Page 35 of The Alpha’s Seer (The Shifters of Stormhollow #1)

Chapter Thirty-Five

CALIX

Leon Granger isn’t Leon Granger anymore.

My skin prickles, and my wolf growls, and I reach out to tug Blair behind me before Leon launches himself at her. My fist connects with his jaw before he can reach her, and it sends him sprawling, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, to the ground.

“Calix!” Blair yelps, gripping my shoulders and pulling me to her.

Leon jumps back to his feet, his eyes glinting with menace.

I don’t have time to assess the situation, but I know enough to know this isn’t my mate’s brother anymore.

He roars, his hands reaching for my throat and gripping tightly, but I drive forward, slamming him so hard into the wall I hear his bones break.

“Calix!” Blair screams desperately, and my wolf snarls.

“Who did this to you?” I grunt, slamming my forearm against his throat, restricting his breathing.

Leon struggles, spit flying from his mouth as he tries to tell me to fuck myself.

I get the gist.

“Blair, leave,” I command, but she refuses, as I expect her to.

I can’t take my eyes away from Leon, and part of me wants to crush his throat and prevent him from ever breathing again. Because I can feel the malice, the hatred, and the intention he has of hurting Blair radiating from him like red smoke.

“Blair, I won’t kill him.”

It hurts to say that to her, because the second she’s gone, I will.

“Promise me,” Blair chokes out, and I want to scream. “Promise me, Calix, or I’ll never forgive you.”

I tighten my grip on his throat and bare my teeth. Can I promise her this? Leon just tried to kill my mate. He still wants to—I can see it in his eyes.

“Blair,” I say her name through gritted teeth, wondering if she’s aware of his intentions. She’s not stupid—she must know.

He’s all I have.

Damn my mate!

Her pleading sounds more severe in my head, more desperate.

He isn’t. You have me.

I ease my grip slightly, and Leon uses the oxygen to gasp, “They’ll kill her if I don’t.”

His eyes look almost human for a second, but then they’re replaced by swirls of darkness so terrifying I almost step back.

Almost.

“No, they won’t, and nor will you!” I roar, prepared to end him.

But something slices into my side, and Blair screams. I grit my teeth and refuse to look down. Instead, I grip Leon’s fist, holding the blade, and inch it out of me.

Dizziness sweeps over me, and I curse, knowing instantly that something coated that blade—something already rendering me useless.

“Blair, run!” I hiss, refusing to let go of Leon until my grip weakens.

Leon stares at me with a disgusting grin before looking past me to his sister.

“Run, sister! Run as fast as you can!”

He’s taunting her, the fucker.

Everything aches, and my vision is dwindling rapidly.

Cox, I mind-link my Beta and pray he hears me. Blair is in trouble. I can’t do anything—we’re in town—

Then I slump to the ground, the blade clattering beside me.

Leon strides past me, and I hear Blair pleading for her life and for mine.

My wolf howls, but it’s becoming distant. My eyes are closing, and I can’t fight this…

I can’t fight…this…

Leon chases Blair out of the garage, and all I can do is watch through slitted eyes, anger boiling beneath my useless skin, my muscles frozen in a burning agony I don’t recognize.

“Calix!” Blair is still screaming my name as I try to crawl toward her voice, splintering pain making me howl when she disappears from sight.

No…

I try mind-linking her and then Cox, but nothing happens.

“Goddess, please…” I beg, but I know whatever is in my system isn’t temporary. My body is shutting down, and I’m powerless to stop it.

It’s fatal, and Blair is going to die because of me.

I curl into a ball, hands gripping my head to stop it from splitting open because that’s what it’s trying to do. I can’t think, I can’t see…

Blair!

“Wolfsbane,” someone mutters in the distance. “Fucking wolfsbane!”

“Be calm, Cox. He’s not the first to be attacked with it, nor will he be the last.” I recognize the voice belonging to Alpha Drox. It sounds far away, though. “He’s still alive.”

“If he dies—” Cox growls, but he’s interrupted.

