"I believe you refer to him as...Alpha."
Goosebumps broke out across my skin at the confirmation of my fears. How was I supposed to save the pack from their own alpha? They wouldn't believe me.
"Why would you tell me that? Wouldn't that ruin your grand plans?" I asked, genuinely confused by how easily it had given up their man on the inside.
"He told me I could. It won't matter now."
As if the world heard his words, screams sounded from above as I looked around in confusion while the Daimona continued to speak freely now.
"Ahh, and so it begins. Like music to my ears."
My fear surged, and my flames rose in intensity around me, causing the Daimona to flinch back as I approached it. "Tell me what is going on!" I demanded, knowing I needed to go up to help the pack immediately.
"What is going on is that you are all fools and we will wipe you from existence for our master to rule over this realm of weak humans." With that statement, it lunged at me with gaping jaws, its movement easily ripping the restraints out of the wall as if they were barely even in there to begin with.
My flames surged into a protective barrier, similar to when the alpha had leapt at me yesterday. The Daimona passed right through the flames as I stumbled towards the exit, just barely getting the door to the cage shut before it slammed into it.
Its jaws snapped around the bars, and I smelled the distinct sulfur scent again as I watched the metal melt away in its mouth.
Lux! What do I do?
We need a weapon, and we need it now. Picture one in your mind's eye and envision it in your hand.
What? How do you know that will work?
I don’t know, I just do and I need you to trust me, Kira!
My heart raced frantically in my chest as I closed my eyes and imagined a short sword in my mind. Directing my powers through my hand, I opened my eyes as energy swirled from my palm, and a sword of pure blue energy and flames lay there.
Before I had a moment to look at it in awe, the Daimona ripped at the remainder of the door as the hinge melted away. It bolted for me, and I instinctively plunged the sword forward as I screamed for my mates. "Milo! Seth!"
I fell onto my back from the weight of the Daimona crashing into my shoulders with my soul sword plunged into its chest. The energy in my hand pulsed, and a bright light streamed from the wounds in the Daimona as my powers expanded inside of it, effectively burning the darkness from it, much like I had with Jameson's soul.
Charred pieces of its flesh began to float through the air as if coming unglued from its body. My face burned with unshed tears at the sight of pieces of fur sprouting as the melted tar burned away.
How?
This is the work of a powerful being.
In a matter of minutes, all of the melted skin had burned off, leaving a wolf with patches of grey fur on its emaciated body and empty sockets where the flames had previously burned for eyes.
They were normal shifters?
The body convulsed, and I used all my strength to push it off me, rolling to the side and clambering to my feet quickly in case of any further attacks. As I faced it once more, I released the hold over my power and fell back to the ground onto my knees as I stared at the body before me.
Its human form.
The Daimona’s distended rib cage drew in a final breath as it whispered, "Thank you", before it stilled, its spirit passing into the next life.
The booming voice of the alpha called out, striking fear into me, "Ahh, so you've discovered that a Daimona is simply a turned shifter."
Chapter Thirty
Kira
As I scurried backwards to put my back against the nearest wall, the alpha prowled towards me, and my breath hitched in fear, my heart racing from these revelations. I had been right. He was a part of this.
Had he willingly sacrificed Maya? Had she been killed, or had she been turned?
Just the thought of Maya's beautiful wolf warped into one of those creatures made my stomach roll in disgust.
My mind was reeling with all the thoughts swirling around about what the alpha had been involved with and how deep his betrayal ran.
"I see you're frantically trying to piece this together," he surmised nonchalantly while nudging the now dead shifter a few feet in front of me with his foot.
While I had no emotional connection to the alpha, and I felt no loyalty to him, his betrayal would rock the pack and the council to their core. He was a highly respected member of the pack communities and next in line for a seat on the council.
I had to get out of here. I had to tell someone. I couldn't die here with these secrets.
Calm yourself. No good can come from rash decisions.
Lux was right. I needed to get out of here and warn everyone, but I also needed to consider my options and think through my actions first. My eyes darted to the exit, and I tried to judge how quickly I could get there before he caught up to me.
Fighting him was an option, but we didn't know if he had any hidden powers, and I wasn't willing to go into this fight blind and without backup. I wasn't an idiot and didn't think myself invincible just because I had powers. I didn't even know the extent of those fledgling powers yet.
He faced me, crouching down until the dead shifter was a seat for his ass and eliciting a gag from me with his disrespect for a lost life. "You have two options, Kira. Either you help us secure our victory willingly, or you help us secure our victory as a slave."
His words bounced off of me, my mind still stuck on my earlier thoughts. My eyes narrowed to slits as my fire built within me. "How could you do that to Maya? To Jameson? To your pack?"
His soul is corrupted to the core. He is a disgrace to all shifters.
His shoulders shrugged minutely as he clasped his hands in front of him, "There are always casualties in war. That's why I chose to be on the winning side of this battle, and you should as well."
If I denied him right now and spouted off about how I really felt about him, he'd probably kill me. I needed to keep him talking until my mates came back. I knew they wouldn't have left me down here without good reason, and from the sound of the faint screams and snarls, there was a war raging above.
