Becoming Alpha (34 page)

Wow. I’d never seen him blush, and now he’d done it twice.

Adrian cleared his throat and sat taller in his chair. “It’s really nice to meet you guys,” he said in a much more controlled voice.

Raphael nodded. “
Igualmente.
Wish it could be under better circumstances.” His gaze met mine again. His female counterpart might have been friendly, but this guy was all business. “Vampires are hanging out in the caves just north of your school. It seems your pack is having some problems with them?”

I moved uncomfortably in my seat. “It’s not
my
pack.”

Claudia and Raphael shared a look. “Nevertheless,” Raphael continued, “you need to stabilize the pack. If you can’t, there
will
be war. It seems one of your wolves thought it’d make him look good to humans if he brought a bunch of vampires here, have them tear apart this little town and the wolves would come to the rescue.”

That sounded completely crazy. And totally like the Hoels. “How do you know?”

“Because we had a visitor at our house today. We were told, not so nicely, to stay out of the way tonight,” Raphael said. “So we came here to talk to your parents, hoping that they knew some way to contact you.”

Meredith slapped her hand on the table. “Fuck a duck.”

“Language!” Mom said.

I grinned. Even when the world was going to crap, she was watching everyone’s language. Maybe one day she’d realize it was a lost cause. “She’s sorry, Mom.”

Meredith scoffed, her jaw dropping open. I grabbed a handful of Doritos and shoved them in her mouth.

“If you don’t take care of this problem, then
La Alquelarre
will,” Raphael said. “I don’t think any of your pack would like that.”

This wasn’t good. At all.

Chris growled, and I placed my hand on his arm. “Calm down.” I focused back on the twins. “We want this taken care of as much as you do. And—”

“We’re missing some of our alphas.” Shannon cut me off, and I tried not to punch her for it. “Can you scry for them?” Shannon asked the twins.

“Scry?” I asked.

“It’s a form of divination and can sometimes be used to locate someone in the present,” Raphael said.

“I’m sorry. Our powers don’t work like that.” Claudia looked at me. “But hers do.”

Everyone but Meredith expressed surprise. Chris must’ve noticed. “You knew about her and you didn’t tell us?” he said to Meredith.

“It was her secret to tell, ass—”

Mom cleared her throat.

“—dude,” Meredith finished.

“¡
Joder
! I should’ve known when you said you were like half-
bruja
blood.”

“Don’t take it too hard. I’ve apparently gotten pretty good about hiding it.” I sat quietly for a second as I gathered my thoughts. “If I understand everything right—which might be a stretch because I’m kind of a newbie—Mr. Hoel can’t do this whole vampire attack thing with wolves more alpha than he is. They’d order him to stop. So he took out the four wolves in the area that are more than him the fastest way he could, tranquilizers, and then shoved them somewhere. But no wolf could be ordered to kill their alpha, they’re not doing that. At least not yet. But even if Mr. Hoel pulls off today, he’s going to have to deal with the alphas. So, my best guess is that he’s going to ditch them someplace close to the vamps. Have them take care of them. Then celebrate with a lovely supernatural coming out party.”

“Shit,” Chris said. “It makes so much sense when she lays it out like that. How come she can see it and I couldn’t?”

Shannon rubbed her forehead. “Because she’s new to this life. She’s seeing things we wouldn’t dream of. Taking out your alpha other than at a full moon challenge is bloody disgraceful.”

Knowing what might be going on and doing something about it were two completely different things. “We need to find them. They’ll know what to do.”

“The question is,” Adrian said, “did they drop them in the caves with the vamps? Or did they stash them somewhere to be dealt with later?”

My face burned. “I have maybe a dumb question.”

“There are no dumb questions,” Claudia said with a smile.

“No. Only dumb people.” When she started to retort, I started talking again. “Do vampires stay awake during the day or are they like dead-ish? I mean some movies have them where they just can’t go out in sunlight, but others where they can’t function when the sun is up.”

“The second. When the sun is up, they’re dead,” Chris said.

“Caves.” I glanced at my watch. “Mr. H would leave them in the den to be food when the vamps wake. That doesn’t give us much time to get there, drag their asses out, and stop any attack on the town.”

“I should mention that this isn’t a small den. There are a lot of them,” Raphael said.

