Sought by the Alphas Complete Boxed Set: A Paranormal Romance Serial

by Carina Wilder

  “Hallam, go fetch Lord Lachlan,” he said quietly, his fists clenched into tight spheres. “We need to rethink our movements.”

  “Very good, my Lord.”

  Rauth rose and moved throughout the tent’s interior, wanting desperately to shift. His wolf form allowed him to release aggression, to hunt, to run. Remaining in his human state was painful and accompanied by far too much emotion. But he had to speak to his cousin, to sort through the next step.

  Time allotted for prowling through the woods was not a luxury that either of them had.

  Lachlan stalked in quietly and stood before Rauth, who turned to face him.

  “We need to move,” said Rauth. “To hunt this bastard to his bloody hidden lair.”

  “I know. I intend to take a party out in the morning,” said Lachlan quietly. “It’s all so ridiculous that we can’t find an easier way to him. Given our abilities and Gwynne’s, we should be able to leap back through time to before the children were taken…”

  “It doesn’t work that way and you know it,” said Rauth. “If it did, we could have protected Lady Gwendolyn all those years ago.”

  “I know. Of course you’re right. But it does seem unfair.”

  “There is no point in speaking of fairness, Lachlan. Life itself is unfair, and we all know it. Take your party. Head south. Send word to Gwynne of your whereabouts. I’ll take the remaining men east.”

  “All right, Rauth.” Lachlan spoke quietly, sensing the beast rising up within his cousin. He had more control over his own dire wolf, but just barely; his insides thirsted for blood as well, and to repair the damage done by the dragon lord.

  “You’re being more submissive than usual, cousin,” said Rauth, his voice filled with a deep arrogance. “Is it that you’ve realized the error of your ways, and that you should have paid more heed to what I advised? The twins should have been far away, out of Drake’s reach. But you wanted them at Dundurn, in some sort of domestic paradise with their mother and you.”

  Lachlan released a low growl. “I won’t have you accusing me, or Gwynne, of being at fault here. The children—our children—were taken by a lunatic who could have found them regardless of their location. Don’t forget that they do not belong to you. They are of the blood of all three of us and you don’t have a special right to lord the loss over us. Any pain that you feel I also feel, and acutely, I assure you.”

  “If ever we manage to get them back, cousin, I can assure you that I will keep them far away from you. Your time as their father is over. You have done your part, but you have proven yourself incapable of protecting your clan, let alone your own offspring. Now go.”

  Lachlan turned to leave but stopped before reaching the doorway. Without facing Rauth, he said, “I will see you dead before I allow you to pull them away from me.”

  “If that’s how you feel, fine. At least it proves that you have some courage.”

  With that, Lachlan disappeared into the night.

  In the morning Rauth rose to find that half the shifters had left with his cousin and headed south, as promised.

  * * *

  Dragon Queen 3

  Dundurn Castle

  “It’s all my fault.”

  Ygrena was sitting on the edge of her bed, her hands planted firmly on her pale cheeks. Gwynne knelt before her, staring up at her face. Her palm hand rested on her friend’s knee, her anger towards her father dissipating as she watched her friend’s tormented face, sadness replacing any and all other emotion.

  “I keep telling you,” the cwen said, “It’s nothing of the sort. I need you to forgive yourself. Ygrena, I’ve met my father face to face and I know what he’s capable of. If I couldn’t defeat him, there’s no way you could fight him off.”

  “But that’s the thing; I still don’t know how he did it. One second we were playing with the children’s toys; the next, everything went dark. I don’t remember a thing.”

  “I know. I should never have left you alone with them. You could have died.”

  “But now the children might die…”

  “Don’t say that, Ygrena.” Gwynne resisted the instinct to growl, her hatred of the words almost as great as for her father. “Never say that.”

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

  “I know. But tell me—is there anything at all about the incident that you can recall? I know I’ve asked a thousand times, but I need your help.”

