The Alpha’s Tainted B***d Chapter 49
Beyond Beta's Rejection
Harper
I made my excuses to War and left him alone in the room. I walked down the hallway to Tommy and Louiseâs room. As I neared, I could hear arguing.
âItâs stupid, thatâs what it is,â Louise yelled.
âCalm down will you,â Tommy responded, and I heard the sound of skin on skin as she slapped him.
âDonât you f*****g tell me to calm down,â she growled, âThis is my best friend we are talking, and your bloody niece. What sort of Guardian are you if you are going to let her do this.â Well I guess I knew what they were arguing about. I sighed before knocking on the door. The voices in the room stopped, and I heard footsteps. The door opened and Tommy looked out. I could still see the red mark on his cheek from Louiseâs slap. I smiled sympathetically.
âHi,â he said. He then looked behind him. âIt might be safer if you didnât come in.â
âIs that her,â Louise called from the room. âHarper Kirby, get your a*s in here right now.â Tommy winced and mouthed sorry at me. I shook my head with a smile and he let me in.
âHey bestie,â I said with a grin. Louise glared at me.
âDonât hey bestie, me,â she growled. âYou are absolutely not doing this.â I walked over slowly and she growled again.
âOne question,â I said, and she looked up at me. âAnd if the answer is no, then I wonât do it.â She eyed me suspiciously.
âWhatâs the question?â she asked. I looked at Tommy and then back at her.
âWould you do it for him?â I nodded to Tommy and Louise looked over at him. I saw tears appear in her eyes as she did. She looked back at me.
âI hate you,â she said, and I pulled her into a hug.
âI love you too,â I said. âI promise I wonât fail, I will be here to see this little one be born.â Louise clung to me and I heard her take a breath. I knew she was trying not to cry, but I could already smell the salt from her tears.
âYou better,â she sniffed as she pulled away. âIf youâre not, then I will come down to Hell to get you myself.â I smiled.
âI donât doubt it,â I said. âBut donât give Tommy a hard time, okay? This is my decision, mine alone.â She glanced at Tommy before looking back at me.
âFine,â she said reluctantly. Tommy coughed, and I looked over.
âWe need to go if we are gonna get this done in time,â he said and I nodded. I hugged Louise again, and once again promised that I would be back, before finally leaving the room with Tommy.
We headed downstairs and out of the pack house. Drake was waiting for us as we got outside.
âHey beautiful,â he said with a smile and I smiled back at him. We started making our way through the woods to the border.
âDid you update Brighid?â I asked as we walked and Drake shook his head.
âI didnât think it would be wise,â he said. âEither way, tonight we would be back down to three Divine Warriors and I doubt she will be too compliant with our plans.â I watched him as he spoke.
âDrake,â I said. He looked over at me. âI know you are not telling me something.â
âI have no idea what you mean,â he said with a charming smile.
âDonât give me that bullshit,â I scoffed, and he laughed.
âYou are too perceptive for my own good Miss Kirby,â he said, and I rolled my eyes.
âSo what is it?â I asked, and he frowned.
âI am concerned about Brighid,â he said. âI have been for a while. But after what happened with Eliasâ sister, my concerns are heightened.â Tommy glanced over.
âIn what way?â he asked.
âI saw Brighid and Lily speaking on numerous occasions,â Drake said. âBeing that Lily was also conversing with the Circle, well lets just say I am a little suspicious.â I nodded in agreement. I had seen Lily and Brighid talking once too. I didnât think too much of it, but Drake knew Brighid longer and better than I did.
âSo we keep her out of the loop?â I asked, and he nodded.
âHopefully it is nothing,â he said, âAnd I hate to not trust a fellow Warrior, but I think it is wise to be overcautious.â
âOkay, fair enough,â I said.
We reached the territory border shortly after and I smiled as I saw Aaron, Caroline and Colton. Colton smiled back, but Aaron growled at him. I shook my head at them. I knew that there was history, and very bad history but we didnât have time for that now. If all went well, they could happily rip each other apart afterwards. Just beyond the border I could see The woman I spoke to the other day and her little girl Abigail. The girlâs face lit up as she saw me and she started waving. Her mum tried to stop her as she ran forward across the border.
