Page 25 of Brutal Alpha Beast (Roseville Alphas #2)

“It’s not really Monroe,” Ellis reminds me as he rubs my back.

She’s awake, screaming, and the sounds of her pain rattle through me with torturous force. I can’t bear it.

Even though I know that it’s for everyone’s own good, I can’t stand her being in discomfort. I don’t want to see her tied up.

“I know,” I respond, as we lean against the front of the cabin. I refused to go inside. “But I feel the pain of the real her. She’s overcome with the negative force. She’s so confused... It’s not her fault.”

My face twists a little as tears form behind my eyes.

Ellis told me everything. I have no idea how I’m still alive.

“I know it’s not her fault,” Ellis says, taking me into his arms and kissing my forehead. “Nothing is going to happen to Monroe, I promise, we’ll figure this out.”

I nod. It feels good to be in his embrace. He’s so warm.

“This was premeditated,” I say. “She was trying to get rid of us both, which means, if she’s possessed by Willow, we’re the key somehow.”

“Okay,” Ellis says. “She’s corrupting Monroe to get to us, to stop us from finding the source. Hopefully, that means we’re getting close.”

I run through theories in my mind, and all of them are disjointed and confused, to say the least.

“If my heart isn’t the key, and Monroe’s isn’t either since she’s being corrupted, then what is?”

“Maybe the vines are physical like we thought,” Ellis suggests. “Maybe we were getting closer to it through searching, and Willow decided to ramp up her efforts to get us to stop.”

I nod. My head hurts. Everything hurts. Monroe hit me hard. Not Monroe, I remind myself. But Willow.

“But,” I stutter. “I just don’t understand. We’ve searched; we’ve found nothing. The tapestry is so unclear. I don’t understand...”

“It’s okay,” Ellis says. “We don’t need to understand it completely now. I’m just glad that you’re alive, okay. Let’s go back to the pack, let’s settle for a second. You’ve been through a lot.”

He’s holding me, but I turn back to look at the cabin. I can still hear Monroe’s screams.

“But Monroe-”

“It’s for her own good,” Ellis says.

Penelope shows up, her eyes wide with concern, strolling toward us, a bag over her shoulder that’s full to the brim.

“How are you?” She asks me.

“Fine,” I say quickly. “But Monroe-”

She nods, looking at me in the way she often does when she’s trying to show that she has a situation under control.

Is she as worried as I am? Is she just better at masking it?

“Get some rest,” she tells me, but she looks at Ellis as she says this. “You’ve both had a long day. We’ll make sure Monroe is taken care of here.”

“Will she be okay?” I whisper.

I’m looking for reassurance where I know there is none. But I keep thinking back to Violet’s fate, and how I wasn’t breathing only minutes ago.

Things can change so quickly. People can be here one second, and then gone the next.

“We’ll keep her chained,” Penelope responds. “For her own good. I’m going to make sure she stays alive, and I’m going to see what I can do about getting Willow out of her, but…well... All we can do is our best.”

I swallow, nodding twice as Ellis continues to soothe my back. Thank God for Ellis and thank God for Penelope. I don’t know what I’d do without them here.

“Please,” Penelope says, bringing her soft hand to my forearm. “Try to rest.”

“She will,” Ellis responds. “I’ll take it from here.”

***

As I bathe, I scrub myself with extra force to try to wash off everything that happened today. While we all knew that something like this was coming, it didn’t prepare me for how it would feel.

Ellis doesn’t realize that he saved not one but two lives by reviving me. He saved his child, and I still have no idea how he did it.

I hold my stomach and close my eyes, praying to Mother Nature and the forces that be for making sure my child is still alive.

When I woke, for the first second, I didn’t know where I was, and then I saw Ellis’ distraught face. Looking into his eyes reminded me of everything. I felt peace—and then came the panic.

I swore I couldn’t feel that second heart beating inside of me. I could have sworn my baby was gone.

I was about to come clean, I had to see if I had any chance at saving my child, but then I heard it.

That faint little beating heart, that vibrant energy.

I let out a huge sigh of relief, like the world was finally falling back into its place again.

I have to be more careful, and I know that includes telling Ellis about my pregnancy, but with everything today, I don’t think I can face that conversation just yet.