  “No. It was late morning. Lilliana had her doll and was speaking to it—you know how she liked—likes, I mean—to do that. And Rohan was playing with a little wooden horse.”

  “The doll that we found in the trees,” said Gwynne. “So we know they were taken in a hurry. She probably held on for dear life.”

  “I heard something. It sounded like wind coming through the window at first. And then there was a flash and that’s when I was knocked out.”

  “It sounds like he came himself—I don’t think it was one of his flyers who took them. Knowing Lord Drake, he didn’t trust anyone to do the job.”

  “Is there any news from the alphas?” asked Ygrena, allowing hope to colour her voice.

  “None yet,” said Gwynne, pulling herself up to a standing position. “I hate this waiting more than I can tell you. It’s making me insane. I want nothing more than to shift into my déor and go after them. I want to kill Lord Drake for what he did—to all of us.”

  “But you don’t know where he is…”

  “That’s the trouble. I can tell you that if I did, I’d be there in a second, whether the alphas could accompany me or not.”

  “Gwynne, I would die if anything happened to the children. But if anything happened to you…”

  “It won’t,” she said. “Or at least, if it did, it would be in the name of protecting my young. I’ve always said I’d give my life for them, and nothing has changed. God, it’s ironic. I have all of these skills—I can fly, I can breathe fire, I can leap through time and space. And I can’t find my children. What’s the damned point of it all?”

  “We’ll know when everything is over,” said Ygrena, her voice taking on a sage quality. “I have faith in you above everyone I’ve ever known. You know, there were legends about you, back when I was a little girl. About your drake—your golden dragon form. About how you would save our world. I suspect this is the world’s way of testing you.”

  “Well,” laughed Gwynne bitterly, “It would be a hell of a test to fail.”

  “You won’t fail. I know it.”

  Just then, the sound of a strong fist colliding three times with the heavy wooden door interrupted their conversation.

  “Come in,” said Gwynne.

  Hallam thrust the door open and entered. He stepped over the threshold and stopped, though his feet seemed to want to continue their march until he reached his lover.

  “Hallam, tell us the news, please,” said Gwynne. “But first, I can see that you’ll burst if you don’t go ahead and do what you need to.”

  “Thank you, my Lady,” he said, moving rapidly over to Ygrena and embracing her as she stood to greet him.

  The young shifter, dressed in the clothing reserved for the alphas’ top men, turned back to Gwynne. “The Lords have split off into two parties: one headed south, one east. Lord Drake is not in his castle.”

  “I suspected as much. So you’re saying that we still have no idea where he is.”

  “No. But the dire wolves have good noses, and with all due respect, the scent of a drake is a very specific one, as you know,” said Hallam. “We will find him soon enough, I assure you. And your children.”

  “I only wish we had some help above ground,” said Gwynne. “I could fly out, but I’m too huge a target, even at high altitudes. He’d see me coming miles away. And I suspect that he’s remaining largely in human form to keep concealed.”

  “There’s something else I wanted to speak to you about,” said Hallam. “The guards tell me that a man arrived a little while ago. He’s in the courtyar
d and claims to know you. His name is Cynric…and he is a flyer.”

  Gwynne’s face changed for the first time in days to an expression of hope. She’d all but forgotten the shifter she’d met in Trekilling, who was amassing an army of rebel flyers.

  “Cynric,” she said. “Of course. Everything’s been so distracting that I haven’t given him a second thought. I must go see him,” she said. “You stay here, and spend a little time with Ygrena. She could use some cheering up.” Gwynne turned and winked at her friend, who smiled gratefully. “But as soon as you can, come join us, Hallam. I suspect that I’ll have a task for you.”

  “Yes, my Lady,” said the shifter as he took Ygrena’s hand. It had been days since the two had been together and Gwynne knew how difficult it was to be separated from a lover. She’d been apart from her two mates and was aching for them in spite of the range of emotion that had been causing her a constant chain of devastating blows.

