Ruling Alphas: Shifter Romance Collection

by Lola Gabriel

  Jagger started for the dining room door.

  “Wait. Where are you going?” his mom said.

  “Where do you think I’m going, Mom? I’m going out to Baker and Gerri’s place and getting Raven back,” he said.

  “Not alone, you’re not. Let me assemble some guards for you. Lee won’t be there without security,” she said.

  “There’s no time for that, Mom. I won’t leave Raven alone with him for even a moment longer than I have to,” Jagger said.

  “But if what Silver said is true, we have months,” Jagger’s mom said. “I don’t think an hour or two will hurt.”

  “And what if Silver’s theory is wrong?” Jagger countered. “Besides, I won’t leave Raven there even if she is technically safe for now.”

  “I’ll go with him,” Silver said, getting up and crossing the room to join Jagger at the half-open dining room door. “We should be okay between us, but feel free to send guards after us if you want to.”

  Jagger didn’t hang around to wait and see if his parents were going to agree to this or not. He felt like he had wasted enough time trying to convince his parents that he should leave now. He ran for his car with Silver on his heels. They got into the car and Jagger pulled away, his tires squealing once more. He headed into the traffic and started heading out to the mansion.

  “So, some of the tribe are worried about what my child might be able to do, huh?” Jagger said as he drove.

  Silver nodded his head and made a grunting sound that Jagger took to be agreement.

  “I kind of got the impression you maybe agreed with them,” Jagger went on. He said it like a question, not an accusation. He wanted to be sure that he had heard Silver’s tone right, even though it hurt him to think that his brother might think so badly of his child.

  “I understand their fear, I suppose,” Silver sighed. “But don’t for a moment think I agree with what Lee is doing.”

  Jagger looked at Silver, a quick glance, and then his focus was back on the road in front of him. Even that quick glance was enough to see that Silver looked uncomfortable, though, and Jagger knew his brother well enough to know that he was hiding something. Something big.

  “What aren’t you telling me, Silver? I know you’re hiding something and if it concerns Raven or my baby, I need to know what it is,” Jagger said, keeping his tone calm, his voice at a normal volume, even though he could feel anger and panic swirling inside of himself.

  Silver sighed loudly and ran his hands over his face.

  “Okay,” he said after a moment. “Here it is. Like I said, I understand why the tribe is fearful and I wanted to keep the peace within the tribe. I went to see Raven and tried to convince her to either end the pregnancy or take the baby and leave the country.”

  “You did what?” Jagger shouted, any pretense at calm gone now.

  “I’m sorry, Jagger. Let’s just be honest here, none of us have any real idea what the baby is going to be or what it’s going to be capable of. I know Mom thinks it’ll be fine, but what if she’s wrong? And what will the tribe think?” Silver said.

  “Who cares what other people think. This is my baby you’re talking about. You think my baby is going to be a monster?” Jagger said quietly.

  “I didn’t say that,” Silver said quickly. “I am worried it’s going to have powers we don’t understand. And if we don’t understand them, then how can we help the baby to master them? How can we teach it to control its powers if we don’t fully understand what they are?”

  “I don’t know,” Jagger admitted. “But I’d like to think that teaching the baby right from wrong would be enough. And if it does turn out that it has powers beyond our comprehension that it can’t control, there are always potions we can use to restrict or completely block someone’s powers. You know that.”

  “I know,” Silver said. “I guess I didn’t stop to think it all through. I’m sorry, Jagger. I overreacted. Luckily, Raven is very strong-willed. Oh, she made all of the right noises, promising to think it over, but I could see the determination in her eyes. The maternal instinct, I suppose it was.”

  Jagger shook his head, trying to make sense of all of this. He was extremely angry with Silver, but he needed him on his side right now. If they went into this in fight mode with each other, they were a lot more likely to screw up. Jagger had a feeling that Silver had considered this himself and that was why he had chosen now to confess to him, a time when he knew Jagger would be more likely to let it go.

