Alpha Bound

by Holly Hook

  Remo and Everly unload Matthew, who continues to breathe with that horrific gurgle. He's neither worsening nor improving. His healing matches the damage he's taking. And soon, that cloth will have to dry. The fumes will run out.

  “We can help,” Mr. Russell says. “We'll make sure he threatens no one ever again.” Leonora's father has a rough look in his eyes as he speaks. Pain flares. And he's holding a long, wicked-looking silver dagger. As if sensing I've seen it, he holds the weapon up, and the sight of it sends a shudder down my spine. This weapon could end any normal Wolf. “This is consecrated silver of the purest type. A single stab to the heart will be enough to kill this Savage before he can do any damage.”

  I'm outnumbered. The Russells aren't part of the pack. I can't boss them around. After their mistake years ago, they won't let Matthew live.

  “I agree that's the best plan,” I say. “But we need to get information out of him first if we can.” I swallow a bad taste in my mouth. I wanted to kill Matthew before. When he was just infected, I wanted to destroy him and I couldn't stop myself. Something's changing. Why am I showing him compassion?

  Something's happening.

  I'm different than what I was in October. Something changed when I started taking charge.

  “That might be too risky,” Mr. Russell says. He looks to his wife. “We can't let this Savage Wolf tell the others where the Lowe's cabin is. Or where they can find Brie.”

  “We need Matthew,” I insist, “or we're not getting the alpha back. It‘s not like the coven is being helpful.”

  “They won't speak to us,” Mrs. Russell says. “It's difficult to banish the dark spirits around Cayden. The Haydes must have created them from a dark place. My husband and I are also in a dark place. It's difficult to manifest anything light and positive in our state of mind. And there are only two of us, versus a full coven on Romulus's side.”_

  “The Haydes created them?” I ask. “You mean, witches create spirits? I thought they summoned them.” But I turn away and face Remo, who holds Matthew up with one arm. The cloth is drying, and he shakes his head, begging us to come up with something, and fast.

  “Take him indoors,” Everly says.

  We take him into the living room of the cabin, laying Matt on his back. Remo hovers over him. Mr. Russell readies the silver dagger. He trembles as he shuffles closer to Matthew, holding it in front of him. Remo keeps the cloth over his nose, and the acrid stench of chemicals mixes with that of rotting wood.

  “Wait,” I say. “We have to ask him some questions. See if he can lead us to Brett. We can't kill him yet.”

  “Can you weaken him?” Remo asks Mr. Russell. “Use your spirits to suck out his strength, or something?” He shifts to position himself above Matthew's chest, blocking the blow.

  “Most spirits don‘t work that way,” Mr. Russell says. “Move and let me get a good stab. I can‘t allow a Savage to live.”

  Aunt May grabs my arm. “Back away, Brie. He may try to fight.”

  Matthew groans and trembles. “Help me. I'm losing it.”

  “Help him.” Everly tells Mr. Russell. “Do it.”

  “We need him,” I say. “Just let him tell us where Brett is and how to get to him, and then we can...we can stab him.” I push out the last words.

  “You wanted to kill him more than any of us did.” Everly glares at me.

  “I know. Something‘s different.”

  “Stab him!” Everly shouts.

  Matt's eyelids flutter open.

  Despite the cloth Remo mashes to his face, he growls as hackles sprout from his neck. A deep, evil darkness fills his eyes, a darkness I saw a few nights ago. Something red and evil lurks. Sharp teeth slide over his jaw. The creature lying on the ground is no longer Matthew. It's a pure monster in a human skin. The air turns cold, and the stench makes me gag. Aunt May pulls me back, but Matt turns his head and faces me.

  I recognize that darkness.

  It's that of the Savage King.

  Romulus is in Matt. Their blood connects them in more ways than one. Matt has become a puppet. A look of sheer horror sweeps over Matt's face before the beast takes over.

  This is why he begged for help.

  My jaw falls open as Mr. Russell backs off in shock.

  “Your strength is your weakness,” the creature snarls at me. “Soon I'll overtake you.”

  “Stab him!” I shout.

