Avoiding Alpha

by Aileen Erin

  Aching limbs sounded like the flu. “You seem sick, but that’s—”

  “Impossible,” Meredith said. “Werewolves can’t get sick.”

  That might be true, but she looked pretty pale to me. I pressed the back of my hand to her forehead. “You’re ice cold.” Which was odd. All over Texas it was hitting over ninety degrees, and werewolves ran hotter than humans.

  “I’m not sick.” She sat up. “I’m just feeling extra slow today. It’s a side effect of the curse. I’ll be fine once I’m up and about.”

  I raised my eyebrows, but said nothing. She’d know better than me what was wrong with her. “Well, I’m going to finish getting ready. You gonna get up?”

  “Yeah. Today’s French toast day. I’m not missing that for anything. Just give me ten, I’ll be ready.”

  “Cool.” I went back to my room and shoved my homework in my Tokidoki messenger bag. Meredith closed my door to the bathroom and turned on the shower. I opened my laptop to go over my notes, but a message from my brother, Axel, was in my inbox. The subject line read, “Whasrt’ds uopl?”

  Was that English?

  I snorted as I opened it. It took a bit of deciphering, but I got the gist—he went to a party last night. The send time said three AM. Poor guy would be hurting when he woke up. I turned on the latest from BBC Radio One’s Essential Mix—a totally sweet set from Sasha and Pete Tong at a club in Manchester—and started replying to Axel’s email.

  I was about to hit send when the smell hit me. I paused the music.

  “Meredith?” I asked through the door.

  She gagged, and my blood went cold. Meredith hadn’t been lying when she said that werewolves didn’t get sick. They could heal broken bones in a few hours.

  So, why was Meredith puking in our bathroom?

  My chest tightened. Something was seriously wrong with my best friend.

  I knocked on the bathroom door. “You okay in there?”

  More noises followed that I wished I hadn’t heard. Especially not with my new super sensitive hearing. Yuck.

  I took a deep breath and fully cursed my werewolf senses. I could smell her half-digested food—the fried pork chops weren’t so appealing on the way out. There was something metallic in the air, too. Willing myself not to barf, I cracked open the door.

  Meredith’s hair blocked her face from my view as she hovered over the toilet. I glanced around the bathroom, trying to figure out what I could do to help as she heaved. The mirrored medicine cabinet didn’t have anything even remotely medicine-like in it. Werewolves didn’t need it.

  What was I even looking for?

  Right. Hair band. I searched one of my carefully organized drawers beneath the sink, not caring that I was messing it up, and grabbed a black elastic. I quickly tied her hair back.

  A chill ripped through me. “Umm…Meredith? Is there blood in your puke?”

  “What the hell is happening to me?” Her voice was soft, and shook with fear. “I’ve never been sick like this before. I’ve never thrown up in my life. During the day of the full moon I get weak, but not this…”

  “I don’t know what’s going on.” I pressed the back of my hand to her forehead. It was still clammy. “I’m gonna get help.”

  Before I got to my cell, it was ringing. Dastien’s photo lit up my screen.

  “Hey,” he said as soon as I answered. I could hear the leaves crunching under his feet as he ran. “What’s wrong? Why are you panicking?” He’d no doubt felt my freak out through our bond. My fear for Meredith definitely qualified as a strong emotion.

  “Meredith’s puking blood.”

  “Merde. Watch her. If she starts seizing, call me back. I’m grabbing Dr. Gonzales on my way.”

  “What do you mean if she starts seizing? What the hell’s going on?”

  The line was silent. He’d hung up?

  Shit. He’d totally hung up on me.

  Seizing? I ran through the little bit of first aid training I was forced to do in health class back in Los Angeles. Move them away from anything that could hurt them. Cushion their head. Loosen constrictive clothing around their neck.

  Meredith was curled up on her side, hopefully done with puking. She was far enough away from the tub that she probably wouldn’t hit her head.

  Her clothing—a hot pink tank top that matched the dyed sections in her hair and a pair of black sleep shorts—wasn’t constrictive at all. I grabbed a towel from our rack and folded it to put under her head.

