Owned By The Alphas novel Chapter 37

36. The Risks
The ride back to the city was nowhere near as pleasurable as the other times
we had gone back.
They weren’t ignoring me; Kai had his hand on my thigh, his fingers tracing
the inside of it, and Derik was opposite me, his feet stretched out, brushing
mine as Brax had his shadows stroking mine in that weird, intensely
intimate way.
But it was so quiet.
“So, what now?” I asked, trying to break the silence.
“We have to meet with the council at the Summit and warn them of the
sacrifices.
We don’t know many rituals that require humans as sacrifices, but they
might know something that could help.” Derik sighed, pinching the bridge
of his nose.
Kai scoffed. “I don’t want anything from those f**kers. Whatever
information they give us will have a price, and I’m not paying them shit.”
“We don’t have a choice!” Derik snarled back, and Kai pursed his lips, his
anger radiating through me.
“So, I had a visit from my brother,” I said, trying to distract. All three of
them turned their glares toward me.
“When? What happened?” Brax asked.
“And you’re only just telling us now?” Derik snapped.
“Did you hurt him?” Kai smirked, his eyes sparkling at the idea.
I shook my head. “No. He did tell me to meet him at the cemetery alone in
two weeks on the full moon though. Was thinking I should probably do
that,” I admitted.
I had considered keeping it to myself, but if I wanted them to tell me
everything then I needed to do the same.
And I just wasn’t interested in doing anything the way my brother wanted
me to, because he wasn’t calling the shots anymore. Not if I could help it.
“You’re not going.” Kai laughed. “I will tie you to the bed and f**k you
until you can’t walk if you try to,” he warned, with a threat that made my
bitch of a libido spike.
My mouth ran dry at the idea, and I grinned. “You can do that when we get
home.
But I am going to the cemetery. I have to, or he’ll kill my brother.”
“I guess this is the part where I’m meant to say I give a f**k, but the truth
is, Little Human, that I don’t. Your brother, Elias, none of them hold a
candle to what I feel for you.
“I’ll be sorry for the pain you feel at the death of your brother, but I will not
trade that for your death. Not ever,” he said, running his finger down my
jaw before pulling my lips to his.
I kissed him back, my mind turning with his words. I wanted him to care
more about my brother’s life, but what he said made me sure that he was
never going to care about it like I did, or more than I did.
So I kept kissing him, deepening the way our lips connected, my tongue
sliding along his. He hauled me onto his lap, kissing me harder, his hand
tangling in my hair, getting carried away like we always did.
I was already desperate for him, more of his touch, his skin on mine, his
taste.
Until Derik was behind me, kissing down my neck and slowly pulling me
back from Kai, who growled in warning. He glared at Derik who bared his
teeth.
“Not the time,” he bit, then put me next to him instead of on his lap like I
wanted.
I pouted, and he kissed my cheek, then turned to Kai.
“She won’t be going. Don’t lock her up just yet and throw away the key.”
“That won’t stop me, I know how to pick locks. And I am not staying. I
have to go to this meeting. I just need help figuring out how to beat Elias
before I get there. I have my shadows, but I’m not as strong as him,” I
insisted, and all three wolves shared a look that said I was going the right
way for them to do more than just lock me up.
“You will not go alone,” Derik said, and I was expecting Brax to say
something, but he was silent.
He looked deep in thought, and I put my hand on his thigh, interrupting
them.
“Share with the class?” I prompted, and he looked at the other two, then
back at me before thinking again.
“There might be a way to keep you safe if you go ‘alone.’”
“I’m listening?” I waited, trying to be patient but not achieving it well.
“That link we mentioned before—”
“No, Brax,” Derik snapped.
“Yes. Do it. We’re heading straight to Tabitha’s.” Kai grinned wickedly.
“It’s the only way. Then she’ll be safe from the vamps; they can’t demand
her be there if she is linked to us. We’ll also be with her when she meets at
the cemetery.
In her mind, but she will be able to pull on our magic,” Brax explained, and
I raised a brow at the connection he mentioned.
“This is the same one you mentioned before when we were talking about
my brother? Isn’t there a physical distancing issue? Then I couldn’t go
alone.”
Brax grimaced. “Kind of. This link is…intense. It’s a bit different to the one
we would have done with your brother. This one is more like a forced
mating. It can be dangerous though. It’s not meant to be done between
races.”
“Which is why we are not doing it,” Derik huffed, but Kai and Brax both
ignored him.
