Page 25 of Cruel Alpha Beast (Roseville Alphas #1)

With my people finally agreeing to work with the witches, I spend much of the night setting up patrol units of the willing and able, with Jasper and Ellis’s help.

I walk each group to their place on the outskirts of town and do my best to share words of encouragement.

Each group of shifters is met with at least one, maybe two, witches fighting with Penelope.

In the last patrol unit, I find Ellis standing with Danielle and a few of his people. My tall, powerful, alpha friend looks somewhat intimidated by the much smaller woman, as do the other shifters in this group.

“I believe in you all,” I tell them. “Just as you should believe in Danielle, here. Ellis and I have seen her work. She’ll keep you safe out here.”

“I think you’re overhyping me a little,” she says with a nervous chuckle. “I’ve still got a long way to go in my practice.”

I put a hand on her shoulder and bow my head to her. “I’ve seen you take on a witch possessed by a powerful ancient one. Twice. Without even getting a scratch.”

Danielle smiles, her face going red with the praise. “Thank you, Sawyer,” she replies.

And with that, I think I’ve finally won my wife’s best friend’s approval. I pat Ellis on the back, and he gives me a thumbs-up, knowing what I have to do to stave off the curse.

With that, I head back toward town. I need to see my father and Shea one last time before things get really bad. This could be the last time I see either of them, should things go south.

But I try to force that thought into the back of my head. Instead, I remember Lacey’s speech at the town hall meeting. She came forward. She spoke about forgiveness and love. And it was clear to see that she was talking about our relationship.

She was talking about how she feels about me.

Despite it all, happiness comes to a rising boil within my chest. My wife, who just hours before said she couldn’t tell me she loved me, basically told me the same in so many words. And the connection I feel inside with her has only served to confirm my thoughts.

The joy I’ve felt since we stood there on the dais, I truly believe it could give me the strength to make it through this horrible ordeal we’re about to go through. And if things weren’t so dire, I would be leaping in exuberance right now.

Okay, maybe not, but I wouldn’t feel guilty for being so happy.

With patrols on the edge of town and the young and weak locked inside of their homes, the streets in town are nearly silent around me.

If I weren’t a powerful alpha wolf, I might feel spooked out, but I’m sure I can handle anything, even one of those shadow monsters, should it sneak past the patrols.

Shivering, I pick up the pace and find my dad’s house as quickly as possible. I knock on the door and wait for my father to unlock it. He comes through with a child-sized, hot pink tulle tutu straining its elastic to fit around his waist. My lips twist into a smirk as he opens the door for me.

“Did I forget my tickets to the ballet show?” I ask him.

My father looks down, then shrugs his shoulders. “Oh, Shea and I were playing make-believe, and it was the only costume she had with her, so…”

I snicker at this. My father, the highly respected former alpha, has lost all power and authority to the granddaughter he’s only known for the last couple of days.

“Thank you for watching her, by the way,” I say. “I know it was a lot to ask of you. But I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’re here to keep her safe.”

“Well, it would have been nice to know she existed before she was dumped on my doorstep, but…” My dad looks over his shoulder at the empty hallway. “I would die for her.”

My smile widens. “She’s a great kid, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, Lacey’s done a great job with her,” Dad says. “Speaking of your wife… Have there been any updates to the situation ?”

I sigh, knowing this conversation won’t go as well as I’d like it to. “We’ve allied with witches for now—”

“Oh, Sawyer, really?” my dad says, blatantly disappointed in me. “There really wasn’t another way?”

“Not that I could see,” I tell him through gritted teeth.

“It’s only temporary. We’ll see how it goes in the future.

And, I’ll have you know, that granddaughter that you love so much, up until quite recently, was raised in that coven.

With Penelope, who, by the way, thinks the world of you.

So, maybe you should open your mind a little, huh? ”

Clearly not expecting me to snap at him like that, I watch my father get taken aback. He grits his teeth and takes in a heavy sigh. “I trust your judgment, son. You’re a damn good leader. Better than I could ever be.”

I shake my head. “I don’t know about that just yet. We’ll see what the history books say, if we don’t get burned to the ground or all drown in our own blood.”

