Chapter 134 – The Alpha's Vow

Chapter 134 – The Alpha's Vow


Nasir's POV

Night wind carried the smell of something not of this world.

My wolf stood on end the moment it reached me, pungent ash, frozen dirt and something older than death. I came to a halt on the northern ridge, nostrils flared with every instinct howling.

Lucian caught the shift a fraction later. His shadow-dappled eyes flashed to me, blade-sharp "You can smell it too."

Not a question.

"Yes" I growled "She's here."

Trinity's face exploded in my mind, wide eyes and exposed. My chest knotted, rage and terror careening into each other. Morgana's presence was no rumor anymore; it was a fresh wound spilling onto our soil. 

Behind us, warriors shifted uncomfortably. Kael stood among them and his gaze on the forest boundary. For once, he wasn't taunting me. He appeared ready to rend the woods asunder.

A snarl of warning low in my chest "We hold her in the wards until i say so with no exceptions."

"She won't like that" Kael growled, begrudgingly meeting my eye.

I whirled on him, amber burning "I don't care if she likes it. She's not going anywhere until I rip Morgana's throat from her head."

Lucian's voice was a gentle caution "Be cautious, fury and fear impair judgment"

I snapped "Don't lecture me about control when the witch you bound once already is returned to our lands"

Silence pressed between us for an instant then howling broke it.

Not a wolf's howl but something twisted and something wrong.

Warriors stood frozen. Shadows shimmered at Lucian's toes, restless. My wolf burst against my fur, claws shredding to get out.

"They're here" I said to him, low.

The forest erupted.

Shapes dropped from the tree line—giant beasts with eyes glowing and jaws too wide, too toothed and to belong to this world. Morgana's hounds were flesh warped by darkness and muscle bound up in sorcery as they rushed forward but their trajectory was purposeful and straight for us.

"Holding the line!" I shouted, adjusting in mid-air.

Fur exploded across my skin, bones breaking, reshaping. My paws hit the earth with claws gouging deep into soil with the taste of blood filled my mouth before I’d even registered my first kill and the hound squealed, shadows leaking from its body as my jaws crushed its throat.

At my side, Lucian was a whirlwind of darkness, his wolf form shrouded in writhing shadow, tearing beasts apart with elegance that made them howl like they were being unraveled.

Kael battled like a demon, his strikes wild and desperate with too much anger in every strike but he did not fall yet.

There were just too many of them though and every time we tore one apart, another came out of the treeline, eyes blazing with Morgana's will.

A cry ripped the night asunder not a wolf's this time.

Trinity.

The noise exploded through me like fire through my veins. My wolf became rabid as I ripped free of the creature beneath and sprang, shifting halfway in a mad run. My body burned with the shift but I didn't care.

"Where is she?" I bellowed.

One of the warriors shouted "By the ward line, she broke through"

Before he'd even gotten the words out, I was gone, running through trees with heart thudding.

Branches whipped my arms, blood and dirt stained my skin but all I can hear is her voice echoing in my mind. Trinity's scream, ugly and fearful, then I could see her.

Standing just beyond the shaking ward line, her robe in shreds and her eyes wide and wild. One of the hounds advanced with saliva dripping from its saw-toothed jaws.

She shouldn't have been able to get past. The wards would have kept her at bay. Unless....

Morgana's laughter curled on the wind, low and scornful.

"Nasir"

Her voice coiled around my head like poison.

Trinity's eyes darted to me and relief etched on her face "Nasir!"

The hound attacked.

I had not thought that my body had moved before my mind had caught up with it. One heartbeat I was on the ridge, the next I was crashing into the beast, shoving it away from her with a bellow that rang through the night.

Its claws ripped my chest, deep enough to burn but I held it fast, snarling and rending until the darkness inside it flowed out.

When it finally stopped spasming, I sat up with a heaving chest and the blood warm against my skin.

"Are you insane?" I roared at her, holding her by the shoulders "The words—Trinity, what was wrong with you?"

"I heard it" she shook, tears welling "She was calling me, she was in my head, Nasir"

Every muscle in my body stiffened.

Morgana had reached her.

My fingers grasped the wooden staff tighter than I meant to with fear tearing me bare "You never listen, do you? You were supposed to be indoors!"

Her lips trembled and her eyes burning into mine "Would you have stood still if it was me outside?"

The words cut sharper than razors. My mouth dropped open but nothing came out. She was right, damn her.

I was about to answer when the woods grew quiet, too quiet and too silent.

Lucian's darkness seethed in outrage, warning and then....

"Mmmm…"

The voice slid through the glade, gentle, womanly, heavy with starvation.

Trinity flinched, pushing further against me and her trembling fingers gripped my bloody tunic.

"You smell as sweet as i dreamed" Morgana's voice breathed "So fragile and so fertile."

A harsh wind keened through the trees, carrying her fragrance ash, bone and hunger.

Trinity's heart slammed against my chest, her breathing short and rasping.

I bared my teeth, scanning the darkness "Show yourself witch"

A laugh replied. Not in one spot but everywhere at once.

"Oh Alpha" Morgana whispered, inches from me I could have sworn I felt her warm breath against my ear "You think you've already lost her. Wait until you see what I'll get her to do for me."

Trinity gasped, stiff in my arms and her body tense like she was being yanked both ways in some internal tug-of-war.

Her eyes widened and her lips parting like she was hearing something only she could hear.

"No" I growled, gripping her tighter "Fight her, Trinity. Cling to me."

Her eyes flicked up, bewildered and tortured "She's inside me, Nasir"

And then she screamed.

Her body trembled in my arms, power coursing through her system in raw convulsions and her voice hoarse with agony.

Lucian's shadows erupted, Kael screamed something unintelligible, warriors charged but it made no difference because Morgana wasn't just present.

She was already at Trinity.