Filed To Story: Claimed by the Alpha I Hate Book Read Free
“I hope they work it out themselves, especially with how much they seem to hate one another.” I shook my head, thinking of my own brother. Annoying at the worst of times, and a protector at the best.
Thinking back to a comment Cassidy previously made, I inclined my head. “You said at least someone had fun last night? I thought you were hanging out with that one guyLars, I think.”
“Lars.” Cassidy spat the word like it was a curse. With her surfer-girl looks, I hadn’t thought she could look threatening, but I had been more than wrong. Her seafoam eyes flared with irritation, “B*****d had a girlfriend, probably more than one. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not getting into it with another she-wolf over a guy, especially one like Lars. So not worth it.”
“He had a girlfriend? What a piece of s**t.” I scoffed, surprised at how easy it was to get sucked into girl-talk with Cassidy. She talked a lot with her hands, and was passionate about life, but they were qualities I slowly began to find amusing. “If you find yourself needing a little payback, you’ve got a Luna on your side.”
“Oh, don’t promise me that. The power will go right to my head.” She dramatically swept her ponytail over her shoulder and sighed, “Besides, he was kind of an a*****e. He asked me all kinds of questions about you, and the other Vampire’s on your side.”
“He asked about me and the Vampires?” That was worrisome, though we did expect retaliation of some sort. It was natural for everyone to be curious, but then why did Cassidy’s words put a sour taste in my mouth?
“Just whether or not I thought you were dangerous or if I knew of any plans you were keeping from the pack. Oh, and if you were moving a hoard of vampires into town-his words, not mine.” Cassidy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “He did say something about ‘hot vampire b*****s,’ so I don’t think he was completely against the idea.”
“You think men like that would be able to shift into pigs, and not werewolves.” I shook my head, cracking a smile when Cassidy let out a hysterical laugh.
Nolan and Brandon’s fight ended without a victor. Just two b****y, battered brothers still h**l-bent on hating one another. Brandon snarled his threats and stalked off, while Nolan internalized his, letting them shine through his rage clouded eyes.
“I’m going to go find Brandon, make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.” Cassidy sighed, hopping off the back of the truck to dust her blue jeans off. “I’ll see you around Daisy!”
‘Daisy, Nolan. You need to get to the lake. Now.’ Mason’s voice flooded my head, the tone of urgency caused my eyes to snap over to Nolan, whose anger had halted in its tracks.
His busted lip and eyebrow were already healing, and while I hated the thought of him being in pain, his injuries were one hundred percent self-inflicted.
“What? Why do you both look like that?” Zeke frowned, no longer protesting as we dragged him to the car and sped off.
It was clear something had happened when we arrived at the lake. The dirt lot everyone had parked in was roped off with thick, yellow caution tape. The various trails that led to the lake and docks were also blocked off, guarded by warriors with stone-like faces.
College students lingered around the borders, talking in hushed tones with phones pulled out and camera’s rolling. There eyes and attention fell on Nolan and I. Rumors were whispered, suspicions and praises, all mixed into a chorus of voices that felt impossible to dissect and focus on.
“Mason, what’s going on?” I kept my voice low, knowing there was a crowd of college students listening to our every word.
Since his mate was m******d in a sour deal between myself and the shadows, one I still blamed myself for relentlessly, Mason hadn’t been fairing well. He had been grieving these months, and even though he deserved all the time in the world, Breyona and I worried for our cheerful best-friend. We missed his dimpled grin; one we hadn’t seen for a long while now. Mason had found friendship and understanding in my brother, who had also lost his mate months prior.
“Not here, just follow me.” He shook his head, looking a tad pale as we veered past the various trails and straight into the forest.
I had no clue where we were going, but still paid attention to the various scents I picked up. Both Nolan and my own were strongest, but there were at least forty others who had passed through this cluster of woods.
The blood-chilling, teeth chattering feeling of unease filled my stomach as we stepped into a little clearing, a small patch of grass carved out of the forest. Tall tree’s provided endless shade, drooping downward until their branches reached a few feet above our heads. There was something familiar about this spot, though I couldn’t put my finger on it.
