Trapped With the Alpha (Balfour Shifters Book 1) (4 page)

“What kind of danger?” he asks, finally bringing his gaze back to mine. 

“I’m not sure, but there’s something or someone hurting her. Don’t ask me how I know, I just do. Something or someone is taking her away from me.” I know what I feel but have no idea how to explain it. After centuries of being a warrior, I know when danger is stalking me or one of mine. “She needs me. I have to protect her.”

“It’s hard to protect a dream, Brody. As far as you know, this chick doesn’t even exist outside of your own head. Right now, you have to be thinking of the pack.” He takes in a deep breath, and I know he’s about to lay into me. 

At this moment, I just don’t have the energy for it. “I know what I have to do. You don’t need to remind me.”

“As your beta, I have to remind you. You’re our alpha. Colin is making plans. The rogues are coming after us.”

Colin was once a trusted friend, a member of our clan, and part of our pack. In 1803, his mate died in a fire at Castle Balfour. After her death, he changed. My once trusted friend became more of a stranger. He completed his duty and nothing more. 

“That’s not gonna happen,” I growl out, letting him see my anger. 

Knox doesn’t back down. “It will if we don’t do something. Colin isn’t just going to go away.”

When I decided to move the pack to America, Colin and a few of his followers decided to stay behind. When they left Scotland, they never rejoined us, instead choosing a home of their own not far from us. As time passed, they formed their own pack, pulling in outcasts from other packs. Colin is their Alpha, and they follow him blindly. 

“I’ll deal with him,” I say, rubbing my temples.

We live near each other, though we hadn’t seen much of the other pack for years. Suddenly, everything changed. One of his pack attacked a mate to one of my pack members. I killed the bastard, and that led to more problems. Colin wants to retaliate for his man’s death, but he hasn’t made his move yet. I know he will have to be dealt with eventually, but I haven’t quite figured out what I want to do yet. 

Knox shakes his head. “If you don’t get off your ass, it’s going to be too late. You’re going to be dead, and we’re all gonna go down with your ass.”

“Fuck you!” I shout with a growl, jumping from the bed, my wolf finally emerging. “I will never let Colin or his pack get close to my people. You should know that.”

“If you don’t forget your dream lover, they’ll be here and you won’t even know it!” he shouts back, showing his teeth. Without another word, he turns around and walks out of the room. 

It takes every bit of willpower I have not to allow my other half to take over, chase him down, and tear out his throat. Instead, I walk over to the wall, place a hand against it, and draw in a deep breath. Letting out the breath, I ask my phantom pixie a question. “How can I be alpha and protect my pack, when I’m hollow inside?”

Izzy

I LAY
my hands against my prison walls, wishing I could feel the heat of his skin, and let out a blood-curdling scream as Brody asks a question. Sometimes, I swear he is talking to me. I know better, though; he doesn’t know I’m here. He doesn’t realize that I’ve been by his side for eight-hundred years. 

“God, Brody,” I say on a ragged sigh, resting my forehead against the barrier surrounding me, a sob slowly working up my throat. “I’m hollow, too… Without you, I am empty.”

This is my hell, my purgatory here on Earth. It’s as if I’m being cruelly punished for something I did in the past. However, for the life of me, I don’t know what it is that I could have possibly done to deserve this cruelty. What sin did I commit to deserve to be stuck here, right beside him for all time, but unable to touch him, taste him? This is the worst torment imaginable.

Looking up at him, I see the pain on his face and know it mirrors my own. Turning away from him, I’m unable to look at his anguish any longer. I pace back and forth throughout Brody’s room, wanting to let some of this pent up tension out. Picking up speed, my feet float over the floor without making a sound. I look back to him, and he’s still staring at the wall, oblivious to the fact I’m only a few feet from him. He has no idea that I’ve spent the last eight-hundred years by his side, sometimes screaming in his face. I’m forced to live my life around him, forced to watch him live out his life as if I’ve never even existed. To him and everyone else I’ve ever known, I never did exist. Sometimes, even I have to wonder if there ever was an Isabel McKay. Maybe all my memories are just a figment of my imagination. No, that’s not possible.

My memories are real, just as my love for Brody is real. Our bond has kept us tethered in some strange way, even though we are living in completely separate realms of existence. While I’m stuck here in a land of silence, with only myself to talk to, he continues living his life as if I never existed. To be fair, to him, I don’t exist. I never have, to him at least. Sometimes, watching him live his life is worse than not living my own. Nothing can compare to the pain I feel watching the man I love bed woman after woman. In the beginning, I would close my eyes and cover my ears, each time he was with another woman. Even then, the sight of them together would play like a dream in my head. Nothing I did would take the vision away. Now, I watch, my anger growing each time.

Shaking away my thoughts, I collapse on his side of the bed, careful to keep far away from the side his bed partner was occupying just a short time ago. I rub my face into his pillow, desperate to catch even the slightest trace of his scent. Of course, that is not possible. To me, it feels like I’m here in his room, touching and moving about his things, but in reality, I’m not. I can’t feel the coolness of his sheets. I can’t pull back his blankets and slide into his bed. Not even his scent can break through the barrier. There’s just nothing… a whole hell of a lot of nothing.

As I lie here, wishing that I could just have something, just one of my senses back, be it touch, taste, or smell, I find myself drifting back to a place where my life was perfect, to a place where I had love and laughter surrounding me, with my whole life ahead of me.