So did I. If there was a chance I could avoid the vampires at the Summit
and my brother at the cemetery, it was a chance I was going to have to take.
“What will it mean? Being linked to all three of you?” I asked.
“It means you’ll have the same access to all of us that we have to each
other,” Derik murmured.
“The mind-link thing? Communicating in your heads?”
Kai nodded. “You’ll give off alpha scent. The pack will kneel before you
like they should,” Kai said, dropping to his knees in front of me, separating
my legs with a smirk.
“They won’t be able to help it. Neither can I,” he said, his voice low and
seductive as he lifted my skirts.
I licked my lips, my mouth running dry as Kai ran his nose along my thigh.
I shivered, my body coming to life under his hot breath.
My hands clenched on Brax’s and Derik’s thighs, a fire burning low in my
body as Kai pressed his lips against my damp panties. I sucked in a breath
as his teeth nipped at the flesh.
“What else?” I trembled.
“You’ll feel us with you. No thought will be your own, you’ll be able to see
what we see, even as wolves. It can be overwhelming for a human,” Derik
warned, his eyes stuck on me and Kai, his lips parted.
He was trying to sway me, but everything they did to me was
overwhelming, so it wasn’t working.
Brax grabbed my hand from his thigh, kissing it. “You’ll be able to draw on
my shadows. They’ll feel like an extension of your own.”
I nodded, swallowing hard as Kai massaged my thigh with his huge hand,
his lips dragging over the flesh where he had ripped my panties, giving him
access to my glistening pussy.
His hot breath was almost as intense as his touch, a tease that made me
tremble in his grasp.
“Your soul will be linked to ours. Our genes are stronger, so you’ll live as
long as we do.” Kai grinned, stroking along my seam with his rough
tongue.
I gasped, fidgeting beneath his hold, trying to get another shock of pleasure
to my core, but he grinned wider and went back to teasing me with his lips
and breath.
I wanted more friction almost as much as I wanted what he said. Live as
long as they did? That was worth it.
“You don’t know that. She’s winter born, has shadows. If her genes are
stronger, then we live as long as she does,” Derik warned, and I paused, his
fear breaking through the heady passion inside me.
I looked to him, his eyes finding mine.
“How do I make sure that doesn’t happen?” I whispered, needing to know if
there was a way I could help so I linked to them, not the other way around.
Kai chuckled between my legs and drew my attention straight back there.
“You are perfect,” he breathed, licking me again.
“What Derik isn’t telling you is that there is a way. It’s magic; all magic can
be bent.
Especially ours. With a link like the one you are going to get.” His voice
hardened, his eyes narrowing on Derik with the order. “Your will can make
the magic do what you want.”
He smiled, and I grinned.
“I can do that.” I sucked in a breath, his tongue pushing inside me.
“I know you can, which is why you are getting it,” he said as Derik growled
in warning and looked away.
“I didn’t—” I gasped as Kai made a meal of my pussy, taking my thoughts
as I tried to finish them. “Oh geez.”
My head fell back, my hips pushing against the pleasure as he lapped,
licked, and bit.
“Why don’t you want me to get it, Derik?” I asked through pants, arching
my back as I tried to focus, but Kai was relentless.
Brax was watching, his eyes fixed on my pussy before he leaned in,
pressing his lips against my neck.
Derik turned to me again, his eyes filled with a heat that I knew meant he
was going to cave.
“Because if we mate after linking you, it will tear you apart. Your soul will
have a fissure in it, and with the shadows inside you, that’s dangerous. They
could turn.
“Which is exactly why the vampires are going to be infuriated if we do this.
It is a risk for a winter born to exist, and we plan on giving it access to a
darkness even worse than Elias,” he explained quietly, and I stopped Kai,
looking between the alphas, the truth in their eyes.
If we did this, I probably wouldn’t survive if they mated. One maybe, but if
all three of them did? I wouldn’t be me anymore.
“And how likely is it that you mate?” I asked, just the idea of it hurting like
a bitch already.
I couldn’t imagine another girl, wolf or not, getting to have them like I did.
But it was the truth of the situation, and I had to be a big girl about it. Not
that I wanted to.
“For usual wolves it happens more, but for alphas? It is rare. And for Brax,
we’re not even sure it’s possible,” Kai said, obviously trying to put things
back to getting what he wanted.
The carriage came to a stop then, and I took a deep breath, my blood still
singing with residual pleasure, but my mind was on the options I had.