“And Blair?” A female asks, worry lacing her voice. “Whoever did this to Alpha Calix did it so they could take her, surely?”

Pain vibrates through my chest, and I grimace, trying to open my eyes.

“Calix!” I sense Cox beside me, his fingers wrapping around my hand. “Fuck, he’s alive.”

“Calix, can you hear me?” The female sounds like Luna Marie. “Can you open your eyes?”

I’m trying, but they feel too fucking heavy.

“Blair,” I rasp, my voice coming out in a wheeze that belongs to a dead man. But I’m not dead. “Blair.”

There’s silence for a moment so long it’s concerning, then Alpha Drox speaks.

“We don’t know where Blair is, Calix. We need you to tell us anything you can.”

A door bangs open, and a voice demands, “Who did this? Where’s his mate?” Alpha Asher has arrived.

We must be at the packhouse. I sigh my exhaustion and try to lift my hands from whatever I’m lying on, but it’s impossible. I feel like my muscles have been ripped out of my body. I search for my wolf, but he’s not here.

“He’s been attacked with wolfsbane.”

“Fuckers!” Alpha Asher roars. “We have to put a stop to this bullshit now!”

I’m with Asher.

But currently, I can’t even open my fucking eyes, so I’m no use.

I need to tell them about Leon because no one knows he’s been turned into something far from human, which means Blair is in danger.

I suck in a breath at the thought of Blair in the hands of my enemies, and it takes everything I have not to fucking cry like a baby.

Because here I am, useless. Blair will be worried about me, scared for herself, and worst of all, she’s fucking defenseless.

I should have killed Leon when I had the chance.

“I’m assembling a group of warriors as we speak,” Alpha Drox states. “They’re the best of the best from every pack here.”

Alpha Asher scoffs. “My pack, you mean.”

“And ours,” Cox snaps, and I feel for my Beta. He’s probably on edge, reliving the fucking nightmare of our past, thinking the worst.

Even I feel the same way.

“Lexie is here,” someone mutters, and Cox sighs, with what, I can’t tell.

Relief? Anxiety?

“How is he?” Lexie asks before I feel her fingers on my forehead.

“Not good. He’s got a fever; he hasn’t stopped shaking…” Cox stops talking, and I wonder why. “I can’t mind-link him.”

“It won’t last,” Lexie mutters, her fingers running down my arm like she’s searching for something. I can feel her touch, but I can’t move—what the fuck is that about?

“What’s that?” Cox asks sharply, and I sense Lexie flinch.

She may be a witch, but werewolves are animals, after all, and I guess Cox is pretty scary right now.

“Something to help him,” Lexie replies matter-of-factly. “It should reduce the amount of time he’s paralyzed.”

I feel the sharp scratch as a needle enters my skin, but I don’t care. I just want to open my eyes.

“Reduce?” Cox echoes. “How long will he be like this?”

“Well,” Lexie pauses and checks me over, her fingers on my pulse. “He’s not good...it could be anything from several hours to several days.”

“We don’t have that kind of time!” Alpha Asher blurts out. “Isn’t there anyone else we can get? We need information, and he’s the only one with it.”

I try to mind-link again, but it’s like hitting a brick wall.

“No,” Cox sighs. “Lexie is the best.”

“Thank you,” Lexie responds quietly. “I’ll do what I can and stay with him until he’s better. That’s all I can do.”

“We’d better get the warriors ready to leave,” Alpha Drox comments, no doubt to Alpha Asher. “Luna Marie, tell me the second there’s any change with Alpha Calix.”

“I will,” Luna Marie confirms softly from beside me, her voice filled with grief.

I know without asking she’s worried about Blair, but no one can do anything for Blair until we find these bastards. I move my lips and manage to rasp, “Leon.” My throat burns with the effort to talk, but I push through, ignoring the pain. “Took Blair.”

My body sags into the bed as they speak hurriedly above me, but I can’t stay. I’m too exhausted. Instead, I fall into a dreamless sleep.