Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
Slowly, I crawled onto the bed and laid in the middle of the mattress, hugging her tight to my side. She was completely spent, seeming unable to move. I have to admit, that gave me a sense of satisfaction in and of itself.
“I love you, Riviana. More than life itself.” She was too far gone, too close to sleep, to answer with anything more than a wordless groaning sound.
****
Riviana
****
I was still laying in Joaquin’s arms, held firmly against his body, when I heard his phone start buzzing incessantly.
“Mmm, Joaquin.” I said, poking him and causing him to stir a little. We were both still exhausted from last night, but it had been so amazing that I would never complain about being tired or sore as a result. “Joaquin, answer your phone.” I pulled away from him causing him to wake up the rest of the way.
“They can call back, I’m still sleeping.” He grumbled.
“It might be important.” I poked him again. “Go on and answer it.” I told him as the phone started to buzz through its second cycle of rings. That meant that whoever it was was calling again.
“Fine.” He growled as he reached over to pick up the phone.
“Stop complaining, Fido.” I joked with him as I moved to get out of bed. I could see the sun was up and that it had clearly been up for a while. A quick check of the clock told me it was almost noon. Wow, we had slept late.
“What is it?” He growled into the phone.”
“I really should have gone for Cujo instead of Fido this morning.” I giggled. I was just getting out of bed, wincing a little from the sore muscles from the olympic level feat we had managed last night, when I heard the voice that answered Joaquin’s growl.
“Alpha, there’s trouble approaching the borders.” It was Zeke from the gate guards.
“What kind of trouble?” Joaquin asked now fully alert and slipping out of bed. I was already changing my path from the shower to the dresser so I could get dressed. My shower could wait if it was an emergency. I wouldn’t be happy about it but I would deal.
“Purple smoke and what smells like hundreds of those monsters we fought before.”
“How far away? How soon will it be here?”
“At least fifty miles, maybe a little more, I would estimate that they’d hit the city limits in not more than an hour, it’s not moving super fast, but it’s not slow either.”
“We will be there soon.” He spoke through clenched teeth.
I had hoped that Edmond would wait until nightfall to begin this battle. It would be easier to hide us all from the prying eyes of humans in the dark. But if he was intent on doing this sooner rather than later, we would comply. Illusions and aversion spells from the warlocks and myself would help keep the humans safe.
Joaquin grabbed a handful of clothes like I had done but he then dragged me into the bathroom.
‘We have time for a quick shower.”” He said as he turned the water on. That made me happy, I needed one, desperately.
Once we had showered and dressed we headed to the place where Zeke was waiting. Edmond’s beast seemed to be coming in at the edge of our land and away from the city. We had summoned half the troops guarding the city to where we were, hoping to handle this soon. The other half would be guarding the rest of the border, we didn’t trust Edmond to only send one battalion of monsters.
We were ready and prepared for battle long before they showed up. But we had not even been there for five minutes when we got another call. There was another battalion at the opposite end of the town. Soon, there were four more calls like the first two. Edmond was surrounding the city.
“What are we going to do?” Shane asked as we strategized once more.
“Take care of the threat.” Joaquin said matter-of-factly. “Edmond didn’t seem to be among any of the groups closing in on the city, so this is most likely a diversionary tactic.”
“But what about the citizens of the city? We need to protect them.” Shawn seemed worried as he looked over the horizon and saw the buildings stretching toward the sky.
“I will work with Crawford and Eldrige to place a shield over the city.” I told him. The two warlocks nodded in agreement with me as we stepped forward.
“We will be happy to protect the city with you.” Crawford tried to smile, tried to show his confidence in our victory today, but he failed.
I stood between the two elderly warlocks, eyes closed and hands linked to make a chain. I concentrated on the shield I wanted to place over the city, over its population. I would lock the city to anyone in cahoots with Edmond.
I felt the power swirl around the three of us for just a moment as it built itself into a stronger force. Once the spell was properly weaved I felt the wind pick up as the magic flew toward the town. There was a slight pull in my chest as it flew so far and stretched so big, but once it was fully in place it was like fitting a puzzle piece into place, it just fit perfectly.
“Well, that takes care of the city itself, but what about the other hordes?” David asked, his usually calm voice now full of nerves.
“We spread out and divide the troops.” I answered him. “We need to balance the power. So you will each go to meet a horde as it approaches.”
“I don’t think it’s wise for us to split up.” Vincent wasn’t happy with my suggestion.
“This could be a trap to get you alone.” Dietrich added.
“It most likely is, but Edmond will be ill-prepared for it. He doesn’t know what I can do.” I told them. “Those beasts are not the smartest, but they’re strong, and you’re all stronger than any other fighters in the pack. We need to use your abilities to fight them. Joaquin and I will stay here, but the rest of you will need to split up.”
“Understood.” Vincent knew he couldn’t argue, having no other choice he conceded and agreed to the plan.
“Remember that we need to protect the humans and our territory both. All of you are stronger, faster, and more powerful than all the others. This might be an undesirable situation and seem bleak, but we will overcome this and rise up as the victors.” Joaquin gave a speech that seemed guaranteed to spur them on to a spirited fight.
