The Alpha’s Tainted B***d Chapter 23

Harper

“Welcome home everyone.” I looked up to see Marcus grinning in the rear-view mirror. I looked out the window to see my mum, Caroline Stokes and Alice Chambers standing in front of the pack house. It felt weird to be back here after six months.

“I’m going to have to go Drake,” I said into the phone, “We are here.” I heard Drake sigh, and I smiled. We had been arguing about me coming here the whole trip. He had gone on about the warnings and the danger of being so close to the seal like a record on repeat. Clearly I had won this one, because here I was.

“How is Elias?” Drake asked, and I glanced over at the seat next to me. Elias was leaning forward and in discussion with Marcus.

“He’s fine.” I said, “Doesn’t look any different, no horns or anything.” I was lying of course. Elias had spent the entire journey here with that glassy look in his eyes that told me he was conversing with his black-eyed friend. He had even responded out loud a few times, scaring poor Brianna. I looked over at the girl and sent her a reassuring smile. She looked all wide eyed and pale. But she still forced a smile on her face. We hadn’t had time to talk about what had happened in the Neverplain, I had been so distracted by our current shitstorm that I had been pretty harsh on the girl.

I unbuckled my seat belt and opened the door to climb out.

“And Brianna?” Drake asked, “How is she doing?”

“I think she will adjust,” I said. “But she had a rough time of it in her transition.”

“All the more reason to come here first,” Drake grumbled. I rolled my eyes.

“Well, the seal is here anyway, so it just makes sense for you and Brighid to come here,” I said. “Plus, I can only imagine that Alex will want to be here. I’m surprised he isn’t on his way already.”

“He would be if Julia didn’t insist on coming, which also meant that Brin wanted to go as well,” Drake said.

“Oh the fun,” I sighed and glanced over at Marcus. He had got out of the car and was looking off into the woods with a curious look on his face.

“It would probably do us good to bring a small guard, especially with so many Divine Warriors in one spot.” Drake sighed.

“So you are coming then?” I asked with a grin on my face.

“Yes, I will make preparations for my journey along with Alex,” Drake replied.

“What about Brighid?” I asked, “Don’t we need her as well?”

“Yes, but she said that she is busy right now. Something to do with the fae court. She said she would follow later.” I wasn’t sure I enjoyed waiting longer than I had to. I was already worried about Elias. Although he seemed to be holding himself at the moment as I watched him talking to Alice. He looked over and smiled and I couldn’t help but return the smile.

“Okay, we will see you soon then,” I said to Drake and hung up as he said his goodbyes too.

I looked over at Brianna who was looking nervous and waved her over. She smiled and came over.

“Don’t look so worried,” I said, “They won’t bite.” She forced a smile on her face and looked around.

“Does it always feel like this?” Brianna asked as she looked around.

“Like what?” I asked.

“Like, I dunno, heavy?” I stopped and looked around myself. I hadn’t really thought about it, but I got what she was saying. Like there was a foreboding atmosphere in the air. Maybe it was the seal, or something. I shrugged and smiled again.

“You have good senses,” I said to her and her smile brightened at the praise.

“My mum always said I had extra abilities.” Then her smile dropped a little. I took hold of her hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Let me introduce you to everyone,” I said with a smile and she nodded.

We walked over to the group and my mum rushed and gave me a hug.

“Oh Harper, I missed you,” she said. She pulled away and gave me a once over. “You’ve lost weight. Are you eating enough?” I grinned at her affection. Despite everything that had happened I had missed her over the years.

“Yes mum, I’m eating,” I said and then pulled Brianna forward.

“Everyone, this is Brianna. Brianna, this is my mum.” I pointed over at the other two ladies. “And these are Luna Alice and Caroline.”

“Oh dear, I am not Luna anymore,” Alice said with a smile as she came to give me a hug. She turned to Brianna and pulled her into a surprise hug too. “Welcome to Midnight Moon dear. You must be so tired, would you like something to eat?” I smiled as she fussed over Brianna and turned to Caroline. She was smiling at me, but kept looking around me.

“Oh sweet girl, you are glowing,” she said as we hugged. A lot of people cast Caroline off as being crazy or something, but there was more to her than she let on. Louise had told me how she had repeatedly said something random and then it later came true. I think she had some sort of seer sight, but got lost in it sometimes. She had once talked to me like she was seeing some different version of me. Colton had said how she had seen me and him married and with children of our own. I wondered if she was seeing what could have been if Colton hadn’t rejected me ten years ago.

I saw Elias watching us and smiled and reached out my hand to him. I knew he didn’t hold hardship against Caroline and Alice, despite their mates and husbands being working for the Circle. Or that Caroline was the mother of the man who had caused me so much misery. But I think he worried about my closeness to Caroline, like it made me closer to Colton somehow. Elias took my hand and smiled.

“Is Drake coming then?” he asked, and I nodded.

“Yeah, he’s going to come with Alex,” I said and then glanced at Marcus, who was still looking into the woods.

“He is also bringing a small guard with him,” I said. Then lowered my voice, “Brin included. Julia wanted to come, and he wouldn’t let her come without him.” Elias growled, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

“He should have cleared that with me first, especially with Marcus and Brin’s past,” he said and I sighed. I looked over at Marcus again. And then nudged Elias.

“Maybe we should have a word with him,” I said, and he nodded. We headed over to where he was standing and I smiled.

“What’s so interesting?” I asked. Marcus looked shocked to see me standing next to him. He looked back out into the woods.

“Do you smell burning?” he asked. I immediately became alert and scanned the woods. I sniffed the air, but didn’t smell anything out of the ordinary. I shook my head.

“Are you sure?” I asked, “I don’t smell burning.” He sighed and smiled.