  Something in her needed their physicality; the reassurance of their strength, their muscular forms. The distance from them brought pangs of desire and longing; need, even.

  But the distance from her children was worse.

  Gwynne’s bond with them was something she’d never foreseen. Where her attachment to the men consisted of a strong emotional and physical one, the link with her twins was almost spiritual. Even at times before they’d learned to speak, she’d felt as though she could understand them. Their needs, their wants. Communication had never been an issue between mother and child; she simply knew their thoughts.

  And now she could feel space between them, and the place where silent messages had been transmitted between the three of them sat vacant inside her. The sense of loss was enormous.

  But Cynric’s arrival brought with it a new kind of hope. Gwynne sprinted down the corridors, not remotely concerned with her appearance or any sort of regal behaviour. She simply wanted to get to the man who could prove her salvation.

  * * *

  Dragon Queen 4

  The Barrow

  “Here,” said the grey-haired man, tossing a bit of half-cooked meat onto a makeshift stone plate and handing it to Rohan. “Eat.”

  Rohan took the platter and offered it silently to Lilliana, who gratefully took it and sampled a bite. It was some sort of game: deer, perhaps. It tasted quite good, really; a fresh kill by the dragon shifter.

  After she’d eaten her fill she handed the stone back to her brother. In spite of the dark, each of them kept keen eyes locked on their grandfather, who sat opposite, examining them.

  “You know who I am, of course,” said the imposing man, his voice deep. He stood and paced the interior of the long cavern, watching them, assessing their growth, their movements.

  The two children had aged rapidly, which wasn’t completely unheard of for young shifters. But these two were exceptional and Drake was pleased, aside from one issue which bothered him. They looked almost old enough to work for a living and yet they never spoke; they were like two mute entities with heightened intelligence in their eyes. Like animals.

  This wildness, at least, pleased Drake, who had every intention of raising them as his own. These two were the key to gaining back the power that he’d lost. As strong as Gwynne and the alphas had become, their offspring were greater.

  “Since you can’t, or won’t, answer me,” said Lord Drake, stopping in front of the twins, “I’ll say this: I am your grandfather. I am the Lord Drake, King of Cornwall, dragon feared throughout the entire land. I am here to instruct you; to teach you and guide you through your lives as shifters.

  “You may wonder why I’ve taken you so unceremoniously from your parents, and it is simply this: They are, of course, wonderful people.”

  Lilliana felt as though she heard a sibilant “s” in “of course,” which reminded her of Lachlan’s imitation of a snake.

  Drake continued: “But wonderful people don’t always make the best guardians, or the best instructors. You two need guidance, and to understand right from wrong. You’re more special than you’ll ever know. And I intend to teach you.”

  The children peered up at him, wide-eyed, attempting to appear more innocent than they were.

  “Is that understood?” asked Drake, his voice booming through the chamber.

  The twins nodded in unison. Understood.

  Also understood silently between them was the fact that neither was to utter a single word in this man’s presence, or to reveal any special skills.

  There had been an afternoon a few weeks back when Lachlan had come to see them. He had sat on the floor, hoisting one small child onto each of his massive thighs. The twins loved to climb on their enormous fathers, whose limbs were like tree trunks, hard and strong. Lachlan had broad shoulders and Lilliana would often cling to them as she rode around on his back.

  Her favourite aspect of Lachlan, though, was his wolf, with its coarse hair and alert eyes. It was fearsome yet gentle, and like the man, enormous. She would stand at his side, lifting a hand over her head to reach his back, and he let the children ride him on occasion.

  But on this day, he’d simply wanted to talk to them.

  “If ever a stranger comes to you,” he’d said, looking from one twin to the other, “Do not go with him. Or her. And if he takes you away from here, remain silent above all. Don’t let anyone know what you know. Don’t let them in on your knowledge or your skills. It is best that our enemies be kept in the dark.”