Taking a few shaky breaths, I composed my face to one of indifference as I inquired, "How about you answer a few questions for me so that I can make an informed decision? As you said, there are casualties in war, but I need to make sure your side is indeed the winning one because I don't want to die."
He barked out a laugh before spreading his hands out, "It sounds like the Daimona are doing well in their attack, so sure, I can spare you a few moments."
I need to be up there with our mates.
You would only distract them from battle.
Pressing my lips together into a thin line, I tried to fight back my frustration at the thought of not fighting alongside everyone up there.
"Did you know I was a shifter this entire time?" I asked, switching gears, needing to confirm the suspicion that Selene had voiced during our meeting.
Tilting his head at me, he smirked, "Why, of course I did. I killed your parents and pretended I found you wandering around. They had come to seek guidance from me as Alpha of Alphas when they saw your crescent mark flare. Seeking an audience with the council is impossible for low ranking wolves, so I was their next best bet."
My parents hadn't abandoned me. They hadn't given me up. They had sought help to protect me and get answers.
Biting down on my lip to hold back the tears pricking at my eyes, I listened to him ramble. "Honestly, it was pathetic how simple-minded and gullible they were when I told them through an exchange of letters that they needed to keep your mark a secret and that our meeting must be known by no one else."
My palms itched to summon the sword and bury it through his chest.
I ground out through clenched teeth, "Then why did you keep my wolf a secret? You had me under your control to mold into a weapon."
Fixing me with his dark gaze
, he deadpanned, "I had counted on the Daimona killing you the day Maya died. You would have been out of the way and the path to victory clear. But then she had to be an idiot and sacrifice herself for you and that stupid child of mine. That situation has been dealt with, though."
Smothering my outward hatred, I seethed internally.
How could he show such disregard for his dead mate and son? Had he always been this way? How could such an evil man have risen through the ranks to become so highly respected?
"Why didn't you just kill me yourself when you..." I had to force the words out, "killed my parents?"
He rolled his eyes, "I hadn't known yet what the master wanted me to do with you. I'd never go against his wishes. I finally got the green light and had already called in the Daimona to attack when Maya told me of her plans to bring you to the edge of our territory."
I couldn't stifle my rage any longer as I jolted to my feet. "Then why wouldn't you have told them to spare your family? You had control of the situation."
A single dark brow lifted as he explained, "I couldn't make it look like they were only after you, because then you would have appeared special, and that would have raised questions from Maya."
"You are a weak and pathetic excuse for a shifter. I will never help you," I sneered at him. “Why the hell would you ever think I would join you after everything you just admitted?”
He rose to his feet slowly and crossed his arms across his chest, "Because I assumed you would see the value in joining the winning side if you have any regard for your life. And trust me, the Daimona are just a blip in his vast army. No one will be spared."
He’d sold his soul to the fucking devil and assumed no one else cared about being a decent fucking person. His ducks are definitely not in a row up in that brain.
Brushing past his insane logic, I asked the burning question in my head. "If your master wanted me dead, why am I still here now?"
"Because once I reported back that you were alive but shunned within the pack, he saw an opportunity. He tasked me with ensuring you were kept beaten down and thinking you were a pathetic human until your powers manifested." His chest rose as he took a deep breath and blew it out, seemingly annoyed at the way the conversation was dragging on now. "Then, I was to take you to him to be his mate. You'd be harmless and moldable after being stepped on your entire life."
The acid in my stomach churned and threatened to come up at the thought of a forced mating with whomever the fuck his master was. I would rather die than be torn from my mates and forced into servitude.
"With all due respect, Alpha," I mockingly started, ending with a chill to my voice, "you can take your options and shove them up your–" but I was cut off as Seth roared from the entrance of the Pit, "Kira!"
It was like watching a second skin form over the alpha's face as he pulled his usual persona back into place and yelled back, "Come quick! The Daimona hurt her."
As my mouth parted to contradict his statement, the alpha lunged for me before Seth could come down into the Pit, dragging a serrated knife across my stomach several times. My words stayed lodged in my throat, and I lifted my hands to my stomach to try to staunch the warm blood seeping rapidly from the wounds.
Kira, you need to shift! I can heal us much faster.
Pocketing the knife, he gripped my shoulders as I dropped and placed his lips next to my ear. His words made my blood chill, "You will not speak a word of our encounter, and you will not shift, or I will kill your mates before your eyes without hesitation."
Heavy footfalls alerted me to Seth's arrival at the bottom of the ladder, and I turned my head slowly towards him as the alpha pretended to cradle me with concern. Shrugging out of his shirt, he pressed it into my stomach, "Hold this tightly, Kira. We need to stop the bleeding."
Seth was riddled with blood splatters, but he didn't have any wounds that I could see. It brought me some peace of mind, and I whispered hoarsely through the pain, "Milo? Jameson?"
Dropping to one knee beside me, he ran his hand across my forehead to brush the hair out of the way. "They're still fighting. I came to find you because we have quite a few pack members who aren't going to make it with how quickly the Daimona's poison is spreading through them. One of them is Seneca."
