Chapter three

The screams of the pack outside haunt me as I stand next to Alaric’s chair, where Alaric demanded I stand until whenever he wishes I move. One thing is clear, they are taking me from this place but I’m not sure I’m going to a better place. Letric left at least an hour ago to join Alpha outside, and by the sounds of the screams and cries, he is part of the slaughter. I know they are my pack, and I should want to help them…but I can’t find it in myself to actually stop this and risk my own life for the people who treated me like mud under their boots for so long. I also have no idea how far I could push Alaric into not following Alpha’s command. The silence of the room is deafening as it makes the screams from outside so much more frightening and they sound so close to the house, where my old alpha’s blood is drying on the carpet close to where mine was spilt all those years ago.

“So, El, we best get going,” Alaric suddenly says, patting the table as he stands and he stretches, pulling the dark shirt up to strain against his muscular arms. It also reveals his tight flat stomach with ripples of muscle that somehow seem attractive to me. I sharply look away.

“Where?” I ask him, my mouth dry. I need to have some idea of who they are and where they are from. Are they a new pack? Are they planning on taking over all of our world? Maybe they come from over the seas, where it is said the children of the night live and pray on any soul unlucky enough to travel those waters. Though wolves can’t live there, not without becoming prey too. All my books I’ve read and the maps in them drift through my mind, and I still can’t come up with an answer.

“To our pack—your new pack,” he states simply, like I should have guessed that.

“What pack? Where are you from? How many of you are there?” I ask. Instead of a reply, Alaric steps into my space, and my breath halts as he breathes in a deep breath of my scent and closes his eyes for a second. He reaches his hand down between us, hovering his fingers over my cheek. “I can’t touch you yet, El, but soon you will be mine.”

I don’t have a reply for that… anything I’ve learnt about males is that they like to cause pain and name it love. He lowers his hand, the screams outside fading off. “Have you heard of the Alpha Brothers?”

I nod. “The only pack with three alphas. It’s said they share the pack they made and they are evil.”

He smiles at me when my mouth parts in shock and a little fear ripples through me as I step back on instinct. The three alpha brothers, know for their cruelty and heartless pack of monsters.

Everyone fears them—and for good reason.

Everyone knows of the pack that doesn’t have an alliance with any other pack, and now they are here to kill off their neighboring pack. They must have tricked Alpha Bishop into thinking he could get an alliance that no one else could, and he welcomed them in, only to have them destroy everything. I can’t even feel sorry for Alpha Bishop—he deserved it.

Still, I find myself asking. “Why are you killing this pack? Not everyone is evil here.”

“Ah, sweet El, that is not my secret to tell,” he smoothly replies, walking up to me as I keep stepping back, and he only follows until my back hits the door. He stops right in front of me, pressing his hard body against mine. There goes the no touching rule. I’ve never had a male pressed against me like this and heat immediately pools in my lower stomach, making me ache for something I’ve never had. Alaric places his hands on the door on either side of my head, leaving me no choice but to look at his face as he watches me.

“When Alpha is done with you, you are mine. As I stroke your body, I want to savor you. I want to make you beg, scream and plead with me for a release. I want my cock buried so far inside you that you never forget my name and who was inside of you,” he huskily whispers, and I am speechless, my breathing heavy as I stare at him with what I know is desire burning throughout me.

These alphas are going to burn me, if not with death, then with pleasure. Either way, I am theirs now. “Be a good pup for Alpha and I’ll reward you.”

When Alaric moves away from me, I can finally breathe right and his lips tilt up in amusement.

“See how easy it was to make you forget about the body on the floor in this room, the screams outside, and how everything is changing for you? I’m the alpha you come to for a distraction; remember that sweet El.”

“I will,” I breathlessly reply, as he is right, and I like his distraction. Alaric waves a hand at the door, and I quickly walk out, wanting to get out of this place forever. Even if the hand the gods have given me is laced with dark desire and lust. It’s still the escape I have prayed for. I don’t dare look down as I head for the open front door, blood soaking into my thin shoes. When I walk outside, there is nothing but pure chaos around me and I freeze as I take it in. So, so much blood and fur fills the town, and fire laces up dozens of the buildings. Wolves chase each other down, ripping each other apart but most of them are losing. A few bundles of females and children are clutched together in the center of the clearing outside the alpha’s house, and I shake my head. “Are you going to kill them? Even the children?”

