Her Forbidden Alpha

by Tabitha Conall

  Only a second later, she realized she wasn’t being held by some random wolf. This was Darius. She put her hand over his mouth and leaned in. “I saw a Humans Firster back there in the lobby. You have to stop him. He has a bomb.”

  ***

  A bomb? Darius found that hard to believe. How could Humans Firsters make it into the Holding anyway?

  Yet Aislinn seemed earnest. And he didn’t want to believe the alternative–that this was part of her ploy to escape. He’d better check things out and see if she was telling the truth or not.

  He put his mouth against her ear, knowing she didn’t have his wolfish hearing. “Stay here.” Once she nodded, he turned the corner and crept down the hall to the last turn before the front hall.

  Though the moonlight shone only dimly through the windows, his werewolf vision showed him the front hall almost as brightly lit as it looked in daytime. So he had no problem seeing the figure in black skulking by one of the columns on the far side of the hall. He watched for a few moments, long enough to verify that this wasn’t one of his own men, then returned to Aislinn, his mind spinning as he figured out what to do.

  Aislinn remained where he’d left her. Finding her still there eased a little of his tension. She might have been trying to escape–and they’d have to deal with that–but at least at the moment, she seemed to have his back.

  “Go back to your room,” he whispered against her ear. He doubted the Humans Firster would be able to hear him from one hallway over even if he’d spoken in a normal voice, but he liked being able to get so close to her.

  She shook her head vigorously. “I’m safer with you.”

  Darius cupped her cheeks, leaning in close. “You’re safer far away from the explosives. Now go.”

  “No.”

  He’d never seen that look on her face before. All her soft edges hardened, her jaw tight, her eyes focused and clear. His little mate had a stubborn streak. A big one.

  She wasn’t wrong, either. If there was one Humans Firster, there could be more. In sending her back to her room, he might be sending her toward even worse danger. She would be safer with him. He’d never let anything happen to her. “Fine,” he whispered, their foreheads nearly touching. “But stay close.”

  He pulled his cell out of his pocket and sent a quick text to all the guards plus his council to alert them to the threat. Intruders. Everyone on duty, he typed. Search for HF and bombs. “HF” was their short-hand for Humans Firsters. Subdue/defuse. I’m in front hall.

  As soon as he hit ‘send’ he headed back toward the front hall, Aislinn on his heels. Two guards ran up to them from a side corridor. Darius motioned them to follow but stay quiet.

  When they reached the front hall, the Humans Firster was at the far end, facing away from them. Darius waited until he headed down one of the side corridors before moving. As much as Darius wanted to catch the guy, he also wanted to make sure the charges were the extent of what he was doing there. Following him a little bit wouldn’t hurt, as long as Darius kept him in his sights.

  As they passed into the hall, Aislinn motioned toward one of the columns. A small gray charge sat at the base. Darius used hand signals to instruct one of the guards to defuse it, while the other guard continued to follow Darius and Aislinn. When they reached the column farther in where Darius had seen the man place a second charge, he pointed that one out to the remaining guard. Then Darius and Aislinn continued down the side hall after the Humans Firster.

  The man was just turning a corner much farther down when Darius and Aislinn passed into the hall. They hurried to catch up. All the while, Darius kept an eye out for more explosives. Who knew how many the guy would set? And did he really think he could bring down the Holding or was this the opening volley of an attack–set off explosives to create panic and chaos, then let the ground troops pour in through the destroyed defenses?

  They again reached the corner just to see the man turning another one in the distance. But this time, as they reached the hall he’d gone down, Darius could hear the man softly speaking.

  “Two down, four to go,” the man said.

  There was a pause. Darius assumed the man was listening to someone through an earbud.

  He spoke again. “Good. Found the girl yet?”

  Darius stiffened. ‘The girl’ could only be Aislinn. Thank Bendis she’d convinced him to let her come along. If she’d gone to her room, they might have captured her.

  “Keep looking,” the man said. “But if you can’t find her in time, remember she’s expendable.”

  Darius felt heat flash over him, his hands sprouting claws. Expendable? What kind of father would blow up a building knowing his daughter was inside?

  Aislinn didn’t react, so Darius figured she couldn’t hear the man, and he was glad for that. She didn’t need to know what a class-A asshole her father was. Then again, from what she’d said it sounded like she already knew.

  It didn’t matter. Aislinn was his now, and Darius took care of his own.

  The man didn’t say anything else, so Darius peeked around the corner. The man was facing him and glanced up just as Darius stuck his head out. Their eyes met.

  Immediately, the man yanked his gun out of its holster. Darius couldn’t pause. He leapt toward the man, tackling him just before he could get his gun into position to fire.

  But that didn’t stop him. The Humans Firster fought back, kicking and hitting him. He rolled Darius onto his back, but Darius quickly rolled him another turn so that the man’s back slammed against the stone wall. He let out his air with a loud ‘whooof.’

  Darius yanked the man toward him a few inches then thrust him toward the wall again. The man’s head hit it with a crack. His eyes remained open but unfocused, and his body grew limp.