  “I feel horrible,” Meredith said. I ran a washcloth under hot water and handed it to her. She wiped her face before quickly sitting up, barely making it back to the toilet as she dry heaved.

  “Take slow, deep breaths. It might help.” I sat on the edge of the tub next to her, rubbing my hand up and down her back.

  She closed her eyes, following my advice. “Have you ever puked before?”

  “Uh, yeah. I used to be human.”

  She started puking again. If possible, Meredith turned even paler. I tried not to look—I didn’t want to—but it was like a train wreck. I couldn’t turn away as a little bit of blood dribbled from her mouth.

  “How do you get used to it?” She said when she got back under control.

  I snorted. Meredith had grown up a Were and had never been sick before. I was the only wolf in a very long while to be turned from a human. “No one gets used to it. Throwing up sucks.” It especially sucks when you’re puking blood. I wasn’t a doctor, but I knew that something was majorly wrong with her.

  “Yeah. No shit.”

  I smiled, but it felt strained.

  Where the hell was Dastien? I rubbed my sweating palms on my T-shirt.

  A minute later, my bedroom door swung open so fast it slammed the wall. I moved to the doorway of the bathroom to see Dastien stride in with Dr. Gonzales behind him. His eyes were glowing a light gold, telling me that his wolf was close to the surface.

  Dastien squeezed my hand for a second before squatting next to Meredith. “How are you?”

  “How do I look?”

  “Pretty terrible.”

  She did look pretty horrible. Her skin glistened with sweat and was so pale that it looked nearly see-through. Shadows hung under her glass-blue eyes, but it was her slouching shoulders that told me how poorly she felt. Werewolves had the best posture, but she was hunched over like she couldn’t even carry the weight of her head.

  “Well, at least I look better than I feel,” she said.

  Dastien grabbed her chin and looked into her eyes. I didn’t know what he was doing, but Meredith started to squirm as she tried to avert her gaze. “It’s what we thought. Her wolf’s awake and fighting her curse.”

  Dr. Gonzales’ stilettos clacked against the tiles as she entered the bathroom. Werewolves might not get sick, but they definitely had a tendency to get into fights. She was around to patch us up.

  The doctor always dressed like she was coming from a boardroom meeting. A pale pink blouse with a tie-neck was tucked into her dark gray pencil skirt. Instead of the blazer to finish off the skirt suit, she wore a white lab coat with her name embroidered in blue along the pocket. A black messenger bag held all of her first aid stuff. “We knew this might happen at some point. Can you calm her?” she asked Dastien.

  As a strong alpha, Dastien could quiet or rouse the wolf in any Were. He made a shushing-purring sound at Meredith as he pushed power at her. He’d done it to me before when I felt out of control and it quieted my wolf, but Meredith didn’t turn to pudding like I did. Instead, she squirmed, trying to break free from his gaze.

  That didn’t make any sense. Dastien’s shushing always worked.

  “She’s too far gone. The wolf has been suppressed for so long…” Dastien stepped away, making room for Dr. Gonzales.

  “What does that mean?” Meredith said.

  “Might be a good idea to sedate her until we figure out other options and inform her parents.”

  “Why are you talking about me like I’m no
t here?”

  Fear raced through my veins, making me lightheaded. I sat back down on the edge of the tub and Meredith reached for my hand. I twined our fingers together.

  This couldn’t be happening. Meredith had to be okay.

  Dr. Gonzales swung her black messenger bag over her head, and pulled out what looked like a black cosmetics case. I had a feeling it wasn’t filled with make-up.

  She unzipped the top, and grabbed a shot. For once, I didn’t mind seeing her bag full of needles.

  “Meredith,” she said in a calm, even voice. “I’m going to give you something to make you sleep. When you wake, your wolf should be calm again. Okay?”

  Meredith’s hand squeezed mine as she nodded.

  Dr. Gonzales gripped Meredith’s arm and stabbed the needle in. It didn’t take long for the drugs to kick in. Dastien caught her as she slid to the floor, lifting her like she weighed nothing. As he put her in bed, I retreated to my room and started pacing.

