Chapter 173 Protect The Alpha
856words
My silent prayer was answered with a quiet muttering, "Protect the Alpha at all costs." That's when it all clicked together like a giant puzzle: it was the Moon Goddess causing those bushes to ruffle. She was the one who gave me the window of opportunity to escape from my captors. Now I had to fulfill my duty, whatever that might be. I leapt over a log and nestled my body underneath it. A branch cut my fur, but my wolf didn't seem fazed, knowing that our shifter healing should kick in quickly. I only hoped the traces of wolfsbane wouldn't slow down the process.
I stayed deathly still until I heard shallow footsteps coming toward me. The footsteps stopped, and thanks to my shifter hearing, I heard someone smelling the air. Shit, he found me, I thought. He must be able to smell my cut. Alpha Christian's wolf sniffed the air for a moment longer, then continued in the direction I had been headed. I waited for the coast to clear and made a run for it. In my mind, I assumed we were headed to the packhouse to find Jaxon, but my wolf led me in the opposite direction, toward the pack borders. I tried to argue with her, but she didn't bother to reply, nearly taking full control. I knew if I allowed her to take full control, it would be much harder to reel her back in and regain control, so I had to play a delicate game of tug of war with her.
"Protect the Alpha," sounded off again in my mind, but this time, the voice was louder and much more demanding. I swallowed the lump at the back of my throat, knowing this wasn't the time to let my nerves rule me. I had to find him. My paws skidded across the forest floor, and that's when I caught sight of the green flame ahead. My wolf desperately clawed inside when she saw Jaxon and Beta Don in the middle, both brought to their knees with silver collars cuffed around their necks. She wanted to rush to them, convinced she could free them. "Hello?" I called in my head, searching for that little voice, but no one responded to my pleas. I took a deep breath, knowing I had to be rational. My next move had to be calculated. But what was this strange green circle, and why were they in the middle of it?
I continued watching behind a cluster of trees as I tried to scope out the scene around me. I looked up and saw the sky turning a deadly shade of crimson red I had never seen before. I had heard stories about the sky turning red when a great Alpha King passed away, but it had been centuries since anyone lived to tell a tale like it.
The repulsive stench of garbage filled my nostrils, and my heart began to race. Why was there a rogue on pack grounds? A damn rogue! I continued watching, careful to remain silent as I heard chatter on the other side of the green-flamed circle. "Triple it," a man with long black hair who looked like he hadn't showered in weeks demanded. I easily identified him for what he was: a rogue. I felt my stomach churn when I saw him talking to Alpha Blake, who looked stressed and like he hadn't slept in weeks. "I was paying you generously. I agreed to double it now. Triple, though? You're out of your mind," Alpha Blake explained as the wrinkles on his middle-aged forehead began to fuse together.
"You asked for my help. You and your weak little Alpha friend couldn't do it alone, so you enlisted the help of rogues. Pay it, or I'll shut this down and enjoy a good fight when the Alpha over there takes you down," the rogue mocked. Terror showed across Alpha Blake's face; he knew the rogue was right. Heaved a sigh, Alpha Blake said, "Very well, get it done," finally giving in to the rogue's demands.
The rogue turned around and nodded at the green flame circle. As he nodded, I saw black shadows begin to creep out from the glowing flame, surrounding Jaxon and Beta Don. I vaguely remembered reading about this in the notebooks Luna Fraya had left. I recalled Luna Fraya vaguely explaining a time when a flame circle would take the souls of its intended victims. It was black magic—a magic possessed only by the dark world, dangerous to the shifter kind. It was so powerful it could easily ravage the shifter species if it got into the wrong hands.
Rage began thrashing through me. The dark figures that were once separate entities started to join together as one, creating a black circle around Jaxon and Beta Don. The two of them looked defeated, unable to go on. I took a deep breath, knowing how dangerous this was, but suddenly, it was like I was one of those fearless girls with no worries in the world. My only worry was getting to the two of them.
