18. Break

Aleida’s POV

Yes, there isn’t much to say. My gut continues to be in turmoil, while the people around me consider me paranoid. Self-control is like being blown out the window, and I growl continuously without being able to handle the emotions. Something is going on; it’s as simple as that! I don’t understand why no one wants to believe in me, primarily because no one listened to me the last time. I tear the chains that hold me back, and the wall creaks by force.

Save your strength, Aleida. You’ll need it sooner than you think, Elisa says in my mind.

I’m not paranoid and losing it altogether? I ask, even though I already know the truth.

No, you’re not crazy. Something dark is moving by leaps and bounds this way, and we need to prepare for it. Don’t hold your pack, family, or mates accountable because they don’t believe you. Just like last time, there’s a force that steers away from all logical thinking. Trust yourself and your ability; everything will be fine.

I trust Elisa, I always have, but now everything feels dark like so many times before. How am I going to make it this time? My whole life has been built on pain and dark moments, trying to break me down to the point that I could no longer move forward. My heart stings and pulsates painfully. Shortly after that, loud howls echo over the forests around our territory. I stop and listen, the outcry is familiar, but I can’t place what or who it belongs to. My pack answers the howl with growls, which can only mean one thing; it isn’t a friend but an enemy. Every bite, whimper of pain, howling and growling moves like a whirl inside my head. It pains me, and I know why this is happening; because of me, it’s me they want. I need to be able to help them somehow; it’s my people! Although the silver pains me, I tighten my body and try to tear the chains off the wall. Every time one of my members dies, I feel it inside me like a shock wave. That’s how it is for an alpha. The wall behind me creaks, and my whole body aches. The fight outside is continuously moving closer to where I am, and it’s now that I realize for real that it’s me the enemy is looking for. I use my massive body to throw myself forward with all the weight and power I possess. The chains loosen from the wall with a crack, and a large hole remains. I roar loud enough for everything to stop; every wolf and vampire looks at me with fear. The woman who’s standing on the side and looking, grinning at me while my pack is injured, is my target. I have no idea who she is beyond the fact that she probably is the one who helped Jonathan take me from my mates last time; no matter what, she’s my prey. Elisa growls inside our mind, and together we generate all the power to run faster than we’ve ever done before towards her. We’re almost at her body and jump into the air to attack when a force throws me back onto the ground. My head is throbbing, and it feels like someone’s cutting inside my brain with a sharp knife. I whine like a puppy from the pain.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Blake roars to the witch, who looks amused at him.

“What I should’ve done a long time ago,” she replies with a snort.

It feels like I can’t breathe but suffocates on air, making me get scared and wonder what the hell is going on. I understand that the witch is using her powers to stop me, but I don’t know what it is she is doing and whether it’s deadly or not.

We’re bleeding from the eyes, mouth, and nose, Aleida, my hybrid whispers.

The world is spinning around me, and I feel my body swinging back and forth. I can’t stay up on my legs and fall apart. The woman slowly walks up to me and laughs in the meantime. When she stands in front of me, I growl low in lack of energy.

“See your so-called queen, in front of you on the ground,” she laughs and rips the scruff of my neck to hold up my head. “Aleida is nothing more than a little disgusting, ugly and pathetic girl who knows nothing about the reality we live in. Nevertheless, you all follow her without questioning her weaknesses.”

My members look at me with sad eyes, and I whine when a big blood-filled tear falls from my eye. Luis tries to throw himself at the witch and thereby save me, but Blake holds him back. All I can do is ask my beta to translate.

Ask her what it is she wants, I say in our mindlink to Luis, resulting in him looking at me.

“Aleida wonders what it is you’re after,” he tells the witch.

“Oh, little Aleida. Isn’t that obvious?” she asks and smiles wickedly at me. “I want a new fur in front of my fireplace, and yours fits in perfectly.”

It’s at this moment that I understand exactly what she wants. I’m aware that someday it would come to this, that I would’ve to trade my life for theirs, which somehow makes me calm inside. After all, this is my purpose. I’m generating all my power to create a mindlink with the witch.

You get me voluntarily if you don’t injure my people and my family, the vampires included, I say in our mindlink.

The witch looks at me in amazement, as if she can’t see it in front of her that I actually agree to accompany her. Is she stupid, or hasn’t she heard about what happened to Victor? I gave my life to protect others from Victor, and I succeeded.

