Deprived (Daughter of an Alpha Book 2)

by Kaitlyn Taylor

  “I’ll give you credit for trying,” I told him.

  When we were back on the second floor of the castle, we went straight for Kota and Nathan’s chambers. I felt like I was in there more than in my own room today. It was quiet as we got closer to the door but as soon as we were about to enter the bickering began. It was Nathan and Kota, trying to decide who was going to open the portal. Since Kota was still regaining her strength it seemed to be obvious that Nathan would open it, but she was determined to be the one to do it. It seemed strange that she was arguing over something like this. Usually she let it go and found other ways to release her frustration, but she wasn’t backing down this time. The others began to pile into the room, walking into the same argument that Declan and I had. They were just as confused as I was but instead of stopping it we all just stood around and waited for it to end.

  “Save your energy, Kota, that’s all I’m saying,” Nathan told her as he continued to plead with her.

  “Stop babying me!” she shouted. “Just because I fainted doesn’t mean that I’m useless.”

  “No one said you were!” Nathan raised his voice slightly.

  “I’m opening the portal, end of story,” she decided as she turned away from Nathan facing the fireplace. She lifted up her arm and began to mutter a few words before Nathan dropped his hand onto her shoulder, feeding his own energy into her. If he couldn’t stop her from using her own magic, then the least he could do was help her. Hopefully, she didn’t get mad at him for doing that. She seemed to be very sensitive right now. It was unlike her to take things so personally, so I hope it wore off after she got some more rest. She shouldn’t even be going to the treehouse with us with the condition that she’s in, but she decided against that as well.

  “Everybody ready?” she asked as she turned towards us, a swirling green portal appearing next to her. She wiped a small amount of blood from her nose, acting like it was no big deal. She didn’t bleed as much as she used to but the fact that she still did worried me. It meant her energy was not yet at one hundred percent and she should’ve let Nathan open the portal.

  One by one we all went through the portal, the last ones to follow were Nathan and Kota. When the portal was closed we turned to face the damaged tree house, parts of it on the ground but other parts were still up in the tree. We had no idea where to start looking for the book that Kota talked about, so we just waited for her to lead us to it. She walked around the tree while seeming to be looking for something, but it wasn’t the book. We waited for her to stop moving before we said something to her. Nathan came up next to her, dropping his hand on her shoulder once more as she began to whisper something to him.

  “What is it, Kota?” I asked as I took a few steps towards him.

  “Malachi’s energy is still strong here,” she answered, still looking up at the tree. “We need to be on the lookout for anything suspicious. I don’t think he’s around but he’s not far from here.”

  “You felt all that just by walking around the tree?” Deja questioned.

  “I remembered his energy from last time,” she explained. “If he had gone for good it wouldn’t be this strong. I just hope we aren’t too late.”

  “Do you know where the book is?” Nova stood next to her now.

  “No,” she said. “I know it’s supposed to be in the treehouse but now that it’s in two pieces I’m not sure where exactly it would be.”

  “We’d better getting looking then,” Roman decided. “Keep your eyes open for anything out of the ordinary and be cautious. Who knows what kind of traps Malachi set up before this house came down.”

  I started to rummage through the broken pieces of wood for anything that resembled a book. Deja and Gavin were up in the tree so fast that I didn’t even see them climb it. Nathan used some magic to get he and Kota up there to help search while the rest of us stayed on the ground of the forest. Declan seemed to watch our surroundings while I looked under different pieces of broken wood. A few pieces of furniture fell from the house, lying shattered thanks to the fall. There were a few books that fell with them but none of them seemed to contain anything that reminded me of a journal. I continued to look hoping I would come across something that was useful to us.

  Other than the noise of wooden pieces being moved, the forest was quiet, more so than it should’ve been. This area had been disrupted by evil, the energy of the surrounding trees and plants depleted as they fought to stop the unnatural magic from destroying the land. Malachi would stop at nothing to get what he wanted, even ruin the world he felt he should rule. That alone was reason enough for him not to be qualified to rule anyone.