 
It was an absolutely beautiful day as I laid out in the meadow, enjoying the slight breeze blowing through my hair, the scent of heather tickling my nose, and the sound of the birds chirping in the distance. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves, but it didn’t work. These nerves were brought on by the fact that Brody would be with me soon. Being the blacksmith’s daughter, the Alpha’s son shouldn’t be with me. I should have been nothing more than another member of his clan, someone he vowed to protect, but nothing more. Instead, he was promising me a future as his wife.

For the past six months, we had been spending time together in secret. This meadow was our spot to sneak off to in the hopes of stealing even the briefest moment together. To be honest, it had become my most favorite place to be. Well, I suppose, if I were truly honest, anywhere with Brody was my favorite place to be. 

Staring up at the clouds as they passed by, a slight smile spread across my face as I pictured Brody’s ruggedly handsome face. As I laid here, I slowly allowed my eyelids to drift shut, enjoying the feel of the sun heating my skin, and dreamed about the man I was growing to love.

My eyes closed for but a moment when I felt a gentle brush of lips across my forehead. I slowly blinked my eyes open, looking up directly into Brody’s gorgeous amber eyes, and whispered, “Brody.”

“How was your nap, lass?” he asked with a slight smirk across his mouth as he stood up to his full six-and-a-half feet.

“I was just resting my eyes,” I teased back, smiling at him. “You must have taken too long to get to me. I couldn’t help myself.”

He sat down beside me, stretching his long body near mine. “I’m sorry, love. My father was in need of my assistance for a while. I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”

He slowly laid down beside me, turning toward me and resting his head in his massive hands. The other hand gently brushed some stray hairs off my face as I continued to lay on my back studying his features.

“Is everything all right?” I asked, worrying the Laird would be angry at his absence.

He nodded his head, twirling a lock of my hair around his fingers. “Yes, everything is fine. He just wanted me to help train a few of the newer soldiers.”

“If you need to get back, don’t let me keep you,” I said, knowing his duties to the clan were more important than a few stolen moments with me. 

“There is nowhere else I would rather be than right here beside you,” he said as he continued to twirl my hair around his finger. “You know I can’t get by without at least a brief stolen moment alone with you.”

He released my hair and cupped my cheek, maintaining eye contact with me. I didn’t know what it was about having Brody look at me like that, but I could have sworn he was looking into the very depths of my soul. “I savor my time with you, also.”

His hand started to slow as he gently slid it down my cheek, caressing me as he went, until he was cupping the bottom of my jaw. A sigh escaped my lips at the intimate contact. His eyes now moved down to focus on my mouth; his stare is so intense, I feared even the slightest movement, desperate not to break the connection I was feeling with him.

As he continued to lay completely still, seemingly unable to take his stare from my mouth, I suddenly felt awkward, and without thought, my tongue slipped out to lick my lips. His body tensed immediately, his eyes briefly flickering back up to mine before returning to my lips.

He continued to stare unblinking at my now wet lips, and I raised my hand to caress his face. Even after all the time spent with him, I had never touched him in this way. I’d never felt brave enough to do so, but right then, I couldn’t stop myself.

 As I continued with my pursuit, wanting to memorize each of his features, I felt his body becoming more and more taut. His eyes once again came back up to mine, and a gasp escaped my mouth as I noticed the barely contained desire inside them.

Slowly, he lowered his head, his intent written all over his face. I dared not move, for fear of breaking the spell we were under. I needed his lips on mine more than my next breath. This was what made up my dreams, being with Brody in every way. I may have been innocent, but I didn’t want to be when I was with him.

My eyes slowly started to drift closed, just as the first gentle brush of his mouth touched mine. It sent a sizzle throughout my body, unlike anything I had ever felt before. My first true kiss and it was amazing. The only thing I could think was that I wanted more. He continued to kiss me gently, never quite giving me the more I desired. 

As his lips began to move toward the outer corner of my mouth, I feared he was going to stop. Not wanting to lose him, I reached up with both hands to lace my fingers through his thick brown hair. Before I knew what was happening, his head snapped back and what sounded like a snarl left his lips. 

Glancing up into his eyes, I saw barely contained lust unlike anything I’d ever witnessed. The color was shifting from amber to a startling blue, the change so quick, it was as if lighting was bursting through his eyes. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, but also the most frightening. Just as I was about to ask him what was wrong, his mouth came crashing back down upon mine.

I opened my mouth on a gasp, and he took advantage of my parted lips, dipping his tongue into my mouth. His taste exploded against my tongue, a mixture of honey mead and something wild. The feel of his silken touch caused my own restraint to snap, and I greedily started licking at his mouth. 

He bit at my bottom lip, growling deep in his throat. Pulling back with a tug, his tongue swept out to ease the sting caused by his teeth. As he deepened our kiss once again, his hand moved to my hip, squeezing it in his powerful grasp. I arched up toward him, silently begging for more. Much to my disappointment, however, my movement seemed to snap him out of his lust-filled daze, and he slowed the kiss.

He kissed my mouth twice more before resting his forehead upon my own, slowly nuzzling his nose back and forth against mine. “You’re mine, Isabel. My very own little Pixie.”

Cupping his jaw, I agreed. “Yes, Brody. I am yours, only yours.”

We sat together, forehead to forehead, for what felt like hours, just breathing each other in, both of us unwilling to let the other go. Eventually, Brody lifted his head and looked down into my eyes, the desire and lust still written clearly across his features.

With a sigh, he looked back down at my mouth. “I swear to all that is holy, lass, that mouth of yours is going to be the death of me.”

A smile slowly graced my face as I continued to look into his eyes, and I wondered if he realized that was my first real kiss. “If my death is caused by yours kisses, I will happily welcome it. If it’s with you, Brody, I will take anything you are willing to give me.”