  Mr. Russell advances. He slams the dagger into Matthew, striking the sweet spot. The blade makes a sickening slick sound as it goes in.

  Romulus growls in agony. Matt‘s body lurches as hackles retract. In a snap, every trace of the Savage King abandons him. Matt's eyes, now human, fly open and face the ceiling. He sucks in a breath. Bones crack around the dagger. Blood, reeking like iron and decay, leaks out.

  Romulus has fled, leaving Matthew to die.

  “I...” Matt manages.

  His body trembles.

  Fur sprouts and retracts as his body tries to shift, but it's too late. Matt takes two more gasping breaths. With each one, the red stain on his jersey spreads. He reaches to the ceiling, to where no one waits, as his pupils go blank. Matt's chest falls.

  Remo takes a long time to remove the cloth from his face.

  Mr. Russell has killed him.

  “What?" Mr. Russell asks, holding up his shaking hands. “I killed—”

  “Matt!” I shout, balling my fists. I advance on the body. He has the answers I need, or at least some clues. “You didn't tell me how to fix Cayden! You asshole!”

  “What we did was honorable,” Everly says, cold and hard. “He won't be progressing into a pure beast. I‘ve heard stories about some Savage Wolves who can‘t control themselves and now we know why some go pure beast.”

  I whirl on her. “We needed him.”

  “Even you admit we did what was best,” Everly says. “He needed to die. There were no redeeming qualities in that guy.”

  “That was not normal," Remo says.

  “He was Romulus," I say. My throat‘s dry and painful. “Romulus came through Matt and like, possessed him or something. Maybe that was why he was asking for help.” I sniff, but Matt's definitely dead. The first stench of real decay fills the air.

  “Honey.” Mr. Russell turns and walks into the kitchen, to where his wife stands. “Hug me.”

  “We‘ve done what we had to," she tells him in a soothing voice.

  I need Aunt May. I don't want to face the dead body on the floor of the Lowes' cabin. Once again, the local Savage Wolves have lost their alpha. And I shouted at Mr. Russell to stab him.

  For a moment, Romulus was here. Now he knows what the inside the Lowe cabin looks like. And the fact that the Russells are out of hiding and helping us.

  Brie. I felt something!

  Cayden.

  I'm shaking. “I know he needed to die, but...but...” My words fall to the floor.

  “We did what was best,” Remo says, though his mood sinks to the center of the Earth. “I didn't know the Savage King was going to come through him. That was a surprise.” He drops the now useless cloth to the floor. It lands like a broken dove.

  “We have to bury him,” I say. I don‘t know what to feel. Relief? Terror? Rage?

  Matt was asking for help.

  He knew the Savage King was using him. That was his real tipping point.

  “Yes,” Everly says. “We have to bury him before anyone finds him.” She speaks so matter-of-factly that it sends me into a rage.

  “Do you realize what we just lost?” I ask.

  “We did what we had to,” Everly says.

  I‘ve got to keep it together. “I'm not mad at any of you,” I force, eyeing Aunt May and Mrs. Russell and then Remo. “I'm not even mad at Everly.” I won't be angry at her. She has a point. The pack has to stay together. “I'm mad at Romulus. Now he knows the Russells are helping us.”

  Leonora‘s parents walk back into the room, holding each other up. Mr. Russell looks away from Matthew's form
.

  “Romulus didn't have to let us know about his presence,” Remo says. “It's almost as if he wanted to let us know he's watching us. Like he wants us to exit this place.” He turns to Leonora's parents. “Did you do anything magical to the property?”

  Mrs. Russell shakes her head. “Nothing to this property.”

  “Maybe--“ Remo stops himself before he can mention Leonora.

  “We have to ask,” I say, mainly to take my attention off the body. Matt continues to look at the ceiling, blank and empty. I hope Romulus can't look through dead eyes. “Could someone put something over his face? We don't know if Romulus can still look through him or animate the dead. Now that's a pleasant thought.”

  “Brie, you have your father's sense of humor,” Aunt May says with a smile.

  We're all trying to cope however we can. I help Remo grab Matt by the shoulders, and as I kneel, Cayden's voice explodes in my head again.

  Brie! What happened?

