Wesley
I’m moving through the courtyard but can’t smell Mirelle in the air. But what I do smell is my Gamma. I can hear him talking and spot him standing by the gate.
“Why the hell are you shaking?” Lucas growls. He is towering above one of Lily’s friends. Tess, I think? It’s the shy little one with scars all over her face. She looks like a munchkin beside my rude and no-filter-honest Gamma.
“Do you need to pee or something?”
Tess shakes her head, looking like she might cry from having Lucas glaring down at her. The thing with Lucas, though, is that he expects people to speak up. He doesn’t have patience for shy people and takes a step closer to the poor girl.
“Well?!” He repeats. “Why aren’t you talking? Are you scared of me or something?” he snarls.
Tess jumps half a mile at his tone, and I sigh. “Lucas, just let her be. If Tess doesn’t want to talk, then she doesn’t want to talk.”
Lucas’ nostrils flare like those belonging to an angry bull. He is the moodiest werewolf in the pack, but he is loyal and eventually focuses on me. “But she talks? She isn’t a mute?”
“She is not mute, no,” I tell him and look between them. There seems to be a mate bond zapping in the air, and my lips twitch in amusement. “She yours?”
Lucas glares at me. “The little thing isn’t built for fighting, so I took her here before she gets herself killed.”
“Wise choice.”
Lucas draws air into his lungs and then shoves the female werewolf forward. “Head inside.”
Tess is easily shoved forward by Lucas’ hand and walks forward, but once her hand is on the door, she hesitates. She throws a look over her shoulder, and Lucas sighs before fixing her with a murderous glare.
“What did I just tell you?!”
Tess shrieks and head inside, leaving me with the brute. I arch an eyebrow at him, and Lucas runs his hand through his black hair, looking especially pissed off.
“Here is what happened: I found out that we are mates, and that tiny little thing hasn’t left my side, but she hasn’t talked to me. Not one word. All she has done is shown her fear.”
“Because you’re a scary fucker.”
“I’m not fucking scary!”
I laugh and lift my chin to meet the eyes of my Gamma while clapping his shoulder. Lucas is taller than me and swollen with muscles, the perfect warrior werewolf. “So you like Tess?”
Lucas grits his teeth. “No...yes...I don’t know. I’m so confused, man, she is nothing like I expected my mate to be. That rogue is small and weak and...can I be honest?”
“Sure.”
“Ugly...those scars on her face and body are ugly.”
I raise an eyebrow at Lucas, surprised at his blunt honesty. “And yet, here you are, protecting her from harm and bringing her to me. If you find her so repulsive, why did you bring her to my mansion?”
Lucas drops his gaze and clenches his fists. “I don’t know, man. It’s like...I can’t explain it. She is weak, but something within me doesn’t want her to die, I guess.”
I nod slowly, understanding dawning on me. “You’re not going to reject her, are you?”
He looks up at me, his expression searching. “Do you think I’m making the wrong choice?”
I smile. “That’s not for me to decide.”
He groans. “Why can’t you just tell me what to do? I’m not good at this stuff.”
I laugh at my tormented Gamma but fall silent when Mirelle’s scent fills the air. She is coming closer, and Lucas has noticed that too. He watches the shadows with me, growling even though we can’t see our enemy yet.
Lucas’ shoulders turn tense. “How well does she know the grounds?”
“We didn’t live at this place when she was still alive,” I say in a low tone. “Your mate should be safe inside, just like mine.”
“But what about you?” Mirelle’s voice asks, and my eyes narrow on her smiling face coming out of the shadows. Her sharp teeth are on full display, eyes glow in an unnatural red to show off her new vampire blood. “Do you really think you’re safe just because you’re two against one?”
I smirk, unimpressed by her threat. “I don’t fear you, Mirelle. And I am always prepared.”
Her eyes flash with anger, and she steps closer, fangs bared. “You should fear me, Alpha. You and your little pack and new slut of a mate. I can’t believe you picked her instead of me. Why did you do that?! You promised me forever!”
I stand my ground, meeting her gaze with calm confidence. “That was when you were still alive, back when you were a normal werewolf. But look at you now; you’re a hybrid, and nothing about you is normal.”
Mirelle laughs, a sharp, high-pitched sound that echoes in the night. “You are a foolish Alpha, thinking that hybrids and normal werewolves are that different. We are stronger, yes, but hybrids have already found their mates in your pack. We aren’t monsters.”
“Is that so?” I ask a playful glint in my eye. “Then why are you attacking us?”
“Because you picked Lily instead of me!” Mirelle roars with her claws sticking out of her fingertips. “And as the leader of the hybrids, I will punish you for that!”
I chuckle, feeling the thrill of battle rising within me. “You do not get to decide who I pick as my mate. That is a decision only I can make.”
Mirelle’s eyes narrow, and she whistles before lunging at me, her claws aimed at my chest. I dodge to the side, my own claws elongating as I prepare for a fight. Lucas has already taken the shape of a werewolf and is busy fighting the hybrids Mirelle’s whistling brought here.
I grit my teeth. This isn’t good and not something my grandma predicted in her visions. She saw me fighting with Mirelle in the courtyard, but now there are more hybrids here, and I glance at Lucas, trying to fight them off.
“Don’t look away from your opponent, Alpha!” Mirelle yells before transforming into an impossibly large, brown wolf with glowing red eyes.
She comes for me, and I let my own transformation take over and change into my rare white wolf.
Our bodies slam into each other, teeth clashing as we both fight for the upper hand. Mirelle is strong and larger than my white wolf, but I have years of fighting experience, allowing me to push her back. We circle each other, snarling and growling, before she lunges again, and I meet her head-on.
Claws scrape against fur, and teeth aim for vulnerable spots, but I am determined to come out on top. Out of the corner of my eye, I see that Lucas is holding his own against the other hybrids, but there are too many of them. We need to finish this fight quickly before anyone gets seriously hurt.
Mirelle’s jaws snap at my neck, but I twist out of the way and clamp my own jaws around her shoulder. She yelps in pain, but I don’t release her. Instead, I use my weight to slam her onto the ground and pin her there, baring my teeth in a warning growl.
“I’m the Alpha around here,” I channel that thought through my entire being. “Not you.”
Mirelle struggles to get up, but I keep standing over her. For a second, I think I’ve won.
I’m wrong.
Dark vampire magic fills the air, and my eyes widen when I hear Lucas whimpering in pain. The other hybrids got him surrounded, and while I’m looking, Mirelle slides out from under me and takes the shape of a human.
“You won’t win this fight, Wesley,” she is panting while dark magic is surrounding her. “We grow stronger from blood sacrifices and your Gamma? He is going to be the perfect sacrifice before we defeat you.”
I widen my eyes when I realize this is how Mirelle will win: she will drink the blood from my Gamma.
With widening eyes, I roar and run toward Lucas. But I never make it. Dark tendrils grip my legs while the hybrids sink their teeth into my screaming Gamma. They tear at his flesh and bones, rip out his eyes, and do whatever else they can to destroy him until a sharp warcry steals their attention.
“Leave him alone!”
I turn my head, staring at Tess coming out of the mansion with a chair in her arms. She throws it at the hybrids drinking from her mate, and I’m even more surprised to see Lily helping Tess in her wolf form.
She isn’t supposed to be here, damn it!
“Oh, this is just perfect,” Mirelle says behind me, smirking. “Now that your mate is here, I won’t have to search for her. I can kill her immediately and get this over with!”