Being Alpha

by Aileen Erin

  I agreed, but that shouldn’t stop us. “Who gives a shit what they like? We’re talking about stopping the apocalypse. If the Alphas had paid attention and maybe, I don’t know, not killed Ferdinand without a way to replace him immediately, or not let Donovan leave, then we wouldn’t be in this position. They’re going to have to think outside of the box with this one.”

  “And if they can’t?” Lucas said, a little too quietly.

  “Screw them.” I spat it out and I meant it. “We don’t need any of them to approve what we do or how we stop the apocalypse.”

  “You might grow to regret going against the Alphas.” Lucas’ voice was a low rumble and I knew I’d pissed him off a little, but I didn’t care.

  “Maybe, but at least we’ll be alive.” And at the end of the day, that’s all that mattered. If the Alphas had a problem with how we save the world, well then, that was on them.

  Fourteen

  The more we sat and talked, the more complicated everything got. Figuring out how to do a spell as big as the Seven without drawing Astaroth in and without the fey seemed insanely impossible. We were landing soon, and still didn’t have any idea how to make it happen.

  This was beyond no bueno. I wanted to have our next step in place so we could start fixing this whole mess when we hit the ground, but so far, we’d yet to agree on anything.

  “You’re still going to need a fey,” Mr. Dawson said. We’d Skyped him a while ago, but the only thing he’d done was shoot down my plan and anything anyone else came up with.

  “But say we can get Cosette—” I said.

  “You can’t count on that.” Mr. Dawson cut me off. He was being a real Negative Nancy and wasn’t being shy about it.

  I shot Chris a look, who shrugged. “I’ve messaged her, but he’s right. I’ve said it already. You can’t count on her being able to get away, and you can’t hold it against her. She’s in a tough spot.” When I asked about finding her, Chris had pulled out his phone, saying that they’d been emailing. He wouldn’t say how often, but his cheeks had turned a lovely color of spring rose. I wasn’t sure how she had email in her fey realm, but I wasn’t going to question it or whatever was going on between her and Chris.

  From what Mr. Dawson had told us over and over and over, the fey magic amped up the bond of the Seven, which in turn sealed the plane. So, it made sense that we’d need that kind of magic, but we needed to think of something outside the box and I refused to count on Eli for it. He hadn’t shown up in any of my visions. Not even one. But at this rate, I might have to.

  “We might not have the support of the fey courts, but there have to be other options. What about a djinn? They’re real, right?”

  “No!” Everyone one the plane and Mr. Dawson yelled in unison.

  “Okaaaay.” So, that was clearly a bad idea. “Not a djinn.” There was one idea that I’d been scared to bring up.

  Luciana’s spells got us into this mess. What if she left something behind that could get us out of it?

  I knew even stepping onto la Aquelarre’s land was tricky. I’d learned that much from the visions that Samantha helped me have. I’d died there a few times. I couldn’t even believe I was contemplating it, but there was magic brewing there. Strong magic. That’s the only way that Astaroth could’ve come through so quickly in my visions. So, what if I could find it and use it?

  There were two problems with this. Whatever magic lasted there was probably black magic and trying to go get it would probably trigger Astaroth’s arrival. Which meant I should just shove this idea where the sun don’t shine. As in it was monumentally stupid. But I kept circling back to it in my mind.

  I leaned back in my chair and stared at the fasten seatbelt sign like somehow it was going to give me the answer I needed.

  “Whatever you do, the bond between the new council members has to be stronger than a pack bond. I just don’t know how you’re going to achieve that. Even with witchcraft.” Michael’s voice came through the speakerphone. “I don’t see it working without using the existing bond of the Seven. It’s broken, but that was allowed in the space of the magic. It can be renewed. Holding on for a while seems like the smartest option, but I don’t know how we can hold on that long. There was another demon attack at the compound.”

  “What?” Claudia yelled. “First you hold out on telling me or Tessa about what was going on while we were away. And you’re just telling us now about another demon attack after we’ve been on the phone for at least an hour with you.”

  “Right?” I said. This was total bullshit.

  “I did what I thought was best. That’s my job as the Alpha of this pack.”

  “You can say that for Tessa because she’s in your pack, but I’m not. That land is mine, even if I want nothing to do with it. If there was an issue with the coven’s land, you should’ve come to me.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry, but what you keep forgetting is that all of you are young. I’m not. It’s my responsibility to take care of the younger pack members. Not have you rushing off into danger.”

  I growled, ready to jump into what a load of horse shit that was, but Lucas stepped in for me. “But I’m older than you and more alpha. So, you should’ve at least told me.”

  I clenched my fists to stop from grabbing the phone and crushing it. Mr. Dawson was driving me insane, but at least I wasn’t alone in that feeling.

  Arguing with him now about what he should or shouldn’t have told us was a waste of time. “Astaroth isn’t going to wait to attack us,” I said, bringing us back to the real problem. “We have days at most, and maybe not even that. We try to wait around for a lunar eclipse, we’ll all die. Everyone.” At this point, I’d turned into a broken record, too. “If we make something new then—”

  “I’m not saying you can’t make something new,” Mr. Dawson cut me off. Again. “We were already going to be struggling to try and fix the bond that’s broken. But starting from scratch isn’t a great idea.” He kept talking, but I wasn’t listening anymore. I appreciated his opinion, but he was stuck in the past. I wanted something better for the future.