  I'm too confused, angry, and choked up to respond. Remo and I drag Matt outside while Mr. Russell holds open the door. Mrs. Russell searches for a shovel, but Everly stops her. “We don't need tools for this.”

  I know what she means. We can shift and dig much more into the frozen earth.

  My phone rings. Cayden needs to talk and he won't let me finish this task until I do. “Aunt May,” I say, eyeing her.

  She takes Matt's shoulder, helping Remo drag what's left of Matthew into the trees. Mr. Russell says something about removing his dagger. I step away while Everly takes off her coat and prepares to shift. We'll bury Matt as wolves. Though Cayden doesn't talk about it much, I know the Lowes buried their dead members as wolves. It's an honor Matt doesn't deserve after he tempted me with something I can't have.

  Cayden himself.

  I answer the phone, heart aching.

  Emotion overtakes me and before I can stop myself, I blurt, “Matt promised to bring us Brett if we stopped him from getting worse, and we did that, but now he can't bring us Brett.”

  “He's dead, isn't he?” The relief in Cayden's voice is immediate.

  I don't stop there. “Romulus was possessing him, and he said he'd overtake me--“

  “Brie. Hang on. Do nothing else.”

  The determination in his voice makes me take a step back into a tree trunk. In the background, Everly shifts with the painful popping of joints and the stretching of skin. The sound only adds to the horror of what I've done.

  I've let Cayden know the Savage King is onto us.

  And now he will do what any good alpha would do.

  “Brie, I can't sit here any longer while the Savage King breathes down your backs. The instinct gets worse the longer I stay away. I won't let him touch you. Any of you. I'm coming back if it kills me.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “Cayden!” I shout into the phone.

  But he's already gone, and I know if I dial his number, he won't pick up. He and Leonora are already making plans to return and nothing I say will stop him.

  Maybe Romulus planned it this way. I'm too weak and nice to do this on my own. He knew I'd break and bring Cayden back.

  He knows my weakness.

  I turn to face Everly and Aunt May, but they're already wolves, as is Remo, who goes to work digging a large hole in the ground with his paws. The deepening grave has a pile of dirt beside it, growing by the minute as Remo's powerful claws dig into the frozen earth. Mr. and Mrs. Russell have retreated into the house, leaving me alone.

  I want to help dig that grave.

  It feels appropriate right now.

  Casting off my coat and removing the rest, I let the animal overtake me as pain sweeps over my body. Fitting. I can‘t even keep Cayden away. Fur sprouts, blocking the only cold, and providing the only mercy I have during the transformation. I can't bear to tell the others yet, though I suspect they've heard. Everly looks at me with deep hazel eyes, and they're full of fear as she joins Remo in digging. I leap over Matt's still form and dig claws into dirt now that the pain‘s gone, and the change is complete. The three of us work in silence together, not even thinking to each other, as the hole grows deeper and deeper. One foot...two...four...and six. My limbs burn with the effort as I dig out one final tree root, seize it with my teeth, and fling it out of the hole.

  The Russells wait.

  I leap out of the hole and allow them to topple Matt in. His limp form flops around and lands on the bottom of the hole, and I realize his parents will never know what happened to their son. Neither might the Savages. He still gives off a rotten smell, and it blends with all the gross layers of earth that now cling to my paws. I smell almost like a Savage after all the digging I've done, and the others smell the same.

  I could become Savage if Mr. Hayde was right.

  Romulus wants me to know, too. He's standing aside, letting us destroy ourselves.

  I shovel at the pile of dirt, casting the first on top of Matt. He'll lie here and rot. The Nobles might do the same. Cayden will die first. He's already trying to protect me. Maybe just the act of coming back will kill him.

  My phone buzzes in my coat pocket. A text.

  I kick the dirt back as the others do the same. Mr. Russell joins in, shoveling dirt onto the grave in silence. He's never killed before. He‘s strained and panting. I want to tell him not to feel bad. He and his wife blew the Nobles' cover to the Savages before. This more than makes up for it.

  Mine isn't.

  Cayden's returning to his death.

  He might even be on a bus right now. Even with little money, he and Leonora will return.

