Page 20 of Alpha’s Hated Mate (Shifters of Clarion)

T he caw pierces the darkness . . . sharp and insistent. My tiny lungs fill with air, and I cry out instinctively. Where am I? Where is she?

I’m surrounded by blackness. Cold earth beneath me, rough wood above. Only the thinnest slice of daylight filters through a crack, painting a golden line across my swaddled body. The raven calls again, closer now.

My heart pounds. So small. So afraid. I wail louder, my cries echoing in this wooden prison.

Voices. Muffled but familiar somehow. I cry again, desperate now. Footsteps vibrate through the ground beneath me.

“Did you hear that?” A woman’s voice, concerned. “It’s coming from under the porch.”

Suddenly, blinding light floods in as the wooden board shifts away. I blink, disoriented. Two faces peer down at me, mouths open in shock.

“Goddess above . . . it’s a baby!”

Strong, gentle hands lift me from my hiding place. The woman cradles me against her chest, her heartbeat steadying my panic.

“Where did she come from? Who would leave a child here?”

“What in the world?” A man says. He calls out into the forest. “Hello? Is anyone out there? Is she hurt?”

The woman inspects me. “I don’t think so.”

Their faces . . . I know them. They’re the ones who raised me. My grandparents . . . who weren’t my grandparents at all.

“Let’s get her inside,” Grandma says.

The house behind them, blue trim with pink flowering bushes. I know this place well . . . It’s my grandparents’ house, where I grew up.

My heart hurts. I played on this porch—on these steps—never knowing this is where Natasha hid me . . . before running away to sacrifice herself. Natasha was my mother.

“My love,” I hear her voice. “Live for me.”

Just like the darkness that swallowed me, I open my eyes to blackness.

Natasha of Hino was my mother. I can’t move. I can barely breathe. She died saving me . . . from that giant blood-red wolf. It looked the same as the one that just attacked me and Aydan. She was trying to warn me.

Aydan. Where’s Aydan?

I take a deep breath, closing my eyes again in an effort to block everything out for a moment. It’s a lot to take in, but I don’t have time to deal with it right now.

The heavy smell of Scarlet wolves and the dankness of a basement surrounds me. I sit up and let my eyes adjust, making out shapes. A hand touches my shoulder. I jump away, startled.

“Hey, it’s all right,” the voice says. “You’re among friends.”

My eyes are still adjusting, but the scent is unmistakable. As the shapes come into dim focus, I realize that the figures around me are other Scarlets . . . the missing Scarlets. “Where are we?” I ask out loud to no one in particular.

“We don’t know,” a voice nearby says. “We all woke up here a day or so ago. Do you know what’s going on?”

I don’t. Not exactly. I shake my head and wince a little at the pain just behind my eyes. Whatever knocked me out was a doozy. “I was attacked by . . . by some kind of wolf monster.”

“Monster?” It’s a female voice, high and panicked. “Oh, Goddess. Is that what’s been causing the terrifying howling outside? What does it want?”

My mind conjures the image of that thing again. Red fur. Massive size. Eyes burning with unnatural hatred. Not like any normal wolf. Something else entirely.

Wait a minute . . .

The pieces start to snap together. The laboratory from my vision—the white-haired man injecting himself with that crimson liquid. The giant red wolf that tore through the forest hunting my mother after she hid me beneath those porch steps.

The realization hits me like a punch in the gut. The giant red wolf that killed my mother . . . the same one that attacked us today . . . it’s him. It’s Alton. Aydan’s father. He’s not dead—he turned himself into a monster with that serum. My skin goes cold despite the stuffiness of our underground prison.

My mother died protecting me from him.

And if he’s behind all this, he’s collecting Scarlets again . . .

A figure scoots closer to me. “Are you okay, Saffron?” I recognize the voice. It’s Cyd.

I swallow hard, throat dry like sandpaper. How could I possibly explain?

Hey, everyone, I’m pretty sure my boyfriend’s dad turned himself into a mutant wolf-monster, murdered my mother, and is probably planning to do experiments on all of us.

Oh, Goddess. Aydan. Does he know what his father has become?

“I’m fine,” I manage, pressing the heel of my palm against my temple. “Just trying to make sense of everything.”

“Nothing makes sense,” Robby’s voice says. He sounds a little more assertive than usual, but it’s definitely him. “At least, no one is hurt.”

“It’s those damn purists!” A male scoffs. “Holding Scarlets hostage for no reason.” My brain is finally recovering from being knocked out and my eyes are adjusting to the darkness. I’m beginning to make out some faces through the dim light filtering through a small window. The one that’s speaking is Jack, a Scarlet that was in my First Labor class. He’s hunkered down a few feet away from me, his long red hair in his face.

I’ll let him believe that. Purists sound a lot less scary than a Scarlet-obsessed mad scientist right now. Maybe Alton needs our blood to make more of his serum because it’s the only thing keeping him alive . . . or something like that.

Nevermind why he needs us. We need to get out of here before he comes back and decides to do whatever he’s planning with his collection of Scarlets.

I hear footsteps from outside of the room coming toward us, but they’re normal footsteps. Alton must’ve changed back.

“She’s coming back,” another girl says.

Wait . . . she?

The locks to the door turn and the door opens. The lights suddenly come on, and for a second, I’m blinded. I squint, looking around at all the Scarlets and their various shades of red hair. Some wearing their uniforms. Others in normal clothing. We all cringe from the light, and most of them start to scurry to the back wall like mice.

I pick up her scent first. Jasmine, soft and so subtle that no one ever really notices it until she’s left the room. It can’t be . . .

And as my vision clears, I see a wall of bars between us and rest of the room. Clean white tile and cement block walls. A desk with a computer, various file folders, and a number of notebooks stacked on the edge.