âAbigail stop,â she called but kept on the other side. The little girl hurled herself at me and hugged me.
âIâm so glad you came back,â she squealed, and I smiled down at her. I saw that Aaron had stiffened up ready to attack, and I shook my head at him. I nodded to Tommy as his eyes cleared from a mind link. He grinned.
âAt least I know my men are working,â he said, and I grinned. The second Abigail crossed the border a handful of pack warriors would have known. They would have been heading straight over if it wasnât for Tommy sending a mind link to stand down.
âHey there little one,â I said to the delighted girl. She beamed up at me and her eyes flashed black and back again.
âHi,â she said, âAnd Teddy says hi too.â
âTeddy?â I asked, and she tapped her head.
âItâs her demon,â her mother called. I looked over and smiled. She still looked nervous. As did the three men that stood with her. I nodded to Tommy and his eyes glazed over again. They cleared, and he nodded to the four demon bloods.
âYou can cross,â he said. They all hesitated before crossing the boundary, but Tommy smiled as they did.
âWelcome to Midnight Moon,â he said, and the woman smiled. The men nodded, one looked hesitant, but I noticed that all of them kept glancing at me. I walked over while holding Abigailâs hand and encouraged her to go back to her mother. She giggled and skipped back happily.
âMummy,â she said. âCan you feel it?â Her mother nodded and looked up at me.
âFeel what?â I asked and Caroline answered.
âYour acceptance,â she said. âItâs stronger than before, but your b***d is accepting our loyalty oath.â
âOurs?â I asked, and she nodded. She looked at Colton and then the others.
âI renounced our former master years ago,â she said. âAs did my demon. We both saw you coming, we knew this would happen.â She waved her arm at the others. âThey all swore an oath to you in varying stages. But until you were willing to accept it, they were lost.â I thought about what she was saying and I did feel something towards the people. I wasnât sure what, but it was definitely something. I looked over at Drake who was in deep thought.
âHey?â I asked âAre you okay?â He smiled and nodded. He looked at the people and then back at me. Finally he looked at Caroline.
âShould I be feeling it?â he asked, and she smiled.
âYou all will,â she said. âThe connection is to the b***d that runs in your veins, the divine b***d. You all as Divine Warriors share that connection I am led to believe.â Drake nodded and Aaronâs face lit up.
âOf course!â he exclaimed, and we all looked at him.
âCare to share with the rest of us, buddy?â Tommy asked amused.
âAppeased,â Aaron said. âRemember in the books it said that the Divine warriors will appease the demon bloods. This was all written, we just didnât have all the pieces.â He grinned at me and at Drake. âDonât you understand, this is what is meant to happen. A Divine Warrior is meant to take the throne not a Horseman.â He looked genuinely giddy at the revelation.
âSo how do we do this?â I asked. âDo we have to do some sort of something?â
âSome sort of something?â Aaron mocked, âHow articulate.â
âShut it geek boy,â I said, and he grinned.
âYou just need to take the leadership,â Colton said. He nodded to Abigailâs mother. âAndrea is the one who holds it now. Itâs kind of like the Alpha of our own pack.â
âYou as well?â I asked, and he nodded. He glanced at Tommy and Tommy nodded too.
âWhat?â I asked, âWhat is it?â They both tried for blank expressions but failed. Finally, Tommy sighed.
âColton and Caroline will be swearing loyalty to you,â he said. âThat means they wonât be a part of my pack any more. They will be yours.â My eyes widened. I always assumed that the demon b***d thing was separate from the supernatural side. I looked around.
âAre all rogues?â I asked, and they nodded.
âGenerally if they are not part of the Circle, then they are on their own,â Caroline said. âAndrea here is a powerful witch, and Jonas is Fae,â Caroline pointed to the woman and one of the men. âMark and Davis are both shifters like us.â They also waved as Caroline spoke.
