Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
“Adrenna, stop!” I called, and she glared at me. I walked forward, brushing my hand up the back of the beast so he knew it was me. His rage sizzled, seething, but he stilled.
“Winter born,” she hissed.
“I have an offer, but I need you to listen,” I explained, and she sneered.
“You have nothing I want.”
“Yes, I do. I have freedom, and I know you want that.”
“You have no idea what I want,” she snapped, her magic getting angrier. I thought mine would too, but it was still prickling, sensing something on the edges of my own senses, but I couldn’t understand what it was trying to tell me.
“I can guess. You want what anyone wants. Love. A life where you don’t have to run. I’m guessing that’s what you’re doing. Silas is angry with you for not delivering him Zale, and we are too because of taking him in the first place.”
“What’s your point, winter born?”
“It’s Luna, actually. And my point, Adrenna, is that I sympathize with you. And I am not Silas. I don’t want to kill you for failing me. I want to help you.”
“Lies,” she hissed.
I shook my head. “No. It’s not. You know how this ends. You will run until there is no energy left, no fight left to run, and then either the vamps will catch you, or we will. Or you can come with me now and get the future you wanted.”
“That future is gone,” she growled, her eyes going to the beast who let out a snarling huff that stirred the snow around me. I placed a hand on what I thought was his shoulder and patted it, keeping him as calm as I could.
He had listened; he hadn’t killed her like he was programmed to do, which meant the human he was, was still in there, but I was guessing that was a part of the punishment.
“I can give it back.”
“How?”
“It’s not the how that you need to ask. It’s the what. What do you have to do, to give up, to get that future because there is a cost, Adrenna, and if you agree to pay it, I’ll keep my word to you,” I said, and that had her frowning, wary but listening.
“What cost?”
“You give up being a witch. Give up your magic, I’ll make you human. But I’ll make the beast human too. You’ll both be as you were, minus the magic, and you’ll be allowed the future that was taken from you,” I offered, and her eyes narrowed.
***
“The witches would never agree to that. I asked them to take my magic at the start; they refused.”
“They had the power then. They don’t anymore. They are not the balance this realm rests on, and I am going to use that fact to get you what you want. But you do have to agree to give up your magic and come back to the city in shackles while we negotiate,” I said, pulling them out from the satchel.
She snarled and stepped back, which made the beast growl and step forward. I got between them, with Kai in my shadow, ready to intervene.
“That’s the price, Adrenna. Give up your magic. I’ll make you and the beast human.”
“And you’ll get all my magic,” she scoffed. I nodded.
“You think I would offer this without anything in my favor after what you did?
You’re too smart for that, Adrenna.”
“How do I know you will keep your word?”
“How do I know you’ll keep yours?” I countered, and she let out a huff before looking at the beast.
“You can communicate with him?”
“Kind of. A mutual understanding.”
“Does he want this?”
“Yes,” I said without hesitation. “It’s the only reason he refrained from ripping you to shreds the second he found you. Because I promised him the same thing.”
She raised her brows before her face fell and pain tortured her features. Then she stepped forward with a slow move and her arms out.
“You better not be lying, winter born,” she warned. I shook my head.
“I’m not. We’ll make the deal in a blood oath in the city with the other alphas and the rest of the pack to witness. We’ll both be bound to our word,” I explained.
She nodded once and looked at the beast as I stepped forward and locked her wrists in the magic binds.
Her black sand instantly drew back into her, and she winced as it was locked inside her body. I let out a sigh of relief, then turned to the beast who was growling low, its eyes locked on Adrenna.
Its body was shaking, and I petted him again. He was resisting but only just, and we had to get this deal done before he frenzied again. Kai nodded to Tatum to take over the shackles.
He came forward, shifting smoothly, and I averted my eyes from his naked body as he led Adrenna back down the path. The pack followed, staying shifted as wolves as they formed tightly around Tatum, wary as they looked over Adrenna.
Nothing in my shadows told me she had malicious intent, though, and I trusted that.
I nodded the beast forward after they were a bit ahead, trying to keep them more separate so he didn’t get the need to hunt. He seemed to understand that and went forward slowly.
“You did well, Little Luna,” Kai said in my link, in wolf form next to me, and despite being powerful, it felt nice to have him flanking me, keeping me safe.
“Do I get a reward?” I smirked, and he laughed in my head.
“You know you will. Any idea on how we’re going to convince the witches to let us turn the beast back and Adrenna? Last I heard, Tabby said the witches weren’t happy with her betrayal.”
“And I meant what I said. I’m going to use the fact that we are the ones currently maintaining the balance to my advantage. I have the border magic; it listens to my will, not theirs, not the realm’s, and I can feel it inside me, ready to do what I ask. If I asked, I think it would let me siphon the magic from her. I won’t need the witches’
help. I just need them to not kill her the second I make her human and turn their beast back,” I explained, and he was silent.
“They can’t kill humans. They can’t interfere with them,” Brax said in my head then, and I grinned.
“That’s what I’m relying on.” I smirked again.
“Clever, beautiful. But it might piss them off. They might decide to stop letting us come out of these things alive.”
“We’ll see, or they’ll appreciate me neutralizing the threat to their precious balance.
Either way–” I stopped talking, my magic growing hot in my palms, my shadows spitting inside me, angry and writhing.
“Something’s wrong,” I whispered, peering through the trees, looking around me, trying to find the source of my discomfort.
“Kai?” Derik asked, and he sniffed the air. The beast did too, growling low as he pawed the snow. I checked behind us, but I couldn’t sense anything.
“Get Adrenna back to the city,” I ordered the pack.
“What’s going on?” Tatum asked.
“Vampires,” Kai hissed in the link before snarling, his eyes turning everywhere, checking every part of the forest as he pushed me behind him.
My magic flowed from my palms, my shadows twisting with it, some kind of bond formed between them that helped them work together so well.
“We should stay to defend you and our luna, Alpha,” Tatum argued, and by the way my magic was thrashing inside me, I wondered if he was right. So I used the only thing I had.
“Beast. Go to Adrenna. Run her to the city. Do not kill her. Give her to Derik, then go to the barn and wait; we’ll be there soon,” I ordered, and it whined, nodding to the forest.
“The pack are staying here to help, and you’re the only one tuned to Adrenna in case this is a trap and she gets in the city to hurt us. I need you to stop her if that’s the case,” I explained, and it huffed before its eyes turned determined, and it nodded once before running up to the pack that was a long way.
I heard Adrenna squeal before the beast ran away with her. It was risky to send him with her, especially when he wanted to kill her and had to fight the magic inside him not to, but it was our best bet because the vampires were getting closer.
I could sense them now, and my magic was angry about it, which meant they weren’t coming to talk.
“Protect her, Nikolai, or I’ll serve your heart at dinner,” Derik warned in the link.
“I can protect myself, thanks though,” I interrupted, and Kai scoffed, growling low as the pack came to us, circling, forming, ready for the fight they knew we were getting.
The vampires were moving in fast, running so we couldn’t feel them until they were close. My magic swirled around us, covering the snow in purple mist. My heart raced as I checked every part of the forest around us, waiting to be ambushed, waiting for the vampires.
“Tell me when the beast is there,” I said to Derik.
“He’s close, he’s running fast, and he has Adrenna alive. I can hear them,” Derik said, and I let out a breath of relief, glad the vamps weren’t after them.
***
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?