“Think hundreds,” Claudia said.

“Perfect. It’s not like we’ll be outnumbered at all,” Meredith said.

“Shit.” I slapped a hand over my mouth as soon as I let it slip.

“Tess!” Mom said.

“Sorry, Mom, but really—this is a completely shit scenario.”

“Tess,” Axel said. He’d been so quiet, I almost forgot he was there. “This seems really dangerous. I think you should leave with us. Let’s just go.”

“Sorry, broham. No can do.” I smiled sadly. Things had changed so much in the past couple of weeks.

“She’s right, Axel,” Dad said. “Even if I want to lock your sister up to keep her safe, she’s got a different path now.”

That made me feel nearly like a grown up. Maybe I wasn’t such a mess after all.

“You need to be sure before you go into a vampire den that the wolves are actually there,” Meredith said, breaking the silence. “Can you connect with him? Like you did before?”

“Maybe. But what if he’s all drugged-out still?”

Claudia reached across the table. “If you can connect with one of your pack, then I’ll give you the power to strengthen the connection. Should be enough to see him even if they’re unconscious and get an idea about their surroundings.”

That seemed like a bad idea.

“You won’t get anything off of me.” She winked.

I didn’t really know what she meant about power.

“You can trust her,” Mom said. “She’s family. She’ll help.”

My hand shook a little as I placed my hand in hers, but Claudia didn’t comment on it.

I gasped as our skin touched. It was like sticking my hand in an electric socket. Or like drinking ten gallons of coffee. I was hyperaware of my senses, and since I was already part-wolf—it was majorly intense. The colors in the room were brighter. The scents stronger. I could hear every breath being taken, every heart beating.

“Now close your eyes,” Claudia said, “and picture your mate.”

I did. My consciousness raced out of my house, through the wilderness, to a cave. Through tunnels. To four men huddled on the floor. They were chained. Their skin smoked where metal met flesh. Dastien and Mr. Dawson were still unconscious, but Donovan and Sebastian were awake.

“And who might you be?” Donovan said, looking my way. He sniffed. “Is that you, Teresa Elizabeth McCaide?”

“Can you hear me?” I asked.

Donovan and Sebastian looked at each other and then down at Dastien. “Wake,” Donovan said. Power rippled over my skin, and Dastien gasped.

“
Merde!
” He groaned. “What is it? What happened?” he said as he took in his surroundings. “
Putain de merde!
”

“Dastien,” I said.

His gaze met mine. “Please tell me you’re not actually here.”

If he could actually see me, then Claudia’s extra juice was worth it. “I’m not there. But I’m coming. Just hang on.”

I didn’t give him a chance to say anything else. They were fine for now, but they wouldn’t stay that way. I broke the link, and was back in my parents’ dining room. “I know where they are. Let’s go.”

My chair toppled to the floor as I jumped up.

“One more thing,” Raphael said. He went to the living room and brought back two small backpacks. “You’ll need these.”

“No way!” Adrian said.

The others fell in line, ooohing over them. “Am I missing something?”

“Weapons.” Claudia grinned, revealing two deep dimples.

“Not just any weapons,” Adrian said. “
Bruja
weapons. They’re the best.”

“
Sí
,” Raphael said. “For the one who doesn’t wish to change and the one who cannot.”

Meredith took the pack but held it away from her like it was going to bite her.

“I packed these special for each of you. You’ll know what to do with what’s inside,” Claudia said.

That was kind of creepy. I grabbed the other backpack. “Great. Thanks. Now can we go?”

“Wait.” Dad’s hand clamped down on my shoulder.

I tried to contain my frustration. Did anyone else understand that we had extreme time constraints?

“You need to think this through more. What are you going to do when you get there? What’s your plan?”

“There’s no time. I’ll figure it out when I get there.” I hugged him quickly and stepped back. “Plus, from what I understand, if my mate dies, so do I. Can’t live with half a soul, right?” I laughed, but it wasn’t because it was funny. I left him sputtering. “Bye, Mom. Love you guys.”

“I’m coming with you,” Axel said.

I gave him a hug. “No, you’re not. You’re human. Love you. And don’t stay here. Get your butts on the road ASAP.”

We raced out the door and jumped in the car. Meredith’s door was still open when I took off down the drive.