“It reminds me of those campfires we used to have back in the day, remember Elias?” he said and Elias grimaced.

“Yep I remember them,” he said. I grinned at him. Elias was a lot of things. But he wasn’t an outdoor wolf. He preferred his suits and designer clothes way too much.

“Marcus, Drake is on his way to Midnight Moon,” Elias said, “He is bringing a small guard with him, including Brin.” Marcus nodded.

“Seems like a wise move,” he said and Elias raised an eyebrow at him. He then glanced at me and shook his head.

“We better go see Tommy. I’m told he isn’t doing so great,” he said. I nodded and took his hand. Marcus sighed again but followed as we headed back towards the pack house and inside.

We headed straight for the first floor offices, where I already could hear Tommy shouting. I rushed to the Alpha’s office and knocked on the door.

“WHAT!” Tommy bellowed from inside. I opened the door and walked in. The office was a wreck. Broken furniture, books and papers were everywhere. Standing in front of his desk was Tommy. He was glaring at something on the desk while Greg Henderson, one of the pack warriors, and my former schoolteacher, was picking himself up from the floor. He nodded to me as he rubbed the back of his head. I glanced over at the Greg shaped dent in the wall and sighed.

“Tommy?” I walked over to him and he looked up at me startled. He then glanced at Greg and growled.

“What the hell are you still doing here?” he asked, and I nodded to Greg to go.

“Might not wanna beat up your own men,” I said and Tommy glared at me.

“Incompetent, the lot of them,” he snarled, and I raised my eyebrows. He held my look for about a minute before he looked away. He crumbled to the floor by the desk.

“I shouldn’t have left,” he whispered. “If I hadn’t stayed at the Council, then I would have been here.”

“You didn’t know,” I said, kneeling down next to him. He looked up at me with fear in his eyes.

“She’s pregnant, what if she goes into labour? What if they…” he trailed off into his own thoughts, probably the worst possible scenario.

“Hey,” I said sharply, “don’t be like that. We’ll find her.”

“But what if we don’t?” Tommy asked, and I shook my head.

“We will,” I said firmly. “Now dust yourself off and tell me what we know.” He smiled weakly at me and then looked up at Elias and Marcus.

“Thank you for coming,” he said. “I know it’s dangerous here for you right now.” I scoffed at his words.

“Of course I would come,” I said.

I stood up and offered my arm out to him and he grimaced but took it and got up from the floor. We turned and looked at the table, where there was a map of the territory. There were a few angry red scribbles in the north area.

“What’s these?” I asked.

“Damien,” Tommy replied, and I felt Elias move forward behind me. Tommy glanced over to him before looking at me.

“I was going to say something after I heard,” he said. “But I came back from the Council when I did because there had been multiple sightings of Damien in that area. Then he appeared around the pack house the night before last screaming about how he was the Alpha and this was his pack and…” he trailed off again. I looked back up at him and he looked sick with worry.

“And?” I asked. He looked up at me.

“He said that the baby is his,” he said. “He said that he is the father. But I know he isn’t the father because I can tell that she is a Warrior, like I could tell with you when Linda was pregnant.” I nodded. I remembered when my sister Suzie had told Louise she was pregnant, because she could tell. Although we were still at a loss for how there could be two Divine Warriors for the shifters, even if the baby wasn’t born yet.

“So what makes him think the baby belongs to him,” Elias asked and Tommy shrugged.

“I don’t know,” he said. He looked over at Elias again. “I was going to tell you that he had been seen,” he said, “I was just going to do it when I got home. I was hoping I could snatch him so you didn’t have to come until necessary.” Elias nodded. He had been putting feelers out for Damien the whole time we were away. He believed Damien was still in contact with the Circle and was one of our best shots at taking them down.

I looked back at the map and then at Marcus.

“Have you searched the area?” I asked Tommy, “Marcus said he could smell campfires in this direction when we arrived.” Tommy’s eyes lit up as he looked at Marcus, who nodded in confirmation.

“It was faint but there,” he said. Tommy’s eyes clouded over for a moment before clearing up again.

“I sent Greg with a team to check it out,” he said. “We haven’t seen anything in that direction. The demon bloods all seem to be congregating on the other side of the territory.”

“Are they still coming?” I asked and Tommy nodded and grimaced.

“Yeah, but it has seemed to have slowed a bit. But we can wait to see if the team finds anything on the north side and then make plans accordingly.” Tommy looked back down at the maps and sighed. “Other than that, I am at a loss as to what to do.”

“Colton.” We all turned to the door where Caroline was standing. She smiled at me and then looked back at Tommy.

“You said that this could be Damien, and therefore the Circle,” she said and Tommy nodded. “Well, my Colton knew about as much as Damien did about the operations, if not more. He could help you if you brought him here.” Elias snorted and Tommy shook his head.

“Caroline, I appreciate the thought, but I doubt that Colton would be so willing to help,” Tommy said, keeping his tone pleasant and calming. Caroline looked at me and grinned.

“He would for you,” she said, and I felt Elias stiffen beside me.

“No,” he said with a growl.

“Absolutely not,” Tommy said.

“I think she’s right,” I said, and both men turned to look at me.

“Come on, you know he will at least speak to me,” I said. “What harm could it do?”

“No,” Elias said, “I don’t want him any closer to you than he already has been.”

“If he is our only lead though,” I said and Elias growled again. I looked at Tommy.

“Come on,” I said “If he has any information I will get it from him.” Then I gave him a mischievous smile, “I’ll torture him if I have to.” Tommy glanced over at Elias and then back at me. He sighed, and I felt my smile grow. Elias growled again before storming off out of the office. Marcus grinned at me before heading after him. Tommy shook his head with raised eyebrows at the door. He then turned back to me.

“I’ll call my dad.”