I noticed her first, so much like Katie that my breath caught in my throat and my legs stopped working. I came to a stop, feeling every gust of wind, which grew colder as a cluster of clouds passed over the sun.
There was a tremor in my hands as I approached, from both fear and unbridled rage.
“Daisy…”
“Not again.” I whispered, unable to pull myself away from Carson’s glassy eyes.
It made no sense. Scott was d**d; my father was d**d. This shouldn’t be happening again, not here-not in the capital of Nolan’s pack. As my eyes took everything in, processing every extraneous detail, I realized that this- this was so much worse.
A large puddle of blood had soaked into the earth, proving Carson had been moved and positioned against the base of a great oak tree. Like Katie, and those who had been m******d after her, Carson’s slender throat was torn open, her torso littered with gashes that had long stopped bleeding.
Eyes that had once held light and laughter, lips that had once smiled and revealed joy, they were empty nowso empty. The cereal in my stomach curdled as I looked down, towards the photograph in her open hand.
The polaroid was covered in dried blood, but I could still make out the picture. An inexperienced Luna and a cheerful sorority girl, leaning against one another like best-friends, posed for a camera just out of sight.
I realized where we were the same moment, I noticed the note nailed to the tree, just above Carson’s head.
“We were here last night, Nolan.” I said without looking at him, without looking a t anyone other than
Carson-the girl who had been m******d, all because of her association with me. “In this clearing.”
Those feelings Holly and I keep having the nightmares that would wake her up screaming, it made sense now. Whatever was happening, it began with the witch breaking into our home. This senseless m****r, it was just the beginning.
“What does it say?” Nolan asked, placing a steadying hand on my shoulder, one I needed more than I’d admit.
Knowing Carson’s face would sear itself into my mind, along with everyone else we had lost, I faced my mate and spoke with a strong voice, “A Queen without control of her Kingdom is not a Queen, but a pawn.”
“It’s happening again?” Sean frowned, emerging from
Claire’s kitchen with a plate of sandwiches in his hand and a bag of chips in the other.
Sean looked better than he had these last few weeks. He was eating again, and the dark circles around his eyes had faded almost completely.
Moving on from a fallen mate was impossible, but finding a way to live despite the pain, only the strongest could do such a thing.
He took a seat beside dad on the couch, setting the plate on the table for the two of them. Dad and
Sean needed to keep their hands busy when they were stressed.
It was exactly why grandma was out back right now, pruning Claire’s rose bush. I knew she was listening in on us, because every so often she’d throw a comment of her own through the sliding glass door.
The breeze that wafted through was pleasant, at least. Even though the room was heavy with emotion.
“Exactly like the first time?” Dad questioned, his eyes flitting to me.
I had come clean about the notes I was getting from Scott, and how he had confronted me that day at my secret swimming hole. This was all before his d***h, which begged the question. Who was doing this?
“Not exactly. The d***h is the same. Just as b****y and gruesome.” I swallowed, but it did nothing to ease the knot in my chest. It brought back that photo, the one where Carson and I had posed like long-
lost friends. “It’s the details that changed. Like the note and picture at the crime scene, that was new.”
“Last time this happened, Scott and the Vampire King were behind it. Seeing as how they’re both long confirmed d**d, they aren’t responsible. That leaves the witches, or the Vampire’s against Daisy.” Zeke chimed in; his playful mood nonexistent. The sly glint in his eyes had long ago turned dull, souring until only guilt filled them. As those eyes met my own, I knew the same light shined in my own.
I had been posing with her for several minutes, and in all that time, I hadn’t felt anything out of the ordinary. There had been dozens of drunken college students watching us, eying the popular sorority girl and their Luna.
It had been my brief association with her that got her k****d, but it was Zeke who had seen her last-who had watched as she got into an uber and headed back to the lake in search of her cellphone.
‘We’re striving for peace, Daisy. There are always going to be vile people who want to destroy that.
They’ll do whatever it takes to get their way, but that’s when we need to stand strong, not back down.
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?