I floored it down the road, trying to go in vaguely the same direction I remembered traveling in my vision.

“Do some navigating,” I said to Meredith, who was sitting in the front passenger seat. “We need to go that way.” I pointed straight and slightly to the left of where we were headed. “There has to be a better road. A turn off. Hell, a trail would do.”

Beeps rang through the car as she tapped on the map looking for roads. “There’s nothing!” Meredith frantically pushed more buttons. “Absolutely nothing. Do you have like a coordinate or something that I could punch in?”

I snorted. “Unfortunately, my visions don’t come loaded with GPS.” This wasn’t going well. I swerved onto the shoulder. “We don’t have long before sunset. We need to run from here.”

Everyone in the backseat started taking off their clothes.

“What the fuck are you doing! This isn’t orgy time. It’s fucking kick ass time.”

“We’re going to shift, you idjit,” Shannon said.

Harsh but she was right. I was being dense. They were probably faster on four legs. “Fine.” I got out of the car with my witchy backpack and slammed the door. “Catch up with me when you’re done.”

I took off running. Wind whipped through my long hair as I sprinted. Meredith kept pace with me. She moved soundlessly but the heat her body gave off meant she wasn’t more than a step behind me.

I gave out a girly cry when the wolves crashed through the bushes next to me before I realized it was just Chris, Adrian and Shannon.

I pushed harder. Raced around trees. Branches scraped my arms hard enough to draw blood, but I had to keep moving. I couldn’t lose the feeling, the connection to Dastien. And if I didn’t get there fast enough, he was going to be seriously hurt. Or worse.

I stumbled to a stop.

“What is it?” Meredith said.

“I don’t know. I think we’re here, but I don’t see anything.”

I scanned the forest. Oak trees towered above me, but there was a strange silence. I closed my eyes and focused in on Dastien—that bond that we had. It had gotten stronger since that first vision I’d had in Los Angeles, but it still took focus for me to find it.

We were close. Really close. I climbed up a massive fallen tree. The cave’s entrance gaped behind the dead branches.

The three wolves were sniffing next to the entrance. The red wolf—Shannon—let out a quiet growl. I wondered what their wolf-y noses could smell that I couldn’t.

Meredith moved closer to the wolves and inhaled deeply. “Do you smell that?”

I closed the distance to the wolves and a foul stench hit me. I pulled my T-shirt over my nose.

“Vampires,” Meredith said.

“Why do they have to smell so bad?”

Meredith stared at me for a second. “They’re undead. Piles of rotting flesh that live by drinking blood.”

“When you put it that way, yuck. I guess when I think of vampire, I picture Brad Pitt or Robert Pattinson. More sexy, less stinky.”

The black wolf—Adrian let out a quiet howl, and nudged the fallen tree with his nose. Shannon went under the tree and Adrian quickly followed.

I started to move the trunk over, but Meredith stopped me.

“Don’t touch anything. It might be a booby trap.”

I wondered how she knew, but didn’t ask. We’d already wasted enough time. She slid herself under the branches. I followed her into the mouth of the cave. It stunk something fierce—worse than rotting fish on the beach—inside. I gagged and tried to focus on breathing through my mouth, but then I could taste the smell. My pulse hammered and I wondered if vampires could hear it like they did in the movies.

It was pitch black in the cave. “I can’t see anything. Can you?”

The blond wolf—Chris huffed, and started walking into the darkness.

I pulled my backpack off and started digging around. If my cousins stuck a flashlight in there, I was going to owe them big time.

My hand touched a familiar shape, and I flipped the button. “Nice.”

There were three tunnels ahead of us. Christ. We didn’t have time to get lost.

“I’ll go down this one,” Meredith said. “Adrian, you go down that way—”

Chris turned back to human. Fully naked human.

I spun around. “Jesus. Give me some warning next time.”

He chuckled. “Didn’t mean to offend. But I wanted to tell Meredith that splitting up was a terrible idea. Have you never watched a scary movie?”

They started arguing, but I ignored them and focused on Dastien again.

He was down the left tunnel. I was sure of it. “This way.”

“Wait. What?” Meredith said.

“Chris, go wolf again. I don’t need to see your junk.”

“He’s furry,” Meredith said after a few seconds.

“Good.” I flashed my light down the left tunnel. “Let’s go.”