The Alphas & The Heiress

Syble (Magnolia)

I’ve gone for another run, taken a shower, and met with Incandis and it’s only been an hour. I have another two hours to kill.

Incandis has made himself at home with the males of the pack downstairs in the lounge. I can hear them laughing and trash talking one another from upstairs.

If we were home I’d join him. He and Xander and a few other guardians frequently hang out together around one video game console or another. Though I may technically be crashing guy’s night, they’ve always graciously accepted me among their group. It’s probably the only thing they’re better at than me and they jump at the opportunity to educate me on proper gaming strategy.

Resigned and determined not to interfere, I decide to take my chances with the Alphas. Their office door is slightly ajar but I knock anyway out of courtesy. They beckon me in immediately. I’m not sure how they knew it was me on the other side of the door. This is the second time Ro’s senses have been correct about me.

“Hey, do you mind if I wait around in here with you? I think Incandis and Runidar have teamed up against your delta and gamma playing some video game.”

Ro and Varian pause to consider my request, their eyes gloss over which I’ve learned means they’re talking to one another. It’s a neat trick but a little rude to blatantly exclude someone right in front of you.

“It’s fine, I’ll find somewhere else to go.” I say to the tranced twins but before I can take a step out of the door a hand wraps around my arm pulling me back and stopping me from walking out.

A warm electricity hums through my body at the contact. I chance a look at the owner of the hand and find Varian at the other end of it, staring at me intently. His brown eyes widen with some nameless emotion, his body and his features giving nothing away.

I shake my arm loose from his grip but make no other movement. “You can wait in here if that’s what you want.”

I nod once and begin my occupation of their couch for the next two hours. I lay out the map, pouring over every detail – every valley, cave, river, I want to know every inch of this map so I can be sure that we are turning over every stone in our search for my family.

Malin and Xander had nothing new to report to Incandis when they spoke earlier. The grove is operating as usual, but the colony grows a little more restless with each passing hour. They won’t be fully at ease until I’m home, and I’m not going home without my father and uncle.

A low rumble from behind me diverts me from my research. I look up to see Varian at his desk in front of me giving Ro an exasperated and disapproving look before I see the telltale signs of their private, inner dialogue.

“Please, speak freely, don’t recluse on my behalf.” I look back to the map and continue memorizing where I left off. “What are you growling about, anyway?”

“I think you speak freely enough for the three of us.” Varian says, his tone laced with what I think is irritation. “Are you always so outspoken?”

“Does being direct make me outspoken? I have never been one to mince words, I favor a straightforward approach.” I let them mull that over for a moment, more growls slip past their defenses to suppress them. “You’re still growling.”

I can hear Ro stand up from his seat and walk over to face me by the couch. “If you must know, our wolves are arguing with us. They’re trying to gain control.”

I look between Ro and Varian, my brows are furrowed together. His response has left me with more questions than answers. While I have no issues being direct, I don’t like to be unnecessarily rude and I don’t know how to ask them what the fuck they’re talking about in a pragmatic way. Luckily, Varian senses my internal battle and rescues me. “Surely it must be the same way with you and your dragon.”

What the fuck are they talking about? Now I’m very confused. They speak like they expect me to be two different people, one human, one dragon, all confined to the same body.

“I’m not sure how to answer your question, I am only me. There is no internal dragon alter ego fighting for control. I am a dragon. I can shift freely between flight and human form.”

Varian nods thoughtfully. “For us, we do have an internal wolf, a separate soul with a mind and will of its own. When we shift, we give control over to our wolf, as they give over control to us when we’re in human form. They see and hear and experience the world through our eyes, and they don’t hesitate to opine – sometimes incessantly.” Varian explains.

“When they feel strongly enough about something, they will try to gain control, to push themselves to the forefront and us into the proverbial back seat.” Ro adds. “My wolf could feel your heat and your unhappiness from over here, he was displeased...” His voice trails off, like he wants to elaborate but he guards the truth from me.

“Hence the growling?” I say and Ro nods in the affirmative. “Well, I appreciate your wolf’s concern but I’m fine.”

“Of course you are, spitfire.” Ro says before sitting back down at his desk.

The remaining minutes pass by in a comfortable silence, well at least comfortable for me. I catch Varian looking up at me from his desk a few times, each time he quickly looks back down at his work embarrassed to have been caught checking on me. If I wasn’t used to the behavior from the guards at home I’d find it annoying, but instead it makes me laugh to myself.

When it’s finally time, we head out together, the trackers from the lounge joining us. The Alphas are speaking to their lead, Baron, when Runidar approaches me.

