Alpha Battle (Isle of Paradise)

by Marquaylla Lorette

  “I already have one part of the plan in place. Jadelyn and Treasure will drink two special potions I made specifically for them. Treasure and Jadelyn will have to drink the first one by tonight so they will look like a replica of Ella and Rose when they wake tomorrow morning. That way, Ursula will think you guys actually brought Ella and Rose to her, and it will give all of you enough time to save Chelsea. Jadelyn and Treasure will drink a protection potion as well, which will prevent Ursula from being able to teleport them to her. The rest of the plan is up to you,” Eli’s grandmother said.

  “Since Greg is able to fly, he will fly to Chelsea and get her away from Ursula. I will project different images of all of us to confuse Ursula while Greg flies Chelsea to safety. Greg, I am going to need you to have Chelsea make all of us invisible as soon as you grab her. Eli, you will teleport the rest of us back to the Alpha’s house as soon as Chelsea’s invisibility power starts to work,” Jadelyn said laying out the plan as if she had come up with it months ago instead of minutes.

  “Grandma, can you put a protection spell on your house, as well as the Alpha's house, to prevent the witch from entering?” Eli asked his grandmother.

  “No problem, now it is time for Jadelyn and Treasure to take their potions and for all of you to go home and get some rest,” Eli’s grandmother said as she was ushering them all through the door.

  “Wait, Rose and I have to tell you guys something else before you leave,” Ella said, halting them all in their footsteps.

  ***

  Chelsea woke up with a pounding headache in a foreign place. She could smell the salty ocean and hear the waves as they pounded against the rocks. Chelsea knew there was only one place she could hear the sound of the ocean as it pounded against the rocks and wondered how she got there. Chelsea tried to move her arms and legs but quickly realized she couldn’t since her arms and legs were being restrained by ropes, which tied to the four posts on the bed.

  The sound of hundreds of flapping wings caused her to look up in just enough time to see bats flying overhead. The bats flew above her head and right out of the cave into the night sky. She watched until the last bat flew out of the cave before dropping her head back onto the bed.

  ‘Chelsea!’ Ace screamed in Chelsea's head almost in a panic. He had been trying to talk to her for hours through their mating connection and couldn’t get through.

  ‘Ace,’ Chelsea whispered in her head since she didn’t have enough energy to shout as he did.

  ‘Yes, it’s me, baby, I have been worried about you for hours now. Don’t worry, baby, we will get you back tomorrow,’ Ace said to reassure Chelsea that they will get her back soon. Ace didn’t want her to worry about never seeing him or the others again.

  ‘How are you guys going to get me out of here?’ Chelsea asked. She didn’t want them to do anything to put themselves in harm’s way while trying to rescue her from Ursula the witch.

  ‘Don’t worry about the details right now, just get some rest. You are going to need it since we have a long day ahead of us,’ Ace said. He didn’t want to tell her the plan just in case Ursula was somehow listening in on their conversation.

  ‘Good night, Ace, I love you,’ Chelsea whispered out.

  ‘I love you, too, Chels,’ Ace said in the same whispered voice Chelsea used.

  ***

  Ace was the first one awake, not that he got much sleep. He tossed and turned during the night, wondering if Chelsea was fine. He lost count of how many times he woke during the night just to reach to Chelsea’s side of the bed and realize she wasn’t there. It was more disappointing each time he reached over for her. He finally decided he wasn’t going to get any sleep around six o’clock in the morning and made his way to the kitchen for some coffee.

  The first thing Ace did when he got into the kitchen was turn on the coffeemaker and head for the table. He laid his head on the table with his hands underneath and closed his eyes. Ace was finally getting some shuteye when the beeping sound from the coffeemaker jerked him awake. He picked up his favorite mug and filled it to the rim—he would need it all from the night he had. Just the smell of the strong coffee woke him enough to where he was able to fix himself some breakfast, not that he was really going to eat it. He felt incomplete without Chelsea beside him, like a piece of him was missing. Ace wondered how Jadelyn and Eli survived so many years without each other. He didn’t ever want to feel what they went through over the years, he had to get Chelsea back fast.