No, no, no. I needed to get to them.
Anger bled into the pain I was feeling, and I banged my head against the wall behind me, feeling like I was at the worst crossroads of my life. "Hey, hey, don't bang your head like that. We should never have left you down here with that Daimona," Seth tried to reassure me as he looked back towards the dead shifter on the ground.
I saw the wheels turning in his head as he inquired, "Where is the Daimona?"
The alpha let out a pained sigh. "I got down here in time to witness Kira killing it by wielding a sword she’d constructed from her powers. It somehow burned away the Daimona and left a shifter in its wake."
He continued with a dramatic sniffle, as if holding back tears, “I had no idea they were under there this whole time. Every time we held them down in the Pit to get information, we were really torturing turned shifters.”
"Holy shit," Seth breathed out, blinking repeatedly as he processed the information. The alpha plowed on in conversation, "Luckily, I don't think the Daimona's cuts affect her the same as Jameson told me his did. It's probably her powers repelling it."
Biting my lip at the wave of pain pulsating through me—accompanied by the desire to tell Seth the truth—I grunted at the copper taste of blood filling my mouth.
"We need Kira to shift now so she can heal, or we won't be able to get her out of here. There's no way to get her up the ladder in her current state," Seth's voice boomed with authority, and I found it odd how even in this moment of panic and pain, I managed to find him sexy as hell.
He moved my torn shirt a bit to get a look at my wounds, in full caretaker mode. “Their nails left oddly jagged marks in your skin. What did it do to you, Kitten?”
Staring down the alpha as Seth was preoccupied, I ground out, “I’m going to shift or else I’ll be of no use to anyone. We can figure all of this out later.” Pointedly, I emphasized the importance of my not dying to the alpha.
His gaze lingered on my face as he pondered for a few moments before subtly nodding, “Yes, we can’t have that.”
Shift, now. I’ll bite his face off before he can inhale another breath.
Seth backed up to allow me space to shift, and the alpha inched closer to him, sliding his knife out once more, still dripping with my blood. With Seth intently focused on me, he had no clue there was a knife mere inches from him.
Of course he wouldn’t be on guard with his alpha.
Looks like we have to play the docile servant once more. Don’t worry, that’s my specialty.
Giving over control to Lux, a mixture of a howl and a scream escaped from us as the wounds shifted with the change, tearing at them.
I can get us out of here despite the wounds. The ladder is tilted enough that I can run and leap up the short distance.
Do it, but make sure Seth goes out before us. We need distance between him and the alpha, and we need to get out of here.
Lux was being a trooper, but I could feel how sluggish these wounds made our movements. Slowly, she pushed Seth towards the ladder with our nose as he argued, “Kira! I’m not leaving you down here.” That earned a sharp bark from Lux.
“Go on, Seth. The pack needs you up there in the battle. I will make sure Kira gets up to you as soon as she heals enough,” the alpha’s slimy voice reassured him.
I don’t think the alpha expects us to be able to make it up the ladder. Play it cool until Seth clears it.
Seth warned, “You better keep her safe, Alpha. I’m counting on you.”
Oh, the irony.
Lux nodded our head at him in reassurance and watched him climb the ladder, relieved that he was away from this threat. But more danger awaited him topside.
He’s not safe up there. None of them are.
A few minutes stretched by in silence as we stared Alpha down, both parties waiting for Seth to venture far enough away, but for drastically different reasons.
“As I was saying before he rudely interrupted us, my master will be pleased at how pliable you are with just having come into your powers. You barely know the extent of them. Just give it a few more minutes for the Daimona to finish this battle, and then I’ll take you to the drop off point.”
As if.
Now, Lux.
Chapter Thirty-One
Kira
Dropping back on our haunches, we sprang forward and leapt for the wooden ladder, using the momentum and thick steps to launch ourselves up the final distance to the top.
“Get back here, you whore!” echoed from the walls of the Pit below as our paws blissfully touched the dirt packed ground.
Pain bloomed through us as the multiple lacerations on our belly tore open further. I felt Lux wince in our shared mind.
Worth it.
Our steps faltered as we took in the scene awaiting us. Wolves lay scattered across our field of view, some dismembered and some lying in pools of black and red blood.
Steps pounded up the ladder, and Lux shook our head before taking off, overriding my shock at the casualties around us.
We will be one of those dead shifters if we don’t get out of here and find the other pack members. We need them to shield us from the alpha. He won’t harm us in front of them.
Scent out Seneca. We need to get to her.
I’m on it. Her trail is mixed with Milo’s. He must have carried her off the battlefield.
A loud howl rang out, and instantly I knew it belonged to the alpha, now shifted.
He wouldn’t slaughter the pack just to take us to his master, would he? I didn't think he had any qualms with crossing lines at this point.
No. Getting his hands dirty and involving himself directly would lose him his prominent position in the hierarchy. I doubt his master is willing to let him risk that foothold.
Outcast: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (The Pack Prophecy Book 1) Page 19
