ALPHA (Mackenzie Grey #3)
Page 23
“And what do you expect them to do? Swim to Scotland by Sunday? They might be supernatural, but even that is far-fetched,” he said.
“No. I want them to attack their local Pack.”
****
I stepped out of my room with a notepad in hand, and a few extra people were in the common room. Lucian was hovering over Amy’s shoulder and Scarlet was on the balcony on the phone.
“Alright, we got the Succubi and Water Nymphs on our side. Lucian, what’s the update with the vampires?” I asked.
He straightened and slipped his hands in the pockets of his slacks. “The New York City clan is ready and spread out throughout the Northeast region. I have reached out to the clans in the West Coast and South who are ready as well. The European Vampires are the only ones who will not play a part in this.”
I nodded. “Jackson, what did Tori say?”
“All Lunas have been notified and are ready for your command.”
“Scarlet?” I turned to her just as she walked back into the room.
“My Coven Sisters are flying out today. There will be a Witch at each location on the list by tonight. If time permits, they’ll be working on shielding spells to diminish the amount of casualties but it’s not guaranteed.”
“Any help is welcomed, Scarlet,” I smiled. Out of everyone in the room, she surprised me the most. I promised to find her mother and I failed—yet here she was pulling all her resources to help us.
“Bash? Jonah?” I turned to them.
Bash stood, “We’ve located two possible entrances that the Highlanders can come in through that wouldn’t draw attention. If we play our cards right, we can have a group come in from town and behind the Castle grounds.”
I jerked back in shock. The Castle grounds? “How is that possible?”
“It’s far but Caledonian Forest surrounds the whole village, including the castle. If we get them to start the hike as of tomorrow morning, they’ll make it a mile from the stables by sunrise on Sunday,” Jonah said.
“And I know for a fact that only a handful of guards are stationed that deep into the castle grounds,” Bash added.
Everything was coming together perfectly. Yet no amount of Tums was easing the knot that had started to form in my stomach. Something was bound to go bad. We were missing a crucial component of this plan, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
“What about the Sisters of the Sight?” I directed the question to Lucian and Scarlet.
Scarlet shook her head. “They want no part of it, Kenz. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, it’s not your fault.”
Lucian snorted. “Those hags are too scared to get their hands dirty, Pet. They like to tell their little riddles and watch you squirm as you try to figure it out. It’s all a game to those Oracles.”
“Whatever the case may be, their help would have been nice,” I sighed. I didn’t know why Lucian was so against them—maybe he knew they killed Adaline?
I went over to Amy to see how her end of the plan was coming along. We all had to pull our resources together to make this work—reaching out to our contacts and people who owed us favors. The Lunas wanted to fight, but it didn’t mean they knew how to. The more help we could get them, the less deaths we’d have. So far our roster included a plethora of supernatural creatures that would join the Lunas in their battle for freedom. As for Amy, she didn’t have these connections but she did have something else to offer—coordinating the attacks so they happened at the same time and the ability to stream videos of the attacks worldwide for all supernaturals to see. The most important battle was right here in Scotland. Whether we made it out of here alive or not, Amy would make sure that everyone would see what happened—including the humans—that was our insurance.
“How’s the website coming along?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I still have a lot to do but I should be done before the party.”
“Good,” I popped a kiss on the top of her head and let her get back to work.
Everyone had a role to play—now it was my turn to play mine.
Chapter Twenty Nine
My head jerked back and forth as the beauticians combed through my tangled bed hair. I’d been scrubbed and waxed and my skin felt raw. The only upside was the manicure and pedicure I received because it included a massage. My muscles had been in knots and I worried everything would go wrong. Something in the pit of my stomach told me I was missing a crucial part of the plan, but it was too late at this point—it had been set in motion—there was no going back now.
“Excuse me,” Sebastian poked his head in my bedroom. “May I have a moment with the Princess?” he asked the Lunas and they swooned as his blue eyes twinkled against the sunlight that streamed into the room. I rolled my eyes.