  It was like two halves of his heart was missing now instead of one. At first, it was just his second mate missing and he could take the pain, but now, with Chelsea gone, the pain was overbearing. He couldn’t take it anymore, he had to find both of them to make the tri-mate complete before the pain fully took over his body. Over the years, Ace was left wondering why his mate wouldn’t step forward. He asked himself repeatedly what was wrong with him and Chelsea that made their mate hide himself from them.

  Ace had to know where his other mate was and what was going on with him that his mate felt like he couldn’t approach them and mate with them. Chelsea being kidnapped made Ace realize he had to do everything in his power to find his other mate. He knew Jadelyn and Eli would help him after they found Chelsea and finished the Alpha Battle. It was time for him to stop feeling sorry for himself and take action in his life.

  Jadelyn and Eli were in the kitchen with him by the time he finished his second cup of coffee. They all felt a little tense as they sipped their coffee and waited. Waiting to rescue Chelsea didn’t feel right to Jadelyn, Eli, or Ace. They wanted to find her and bring her back now. They didn’t like playing by Ursula’s rules but knew it was the best thing for Chelsea.

  It was strange for Eli and Greg to see Jadelyn and Treasure looking and talking like Ella and Rose. They both wanted to get Chelsea back as soon as possible so their mates could go back to looking like themselves.

  Eli and Jadelyn yawned at the same time as they waited for the clock to strike eleven in the morning. They had spent half the night trying to figure out who had hired Ursula to ruin their families and why. It would have been easier to narrow down who could have hired Ursula if they asked Jadelyn’s father, but they couldn’t tell him without letting him know about Ursula. They also knew Baron would have told Eli’s father everything they told him, even if they asked him not to. They didn’t want Jake to worry about anything while he was recovering in the secured hospital.

  It was a long, grueling night, but they finally narrowed it down to five different families. Jadelyn and Eli planned to look more closely into the five families after they rescued Chelsea from Ursula.

  “I can’t sit around any longer, can we leave now?” Ace asked.

  “Yeah, we can teleport to the base of the mountain and look around for any of Ursula's traps. Jadelyn and Treasure will stay here until it is time. We don’t want Ursula to get ahold of them before we get Chelsea back,” Eli said as he prepared to teleport Ace and Greg to the base of the mountain.

  Eli, Ace, and Greg spent the next two hours looking for traps around the mountain. They quickly lost track of time and would have still been searching if Jadelyn hadn’t alerted Eli of the time. Jadelyn and Treasure quickly appeared at the side of their mates, thanks to Eli’s power.

  ***

  Chelsea was jarred awake not even two hours after talking to Ace from the feel of the ocean water. The ocean waves were so huge they splashed onto Chelsea every time they crushed against the rocks down below the cave. Chelsea tried to move out of the waves' line of fire countless times, to no avail. She knew the witch’s magic had something to do with the water from the waves being able to reach her, since there was no way the water should have been able to reach that far up the mountain. She was finally able to wiggle closer to the cave wall and out of the line of fire from the water.

  She woke hours later tied to a chair in what looked to be a makeshift kitchen in the cave. She could make out Ursula sitting directly in front of her when her eyes finally adjuste
d to the brightness of the sunlight pouring into the cave.

  “If you tell me where Ella and Rose are, I will feed you before letting you go,” Ursula said as she put another piece of fruit in her own mouth.

  Chelsea knew Ursula wouldn’t let her go or feed her if she told her where Ella and Rose were. She knew Ursula would more than likely kill her instead if she told her.

  “I have no idea who you are talking about, let alone where they are,” Chelsea said with a straight face.

  Ursula waited until she finished the rest of her plate before turning her attention back on Chelsea. “Take her to the closet and lock her in there until it is time for the exchange,” Ursula ordered the two warlocks that were with her.

  ***

  It took them an entire hour to walk up the mountain while avoiding the traps Ursula put out. Jadelyn and Ace were finding it hard to contain themselves when they could see Chelsea standing at the top of the mountain restrained by Ursula and two warlocks.