“Grandpa, Grandpa!” she hollers, rushing into the empty hallway that leads to the door, a piece of paper in her grasp. When she sees me peering over my father’s shoulder, she stops in her tracks, her mouth open wide, her fingers almost releasing the paper in her hand. “Daddy?”

“Hi, sweetheart,” I say, my heart filling as she passes by my father and runs right into my waiting hands.

I lift her up and feel her throw her arms around me. Once she’s nearly squeezed the life out of me with her tiny little biceps, she shows me the piece of paper in her hand.

“I drew you and Mommy. Look!” she says.

And there we are, I with my crown and my triangular shoulders, except now my cape is bigger and flows in the wind like I’m a flying superhero.

Beside me, Lacey is also floating in the middle of the paper, and there’s a big red heart—this one more discernible than the last drawing—flying out of her chest and in between us.

“I didn’t get to draw me yet,” She tells me sadly, going limp in my arms. “I wanted to draw myself with the biggest heart because I love you so, so, so much!”

I almost burst into tears right then and there. I don’t think I’ve done much right in my past, but I must have done at least one good thing to deserve a daughter like Shea.

“I love you so, so, so, so much,” I tell her, my voice breaking more than I’d like to admit.

In my head, I return to the days when I was drawn to that patch of dirt at the edge of town. That must have been my little girl calling me toward her, toward her mother.

“I’ve always loved you,” I whisper out loud. Even when I didn’t know you existed, I merely keep inside.

Shea squirms out of my arms and runs back off into the depths of my father’s house. The man in the tutu grabs my shoulder, understanding the gravity of the situation much more than my daughter does.

“I’m proud of you, son,” he says, with more emotion in his voice than I’ve ever heard. “And I love you very much.”

I nod back, pulling him into a hug, hoping it won’t be the last. “I love you too, Dad.”

***

When I arrive home, I find the door locked and the lights all dim. I know what Lacey and I have to do, and I know that with this fire burning in my chest, especially after what occurred at the town meeting.

Lacey loves me. She loves me.

I reach for the keyring in my pants pocket and go to unlock the door, but out in the distance, I hear something that makes me stop in my tracks.

A woman. Screaming.

I know the patrols are out there, but the screaming is so loud and visceral that I have to move. Our desire can wait. I have to save this woman, or I’m not the alpha I was sworn in to be.

Shifting into my wolf form, I barrel down the steps, into the streets, and down to the paths that lead toward the scream.

It’s a horrific howling, different from the shadow monsters that attacked that night in the thicket. This is a woman yelling for help. Yelling my name, the closer I get to it.

“ Sawyer! Help! ”

I’m coming. Whoever you are, I’m coming.

There are over two hundred feet between the two patrols on either side of the screams, but neither party seems to have heard the woman. My footsteps falter, and for a moment, I wonder if maybe I’m being tricked. Either that, or these patrol units have been frozen by some of Violet’s lackeys.

I have a creeping feeling inside that I should turn back and just find Lacey to get this ritual thing over and done with.

But just as I’m about to follow this gut instinct, I hear the screaming again. It’s so loud, I don’t know how no one else is hearing it.

“ Please, Sawyer! They’re killing me! ”

That’s it. I have to go. Even if it is a trick, well, then at least my conscience will be clean.

I carry on through the trees, following the yelling woman. I don’t recognize her voice, but it’s hard to tell with screaming. She could be a witch who knows my name. Or she could be one of my brave omegas, fighting for her life against those ferocious shadow monsters.

I grit my fangs and pound my paws into the earth below.

There’s something familiar about the trees in this area, or maybe it’s how they’re laid out. I feel like I’ve been here before, even though I’ve hardly spent time in the forest at all.

It’s only when I finally find the source of the screaming that I realize what exactly has happened and why I know these trees so well.

In the middle of a large, clear space, sits a foreboding, ancient willow tree.

Each leaf is burning, though not crumbling to ash.

And at the tree’s base, a young woman sits lazily, her strawberry blonde hair pulled into a braid that hangs over her right shoulder.

When she sees me enter the vicinity, her lips pull into a twisted smile.

Violet rises to her feet and casually swings the large knife in her hand as she steps closer. “Oh, Sawyer,” she cries mockingly, her voice just like the screams before. “Thank you for saving me, my powerful alpha!”

There’s no denying it. I have been tricked. And I am a fool.