I change into comfortable clothes—Ellis’ t-shirt and my sweatpants, and as I walk out of the bathroom, I notice Ellis there.

I shake my head, tears forming.

“Everything is so messed up,” I say.

Usually, if I feel like crying, I’m trying to hide it. I don’t want people to think I’m weak, especially not Ellis.

But I don’t have it in me today.

I gravitate toward him like a magnet; I want to be back in his arms—my only safe space.

He holds me, and I weep as I crash into his chest.

His heartbeat is drumming against my ear, my breaths start frantic, but soon smooth as he strokes the back of my head.

“I know,” he says. “Come on. Let’s get you to bed.”

He leads me into his bedroom, opens up the sheets, and settles me inside. The sheets smell like him; they’re warm and fluffy.

I close my eyes as soon as the marshmallow-like pillow cushions my head.

“Don’t leave me,” I murmur.

Then I feel the side of the bed next to me dip below his weight. I reach out my hand and settle it on his torso, sliding over his shirt where I can feel the tense ridges of his abs.

I open my eyes ever so slightly—my vision is blurred, but I see him leaning against the bed frame, his large body stretched out as he looks down at me with his warm burgundy eyes.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he murmurs, stroking the top of my head. “You can rest.”

I nod, re-closing my eyes, and following the gentle movement of his hand as I eventually drift off into sleep.

***

Lacey holds my hand at the meeting.

I’m glad she’s here, because this is the biggest, most important meeting I’ve ever attended, and I feel both overwhelmed and out of place.

We’re in Ellis’s meeting room, which is packed full to the brim. Jasper is here with some representatives from his pack, as well as Sawyer and Penelope, accompanied by some members from the coven.

Ellis’ usual councilmen are scattered around, some at the table, some, having given up their seats, leaning against the walls, frowning.

The mood is tense and intimidating.

The three Alphas are seated at the long rectangular table, Ellis on one end, Sawyer on the other, and Jasper in between. Penelope sits opposite Jasper.

Now that everyone is inside, the meeting can officially begin.

“So,” Ellis says, his gaze flickering from me to the others in the room.

I offer him an encouraging nod.

“I know that news travels fast, and we all have some concerns.”

The pack members, including Jasper and Sawyer, shuffle uncomfortably, and a few murmurs are spoken.

Lacey sighs. She looks at me and shakes her head disapprovingly.

Clearly, there’s tension between the packs.

“But let’s get our stories straight. Monroe, Danielle’s twin, was possessed. She tried to kill us both, we believe, to stop us from accessing the vines that lead to the source we need to destroy.”

“Where is the witch?” A shifter sitting beside Jasper asks.

I don’t like the way he asks it.

“Her name is Monroe,” Aaron asserts.

I’m shocked.

Aaron, who was once so anti-witch, is looking at the shifter with murderous intent.

“She’s safe,” Ellis responds. “Tied up at the coven.”

“And do we have any idea about what or where these vines are?” Jasper asks.

There’s an intensity in the air, an undercurrent of tension that feels like it might lead to a fight at any point.

Just one wrong comment, one word misspoken, and these four walls could be filled with a flurry of fangs, blood, and fur.

But I know everyone’s trying their best. That’s the last thing we need.

“No,” Ellis says. “At first, we thought it was related to Danielle’s heart, but we realized that the strange feelings she was experiencing were only a reflection of Monroe’s. We have to keep looking.”

Jasper near slams his fist in frustration. “And then what? How do we know the vines aren’t leading to Monroe’s heart, that we need to destroy?”

“Jasper,” Sawyer counters.

“We’re not killing Monroe,” Ellis barks. “Willow could have possessed anyone. What if it were Danielle, or what if it were one of your own? Would you order them to be killed, too?”

Jasper lowers his gaze. “I understand this is difficult. That’s not what I’m saying, but there has to be something we can do to test... we have to try all options, don’t we?”

Lacey shakes her head. “I can’t believe this,” she whispers.

My heart’s tightening, this time out of fear.

We can debate all we want in this meeting room, but what if someone from Jasper’s or Sawyer’s packs actually tries something?

I’m terrified for Monroe.

Penelope stands. “If you want to try the option of harming Monroe, you’ll have to get through a coven of witches first. Remember, wolf, we’re allied with Sawyer and Ellis’ packs—not yours.”