  “Bring those two to me now,” Ursula urged the two warlocks when she saw Jadelyn and Treasure as Ella and Rose.

  Jadelyn nudge Greg in his side letting him know it was time. Greg closed his eyes and concentrated on his wings. His ancestors were the first wolf shifters to mate with bald eagle shifters. Greg’s wings swiftly emerged and he took flight.

  Jadelyn projected over twenty versions of themselves as soon as Greg took flight in the air, confusing Ursula and the two warlocks in the process. They didn’t know which the projections were and which were really them.

  Greg swooped down and promptly snatched up Chelsea and whispered in her ear for her to make them all invisible.

  Chelsea quickly closed her eyes and made them invisible. They were all back at the Alpha house when she opened her eyes. Ace ran towards Chelsea and pulled her into his arms where she collapsed from exhaustion and hunger.

  “Let’s take her to my grandmother’s house fast,” Eli said when he noticed Chelsea wasn’t coming around.

  Jadelyn vowed in her head to kill Ursula and whoever hired her as Eli teleported them to his grandmother’s house.

  Chapter Eleven

  When they walked into the Battle Arena Finale a few days later, the Ella impersonator was standing between Jake and Baron. The whole arena became silent as they realized there were now two Ellas in the room. Jake was the first person to speak. “Eli, Jadelyn, what is going on? Who is that and why does she look just like my Ella?”

  Jadelyn didn’t answer Jake right away. She nodded first to the Enforcers, who were in the stands waiting for her signal. Two of the Enforcers made their way toward Misty while the rest climbed the stairs to where her family was sitting, along with Liberty and Flynn. Before Misty and her family knew what was going on, the Enforcers captured them and cuffed their hands with magical cuffs, preventing them from shifting or using their magic. The Enforcers dragged Misty and her family into the middle of the Alpha Battle Arena.

  Ursula knew she had to make her move before they gave her secrets away—she had a job to finish. She closed her eyes and focused on stopping time so she could finish her job without any interruptions. She noticed everyone was still moving; for some reason, her power wasn’t working. They must have cast a time protection spell, Ursula thought after trying twice more to stop time, to no avail. Fireballs began to shoot out of the palm of Ursula's hands towards Ella, Ace, Chelsea, Jadelyn, and Eli.

  The first fireball struck Ace in his left shoulder, causing him to stumble back. Eli knocked Ella to the ground before one of Ursula's fireballs was able to strike her.

  “Ella, I have a plan, but I am going to need you to hold Ursula back with your power to freeze. Do you think you can do that?” Jadelyn asked as she ducked to avoid another fireball.

  The crowd of shifters in the arena, along with Jake and Baron, looked on in shock. They didn’t understand what was going on.

  Ella concentrated on her power to freeze as she rose from the ground. She placed both palms forward and shot ice toward Ursula, damaging her fireballs in the process.

  “Now, Chelsea and Eli,” Jadelyn shouted.

  Chelsea made them all invisible right before Eli teleported Jadelyn and him behind Ursula. They both grabbed one of Ursula’s arms and tried to pull her arms behind her back so they could put the magic cuffs on her. Ursula thrashed left and right, trying to pull her hands away from Jadelyn and Eli, unsuccessfully. After enduring a grueling struggle that felt like an hour but was probably more like ten minutes, Jadelyn and Eli finally got the cuffs on Ursula. Eli teleported them to where Ella stood, and Chelsea swiftly made them visible again.

  Eli turned to his father to give him the answers he was seeking after they had Ursula under control, at least for the moment. “Dad, this is the real Ella. The lady standing next to you is a witch pretending to be her. She kidnapped Ella eighteen years ago, right before she killed my mother and Jadelyn’s.” Before he could say anything more, growls could be heard as the Enforcers dragged Misty and her family from the stands to the middle of the arena where the Alpha was standing. Ella noticed the shocked look on the crowd’s faces, then how Jake was staring at her, causing her to turn to Eli and make a suggestion.

  “I think you need to finish telling them everything, so they can understand it all,” Ella said.