  “What’s on your mind?” Declan asked as his attention came back to me temporarily.

  “The forest,” I said. “It’s so sad.”

  “It’s been touched by a darkness no one can comprehend,” he sighed. “I’m not surprised.”

  “You guys! I think I found it!” Deja shouted from up in the treehouse. Declan and I turned to face the tree, waiting for the fairies and sorcerers to come down. I could see Deja and Kota going through pages of a book with Gavin and Nathan over their shoulders trying to get a look at it as well. From a distance I could tell that it was black with cream colored pages. I moved closer to the tree as the fairies jumped down and the sorcerers floated down with some spell. We all surrounded them hoping to get a better look at the pages. It definitely resembled a journal, but we wouldn’t know for sure if it was Malachi’s until we started reading it.

  “This is the only book up there that looks like this,” Deja told us. “This has to be it.”

  “This is definitely it,” Kota confirmed. “His energy is all over it but it’s going to take a while to read through all of this. It’s a pretty thick book.”

  “We should get back to the castle, then,” Roman said looking to Nathan to open the portal. “We can each take turns reading it, so no one gets tired.”

  I turned away from the group after hearing a noise coming from behind me. I took a step towards it and then I stopped, closing my eyes so that I could concentrate on any other noise that might come from the area. Declan tried to talk to me but put my hand up, signaling to him that I was listening to something and instead of arguing, he joined me since his hearing was just as good as mine. For about a minute there was nothing, just the breeze crashing through the treetops, but then it was as if we were back at the cottage, a tree branch snapping in half sending me on a run, Declan close behind me. We were going deeper into the forest, which could potentially be a bad thing if we got lost. The energy of the stranger was familiar, and I had no doubts that this was Malachi spying on us. We were warned that his energy was in the area, so I shouldn’t be surprised that he made an appearance. It seemed rather odd that he showed up right as we found his journal though.

  “Luna, go left and I’ll go right and then we’ll meet up in the middle once were ahead of him,” Declan planned out. “We can stop him before he gets away.”

  I didn’t hesitate to follow his directions. I swerved off to the left like he told me and began weaving in and out of the trees that stood in my way. When I glanced over to my right I saw the hunched back figure trying to out run us. He should’ve known that he would never out run a vampire. I wouldn’t be surprised if the werewolves caught up to us by now. Farther away I could see Declan starting to make his way towards Malachi but continuing to stay out of sight until we were both ready to pounce. I concentrated on getting myself in front of him, watching as Declan and I reached the same point of attack, diving towards the sorcerer simultaneously. I grabbed a hold of him first, wrapping my arms around his shoulders attempting to bring him down to the ground, but it wasn’t until Declan got a hold of the both of us that he finally skidded through the dirt. I was still on top of him, keeping my body weight on him until Declan could help me restrain him. He didn’t fight us at first, which worried me because he always seemed so confident until he knew he was outnumbered. It happened back at the farm when the ne
w Alphas woke up from whatever spell they were put under. Fear was plastered over Malachi’s face. He didn’t have that look now. Instead he wore an arrogant smile.

  “Watch me wipe that smile off your face, murderer!” I shouted as I took a few steps towards him. Declan was holding his hands behind his back while we waited for the others to catch up to us. He started to move Malachi away from me as I got closer.

  “He can’t pay for his crimes unless he’s alive, Luna,” Declan reminded me. “You’re going to have to wait a few hundred years before you can kill him yourself.”

  “Promise?” I asked with pleading eyes.

