Page 12 of Brutal Alpha Beast (Roseville Alphas #2)

I know this tapestry, the one with the burning willow tree, the woman, the wave of water, and the wolf. I know what it represents—Willow’s curse that almost took over the valley last time, but was defeated by Sawyer and Lacey’s love.

I can’t explain why I’m so drawn to it, but I am. It’s like some strange, deep, internal pull. I’m so hypnotized that when Ellis speaks, I almost forget to respond.

He’s been flooding my every thought ever since that kiss, but now all I can think about is some crumby ancient covering on the meeting room wall.

“Uh, nothing,” I finally say. “Just this tapestry is interesting, is all.”

Ellis gets up and walks toward me. But again, even the sound of his shoes against the floor fades into the background. Everything, even my own voice, is only slightly louder than a whisper.

This tapestry is sucking me in. I want to know... more?

“I guess interesting is the right word,” Ellis says. “It once hung in Sawyer’s pack meeting room. I asked to borrow it for research purposes to learn more about this curse, but I couldn’t find any new information in it. I was stuck. A little like we are now.”

I nod.

He continues. “I was supposed to give it back. It’s not great having it hanging here, it feels like bad luck or something, I don’t know.”

I trail my fingers along its edges; it’s as if the tapestry is whispering to me. I hear faint sounds, little calls, but I can’t deduce any words.

I’m meant to respond to him, but I’m distracted by a strange sensation that flows through my body. The whispers get louder, almost deafening, and somehow, I know what to do to make them stop.

From my fingertips, with hardly any effort, I release a steady stream of magic which starts small, but as it spreads, it opens up as wide as the mouth of a river. It flows around the edges of the tapestry, filling it with a white glow.

I have no spell in mind. No control over what’s going on, but I stare at the tapestry and my magic, hypnotically, in a trance.

The whispers get quieter, but only slightly.

“Danielle?” I hear Ellis murmur behind me.

Suddenly, the tapestry is changing. The image of the tree, the woman, the water, and the wolf slowly fade away as though they’re being burned by my magic that seeps into the center of the tapestry.

Something intuitive tells me this is supposed to be happening. I’m not doing anything wrong.

Then, as the image disappears, a new one takes its place.

Vines in finely painted black ink weave around the edges of the tapestry like silk. I gasp, removing my hands as they snake beneath my fingertips.

The whole thing is alive, moving, changing, expanding. More vines form, existing vines expand, finding their way toward the center.

I’m captivated by the tapestry’s beauty, the intricacies of each perfectly crafted vine. Then, something forms in the center.

At the point where all the vines end.

A burning bright white light.

What?

The air is stolen from my lungs, my eyes are zapped, and suddenly, my vision goes black.

There’s fire, wild orange flames that are burning everywhere. We’re outside, but I can’t see where. The flames curl around everything in sight.

People are running, falling, and bumping into each other as they try to escape the engulfing flames. I’m deafened by their screams.

No one can breathe. How can they with all this thick smoke?

I want to scream, to do something. It all feels so real.

But I’m stuck, I’m not there—I’m just observing.

Show me what I’m supposed to do. Show me how to help.

I’m pleading to whichever force is in charge.

But nothing changes. The screams only get louder, the flames wilder.

Please .

My vision is black again, and I choke, catching my breath as though my lungs are filled with smoke.

My body feels weak, a wave of nausea and exhaustion sweeps over me, and I feel myself falling.

I reach out my hands into what appears to be darkness. There’s nothing to hold onto.

I’m losing my balance.

“Hey, hey,” a low voice soothes. A voice I’d recognize anywhere.

Then his hands wrap around me, holding me to his large chest.

“I’ve got you, Danielle, you’re okay.” He repeats the first part again. “ I’ve got you .”

“I’ve got it from here,” I tell him, although my legs still feel wobbly. “I’m fine.”

Ellis shakes his head resolutely. “Nope. I’m not leaving you until I see you walk safely into your coven.”

I know he’s concerned because even though we’re allies, I doubt Ellis wants to be close to the coven any more than I want to live in the pack.

“I’m fine,” I tell him unconvincingly as I focus on walking straight.

In truth, the past twenty-four hours have taken a lot out of me. First, the shadow monsters, then whatever happened between me and Ellis, which, quite frankly, we both don’t have time to think about yet.

And now this.

My head is a mess, my body’s weak, but I know something, and I have to tell Penelope right away.

While all I feel like doing is sleeping, I’m fully aware that we’ve got zero time to waste.

She’s the only one who can make sense of this. The only one who can understand the extent of the danger we’re in.

Judging from that creepy vision—I’d wager it’s a lot.

“You’re allowed to say you’re not okay, Danielle, you know?”

I’m out of practice with that, given all the years I’ve spent pushing everything I’ve been feeling away.

“We’re here,” I sigh as our coven’s village comes into view.

“Thank you,” I tell Ellis. He looks at me with those burgundy eyes in a way that makes me want to cry. They make me feel vulnerable, and that’s the opposite of what I need.

“I’m fine. Really, I’m okay.”

***

Penelope nods slowly, her thin eyebrows arched as she listens to all of the craziness I’ve been dealing with.

While she doesn’t look shocked, the other witches who are crowded around the table do. Penelope has seen a lot in her lifetime, and at this point, there’s probably little that can faze her. She has the calmness we need.

“You did the right thing in coming to the coven quickly,” she says thoughtfully. “Although you should have come as soon as you got back to the pack.”

“I know,” I say, softly.

I was distracted, and when Ellis invited me to join the council meeting, I felt shocked. Much of the past twenty-four hours has been a blur, but I do remember that distinct feeling—like I was somehow being accepted, welcomed into the pack that had rejected me for so long for the first time.

