Page 26 of Cruel Alpha Beast (Roseville Alphas #1)

I sit in the living room, poring over Monroe’s tome with only some electric candlelight guiding my way.

I’ve gone around the house, locking every door and window, turning off most of the lights as well.

For all of us who are not joining in the fray, it’s been suggested we keep a very low profile in town, just in case our patrols are overpowered and Violet’s evil army makes it through.

I don’t know what I expect to find in this tome, but it helps me feel like I’m doing something more to stop this blight on the valley.

I know Sawyer will be here soon, so we can try the mating ritual once more—and now that I’ve decided to admit to him and myself that I do, in fact, love him, this connection we share has finally manifested to its full capacity.

It’s crazy to me how much I can just feel Sawyer right now. It’s like he’s everywhere I go, like he’s a part of me. Well, more than he already is as the father of my child and my husband.

I wonder if this feeling, this connection, is stronger now, especially after so many years simply repressing it.

As I sit in the living room, scanning each page of the tome, I suddenly sense something deep within my core. It’s like there’s a hunger there, but it isn’t mine. It takes a moment until I realize that the hunger that is causing my knees to feel weak actually belongs to Sawyer.

He must be getting ready for the ritual, I realize. And soon, his hunger becomes one with mine.

I hope he’ll be here any minute now, ready to come take this bitch in the woods down, and feel really good while doing it. A true win-win scenario for both of us.

I consider going upstairs and finding my slinkiest nightgown to change into while I wait. The hunger builds and builds, and soon, my face is hotter than I’ve ever felt before. A heat of my own grows, and I wonder if I should wait for him in the kitchen instead of here.

He’s getting closer. I can hear his feet on the sidewalk outside our house. His footsteps on the front porch are so slow that I worry I’m going to shrivel up and die if he doesn’t get in here right now.

And just as his keys start to jingle, I hear it. A faint, horrible scream, and suddenly, Sawyer’s hunger disappears in an instant, removing it from me as well.

Now, it’s fear. I can feel it plain as day. Sawyer is scared, and that fear hits me just as hard.

The connection between us starts fading quickly. I run to the kitchen and look out of the window just in time to see a dark wolf running toward the forest. There are all of those patrols out there. I don’t understand why he has to be the one to chase after this phantom scream.

When I realize, however, that all Sawyer is doing, however, is trying to help someone in need, it makes my heart swell. But still, I fear for his safety. There’s something about this that feels sort of fishy, and it’s not just because I’m bitter that he’s not here to ravish me right now.

Another scream rings out, and I’m certain that something is not quite what it seems. My blood starts rushing in my ears, instinct directing me to cram my feet into the nearest, easiest pair of shoes I can find, and run out after him.

I’m not a good runner, nor am I very fast. It’s going to take me much longer to get to the source of this screaming than it will for him, especially when he runs in his wolf form. But when my feet hit the pavement, it’s like my muscles and my lungs agree that this is the time to allow me to sprint.

Adrenaline is a hell of a thing, isn’t it?

Though I’m still not nearly as fast as a wolf, I’m able to follow the screams still ringing through the air. With the forest’s edge in sight, I hear one last scream, and I can tell that she’s actively yelling his name out specifically.

That’s when I really start feeling like something is up. And the yelling, it sounds too familiar to ignore.

I approach the path my waning connection with Sawyer led me to.

The two patrols on either side are eerily still, and I worry something bad might have happened to them.

I saw Danielle practice a freezing spell on Monroe once when I first moved in, and it was a little scary when we thought her sister would never thaw out again.

I breach the treeline and find myself in the darkened forest. Kicking myself, I realize that I don’t have my phone, and therefore have no flashlight. All I have is the moon above my head, and the canopy of the trees is blocking a lot of it.

I have to trust this connection inside of me. Tapping into it, I’m able to follow what must have been Sawyer’s exact footpath, and soon the connection only grows stronger. He must be near, but I can’t hear anything other than my own breath and my heavy footfalls.

Feeling like something is watching me, I glance over my shoulder and nearly scream aloud when I see the shadow monsters eyeing me from between the trees. They stand perfectly still, their misty tails wagging in the air, placidly. I even see one lick its teeth, but it doesn’t come any closer.

Look ahead, I tell myself. Just keep looking ahead.

Finally, I start to smell smoke. Sawyer’s connection is wavering between fear and pain, and I realize that things are getting far more dire than I worried they would be.

There’s a willow tree ahead of me—just like the drawings I’ve seen—and it’s completely engulfed in flames. A figure comes into view, shaped like a small woman, and the closer I get, the more I realize that she’s circling a wolf.

I get closer, and Sawyer’s feelings are almost too intense for me to come any closer. I come closer, grimacing the entire way. Sure enough, there he is, snarling in his wolf form at Violet, blood streaking the brown fur of his lupine face, glittering in the firelight from the tree.

