Filed To Story: Claimed by the Alpha I Hate Book Read Free
“No.” I hissed, hackles raising at the thought of leaving Rowena alive and breathing, not a single repercussion for what she’d done.
Zeke didn’t understand. How could he? It wasn’t his brother, someone he grew up with, someone he both loved and hated on the best and worst days. No, I wouldn’t- couldn’t leave.
My head snapped over to the elemental witch at his side, the one currently supporting half of his weight. Her affinity was earth. From what I’d seen, her magic was very much physical, but there was still a chance my hunch could be right. Everything -whether it be human, werewolf, vampire, or witch, came from the earth.
“Tessa, this is your one chance to make a difference. Which side are you on?” I asked her.
Through the rage, the guilt, and the pain, I tried to show her with my eyes that this was what she was meant for. The man at her side, who couldn’t help but look longingly at her when she wasn’t paying attention, was her future. She didn’t have to be a nameless faceless minion in a war where millions would die.
She, Tessa, Luna to Zeke’s Pack, could change things all on her own.
Tessa looked own at Rowena, the two of them locked in a stare that felt almost like a conversation.
She squared her shoulders and said, “I’m on the side of life.”
Even chalk-white and swaying on two feet, Zeke managed a look of utter surprise. Tessa’s slender eyebrows fell into a grimace, and a subtle blush stained her face. From the way she avoided his gaze at all costs, I knew things were far from perfect between the two, but it was a start.
Tessa was no longer against us, so long as I held up my end and kept my word that witches would have a place in the world, one where they didn’t have to hide in the shadows.
“Can you heal him?” I asked her, nodding in Zeke’s direction.
“I think so, but I might need some help. I’ve only ever mended small wounds…
nothing like this. Plus, his weakness to silver is going to stunt things.” Tessa replied, peeling up the bottom half of Zeke’s shirt. When she made it to his back, where the gem-incrusted hilt jutted out a few inches from his spine, she winced. “I’m going to have to pull it out. It’s…it’s going to hurt.”
“Do it.” Zeke grunted, sinking to his knees to brace his hands in the dirt.
“On three…” Tessa murmured, gingerly wrapping her hands around the hilt. She took a deep, shuddering breath. “One… two…”
Without warning, she pulled. Zeke’s eyes flashed silver, his wolf threatening to emerge the second the blade slid from his back, and he let out a harrowing snarl.
“Now, Daisy. Funnel your magic into me.” Tessa urged, flattening her hands on Zeke’s back, right overtop of the wound.
I did as she said and had to close my eyes halfway through to bask in how good it felt. A single thought and my magic flared to life like an obedient pet. It followed my every whim much like a dog would, only its sheer strength reminded me more of a fire-breathing dragon.
A thread of glistening gold connected Tessa and I, growing brighter the more magic I sent crackling through.
Nearly ten whole seconds later, Tessal lifted her hands from Zeke’s body and shouted, “Alright, Daisy.
That’s enough.”
At the snap of my fingers, the connection shattered into golden dust.
“Too much?” I questioned, tilting my head.
Zeke stood, pulling his t-shirt off to hand to Tessa. She wiped her hands on the clean parts of the fabric, then shuddered.
“It was intense, almost like drowning.” She said breathlessly, looking at me in a way I wasn’t sure I liked. “Is it like that all the time?”
“No, not until I took off the amulet.”
“You are a traitor, Tessa. Just as I predicted. If only you had Ember’s strength.” Rowena said, her voice no longer flowery and smug, but stretched thin with pain.
Tessa frowned, turning to hover over Rowena. “Ember’s strong, but her stubbornness keeps her from seeing the bigger picture. Freya won’t just stop with the Werewolves. She’ll go after the Vampire’s next, and then the humans. What will be left? A handful of witches to rule over the ashes.”
‘Daisy, you there?’ Breyona’s voice filled my head, distant and muffled. ‘Shit’s hit the fan, bad. I think I’m losing my mind here. Tell me you can hear me.’
‘I can hear you for the most part. What’s going on?” I replied, desperately trying to keep my cool but truthfully, I was beginning to panic.
I hadn’t heard anything from Nolan- hadn’t felt a single thing through our bond, but I couldn’t just leave and let
Rowena get away. As much as I trusted Zeke, Rowena was slippery and the moment she saw an opportunity to escape, she’d take it.
‘Zeke’s trying to kill Nolan!’ Breyona shouted, her snarl ringing down the mate -bond along with another, one that lifted the hairs on my arms with how familiar it sounded. ‘I know it’s crazy, but I’m watching it happen right now!’
It was Nolan. I was sure of it.
“What do you mean Zeke’s trying to kill Nolan?” I asked out loud so that Zeke and Tessa could both hear. “Zeke’s standing right next to me.”
Zeke stiffened, his face paling. “Is she sure? I’d never hurt Nolan, you know that. Either way, I can’t be in two places at once. I’ve been at the prison this entire time.”
‘How can he be standing right next to you and be trying to cut your mate’s heart out of his chest?!’
Breyona snarled in frustration.
“I don’t know!” I shouted, both out loud and through the mind-link. “I have no clue what’s going on. Just-
just stop him from hurting Nolan. I’ll be on my way as soon as possible.”
‘On it.’ She snarled in response, her voice fading into the background.
Wait a damned second-
I pivoted on my heel, staring at Zeke while my tongue chose that moment to turn to lead. The incredulous look on my face had him knitting his eyebrows in confusion.
There was something seriously wrong here, and I was going to get to the bottom of it.
“You were at the prison this entire time?”
I repeated his earlier statement.
Zeke nodded slowly, as though this were obvious information. “Yeah, that’s why I didn’t know what happened to your brother. Breyona called me up and told me she, Giovanni, and Tristan were searching for Nolan and that something happened. She asked if I’d come help, and I wanted to-
seriously, I did, but I wasn’t comfortable leaving the prison unprotected. She said if I changed my mind to meet her at your place, then that was the last I heard from her.”
I visibly stiffened when Rowena’s amused laughter hit the air.
That rush of numbing coldness swept over me and once again I found myself teetering off the edge, hanging on with what little strength I had left in my fingers.
“You’re all fools.” She giggled to herself, the decayed patch of skin on her face wrinkling as she smiled.
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?