  This shouldn’t have happened. I should’ve pushed her to talk about her curse and how she was feeling. I knew something was wrong, but I’d let it go.

  Stupid. How could I be so stupid?

  “Tessa?” Dr. Gonzales’ voice brought me back to the present.

  “Is she going to be okay?” I asked as I sat down on my bed.

  “Can you tell us if something happened with Meredith?”

  It didn’t go unnoticed that she didn’t say that Meredith was going to be okay. She wouldn’t lie.

  “The curse is still active, but her wolf is awake. Has anything happened to Meredith recently? Anything that could upset her wolf?” the doctor prompted, but I didn’t have anything helpful. We went to class, we did homework, and we ate a ton of food. We didn’t even get to leave campus very often.

  I tried to think of something that could have caused this, but for the life of me, I couldn’t. Last night was the first time I’d seen her act off at all. How did she get sick so quickly? “I can’t remember anything that really changed. We’ve been doing our usual stuff since the whole vampire thing.”

  Dastien came back into the room. I finally really took him in. His navy blue T-shirt was just tight enough to hint at the muscles I knew were underneath. I was glad he’d come so quickly. Having him here made me feel better. Like everything was going to be okay.

  “Something’s changed,” he said. “You know her better than anyone. Did she fight with someone? Get upset? Did someone say something to piss her off? Anything that could bring out her wolf?”

  He sat on my bed and gripped my hand. Our bond strengthened through touch and I could feel his worry on top of my own.

  Oh, God. Of course. That was it. “She had a fight with Donovan a few days ago.” How could I forget about that?

  “What? Why did they fight?” Dr. Gonzales said.

  “He left—”

  “Right,” Dr. Gonzales said. “He had to go find the alphas in South America for the Tribunal. Why would she fight with him about that?”

  Mr. Dawson, Donovan, Sebastien, and a few other alphas were off rounding up as many pack leaders as possible for the Tribunal. Some of them lived in pretty remote areas, preferring to be able to switch from wolf to human without worrying who was watching. Donovan had gone after a pack alpha that roamed the Andes Mountains.

  I blew out a breath. I didn’t know how much to tell them about Donovan and Meredith. It wasn’t my business to spill and Meredith liked to keep her stuff private, but she was seriously sick. “When Donovan left last week, he and Meredith had a fight. She wouldn’t talk about it, but I have a pretty good guess what they were fighting about.”

  Dastien leaned closer. “And?”

  I paced away from them as I considered what to say. From the sound of Meredith’s steady breathing in the next room, she was totally zonked. Screw it. I was gonna spill my guts and hope she wouldn’t kick my ass for it later. I turned back to face them. “When they first met, I thought I felt something between Meredith and Donovan. The way they looked at each other was beyond intense. Something clicked with them, but then all the vampire stuff happened… Anyhow, right before Donovan left he told her that he wanted them to be mated, but she refused.”

  God. She was probably going to kill me for saying this, but if it could save her, then she’d get over it. I reached for Dastien’s hand again. “I’m pretty sure they’re a true mated pair.”

  “Cherie. Just because we’re a mated pair, doesn’t mean that others are. It’s very rare,” Dastien said.

  He was going to get himself hit if he kept using that patronizing tone. “I know that I’m new to this whole deal, but I can tell the difference between our bond and other bonds.”

  Dr. Gonzales stepped closer. “What do you mean?”

  I shrugged. “They feel different.”

  “You can feel bonds?” Dastien asked, spacing his words out so that there was no misunderstanding.

  “I guess. Kind of. Can’t you feel ours?”

  “Sure.” There was a hint of a question in the way that he said it.

  That didn’t sound so convincing. “I don’t know why I can tell, but I can. Trust me. They’re not like everyone else. Their bond was tangible from the moment they met. The connection between them sizzled, and it got stronger as they spent more time together.”

  “Assuming you’re right, she actually refused him?” Dr. Gonzales’ eyebrows were somewhere in the vicinity of her hairline.