In her black pants and shirt and her golden hair tied back into a ponytail, I see our captor plain as day.

“Well, Luna Saffron,“ Nadia looks directly at me and says with a smile like my new title is a joke. “Welcome to the dawn of a new age.”

She’s working with her father! Anger rises up within me as I stagger to my feet, the rational part of my brain trying to make sense of her presence. But the way she’s smiling at me is the same way she does when she thinks she’s gotten one over on me. Every insult, every jeer, it always lies behind that same shit-eating grin.

“What in the actual fuck, Nadia?“ I say. I’m moving before I can stop myself. I rush across the cell, my hands reaching between the bars to claw at her.

She doesn’t even flinch. She just stands there and watches me claw at the air. My reach is nowhere near long enough to reach her.

“I do love that Scarlet temper.” She laughs. “Dad was right about you. If only every wolf had a fraction of the energy your kind possess—“

“You bitch!” I snarl. “Let me out of here and I’ll give you a full demonstration.”

“Oh, Saffron.” Nadia’s voice as condescending as ever. “Do you even know how important all of you are to wolf-kind? Each one of you has the potential to be a weapon of mass destruction. They labeled my father as insane, but what’s really insane is that they wouldn’t allow him to harness that potential. But don’t worry. That injustice will be corrected.”

I step back from the bars. “You can’t do this, Nadia. You can’t kidnap all the Scarlets at Moonhelm so your father can experiment on us.”

The other Scarlets gasp and start to murmur anxiously.

Nadia gives me an odd look and then smirks like an all-knowing genius. “You think you’ve got it all figured out, don’t you?”

“I know your father is a monster!” I ball my hands up into fists to keep myself grounded . . . to hold the tears back. “I saw it in my visions. He experimented on my mother, Natasha of Hino, turned himself into a giant beast, and killed her!”

She shakes her head with a sigh. “My father saved your mother. She and your father attempted a coup on the Alpha King. She would have been executed along with you in her belly! Instead, he took her in as one of our pack.”

“Only to torture her!”

“No, not torture. My father wanted to create a serum that would rebuild wolf anatomy. Make all wolves stronger. More powerful than any wolf ever known. And he knew the key lay in Scarlet DNA but no one would let him try. Then, he discovered that Natasha of Hino carried a baby Scarlet . . .” Her face split into a slow, manic smile. “And he could finally test his theories, thanks to you.”

That vision of my mother strapped to the table. Alton extracted my DNA from her belly.

“With your DNA, he finally fulfilled him dream of creating a super wolf serum but, having no other wolves to test it on, he used it on himself. However, he didn’t account for the loss of control. Scarlets are the closest thing to wild wolves after all. The wolf he became was filled with rage and blood lust. He would not stop until he tasted it and . . . unfortunately, you and your mother were the nearest at that time.”

“He killed her!” I shut my eyes to try to block the image from my mind again.

“You have to understand,” Nadia continues. “He didn’t mean to kill her. The beast could not be contained until it tasted blood.”

As if that made it better. I feel like I’m going to throw up. I don’t want to hear any more of this. “Just shut up!” I yell.

“No, you need to hear this.” She pauses, walking back toward me. “Once he reverted back to his old self, he was horrified that he hurt Natasha. He went back to look for her baby and knew the older couple found you, but left you alone because you’d be better off with them.”

My fingernails dig into my palms until they sting. Is that supposed to make me feel sympathy for the beast that killed my mother? The beast she died protecting me from. The beast he transformed into using my DNA.

Bile rises in my throat. I press my forehead against the cool metal bars, trying to ground myself as the room spins. The other Scarlets whisper behind me but their voices sound distant, underwater.

Nadia walks back toward the desk and lifts up a picture frame. It’s the same photo of Alton Vaultmore I saw in Shatterstone Hall. She says softly, “My father swore never to change into that wolf again . . . and he never did. But over the years, the cost of denying the wolf was great. Eventually, his heart stopped from the strain . . . and, one year ago, the world lost the greatest scientist who ever lived.”

Alton is dead after all? How is that possible? He attacked us in the woods.

“Then who attacked—?”

“Someone had to continue his vision.” Nadia’s voice becomes stoic and full of purpose. “Someone had to perfect his serum. I had to carry on my father’s legacy.”

Holy shit. The wolf monster in the woods . . . it wasn’t her father. Nadia is the giant red wolf.

“Do you know what’s ironic?” Nadia smiles slyly. “Our families have been connected all this time. My father saved your mother. Your DNA created the serum that now flows through me. My family always had a thing for Scarlets so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that my brother is enamored with you. Soon, you and other Scarlet wolves will form the army that will help me usher in the new age of wolf-kind.”

“Your army? You’re a fucking psycho! Why would we help you?”

“Silly Saffron, you don’t have a choice. How do you think you wound up in that cell? How all of you wound up in that cell?” A smug smile tugs at her lips. “You see, not only am I able to control myself with this new serum, but it allows me to control Scarlet wolves as well.”

The gravity of Nadia’s plan comes into focus. Her super wolf form is behind the mind-control.

“You’re crazy if you think Aydan will go along with this!”

“Don’t talk about him like you know him better than I do!” Nadia snaps. “He will once he realizes this is our father’s legacy.” She places the photo back on the desk and says, “Enough talk for now. They’ll be looking for you soon. But don’t worry. We’ll be ready when they come.”

With that, she leaves us.

“She’s insane,” Robby says. “We have to do something.”

“How are we supposed to fight her when she can control our minds?” Jack asks.

Nadia has to be stopped.

“We need to get out of here,” I say. “Now.”

“How? We’re already tried.” Cyd says. “That door is the only way in and out.”

“We’re Scarlets, aren’t we?” I say. “It’s time we use that to our advantage.”