Filed To Story: Destined Bond with My Forbidden Alpha Novel (Alpha Alexander & Selene)
Selene nodded.
Alexander chuckled.
“As it should be,” he whispered, pecking her lips before pulling away completely.
After a brief discussion on the plan of attack, the couple carefully and quietly exited the car. They made their way up and around the brush to position themselves so they were flanking the creature. When Alexander gave the signal, they both charged it.
It let out that haunting howl, throwing Selene off guard for a moment. Luckily, Alexander was able to knock the beast back before it lunged at her.
Regaining her composure, Selene readied her small blades and called out to Alexander.
He attacked the creature with heavy swings keeping its focus on Alexander. At the same time, Selene moved quickly and accurately to remove the most significant threat.
She jumped on its back and hacked away at the tendrils with the barbed ends they suspected would deliver the infection. She managed to cut off two, but the third was proving difficult, and the beast no longer cared about what Alexander was doing.
It threw itself to the ground, rolling Selene under it as it did.
“Selene!” Alexander cried out, surging forward to knock the creature off of her and trying to help her up. “Are you all right?”
Selene took Alexander’s offered hand.
“I’m fine,” she said as she got up. “We’re not done here.”
Selene gasped as that horrifying howl filled the air, but the creature stood before them silently.
Alexander looked behind them. He swallowed nervously.
“No, we’re not,” he said, gripping his sword tighter as two more mutated beasts padded toward them.
Selene kept her focus on the first creature. He had one stinger left; if she could remove this, the threat the creature posed was significantly reduced.
Alexander grabbed the attention of the other two. He drew them away from Selene, allowing her to focus on her task. He weaved between them, preventing either from attempting to sting him. As he moved, he swung his sword and caught one of them along the shoulder. A horrifying screech came from the creature.
Selene and the first monster measured each other up, she waited until it tried to lunge forward at her, and then she jumped. She aimed higher than his back and knew he would buck her off if she tried to catch him the same way as before.
As she leaped over the creature, she observed its movements. Then, as it turned to try and face her, she took the opportunity to throw one of her knives at the base of the last stinger.
The beast screeched and fell as the last stinger was severed at the root.
After landing, Selene quickly recovered. But the beast was still on the ground. So she turned and ran at it; raising her hand high, she summoned a dagger and drove it hard and deep into the beast’s chest.
“Return to the Goddess,” she whispered as the beast let out a gurgle and a groan before it shriveled into a small husk.
She stood up, catching her breath. She looked down at it, hoping the soul trapped inside was again free.
The sound of something slamming hard against a tree not far away reminded her that Alexander was still in danger. Taking another deep breath, she summoned two new blades and rushed into the trees toward the sound of fighting.
***
Two hours later, Selene and Alexander stood near a large fire. They wore scraps of fabric tied around their head to cover their nose and mouths as they checked over their wounds. Making sure nothing looked as though it had been hit by one of the stingers without them realizing it.
They were hesitant to build the pyre at first. Primarily there was a concern about more of these creatures wandering in the forest. Beyond that, they weren’t sure if burning the bodies could spread the infection through the air.
Ultimately, they decided to burn the bodies to honor the wolves trapped inside. Releasing their energy back to the Goddess, or the ley lines as they had learned, was the case.
When Peter finally returned their call, he told them the virus would not be able to be transmitted through the air, only through direct injection. Still, they chose to keep the cover over their faces. Better safe than sorry.
He had also told them that Myka was recovering well. And re-emphasized the need for extreme caution with the hybrid creatures.
The team in Summer had almost completed the adjustments needed to produce the cure as an inoculation for the general population. But there still was no answer for Selene and Axel, and until
Alexander got the inoculation, he was in just as much danger as the other two.
They stayed with the pyre until they were sure that the creatures were nothing but ash and bone, and then they returned to their mission.
The sun had already set by the time they neared the Moonguard territory.
Selene didn’t like moving in heavier armor. It made her feel stifled and restricted in her movements. It also made it that much easier for those she was attempting to keep hidden from to hear her coming.
For Alexander, it was different. He had been trained to travel through thick brush, dunes, rocky shores, and snowy mountain peaks. Heavy armor, light armor, or none at all. Training for every possibility that he could. That was how he was raised. That was the soldier that he had trained himself to be.
