Chapter 61 - The Alpha King and His Second Chance

Jackson

"What are we going to do?" Ella asked, her voice laced with panic.

I looked around the hospital room we were in, there was one window that was to small for either of us to fit through, and we were a few stories up. Figures. I had to think fast, if the hospital was on fire for as long as I thought it had been, it's a miracle that it hasn't collapsed by now.

"Grab those sheets, we need to get them soaking wet." I instructed my mate. I went to the bathroom and turned on the shower while she stripped the bed.

"Here," Ella said, helping me soak the sheets. I could hear crackling and a few snaps, clearly indicating that the fire was still spreading.

"Your clothes too," I said. I was still very naked, but Ella was fully clothed. She hoped in the shower without hesitating, soaking herself to the bone. "Okay good, get under the sheets with me. Dont breathe in any smoke if you can help it. We need to move fast." I instructed my frightened mate. I used a wet towel to open the hospital room door, flames and smoke immediately greeted us.

"Jackson..."

"Watch your step, we need to get to some stairs." I began leading the way, my confidence in my plan faltering the further into the burning building we went. Ella started to cough pretty hard, the smoke was unforgiving. "Where are the stairs?!" I growled, not seeing any exit.

"There!" Ella pointed.

Another crack sounded, this time a flaming beam falling in front of our exit point. Shit. "Is there another exit?!"

"Back that way." Ella coughed, pointing towards the far end of the floor we were on.

"Lets go!"

We trudged forward, dodging falling debris and flames. The smoke burned my eyes and filled my lungs, my body begging for clean air. Ella wasn't doing much better either. But we just had to keep moving. By some miracle, we made it to the stairs and down four flights before we needed to go back into the majority of the burning building, the place where I guessed the fire had started. And unfortunately, the most unstable part. Our wet blanket was dry and its edges were burned, having served its purpose.

"We need to run through it, Ella. No stopping, just get out as fast as possible." I said to my mate, grabbing her hand.

"Okay." She nodded, her voice filled with fear.

"Dont let go of my hand. Ready?" I asked, grabbing onto the doorhandle. Ella took a deep breath and nodded. The handle was hot enough to burn my skin, but I ignored it and flung open the door, rushing into the flames with my mate. We pushed forward while the fire licked at our skin. We had to go around lots of fallen debris, under a few beams too. There was no point in us trying to stay low to the ground to avoid the smoke. The smoke was everywhere. Ella breathed into her shirt and me into my arm as best as we could. I felt myself getting light-headed, Ella tripped a few times too. We just had a few more feet before the exit. I scooped up my mate, sprinting to the front doors with everything I had left. The glass doors were already partially broken, giving us a clear exit. I crashed through the glass, landing on the rough pavement. We coughed and gasped for air, a group of people surrounding us.

"We thought we cleared everyone out!" A familiar face yelled. One of Sierra's friends...Cyrus, I think his name was.

"We..Jackson...needed blood." Ella coughed hard. Her skin was covered in ash. "Seth sent us here."

"You two need oxygen and medical attention. We are sending the injured to surrounding packs for help, we can put you on a transport-" One of the doctors said, he looked like he was in part of the fire too. His clothes looked singed.

"No, I can't leave." I coughed. Someone came over and covered me with a blanket, while another hooked Ella up with a portable oxygen machine.

"Fine. Send them to the tent. If they get worse, send them out." He sighed, moving onto the next injured person who was being brought to the hospital.

"Yes doctor." The two nurses working on us said. We were quickly moved under a massive tent where dozens of others were already setup. They had me sit on a stretcher and gave me oxygen and a bag of blood. My body was grateful to be sitting somewhere that wasn't on fire.

"How did this happen?" I asked, taking a few good deep breaths into my oxygen mask.

"The Purebreds. Your witch friends took care of the bastards who started the fire. They are in pursuit of more. We were on cleanup detail," Cyrus said, flicking his head towards a covered pile. I assumed dead bodies were underneath. "The fire was too much when we got here, and everyone except you two were out. There was no sense in stopping it from burning down. The hospital is shot. Plus, if any of those bastards come back and decide to light up another building, we'll need the water supply to be ready to go."

"Thank you Cyrus." I nodded, lying back onto my gurney. I laid there for about ten minutes, almost falling asleep from pure exhaustion.

"Beta." Gwendoyln said seriously, quickly approaching my bedside. "Where is King Edward?" She asked.

"Why? What is it?" I sat up, coughing a bit.

"I sense a shift in power. All my sisters do. We believe whoever was aiding the Purebreds with magic is dead."

"How? What?" I asked, confused.

Gewndolyn rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated huff before continuing. "We magic folk are all connected by earth. We cast spells and they will last until someone stronger comes along and breaks them or we die. There was a massive surge of power that was just absorbed into the earth many miles east of here. We could all feel it. And since we are the only ones in a war right now, I would think its safe to assume that whomever is behind the magic that helped the Purereds take Queen Sierra was just killed in that direction." She said, finishing her montage and pointing to the east.