  “Let’s just forget about it for now. I’m more worried about getting Raven safely home than anything else at the moment,” Jagger said.

  Silver nodded, throwing him a grateful smile, and they fell silent for a time as Jagger pushed the car onwards. It felt like it took him hours to get to the mansion, but he could see it looming up ahead of him now.

  Jagger parked the car outside of the brick wall surrounding the mansion’s grounds. He didn’t want to drive right up to the door and alert Lee and any guards he had of their presence. He wasn’t afraid of Lee. He half wanted to face him and make him pay for taking Raven, but he knew that if they could slip in and out unnoticed, it would mean there was less risk to Raven and that mattered more to Jagger than the idea of revenge. He could come back later and deal with Lee once he knew Raven was safe.

  Jagger and Silver got out of the car and made their way inside the grounds of the mansion, trying to stay hidden behind the shrubbery until they worked out the best place to try and get inside.

  “There,” Silver said.

  Jagger looked where Silver was pointing and smiled at what he saw. An open window. He nodded his head.

  “Let’s go,” he said. “Stay low.”

  Jagger led the way, Silver behind him, as they ran across the lawn bent almost double. They reached the mansion without anyone calling for them to stop and they stood for a moment beside the open window with their backs pressed to the wall. Jagger took a moment to compose himself, and then he leaned forward and peered into the window. The room looked like a lounge. A lounge empty of people. Jagger took a long moment to study the room until he was certain no one was hidden anywhere in it.

  He nodded to Silver and then he climbed in through the lounge window. Silver followed him in, and they moved to the door of the room.

  “What now?” Silver hissed.

  “Now we search every room in the place until we find Raven,” Jagger whispered back.

  Silver nodded his head. Jagger pulled the lounge door open and saw a long hallway. He stuck his head out cautiously and looked left and then right. Everything looked clear and he beckoned to Silver to follow him out of the room.

  “I’ll take the doors on the right-hand side, you take the ones on the left-hand side,” Silver whispered.

  Jagger nodded and the brothers began to make their way along the hallway, each slamming open doors on their side of the hallway and checking each room. Jagger was starting to feel like they had started in the wrong place, that they should have looked for an attic or a cellar first, after they had searched over half of the rooms leading off the hallway and found nothing.

  “Jagger. Look,” Silver hissed, nudging Jagger after a few more minutes had passed.

  Jagger tensed up, looking around, waiting for an attack. He and Silver were still alone and Jagger saw that Silver was pointing at a door. He looked at the door and his heart skipped a beat when he saw that a bolt was thrown across it. He was almost sure they had found Raven. Why else would this door be locked from the outside? He quickly opened the bolt and tried the door. It didn’t budge and Jagger realized it was locked as well as bolted.

  “Stand back,” Jagger said.

  He waited for Silver to move and then he raised his foot and kicked the door hard.

  10

  Raven jumped up from the chair she was sitting in when she heard footsteps outside in the hallway. She hadn’t seen or heard anyone since Lee had brought her here and locked her in, and she was curious as to who was here now. She fig
ured it was likely Lee with something for her to eat. He had promised to take good care of her. She just hoped he knew that meant she would need blood and not just normal food.

  She was tempted to refuse to eat anything he brought her, but that would only spite herself. She would be the one who starved and worse, her baby would suffer. She had to hold on, had to keep herself in good health so that if she was presented with an opportunity to escape, she would be able to take it.

  Raven heard the bolt on her door being pulled back and then the door rattled slightly in the frame. She held her breath, waiting for it to open, wondering if she could possibly take Lee by surprise and tear his throat out before he could use his magic on her. She moved closer to the door, but then a loud bang scared her and she jumped back again. Her fear turned to excitement. Someone was kicking the door in.

  Lee wouldn’t need to kick in the door; he had the key. It meant she was being rescued. Had Jagger found out about this and come to help her? It didn’t seem likely to Raven, but she couldn’t think of any other explanation for her rescue.

