Filed to story: Owned by the Alphas Novel
He had blood on him, dripping from his fangs.
Kai was crouched on the dining table, picking his bloodied fangs with his claw, his eyes on whatever vamp he could see but I couldn’t. He was covered in blood too.
There were claw marks over his chest, and Brax had a bite mark in his neck.
It broke me to see them so hurt over me. I hated that they were fighting vampires for me, to keep me a secret. I didn’t even know why the vampires cared so much. I was winter born and I had shadows, but I couldn’t do much.
That was obvious, since I was hiding in a basement while the real power fought for me.
“Tabitha. I apologize,” Silas was quick to say as Kai snickered.
Even Cain, who looked pale but had no blood on him, held a frown at the vampire’s words.
“Tabby, Ruby hungry?” Kai taunted, and Tabitha softened her look at Kai.
“Enough, sweetheart,” she said, then hardened her stare at Silas. “My swamp is neutral territory, but my home is not an open door. You will notify me before arriving, and you will not come in without an invitation, do you understand me?”
she growled, her voice changing drastically.
“They harbor a winter born. You know the rules, Tabitha,” Silas bit back, and at least someone knew because I sure didn’t.
The alphas hadn’t told me anything and I wasn’t sure why, but I was starting to resent it. I needed to know. I was in their territory, being put in these positions with no knowledge on why or what was going on.
It wasn’t going to keep happening, I was going to make sure of it. As soon as the vampires left and I was back at the estate.
“You have no proof. A surge in the barrier is not a good enough excuse to break my rules, Silas,” Tabitha bit back.
While they were arguing, a darkness grew in my mind. I winced as cold and dread spread slowly through my body. But it was so much heavier than normal. It was like lead, and I dropped to my knees.
I sucked in a breath, the voices of the creatures above dulling, being overtaken by a piercing ring. I held my head, clenching my eyes shut as my stomach twisted painfully.
It was freezing, my skin so cold it stung everywhere, and then I was shivering. I looked up and the shadows were there, dark and swirling in the form of a human but with no features except bright red eyes.
I snapped my eyes away, refusing to look at it. I couldn’t interact, Brax said it would make it worse.
I tried so hard to ignore it, facing the concrete, on my hands and knees, and then it was in front of me and I was staring at the shadowy outline of feet.
“Fuck off.” I trembled, and the shadows chuckled, an echoing sound to it.
“Say yes, my dear, and you will be able to end those vampires. And the werewolves.
They will bow to you. They won’t be able to keep all those pesky little secrets from you. And you won’t have to see them hurt over you.
“The power we could be together would make you invincible. You wouldn’t need protecting,” it seduced, bending down in front of me.
I clenched my eyes shut, turning my head, refusing to acknowledge it. But it moved over me.
The shadows reached out, surrounded me, and I let out a whimper at the heaviness in my chest, the coldness aching in every bone I had.
I had to fight back. I had to stop them.
I reached inside myself, working through the fear, the cold, the dark, to find my own shadows. They were deep, but when I found them, when I reached for them, asked for their help, they were there, warming my body up from the inside out.
The connection was instant, and I shoved the dark shadows back from me. But they didn’t let up like they usually did. My eyes went wide as the dark swirling shadows shifted shape and a flash of something within them caught my attention.
A flash of something almost human.
I frowned and stepped toward the form.
“Who are you?” I asked, and it looked like it was grinning, which was impossible because they were shadows, they had no mouth, only eyes.
Eyes that made me want to crawl under a rock and cry for the next ten years of my life at least. But I couldn’t. I had to be stronger than that. I wasn’t the weak little human, I refused to be.
“I am the only thing that can make it possible for you to have a future with your wolves. That’s what you want, isn’t it?” it spoke, the words echoing in my ears, and I hated that it made my heart skip a beat.
It was everything I wanted, but the shadows knew that. I shuddered as the coldness gripped me tighter. I wrapped my arms around myself, narrowing my eyes.
“You gave me until the next full moon.”
“We were reminding you of the stakes, human. You will not make it out of this alive without our help.”
“I don’t want it.”
“You want to be their mate? Have their children? Be theirs? We can give you that power.”
I refused to let their offer tempt me, but my heart felt it. I wanted that, but I had to resist.
I was meant to be ignoring the shadows, but they were sucking me in. I could feel it as my own shadows got less and less potent beneath my skin.
“Who are you? Why are you doing this?” I asked, needing to get the attention off me and what I wanted.
“I am doing this because I have no body–but you do. One that can withstand the shadows and power I have. You already know of me. We are connected. Through shadows, through winter. Through the moon,” it breathed, and the words wrapped around me, coming from everywhere.
The shadows dispersed, creating a tornado around me as I tried to remember to breathe through the panic encapsulating me. My chest was heavy, too tight to get much air through.
Shit, I had been too distracted, but the words still echoed in my head and suddenly I knew exactly who I was facing. I wasn’t facing shadows.
“Elias,” I breathed, and his responding chuckle was clearer than my own voice.
His flurry of shadows settled back on his form, the full figure of Elias coming into view. He looked the same, except his eyes. They were black, and I shuddered, refusing to look at them.
“That didn’t take long. Your brother only just figured it out yesterday.”
That had me standing, gripping a strength I didn’t know I had, glaring at him.
“Leave my brother out of this!” I hissed and tried to shove him away, but he just chuckled again, disappearing then reappearing again behind me.
I spun, and he zoomed up to my face.
“Boo.” He grinned, and I gasped, falling back on my ass.
“See you on the full moon. Say yes or your brother will be the body I choose,” Elias said, and then he was gone.
I gasped for air, the heaviness lifting in my chest, but it was too late. I’d already run out of breath for too long, I’d already expended the last of my energy, and there wasn’t enough left to keep me conscious.
I passed out, shivering and gasping with no idea what had happened with the vampires or how I was meant to say no to Elias when he had my brother as leverage.
26. The Link
I woke up back in my bed with the worst headache of my life.
I was still cold, and when I opened my eyes, my alphas were huddled together, standing at the foot of my bed, whispering in angry tones, holding frowns on all of their beautiful faces.
I sat up slowly, my head heavy. I leaned against the headboard and waited for them to notice me, taking in the three of them.
None of them had shirts on, all were only in their pants, which usually meant they had been running. And that they were stressed out.
“What happened with the vampires?” I asked, and all three turned to me.
Their faces softened. Kai walked around beside the bed, then climbed on it, pulling me against him. Brax sat down on the edge of the bed, grabbing my hand as Derik pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
“The vampires are not the ones taking the humans,” Brax said, and I frowned.
“Then why are they disappearing?” I asked.
“That’s what we have to go find out,” Derik replied.
“How?”
“We’re going out to the Forest villages. There should be a scent of some kind that will tell us what happened. We assumed it was the vampires and didn’t look into it as well as we should have,” he answered, shame covering his voice.
I grabbed his hand and kissed the back of it.
“And what about the winter born thing? They know I’m here now,” I remembered, and they all tensed.
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?