  “I wouldn’t say if I didn’t mean it,” he laughed as two wolves caught up to us. Roman and Nova circled us once before stopping, growling in Malachi’s direction. Roman reminded me of a lighter version of Nico in his wolf form. Nico had dirty blonde fur like his hair when he was in human form, but Roman’s was more of a pure blonde. I didn’t expect either of them to shift but it would be easier to find us if they did and since we gave no warning before we took off I guess they felt like they had no other choice. The others wouldn’t be too far behind us, which was a relief because I truly believed there’s strength in numbers. When it comes to Malachi, I want as many bodies around as possible especially since he seemed so sure of himself right now.

  Just as the sorcerers and fairies found us, the wolves began to shift back, the giants coming up behind them all holding Roman and Nova’s clothes in their hands. They quickly dressed as the rest of us crowded around Malachi, Nathan and Kota putting restraints on him before we went through the portal. Something seemed off and I wasn’t the only one who felt it. It was too easy to catch him and there’s no way he would let us restrain him without a fight. He took us all down easily back at the farm and I knew he could do it again without blinking.

  “You’re going to pay for your crimes, Malachi,” Nova told him as his red eyes glanced over at her. I saw the shiver that raced through her body the second they made eye contact. He seemed to be chuckling softly as she pulled away, staring off into the forest.

  “I have to admit, you girls are strong,” Malachi finally spoke. “And the muscle you brought with you is pretty impressive as well. Maybe if you brought them with you to the farm your fathers would still be alive.”

  Gavin moved so quickly that no one had a chance to stop him. His fist slammed into Malachi’s face, his legs collapsing underneath him. Luckily, Declan was still holding onto him, so he didn’t drop completely but it rung his bell. He shook his head a few times probably trying to get the double vision to go away. When he finally stopped moving I noticed the blood coming from his nose.

  “Hey!” I yelled. “I was supposed to be the one to knock his lights out!”

  “Seriously?” Declan asked. “Does it look like we have time to argue about this?”

  “You promised?” I snapped back at him.

  “No one touch him again,” Roman yelled. “He deserved that one but from now on no one hits him, tortures him, or kills him. Is that understood?”

  He looked at all of us, getting confirmation from each of us that we wouldn’t do anything stupid while he was in our custody. Malachi laughed then making Roman’s head whip around to face him so fast that, for a second, I thought Roman was going to break his own rule. Right before our eyes, Malachi broke through the restraints that Nathan and Kota had placed on him, moving quickly to get away from Declan. We had him surrounded but that didn’t seem to scare him.

  “I’m enjoying this game,” he mocked. “You know how to fight, I’ll give you that, but you’re no match for me. I’ve been at this a long time, children, and it’ll be at least a few hundred years before you match my power.”

  “Your arrogance will ruin you!” Nova yelled as she ran towards him, whipping her arm back before she threw it towards his face. He dodged the blow, coming back with an even powerful punch to her stomach. This didn’t slow her down though. She ducked and twirled her body around, kicking his legs out from under him before pouncing on top of him, getting a few punches in before he blasted her away with some kind shield. He was playing fair up until that point. Nova must’ve gotten too close to beating him if he did that. He was evil and a murderer, but from what I just saw, he played by the rules until he started to lose.

  Before any of us could take Nova’s place, Malachi stood up, and quickly opened a portal to take him away from the danger he got himself in. He was always doing this, running away instead of finishing the fight. Instinct told us to go after him, but Declan stopped me, and it looked like the others stopped as well. We were going to let him get away? He was right there. Why wouldn’t we stop him from going through the portal? I fought my betrothed, but he wouldn’t let go.

  “What are you doing?” Kota yelled just as Malachi took a step towards the portal.

  “Don’t you get it?” Hudson said. “He knew we were coming. He had everything set up, waiting for us.”

  That was why he seemed to be so confident when Declan and I first caught up to him. I knew something was wrong when I saw the smile on his face, but I couldn’t understand what it was that I was sensing. Hudson was right, even though I didn’t want to admit it. Who knows how many more tricks Malachi had up his sleeve.

  “Very smart, giant,” Malachi nodded towards him. “Bet you’ll never guess how I knew you were coming.”