Get the link, be safe in the short term with the vampires and possibly Elias,
but in the long term, I could turn into something that nothing would be safe
from.
There was only one way I could see that not happening.
“So kill me,” I said.
All three of them snarled, but I shushed them.
“Just listen. We do the link, and if the time comes where one of you mates,
then kill me before I can go all psycho,” I said, hating the idea but liking it a
whole lot more than the other option.
“We’d all have to mate for that to be possible. It would sever the link, but if
we did it before then, whoever was still linked would die with you,” Derik
said, and I shook my head.
“And if one of you die?” I asked.
“Then so do you. Our link is different. If one of us dies, the others will get
sick while they absorb the magic, or until the next heir in that line is
brought into the link.”
“Enough!” Kai growled finally, his eyes red, his teeth bared.
We all looked up at him as he controlled himself, staring at me, still
kneeling before me between the seats of the stopped carriage.
He grabbed my chin with his clawed fingers. “I could not kill you, Little
Human, psycho or not. I would tear my own heart out before I allowed it.
“We are linking you. I am not mating to anyone else, and I will not hand
you over to the vampires. I don’t give a f**k about the war that could start,
and I don’t give a f**k that I could die if you do. I’d rather be dead if you
are,” Kai said, his tone so deep and intense, the look in his eyes even more
so.
My lips parted, the confession reaching so far inside me, it had me reaching
for him. His lips met mine. My tongue caught on his fangs as he retracted
them, and I moaned against him.
Kai yanked me onto his lap between the seats. I pulled away to breathe a
moment later, and he buried his face in my neck.
Derik put his hands on either side of my head and tipped it back to look up
at him.
“You want this?” he asked, and I nodded.
“Yes,” I breathed.
He leaned down to kiss me, then stood and went to the door. “I’ll go talk to
Tabitha then,” he said, and I raised a brow.
“We’re at hers?”
Brax stood up, kissing me. “Our magic is bendable to will. Kai’s will is
strong when it comes to you. The carriage went where he wanted it to,
Derik didn’t stand a chance.” He smirked.
“If you’d actually helped, I would’ve,” Derik snapped, and Brax shrugged.
“I wanted to see what would happen. Should’ve known Kai’s crazy would
win.”
Brax laughed, then opened the door, looking back.
“I’m going to stand guard until you two are finished. If we weren’t here, I’d
lose myself in you too, Spitfire, but since we are, I’ll wait.
“Before I go though, it’s not just Kai who feels like that with you. You’ll
feel that in the link soon, but don’t be surprised by how deep the connection
is. Werewolves don’t do anything by halves,” he said, and even though it
sounded like a warning, it made me feel so good inside.
I knew without a doubt it wasn’t one-sided; they loved me too. Without
saying it, I knew.
I smiled back at him and nodded as he left. Derik did too.
The second they closed the carriage door, Kai was tugging my dress off my
body. I had a feeling he would have ripped it if we weren’t planning on
going inside to see Tabitha afterward.
I wrapped my arms around his neck as he brought my lips to his, kissing me
hard and full. He tasted so good, his tongue moving with mine as I wrapped
my legs around him.
We probably should have waited, gone inside and talked through the linking
with the other two, but I didn’t want to. I knew as much as Kai did, that we
were going through with it.
I was excited to be linked to them. It was a connection I didn’t expect to be
allowed with them, and maybe I wasn’t, but they were still going to do it.
That commitment meant so much more to me than anything so far, and with
Kai telling me exactly how far his obsession went, I wanted this moment
with him. It felt right, he felt right.
I kissed him back, gripping his hair in my fist, loving the way it made him
groan.
He reached between us, undoing the string of his leather pants. I gripped the
fabric of his shirt, yanking it over his head, finding his lips again as he sat
up, holding me on his waist, positioning my back on the bench seat.
He lifted my hips to his, running his thick length against my entrance, his
eyes on mine, where they stayed as he filled me.
I cried out, gripping his arm as it held my waist, the other clutching the seat.
I wanted to drop my head back but he held my gaze, driving inside me with
precise strokes that had me crying out, crumbling around him so fast.
He reached forward, his big hand holding the back of my neck for leverage
as he lifted his leg to hold mine on it, still f**king me with furious strokes
that had me gasping and crying out every time his tip hit deep inside me.
Every part of me was alive, burning, breaking with intense pleasure and
emotion.
