Page 22 of Cruel Alpha Beast (Roseville Alphas #1)

I wake up lying on the couch, still, Sawyer breathing rhythmically in my ear, his body cresting and falling behind me as he breathes.

Yesterday was perfect. Just having such a good day of bonding with my husband. As much as I didn’t want to neglect my research, Sawyer was right, that I would be doing no one any help without allowing myself some time to rest. Because right now, I feel rip-roarin’ and ready to go.

It feels so good to just lie here with Sawyer’s arm around me, but I know I need to do something, anything, to help out my witch family.

Careful not to move too fast, I slowly rise from the couch and leave Sawyer there to roll over comfortably onto his back. I glance at the heavy book sitting on the coffee table, still there after he interrupted my attempts to rifle through it.

Lifting the book as carefully as I can, I bring it with me to the kitchen and brew myself a cup of coffee. The drink is perfectly warm and sweet by the time I open the book’s heavy cover again.

Everything in the tome is handwritten in an inky scrawl, but I’m able to read it perfectly fine under the ceiling light of the kitchen.

I scan through pages and pages of “old legends,” searching for mentions of a tree anywhere.

It takes some time, but my husband is still asleep, and my coffee is a mere brown ring at the bottom of my mug, when I finally find exactly what I’m looking for.

***

The sun is bright over my head, reflecting off the lake and nearly blinding me as I approach it.

Behind me, a bleary-eyed Sawyer leads a half-asleep Greg, a grumpy Ellis, and a zoned-out Jasper.

Waiting by the cat-o’-nine-tails are Danielle and Monroe, who are tending to a very different version of Penelope than the one I’ve known in my short time of living in the coven.

The old woman has a large, bloody bandage wrapped around one of her arms, and her skin is papery white. The skin beneath her eyes is puffy and dark, like she’s been trying to get rest, but her body won’t allow it.

I want to run into her arms, especially when she stares at me like she’s so excited to see me again. That’s all I’ve ever wanted—someone other than Greg to look at me in that way. To miss me while I’m gone. To be happy when I’m there.

I had it in my brief time living with the coven. I have it with Shea. And now I’m starting to think I have it with Sawyer.

As much as my body is itching to launch onto Penelope, I settle for gently kneeling down at her side and carefully putting one arm around her waist. “I’m so happy you’re alright.”

“You as well, Lacey,” Penelope replies in my ear. “I’m so proud of you, and all you’ve become in such a short time.”

I catch her exchanging glances with Sawyer behind my head. He looks happy to hear her say that, and I begin to wonder if this look has anything to do with what happened the night of the attack on the thicket.

“We’re all here,” Sawyer says. “Now, let’s get a jump start on what exactly we’re here for.”

I can tell that Ellis is wondering about the same thing. He looks at me, almost daring me to go on and tell him something that wasn’t worth waking up so early to hear.

Sitting at Penelope’s side, I take off the backpack hanging from my shoulders and set it between my legs. After unzipping the bag, I pull out the large tome and find the page I marked with one of Shea’s drawings.

“So, I found this story,” I tell them.

Catching Jasper’s eye, I can sense that no one wants me to read the story verbatim, as they might fall asleep, so I decide to give them a mere summary instead.

“This happened almost half a millennia ago,” I start. “The wolves and witches lived in perfect harmony in this very valley, helping each other get through life side-by-side, as allies. I know that’s hard for some of us here to imagine right now, but it’s the truth.”

Ellis crosses his arms over his chest, but he has enough grace not to interrupt me.

“There was a witch named Willow,” I say, eyeing Sawyer. “She fell in love with the alpha of the valley—”

“It wasn’t split into towns for a long time,” Penelope adds. “There was only one alpha ruling here for many generations.”

“Thanks, Penelope.” I nod my head. “After Willow and the alpha joined as one , he rejected her as his mate, as she was not a shifter like him.”

“The story is all coming back to me now,” Penelope mutters. “Oh, I wish I had thought of all of this much, much earlier.”

“It’s okay,” Monroe says comfortingly, patting her arm.

“As alpha, he was expected to bear sons who could take his place one day,” I continue, my eyes drifting from Sawyer to Ellis, and then to Jasper. “Being a witch, there was a chance that Willow would not give birth to one of his kind, and so, he left her.”

“Willow’s heart was broken beyond all repair,” Penelope adds. “She wandered the woods, sowing tears into the soil of our earth, which contained just enough magic to blight the plants on the edges of the valley.”

I nod and continue my retelling. “Eventually, when the other witches heard tell of what had happened with their friend, their sister, they followed her into the woods and created a coven that men and shifters were not allowed to be a part of.”

“They were able to cast a curse on the people of this valley,” Penelope says. “It led to sickness and dark marks on the skin. And the curse sought to ruin most friendships in the valley. Shifters were arguing over nothing and everything all at the same time.”

Sawyer nods his head deeply, glancing at the other two alphas, knowing that they would be unable to deny that such a thing was happening in their own towns.

“Knowing he must do whatever he could to protect the people in his charge, the alpha met regularly with a woman in the valley, born to shifters, but without the power to shift herself. In fact, she was not only a shiftless wolf, but she also had powers of clairvoyance. Visions. Does that sound familiar to anyone?” I point a finger directly at myself.

