"I don't want to be the odd one out." she walked over to her alpha and held out her hand.
"Gorgeous, alright Ivan let's get this over with." he said following Catherine down the hall, she quickly realized she didn't know where they were going and fell backwards to join her alpha.
"Wait!" she said, something not settling right in her stomach, she ran back to the room and opened up the top drawer, she grabbed the silver tincture and slid the small vial into her bra before running out to meet the group.
It was a large room she had never seen before, full of people she had never met, the hall was half as big as a football field and decorated with large candelabras and tapestries. The tables stretched the entire length of the room with a high table that had the elder council who were all talking. "All of these people…live here?" she asked feeling slightly frightened by all the strangers, she stepped behind Peter.
"Yeah, it's a large compound, you just stay in one wing, and the D’état clan is just a few floors beneath us. The compound is the mountain." Ivan chimed in behind her
He looked back at the small Helian girl "You're safe, stick near Me." he squeezed her hand reassuringly and tugged her ahead.
Peter was right, as they walked down the aisles, everyone was dressed even better than she was, suits and gowns, hair done up in elaborate ways. It wasn't a feast, it was a gala. They were headed towards the front of the room near the elders and she saw a set of empty seats, her heart jumped in her throat when she caught sight of Alpha Roland and Cordelia dining on the table to the left of them. "Ignore them." her alpha muttered under his breath and she looked away hoping they wouldn't see her. He seated her first and sat at the head of the long table, Ivan sat to his right and she sat to his left, her head bowed. Where had her courage went?
Dinner was almost as delicious as the food she had with Philippe and she didn't see him or his clan anywhere, hadn't he convinced her to come in the first place? "Where's Philippe?" she asked, grabbing a gold goblet that had just been filled with red wine there were quite a few waiters floating about, done up in white suits with black ties who would take away plates and bring new ones.
"He's…not here." Peter said looking at another set of empty chairs down the table he frowned and went to get up but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
"Peter, you don't come to the feast usually, what's the occasion!" it was alpha Roland. Catherine immediately stood up along with Ivan but she felt something sharp against her back
"It's good to see you again, Alpha Catherine." that voice was familiar, it was cold, it was low, it was emotionless, it was Cordelia. "Do not move, beta, I have a very sharp knife against her very delicate skin, and we do not want any blood spilled tonight.” Cordelia said lowly, almost inaudible over the hum of the hall. Ivan sat back down and watched Cordelia coolly, as if he had expected it? The nervous feeling in Catherine’s stomach tightened. Who was Ivan?
"She's so beautiful, it's hard not to give her what she wants. You'd know as well as I do, Peter." Roland laughed, he was in a black suit also, the small blonde frowned in jealousy "Alright, let's take drinks in our rooms!"
Catherine whimpered and felt Cordelia yank her up by her hair. "Tossed aside for something like this, what could you be thinking Peter." Cordelia muttered pressing the knife into her back drawing blood-making Catherine cry out as they exited the rooms.
"Let her go, Roland, and get your female under some control." Peter growled as they walked down another stone hallway.
"We have less than a week to acclimate the Helian girl into our clan, with that kind of power, we can surpass the elder council easily. Do you think we'd let her stay with a clan like yours?"
"She is mine, she has always been mine. I doubt you could get her to mate with you, let alone accept you. Your ideas are ludicrous." She cried out when she felt a long cut travel down her arm, but she realized it was not her that was cut, but Peter.
"Shut your mouth, or I'll hurt her again." and Peter lapsed into silence while Catherine silently wept.
Their common room was lavish in velvets and purples, two omegas came out and served them cocktails. Catherine noticed they were barely clothed and fed and she felt instantly bad for them. They looked like walking skeletons, and she could tell that they were just punching bags for the group. How could wolves be so sadistic to abuse their own kind like this?
"Okay Helian, your blood please." Cordelia asked, scraping blood running down Catherine's back from the cut into a vial.
"Haven't you read the legends?" Peter spat "Blood must be willingly given."