The green in his eyes was bright, almost glowing as he claimed me, his jaw
clenched, his body beading with sweat. His abs glistened as I panted
through his thrusts, his cock so damn swollen I thought I was going to break
in half.
He was so deep, my body so full, I couldn’t get enough breath.
I held his veined forearm as he readjusted his grip on my neck, holding my
gaze so I had no choice but to get lost in the connection.
Not that I wanted anything else. It made the feel of his cock filling me so
much more than physical.
But I wanted more. I wanted to feel him against me, his groans and pants in
my ear as my pussy greedily sucked him in.
With the fire burning, the tension tightening, I moved his arm away from
me. His grip breaking on my neck, I reached forward for him and he hauled
me up, holding me tight against his body as he slammed me on his cock.
I gasped, my nails digging into his shoulders, crying out as he hit that ache
inside me that almost had me collapsing.
I fell into him, moving my hips, gripping his waist with my burning thighs,
my body damp with sweat as I bounced on his thighs.
He grunted and moved faster, racing us to that finish line, just as desperate
as me to get that tsunami of release.
I needed it; I couldn’t think or breathe, it was overwhelming me.
“Kai!” I cried out against his shoulder, biting down, my eyes clenching shut
as my orgasm rose up so high and crashed down so hard and fast with his
strokes.
I shook against him, whimpering and gasping as he buried himself inside
my clenching pussy, his groan turning into a roar as he emptied himself
inside me.
He grabbed my face and brought it to his, kissing me harshly as he f**ked
the last of our orgasms out before stilling his thrusts, his mouth still moving
over mine, his hand gripping my hair so tightly I whimpered against him.
He growled and moved me onto the bench seat, his cock still deep,
throbbing as he covered my body with his, bringing my leg up against his
body.
I broke the kiss, gasping for air, but he didn’t give up, kissing down my
neck, licking over my breasts, a pang of pleasure moving through me as he
stroked over my breast.
Then he was back at my mouth, stealing my gasp as he kissed me.
“Kai,” I mumbled against him, the word coming out as a moan.
“I’m not ready to let you go just yet, Little Human.” He smirked, kissing
over my jaw, tugging at my lips as I licked his.
He sighed when I did, his eyes going to mine as he held the side of my face.
“We have to go inside.”
“I’ve been trying to convince Derik to do this link since the blood moon.
You’ve always been mine,” he said, and I smiled.
“Does that make you mine?” I asked, and he grinned that wide wolfy smile
that made him seem so much less dangerous than he was.
“The second you arrived late with a racing heart so full of fear but a tongue
so sharp, I was yours.”
I grinned, remembering the ceremony. It seemed so long ago that it had
happened, like they had always been mine.
“I’m still scared.”
I whispered the truth. But now I wasn’t scared of them, I was scared of
losing them.
“I won’t let anything happen to you, Little Human.”
“It’s not me I’m scared for,” I admitted, and his face softened, his lips
falling on mine, a soft, tender kiss that had warmth radiating through me.
“I’m too obsessed with you to ever leave you earlier than the last breath you
take. I want to be there for every single one,” he vowed.
It was so intense, but that was Kai. He was the intense one.
Brax was the softer one—eased into things, told me things like I was going
to need time to process it, loved me like a beast but made sure to balance it
with intimacy.
Derik was the thoughtful one, the one who kept walls up, so worried that
his life would bleed too much into mine, but when we were alone, he let me
in, and I craved the affection in those times.
Just like I craved the obsession from Kai, the connection with Brax.
“Then let’s go make sure I take more of them,” I said, and Kai grinned,
kissing me one last time before pulling out of me and getting up.
I sat up and took my dress from him as he held it out. I slipped it on as he
got dressed, then let him help me up. My thighs ached, my core ached, but I
was so relaxed I didn’t even care.
Kai opened the carriage door to Brax sitting on the step, picking apart a
weed from the swamp, glaring at Ruby.
Kai grinned and used Brax’s shoulder to jump down and pet the thing. I
swear Ruby purred, her rows of teeth showing as she panted like a dog,
playing with Kai.
I laughed nervously and went to step past Brax, but he grabbed me and held
me up bridal style, moving past the swamp and onto the wooden ramp up to
Tabitha’s.
He put me down and kissed my cheek, then went to stand in the dark
against the cladding of the house.
His face was stone, his glare still bright. I went over to him and cuddled
into him.
His arm went around me, and he kissed the top of my head.