"Edward?!" I linked, praying I wasn't distracting him in the middle of a battle.

"Yes?" He answered immediately, an edge to his voice.

"Gewndolyn says she thinks whoever was behind the magic is dead. She felt a disturbance east of here. We think Sierra might be there."

"Meet me in the safe room. Is Ella with you?"

"Yes"

"Have her come with you."

"Ella! We have to go."

"Sylvia just linked me, she needs me to grab some supplies first." My mate said, already digging through the bins of salvaged medical supplies under the tent we were in.

I still need pants, I thought to myself. I swung my legs over the edge of the gurney, Ella tossing a pair of scrub pants my way, already one step ahead of me.

"Thanks babe." I said while I pulled on the blue pants. I helped her grab a few things and we booked it to the palace. I probably looked over my shoulder a dozen times, paranoid that something else terrible was about to happen.

We passed many dead bodies, some injured too. The few survivors were being tended to by others already, so Ella and I didn't feel the need to stop. Edward didn't say why he needed Ella. Sylvia also didn't elaborate as to why we needed medical supplies, but I was guessing it couldn't be good. I don't know how his end of things went, hopefully better than being stabbed and placed in a burning building.

"Edward!" I yelled from down the hall.

"Bathroom!" He called back.

I could hear a small pup crying, it almost sounded like a newborn. Ella and I exchanged a worried glance before picking up the pace to the bathroom. Edward was sitting on the floor, he had a few good injuries himself, but that's not what caught our attention. It was the tiny pup wrapped in a pink blanket that he was feeding a bottle. She didn't look more than a few hours old. I assumed it was a she from the pink blanket. The pup looked exactly like Sierra but with Edwards' hair.

"Oh Goddess!" Ella whisper-yelled.

"She hasn't been seen by a doctor yet. Could you make sure she is okay?" Edward asked, handing over the pup to Ella.

"Of course." Ella nodded and carefully took the pup, getting to work on checking her over.

"Thank you." Edward sighed. He looked defeated, but from what I could tell, we seemed to have won. If we didn't Edward wouldn't be here with his new pup right now. He would be fighting or dead.

"I'll sew you up in a minute Edward," Ella said over her shoulder.

"Where is Sierra?" I asked.

"I don't know." Edward sighed, awkwardly getting up off the ground.

"What? I don't understand." I shook my head, looking towards the pup.

"Seth was one of them," Edward said darkly.

"What?!" Ella exclaimed a bit too loud, making the pup jump.

"I guess that would explain how we ended up in a burning building," I sighed.

"You what?"

"Wait, where is Abby?! Seth said she was safe-"

"Jackson-"

"We have to find her! The witch said she thinks he is dead-" I began to panic.

"Jack-"

"Why are we still here?!"

"Jackson!" Edward yelled, a grim look on his face. "Abby isn't....she didnt....she is gone Jackson."

"No, your wrong! Seth is dead, she is probably just hidden somewhere. We need to send out teams-"

"Jackson, my boys saw her die." Edward blurted out, knocking the wind from my lungs without even touching me.

"That can't be right...they..they must be wrong." I stuttered.

"Abby sacrificed herself for my mate and pups. She cut her own wrists and used the distraction to kill Seth. They are both gone."

"But..." My lip quivered, my mate handed the pup back to Edward, giving her a clean bill of health, then came over to me, wrapping her arms around me, tears falling down her face.

"Rachael and William are with the pups, Mom and Andrew are in our guest room." Edward sighed.

"Oh goddess...mom..." My heart broke for our mother, who was always very close to Abby.

"They could use the support right now." He said, walking past us towards the safe room, in the opposite direction of the guest room.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"My mate is still out there. I'm going to find her."

- - - - - - - - - -

Sierra

I watched in horror as my sister-in-law and brother took their final breaths. I just sent my boys away with their new sister, putting my faith in two six-year-olds to get themselves and her back home and into the safe room. I tried to use my magic to heal Abby and Seth but it was too late, plus my magic was spotty at best since having just delivered. I felt lightheaded, I knew I lost a fair amount of blood and would continue to bleed out if I didn't get help soon. I carefully got up off the floor and gingerly sat down on the bench in my cell. I needed to come up with a plan to get out of here and fast.

Since Seth was dead now, the magic barrier hiding this place would be gone. That was one thing working in my favor. I searched his body and didn't find any keys or tools or weapons. I only had my broken collar and the pair of scissors that were still lodged in Seth. I didn't plan on grabbing those unless it was absolutely needed.

"Oh my..." A mans voice said. He sounded perplexed, like he wasn't looking into a prison cell with two dead bodies and what looked to be a murder scene from my delivery in the corner of the room.

"Please sir, can you help me out of here?" I begged. "I need medical attention."

