I knew popping rogues in and out of portals was going to take a toll on me but it was worth it. I was standing in a little hideout over a few miles away from Blue Moon Pack’s border.
The first group of rogues was portaled into the dungeons with instructions on finding Mirja. Apparently she wasn’t there. One of the rogues spoke to a prisoner before they blew it up who said a she-wolf was moved to the pack’s hospital.
After finding out that piece of information I portaled the second round of rogues closer to the pack’s hospital to blow that up as well. I could feel my body getting weaker but the sigils were still there as plain as day. They usually fade when I lose power. Still I felt weak and felt myself falling to the ground. Nas catches me and sits me down.
“Maybe you should take a break. We don’t need you running out of juice,” he said, grabbing my hand.
“I’m fine,” I said, pulling my hand away from him. It didn't make sense. What did my brother do to her? Is she even alive and if so, why would my brother keep her alive? Maybe he found a way to wake her and she gave him information in exchange for her life. Or maybe it’s something entirely different.
“He’s keeping her alive,” I said, almost to myself but Nas picked up on it.
“I thought you said he took her to kill her. Why keep her alive if she attacked his mate,” Nas questioned me.
“I don’t know,” I snapped at him, clearly frustrated that my brother might’ve lied to me and I’ve just now figured that out. Then I remembered when we kidnapped her. He was being so careful like he didn’t want to hurt her. Maybe-
“I’m going to the pack house to work out a theory. Just do what you do best. Destroy,” I said, as I walked over to my bag. I pulled out a small bag and handed it to Nas. “Use those for a quick getaway back here."
“You sure you have enough juice,” Nas asked.
“You’re worried about me now. How cute,” I said, disappearing through the portal right into Zack’s office.
I was short on time so I started to open all the rooms on the upper floor. If my theory was correct Zack would keep her here. Where would he put her I wondered. I was halfway down the hall when I caught her scent. So she is here which means Zack’s lied to me. He never wanted to kill her in the first place.
I almost turned the corner when I saw two guards near the door. I wanted to use a spell but I had to conserve in case of an emergency. I tried to think of what to do when the scent of a rogue floated in the air.
“You smell that,” one of the guards said.
“Yeah it’s more than one. Coming from below,” the other said.
“Let’s go. We can fight them below and keep them from coming this far.”
I waited for them to leave and walked to the door that held her scent the most. I opened the door and spotted her on the bed. They had machines hooked up to her as if that would help. Most of the scars were completely healed and she actually looked peaceful. I looked down at my ex-friend and brushed her red hair away from her face.
“I wish things could’ve turned out differently,” I whispered to her. “We could have ruled the world together, you and I. It would’ve been fun having a big sister.” I pulled out my witch blade and hovered it over her heart. “But I guess we will never know now.”
“Alaia?”
I froze for a moment before turning around and hiding my knife behind my back. Standing in the doorway was Emily. I hated her brother but I never hung out with her to know her well.
“What are you doing here?”
“I portaled here,” I said quickly before I could stop myself. S.hit! That slipped out.
She walked over to Mirja while looking at me cautiously.
“I thought you lost your magic.”
“I did but thanks to her I was able to keep some of it.” Why am I telling her this I wondered.
Someone needs to know the truth Elena said.
What are you doing? You implicate me, you implicate yourself I snapped at her. Stay down.
How is she doing,” I asked to keep Emily talking while I dealt with Elena.
I see everything Alaia. You might think you have me under control but you don’t. You’ve gone too far.
Don’t tell me how far is too far. You’ve done nothing but complain. Everything I do is to make sure we have the best future.
By hurting people. Alaia you have to see that all these problems are problems you create. Your thirst for power is making you weak.
That really pissed me off. I WILL NEVER BE WEAK! I yelled at her, blocking her off.
I will never let her or anyone control me. I will do what I need to get what I want. While Emily was talking and checking on Mirja I pulled out my knife, getting ready to stab Emily in the back when a commotion outside the door took our attention. That’s when I remembered we targeted this place too.
“Hide,” I yelled at Emily, who began pulling the wires from Mirja’s body.
I decided to help her when an explosion knocked us both towards the wall. I cushioned the blow with a bit of power however Emily got completely knocked out. Maybe this was my chance to kill Mirja and blame it on the attack. I tried crawling over to her but someone started banging on the door to get in.
S.hit! I opened a portal instead and made my way through. I got up slowly and watched Nas walk over to me. He was saying something but I couldn't understand through all the ringing.
“I’m fine. Just help me up,” I said, latching on to his arms. “How are your boys doing,” I asked, not genuinely caring but wanting him to think I did.
“These are not mmy boys. Just hired help and they are worth every penny. Hitting a few houses on the way out. Your brother will have his hands full of bodies in no time. Enough to pay back for Frank's death at least.”