And then his shadows were reaching for mine, caressing them, making
them bright and warm inside me. I closed my eyes and took the comfort,
offering him the same, and it seemed to work.
He relaxed a little as my shadows calmed his.
“Are you okay with this? I know Derik and Kai are on opposite sides, but
where do you stand with the link thing?” I asked, and he chuckled beside
me.
“Derik isn’t on the opposite side, he’s trying to be the voice of reason, but
we all know what we can feel coming from him. He’s excited, he wants
this.”
“Do you?”
“I want you. If this is how I get that, then we have to,” he said, but there
was a hesitation in him; even my shadows paused within him for a second.
“But you don’t like the idea of Tabitha doing another spell?” I assumed, and
I felt him nod.
“Everything has a price. I don’t want you paying it,” he said, and I leaned
back to look at him.
“Then let’s go inside and find out what it is before we agree,” I said, then
stepped away from him and grabbed his hand, leading him inside as Kai
jumped onto the porch, just out of the way of Ruby’s playful nip.
She looked like she was almost laughing as she sank back into the water,
backing away.
Kai grinned and walked ahead, looking back over his shoulder to make sure
we were following. We were, and I led Brax inside, hoping whatever the
price was for the link, that I was willing to pay it.37. The Pain
“I knew you’d eventually be here with this request.” Tabitha smiled,
standing over an altar that hadn’t been there last time.
The living room was dark, with flickering candles, petals, a strange scent,
and a silver bowl on a stand covered in a velvet curtain draping down.
I walked forward to see what she was doing standing over it, sniffing the
aroma steaming out of it.
“You’re already preparing it?” I asked, letting go of Brax’s hand and giving
a little sniff of my own. The cinnamon and thyme were strong. Then
lavender. It didn’t seem so scary.
“Of course. This takes two days to put together, but you are right on time.”
She beamed and stirred the small pool of clear water in the bottom of the
bowl.
“Of course she is. Then we don’t know what went in it,” Brax sneered, and
Tabitha glared at him.
“Do not be disrespectful. You’ve already forsaken the gems you are meant
to wear during this visit, which I have graciously forgiven due to the time
restraints, but I will not tolerate the attitude, Braxton. Especially when you
are asking for a favor,”
she snapped, and it was the most testy I had seen her with the wolves.
“A favor. Because you will want it returned,” he bit back, and she smiled.
“Naturally. You well know, nothing is free.”
“What do you want in return, Tabitha?” Derik asked, stepping in, which
was probably a good idea because I was pretty sure Brax was about to piss
Tabitha off even more.
I stepped back from the brewing potion and grabbed his hand again,
soothing his shadows with my own.
“A time will come, soon, I’m sure, where Cain will need you. You will go
to him. No matter what else you have to do or attend, you will drop it and
go to him. All three of you.
“This is my price, and it will require a binding oath, I’m afraid,” she said,
still stirring, sniffing, and sprinkling more things from weird pouches into
the broth.
Brax’s hand tightened in mine, his anger polluting me as even Derik
frowned.
“Tabby, that’s a lot to ask. I cannot promise to leave if it endangers
Lorelai,” Kai said, crossing his arms.
Tabitha smacked her hands together, brushing the last of whatever powder
she had into the bowl.
“You can and you will because you are here, which means my price could
be higher and you would still pay it. Shall we continue?” she asked, putting
her hands on her full hips.
Cain walked out from a side room then holding a dagger and handed it to
Kai.
“Trust her, she knows what she’s doing,” Cain said, and Kai sighed, looking
between me, Derik, and Brax.
“We need her linked before the Summit. I don’t see any other choice, and
unless any of you do, I’m making the promise,” Kai said, pausing with the
blade in his hand, ready to cut.
Derik narrowed his eyes, then gave a single nod. Brax clenched his jaw and
glared as he gave the tiniest agreement.
Kai cut his hand.
His blood poured from the cut and onto his hand before his skin absorbed it
and it became perfect calligraphy across his forearm. It looked like it
burned, as Kai’s jaw clenched.
Derik cut next, then Brax. As soon as the oath was on them all, it sank into
their skin and disappeared.
“If this backfires, I’ll kill you,” Brax warned Tabitha, and Cain growled
back his own warning.
Tabitha put her hand on her son’s chest.
“Settle down. I wouldn’t have made the deal if I had believed it would end
in that outcome,” she said, hobbling back to her ingredients station against
the wall and whispering something to one of the thick purple candles before
blowing it out.
