Alpha Ascending (Shifter Clans Book 2)

by Tiffany Shand

  “Mags knows her stuff,” Lola said.

  “I’ve got it!” Christy pulled a large blue book down.

  “Good, let’s go.”

  “Maybe we should grab a few more things for Magda.”

  “No, Chris. We’re getting the hell out of here.”

  Lola and Josh hurried back through the open wall, but Christy froze.

  “What’s wrong?” Ronan asked, frowning.

  “I…feel something.” She closed her eyes.

  “We need to go.” He grabbed her hand, but she still didn’t move.

  “My – my clan, Ro. I think a few of them might still be alive.”

  “That’s great, but we need to go. There’s nothing we can do for them right now.” He pulled out her towards the open passageway and felt her body jolt. Her hazel brown eyes flashed with light. “Chris?”

  The book fell from her hands, Ronan grabbed it as she walked towards the doors that lead out of Magda’s room.

  “Christy, what the hell are you doing?”

  She ignored him.

  Ronan ran at her, knocking her to the ground. A vase crashed to the floor as a table fell over. Somehow he knew this had to do with magic.

  The door flew open as a male shifter came at them. “Hey!” Lola kicked him in the face.

  Christy struggled under Ronan’s grasp.

  “Josh!” Ronan called. “Help me!”

  Josh knocked the guard to the ground, snapping his neck. “What the hell is wrong with her?”

  Christy bucked and snarled underneath him.

  “I don’t know, but we need to get her out of here before Oren shows up.”

  Lola bolted the door shut. All three of them grabbed a struggling Christy up by her arms and legs, dragging her into the passageway. Ronan let go so he could close the wall behind them.

  Josh and Lola struggled as Christy clawed and kicked at them.

  “Chris, calm down!” Lola said. “What’s wrong with you?”

  Gold light shimmered around her as Christy shifted into her beautiful white wolf form. She snarled at them, teeth bared. “Christy, stop. This isn’t you.” Ronan moved in front of her.

  “Careful, Ronan,” Josh warned.

  Her dark eyes flashed gold. Somehow she’d connected with the power of the alpha.

  “Christy, stop,” Ronan repeated. She shot past him, bounding off down the tunnel in a blur of white.

  “Told you this was a bad idea,” Josh muttered, blurring after her.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Lola asked as she ran alongside Ronan.

  Ronan kept hold of the book as he jogged back through the passageway. “No idea.”

  Mags? he called to the witch. Something is wrong with Christy. She’s in some kind of trance.

  Did you see Oren? Magda asked.

  No, just a guard, but we knocked him out.

  Oren must be using magic through her. You need to bring her out of it.

  How?

  A kiss might work. You’re her mate, you’re connected to her.

  We are not mated! he reminded her.

  You’re still connected. Try kissing her.

  Would if I could bloody catch her!

  “Lola, I need speed. Give me a piggyback.” He tucked the book inside his jacket.

  Her eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

  “Just do it.” He grabbed onto her back, embarrassment fading.

  Lola blurred down the tunnel. Under normal circumstances, Ronan would have been embarrassed at having to hitch onto another shifter, but all that mattered was getting to Christy.

  The tunnel walls blurred past them. “She’s gone in a different direction than the one we came through,” Lola puffed.

  “Where the hell is she going?” Ronan muttered, brushing cobwebs off his face.

  Lola blurred faster, jumped up when the tunnel ended and they broke out into daylight.

  Josh stood a few feet away. “We’re in the Outland again but I lost her. For a newbie shifter, your girl can move bloody fast!”

  “Stay here.” He let go of Lola and jumped to his feet. “I’ll go after her. Take this to Magda.” He handed Lola the book and ran off. Despite his wolf being subdued, he knew he’d find Christy. They had always been connected to each other.

  By the time he reached the clifftop, he felt out of breath. Strange. He’d never been to Dead Man’s Cliff before. Everyone on the island said it was cursed. He hadn’t expected to find an entire ruined village there, full of burned-out crumbling houses. This place made his wolf edgy, and had always given him an uneasy feeling.