“Mirja is on their side now. I wasn’t able to get to her which is disappointing but we can leave that for another day. I have to get back. No doubt he’ll contact my mate soon. So make sure you’re ready when I pull you in.”
“This Zira girl is the one who’s responsible for Danny?”
“Yeah. I’ll lead her away and you come in to deal with her. Make sure your guys don't go back to the bar. That will be the first place they check and don't stay here too long. There’s an empty castle about 200 miles from here they can use to rest up.”
I left Nas and his men and went back to my office. I was drained and tired, and oddly a bit in pain. I went to the bathroom and cleaned myself a bit. The moment I sat down to catch my breath my door burst open and Isaiah barged in.
“Alaia,” he said, pulling me into a hug. “Are you okay? I felt something strange coming from you,” he said, looking me up and down. “You’re sweating and you have some dirt on your face. Let’s get you to the doctors.”
He quickly picked me up and carried me out the door before I could say a word.
“Isaiah, stop,” I nearly screamed. “I’m fine. I just need a quick bath and a rest. Please.”
I tried to scramble out of his arms but he held onto me. “Fine, then I can at least help you with that.”
He started to walk towards our room when Hunter and Jace came barreling down the hallway. “Alpha, it’s urgent.”
“What is it?”
Hunter looked at me then back at Isaiah. “Um…well-”
“Just spit it out Hunter. I don’t have time to stand here and guess.”
“The Blue Moon pack was just attacked. Heavy casualties. Alpha Zack said the fuckers blew up the hospital so they need our help immediately," Jace hurried and said.
I gasped and looked at Isaiah. “Isaiah-”
“It's going to be fine, Alaia. Hunter, get together a crew ready to leave immediately. Jace, round up some warriors, volunteer only. I'll send Chris to have Dr. Callie put together a team to ride with us in the trucks while the rest of us shift to get there faster. Now go!”
Isaiah quickly took me to our room and sat me on the bed. He went into the bathroom to start water for the bath.
"I'm going with you," I finally said.
"No, you need rest before you do anything. Alpha’s orders, Alaia."
"Isaiah, he's my brother and that was my pack before I came here. I want to help." There, I feel I fought enough for Zack.
Isaiah sighed. “You can come when you’re rested. You can’t help people when you’re not strong enough to, okay?”
“Fine! Then you will call me when you get there and let me know how things are going.”
Isaiah planted a kiss on my forehead. “Of course. I’m leaving someone to guard you-”
“Isaiah-” He put his finger on my lips to keep me from voicing my opinions.
“In case there’s an attack here. So don’t argue. I’m not changing my mind. You are the Luna of this pack, carrying the future Alpha. There’s nothing more precious to me right now. So I have to make sure you’re both safe.”
“Ok. Just keep me in the loop.” Isaiah kissed me on the forehead and left out the door. I followed him and noticed a lot of people moving around. “Isaiah, what’s going on,” I asked, following him.
“We’re just preparing if we get attacked. Don’t worry babe. You'll be safe.”
I stopped, trying to think what to do. My plan won’t work if there are too many witnesses. I needed to get her alone but prepare if someone comes to her rescue again.
I went to my room to quickly clean myself and waited a minute after Isaiah left to start my plan. I walked out the room and sure enough there was a guard standing in front. I sighed as I quickly went to my office to get the grimoire.
“I don’t want to be disturb even if it’s an emergency,” I said to him before closing the door.”
Great, now I’m going to have to portal out if I want to unseen. I pulled out the grimoire and tried to draw from it but nothing happened.
“I have nothing more to give from myself. What can I do,” I asked it.
The pages from the grimoire glowed with darkness surrounding me.
We want you. You. The voices whispered.
“I don’t understand. I don’t want to die,” I said, staring at nothing in particular.
Bound. Bound to us. We will give you more. More power. Great power. Be one with us.
More power? I could live with that but what will it cost? I was back sitting in my chair, looking down at the grimoire. The voices never stop their playful taunting of power. I needed it, though something in the back of mind was telling me it was too much. No no no. I have to do this. I’ve already come this far.
“Do it,” I said firmly to the grimoire. The pages glowed once again. Instead of engulfing me in darkness, it thrust itself inside my body. I could feel the power crawling against my skin, filling me. I never felt this much essence before. It felt…it felt good.
I heard my door-open and close-and by the scent I knew exactly who it was. I quickly put the book away and dressed in my cloak. The guard was nowhere to be seen so I made my way over to Zira’s room and couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
They seriously think they can catch me and ruin all my hardwork. Well they have another thing coming. I called Omega Lisa to my office. There was a small change of plans and they won’t see it coming.