“Of course,” they giggled and walked out.
“I guess I’m no longer the president of your fan club,” I mumbled.
“I didn’t even know you were a fan,” he smirked and I threw a hair brush at him. “I’m kidding, Mackenzie,” he laughed.
I bit my lip to avoid smiling. “What are you doing here, Bash?”
He leaned against the dresser in front of me. “I wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday. May you have many more to come,” he whispered as his eyes drilled into mine.
“Thanks, but you could have waited until tonight,” I grinned.
“Since Jonah will be escorting you, Alexander has put me on guard duty. I won’t be able to see you tonight.”
“He what?” I exclaimed and jumped out of my chair. The lengths that Alexander would go to keep us separated and we weren’t together! “I’m going to talk to him right now!”
Sebastian wrapped his arm around my mid-waist and pulled my back to his chest. “It’s okay, I don’t mind,” he whispered in my ear. His wet lips making a trail down my neck.
I shivered. “I want all my friends to be there.”
“All of your friends?” he pulled the collar of my robe aside and placed a lingering kiss on my shoulder that almost made my knees buckle.
“Sebastian.”
“I know you said you’d choose after all of this is over, but I can’t stay away from you, Mackenzie. Not if tomorrow is my last day on earth.”
I closed my eyes and threw my head back as his lips trailed up my neck again. “Don’t say that, Bash.”
He spun me around so we were face-to-face. “Nothing is guaranteed in this life—especially in our world. I refuse to waste a single second of it. Please, Mackenzie, let me be with you,” he whispered as his lips touched mine and I couldn’t hold out any longer. I clutched his shirt and pulled him toward me. Just once more. I promised myself and began to walk backwards.
We fell onto the tousled sheets of my bed and I wasted no time in pulling off his shirt. Bash ripped my robe apart, exposing my red lacey underwear and nothing else. Thank god Ivana chose everything down to my undergarments.
He paused. “You look absolutely stunning,” he whispered. “Utter perfection.”
His breath on my hot skin only made me hungrier. “Now,” I growled.
He began to unbuckle his pants while trailing kisses down my body when my bedroom door opened and all the blood drained from my face.
“Jonah…” I gasped and Sebastian jumped off me like I were a pile of hot coals. I quickly covered myself up and slid off the bed. “I can explain,” I said walking toward him.
“You’ve made your choice, you don’t have to explain a thing,” he muttered. His eyes never leaving the spot on the bed where he’d found us.
“Jo,” Bash attempted but Jonah’s gaze snapped to him, they blazed gold. He didn’t need to say a word—Sebastian knew to keep his mouth shut.
“Alexander wants us to go down in an hour. I’ll have the Lunas come in to fix your hair and then you need to get dressed, Mackenzie,” Jonah said. He spoke as if in a trance, his eyes never meeting mine.
“Can we talk, Jonah? Please,” I pleaded and tried to grab his arm but he flinched away.
We stood still for a moment, as if waiting for him to barge in again and go on a rampage—but nothing happened.
“Fuck,” I exhaled and shut my eyes. I ruined everything. “I messed it up, he’s going to back out and—”
“Relax, Mackenzie, this isn’t your fault. Jonah’s not going to back out of anything. He’s not that kind of guy,” Bash said.
“Of course this is my fault! How do you know he won’t sabotage the plan because he’s angry?”
“Jonah doesn’t just react—he thinks and he’s not the type to get revenge! He isn’t you!” Bash yelled.
I felt as if I’d been slapped across the face and the sting was still there, thumping against my cheek. “I don’t need you to tell me Jonah is a better person than me. I already know that.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“That’s what it sounded like. Now please get out of my room, I need to get ready,” I opened my bedroom door for him.
“Mackenzie,” Bash protested.
“Get out,” I said and this time he listened. I shut the door and slid down to the white marble floor.