Sawyer lifts his eyebrows slightly, watching me even more curiously than before. It’s like the pieces are coming together in his mind. And even the other alphas are starting to look at me in a different way than they ever had before.

“The alpha and the shiftless wolf worked together to put a stop to Willow’s acts of vengeance. They did everything they could think of to take her down, but her powers were just too strong,” I continue.

“On a cold, dark night, they resigned themselves to keep fighting until the bitter end,” Penelope says. “Though the wolf and his shiftless lover fully expected to die before the sun set the next day.”

“Wanting one last moment of togetherness, they mated in the trees where they hid,” I say, my face heating up more than it probably should be. “Completely enveloped in passion and, well, desire , their lovemaking created enough energy that they were filled with raw magical power.”

“The lovers found Willow drawing on the inherent magic of the forest and were able to channel what they had in their hearts to turn her into the same tree she was named after. She immediately burst into flame, and the magic of their desire doused the tree’s flames for what they thought was once and for all,” Penelope says.

“I should have remembered…” She shakes her head, clearly disappointed in herself for not recalling this story before everything started going to shit.

“The wolf and his lover thought that turning her into an inanimate object like a tree would be the end of it,” I say, “but they were wrong. Decades later, when the alpha and his shiftless mate were old and gray, a witch from the coven, still split apart from the valley, discovered the willow tree in the forest, smoldering into the sky. She came too close to its branches and was possessed by the vengeful witch, who used her as a proxy.”

“The valley was blighted once more,” Penelope reports.

“But before the second plague could get nearly as bad as the first had, the possessed witch broke free from Willow’s possession, and in a moment of clarity, she threw stones in her pockets and ran for the lake, drowning herself before Willow could cause more destruction through her. ”

“The second plague was over, and several more decades had passed. The alpha and his shiftless mate had since passed on, and few were alive to remember the first plague. Stories were passed on either side of the treeline,” I continue.

“Some were warnings, others used as propaganda against the witches or the wolves.”

I notice that both Jasper, Ellis, Monroe, and Danielle look away sheepishly at this. It’s like they’re finally understanding just how much they’ve been trained to hate each other over nothing but he-said, she-said.

“Every so often, the tree will smolder again, and another witch will be possessed by Willow, but none have ever gotten quite so far as whoever her proxy is now. Either they are killed in the fray, or they take it upon themselves to free themselves of their curse,” I conclude.

Penelope shakes her head even more. “This is the worst blight since the very first one, I’m afraid. And somehow, I allowed this to happen.”

“Our best, and quite frankly, the only suspect is Violet,” I say, to the shock of absolutely no one.

“Oh no,” Monroe gasps out. Her eyes go wide as they dart between mine and Penelope’s.

“What is it, child?” Penelope encourages her.

“I thought it was a dream, but…” Monroe looks to her feet as she continues. “I woke up last year to the smell of smoke. Remember, Lacey? I asked if you smelled it, and you said no.”

My breath hitches in my throat. I nod back, recalling this strange memory I haven’t thought of in a year.

“I… I remember walking through the forest. It felt so real, but I was so sure I wasn’t awake,” she says in a small voice.

“I found the tree like my feet knew where they were going better than I did. Then I heard a voice tell me I wasn’t ready, and then the next thing I knew, I was back in bed.

There was dirt on my feet when I got up in the morning, but I just assumed I was sleepwalking or something. ”

Monroe turns to Penelope, who watches her with great concern in her eyes at this.

“And you didn’t tell me about this?” the coven leader breathes out.

“She wanted to,” Danielle cuts in mournfully. “I told her you had more important things to do than make her a potion to stop her from sleepwalking… I’m sorry. Both of you.”

“Willow almost possessed me, didn’t she?” Monroe asks herself. “Oh, if I had known any of this, I would have come running immediately. I-I could have stopped this from happening. I could have stopped Violet from falling victim to it.”

I watch the tears well in Monroe’s eyes. I reach across Penelope’s lap and grab Monroe’s free hand, the other wiping at her eyes.

“My sweet girl,” Penelope says calmly to Monroe. “This isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known.”

As the coven leader continues to comfort my friend, I look down at the pages, reading the passage that introduces the shiftless wolf again. My heart goes heavy, and my life suddenly doesn’t seem so tragic or lonely anymore.

Suddenly, my veins fill with lead, and I fall back on the ground. The sun above is bright, but soon, the telltale black clouds fill my eyes again. I’m sent into yet another vision, but it’s not of the future this time.

It’s a vision of the past.

I see images of a man and a woman giving over to their desire in the forest. I see the lust in their eyes, recognizing it as the way my own husband looks at me in the throes of passion. Then, a ball of energy erupts from their chests, lighting up the surrounding darkness.

A moment later, the vision changes, and I see the same two, still stark naked, covered in sweat and ash. This time, they grip hands, and water bursts out from their bodies, making the tree disappear within a cloud of steam.

I come back to myself and find Sawyer crouching over me, holding my hand. I sit up, looking him in the eyes. “I know what we have to do.”