  There was an irony now to his words, as it was the children who were kept in almost perpetual darkness. Only when Drake was around did they have any natural light; he would open the large door of stone to allow sunlight to flood the chamber, which they could study in all its strange glory, its carvings of men, wolves and dragons lining the walls.

  The children knew better than to run from a fire-breathing dragon, and so they stayed put, even when the door was wide open.

  Their fathers and their mother, they knew, would be looking for them. They would find them.

  * * *

  Dragon Queen 5

  Each evening Lord Drake left the children in their dark prison and took off to unknown lands, his déor making barely a sound as it departed. He would first shove a large boulder in front of the entrance to what seemed like a large, man-made cavern, so that there was no way for the twins to escape. Whatever powers they might have amassed, they were small, which meant that even their shifted forms wouldn’t be able to move such an obstacle.

  Earlier that afternoon he had told them at last where they were.

  “It’s called a barrow,” he’d said. “There are many in our land. Tombs built by the ancient people to house the dead. That’s why you see carvings on the walls; they tell stories of lives lived.” Drake always did his best to make his voice soothing and appealing, but the children recognized his disingenuous nature in each syllable. He wasn’t like their parents who, while half-animal, were kind and caring.

  As for the barrow, a less hospitable temporary home couldn’t have been chosen. Except, maybe, for the Lord’s castle. The place smelled odd and when the stone sealed off the door, the flow of air seemed to stop, which made the children all the more hesitant to contemplate escape. They were accustomed to running through large, bright rooms and the castle’s courtyard, cool breezes flowing as they played.

  When Drake had left for the evening Rohan turned to Lilliana, his bright eyes flashing in the dark. It had been a week since they’d been taken and the two had continued to grow, partly thanks for the food their grandfather had brought them each morning. Soon they would reach their full heights. Then their captor would have something to reckon with.

  “We have to start forming a plan,” Rohan whispered to his sister. “In case no one manages to find us.”

  “We can’t get out of here,” replied his sister. “The stone is too large. And he’d kill us if we tried leaving while he was here.”

  “I’m sure you’re right, Lily. But we have to do our best. Mother would want us to st
ick together and to use our heads.” Their mother, the cwen, had always told them to protect one another, no matter what, as though she’d known that one day this might happen. But there had been no need to remind them of the importance of protection; Rohan’s instinct was to look after his sister, and hers to protect him.

  Over the days, changes had set in within the twins themselves. Rohan could feel something within him—perhaps it was his déor—asking to come out. Lilliana was more hesitant to listen to the creature within her, perhaps out of fear or confusion. Roh was always so strong, so brave. She was the frightened one. Even now, he was being courageous and trying to plot an escape, while she was simply trying to figure out how to survive.

  “What should we do?” she asked, looking to him for guidance.

  “I want to try and shift—tonight,” he said. “Lord Drake is always gone for ages at night. I think I can do it if I try hard enough.”

  “And then what? We don’t even know what your déor is,” said Lily.

  “That’s the fun of it.” Rohan flashed a bright smile that her keen eyes picked up even in the dark.

  He moved away, across the large, damp room, towards a corner where the ceiling was highest. He removed most of his clothing and shut his eyes.

  “Father always said that it was a question of focus,” he said quietly, referring to Rauth. He called both alphas “father,” since he saw them as two parts of one whole. Rauth was a sort of teacher, a coach, who encouraged the children to access their inner animals. Lachlan seemed more intent on their enjoyment of their innocent youth.

  “So try to shift,” said Lilliana. “But be careful. You don’t know what might happen.”

  She sat on the floor and watched, seeing only a vague outline of her brother, still in human form, stretching his arms out towards the far walls of the barrow.

  When his eyes were closed he tried to picture a great dire wolf like those of his fathers, and to envision himself changing into one. In a moment he had a vivid image in his mind of a great dark wolf padding through the woods, its eyes shining, light blue against a ring of dark around them.