Rise of the Assassin (Child of an Alpha Series Book 1)

by Kaitlyn Taylor

  The axe started to come down. That’s when I decided I couldn’t look for another second. I dug my face into Declan’s chest, letting go of his and Nova’s hands so that both hands were free to cover my ears. Declan pulled me in closer, stroking my hair. Somewhere deep in the back of my mind, I heard something drop on the platform and knew it was the prisoner’s head. He was dead, and the only thing left to do was drag his body out of the way and collect the head so the next prisoner could be brought up to meet the same fate. When the stroking of my hair stopped, I slowly turned up towards Declan, almost like I was waiting for him to tell me it was over.

  “That one’s done,” he whispered as I lifted my body to sit up straight in my chair. I refused to look in the direction of the platform. I didn’t want to see the blood dripping off the block. I was back to holding Declan’s hand, although I was pretty sure I would be buried in his chest again once the next one was about to die. Right about now, I wished I were Juda back in the fifth row of chairs. Being in the first row was awful. I could see everything. Even when I closed my eyes, I wasn’t able to escape the sight of death on the platform. At least the others behind us had our heads blocking them.

  Watching the next man walk up to the platform was just as hard as the first one. Movement in the corner of my eye grabbed my attention though. Looking to my right, there was no one out of the ordinary, just a bunch of seats filled with council members and their families. I couldn’t believe how many people were here. I didn’t realize all five councils would be attending the executions. I figured since we were in vampire territory this year, it would be just the vampire council, but I was mistaken. Just as I turned back to face the platform, I caught movement once more in the same spot. This time I drew Declan’s attention.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, speaking quietly, leaning in closer to my ear.

  “I don’t know. Something seems off. I keep thinking I’m seeing movement from over there, but when I look … there’s nothing.”

  He glanced over, following the direction of my eyes. “What do you think you’re seeing?”

  “I think it’s just someone walking, but I can’t help but feel like they’re not supposed to be out there.” I scanned the area closest to the fence that surround the castle grounds. Maybe I was just paranoid after learning of the attack Micah warned us about that was supposed to happen today while we were all out here witnessing the executions. I hadn’t even had a chance to tell Declan about what my father had found out from the loyalist the butlers caught.

  Declan and I were so distracted we didn’t even notice the axe had come down on the second man’s neck. The sound of it brought our attention back to why we were there. I jumped in my seat, covering my chest with my hand. Thankfully, I didn’t witness anything, but my emotions were just as wild as they were with the first one.

  I wasn’t able to think about the third prisoner being brought up to the platform, because he never made it up there. Somewhere from the other side of the castle fence, an arrow shot in the direction of the platform, straight through the chest of the man in the black robe. A quick scream came from one of the girls behind me, and the next thing I knew everyone was standing, looking for where the arrow had come from. The alphas surrounded the platform, standing over the man who had been shot. Normally, an arrow wouldn’t kill a vampire, but this arrow had gone all the way through his chest, his heart at the end of it. I’d never seen a weapon that could do that and judging by the reactions of the alphas and the council members, I didn’t think they had either.

  There was no time to figure it out. Smoke began to rise from underneath the platform. I could still see silhouettes of people, but they were yelling and screaming now as panic set in. Every sorcerer within the circle started to cast spells, a clear mask covering my mouth and nose so that I didn’t inhale the smoke. Looking around, I noticed everyone in attendance had a similar mask covering their face, making me grateful that the sorcerers were here today. Declan grabbed my hand, whispering in my ear to stay next to him. As the smoke started to clear, I saw the council members and their families scatter along the castle grounds, trying to find safety, and when I turned to find my own family we were all hit with a situation we never thought we would have to face.

  The alphas were gone.

  My mother and my aunts called for them over and over again, but they received no response. The council members yelled at one another to get the alpha families to safety. I heard Vincent tell Declan that a portal had opened on the platform, but it was closed by the time the smoke cleared. I told myself the alphas would never fall for something like that, but Vincent seemed confident that they were taken through the portal.

  This can’t be happening.

  There was no way the alphas were taken through a portal without a fight. As much as I believed that, it still didn’t explain their disappearance.

  Where were they?