Happy Birthday to me.
****
In precisely one hour, I was a brand new Mackenzie Grey. My hair straightened and curled into loose beach waves with the sides pinned to the back and away from my face. Light make-up that brought out the natural glow of my tan skin, with blood-red lips that brought color to my long black dress. It was a simple Grecian chiffon dress—the tip of the v neck coming down to just above my belly button where the dress cinched at my waistline and tumbled to an A-line skirt—with an open-back and a fold-over swath of fabric streaming gracefully to the floor.
I was officially a Princess.
My hands were sweaty as I stood beside a mute Jonah as we waited outside of the ballroom to be introduced. The red of my lips and nail polish were the only hint of color I had beside my gray eyes that were paler than normal against my black hair and dress.
“We have to do this dance, Jonah, but I won’t be able to until you look at me,” I begged.
“I can’t, Mackenzie. Not right now,” he said.
“I wasn’t yours, Jonah.”
“You never gave me a chance!” he yelled as his golden eyes looked into mine.
“How could I? You’ve disappeared most of time we’ve been here and half the time you’re against anything I say!” I couldn’t contain myself any longer. When I ran away to California for a year, Jonah lost it. He became obsessed with trying to fix my situation and it turned him into a different person.
“I’m looking out for you, Kenzie.”
I scoffed. “How have you not gotten it yet? Everything you’ve done has been against my wishes. Even Jackson had the mind to try and rescue me from that cage, but you kept me there! You left me in that silver cage and not once came back to check on me!” I cried. I never realized what had made me resentful until that moment. Jonah of all people, was the one I thought I could count on to save me, to be there for me like he had in the past—he wasn’t.
“You think I liked leaving you there?” he grimaced. “I hated having to do that but we had no other choice!”
“You always have a choice, Jonah!” I screamed. “That’s what I’m fighting for—to have a goddamn choice—something that you already have!”
Ranulf cleared his throat. “Excuse me, Princess. It’s time.” He awkwardly handed me a handkerchief and I dabbed it on my wet cheeks. Taking a few deep breaths, I readied myself to put on the show of a lifetime. I straightened my back, pushed my chest forward, and plastered on a smile as I placed my hand onto Jonah’s extended hand. The doors to the ballroom opened and our presence was announced.
“Princess Mackenzie Grey MacCoinnich, escorted by Beta Jonah Cadwell of the Northeastern American Pack!” was all I heard as Jonah pulled me through the threshold and we walked down the grand staircase to the dance floor. The claps and cheers surrounded me as I only stared ahead, trying to keep myself in one piece. This was the last place I wanted to make a spectacle and an even worse time. I needed to get through the night.
The piano began to play as we stepped onto the dance floor and the crowd dispersed to the sidelines. I stood before Jonah and held my head up to look at him. His brown eyes were vacant, his gaze void of anything that might have happened before we entered. He stood before me, waiting for me to begin. This was the part I hated.
As tradition dictated, I took a step back, adjusted the skirt of my dress and knelt before Jonah. My knees touched the ice cold marble floor and I bowed my head—waiting for him to invite me to dance.
This was why I didn’t want to partake in this stupid ritual. I could feel my cheeks burn hot as I waited…and waited. I was tempted to lift my head and see what the holdup was, but disrespecting century old traditions that the Lycans took very serious was the last thing I wanted to do.
A hand, palm up, was finally offered and I placed mine in his. He brought me to my feet, and with his free hand he tipped my chin up so we stared into each other’s eyes. At this point I couldn’t pretend any longer. He’d kept me there on my knees to prove a point—and Sebastian thought he wasn’t like me—he took the first chance of authority he had and used it. He was angry, I understood, and maybe I was being hypocritical—but it didn’t make what he just did okay. My muscles tensed as his hand went to my waist and the other locked with mine as he glided across the dance floor to the melancholy of the piano and violins. My eyes never left his as we hit every choreographed step. It was no longer the delicate dance we had practiced, but a tense war we were engaged in, and it saddened me. I didn’t need to make a choice anymore—he made it for me.