She dusted her hands off on her apron, then sighed and turned to me.
My heart raced as she smiled.
“You ready?” she asked.
I nodded, swallowing hard as I stepped forward to grab Tabitha’s hand. She
led me to the bowl, then looked at the alphas.
“You just gonna stand there, or do you want to be linked too?” Tabitha
asked.
Kai and Derik stepped forward, but Brax looked hesitant, watching Tabitha
with wary eyes, taking slow steps.
He finally joined us around the stand where the bowl was, and Cain began
moving around us, outlining us with a purple dust. I wanted to ask what it
was, but I didn’t think it would matter, as long as the spell worked.
It seemed so surreal to be a human surrounded by witches and werewolves,
like I had woken up in some strange dream that I didn’t want to leave.
The humans in my village knew witches existed, of course, but when it had
come to the great war, the witches had all stepped back, refusing to get
involved in territories between vampires and werewolves.
They had spoken of balance and not being able to use their magic for
anything but maintaining it. I assumed that was another reason to be wary
of their magic.
I wasn’t as wary now, though. I wanted the link as much as they did.
Maybe it was stupid or naive, or maybe I should take longer to explore my
options, but if we did this, they would be mine in more ways than I
could’ve hoped for.
Being human, my connection to them was limited, but I wanted everything
they had to offer me, and being linked was the deepest that went. If it
helped keep me safe too, then that was a bonus.
“What do we have to do?” I asked.
Tabitha stirred the mixture, more steam pouring out as it started bubbling.
“Drop your blood in, you each drink, then your souls will do the rest.”
She hummed, then looked at Cain over my shoulder, where he had finished
the circle. “Have you readied the bedchambers?” she asked, and he nodded.
“Yeah, it’ll be a tight fit with all four of them, but it’ll work,” he said, and I
frowned.
“All four of us to do what?”
“A forced mating, a marriage in magic, a link of this kind. All require
consummation, my dear.” She smiled as if that wasn’t turning my cheeks
scarlet.
“Well, that’s going to be weird,” I admitted, and she laughed.
“Don’t worry, once the link hits you and demands consummation, you
won’t care where you are.” She chuckled.
“Like the heat?”
She thought about that, then grinned.
“Hmm, similar. This will be more internal though. You may not even
connect physically, but the rest of you will link to whatever it is in the
alphas’ souls that appeals to you most.
“Physical attraction is weak, easily manipulated, a simple, breakable
connection; this link will run so much deeper than that,” she explained, still
pottering about with ingredients and stirring.
“Will it hurt?” I asked, not sure what compelled me to.
Her smile wavered, and she paused before nodding.
“If the link does what it is meant to, then yes. The pain at first will be
excruciating,”
she admitted quietly, then carried a bottle of liquid over.
Brax growled; Derik just grimaced and clenched his jaw.
“Tabitha,” Derik warned, and she shrugged.
“To expect anything less from blood magic is just foolish at this point. You
must be tested to make sure you want what the link is offering.
“Most creatures will yield when enough pain is applied. The spell will test
your limits and ability to see it through,” she explained, then put two drops
in the bowl.
They turned the potion a clear blue color that swirled with darker hints to it.
It almost moved on its own, and after being told it would hurt, my stomach
was turning.
I hated being in pain. I shivered at the idea.
“Say we can’t handle it. How would it know?” I asked, starting to freak out
just a little that I might just f**k this up for them all.
Tabitha offered me a kind smile with crinkling eyes.
“You’ll pass. But should the pain get too much, simply call out that you
yield, and the spell will release you. Any of you. Keep in mind that uttering
those words will not affect our bargain that was struck, and that this is a
one-time thing.
“This link, this particular spell, especially in this strength, can only be
attempted once,” she warned, stirring one last time before rolling her
shoulders back and placing her hands on the table.
My heart raced harder. I didn’t want to fail, I didn’t want to lose the
opportunity or yield, but the idea of being in pain had me second-guessing
everything.
“I’m not so good with pain,” I stuttered, my skin raising as she blew
through the steam and it swirled angrily.
“Maybe not, but it is a test, a challenge, and those I haven’t seen you shy
away from.
You will also be rewarded for passing the pain.
“When the link connects you all, that is when you will feel everything but
pain,” she said, smiling knowingly, like she had the world of secrets at her
fingertips.