  She jumped back again as the door rattled in its frame and then slammed open. Raven felt relief flooding her when she saw that she had been right. Jagger was here. He was rescuing her.

  “Raven,” he said, running to her and quickly embracing her. “Are you or the baby hurt?”

  “No,” Raven said, clinging to Jagger for a second and then standing back. “We have to get out of here. Lee, my captor, this is his parents’ house. They’re away and he’s going to kill the baby, and…never mind that now. You obviously know that or you wouldn’t be here. How did you work it out?”

  “I’ll tell you everything when we’re out of here. Come on,” Jagger said.

  He began to lead Raven to the door. She flinched slightly, jumping back when she saw a man in the hallway. It was Silver, Jagger’s brother. Raven tensed up. Was he behind all of this as she had begun to suspect?

  “It’s okay,” Jagger said quickly, seeing Raven’s discomfort. “He told me everything and he came to help me rescue you.”

  “Raven,” Silver said. “I regret my actions, but even when I was convinced you needed to leave my brother, I never would have hurt you or the baby.”

  Raven nodded and gave him a half-smile and then the three of them began to make their way down the hallway.

  “We came in through an empty window. We’ll leave the same way,” Jagger said, taking Raven’s hand in his as they ran along the hallway.

  “You really thought it was going to be that easy? Jagger, I’m surprised at you,” Lee said, stepping into the hallway and raising his hands.

  Raven felt the now familiar feeling of being pushed backwards. She saw that Jagger and Silver were being pushed back too, but unlike her, they had ways to fight it. They both raised their hands as one, and Raven felt the pressure on her releasing and she was able move freely again. Lee was now the one being pushed backwards.

  Just as Raven began to relax a little bit, she heard footsteps rushing along the hallway. She couldn’t tell which direction they were coming from at first, and then she realized why. They were coming from both ways at once. Raven looked along the hallway, checking each way, and saw men running in from both directions. Lee smiled as Jagger and Silver released their hold on him to concentrate on the new, bigger threat.

  Jagger and Silver stood back to back in the hallway, each of them sending their magic down to the men approaching them. The magic held back some of the attackers, but they began to fire back with spells of their own and some of them were able to advance.

  Raven felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder and she turned quickly to find herself face to face with a grinning stranger. She brought out her fangs and dove onto the man, tearing through his jugular with a single snap of her jaws. She turned away from the almost dead man and found herself facing off with Lee.

  She grinned and threw herself toward him, ready to tear his throat out too, but Lee was much faster than the other man, and Raven felt herself crumpling to the ground as she was hit by an invisible wave of heat that was so hot it burned her skin, instantly blistering it.

  She felt consciousness slipping away from her and she tried to hold on, but the pain was too much, too intense, and Raven slipped into unconsciousness.

  11

  Jagger spun around quickly when he heard Raven’s scream of pain. He felt as though that scream was penetrating him, like he could feel her pain inside of himself. He saw her crumpled on the ground, her skin charred black and blistering. Smoke rose from her hair and her body and she was unconscious. Lee stood over her, beaming with delight, and Jagger stopped thinking clearly for a moment. All he could see was a red rage with Lee’s smiling face in the center of it.

  Jagger roared in anger and pushed his palms toward Lee, pushing with all of his might. Lee slammed back against the wall behind him, but Jagger didn’t stop there. He kept pushing, watching as Lee’s body flattened. He could hear bones snapping, and blood ran from Lee’s mouth as his ribs penetrated his lungs and he began to drown in his own blood.

  Jagger waited until he was certain that Lee was dead, and then he dropped him to the ground like a stone. He wanted so badly to go to Raven, but they were still in the middle of their fight.

  “Go to her!” Silver shouted. “Heal her and the baby. I’ve got this.”