“Are you prepared to do that?” she asks me astoundingly, and I nod. “Aleida will come voluntarily and take your place for everything I had planned for you.”

“Aleida, no!” Luis screams. “What have you done now!? I can’t lose you again.”

I whine and look at him with several tears falling down my furry cheeks. There’s no other way to ensure their survival and safety; moreover, I’m tired of others trying to dictate my life. This witch will die just like Victor did if that’s the last thing I do. Six big and strong men come up to us where we stand. They lift the chains and pull me with them like a dog from the place. My wolves try to follow but get stopped by Blake and Luis, even though it hurts them. I can do nothing, but what I’m doing now, the only thing I can hope for is that they understand.

“It was nice doing business with you guys!” the witch laughs and turns around just before we disappear into the forest. “In a week, Aleida will be killed in the center of town, spread it further. I’m sure you all want to see your queen drop.”

She laughs and then commands the men to hurry up. They tear me forward, and given that I lost much blood, I stumble when I try to walk. She continues to laugh, and I think she’s very reminiscent of Jana, but there’s no apparent similarity between them. I honestly doubt if it’s Jana, but who else could this woman be? Jonathan had a witch as help last time I got taken away from my mates, and to my knowledge, there’s no one else nearby besides her. But the differences in appearance baffle me.

“Hurry up!” she growls, and the men tear me forward once more.

Elisa, what are we going to do?

This has always been our destiny; it still stood between them or us. The only difference is that you’ve chosen your future through choices this time.

But we have already sacrificed ourselves once!

This is the price we had to pay to bring our puppies down to Earth with us. The girls are safe, and our boys too. If it’s between them and us, we ultimately agree on how it must end. Right?

Always, you and me, until death does us part.

Until death does us part.

I close the mindlink with my beloved hybrid and focus on what’s happening around me. Sometime along the way, more rogues have gathered and joined forces with us. Three of them look carefully at me and fold their ears backward in a shameful way. Finally, we reach a chariot used in the middle-ages to move prisoners, paired with two horses; old-fashioned! When did we slip away from the two thousand century and went to Narnia? The witch slams down the door of the carriage, and the men who hold me are waiting for me to step inside. I walk into the carriage with my head immersed and sit down without causing any problems. There’s not much I can do if I want to make sure my people and the vampires continue to be safe; the witch knows that. When the men close the door again, I see they’re wearing gloves. It can only mean one thing; silver bars. Instead of continuing the forest journey, the witch decides to move us along the road, all to humiliate me as much as possible. Many wolves are already watching us when we get out of the forest. I lose control and see everything from a wolf’s perspective, although it isn’t Elisa’s. My body follows its instincts, and I begin growling at every one of those I see in front of me. My mouth drips with a foamy drool; I probably look like a rabid dog at the moment, but I can’t control it.

“Is this the queen you were all prepared to kneel in front of and promise eternal loyalty?” the witch laughs loudly. “She’s practically gone, and there’s nothing that can bring her back. Aleida is right where she should’ve been from the beginning.”

I keep growling and pace in the little cage. The forest calls on me, and I know my instincts about going in there to the wolves I should’ve always been with. More and more people stand along the way in wolf form and look sad, but I don’t understand why; I don’t know them. Who are they? The rumor must have spread fast, given that I see more wolves coming to the road all the time. Every single one whimpers when they see me broken down in a cage like a beast. When I see six men I don’t know but recognize, I put my head crooked like a puppy. Two of the men are holding five puppies that make something in me move. When I hear the puppies whine, it’s like something is bursting inside me. I howl loudly, all wolves answer it, and the sound is loud enough that they should hear it all the way to Europe. The puppies are trying to get to me, and suddenly I recognize all of them again. The sound of my puppies makes me mad, this witch causes them pain, and we aren’t going to accept it! I growl and throw myself to the side of the cart.

“What the hell!?” the witch exclaims, confused and looking backward; her eyes widen as she sees me throwing myself to the side repeatedly. “Control her!”

“We can’t touch the bars; it’s silver,” one of the men replies, terrified.

It hurts like hell in my body when I move against the silver, but on the other hand, I still have my chains on me; I’m used to it. The cart rolls over, and I jump out of the hole. The control starts to disappear from my body again, and I decide that I can’t carry out my plan; I have to get out of here.

“You’re free at the moment, but you’re also virtually gone in your insanity. There’s nowhere you can hide where I won’t find you, Aleida!” the witch roars as I run into the woods.