“You coming out with us, Syble?” He asks me hesitantly.

“Yes, I need to see the area for myself. I hope that’s not an issue.”

“No, of course not. If you’d like, though, you can ride with me.”

“Well that was fast.”

He laughs nervously, “what do you mean?”

“In less than 24 hours you went from ‘I’ll cut your tongue out’ to ‘you can ride with me’.” I smirk at him and hope he knows I’m only teasing. Truthfully I admired his tenacity last night in the woods. Plus, I can’t say I didn’t provoke him.

He pales at my comment, floundering over what to say. I take pity on him, “It’s a joke, Runidar. Breathe.”

He obeys and the color slowly returns to his face, but he is still weary. He shifts into his large, golden-copper colored wolf and kneels down so I can climb on, but as I approach him he begins to whimper and back up away from me.

An even larger white wolf with black and gray patches in its fur comes up alongside me, snarling at Runidar. The wolf puts itself between me and Runidar, still snarling. I feel compelled to run my hand through the wolf’s fur, willing it to settle down and leave Runidar alone. When my hand makes contact with it, I feel the same crackle of energy that I do with the twins.

“That’s Rafe, Varian’s wolf. You will ride with him or with me.” Ro says from behind me, and it’s not a question or an offer – it’s an order.

I hop onto Varian’s back and pleasurable sparks erupt everywhere we touch – my arms, my chest, my thighs, between my thighs. I resist the urge to moan at the sensation and I focus on gripping tightly onto the scruff of his wolf’s neck. As an added measure of caution, I conceal myself in shadows, making me virtually invisible on Varian’s back.

With all the trackers shifted, we take off into the forest heading directly towards the location where they picked up the foreign scent.

—

Unknown

“Your excellency, if it pleases you we have an update.” The scout sputters out, cowering in front of his leader.

“Well then spit it out.” The words drip from his mouth like acid.

“The young queen has been scarcely seen in the Grove for almost a month. Tonight, when we were heading back to the northern cave, we caught sight of a pack of wolves that carried her scent.”

“Did you see her? With your own eyes, did you see her?” He hisses at his subordinates.

“No your excellency,” the scout winces, “she was not sighted among them.”

The scout makes himself as small as he can in the presence of his master, preparing for the blow that is sure to come. When no such harm befalls him, he chances a look at his leader.

“Keep an eye on these wolves, follow them, find her. Keep your distance, though. The wolves have trackers who can scent us from miles away. Report to me the moment you find her, do not make your presence known.” He dismisses the scout. For the first time in a month his mood lifts.

He walks through the shadows, deeper into the darkness until he reaches the cells buried deep in the Earth’s crust. A sinister smile skirts its way up his mouth as he allows a small ominous laugh to resonate through the chamber walls.

“My minions have caught wind of our little flower’s scent. It won’t be long now until she’s found and brought to me. Tell me, Bastian, how long will it take her before she begs me for your life? I do love a woman on her knees.”

“I’ll never let you lay a finger on her.” Bastian throws himself against the cursed bars of the cell, falling back as he succumbs to the electrocuting pain that laces through him.

Dex clambers weakly over to his brother, checking that he is still alive. Their strength has withered down next to nothing over the last month, and if they’re going to make it out alive Dex knows they need to preserve what little is left of it.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Bastian, so full of hope. I’ll lay more than a finger on her, and what’s more? She’ll beg me to. Then I’ll make you watch as I suck the sweet nectar out of our little flower.”

Bastian sits up, half supported by his brother. He speaks slowly while he catches his breath.

“You’re a sick fucking bastard. I swear to the Gods I will rip you limb from limb, slowly. You will burn from the inside out, and it will be you who begs me to finally put you out of your misery.”

His captor smiles maliciously at his words, a crazed look growing behind his eyes. “Ever the optimist, Bastian, ever the optimist.”

His chilling laugh echoes through the chamber walls, haunting the prisoners long after their captor’s leave.

“Fuck, Bast, you okay?” Dex finally breathes out once certain that they’re alone.

“I’m fine.” He pauses briefly before lowering his voice. “I’ll fucking die before I let him take Magnolia.”

“I know, we’ll figure something out. But you can’t protect her if you kill yourself in this fucking cell.”

Bastian breaks the long stretch of silence between them. “I’m sorry – for everything. It’s my fault we’re here. I should have told Ianthe. We never should have left.”

“Stop. I jumped off that balcony same as you. We’re family. Let’s focus on getting out of here, getting Mags, and going the fuck home.”

The two brothers settle against the wall of their cell, silence expanding into the darkness around them. Little did they know they’d only have a week until the fate of their family was tested.