âWow,â I said. âHow many of you are there?â I asked. I could see tents and such, but it was hard to count them.
âOne hundred and thirty-two of us, including Caroline and Colton here, maâam,â The man introduced to me as Jonas said. âWe are mostly witches, But there are a few fae and shifters too.â I looked round at Drake who shook his head with a smile. Jonas nodded to him.
âWe have a few vampires too, but they are more sensitive to the sun,â he said. I looked between him and Drake. Whilst common mythology said that vampires couldnât travel in the sun, it wasnât exactly true. Yes, the sun was more of an issue for them, but the older they got the less of a bother it was. For someone like Drake there would be no issues at all. He smiled at my confusion.
âI am guessing that the constant battle with their demons will weaken their systems,â he said and Jonas nodded.
âYes, it takes out of us all in one way or another,â he said grimly, âBut itâs a price we are happy to pay, so that we can do what good we can.â Andrea nodded and smiled. I remembered her telling me that she was a criminal lawyer, and she and her demon tried to do good with it.
âWell,â I said. âI guess I will learn more over time, but I think it might be time to do this thing.â Aaron chuckled and mumbled something about my lack of education. I threw him a glare, and he grinned at me.
âAre you okay with doing this?â I asked Andrea, and she nodded.
âOh yes, it is my absolute pleasure, my Queen,â she said. I nodded and then looked at Caroline.
âOkay then,â I said. âShow us the way.â She nodded and reached out her hand to me and to Andrea. I took her hand, and she nodded for us to hold hands.
âAndrea, if you will begin the transfer of ownership,â she said and Andrea nodded.
âThis will be similar to a coven transfer, because I am a witch,â Andrea said. âBut it works just the-â She stopped suddenly and her eyes widened. She yanked on my arm and pulled me into her and twisted us around. I heard a bang and a shocked look appeared on Andreaâs face. Everyone jumped to attention as I looked down and saw red appear on Andreaâs top around a new bullet hole. I looked around as Andrea collapsed into me. I dropped to the floor with her in my arms. I tried to cover the bleeding wound but b***d was pouring out between my fingers. I could hear screaming and crying as Abigail tried to get to her mum. And I could hear shouting from the men. I looked up to see Samual standing a little way off with a gun in his hand.
Everything rushed together as I saw bodies rushing at Samual. Suddenly he was on the ground with Drake kneeling on his back. The look in Drakeâs face was one of the scariest I had ever seen. He was practically hissing at Samual and his fangs were out. Samual and Tommy were shouting at each other.
âI said there is no way my family is going to be one of you scum,â Samual shouted and I growled. I could feel Maia inside me, trying to force her way out but I had to keep the pressure on Andreaâs wound.
âWhat the f**k,â Tommy shouted back. With the help of Aaron he hauled Samual to his feet.
âI told you boy,â Samuel shouted back, âI would rather see her dead than involved in this.â I looked up at Tommy. Was he talking about me? I suddenly realised what had happened. Andrea had seen Samual aiming for me. She had jumped in the way. Andrea saved my life. I looked down at her as she bled out.
âPlease,â I begged. âHold on.â She has a soft smile on her face. I could tell she was losing b***d fast and her eyes were glazing over. I looked around at Caroline.
âGet help,â I begged and Andrea coughed up b***d.
âNo,â she coughed. âPlease, I donât have the time.â I shook my head and swore under my breath. Everything narrowed down to the two of us. She lifted her hand and placed it on my cheek. I felt her b***d against my skin, but I felt something else. A powerful force. Something I couldnât even explain. It seemed to sink in through my skin and flow into my bones. I was both completely aware, and not aware of my surroundings. Finally, I knew it was done. I hummed with a new energy inside me, a new purpose. I could feel every single one of the people who had sworn their oath to me and it was massive. But I kept my eyes on Andrea until hers drifted closed. Until she had passed all that she was to me. I felt tears on my cheeks as her life force slipped away in my arms.