kai.
“Is that enough?” I asked, and he nodded once, coming forward to let the beast out.
He shook out his almost non-existent fur, the sporadic patches seeming that little bit thicker.
The beast nudged me before nuzzling against my body. Then it curled up on the hay with a huff and laid its head on its mangled paws.
“When Tabby gets here, we’ll do what we have to do. But the beast needs to be a part of the pack, and we need to find Adrenna. Then, once we find her, we’ll give them both back their lives,” I said quietly, not sure if I was telling Kai, the beast, or myself.
Kai wrapped his arms around me and kissed my cheek from behind.
“You are a better wolf than I am, Little Luna,” he whispered.
I leaned back into him. “A better human, maybe,” I said, and he kissed me again a second before Derik strode in.
“A better soul,” he said, and I smiled, going to him as he kissed me. His lips were tender before they went to my ear.
“I want your bite too, beautiful,” he said, and I shivered, biting my lip as I looked back at his intense gaze.
He hid his crazy well, but those wild eyes were still there, revealing that part of himself to me. I smiled and nodded.
“I’ll mark you all, Derik. You’re mine. My mates,” I promised, and he let out a low growl before kissing me. The beast whined and interrupted our moment, so I stepped back. Derik sighed and put his hands in his pockets.
“Tabby is almost here,” he announced. My brows shot up, and I grinned.
“Tell her to meet us here.”
“She can’t, beautiful. She is as weak as Cain said. She needs to be outside, in the gardens.”
I nodded and followed them out, turning to the beast before we left. “Stay here.
We’ll be back soon, and we will make you a part of our pack, Beast. And if we can’t, then we’re going to hunt her down anyway,” I said, and the beast’s ears pricked up before he offered a weird smile.
His eyes closed then, and I went with my alphas to the gardens.
Brax was there waiting, the tea was served hot, and my mom was preparing it.
Galen watched on with that intense gaze of his, standing with Brax on the far side of the gardens, leaning against the concrete wall of the mansion.
I went to the bench seat with Derik, sitting with him as Kai stood behind me, his arms folded as we waited.
It was too quiet, and my mom served our tea, the porcelain clinking in a way that echoed through the night.
“If this doesn’t go the right way and we can’t make him a part of the pack, then I’m going on the hunt for Adrenna tomorrow,” I said, and the quiet grew tense.
I felt Kai’s no, sensed Derik’s trepidation, and then there was Brax’s fear. It all filtered through me, but I was adamant. I had to know she was caught. I had my magic and my shadows; I could fight, and I had to know she wasn’t out there planning to take Zale or Enzi.
It was all I could think of when I let myself think for longer than a second at a time, and I couldn’t live through that pain again. I had to know it wasn’t a possibility, for myself.
“We won’t live through the pain of losing you, beautiful. It is a lot to ask.” Derik tried to soothe me, but his tone was patronizing, and I knew it was his diplomatic way of easing me into a no.
“Good thing I wasn’t asking then.” I smiled in the same way.
He sighed. “We want you safe.”
“And I want Adrenna in shackles. Those fancy magic ones that the beast wore deserve to be on her, and I want that.”
“We all do. But the vampires are everywhere over there, and that is where she is,”
Kai snapped, but I was determined, meeting his glare of warning with my own.
“There is no here or there anymore. The border is gone. The vampires can cross into our territory whenever they want, and so can we. And if it means getting to Adrenna, taking out some vamps, then that’s what we have to do,” I said, but none of them looked happy with my decision.
“Maybe we just see what this woman says, Sweetie. Don’t rush in with that impulsive nature of yours without having the information you need. I don’t want you hurt either,” Mom said, patting my hair down before smiling.
“Why does everyone assume that I am going to get hurt just because I decide to get in the middle of this fight? I’m actually capable of doing more than talking and fucking,” I snapped, making Mom scowl.
“Manners, Lorelai. Wolf, hybrid, winter born or not, you will use them,” she scolded, and I swallowed.
“Sorry,” I conceded, knowing when to back down.
“Have some tea,” she urged, and I nodded, sipping some of the brew before leaning into Derik.
“I’ll see what Tabby has to say, then decide,” I said, and that helped, the tension dissolving enough so I could lean into Derik comfortably without meeting a rigid spine.
He curled me into him and held me, keeping me warm until Tabby arrived, Mom going inside with Galen to wait in the warmth.
When Tabby finally arrived, I let out a sigh of relief and went to her, hugging her.
“Tabby,” I greeted, kissing each of her cheeks. She smiled, hugged me back with her frail frame, clutching her cane tighter than usual before Kai was there, hugging her too.
She was wrapped in her shawls and tightened them across her chest before moving slowly over to the opposing seat. Kai helped her into it, her face pale and drawn out.
“I’m sorry for calling you out here. I didn’t realize how weak it made you,” I said, guilt churning inside me, but Tabby waved my words away.
“I’m here because I need to be, child. I hear you’re one impatient minute away from adding the beast to your pack.” She smiled.
I blushed. “I was thinking about it. Would it work?” I asked.
She sighed. “You want to bring him into the pack, then catch Adrenna and turn him human?” She asked, and I nodded, everything in me tight and crossed, waiting for her verdict. But I knew her answer the second her face fell.
“No, Lorelai. The simple answer is no. It won’t work,” she said, and my heart stopped. The blood drained from me as I tried to force my mouth to ask anything, say something, but it was still stuck, my mind trying to contemplate the disappointment.
I needed hope; it was what I rested every part of my confidence in us winning this war on, and with those few words, Tabby had taken every ounce of it.
10. The Mark
LORELAI
It wouldn’t work. Everything I had been resting our fate on crumbled away because we had our answer, and it wasn’t the one I wanted.
“Don’t despair,” Tabby said. “I said the simple answer was no. And although correct, I haven’t known you to pick anything simple.” She smirked, and a spark started inside me, a glimmer of hope that gave me something to pull on.
“Tabby, please, just tell me what I’m meant to do.”
“What we’re meant to do,” Derik corrected, and I smiled at him before nodding.
“I need the beast to find Adrenna.”
“So use him to find her. But adding him to the pack? It might help you find her easier, but it will be to the detriment of the wolves. You will not be able to turn him back to human if he has already sworn into the pack. That is the part that is not possible,” she explained, and I frowned, my thoughts racing as I chewed over her words.
“So we use it to find Adrenna, then give them their happy ever after?”
Tabby nodded.
“But if we haven’t sworn him in, then his loyalty is not to the pack; it is only to Adrenna. How can I risk that?” I demanded, not sure how to go about things when the beast had a single goal.
It would do whatever it took to find Adrenna, including betray us. Adding him to the pack meant that couldn’t happen, but if it wasn’t possible, then we were stuck trusting that it wouldn’t happen. And even if I thought I could, the pack wouldn’t.
“The pack will trust you though, Luna.” She smiled, probably reading my thoughts as clearly as my mates.
“And turning the beast back into a human, that is possible?” I asked. Tabby shrugged.
“It is possible. Whether the witches will let it happen, that is an unknown not even I can answer,” she admitted, and it was another kink in the plan that didn’t settle well within me.
There were so many variables, and those made our entire future hard to navigate.
But the pack needed an answer; they needed a plan going forward, and I had to give them something.
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?