Cordelia paused before throwing Catherine to the floor, she scraped her knees and elbows on the ground as she landed. "Willingly given?" the femme fatale asked as she sipped a vodka cocktail, she walked over towards Peter who was standing rigid next to Roland in the dark room.
"What would you give for?" She stabbed Peter in the side and while Peter didn't move or even flinch at the motion, Catherine curled up in pain.
"What?" Roland looked at the man who was bleeding next to him, his arm had healed now and the blood spilling down his leg was slowing. "This wasn't in the myths Cordelia."
She looked over at Catherine who was sobbing on the ground and clutching her side as if she had been stabbed instead. "She takes on your pain? What is this girl?"
Catherine felt another sharp stab in her arm and wailed. "Strange."
"Cordelia, I do not think it is wise to continue this line of reasoning." Her alpha warned "Grab the silver dagger, perhaps she will be more willing to cooperate when her alpha loses a limb."
Cordelia paused, all that could be heard was Catherine's soft sobs on the floor "I don't have the dagger anymore." she muttered quietly, like a chastised child.
"Where did it go?"
"Philippe D’état has possession of it." she said poutily and she heard Roland sigh in annoyance.
"Put them in a cage while you find it, you stupid woman." she heard Roland walk out of the room and Cordelia grabbed her hair and yanked her upright, leading her to what indeed was a large cage made out of silver. Roland opened it carefully with a glove and tossed her alpha inside, followed by Catherine who fell face first onto the concrete, adding more scrapes to her collection. Peter gathered the crying girl into his arms and hugged her against him in order to protect her, hushing her sobs as they died down. Eventually her eyelids became heavy and finally she fell asleep in his arms, protected from any evil in her alpha’s arms.
Chapter 12
When she woke it was quiet and Peter was asleep on the floor, his wounds had healed and he was curled around her body in an effort to protect her from any harm, even though he had clearly shown that the weakest point he had was her. The great alpha peter, taken down by a small blonde girl who wasn't even a wolf yet.
She walked to the silver bars of the cage and rattled them "Let us out!" she cried and she watched one of the sad and skinny lower wolves come over to check on her.
"Can I get you anything Helian? We were told to keep you well." his voice was as small as his body. He was malnourished and almost as short as she was, his black hair limp against her forehead.
She paused looking at him, pity welling up inside of her once more as she forgot her own plight and felt bad for the omega instead "Oh, it's you."
"Do I know you?" he asked, taken aback by her response
"Well no, but, are you alright?" she reached out of the cage and pointed to his ribcage and he looked down at himself
"I'm an omega, this is how omegas are. When I become stronger…" he shook his head "do you need anything?"
"Food, if you could." she asked politely looking back at Peter who was still asleep in the center of the cage on the stone floor.
When the omega came back with a platter of food he handed it to her with gloves on through the bars one item at a time, an apple, some bread, finished with a glass of water. "Is there anything else?" He asked after she set them on the floor.
"Yes!" Catherine replied and gr
abbed the apple and handed it back to the omega "Eat this please, you look starving."
He looked at her strangely "But this is all you get…"
She shook her head "this is probably all you get too, I'd rather us both be full than just one of us."
"Omegas aren't allowed-"
"This omega is allowed." Catherine cut him off "What's your name?"
He hesitated before he bit into the apple and the look on his face was that of pure bliss, "it's um, it's Mateo."
"eat up, Mateo and hand it back when you're done so you don't get in trouble." She sat on the floor next to the food but didn't dare touch it, saving it instead for her alpha.
"You're not a wolf yet?" asked Mateo sitting down outside the bars and far away from the silver.
"No, this week sometime is my changing I think." she looked down at the cup of water and ignored it. Peter may need more of it than her. "How did you know?"
"The silver doesn't hurt you yet like it hurts everyone else."
"Oh!" she didn't think about that and suddenly remembered the vial in her bra, the tincture! "I suppose it doesn't"
Mateo handed her the core back and she placed it next to the bread and water. "I'm sorry that you're caged up here, alpha Catherine. we have overheard much about you. It's not unusual for beta Cordelia to get violent though." he hung his head "you're really nice though."