  Donovan was strong and powerful. It didn’t help matters that he was hot and really sweet, too. If I hadn’t met Dastien, even I’d be crushing on him. Saying no to him seemed pretty unfathomable. “I think she’s being dumb, but Meredith thinks she’s ‘broken’ because of the curse. Like that makes her not worthy of him.”

  “We need to get Donovan back here,” Dr. Gonzales said. “Can you reach him?”

  “As soon as he checks in, sure, but that could be today or next week.” Dastien rubbed his hands down his face.

  “I’m not sure she’ll last that long,” Dr. Gonzales said.

  Panic made my knees weak. I sat on the bed next to Dastien. No. This had to be fixable. We had to fix this. “What do you mean?” I leaned into Dastien as he put his arm around me.

  “It typically takes weeks for nausea to set in, but with the blood…Meredith is already considerably past that.” She said it gently, as if that would make it any easier to hear. “If we can’t find a way to break the curse, she won’t have much time.”

  A loud buzzing rang in my ears.

  “Breathe, cherie. Take a deep breath.”

  I did, but it was a shaky one.

  We needed a plan.

  “Okay,” I said when I could speak again. “So, we break the curse or something.”

  “It’s not that easy,” Dastien said.

  “Nothing ever is.” I looked at Dr. Gonzales. “How much time?”

  “I’m going to move her to the infirmary and keep her sedated, but her metabolism won’t let that work for long.”

  “That’s not answering my question.”

  Her gaze was full of pity I didn’t want. “Two days? Give or take a day.”

  “Donovan won’t make it back before then,” Dastien said. “And even if he did get back in time, I don’t know how he could fix this. He doesn’t have magic to break the curse, and I couldn’t get her wolf to listen to me at all. I’m nearly as strong as him.”

  Holy shit. My chest was tight. There wasn’t time to panic, but I was already beyond that. I was nearing a full on freak out.

  My heartbeat rang loudly in my ears.

  I got up to pace again. There had to be a solution.

  The only people who could help were my cousins who belonged to the local coven. Dad took a job at St. Ailbe’s so that we could move from LA to Texas, which meant that I could get closer with my bruja family. That had never happened. Dastien bit me before we could be reintroduced.

  That said, my cousins had helped us before. They’d given me intel and a pretty
cool bag of tricks that saved our butts with the vamp situation. I hadn’t met anyone else from the coven, but it followed logic that they’d help me again.

  This was good. This was a plan. This I could do. “I’m going to call my cousins. Maybe their coven did this to Meredith, but they’re my family. It might make a difference if I’m the one asking them to fix it.”

  “No. That’s a crazy idea. Your cousins might have reached out before, but the rest of them…non. They’re the ones who did this to her in the first place. They let her suffer for years without a second thought.”

  “I’ll convince them that what they did was wrong. I have to.”

  “I don’t want you to take too much of this on yourself,” Dr. Gonzales said. “I think you need to start to prepare yourself for what’s going to happen.” Her words were carefully said and evenly paced, and they made me want to hit her. I didn’t like what she was insinuating at all.

  “Meredith was there for me when she had no reason to be. She stood by me, and I won’t repay her friendship by giving up. I’ll find a way fix this.”

  “Tessa…” Dastien said.

  “Don’t you start,” I said. “I can do this.” I wish I really knew that for certain, but I’d do pretty much anything for Meredith. I’d grown up an outcast because of my visions and she’d been the first person that wasn’t a member of my immediate family to accept me. She was kind and caring and thoughtful and funny. She deserved to be happy, and she deserved her mate. I was going to help her get that. If I had to beg my cousins for help, I had kneepads. I wouldn’t let pride get in the way of saving my best friend.

  Dastien got up, brushing a kiss on my forehead. “Call them, and then we’ll talk again.”

  “Okay.”

  He headed into Meredith’s room, lifted her into his arms, and left with Dr. Gonzales.

  My alarm went off, telling me it was time to go to the cafeteria before class.

  Screw classes. I’d grab some food in the common room downstairs. I had a curse to break and not much time to do it in.

  Chapter Three

  In times of crisis, I’d found it best to keep moving forward. I wasn’t sure what the right first step was to help Meredith, but I had to do something. Eventually, I’d figure out what would work. I had to.