“But it’s good you did,” Penelope continues. “Because the tapestry called to you. What you saw is important.”

“What do you think it means?” A witch asks.

Monroe looks anxious, playing with her nails as she sits by my side.

We all wait, expectantly, for Penelope to respond.

She inhales and sits up in her chair that’s positioned at the head of the table. I’m glad we’re sitting down. I don’t tell anyone, but I’m feeling faint.

Strangely, I think of Ellis and mine’s kiss—as though it’s supposed to comfort me somehow. I don’t like the way my body reacts as I involuntarily replay it in my mind.

“Let’s see,” she says. “We have vines, a bright light, fire—of course, chaos, burning. It has to be something like what happened last time.”

“But there’s no water,” a witch says. “No witch or wolf who’s involved. How are we meant to stop it?”

“It has to relate to magic,” I say. “It’s through magic that the second image was revealed to me.”

“Yes,” Penelope says carefully, before taking a sip of tea from her small clay cup. She’s so careful with the way that she moves, so calm. “And you were pulled toward it, Danielle. The tapestry wanted your magic, not anyone else's. I suspect your involvement will be key.”

I don’t like being thrust into these high-pressure situations. I’m not a hero. I don’t fight. I’m someone who ran away and had a whole pack of shifters forget who I was.

“Right,” I say, my voice meek. “But, that vision... It was so chaotic. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.”

Penelope flashes me a small, comforting smile. “When the time comes, you will,” then she looks around. “In the meantime, we all need to keep watch. If Willow is lurking, we have to know—we don’t want a repeat of last time…no unnecessary deaths.”

A darker air fills the space as we’re all reminded of the tragic case of Violet, who was possessed by Willow and couldn’t be saved from her death.

“And,” Penelope continues. “We keep working with the shifters to find a way to fight. If the situation is going to be as bad as your vision, Danielle, we’re going to have to be strong.”

We spend the rest of the afternoon talking through theories. Some witches possess extensive knowledge of symbolism, folklore, and other legends from distant covens that may provide us with valuable clues. Perhaps it’s my age, but I don’t know much.

All I know is magic and how to wield it to the best of my abilities when I need to.

Soon, the sun is setting, the afternoon fades into the night, and when the gurgles of people’s stomachs rumbling fill the space, Penelope adjourns the meeting for the night.

“Do you want to stay here tonight?” Monroe asks me as I struggle a little to get up. Of course, she knows that I’m feeling bad—she can feel it, but honestly, I’m doing much better than I was before.

“It’s fine,” I say. “With everything going on, I’m not sure that’ll be a good look. We need to keep the alliance in good health.”

Monroe looks scared.

“We’re going to figure this thing out,” I say. “I know we are.”

But as I walk off into the night, I remind myself that we’re not much clearer on what the tapestry image means, nor how we can defeat the shadow monsters and stop this curse for good.

***

“Ellis?”

I’m startled when I see him there, waiting outside the coven’s main entrance. Sure, it’s normal for him to be here in general since we’re allied, and he’s trusted enough to come to our headquarters when he needs to.

But what time is it?

The crickets that are humming rhythmically tell me that it’s late.

He looks up at me, and I wish for a second that he wasn’t so visible beneath the light of the moon. Every time he looks at me now, I think back to that kiss.

How would it feel to be touched by him again?

“Good news to report?” He asks.

I wish.

“Well,” I say, stepping toward him. “Not exactly. I thought Penelope might have known more than she did. But what are you doing here?”

“I’m your ride home.”

I shake my head, forcibly. “Oh, no, I’m not getting on your wolf back.”

He comes closer to me, and I feel my breath turning shaky.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he says. “I’m just escorting you back to the pack. So I know that you’re safe. I’m not big on taking chances with that right now.”

He must have been waiting out here for hours. He must have been so bored.

“You shouldn’t have,” I immediately say. “You didn’t have to wait so long; there are probably thousands of other things that need your attention.”

“It’s important to protect each other,” he says, plainly. “I know we’re not exactly best buds, and I know you’re a badass witch who can look after herself, but we can make up for what each other lacks.”

That pulls on a painful string.

I used to say those very words to myself when I thought about my feelings for Ellis. Even though they were crazy and deluded, I’d tell myself that our differences make sense.

“Okay,” I concede. “But we’re never going to be best buds.”

He chuckles. “I thought you might call me out on that word choice.”

I shake my head. Best buds . How crazy that he doesn’t know that at one point in time, that’s exactly what we were.

As we head back to the pack, I’m surprised by how strangely comfortable I feel walking into the space. For so long, it was a place that haunted my dreams—a place I had worked hard to forget.

But things feel different. Even being around Ellis feels different from how it did only a little while ago.

Once we’re back in Ellis’ cabin— our cabin, although I still find that hard to accept, he doesn’t stop checking on how I am.

Yes, he sets me up in the spare room with everything I could need—water, tea, food—I’m surprised he doesn’t offer to run me a bath. But he still checks in; I can hear him hovering by the door.

I missed this, Ellis. The guy I remember wanted to take me to the hospital when I got a scrape on my knee.

He didn’t know I was a witch then, that I could heal myself. But he knows now, and still, he’s protective of me. It’s as though those ten years had never happened, and we’re once again who we were all that time ago.

“Hey, Ellis,” I say, smiling. “You know you don’t need to guard my door. I can cast a barrier spell around the cabin if I need to.”

“It’s either guarding the door, or I’m coming to sleep in there with you,” he says, and while I know he’s teasing me, I still blush. My stomach still flutters with nerves.

“Okay, Alpha,” I tease back. “I won’t ever command you to move again.”

“Good,” he says. “Because I am an Alpha, and you know we don’t listen.”

I roll my eyes as I hear him chuckling, his large back sending vibrations through the door.