  “Christy?” Ronan called.

  He knew she was around there somewhere. He could feel her presence. “Christy?”

  No reply came.

  “Damn it, Christy, answer me.”

  Ronan started searching through every building. His muscles screamed in protest but he ignored the pain.

  When he when into a large building light shimmered all around it, bathing in a golden glow.

  “Christy!” Ronan ran into the room, following the light.

  Christy, now in human form, stood in the centre of a glowing circle, looking dazed.

  His wolf recoiled from the vibration of magic. “Christy?”

  She didn’t even acknowledge his presence, just stared at the floor. He didn’t know what the hell or plan to do but he wouldn’t let it happen. Grabbing hold of her, Ronan kissed her hard on the lips. All at once the light faded, magic fell away.

  She stared at him wide-eyed. “What are you doing?” she gasped.

  “Saving you.” Ronan wrapped an arm around her. “Let’s get out of here.”

  She sagged against him. “How did… How did I get here?”

  “Oren did something. Come on. Let’s get back to Magda.”

  Christy stopped when he tried to lead her outside. “Wait, I know this place. I’ve been here before.” Christy glanced around, eyes wide.

  Ronan pulled her close, relief washing over him.

  “Ro, this is it. This is where they brought me after I was kidnapped.” She pulled away from him. “I feel magic here.” She motioned to the floor. “Here. In the earth. It’s still strong. I think that’s why they brought me here. I just don’t know why or what they are looking for, but it’s connected to the curse somehow.”

  “Let’s go.” Ronan wrapped an arm round her, relieved she seemed to be herself again.

  “Magda, we need a way to stop Oren from using Christy again,” said Ronan.

  He, Magda, Lola, Josh and a subdued looking Christy sat around the main hut around a roaring fire. Christy hadn’t said much all evening. The experience had frightened them both. Magda sat reading through the book they’d recovered for her, saying nothing.

  “Magda!” Ronan snapped.

  “Hush, boy. I’m reading.” Magda held up a hand to silence him.

  Ronan scowled, grabbed a piece of roasted meat off the fire. God, he missed real food but luxury wasn’t something they had in the Outland.

  “Ah, I’ve found it,” the witch announced.

  “A way stop Oren?”

  “No, a way the both of you to learn magic quickly. It’s a mind meld.”

  “A what?” he muttered.

  “A mind meld, like all that sci-fi rubbish you used to watch on telly,” Lola said.

  “What’s a telly?” Josh frowned.

  Lola gaped at him. “You know a TV. A television.”

  “Oh, yes I saw some of those my brief trips to the mainland,” Josh remarked. “Never watched one though. We don’t have electricity out here.”

  “Yeah, I miss electricity.” Lola sighed, staring at the flickering flames. “Hey, maybe we can figure out a way to hijack some of the clan’s electricity. You’re good at making stuff, Josh.”

  “I have before, but it’s too complicated since we have to move around so much.”

  “What does the mind meld do?” Christy asked.

  Magda held up a piece of large quartz. “I stored al
l my knowledge of magic and history inside this. Together you can both use it to learn my knowledge quickly. But it’s a dangerous process.”

  “How do we do it?” asked Christy.

  Chapter 10

  Christy glanced around her tent, surprised to find Ronan not there and sensing he wasn’t nearby.

  A sweet scent caught her attention. Glancing down at the floor, she saw pink rose petals scattered everywhere. What the hell? she thought then smiled.

  Getting up, she headed out, following the trail of petals out through the camp until she reached the small cove.

  Ronan sat on a wrinkled blanket. “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Well, I figured if we’re going to be married soon then we should have a real date in public – well, as public as we can get,” he remarked. “Plus we never got the chance to celebrate your birthday.”

  After years of dating in secret, it felt good to be out in open like this.