  He didn’t say anything else, disappearing through the portal. When it was gone we stood there silently trying to comprehend what he just said. Was he implying there was a traitor among us? That’s what it sounded like, but it seemed impossible. This was the second time that he implied this, and I was beginning think he was right. He was the one who told us that the Council was plotting to kill us and now he was telling us that someone clued him in on what we were doing. No one wanted to believe him but what choice did we have? Someone clearly tipped him off otherwise he probably wouldn’t have shown up. He knew ahead of time how to get out of the restraints we put on him and he was prepared to fight, which he showed when he fought with Nova. We didn’t catch him off guard, if anything, he caught us of guard. Who was leaking him information from the Castle? It had to be someone from the Council but which one? Or were there multiple?

  “Where are we?” Juda asked when we finally took the time to look around at our surroundings. There were trees everywhere but, in the distance, there was a rock structure that look similar to a cave. It wasn’t natural though. Someone had carved the stone to make it look like something important. How far had we come into the forest? I had never heard of anything like this. We’ve never ventured out this far of Werewolf Territory, so I was clueless, but I knew we couldn’t leave yet. I needed to know what this was and judging by the looks on the other faces around me I wasn’t the only one. It seemed to be a mystery, which was probably why no one took a step towards it but there was too much curiosity to ignore it. I didn’t know what we would find but I definitely knew we weren’t going back to the Castle until we found out.

  Chapter Twelve

  Nova

  We were so close to bringing Malachi back to the Castle and just like it always did, it slipped through our hands. I was angry and not just because he got away but also because it was obvious to all of us now that someone working with my home had betrayed the Alpha family and I’m not going to stop until I found out who it was. There was a rage inside of me that was so strong, I started to feel the urge to shift again. My body was telling me that I needed to run it off, but no one had time for that. Another mystery awaited us, but I was having an extremely hard time ignoring what we had just found out. I know I’m not alone in this, but I was the only one who seemed to be physically bothered by the revelations that just smacked us a few hundred times in the face.

  “Nova,” Roman whispered. “Are you okay to keep going? We can go back to the Castle if you need to get some rest. The tension is strong around you.”

  “I’m okay,” I promised him. “I’m just angry. I’ll be fine though.
Let’s look at what’s inside that cave and then we can go home.”

  “Does anyone else feel the energy coming from that structure?” Kota asked. “It’s so strong, so powerful.”

  “We’ll check it out,” Juda said. “But make sure we’re all cautious. We have no idea what’s in there.”

  “I’m not sensing any threats,” Deja noticed looking at the cave as if she were trying to communicate with it. I know she can talk to the trees and the plants but I’m pretty sure she can’t talk to rocks. Whatever she was doing was just as much of mystery as the cave in question.

  “Just until we know for sure, act as if there is a threat,” Hudson said taking the first step towards the cave.

  As we got closer, I noticed the engravings on the outside, each one representing one of the five species. This had to do with all of us but how had we not known about it? On the left side of the cave were claw marks representing our own species, the werewolves. Next to it was a wooden club representing the giants. To the right side of the cave were two lightning bolts, representing the sorcerers and next to that were a set of fangs, representing the vampires. Above the entrance of the cave was an oak tree representing the fairies.

  We were at the threshold of the cave now and like Deja said: there seemed to be no threat in front of us. My curiosity grew, taking the place of my anger as we started to examine the walls. Gavin stood on one side of the cave and Deja stood on the other side, each igniting flames in their palms so we could see. There seemed to be nothing on the walls as we continued to go deeper into the cave. The tunnel grew into a circular shape, looking more like a room, with a firepit in the middle. Gavin and Deja both threw their flames towards it, lighting up the area so that we could see better. Five stone seats surrounded the fire and the writing on the walls we expected to see finally showed itself. There was another tunnel branching off from this room, but we chose not to explore it just yet. My attention was still on the walls and as I started to piece together the images I realized it was telling the story of how the Alphas became to be.