  What I didn’t get is why it had to be just werewolves in the new council. If we added in some witches and some fey, then maybe we’d be better off? More magic seemed better to me. And diversifying meant that the safety and well being of every soul on this plane wouldn’t be the responsibly of the Weres alone anymore. The fey and witches would be forced to work together with the werewolves. That seemed like a good thing. But apparently I was wrong.

  I don’t think you’re wrong, Dastien said. Michael really is on a tear.

  Right? What do you think would happen if I just hung up on him? You think we could get everyone to say it was a bad connection?

  Dastien laughed. Probably.

  “What are you guys talking about?” Claudia asked as she motioned between Dastien and me.

  I rolled my eyes and pointed to the phone. Mr. Dawson was still talking, but I was still fully ignoring him. It was time to hang up. He wasn’t bringing anything new to the table.

  “I think I can explain why Michael is so against leaving the framework of the Seven entirely,” Lucas said.

  I shrugged. “Please.” Because clearly I was missing something.

  “My pack has the benefit of having a few non-werewolves with us. We’ve looped them into our pack bond, kind of how I’ve done with Claudia, but bonds between unlike supernaturals are not necessarily as strong as the ones between like.”

  “Between like?” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this.

  “Think about it this way—You’re overflowing with werewolf power, and that power gets amplified by the power that Dastien has. You can borrow each other’s power when needed. Right? I’ve seen you do it.”

  “Right. We can.” We used that all the time in fights.

  “You’re also a witch, which means that you have another well of power that’s filled with magic, but it’s a separate power. They’re two different things
.” I started to say that it wasn’t, but he didn’t give me a chance. “When you talked about the night when you were stripped of your powers, there wasn’t one jar. There were two. Right?”

  “Yes. That’s right.” I didn’t like thinking about the jars, but there were two.

  “That’s because you’ve got two sides. Both powerful. That’s why Astaroth wants you. You have two deep wells of power.”

  “Right. So what does this have to do with the Seven?”

  “The best comparison I have is that Dastien cannot boost your witch side and—”

  Nope. “That’s not true. Ever since I became a Were, my magic has been growing stronger. My visions have changed so much in the last few months. Isn’t that because I’m a Were? So it can’t be totally separate.”

  “Your magic is what it was always going to be—incredibly strong—because you were meant to lead a coven. As you grow further into adulthood, it will keep getting stronger.”

  I rubbed a hand across my forehead as I tried to understand what Lucas was saying. “I guess I never thought about it that way.” Being a werewolf and my visions changing seemed to go hand in hand, but maybe that was a big assumption on my part.

  “Your mate bond hasn’t given Dastien any magic has it?” Lucas asked when I didn’t say anything else.

  “No,” Dastien said. “I’m just as bad at spells as always.”

  “See?”

  Damn it. That made sense to me.

  “No matter how much I wish it weren’t true, the bond I have with Claudia isn’t as strong as it is between you and Dastien. And—”

  “It’s not?” Claudia asked. Her voice wavered just the slightest bit, and I imagined she felt like a kid finding out that Santa Claus wasn’t real.

  Lucas really put his foot in it, huh? I said to Dastien.

  Pretty much.

  “No. It’s different than theirs, but that’s okay.” Lucas held her hand. “If you want to become a werewolf, we can talk about it. But I’ve done what I can to make our bond as strong as I can.”

  “I thought—” She cut herself off and I could tell they were talking to each other by the focus that they had on each other. After a moment he pressed a soft kiss to her lips, and she took a breath. “Okay. But I don’t know if I’ll ever want to be a werewolf.”

  I wanted to encourage her, but I wasn’t sure which way. It was too permanent of a choice for anyone to make for her.

  “I wouldn’t have brought it up if I wasn’t trying to help Tessa understand why the Seven was formed with just werewolves,” Lucas said. “There was a very good reason that particular choice was made so long ago.” He looked to me now.

  “I get it.” Lucas was making a lot of sense and was way more helpful than Mr. Dawson. “You’re saying that the bond of the Seven was made between werewolves only to ensure that their power would be exponentially stronger together. If they had three Weres, three witches, and three fey, then the bond of the nine of them together wouldn’t have been as strong as just seven werewolves.”

  “Exactly.” Lucas grinned. “You seem to be leaning towards taking this new pact across species, and I think it’s probably the right move in the long run, especially with how the fey just disappeared on everyone. Something like this would ensure that they’d come back—at least to some extent—but you’re going to have to find a way to make those new bonds across different supernatural lines stronger than my pack has found possible.”

  At least he hadn’t shot my idea down completely. “What do you think we’d need to make a stronger version? Maybe there’s some magic we could use to amplify it?”

  “We’d have to do more than amplify it, right?” Adrian said.