She smiled at the omega "You're nice too, Mateo. Thank you for some food, my alpha will appreciate it."
He stood up and nodded at her "I will try and get more, but it's hard for a guy like me."
"I know." she waved at him and he walked back down the hall, standing guard next to a wooden door.
She eventually fell back asleep next to Peter, there was nothing more to do.
"Catherine, are you awake?" she groaned and rubbed her eyes, it was dark now in the room, she didn't realize there was any natural light coming into the dim room until there was none at all, she couldn't see Peter but she could tell he was there "Yes"
"Are you okay? did they hurt you? The silver, it just drains me of energy. I'm so sorry. Dammit!"
"Did you eat?" she asked trying to make him out in the darkness
"Yes, the bread and the water. I lost so much blood." he sounded scared, and that in turn made Catherine scared, her alpha was infallible, strong in both will and body. Why hadn't anyone come to get them yet? Surely Ivan knew.
"Where is Ivan? Why aren't the elders taking action?" Peter asked mostly to himself. So he didn't know either. Catherine sat up and could just see Peter's outline next to her in the dark.
"He said…Roland said that with me on their side even the elder council wouldn't be a problem." Catherine paused "I thought I could just make sick people feel better, is there more?"
"I don't know." she could hear his breathing in the dark and grabbed his arm
"Are you sure? Everyone seems to know something I don't." Catherine asked again, starting to feel worried. All the times where someone has said she was much more than a Helian, that she had powers she was unaware of was starting to eat at her mind. Was there something to all this speculation?
Peter kissed her gently "Whatever it takes, I'll get you out of here alive."
He laid back down, pulling her with him, shielding her from the door with his own body, his warmth lulled her to sleep again in the darkness.
She was woken up with a swift kick and she felt all the air leave her lungs. Peter was quicker to act than her and pushed her out of the way of the next kick but Catherine still felt it and wheezed trying to take a breath.
Two days without eating and two days closer to her changing and she wasn't sure if she was in any shape to handle it. "Good morning, Helian, good morning Peter." it was Cordelia.
Catherine's eyes hurt from all the light and she blinked trying to adjust to it. "Unfortunately your friend Philippe could not give us any information as to where he placed the dagger so-"
"What did you do to him?" she shrieked, her heart racing, Cordelia had no morals, she could have done anything to her poor scholar. He had no part in this except being her friend in times of need.
"Ah, I suppose Peter will be the next to find out she replied before whipping out a crude instrument that looked to be a silver spike. Peter backed away in fear, she had never seen that look in his eyes before. "Up we go sweetie, let's go find out what our friend Philippe was doing." He stood up quickly and shot a look at Catherine who was staring up at him in shock and fear.
"Peter," she gasped leaning back against the bars and stood up, the vial, the vial, she chanted in her mind it was a mantra it was a prayer. "Let him go, Cordelia." the vial, the vial.
"Or what?" she laughed "you'll cry on me? give me your blood and you can both go." her face dropped when Catherine withdrew a vial containing silvery liquid. "Take a step closer and I swear I will stab him" she moved the sharpened silver spike to his chest and Peter shook his head at the small ingénue with fire in her eyes.
It happened in a flash, Catherine smashed the vial open on Cordelia's upper arm, her flesh melting away like butter, shards of the glass stuck in Catherine's hand making her hiss and she felt it, it was burning in her chest as if she was caught on fire and she howled in pain, it was unimaginable, she could barely breathe. Her head snapped, her eyes clouded with tears and saw the silver spike stuck in her mate's chest. Cordelia fell to the ground clutching her skin. "Say the words Peter!"
"Catherine I-" he couldn't breathe and crumpled to the floor. She ripped the spike from his body and screamed, the pain worsened, she clenched her teeth, the burning sensation was increasing "Blood offered, vlos belbaunin, joros emplaniilid" she hissed through the pain, each word painful and she stabbed through her hand, watching the blood travel down the spike and into the wound, she pulled the spike out, looking at the hole she had made through her hand, her alpha hadn't been healed all the way, but his wounds were slowly closing up on their own. The pain combined with her blood loss after two days of not eating had made her dizzy.
