Filed To Story: Destined Bond with My Forbidden Alpha Novel (Alpha Alexander & Selene)
Peter nodded.
“Once the mutations start taking hold, those wolves won’t exist anymore. They will be no better than zombies. No thought of their own. They will belong to her and her alone.”
Peter felt a heavy weight in his stomach.
“Now, you may think I am no better than she is because of what you have endured,” he said, pausing to clench his jaw. “But there is one thing that you should know.”
Holden paused, took a deep breath, and licked his lips before looking back at the camera.
“I loved your mother. I loved her so much,” Holden whispered, his eyes lowering away from the camera. He took a deep breath before continuing. “But our relationship was not… acceptable.”
Alice sat up, listening closely.
“I kept her, and you, a secret for several years. But eventually, Alpha Gorn found out,” he continued. “When he learned about you, curious about how you survived the womb with your mixed genetics… he demanded that you come back with me. But the only way that he would allow Savannah to join us… that’s her name… your mother.”
Holden looked away again, taking a deep breath and blowing it out slowly.
“He would only allow her to come… if she survived the turning,” he said. “I did kill your mother… but not because I wanted to.”
Alice let out a shaky breath. She remembered the red-stained kitchen, Holden picking her up and taking her to the car.
“When I brought you, Alpha Gorn made it painfully clear that you had to be useful to stay,” he continued. “So, I made you indispensable. I made sure that you were the best at everything you did. That you were always useful.”
Holden growled softly and turned his eyes from the camera.
“You are all I have left of her…” he said softly. And then he raised his eyes slowly back to the camera. Deep anger shone inside of them. “You’re also the reason I had to kill her.”
Alice clenched her jaw.
“For her, I will always protect your life, Alice,” he said, his voice cold, his smile colder. “But I never had to make it easy.”
Peter looked at Alice with concern, but if she was affected by what her father had said, she was hiding it well.
“So, there is a monster looking to enslave the wolves. Likely the humans as well…” Holden said with a shrug and chuckle.
He leaned forward, still smiling.
“But you won’t have to worry about that, my dear. I have found the solution, and the best part is….” Holden leaned even closer to the camera with a wide grin. “It’s gonna hurt… A lot.”
“Are you all right?”
The question hung in the air between them for a long time.
She took a deep breath, pushing it back out slowly.
“I’m fine,” Alice smiled.
“You know you don’t have to be, right?” Peter asked.
Alice nodded.
“Maybe someday,” she said gently. “But today, I’m the answer to Myka’s problems, so… I’m fine.”
Alice shrugged her eyebrows playfully and smiled brightly.
“Let’s get to work, shall we?”
“Alice…” Peter began.
“Peter,” Alice cut him off as she stood up from her chair. “There is no time. You must double-check the results and set up everything so we can get this done.”
She moved past him, heading toward the door.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
Alice looked back over her shoulder.
“Axel and I are bonded,” she said. “If I don’t tell him what’s going to happen, he’ll think I’m dying. That won’t be good for anyone.”
“Good call,” Peter replied with honest gratitude.
Alice nodded and then left the room.
Turning back to the computer, Peter took a deep breath as he prepared to read through all of the experiments and results once more.
They had assumed that the virus was attacking Myka’s fae genetics, but that was a mistake. Instead, as they read through Holden’s reports and rechecked Myka’s blood samples, they realized that the virus was infecting him with its own fae code and then consuming it again.
Myka got worse when he healed because the higher amount of fae in his genetic makeup was not only recovering but replicating the foreign code and resetting the cycle of the virus each time.
Because the werewolves were created from fae blood and magic, every wolf did have at least a small portion of fae code within their system. The virus relied on that part of the wolf code to spread within the system and begin the mutations.
All wolves, except for the ones born human.
Just as they had already seen with Alice, the virus could lay dormant within the system of a human wolf, but it wouldn’t attack them.
This was perfect for Holden’s testing. A subject that held a measurable amount of the virus but wasn’t at risk of mutating and being able to tell the creator of the virus what Holden was trying to accomplish.
So, he spent two years torturing Sadie to find the cure, and he had.
After reading the barbaric practices Holden had resorted to and watching the videos, Peter was thankful that Sadie’s mind had been more accepting of the tea than Alice’s had.
He hoped, for her sake, that she would never remember what she went through. On the other hand, though, he suspected that Alice would keep an eye on Sadie from this day forward. So, if she ever did remember, at least she would have someone to talk to that might be able to understand.
***
Axel had been reading reports and deployment arrangements for days.
Jonas and Galen were managing most of the southern territories without issue, and the scouts outside the borders were not seeing any sign of an attack toward Winter. Still, more and more of the lesser packs were being targeted.
Axel wasn’t an idiot; he could see what was happening. They were being spread out. Attacks in all directions, at varying strengths. It was clear to him that the enemy was doing their best to thin out the defenses of Winter and Summer.
They knew that both packs had made alliances with the lesser packs. They could not and would not abandon them, but it put both great packs at risk of invasion.
He did not see the numbers of Autumn or Spring for all the reports he had received on the enemies they faced.
Fae monsters had been reported all across the territories. Hybrid wolves had been spotted, but as of this morning, Axel had not received news of anyone else being attacked the way that Myka had.
As far as any scout could say, Spring remained locked behind their borders, and Autumn… had been forsaken.
Penelope and Mateas had taken the Autumn assignment personally.
Their report described the central hub of Autumn in ruins. Buildings were torn down, fires burned uncontrolled, and bodies were mangled in the streets.
Among the ruins, monsters roamed.
It appeared as though a massive force of fae had overwhelmed the city and destroyed the remains of the once-great pack.
A sad tale… one that Axel simply didn’t believe.
He didn’t know what had happened, where they had gone. But one thing he knew without a doubt in his mind, Roman was still out there.
Axel clenched his jaw as the memory of the bastard fell over his thoughts.
Roman stood over him, his knee pressed to Axel’s throat as he held tightly to the braid of Alice’s hair ripped from Axel’s scalp in his hand.
“Where did you get this?!” he hissed venomously. His rage blazing in his eyes. “Who is Alice to you?!”
Axel took a deep breath through his nose as he shook away the memory.
Her scent filled him with warmth in an instant. He raised his eyes to the door before the handle even turned.
As Alice pushed open the door, she was pulled into his embrace before she could even clear the threshold. She laughed softly as he burrowed his nose against the crook of her neck and pulled her into him.
He closed the door, pressing her back against it and kissing the soft, warm skin of her throat while his hands settled on her hips.
Alice smiled and hugged him, breathing him in and allowing his warmth to fall over her.
“I have missed you,” he whispered.
“The feeling is mutual,” she replied, nuzzling her head to his.
Axel wanted to feel every part of her, to taste her. It had been days since he could last be alone with her. But he felt the hesitation in her, the distraction, the concern.
“It seems I will continue to miss you,” he sighed, pulling his lips away from her throat and resting his head on her shoulder.
Alice sighed.
“Yea…” she whispered. “There is something we need to talk about.”
Axel pulled back, looking into her eyes.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “Is Myka?”
Alice nodded.
“For now,” she said. “But he needs a cure… and we found one.”
“What?” Axel replied with disbelief. “That’s wonderful!”
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?