  “You’re considering being mated then?” Her cheeks flushed at the thought. Despite dating for over two years, they’d never had a sexual relationship. They’d both been too afraid cross that line, knowing what the repercussions would be.

  “I don’t want us to be together out of obligation – even if it saves us both.”

  Christy flopped onto the blanket beside him. “Ro, we’ve been talking about this for years.”

  “Yeah, but sometimes I thought it would never happen.” They sat and ate dinner together.

  “Ro, I need to go back to the witch village. Something there…I need to find out why I was taken there.”

  Together they headed up the steep path to the clifftop.

  “I figured this would be a good place to try the spell,” Christy said, pulling out the crystal Magda had given them.

  Ronan laid the picnic blanket down on the ground. “I hope we do this right.”

  “Magda told me how to use it.” She sat down beside him, placing the crystal on the ground between them. She and Ronan held hands as she recited the spell. The crystal pulsed with light which expanded outwards.

  Christy’s eyes snapped shut as the house faded. Instead she found herself standing inside a different room.

  Ronan appeared beside her.

  “Where are we?” she asked. “I don’t recognise this place.”

  “I think this is Magda’s memory.” Ronan glanced around. “This must be what the house looked like before it was abandoned.”

  “I thought Magda said…”

  A woman dressed in a blue robe with long chestnut hair and sharp green eyes appeared.

  A loud explosion reverberated through the building. Christy grabbed Ronan’s hand. “What’s going on?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know.” They followed the girl outside.

  “Ronan, I think that’s Magda,” she gasped, staring at the woman rushing over to a group of robed people. “We must be witnessing her memories.”

  He cringed. “Are we going to see everything she’s ever been through? That’s a lot of memories!”

  Christy shrugged. “I think she’s only showing us important ones.”

  They watched the crowd as more screams echoed around them. A howl rang out as a group of large wolves swarmed into the village, tearing people down. Bursts of light without the night sky.

  “Stop this!” Magda screamed, hurtling a bolt of red lightning at the lead wolf. “Why are you doing this?”

  The wolf howled in pain, shifting into the form of a man, who looked very much like Henric. Blood gurgled from his mouth as he sank to his knees. “You did this. You…killed my father.”

  Magda knelt beside him. “No, it wasn’t us. We would never kill an alpha. That’s not our way.”

  “You did this…you attacked the clans.”

  The battle faded.

  “That’s my grandfather,” Christy realised. “Lucas. I’ve seen pictures of him.”

  As she spoke the scene around them changed. Again, a younger Magda appeared, this time standing beside an older woman, her long grey hair fell past her shoulders. The woman stood stirring a cauldron.

  “The shifters cannot be allowed to harm us again. They’ve grown too powerful,” the woman said. “We should never have taught them to use magic. With that and their other abilities, they’ve become too strong.”

  “But Mama, all shifters have magic in their veins,” Magda protested. “You can’t take that away from them. Their power comes from nature, just like ours does.”

  “They’re too much of a threat to us. I don’t know who killed the alpha, but they blame us. If we don’t do something the clans will overrun us,” Magda’s mother said. “We must do something so they can never harm us again.”

  “The clans have declared war on us and eventually they’ll do the same to each other,” Magda said. “I think we should leave the island. It’s not safe here for witches anymore.”

  “We won’t have to worry about that now, daughter.” The crystal turned black. “We created this island as sanctuary for Magickind. I won’t let shifters destroy everything we have built here.” She dropped the crystal into the bubbling cauldron. “By the alpha’s blood no shifter shall use magic again, at the turn of each full moon they will stay in their wolf forms.”

  “Mama, you can’t cast a curse on them. How will you power it?”

  “This island is a power source, it will be enough to keep the curse in place for generations to come,” she said. “The shifter clans can fight and destroy each other. At least now they can’t hurt our people in the process.”

  They watched the crystal vanish into darkness.

  “I had no idea the witches did this,” Christy murmured. “How can you and I use magic then?”

  “Let’s find out,” Ronan replied.