But there was at least one scenario he had not planned for, and no amount of training could have prepared him for the reality even if he had.
He glanced to his side. Selene had her eyes focused forward, searching the bushes and the trees ahead for any sign of movement, for any indication that an enemy was waiting for them.
But his focus was split.
His world had been shaken when they were surprised by the other two hybrids. He did what he needed to do. He kept them distracted while Selene handled the first hybrid. But he kept thinking about her, worrying that the creature would manage to infect her, hurt her, or kill her.
Even now, he was worried.
After all the training and experience he had gained, he never could have known that he was not prepared to join battle with the woman he loved at his side.
His parents had fought many times at each other’s side, as had Wyatt and Corrine.
He knew what a skilled warrior Selene was. He had seen it with his own eyes. So there was no reason for him to worry, and it was clear that she was not having the same issue. So why was he having such a difficult time? Why couldn’t he simply trust that she would be fine, like any other soldier he fought with?
“Alexander?”
Her voice brought his focus back to the present moment.
“Huh?”
“Are you all right?” she asked, turning to look at him closely. “I called your name three times.”
“Sorry…. I thought I heard something,” he replied.
“Then you heard it too?” she asked excitedly, lowering her head and looking back into the brush. “The sound I heard was like a shuffling… but I don’t see anything yet.”
Alexander furrowed his brows and focused his attention on their surroundings. He couldn’t get distracted again, or he would be the cause of Selene’s danger.
He listened closely for the sounds of the night, for the soft thrum of forest night dwellers going about their nightly business. But there was something strange in the air. The sound of the bats, the owls, and the rodents running from place to place was almost silent. In its place, shuffling, soft grunts, and in the distance, very quietly, he heard crying.
“Moonguard wolves?” he asked in a whisper. “I hear at least two people crying quietly.”
Selene nodded.
“The settlement isn’t far,” she replied. “We should be able to see the lights from here, but it’s total darkness.”
She sniffed the air, wrinkling her nose with a soft growl.
“Blood,” she whispered.
Alexander nodded.
“The animals have abandoned the area as well.”
“Noticed that,” Selene sighed. “It’s weird… I don’t remember that happening this afternoon with the hybrids….”
Alexander nodded.
“I don’t either,” he said. “Which has me a little concerned about what we are about to find.”
“No use putting it off,” Selene sighed. “We have no idea how much time we have left or what has happened to these wolves.”
Alexander took a deep breath.
“You’re right.”
They moved low and quietly until they could see the gates to the Moonguard settlement, they stood ajar, and they could see movement inside.
Alexander could not clearly see what was moving, but it was near the entrance. He looked up the walls, no sentries.
Getting Selene’s attention, he signaled for them to climb, she nodded, and they made their way up the wall.
Once at the top, they settled into the shadows and made themselves small as they peered down into the grounds of the Moonguard settlement.
At first, they could only see dark shapes moving almost silently around the small dirt roads between the buildings. But eventually, one of these dark shapes moved into the moonlight.
Selene had to cover her mouth to keep from gasping aloud.
Standing in the bright white light of the moon was a man covered in heavy, bulging vines that circled his arms and legs. Along the vines were sprouted leaves, mushrooms, and moss. Skin a dark green and brown like the forest floor that he dragged his rooted legs over. His mouth was wide, thick, dry, and cracked like the hardest bark of an ancient tree.
Alexander leaned forward, his eyes wide with shock and horror.
The man stood still, no longer dragging his roots in a shuffling motion. Instead, he lifted his chin to look up at the night sky.
Selene caught the briefest glimpse of his milky white eyes, wet with tears, before the man screamed into the night.
His body collapsed in jerking motions, and his arms flew back as if pulled by some external source. The man screamed louder.
All around him, the other shadowed figures continued to shuffle, not reacting to the man’s screams or the bizarre twists and bends that his body was suffering.
Selene felt the hot tears gathering at the top of her hand, still covering her mouth as she watched in complete horror, hearing every snap of his bone and the tear of his flesh.
Alexander put his arm around her and pulled her close. She almost let him hide her face and keep her from seeing the final torturous moments of the wolf’s life. But she knew she had to watch. She had to bear witness to it all.
After his body went still and his voice went silent, the man lay in a crumpled heap for several moments.
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?