Filed To Story: Claimed by the Alpha I Hate Book Read Free
I’d never heard her voice like this before. It was unrestrained, a wound that bled and bled and bled. The words poured from that wound, mixing with the remnants of Tristan’s blood on the ground.
“She said she-she said she’d kill him if I didn’t help her.” Holly whimpered, her eyes traveling over
Tristan’s smooth face, marveling in both awe and horror at the expression calcified by death’s cold touch.
“The Blood Witch said that?” Giovanni asked in a gravely voice, one thick with grief.
“No, Cassidy did. She-She was my sister, and she knew-she knew I loved him.” 1
Her shoulders shook as her face contorted in pain. More tears than I’d ever seen from a single person trailed down her cheeks. When she lifted her eyes to meet my own, I knew deep in my gut that Holly would never be the same after this. She would never be okay.
“I’m so sorry, Daisy.” She whispered, truly and completely broken.
There was a hole in my chest where Sean’s life had once been, and I couldn’t help but think how differently things would’ve been if it had been Nolan that joined him. The wound that would’ve been left behind as half of my soul was carved from my body would be irreparable.
I wouldn’t have been able to live through that kind of agony-the same kind Holly was currently experiencing.
She’s suffered enough, I decided.
“I forgive you.” I murmured, meaning every word.
There was a glimmer of surprise that crossed her face, but nothing short of a miracle could erase the pain that would follow her every singled day for the rest of her life. Her lips, glossy from tears, moved to form a response.
Perhaps she might’ve responded, but a flicker of light just a few feet away caught her attention. It was nothing more than a flash of red, like the whisper of a budding flame.
Holly frowned, reaching several feet behind her to pluck her mother’s dagger off the ground. She stared at it for several seconds, a perplexed expression quickly forming on her face. With a single trembling finger, she reached out and touched the blood ruby attached to the pummel.
With a raw gasp, she yanked her hand away.
“What is it?” I quickly asked.
Giovanni’s head snapped up. “What happened? What is that thing?”
“It’s the Blood Witches weapon. It had…it had Daisy’s father’s soul in it.” Breyona replied, narrowing her eyes at the object in question.
I didn’t blame her one bit. The thing gave me the creeps, but the way Holly was looking at it, like it was her last hope, made me falter.
“I didn’t mean to, but I think I did something when I-I pulled this out of his chest.” Holly admitted with clear reluctance. “Our father’s soul went out and…”
The longer I stared at the blood ruby, the more I noticed something different about it.
Whereas before it glowed with a light that reminded me of fresh blood, this time around, it had changed. There was a warmth radiating from its core, flickering, and waning exactly the way a flame would.
It was there, in the hollow of my chest, that I found the answer.
“…and Tristan’s went in.” Holly finished, now cradling the dagger to her chest.
I reached out for it, a slow smile spreading across my face. As Holly looked from my hand to my eyes, her hold lessened.
“I have an idea. Do you trust me, Holly?”
Slowly, like she was holding the secret to life and not a silver dagger, she placed the weapon in my hand.
“Now, lets see if we can bring Tristan back to life.”
Half an hour later, I stumbled away from
Tristan’s body and into Nolan’s warm embrace.
My legs had been reduced to jelly, and my magical reserves drained so low they might never recover. I could only imagine how much blood and rest it would take before they were back to normal again.
Nolan’s voice washed over my shoulders, his breath fluttering against my cheek, but the blood roaring in my ears kept me from hearing.
I’d poured everything into Tristan- everything.
Holly and Giovanni remained rooted in place, searching for any sign of life whether it be a heartbeat or an influx of breath. The inky strands of my half-sister’s hair cascaded down Tristan’s shoulder, hanging off the side of the table he’d been placed onto.
With her ear placed against his chest, she waited and waited.
I understood her worry. Really, I did. Her mother had to sacrifice ten witches just to lock my father’s soul into my body. While I didn’t have ten innocent people to slaughter, I did have something else on my side.
That otherworldly and very much feminine presence that had taken over just minutes before, allowing me a split second of control when I needed it most, hadn’t left me. It was still here, bubbling in my veins and wrapping itself around my body in a shroud of silk.
As I used it to strengthen my own magic, I swore I heard its whisper ring in my ears before vanishing completely, melting into the night sky and the stars that watched over head.
“…just this once.’ It had said.
When it left, and I felt its absence ringing in my soul, I whispered a quick thank you to the Moon
Goddess.
During the walk back to the house, Nolan recounted what happened the moment I slipped away. Half of the story he told with words, while the other came in the form of memories dancing down the mate-
bond.
Witches had poured into the pack, concealed by Angelica’s twin sister, who had also survived the battle. In fact, the two of them were currently in the living room, watching television like two normal children. The witches had split into groups, some attacking the town while others came to the house, beckoned by Cassidy’s call.
Those who went into town were met with not only warriors, but pack members who took it upon themselves to defend their own.
Even my dad, who was now safe with Flora visiting grandma in the hospital, had joined the battle.
As for Cassidy herself, I witnessed her death in Nolan’s memory, and relished every gruesome second.
The witch that had slithered her way into the pack at the ripe age of seven years old, replacing the real
Cassidy who had been kidnapped and murdered days prior, was torn limb from limb by the same men she’d befriended and betrayed: Brandon and Nolan.
The two of them had banded together and worked as one for the first time in over ten years. Cassidy might have been responsible for tearing them apart, but in the end, she’d also been what brought them back together.
With Nolan’s arms wrapped around my torso, so tightly that nothing could dare pull us apart, we waited in the silence for life to blossom in Tristan’s chest.