  Darius staggered to his feet. He called the head guard on his cell and gave his position. While they waited for help, Aislinn came up beside him and put her arm around his waist. “Are you all right?”

  She cared. He knew she cared. But he couldn’t forget that she’d tried to leave. “I’m fine. Just a few bruises.”

  “I’ve seen him at the compound,” she said. “I don’t know his name, but I’m sure he’s with Humans First.”

  “Yeah, I figured that out. He was talking on a mic and he mentioned you. Could you hear him?” He was pretty sure she hadn’t but it didn’t hurt to ask.

  “No. Is that why you stopped for so long?”

  “Yeah. I was listening to him. He said, ‘two down, four to go’ and then asked if they’d found you yet.”

  “‘Two down, four to go’–do you think he meant charges?”

  Darius knelt to grab the man’s pack just as two of Darius’ warriors appeared down the hall and jogged toward them. Darius opened the pack. “Four charges. I think you’re right.”

  When the warriors reached them, Darius said, “Take care of him. And make sure these aren’t armed.” He handed the pack to one of the warriors. “Have any others been found?”

  “Two,” one of the warriors, Xavier, said. “They’re being taken to the war room. And we’ve found three more charges besides the two you discovered.”

  That’s what he figured. And he kind of doubted there were only three Humans Firsters, so there were probably more still roaming the halls. “We’ll keep looking,” Darius said. “Who’s in charge in the war room?”

  “Cael,” Xavier said.

  “Tell Cael to text me updates when he’s got them. I’ll come to the war room in a little while.”

  “Will do.”

  Darius and Aislinn headed down the hall, keeping an eye out for more Humans Firsters and more charges. Darius felt a weight on him like never before. With the castle so large, the charges could be anywhere. And if they missed even one, it could be a disaster.

  Chapter 12

  Aislinn stood in the war room where a couple of days before she’d talked to Gideon on the speaker phone. Five men in black clothes with grease paint smeared on their faces sat on the floor n
ext to the wall, their hands and feet bound. She looked and looked at them, but still only recognized one of them. The other four were strangers. New recruits, maybe?

  Even though she knew her father well, she still couldn’t believe he’d do this. What if they hadn’t discovered the Humans Firsters? What if they’d blown up the Holding? Hundreds, maybe thousands, of werewolves could have died.

  Darius might have been one of them.

  The thought made her feel cold all the way to her bones. She knew more than ever that she had to leave. This nightmare would never end if she didn’t go back to her father. But leaving Darius would be hard, so hard. She’d managed to walk away from him once tonight. She didn’t know if she had the strength to do it again.

  But all of these people around her could die, and it would be her fault. And what happened tonight just showed how determined her father was to kill them. She had to leave.

  While the thoughts spun in her head, Darius and his council argued about what to do next. She heard them peripherally, like background noise, but couldn’t stop staring at the five men who’d nearly killed hundreds. She’d brought them here. She had.

  “We’ve got them surrounded,” Cael said. “We should attack.”

  “We can’t let them get away with this. We have to let them know that taking action like they did tonight will have swift and terrible consequences.” Killion slammed his hand down on the long table in the center of the room.

  After a pause, Darius said, “There has to be something we can do besides outright attack. If we slaughter them, we’ll have full-blown war and we’ll end up with massive casualties on both sides.”

  “You’re being too soft,” Killion said.

  “I’m being level-headed,” Darius snapped. “Every decision needs to be made calmly, rationally, and only after considering the pros and cons. Just because our enemy fails to make good decisions doesn’t mean we have to.”

  She couldn’t take this anymore. “You have to send me back,” Aislinn said. “The General will never stop as long as I’m here.”

  Killion paced in her direction. “We’re the ones with the power now. Besides, you can’t go back.”

  “I thought you wanted me to go back,” she said.

  “That changed.” Killion returned to the table. “Didn’t Darius explain it to you?”

  “No.” She looked to Darius but he was staring toward the wall of windows. She wouldn’t get any answers from him right now. She spoke to Killion instead. “Darius is right. Attacking the Humans Firsters will just lead to more bloodshed on both sides. There has to be a better way.”

  There had to be. If not, they were all headed for war.

  ***

  Gideon stood in the General’s tent in the woods outside the Holding feeling sick to his stomach. He hadn’t felt right since the General had told him his plans to blow up the castle, and it had only gotten worse when the commandos left their camp to infiltrate the werewolf stronghold. What if they didn’t find Aislinn? What if she got killed while they tried to get her out?

  The General picked up a walkie-talkie. “Any sign of them yet?”

  The mercenaries were overdue. They should have been back an hour and a half ago with Aislinn.

  The walkie-talkie squawked. “No sign.”

  “We should blow the charges,” the General said.

  Gideon’s stomach tightened. “Sir. Aislinn is still in there. Maybe they’re trying to get her out. Give them a little more time.”

  “They should have radioed in if they needed more time. No. They must have gotten their asses caught. We need to blow the charges before the fucking werewolves defuse them all.”

  Gideon felt a tickle in his throat and swallowed hard, trying not to throw up. The General was right–the mercenaries had probably been caught. So what could he say to stop the General from blowing up his daughter?