He stared at me thoughtfully for a moment, but then nodded. "Give me just a minute, ill be right back."

He went back from where he had come from, bringing a wheelchair and a set of keys with him. He unlocked my cell door and it took everything in me to not kiss the man.

"Where exactly are we?" I asked, taking a seat in the wheelchair.

"Eastern territory. Near the ocean. Beautiful view at sunset." He said, wheeling me down the hall.

"And who are you?"

"I beg your pardon, where are my manners? I am Dr. Hemsworth." He said, extending a hand over my shoulder for me to shake.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Si-Claire." I caught myself. I hope he didn't notice.

"Claire huh? No wonder they could never find any of your medical records." He chuckled. "I know who you are, I know what you are. No need for smoke and mirrors around me."

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, nervous to hear the answer.

"Medical bay. You said it yourself, you need medical attention. You will be useless to me dead, so I have no problem fixing you first." He said kindly.

I felt like I was with a serial killer. But I did need his help. If I could heal up enough, I just might be able to get out of this place. Or maybe someone will find me in the meantime. It took us a good ten minutes to weave through the building, we passed many guards on the way. Dr. Hemsworth eventually led me into a small room. It didn't look anything like a mad scientist's lab where experiments were conducted, so I figured I had some time before I needed to really worry.

"On the table please, I'll make this as quick as possible." He said, grabbing some supplies.

I watched his every move like a hawk. He noticed but didn't acknowledge it. He set everything down on the table and proceeded to explain what everything was, from the numbing medication down to the gauze. Dr. Hemsworth even offered me a mirror so I could see exactly what he was doing. While it was a nice gesture, I knew for a fact I didn't want to see what I looked like down there or worse, watch him try to fix it.

"What goes on here? I asked, hoping to get as much information out of him as possible.

"I'm happy you asked, its quite wonderful really. This is the crem dela crem, the most cutting edge laboratory in all of the world. I am the lead scientist here. Our primary purpose is to eradicate hybrids. We want to purify the werewolf bloodline." He said while he began to work on me. "This building is responsible for everything. All of our experiments and research, it's where we control our army from, where our meetings are held, everything."

"You control your army from here?"

"Yes, we have taken many wolves over the years. I insert a microchip into their neck and with the push of a button, their will is my command. One of my favorite inventions." He boasted.

"What else have you created?" I pushed.

"The device your brother had, which allowed us to control his magic. We also pumped him full of a serum that would strip him of all emotions. I have created hybrids out of regular wolves in my lab as well, they haven't lived very long. But they helped me understand you hybrids more. It helped me make the collars that prevent you from using witchcraft."

"So what, you have a plethora of information and research already, what do you need me for?" I winced in pain from the initial sting of the numbing shot.

"You are mistaken, we don't really need you for anything. You are a gift to me though. There is so much I can learn from you. We simply needed you out of the way so we could collect your twin pups with ease."

"But you don't have them." I said, praying that what I had just declared was still true.

"No, not yet. But it wont take much to get them now." He shrugged. "I remember when your brother was first brought here." He added, abruptly changing the subject.

"Yeah?" I was less than happy with my fallen sibling at the moment, it was hard to feel sorry for someone who put your pups in danger. Yourself in danger. Caused your sister-in-law to kill herself to stop him. Helped start a war. Empthy was thrown out the window at the moment.

"He was a young pup, hadn't even shifted yet. He was awfully frightened, weak too. But he was able to barter his way up, eventually becoming second in command, with restrictions, of course. Perhaps if you play your cards right, you could one day end up like him." He shrugged.

"A murderer?"

"Powerful."

"I'm more powerful than you might think."

"Then what are you still doing here? Asking for my help? If you were so powerful, I'm sure you would never have been taken prisoner. Yet here we are."

"I will get out of here, you can't stop me." I growled.

"There, good as new." He said, setting down his tools. "A word of advice, many have been in your position, claiming that they are powerful and will escape. Many have tried, none have succeeded. We will break you, my dear. Let your brother be an example. Don't fight it, things might work out for you. We might let you live." He said smoothly. "Now, let's get you over to the lab. It's not often I have a twin in my possession. I would love to compare your DNA to your siblings."

"No!" I yelled. I hoped off the table and shoved Dr. Hemsworth as hard as I could, bolting for the door. It swung open before I could even reach it, three large men with guns aimed at my head.

"Careful dear, don't want to pull a stitch." He said, standing up from the ground.

I was placed in my cell soon after, but not before Dr. Hemsworth placed another collar on me and took a vile of blood. The bodies had been moved, the cell cleaned. There was even a plate of food waiting for me. They wouldn't feed me if they planned on killing me soon. They planned on keeping me. The thought was nauseating. I wasn't going to end up like Seth. No matter what, I wasn't going to be someone's lab rat. And I certainly wasn't going to let them take my pups.