Her alpha was barely conscious and she could barely speak, she knew his lung had been punctured but he had to get up. "Peter," she tugged on his arm and he stumbled to stand, she pushed open the silver cage only to be greeted with a howl. The alpha was now aware of his beta's demise, the passed her as she writhed on the floor of the cage.
She was blindly running, that much she knew for free. The walls and windows were a blur of color and Peter wasn't even paying attention at this point. "Catherine!" a small voice called and she looked to see Mateo who was standing next to another door.
"Mateo, the Frenchman, Philippe, I need-"
He opened the door for her and inside was Philippe, bloody and unconscious on the floor. She groaned and realized this would take more of her, but it was Philippe, her only friend. She fell to her knees, not even realizing the pain and hissed as she shook him awake "Ca-Catherine?" he was barely together himself, his eyes were unfocused.
"Philippe, I need to go, say the words, I'm already wounded."
"What words?" he seemed to bed waking up a little more and noticing that there was another man slumped against the wall. "Blood requested."
"Blood Requested?"
"Blood freely given, vlos belbaunin, joros emplaniilid" and with a squeeze of her hand and a rush of power she fell to her hands, breathing heavily. She felt half dead and Philippe stood up quickly, pulling her up with him. "God dammit Cat, you look like hell."
Another howl, this time closer "Hurry!" it was Mateo who was standing at the door, he looked panicked.
"Philippe, please." She gasped and held her chest "Grab Peter. We have to go, there is something wrong."
He rolled his eyes, "there is a lot wrong."
Philippe was right, there was a lot wrong, Ivan not showing up, the elders not stepping in despite them saying she would be unharmed until her changing. She stepped back out into the hallway and Mateo pointed at a stairwell at the end of the hall "down there and go right, you'll make it out"
She barely could see the stairwell he was gesturing to, and Philippe was barely strong enough to carry Peter, and with her alpha still drifting in and out due to the silver that wasn't healing quite as fast as it could. The pain burned in her chest and she was dimly glad she could take the pain for him instead of having him experience any more than he had already been through. She fell down the first few stairs and stumbled down the rest, holding onto the wall to prevent any more injuries. "Catherine, please let me."
"No," she cried "just take care of Peter!" the staircase took forever to the bottom and when they reached the bottom of it, they continued their run down the hallway. She burst through a door into the late evening air. It was cold, it was dark. Cordelia had told them it was morning? What was going on? How long had she been asleep?
She didn't know where they were or where she could go with an unconscious werewolf and a half awake Helian. "Where can we go Philippe?"
Another howl, it was alpha Roland, he was out for blood. "Not back there."
She fell to her knees and the forest floor grew a soft padding underneath her as if to apologize for being so hard. Ever since she had sacrificed for the sages, the forest had always been so accommodating, as if they shared a special unspoken friendship.
"The sages?"
"I don't know where they are Catherine," Philippe replied and Catherine looked around, she was as lost as he was.
"Um," she started and looked at the ground. Time to test this friendship "take me to the sages?" she asked the moss that had grown.
"Have you gone mad, I told you I don't know where they are! We need to pick a direction and go! Now!"
They heard the sound of wood creaking and she looked up to see a large tree bending to the right, as if to show her the way, or was it? Catherine had nothing to lose. She turned right and began running, the forest all blended together into a blur of blackness, she felt lightheaded as they continued, Philippe behind her. She tripped and fell and ripping her dress up, moss that had quickly grown beneath her feet softened the blow but not by much. She was unsure if she was even running in the right direction anymore. Another howl and she groaned, could he not give up? There was no way she was going to outrun a werewolf to find the sages, and she had no idea if she was even close to the sages. It took them hours last time to find their compound. She tripped again, the blood loss combined with the residual pain from her alpha made it too hard for her to go anymore. This was it, she was going to get ripped apart by alpha Roland and Philippe would have to watch.
Destined for the Alpha Page 12