Maybe she did. I didn’t know much, so I had to trust her.
“How long will the pain last?” I asked, and Brax grabbed my hand on one
side, Derik on the other. The warmth in their touch soothed me a little but
not enough to stop my heart from racing.
“Depends.” She shrugged.
“On?” I prompted.
“A few things. How deep the connection is already compared to how deep
the link wants to burrow. And how much you fight it,” she said.
I blew out a breath, hoping like hell that my connection with the alphas was
already sufficiently deep to avoid being in pain for a ridiculous amount of
time.
“Will all of us be in pain?” Derik frowned, and she nodded.
“You each must be tested.”
“And she will be safe?” he asked.
Tabitha nodded toward Cain. “He’ll keep an eye on you, make sure you
don’t wolf out on her, but the link is not designed to do that. It is a personal
test. If you pass, you are rewarded with a successful link, if you fail, you are
not,” she said, then smacked her hands together.
Every single candle’s light went out, and the crystal-blue water glowed. I
sucked in a breath, the anticipation curling in my stomach.
“Have you ever done this on someone with shadows before?” I murmured,
and she shook her head.
“Obviously not, but those variants shouldn’t matter.”
“Shouldn’t?” I sputtered. That didn’t sound very sure at all.
“We should get started. We’ve wasted enough time, and you will need time
to get used to the link before the Summit meeting. I believe they requested
an urgent meeting, but twenty-four hours shouldn’t make them too testy.”
She chuckled, like she knew something we didn’t, and like usual, she
probably did.
“Ready then?” she asked.
I looked to the alphas, who waited for my nod. I did, and they did the same.
Tabitha smiled, then handed me a long pin. I took it and stared at the silver
needle in trepidation. Pain, my worst enemy, and I had to bring it on myself.
It sounded simple enough when I looked at the big picture, the alphas
would essentially be mine, but getting there? I would have to endure
something I had always shied away from.
It was terrifying, and physically making myself prick my finger was harder
and harder to convince myself to do.
I had barely moved the needle an inch when Derik leaned down and
captured my mouth with his. It was a distraction, in the back of my mind I
knew that, but I welcomed it.
His lips covered mine in soft, tender pulls until I was desperate and
breathless.
“Now, beautiful,” he whispered against me, and I tightened my grip on the
needle, pricking my finger as his tongue slid against mine and his hand
tightened its grip on my face.
I winced against the kiss, the tiny sting worse because I had been waiting
for it.
He broke away, then nodded to the bowl. I looked down at the droplet of
blood pooling at my fingertip, then held it over the potion.
It dropped in just before Kai, Derik, and Brax put their own drops in, much
more used to the idea of pain than me, obviously.
Tabitha nodded, a smirk playing on her lips as she began humming and
stirring.
Then she was whispering words in a language I didn’t know, her voice
echoing through the house.
She stirred and stirred the glowing water that was now deep purple, then
poured it into four small glass tubes. She handed us each one, then sighed.
“From here on out, I cannot interfere. Once that potion has been accepted
into your bodies, it will be up to you to decide the fate.
“Wolves, remember to keep the wall up on the link with your pack. Cain
told me you have made them aware of what you are doing here, but I would
advise against sharing this experience; it will only make it harder to get
through the pain to your winter born.”
“As for you, Lorelai, you must remember your wolves. Everything about
them that makes you happy, smile, laugh, and love. Keep them close, touch
as much as possible, and it will make the next few hours more tolerable. I
will see you at sunrise; the future will be clearer then.”
She smiled, then grabbed her cane and stepped back, waiting for us to
drink.
I looked at the wolves, then back at the drink. I had come this far in their
world; I couldn’t bitch out now. So I emptied the vial in one shot.
I looked over as the wolves finished theirs, smiling at the way it made the
red in their eyes glow through.
And then I felt it.
The searing, burning pain that felt like my entire insides were being boiled
alive.
I screamed until my voice went hoarse, tears burning in my eyes. I couldn’t
form a thought through the blinding, excruciating sting, ache, and throb that
filled every part of my existence.
It was everywhere, and I couldn’t escape, but I wanted to. I couldn’t
breathe, I was suffocating, and I dropped to my knees, my voice still
coming out in strangled gasps and wails.
Suddenly I wasn’t so sure I should have trusted a witch so easily or taken a
potion that promised such intense pain because I was pretty sure I was
dying, and I didn’t even want to survive at that point.
Not even for my alphas.