  Jagger hesitated for only a moment. There were only two attackers left standing and Jagger was confident that Silver could handle them. He ran to Raven’s side and threw himself onto the ground beside her. He took her hands in his and then he took a deep breath and blew gently over Raven’s body. He watched as the burns began to heal themselves. It wasn’t long before Raven’s skin had healed completely and she opened her eyes and smiled up at Jagger.

  “You’re okay now,” he said to her.

  He felt a rush of emotion as he looked down at Raven, and suddenly, he knew that asking her to move in with him, something he had been planning on doing that night, wasn’t enough anymore.

  “Raven, I… I love you,” Jagger smiled. “And I don’t care if you’re not a witch. You’re my one true mate and I know that now. Raven, will you spend forever with me?”

  “Yes,” Raven said simply. She smiled, a smile that lit her face up. “I love you too, Jagger.”

  Epilogue

  Three Years Later

  Raven laughed as Marnie ran around with her friends, all of them shrieking and laughing. Jagger came and sat down beside Raven, kissing her cheek.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked.

  “Just watching the kids running about like that,” Raven said. “It’s hard to believe that people thought our daughter was going to be some sort of mutant freak, isn’t it?”

  “I know,” Jagger said, shaking his head. “Even my own brother was worried.”

  “Let’s face it, Jagger. We were a little bit worried ourselves at first,” Raven pointed out.

  “True,” Jagger agreed. “But luckily, my mom was right all along. Marnie is just a normal witch in most regards. She just has to drink blood with her meals.”

  “She’s really learning to handle the cravings too. She’s going to be just fine,” Raven smiled. She rubbed her belly and looked at Jagger. “And when her little brother or sister comes along in a few months’ time, she’s going to be an amazing big sister who looks out for them and teaches them all about their powers.”

  “And just think. One day, she’ll be leading the tribe,” Jagger said. “I think once that happens, it will help bring vampires and warlocks and witches a lot closer and I think we’ll start to see more cross-breeding between the two. Maybe Marnie will be the inspiration for a whole new race.”

  Raven smiled again as she watched Marnie.

  “Maybe,” she agreed. “And look at how confident she is. She would be the perfect candidate to lead a whole new tribe and help them to carve out a place for themselves in the world.”

  “Just like we did,” Jagger agreed. “When we told the world we d
idn’t care about their traditions. That we might be a warlock and a vampire, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be true soulmates.”

  Wolf’s Troubles

  1

  Marin Bailey marched into her parents’ house and went straight down the hallway and into the living room. Her mom was sitting on the couch, an open book in her hands. Her father sat beside her, his gaze fixed on the TV. Both of them looked up as Marin entered the room, startled by her sudden appearance.

  “What’s happened?” her mom asked, sounding worried.

  “You haven’t heard?” Marin asked, surprised that her parents were in the dark about this. It hadn’t even occurred to her that she might worry her parents by bursting in like she had; she really expected them to know why she was there. “Lewis and Kyle have been causing trouble again.”

  Lewis and Kyle were Marin’s younger brothers. They were twins and they were fifteen which meant that they were just getting to that awkward stage where they began to rebel. Their rebellion was, for the most part, harmless teenage stuff, but this time, it was different. Up until now, they hadn’t done anything that really warranted a massive telling-off, but this time, they had gone too far and Marin was here to make sure they got the punishment they deserved because she knew her parents would let it go to keep the peace. They would perhaps even encourage it a little bit, especially Marin’s mom, who was constantly telling her that boys will be boys and that the twins’ rebellion was harmless.

  “Nothing new there, then, love,” Marin’s mom said with a half-smile.

  She went back to her book and Marin felt her temper rising slightly. How was it that she was more concerned about this than either of her parents were?

  “Seriously, this can’t be allowed to go on,” Marin said firmly. She sighed and sat down in a chair opposite her parents. She reached out and took the remote for the TV from the coffee table in front of her father and muted it. To his credit, he didn’t complain. She sighed again, feeling more like she was the parent and her parents were the children. “The twins are making the whole family look bad. You know what people think, don’t you? That you two can’t control your own children.”