Trapped With the Alpha (Balfour Shifters Book 1) (30 page)

Looking to Elise, I shake my head. “I don’t want you getting hurt. Izzy would never forgive me for letting something happen to you.”

She shakes her head as a small smile pops out. “I won’t be hurt. My coven is coming momentarily, to assist me with binding the witch. As soon as we bind her, her powers will weaken and make her vulnerable enough for you to kill her. You must make sure to act fast, though. I’m not sure how long we will be able to hold her. This kind of binding spell is extremely draining, and even though almost all of my coven is coming to help me, I would rather you go in using caution. Her strength is something I am not familiar with, and I don’t want us to underestimate her.”

She goes quiet for a second and looks over her shoulder before looking back at me. “I feel them now, so they should be here before you even get inside. We’ll do what we can to help.”

Aiden steps forward, putting his arm on her shoulder. “We talked on the way over here. Elise and her coven leader both think a Balfour will have to cast the spell to vanquish her, but her coven will be out here lending me their power.”

“Thank you,” I mumble, hoping like hell that this will work. “Okay, let’s do this.”

She nods before turning to Aiden. “Make sure you repeat the original spell. I think it’s only partially broken, and it must be repeated to be broken completely.”

“I will,” he says before turning to look at me. 

Just before I turn back to the house, Caleb grabs my arm. His face is completely void of emotion, his battle mask firmly in place. “Watch your back.”

“I always do.” Knowing that every minute we talk is another minute Izzy is in danger, I turn away from him and head toward the house. “All right, boys, let’s get my mate and end this once and for all.”

Reaching the door, I find it unlocked. We walk inside, and I’m surprised to see the house looks oddly normal. For some reason, I figured the house would be as dark as the bitch who calls it home. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it sure in the hell wasn’t flowers and throw rugs. There’s even a half-knitted blanket sitting on the chair.

I look to Aiden, and he points to his right, giving me a silent signal. My eyes follow his finger to land on the fireplace. Bile rushes up my throat as I see my picture. The mantle is covered with pictures of me throughout the years. Some are crude paintings from back in Scotland. Others are from the last few years. 

Tapping my shoulder, Aiden draws my attention again and points to his left. I turn to look and see a large painting of my father, my grandfather, and who I assume was my great-grandfather, and a shiver of unease works its way through my body. Unable to stop myself, I whisper, “This bitch is wacked.” 

“That she is,” Aiden agrees, his body vibrating with anger. 

Moving to the back of the room, I head down the hallway, opening one door after another, only to find them all empty. As I’m about to walk back down the hall, I hear an evil screech, and a chill snakes its way up my spine. I follow the sound, Aiden close on my heels. As soon as I step into the kitchen, I see the McGregor witch bent over Finn’s body, blood pouring out of the wound in his chest. 

The pain of his loss crashes through me as I yell out, “What the fuck did you do to him?”

“Laird Balfour, you finally arrive.” She stands and turns in my direction, holding Finn’s un-beating heart in her hands. 

My wolf instantly pushes forward, causing me to shift in midair, as I go right for her throat. Just as I’m about to slam into her, I hit an invisible shield and go flying across the room. I hit with such force that I feel one of my back legs curl under me, the bone snapping instantly. A pain-filled howl pours out of my throat as I force myself up on my three good legs. 

She lets out another laugh before walking to the stove and dropping Finn’s heart into a steaming pan, almost as if she was prepared for this very thing to happen. “You Balfour men were always so impulsive.” She continues to add Lord knows what else to the pan, seemingly not having a care in the world.

My eyes search the room and land on Knox’s body, crumpled on the floor. I stare at him just long enough to see his chest moving, and then I look to Aiden. He is mumbling something, but I can’t quite make it out. 

The witch looks at my younger brother and smiles. “Ah, the young Balfour. Do you really think that spell of yours will work?”

Aiden doesn’t answer her, but continues to focus on the salt he is pouring onto the floor in the shape of ritualistic circle. Just as he is finishing with the circle, a strange hum begins to vibrate through my veins and the power in the room spikes. I send a silent prayer up that the increase in power surrounding us is from Elise and her coven, and not the witch. No sooner does the thought run through my mind, I begin to hear the hushed sound of chanting. Immediately, the witch takes notice, and her body noticeably tenses.

Scrambling toward the window, she pulls the curtains back and glances quickly outside. I can only imagine what it is that she sees on the other side of the glass. Whatever it is, it causes her to give off the scent of fear so strong, it’s unlike anything I have ever confronted in my entire life. 

Turning from the window, she looks at us with a look of utter horror upon her face. “What on earth did you do?”

Ignoring the scene playing out in front of him, Aiden continues. HIs voice gets louder the longer he chants. “In the blink of an eye, life as you know it will vanish. Everything you once knew and loved will be gone, stolen right from under you.”

 “What are you doing?” the witch shouts, suddenly startled by his words. She begins to chant in an unrecognizable language as she starts running toward him. 

Knowing I have to stop her from reaching him, I jump in front of her and use the weight of my body to stop her in her tracks. Crashing into my side, she flips over my body and lands on her back with a hard thud. Hoping the hit was enough to force her shield down, I leap onto her body, just as the sound of chanting outside rises to the point of deafening.

 Landing gracefully, I place my razor sharp teeth against her jugular but force myself not to bite down. If I do, the spell may not work. Not to mention, I don’t know what this bitch has coursing through her blood. Unless I’m forced to, it isn’t worth the risk of ingesting it into my own body. I stay still, pinning her down, waiting for Aiden to say the rest of the spell.