  “Yes. Amplify might be too weak of a word,” Lucas said. “You need something that’s going to tie this whole realm together. That’s what made the Seven so powerful. They are the most alpha werewolves that are alive, and they bound their power together. Each wolf’s powers was magnified six fold. And then to top that off, the bond had some fey magic to make them even stronger.”

  Wait a second. “That didn’t weaken the bond?”

  “No. It just cemented what was there, rather than being the source. Does that make sense?”

  “Kind of.” This was way more complicated than I wanted and it was making my head hurt trying to wrap my head around it.

  “You’re going to need a power source to fuel the bond, and I don’t have any suggestions on how you could accomplish that. But I figure if you understand the problem a little better, maybe you can find a solution that I can’t.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate the explanation.” I hated to go back to Eli, but there was a reason he’d shown up on la Aquelarre’s land. I couldn’t rule him out. Maybe this new bond was what he had in mind when he was talking about making a deal. “Eli might be able to help with the bond. He—”

  “There’s not much information on archons, but from what I understand, they wouldn’t want to be the power source,” Mr. Dawson said. “That would take too much personal power from him. And even if he would agree to it, you’re not going to want to pay the price.”

  I refused to believe that this was impossible just because it’d never been done before. If I needed a power source, then I’d just have to find one. “How much power do you think we actually need?”

  “To seal this plane from the next? You need something with the equivalent of ten magical nuclear bombs going off,” Mr. Dawson said. “That’s why it was done the way that it was—with a lunar eclipse and fey magic—working to unite seven of the strongest werewolves alive.”

  I looked around the cabin of the plane. My friends all wore grim faces, but I wasn’t going to stop, especially not when we were finally getting somewhere. “This mega nuclear bomb going off will create the bond, but are we going to need more power to keep the bonds going strong? I don’t want to have them break on me once I find a way to make them.”

  “You’re making this from scratch, so you could build it however you want it.” Lucas was quiet for a second, but the way his lips pressed together, I had a feeling more was coming.

  “What?”

  He looked at Claudia, an apology clear on his face, and I knew what he was going to say. “I hate to say it, but—”

  “I’m going to have to go back through Luciana’s things.”

  Claudia hissed. “No. She can’t!”

  Claudia wasn’t the only one pissed at that idea. Even though Dastien was still sitting in his chair, I felt him fighting the urge to smash his fist into Lucas’ face for suggesting it.

  Calm down. It might be—

  You said you died in your vision when you went to the compound. Multiple times. You can’t go back there. That’s not just dumb, it’s insane, and I…

  Dastien kept ranting in my head while Adrian and Chris jumped on board. Claudia was silent but from the way she was looking at her mate, he was getting the what-for through their bond. I could almost see the steam coming out of her ears.

  I took a breath before I waded into the fight. “With how quickly Astaroth got to me and the demon attacks that are popping up every night there, I have to assume there’s an active circle at the compound,” I said loud enough for everyone to stop talking. “I think that means that something didn’t burn in Luciana’s house. And if something didn’t burn, then that means she might have some magic there that could help strengthen the bond. You said it yourself, that the books on magic at St. Ailbe’s aren’t amazing. What if Luciana has a stash somewhere? A room that didn’t burn? Even a storage shed somewhere in the woods? If it’s there, we need to find it.”

  “I don’t want to use anything that she did,” Claudia said. “She—”

  “Luciana was evil.” That was a given. I wasn’t about to argue about how bad she was. “But that doesn’t mean that we can’t find something of hers that could help us. Magic isn’t inherently bad or good. It’s all about how you use it, right? That’s what Tía Rosa told me.”

  Claudia s
hrugged. “Some things. But there is dark magic and—”

  “I won’t use anything black. Or even gray.” Probably. Maybe. “But if there’s power that I can use? Something that allowed Astaroth to come through? Then we have to figure out what it is. Especially if we can use it to fuel the bond.” I sighed. My next statement was going to get me in even more trouble with my friends. “But we need some fey. What about the ones who didn’t clear out with the courts?”

  “I’ve been fighting those assholes for the past few weeks. No way are we asking any of them for help,” Chris said as he pulled out his phone. “I’m emailing Cosette again.”

  “Donovan is trying to get through to the Lunar Court, but he’s gotten no answer yet,” Mr. Dawson said. “At this point, I think you have to count them out.”

  “Then what we have left is a bunch of Alpha werewolves, some witches, possibly a few rouge fey if we can find them, and one archon. We’ll make it work.” At least I hoped we would, but honestly, I wasn’t sure it’d work.

  I wasn’t sure we had enough magical power—even with whatever had survived the fires at the compound.

  I wasn’t sure if any of this would be enough to stop Astaroth.

  I wasn’t really sure of anything anymore. My plan was insane and suicidal, but I had to try.

  Fifteen

  When we got back to Texas, we split into two groups. Dastien and Chris went with me to the compound, while everyone else went back to campus to start researching a spell to make this all work. Claudia didn’t want to step even a foot onto the coven’s land again, and I didn’t blame her. Not even a little bit. She would be better off researching anyway. For everything I learned about spells, I felt like there were twenty things I didn’t know.

  We turned a corner, and the sound of the tires on the cattle guard filled the car.

  We were officially on the coven’s land.