  They saw a different Magda, older now, with only a few tinges of grey in her long hair.

  “Mama!” a voice called as another woman came bounding into the kitchen.

  Christy stifled a cry of alarm. It was her mother, Olivia. She looked young and beautiful.

  “Mama, I’m getting married!” Olivia gushed.

  Magda’s eyes narrowed. “To who?”

  “To Henric of course. I’m so…”

  Magda shook her head. “No, you cannot marry a shifter. Witches and shifters don’t marry each other.”

  Olivia snorted. “Una married a shifter, the leader of the Amara Clan, no less.”

  “That’s different. Una isn’t very powerful or the daughter of a priestess. Nor is her husband an alpha. You can’t marry Henric, I forbid it.”

  “You can’t stop me, Mama, he loves me. After so much war and bloodshed, maybe it’s time for shifters and witches to stop fighting each other.”

  “The clans will never accept you either. They’ll never let their alpha mate with a witch.” Magda folded her arms.

  “The clans are dwindling. People are leaving the island, both shifters and witches alike. It’s time for a new start,” Olivia said. “A new era is beginning.”

  Magda scowled. “What if you have children? Witches and shifters have never been able to have offspring – if they do, the children die soon after. You could die too. It’s against the laws of nature.”

  “Una is already pregnant with her son. I’ve foreseen it will be a strong healthy boy. More shifter than witch.”

  Christy said nothing as she gripped Ronan’s hand, and waited for the next memories to play out.

  This time they saw Olivia lying on the floor bloodied and bruised as flames started to engulf the room around her.

  “Olivia!” Magda screamed as she rushed over to her side. “Who did this? Where’s your child?”

  “She’s safe. Mama, I called Ronan. He’s her mate,” Olivia rasped. “Take care of my daughter. Oren knows she is the key to ending the curse. A shifter with alpha and witch blood…”

  Magda gripped her daughter’s hand, muttering a spell to avert the flames as she dragged her Olivia’s body outside and sobbed.

  �
�Magda?” said a small voice.

  She turned to see Ronan clutching a crying baby. Magda kissed Olivia’s head, muttered a spell so that her body disappeared into the earth. “Ronan, give me the baby.”

  Ronan clutched baby Christy tighter to his chest. “No, she’s mine. I need to keep her safe. My parents are gone…” Tears filled his eyes.

  “It’s alright. I’ll keep you both safe.” Magda wrapped her arms around both children.

  Christy wiped away her own tears as she opened her eyes. “God, why didn’t Magda tell me she’s my grandmother?”

  “It explains a lot. Maybe she wanted you to be raised as a shifter.” Ronan held her close.

  She rested her head against his chest. “You wouldn’t let me go.”

  “As I said then, you’re mine. I’ll never leave you. Handing you over to Magda and watching her take you away was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”

  Chapter 11

  Christy scowled down at the pile of books she’d been able to retrieve from around the outsider’s camp. She doubted Olivia would have left such a valuable spell out in the open. Maybe she hadn’t written it down all. Alec and Oren would have made sure no one could challenge them again. If Alec considered her such a potential threat, why would Henric promise her to him?

  None of it made any sense.

  She peered out of the doorway there was no sign of Magda either, and Ronan had gone off on patrol with Josh and the others. he kept being drawn back there. Yet this was where she’d been born, where Ronan had first saved her. She

  Damn it, she needed answers.

  Christy took off in the direction of the ruined house, strange how she kept being drawn back there. Yet this was where she’d been born, where Ronan had first saved her. She sat in the rubble and felt a tear drop down her cheek as she thought of the vision she’d seen.

  Nothing happened.

  No golden light. No vision.

  Am I ever going to control my powers?

  Magda always said souls lived on, became part of the universe. Shifters believed in death that people became part of the earth and that was it. Christy didn’t know what to believe.

  She closed her eyes. Alphas didn’t see the future. Shifters only had power over natural elements, but Magda seemed to think that wasn’t true.