  When he’d arrived and found that the General hadn’t changed his plans at all, Gideon had called Siobhan again. She’d explained that her husband said he would get Aislinn out and that she was in no danger. Siobhan had told Gideon she trusted her husband to do what he said. The General had lied to her and now Gideon was out of moves.

  The General picked up the detonator. “Aislinn will be better off.”

  So he was thinking of Aislinn now, was he? Bullshit. “Aislinn would be better off if you saved her, if you protected her. If you press that button, you’re killing your daughter.”

  “The werewolves did that when they took her.” The General’s thumb moved toward the button. “This is on their heads.”

  Gideon lunged toward the detonator but watched the General’s finger press it down before he could reach it. When he missed, he stumbled and just barely caught himself on the edge of the table. Almost immediately, an explosion sounded from the direction of the castle–loud, but not big enough to rock the camp.

  “See? They defused some of the charges. The explosion should have been much bigger.” The General set the detonator back onto the table.

  Gideon staggered to the corner of the tent and vomited.

  ***

  An explosion rocked the Holding. Everyone in the war room ducked instinctively and Darius lunged for Aislinn, pulling her into a crouch and hovering over her to protect her from anything that might fall on them. He waited several seconds after the explosion ended but nothing in the war room fell and no other bombs went off. Darius stood.

  He pulled Aislinn up to stand beside him, his hand on her waist. “Two of you stay with me. Everyone else, go find out where that explosion happened and report back immediately.”

  Warriors and guards ran for the double doors at either end of the hall, many of them jumping onto cell phones at the same time. A hodge-podge of conversations floated back to him as they left the room–husbands talking to wives in other parts of the castle, daughters talking to mothers. Cael headed right out of the doors while Killion took a left.

  At the same time, Darius dialed the speaker phone into the conference call number they used for emergencies like this. “We must have missed a charge.” He cursed.

  “If that was one charge, we’re damn lucky we got the rest of them.” Xavier, one of the guards, had stayed behind.

  A beep indicated that someone had joined the conference call. “This is Killion. I’m on the second floor in the residential area. It was hit. Hit bad.”

  Darius paced toward the phone. “Details.”

  “There’s a big hole in the inside wall. I can see into at least three residences. No idea about casualties.”

  “Go inside and find out,” Darius said.

  “Will do.”

  Darius felt fur sprouting along his arms and legs. Thank Bendis he was wearing long sleeves. He didn’t want his wolves to see how out of control he was.

  This was on him, all of it, but he still couldn’t figure out what he could have done differently. He couldn’t have left his mate at the church–he’d never have seen her again. He couldn’t have sent her back. Not if he wanted to stay in command.

  Killion came back on the line. His voice sounded ragged, and he cleared his throat before speaking. “The Carroway family is dead. Even the kids.” He took a shuddery breath. “They got a direct hit. I haven’t checked the other two residences, but I’ll do that now. But Darius–if there’s anyone alive in there, they’re going to need medical attention right away.”

  A flurry of other voices sounded indistinctly in the background.

  “Who else is there?” Darius said.

  “Neighbors,” Killion said. “They want to help but I think the damaged part of the building might not be completely safe so I’m going to tell them to stay back for now.”

  “Good,” Darius said. “No one else has reported in, so I’m going to send some of those warriors to your location. In the meantime, check the other two residences.”

  Xavier took care of sending some other warriors to the residences. Over by the wall, Aislinn knelt in front of the five Humans Firsters. She
stayed silent for a full minute, looking at them. After a while, a couple of them started to squirm.

  “What?” one man snapped.

  “Just wondering which of you is a baby killer.”

  Ouch. His little mate didn’t hold her punches.

  “They’re all filthy dogs,” the same man said. “Doesn’t matter how old they are.” He spat.

  “Too bad for you you were stupid enough to shoot your wad all in one go.” Aislinn’s voice sounded calm and almost pleasant.

  What the hell was she up to?

  “That would have worked fine,” the man snarled. “It wasn’t stupid.”

  Holy shit. She was interrogating them. Because she’d just gotten them to reveal the answer to a question he’d been wondering–was that explosion the first of many or was that everything? From what the guy had said, they’d blown everything at once.

  At least he didn’t have to worry about another explosion hitting them.

  Aislinn nodded at the man, a slight smile hovering around her lips. “So the plan was to blow up the Holding...and then what?”

  “Like we’re going to tell you, bitch,” another of the men said.

  Darius stepped toward them, hands fisting.

  Without even looking in his direction, Aislinn put up a hand to stop him. “Two down, four to go. If you each had six charges and there are five of you, that makes thirty charges. I’m no demolitions expert, but I doubt that’s enough to bring down a building this size. So what was this–a diversion?”

  The first man spat in her direction, missing her by several inches, but didn’t reply.

  “I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’” She tapped her finger against her lips. “So you wanted to divert our attention from something. What could that be?”

  “How are we supposed to know? The General doesn’t tell us everything. We were just supposed to set the charges and return to base.”

  “And rescue his daughter,” Aislinn said. “Right? You were supposed to take her back to her father.”