Violet twirls around girlishly, swinging the large knife in her grasp. She lunges forward, and Sawyer yelps, unable to catch her wrist with his fangs, before she cuts him on the other side. I almost cried out in pain, falling to my knees, but Violet still hadn’t laid eyes on me.

Lacey, if you can hear me, stay quiet , Sawyer’s voice says in my head.

My jaw drops. I had no idea the connection was so strong that our minds could be linked together like that. I think back, I’ll try. Are you okay? But if he hears me or not, he doesn’t respond.

“Oh, little wolf,” Violet says in a condescending tone.

“You have no idea just how important you will be to this forest. Your sacrifice will bring about a newer, better generation of witches. And we will take this valley back. It belongs to us, you know? We founded it, then we let you filthy little pups live with us, until you took it from us.”

Sawyer merely yelps back. All I can do is keep thinking back about how much I need him to stay alive and stay strong. For me. For Shea.

With a wave of her hand, Violet turns Sawyer back into a human. He can barely stand on his knees, and I realize that both sides of his face are covered in blood. It doesn’t look good at all, but what’s even worse is when Violet leans over him and slashes her blade across his chest.

I bite down hard on my own arm to keep myself from screaming along with Sawyer at the pain. I want to run out and help him, but there’s nothing I can do. He told me to stay quiet. And even if I wanted to disobey his orders, my feet wouldn’t allow me to. I’m frozen in fear.

Sawyer falls back onto the ground, writhing in pain. Violet grins devilishly down at him, then she wiggles her free fingers, drops the knife lazily at his side, and in a blink, she’s gone and out of sight. Magically disappeared.

My feet are finally working again, and I run over to his body. I didn’t realize there were other cuts across his chest until I came closer. His dark shirt is soaked in blood, and his eyes are unfocused. I look down and find a hole near his ribs that he’s trying to cover with his hands.

“Lacey,” he chokes out, attempting to smile.

“I’m going to get you out of here,” I tell him, reaching for his arm.

“No—you’re not,” he struggles to utter. “You’re not strong enough—and I’m—I’m dying. Might as—well—be dead, already.”

“Sawyer, no,” I say, tears falling from my eyes and cleaning the blood on his face. “No, I just got you. I’m not ready to lose you! Please! W-we can find Danielle! Or P-Penelope! They can heal you!”

Sawyer lifts a bloodstained finger to my hair and strokes a strand behind my ear.

“I’m sorry I was—such a piece of shit to you—all the time,” he says. “I love you, Lacey.”

I can’t even tell what pain is mine versus his at this point. I howl out, feeling my heart actively break inside my chest.

He takes one of my hands in his, his grip uncharacteristically limp around mine. His eyes flutter closed, and his breath becomes shallower.

“ No !” I cry out. “You’re not allowed to die! She needs you! I need you! I love you, Sawyer!”

He breathes one last breath, and his hand loses all strength, falling onto his blood-soaked shirt. I watch in horror as the life fades from his body, my mouth and eyes frozen open.

He’s dead. The love of my life. The father of my child. My husband.

I can’t even cry anymore. I don’t know what to do with myself. And if I didn’t know that Shea would be out there, wondering what happened to me, I might even throw myself to the shadow monsters to feast on my bones.

But then, right before my eyes, a tiny ball of white energy escapes from Sawyer’s open mouth, growing in size as it hovers over him. I want to swat it away, keep it from doing anything to his body.

That’s right, all he is is a body right now.

Well, it was, until the ball of energy started splitting apart, finding every wound on his body right now and slipping into each of them. I watch as they somehow manage to stem the bleeding, sewing his muscles and organs back together until he’s whole again.

Sawyer breathes in loudly, jolting up to a seated position. I watch in shock as we both realize that whatever was inside of him it’s given him a second chance at life. A second chance to save the valley.

“Lacey,” he breathes out, pulling me into his arms.

“You’re alive,” I say. “I can’t believe you’re alive.”

He holds me for a moment, whispering that he loves me over and over again in my ear.

“I love you too, Sawyer. I love you so much,” I tell him, pulling his face closer to mine.

But before I can close in the space between our lips, I feel something hot growing in my stomach. It’s not heat from the wolf within, though. It’s something completely different. And it’s shooting its way out through my chest.

The feeling isn’t painful, but it’s one I could never imagine before. I look at Sawyer across from him and see the same thing happening to him.

We’re both surrounded in this halo of white light, and a feeling of confidence washes over me like a bath. Holding Sawyer close, we watch as the light that once surrounded us expands yet again, and then it circles the burning willow tree.

I look at Sawyer and realize he must be thinking the same thing as I am.

We can do this.