He stares straight at her as he reaches into a pouch tied to his belt with a concoction of some weird herbs he mixed together back at the house, and he continues reciting words. “You will be forced to watch all that you love forget about you. You will watch as life goes on as if you had never existed.”

“No, don’t,” she shouts, struggling, trying to fight against my hold.

“You will be stuck, stuck behind an invisible barrier, and no one will know you are there,” Aiden continues, glaring down at her. “No matter how loud you scream, or how hard you pound, no one will hear you. You will be trapped, completely and utterly trapped.”

The witch lets out a strangled sob as her body begins to bow and then goes slack. “No, please.”

A cruel smile spreads across my brother’s face as he recites the final words of the spell that will bind this evil bitch for eternity. This next part is the part that she missed when binding Izzy, and will be our saving grace in making sure she is never able to return again.

“Creature of cloth thou art,

Now creature of flesh and blood you be.

I name you, McGregor witch.

No more shall you do me harm,

No more shall you spread false tales,

Nor in the lives of my loved ones.

By the power of the Gods and by my will,

So mote it be.”

As soon as the last words leave his mouth, I feel the power surging throughout the room, causing the hairs on my body to stand on end. Suddenly, I feel the witch start to writhe beneath me as she struggles to resist the binding spell Aiden has just cast. Just as I begin to fear that I won’t be able to hold her much longer, she releases a scream so loud all of the windows shatter throughout the house. 

Ducking down to shield my face from the glass raining down around me, I am stunned by what I see below me. No longer does the witch appear to be solid in form, but she has taken on an appearance of translucency. Although her mouth is still open wide to release her screams, I can no longer hear her. Looking up at Aiden, I see that he is standing above us with a look of shock on his face. Before I even get the chance to look back down, I realize that I can now feel the cold tile touching my stomach. 

“Holy shit, it worked,” Aiden whispers, looking as shocked as I am.

Looking down, I see nothing but bare floor, and allow myself to release the air I’ve been holding in. Not allowing myself even a moment to celebrate the fact that we succeeded, I jump to my legs. I force the shift to retreat, feeling my bones and ligaments snapping back into place as I shift. As soon as I’m back to my human form, I turn and look to my brother. “We have to find Izzy.”

“I think she’s downstairs.”

I twirl around to see Knox crawling to his brother. He motions his head toward the back of the kitchen. Releasing a whimper, he leans forward and closes Finn’s still open eyes. “I think I heard her down there when we first came in. The witch took us down before we could get to her.”

I rush past him, but not before I see him reach toward his brother’s body and pull it into his arms. Grabbing the door, I pull it open then turn to look back at my beta. “I’m sorry, Knox,” I say in a rush, my own desperation for my mate taking over all other thoughts in my mind.

Losing Finn will be a blow to all of us. Not only was he a valued soldier and cousin, but he was also one of my best friends. Looking at his bloodied body, I wish I would have torn the witch’s throat out when I had the chance. His death will not be easily forgotten, and each and every one of us will feel it for a long time. 

Turning away from Knox, I rush down the steps. As soon as I hit the bottom, Izzy comes into view. She’s chained to wall, with tears and blood streaming down her face. Relief crashes into me as I run to her and tear the chains directly from the wall and ceiling. 

As I pull her into my arms, her body begins to collapse, and I whisper, “Shh, Pixie. I’ve got you now. It’s over, baby. It’s all over.”

Izzy

IT’S BEEN
just over two months since everything in our world has changed. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, we not only lost Finn, but a battle that had been waging for over three millennia was finally over.  

“Are you having fun, Mrs. Balfour?” Brody asks, running a hand over the spot where our child sits comfortably in my womb. 

I’m not officially Lady Balfour to the clan yet—that will not happen until the Winter Solstice—but we are now husband and wife. We’ve been married for nearly three hours now. “I sure am, husband.”

Placing a kiss on the top of my head, he says, “Good, I’m glad.”

When Brody asked me to marry him, I said yes immediately. After my confrontation with the witch, I realized that all of my pent up rage and hatred toward Brody meant nothing compared to how much I loved him. In the moments I thought I would never see him again, I was struck by a sudden clarity that made me realize how important he is to me. The fact that I had almost thrown everything away in a fit of jealous rage was enough to open my eyes and realize just how selfish I was being.

But with everything that had gone on since I’d been released from my prison, I didn’t think getting married right away would be a good idea. We needed to give the pack time to grieve Finn. People needed time to get used to me being back, and what my presence meant for them all. I begged him to put off getting married for a few months, at least, but he refused to even think about it. 

He wanted his ring on my finger as soon as possible. I argued, but he wouldn’t back down. When we found out I was pregnant, he was even more insistent that we solidify our relationship. When I finally realized how important it was to him, I gave in. Now, I’m glad I did. There has never been a doubt in my mind that Brody is the one meant to carry my heart in his hands. There may have been moments where I questioned my ability to overcome our past, but never once did I question his love and loyalty toward me.

Pulling me closer, Brody brings my back flush with his chest. “I can’t believe you wanted to do this here. We could have had the wedding in a fancy church or something. You know I would have given you everything you have ever desired if it meant that you would become my wife.”

I look around the open space in front of the lodge and take in the lush grass and bright flowers. “This is our home, the place where we will spend the rest of our days together, raising our family. To me, it’s the most beautiful place in the world.”

Releasing a contented sigh, Brody leans down and nuzzles my neck, letting me know without words just how happy it makes him to hear those words pass my lips. “Can I ask you a question, Pixie?”

Turning slightly in his arms, I look into his striking eyes before saying, “Of course.”