Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
The chimneys were all smoking, the smell permeating my senses.
It was still dark but there were lit torches everywhere.
The ground between the huts was all mud, mushy mud that had multiple footprint tracks all through it.
“This place used to be different,” Brax whispered.
“How different?”
Brax shrugged. “Not as cold. It had life in it,” he said.
I swallowed. Why did this feel like a trap?
I looked around, stretching more of my shadows out, reaching for a more powerful portion of my power.
“This doesn’t feel right,” I said.
Derik looked down at me, his eyes looking over my face.
Whatever he saw had him tensing and looking over the water villages with narrowed eyes.
Kai growled and we looked towards where he was looking.
Heather.
She came out from behind one of the buildings. She was grinning. Flanked by those same two men.
I growled, the entire feeling of wariness, shifting to danger in an instant.
My power glowed on my hands, the purple mist already starting to leak out of me.
“What is this?” Derik demanded.
“Wow, you actually came. I didn’t think you were that dumb. The wolves, sure. But the new Vamp leader? That one is a surprise,” she grinned.
“I am part of the collective council now, you will find me at most of these traps, offering what help I can,” Lucien answered easily, choosing his side.
“Pity,” she fake-pouted then grinned.
“Well, let’s not beat around the bush then. We’re burning moonlight,” she said, pulling out a bottle with a white towel hanging out of it.
She pulled out a match and my eyes widened.
“The rogues are declaring war on the collective,” she announced then lit the rag and threw the bottle that was about to explode right in front of us.
3. The Barrier
Lorelai
I threw up a shield as the bomb went off.
We all ducked as the flames threw out everywhere, rebounding off the magical border I had put up.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” I cried out, my fists clenching.
I threw out my magic and shadows, chasing down Heather as she took off behind the villages.
Kai went to chase her down with a roar that shook the ground.
I stopped him, “Don’t. She wants us to chase her,” I snarled.
“Clear out the huts, chase them out. They’re not staying here if they can’t play well with others,” I snapped.
The pack dispersed, checking in all of the huts as I eyed the surroundings.
Brax was in front of me, using his shadows too.
He looked back at me, as confused as I was.
“They’re not here,” he said.
Which was more dangerous than if they were because that meant they weren’t finished with their trap.
My eyes went wide, “The City!”
I was running as soon as the thought caught my mind.
“Retreat! Get to the city!” Derik called in the link, catching up to me.
Kai had ripped into wolf form, running ahead of us, checking the forest.
But I sensed nothing. Like something was blocking me. It was infuriating. The rogues were small, and had nowhere near the numbers we had, so why the hell did they seem so confident?
Brax was behind me, following with his shadows out. Mine were too but they couldn’t sense anything either.
We made it to the forest between the areas and I frowned, slowing down.
None of this made sense.
I couldn’t sense anything wrong with the city.
Cain or Beenie would have said something. But it was quiet.
Cain confirmed that in the link and I eyed the forest warily.
What the hell was going on?
Another flaming bottle came flying at us, this time, I was too late to catch it.
I curled away, prepared to get blasted but warm arms came around me and the heat of the explosion curved around me.
I peered out of my eye to see Kai and Derik huddled around me, a wall of shadow up from Brax.
He pushed the flames back out and the forest caught fire, the flames roaring.
The realm screamed in my mind and I sucked in a breath, holding it.
“Something is wrong. The realm, it’s screaming,” I grimaced, clutching my skull like that would make a difference.
Kai growled, looking further into the forest.
“I can’t sense them. How are they doing this?” He snarled.
“They could be using the same herbs as the humans did?” Derik guessed but this felt too planned for that.
We would have known they were growing it. They were still wolves, they were allergic to that shit too.
Lucien caught up then with his two vamps.
Half of his face was healing back together as he dusted ash off his black coat.
“Well. It seems the war is not as over as we assumed.”
“Understatement, vamp,” Brax huffed, his shadows everywhere as the pack hovered under Kai’s orders.
“We cleared out the huts, they were empty but still had a wolf stench in them so they haven’t been gone long. I assume they are trying to lure us into something more nefarious,” Lucien said way too calmly.
But he was calm, it was his entire thing, which was reassuring in a way. But also weird.
So was the situation.
And Lucien wasn’t wrong. My skin still prickled in warning, my shadows and magic still felt a threat.
I just couldn’t sense the rogues or where they were hiding.
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?