  “Misty and her family wanted a shot at the Alpha title and knew the only way that would happen was if Jadelyn was a latent shifter. Therefore, they hired a witch and warlock to kidnap the real Ella and bring her to the prison on the witch’s side of the isle. After locking Ella up, the witch took on her features and pretended to be her. The first thing she did as Ella was turn Jadelyn latent but not before causing the explosion that killed our mothers,” Eli said as murmurs could be heard from the crowd.

  Jadelyn noticed the wounded look that crossed her father’s face for just a few seconds when Ella ran and jumped into Jake’s arms before passionately kissing him, as if they were the only two shifters around. She suspected her father was thinking about how he wished her mother were still alive and in his arms. Jadelyn knew she couldn’t bring her mother back from the dead, but she could hopefully bring the joy back into his life he had been missing ever since her mother’s death.

  “Rose,” Jadelyn called out.

  Baron gulped for air when he first caught a glimpse of Rose as she entered the Arena and walked slowly toward him. He couldn’t understand how he felt as though she was his mate when his mate was dead. Baron was confused, but his wolf wasn’t. “Jadelyn, what is going on?” Baron asked his daughter without taking his eyes off Rose.

  “Rose is your mate, Dad, remember the special gift from the gods,” Jadelyn answered. The gods decreed that if a mate is killed before his or her time at the hands of another, the living mate could receive another mate. In Baron’s case, since his wife died before she was supposed to, he received another mate, since Alphas are only mated to one person.

  “Ursula kidnapped Rose before killing mom and Eli’s mother, since she knew you would know it wasn’t mom’s time to die. She didn’t want you to realize Rose was now your mate in place of mom before she had time to finish the job.

  “Now we have one more problem to solve before we can continue the battle,” Jadelyn said as Eli’s grandmother stepped forward.

  Rose was now standing next to Baron with her hand clasped in his as Eli’s grandmother began to speak. “Misty and her family paid Ursula to cast a latent hate spell on all of you. This spell was directed toward Jadelyn, so they could insure all of you would insist on the Alpha Battle. I encourage each of you to reach under your seats for the spell reversal potion I have made. As the potion works through your system, you will see all the hurtful things you either did or said to Jadelyn while under the spell. Don’t worry, Jadelyn understands you were under a spell, so don’t concentrate too much on the awful things she had to endure by your hands,” Eli’s grandmother announced.

  Jadelyn made her way to the middle of the arena and watched as everyone took th
e potion, including Liberty, Flynn, and Misty’s mate, Tate. She watched in silence as frowns appeared on the faces of the gathered crowd as the flashbacks of the harm they caused her flashed before their eyes. Jadelyn hoped they would forgive themselves and understand it wasn’t them making the decision, but the spell they were under. Liberty wasn’t under the spell like everyone else, she just pretended to be friends with me through the years. All for her friendship with Misty, thought Jadelyn.

  Everyone around Jadelyn gasped when she shifted into the largest, stunning, elegant, white she-wolf any of them had the pleasure of laying their eyes on. Jadelyn’s wolf was so powerful they could feel the power as it radiated off her body. She growled loud enough to shake the ground as everyone bowed before her she-wolf before shifting back.

  The Alpha stepped forward and made an announcement. “Since Jadelyn is not latent, there will no longer be an Alpha Battle.”

  The crowd stood and cheered as Jadelyn stepped forward.

  “No, Dad, I will see this battle through, just a little different than planned. I will battle Misty and the Witch Ursula. If I do not win, Greg and Treasure will battle me for the title of the Isle of Paradise’s Alpha. From now on, there will be a battle for the title of Alpha, as well as First and Second Beta, and Head Enforcer. Only the most powerful shifters on the Isle of Paradise shall have the title as Alpha, First and Second Beta, as well as Head Enforcer,” Jadelyn said as her father stepped back and let her prove herself.

  Jadelyn pointed at one of the Enforcers. “Release Misty from her cuffs and bring her to the center of the arena so the battle can begin. We will not need an announcer or judge since we are fighting to the death.”