  At last, Matt lies in the ground with a heavy dirt blanket. As if not wanting to see the evidence of what he's done, Mr. Russell shovels snow on top, forming a pile that blends in with all the wolf prints and chunks of ice. I wander over to my clothes, away from the others, and will my human form to return with as much pain as possible.

  The agony sweeps over me, and flesh stretches as my shape changes. Fur retracts, leaving my skin bare to the elements, and I scramble to get my clothing on. When I whirl around, dressed, I find the Russells looking into the trees together, and Mrs. Russell puts her arm over her husband's shoulder. The other wolves have vanished into the trees to change back, and the concert of popping and pulling follows. I sense Leonora‘s parents need this moment and walk into the house.

  I need my own.

  Aunt May comes in first, buttoning up her jacket. “Brie,” she says.

  “Cayden's coming back and I can't stop him!” Without turning to face her, I collapse on the leather couch.

  “Brie, that's not your fault.” She sits on the edge though I don't allow her much. “He's the alpha and can sense when you're in danger. That's why he's coming back. It's nothing you did. It's the Savage King's fault.”

  “This is my fault. I could have fixed Cayden if I hadn't killed Mr. Hayde.”

  “You did what you had to. Nobles don't like killing people, but that man decided to help the Savages, knowing what they wanted for the world. Maybe we need to realize that more.”

  “Even you looked at me all horrified when I did it.” That will never leave me no matter what she says.

  “I was in shock. Brie, I'm proud of you. You did what I didn't have the strength to do. You did you part to protect the Nobles and everyone else.”

  “What if I can go Savage? What if Mr. Hayde is right?”

  “None of us knows the answer to that question.”

  It's not good enough for me. “I'm challenging Cayden when he returns. That's the only way he will survive.”

  Aunt May says nothing at first. Silence drags out and I listen as she swallows. “You might have to.”

  “I know that's not what you want to hear. But his instinct is too strong.”

  “If you become alpha--“

  “When. I'm the Royal, not him.”

  “--then your instinct will be to protect him and all of us. The Savage King will use that against you. He seems smarter than the
other Savages. How else has he stayed alive this long?”

  I hear between the lines. Aunt May doesn't want me to deal with the responsibility. “I'm already dealing with things, Aunt May,” I say. “How much difference is this going to make? If Cayden wants to argue about it, then I'll bring up this point. I'm already in charge, and his leaving just gives me more ammunition.” I sit up and fish out the phone from my pocket as I remember the buzzing. Aunt May gets off the couch as I look at it and Everly walks into the back door, pulling off her coat.

  The text is from Ellie.

  Are you coming to rehearsal? Haven't seen you all afternoon. Mr. Saffron changed the time last minute. 7PM.

  I sigh. Keeping up a front matters with Noah gone. And besides, I need to hear how he's doing. And make sure nothing happens to Ellie and even Olivia. Noah would die if something happened to her.

  Coming, I text. Then I check the time. I have two hours before rehearsal starts. It's a later one tonight, and by the time I'm done, Cayden might even be back, depending on whether he takes a bus or a flight. And I know he won't tell me. He doesn't want me to stop him from returning.

  “I have a rehearsal tonight,” I say. “I have to make sure Jansen does nothing to Ellie or anyone else. Fun.”

  “Try to have fun,” Aunt May says.

  Her eyes glisten with tears. I hate it.

  “Let me handle things,” I say. “I know it's hard to let go, but let me. Please. I won't let the Savage King destroy us. And tell Remo to start working on cracking that phone.”

  She gulps and opens her arms for a hug.

  And I take it.

  * * * * *

  The only thing that keeps me functioning while I let Aunt May drive me to the school is that Remo has Jansen's phone and he can't communicate with Brett, unless Brett and Karina have done evil voodoo to allow him to. But Jansen doesn't strike me as the magical type. There's something about him that's just too ordinary and low-profile.

  Maybe by the time I get out of rehearsal, Remo will have cracked Jansen's phone and found all the clues we need to fix Cayden. My heart races every time I think about it. He's confident he can use a few cords and a computer to gain access to all his texts. “The government does it, so why can't I?” he says.