“If they submit to us, we let them live. The women and children usually do. We do not waste wolves’ lives, but there can be no resistance in our pack,” Alaric explains to me, his hand pressing into my back. “But, the males, they will be torn apart, and Alpha will enjoy it.”

His words roll around me just as I see Alpha in the middle of the pack square, ripping wolves apart in his human form in almost lazy motions like they are nothing more than soft toys. Every part of him is covered in blood, and from the way he moves, I know he enjoys the pain and destruction he is causing. Alaric is right.

I should be scared, disgusted, or at least trying to run away... but instead, I stay still, watching him destroy the world. If I’m going to live with a monster, I will see the bed I’m going to lie in.

“This way, El,” Alaric directs me, and I pull my eyes away to follow him around the pack house to a carriage pulled by three black horses waiting right behind the house, next to a pile of dead wolves. The carriage is round, made of black metal and red fabric that looks worn, but it’s far grander than anything I’ve seen before. The horses are stunning, massive with white and black fur. Their glowing red eyes lock on me as I walk to the carriage and in those eyes, I see nothing but blood. Something about the horses draws me to them and I reach out, smoothing my hand down the neck of the horse nearest me. The horse neighs softly, and for a moment, I let my hand run through the locks of his mane.

“How very enchanting you are. Usually, our dead horses don’t let the living touch them,” Alaric says, snapping me out of the moment, and I drop my hand. Dead horses?

“They look alive to me,” I say.

“Another time,” Alaric says, holding the door to the carriage open, letting me climb in first and I catch a glimpse of a male wolf shifting back into human form before he shuts the door. Alaric pats the side of the carriage, and it takes off as he sits down opposite me. The inside of the carriage has two leather benches with cushioned backs, and I sit on the one side as Alaric sits on the other, but I can’t find the words to say anymore. I rest back, pulling my knees up and wrapping my arms around them as we drive away from my old, and very dead, pack. My world has changed in the blink of an eye, and I’m scared of what will be left of me when the Alpha Brothers are done.

“There are horses like these in the forest; I used to play with them as a child as no other children would play with me, but we didn’t call them dead. They called them blood horses,” I admit to Alaric, wanting to stop the pressure I feel from his eyes staring at mine across the carriage. He leans back, crossing his arms as he stretches his legs out, and he places his leg next to mine. The simple contact makes me shiver as he breaks the rules once more and touches me.

“They have had many names, but dead horses are the literal translation of the oldest name I have ever found for them. I train the dead horses in my spare time. We have over fifty of them which we can ride, and they pull our carriages when we aren’t breeding them. Wild dead horses are difficult to train, but perhaps you would like to help me in your new home,” he offers, and it seems honest enough. A dream, really.

“I’d really like that,” I say with a cautious smile.

“Only if Alpha allows it. Dead horses can easily kill wolves... he might not want his new toy damaged,” he warns me. “But for that smile, I will do my best to convince him.”

My smile drops. “I’m not a toy.”

“Oh, my dear, you are. A toy that he will use until he throws you away. Don’t worry, I will be there to look after you when he does,” Alaric simply says and sits back, chuckling at my reaction like he has seen it before. How many packs have they destroyed and taken females from? Am I not the first? Or the last?

“I’m nothing; therefore, throwing me away is something I am used to. If this alpha thinks he can break me, he has a big fight on his hands,” I argue.

“I know he will break you, but I am interested to see how long you can keep his attention. You are so very beautiful, and that pretty mouth of yours never does seem to stop talking,” he says with a charming smirk that doesn’t match his words. I pause on one thing he said, something no one has ever called me. Beautiful. Alaric slowly closes his eyes, looking like he is going to sleep, but I sense he is alert and watching me any time I look away. I glance out the window, seeing my old pack burning in the distance, the smoke rippling out of the tips of the old oak trees.

My pack is gone.