In an unplanned move, Jonah spun me away from him. The black chiffon skirt of my dress twirled around me as I whirled until stopped by a set of strong hands.
Sebastian.
I froze—not knowing what to do or how to react. The small gasps from the crowd only made me more hesitant to do anything. Nowhere in the dance was this supposed to happen.
Bash took a step back, dropped to his knees and lowered his head. The whispers grew tenfold as my stomach dropped and my knees felt weak. My gaze swept the room, but everyone was a blur as my mind went fifty miles a minute trying to figure out what to do. They finally landed on Jonah who was behind me. He only gave me a single nod—the okay to be with him.
I snapped back to the Alpha before my feet and extended an offered hand. He exhaled and accepted. Once on his feet, I tipped his chin just a tad so he would look at me. I placed my hand on his shoulder and clasped the other in mine and began the dance again. After a while, he took the lead and swept me across the floor in perfect strides. Our bodies in sync with every twist, turn, and step. His blue eyes glowed like the clearest water as they stared into mine with complete adoration. I melted in his arms, not knowing right at that moment I was falling into the rabbit hole with no idea how to get out. I didn’t notice a single soul as we followed the piano to its last note. When it was over, Sebastian knelt on one knee and placed a gentle kiss on the back of my hand—it was what I was supposed to have done. He then stood, gave me a rare smile, and strode off the dance floor. This meant something, but I was too stunned to figure it out.
****
Bag pipes and fiddles—it wasn’t the only instruments being used and not for every song, but they stood out. Either way, Amy and I were having a blast on the dance floor as we tried to learn how to dance from the Scottish Lunas. Scarlet was too shy so she hung back at the table where Jackson was sitting. He said from the get go that not even Jesus Christ could get him on the dance floor. At that point, we left him alone. Since the dance, Jonah disappeared to socialize with the Kings Council and Bash was hard at work watching my every move.
“I’ll be back,” I said out of breath. “I need a break.”
Amy on th
e other hand, continued to dance with another Luna we’d met. That girl had the stamina of the energizer bunny.
I walked over to the dais where Alexander sat and he motioned me up to sit in Ivana’s empty seat. He waved his council and guards away so we could have some privacy.
“Having fun, darling?”
I chuckled. “Yes, I am.” It wasn’t a lie. I truly was having the time of my life.
“Good,” he reached in the inside pocket of his blazer and pulled out a black jewelry box with a red bow on it. “I didnae want to put it in the pile of other gifts ye’ve received tonight. I wanted to be the one to give it to ye,” he blushed.
“Alexander, you didn’t have to get me anything. The party is more than enough.”
“This is nothing, darling,” he waved around the room. “What’s inside this box is yer real present. Go on now, take it,” he handed it to me.
I untied the bow, and opened the box. Inside was a silver signet ring. The oval top was engraved with the MacCoinnich family crest—a crown sat atop a shield with a wolf on the right side corner, the letter M on the opposite side above an upside down V shape with three crescent moons on each tip. In the center of the moons was a cross and below it was the name MacCoinnich. I pulled it from the wedge that held it in place and saw it’d been sized for a woman.
My jaw hung open and my eyes turned to Alexander who only stared at me—waiting for my reaction.
“Alexander, I can’t accept this,” I attempted to hand it back but he wouldn’t take it.
“We haven’t had this talk and I think now would be a good time as any. I donae care what anyone says, yer my daughter, Mackenzie. Illegitimate or nae, yer my flesh and blood. I will protect ye to my last dying breath and I want ye to have this ring—yer part of this family—yer a MacCoinnich whether ye bear my name or nae.”
I wanted the ground to swallow me whole. Here he was welcoming me to the family, and here I was planning his destruction. What a twisted family—I won’t be holding out for an invite to the family reunion.