Jasper scoffs, and Ellis rises, too. “You’ll have to go through our pack too.”

I’m touched as I notice all of Ellis’ councilmen nodding in agreement. Those of them sitting rise, too.

After all the prejudices they’ve had against witches, I can’t believe that they’d put their pack on the line like this, for a witch they don’t even know.

Penelope looks at me; it’s a subtle sideward glance, but it’s a glance that tells me to be prepared in case things get ugly.

Jasper shoots a look at Sawyer, whose face has tightened with a frown.

“Come on, Sawyer, you gotta be reasonable here too. I’m not saying harm or kill the witch necessarily, but if there’s something we can do that will stop her heart beating, even for a second, and then…”

A wave of emotion rushes through me. “You’re not touching my sister’s heart!”

The whole room is looking at me now.

I know I’m not supposed to speak out of turn, but it’s hard to keep quiet when they’re talking about the only family I have left.

“She’s right,” Lacey says, looking at Sawyer, too. “It’s too dangerous.”

Sawyer doesn’t respond; everyone’s attention is on him, and the air is clouded with adrenaline and expectation.

Then, he rises.

“As someone who has been through one of these curses and has watched an unnecessary death, I cannot, in any right mind, stand by and let a tragedy like that happen again. Witch or wolf, it’s not right.”

I nod at him, and he glances back, flashing a quick look that shows his support.

“My pack will not get behind anything that could harm Monroe, and so,” he says, looking at Ellis, Penelope, and then Jasper. “You’ll have to go through us, too.”

Thank you , I whisper.

A little of my anxiety settles, but not all.

“There’s no spell that we can do to just check?” Jasper asks Penelope.

She scowls. “Any spell involving her heart will risk death.”

After an emotion-packed moment of silence, Jasper breaks his stare.

“Fine,” he says. “You can all sit down. What’s the plan for finding these vines, then? Better be good.”

I scoff.

Alphas .

***

I’m in the library, scanning through the magic books that Penelope lent me. Apparently, there’s a method of magic that I haven’t tried that could potentially help find the vines we’re looking for.

It’s complex magic, a spell that’s so difficult, I’d likely have to be at Penelope’s level and experience to effectively use it.

But unfortunately, Penelope can’t do them in this circumstance. It has to be me.

The magic that I’m reading about hardly even makes sense.

As I re-read the words, they jumble in my mind.

Apparently, what I can do is try to reproduce the magic I felt when the vines were revealed to me through the tapestry and through the visions.

It has to be the exact same magic for it to work. Then, I can use that magic as a locator, scanning the forest to find the same magic, which, when recognizing its other half, will draw me to it.

There will be a sign.

Before, I was going off pure sensations, but this is something else. I’m using my feelings to reproduce something that came to me from external forces.

It would be witchcraft at its most complex. And even if I manage it, the chances of it succeeding are very slim. The links holding the magic together are tenuous at best.

I sigh, hunched over, exhausted, wanting to bury my head into the book.

Then Ellis walks in.

“Us and libraries,” I say.

Ellis smiles. “Us and libraries, indeed. You look exhausted.”

“I’m just trying to figure this out. There’s a spell that could work, but it’s so complicated.”

He settles beside me, looking at the books, and frowning.

“I know I can’t help you with casting a spell. I wish I could.”

I shake my head. “I don’t expect you to.”

“But,” he says, sliding his hand over mine. “I can promise you that I will protect you and Monroe. Nothing will happen to either of you, I swear it.”

I can’t help but smile. “Even though she tried to kill you.”

“I’m not as hot-headed as I once was,” he says, looking at me with a warm gaze in his eyes.

My heart flutters. “I know.”

“I’m also not as stupid,” he sighs. “So, while I can’t cast magic, maybe I can help formulate a plan. These books are mostly written in English, right.”

“Yes, but I’m likely gonna be here all night. It’s better for everyone if you sleep and are on your game.”

“Nonsense,” he says, taking a book and walking to the other side of the room. “I’m gonna read and make notes—far away from you so we can avoid a repeat of last time.”

I roll my eyes and shake my head. But as I turn the page of the book I’m reading, I smile to myself.

I love how much he wants to help.