Destined for the Alpha (11 page)

"So they want to use me like some kind of blood bank? I can't leave Peter"

"The elders have promised to not touch you until after your changing, but things have changed since you have shown such ability with the sages. I'm worried that you won't be with us much longer."

She ate breakfast in silence, thinking over John's words to her, would the elders truly take her away? She wouldn't allow it.  She couldn't keep hurting her clan, and she hated seeing Peter in such pain over her.

A few hours passed between wakefulness and sleep, John coaxed her out of bed and she walked on wobbly legs like a newborn deer. The blood loss took more out of her than expected. He found a loose white dress out of the closet that looked more like a nightgown and slipped it on over her head, it was almost too long for her and pooled around her feet. Peter opened the door to see John brushing out her hair while she sat at the foot of the bed. The alpha male had changed into jeans and a white t-shirt that was stained with dirt and blood

"Let's get this over with,” Ivan muttered irritably from the door.

John helped the blonde girl to her feet but she fell forward instead of standing and she cursed her own weakness. "How can they ask her to go before them when she can barely stand?" John asked holding her steady.

"I can stand!" Catherine replied, irritable "Just not well at this time"

Ivan gently lifted her up much to her protests and they began a long walk to the room that housed the elders. She recalled the turns and twists of the hallways from the last time she was here, and as the large oak doors creaked open to reveal the rounded room she felt a sense of dread wash over her.

"Surprisingly punctual, Peter." she remembered that voice from before and Ivan gently set her down on the floor, the cold marble making her shiver, but as he let go of her, her legs gave away and she fell to her knees on the floor.

"Ivan, be more careful with her please." Peter hissed and Catherine waved Ivan away.

It was the same board of old men from earlier leering at them from the shadows. She decided to sit down on the floor, hoping they would be convinced of her weakness and let her go peacefully, thinking back on what John had said to her at breakfast.

"Can the girl not stand, Peter? Or did you bring us a cripple?" a bored voice asked from her right

"Cordelia, I'm sure left out in her word from the sages that they drained Catherine of much of her blood and power." Peter said irritably shooting a look over to his right where the same brunette she saw earlier was standing

"She did, so perhaps the Helian is fallible after all." another man said boredly.

"Not even a pint of her blood was a necessary sacrifice to sate the forest for the entire winter!" Cordelia cried, her voice shrill and indignant "Can we let the violent Votkinsk clan have her without protest?"

"Wouldn’t we have the most use for her since we are given all the patrols and missions that no one else is willing to take?" Peter snapped and backed into Catherine defensively, shielding the sitting girl from Cordelia who was approaching them.

"Her powers only work for one clan, and she must choose them before her changing, such a small, useless clan, wielding such a vast amount of power is unfair"

"Cordelia," one of the elders, Catherine could not see which, the skylight overhead was shining directly down on her "we were called to this meeting on your intelligence that not only did the Helian perform a blood sacrifice but she was unaffected by such a task, and here we have her barely awake on our floor. Do you think we are so stupid as to not see her condition? It is good that she has sated the lord of the forest for now, we cannot spare any of our own for sacrifice this winter!"

"Elder Rosen, that is not-" Cordelia backed away from Peter and towards the door.

"Do not lie to us again, as for the Helian-"   

"My name is Catherine" shot the girl from the floor and Peter hushed her

"You are not to see us again until after you change, Alpha Votkinsk will be sure to get you to your changing without any more bloodshed on your part, correct?"

Peter looked wary of the news and nodded in agreement, Catherine tried to stand but was scooped up by Peter again "we'll take our leave then" he replied without looking back at the board of elders wondering how he had escaped with no punishment.

Peter brushed past Cordelia on her way out and she heard the woman exclaim and glare at the couple on their way out of the room, and somehow Catherine knew that this would not be the last of the red female. "Peter?" She asked as they descended a stone staircase, her head on his shoulder looking behind the tall werewolf who was moving fast enough to make her dizzy.

"Hmm?"

"Who is Cordelia?"

Peter slowed as they reached the landing at the bottom of the stairs and didn't respond for awhile, as they descended down another small flight of stairs he began almost not trusting his voice "She is the power hungry beta from one of the larger clans that is housed in one of the other towers…" his voice trailed off and his speech was slow, she felt like there was something he wasn't saying but elected to say nothing about it, they reached the door to the large room that she had slept in and he let her slip to her feet where she leaned against the door to steady herself "and we were involved for some time, which seems to give her some kind of false sense of importance."

"Oh." it was a soft noise that left her lips, the hurt of being betrayed even though she was probably not even in the mind of her alpha at the time made her heart fall to her stomach. Catherine opened the door and stumbled forward to see her omega sitting near the fire pouring over a book, the fire stoked and the room cleaned.

"Catherine!" Her omega got up quickly to steady her but the alpha grabbed her waist first.

He leaned down to her ear, Peter's hot breath traveling down her neck "There is no one but you, my Catherine, do not mistake my loyalty." his whispered words sent shivers down her spine and she squeaked in surprise. Still jealousy ate at her heart. She turned her head to meet her alpha's lips and gave him a chaste kiss which led to something more, a soft tracing of his tongue on her lips and a small sigh gave him the opening to intertwine his tongue with hers. A soft moan as he brought her closer to his body, his hug almost crushing her against him. She heard him growl against her lips and she broke the kiss, breathing heavily.

"No rest for the wicked, alpha." Shawn cut in behind them and she heard the bigger werewolf sigh before sitting his mate down on the bed. John quickly gave her a glass of water and Peter sat down next to her. Catherine's legs felt heavy and she sighed looking down at her dress, her feet peeking out from beneath the hem.

Shawn smiled at her briefly; she didn't know her deltas as well as she knew everyone else. John was always waiting on her and Ivan and Peter were with her as mates. Peter briefly looked over the letter; it had a wax seal on the top that weighed the paper forward slightly. The blonde looked over to see elaborate script that seemed to go on past the page.

"Cordelia did this once again, we're playing janitor." Peter tossed the papers on the bed "and who delivered it?"

"It was here when I arrived, alpha, what are we to do with her?" Shawn replied, running his fingers back through his hair, he was worried and wearing all black, as what seemed to be his wont.

Peter kissed her gently on her head, "Ivan?"

"You know Ivan must come along for such a job!" Shawn looked back towards the door expecting the werewolf in question to come through the heavy wooden door. "What about John?"

"Don't make me laugh."

"What about Philippe?" Catherine chimed in.

Chapter 8

was John who dropped her off in the library she was in not a few days ago. Philippe was dressed in grey tweed pants and a slightly askew cotton button down. He had a glass of brandy as he stood up to welcome the Helian and her escort.

"I knew you'd be back my little pup." He welcomed the small girl with open arms and she padded on bare feet into the lush carpeted library. She looked back at John who was watching her with a wary look in his eyes. "We will be back soon, Catherine." John said quietly and turned back down the hall.

She knew as she sat down quietly on the sofa that had comforted her so much earlier that Peter was no pleased to have her in the custody of another clan. His prized possession with another alpha.

"How did you get that beast to leave you with me?" He asked boredly sitting back down next to her, flipping open his book and relaxing as the sun was hanging low in the sky

"I asked" she replied simply and heard him take another sip of his drink.

It wasn't simple as she stated it; Peter had looked trapped at the suggestion like a caged beast frantically looking for a way out. He had called Ivan over and asked the beta if they could take her and keep her away from the task at hand, and after awhile she was gently pushed out of the room to hear Peter begin to raise his voice to the beta, something she had only heard once or twice. John had looked down at his hands that were laced together in front of him. "Is this type of mission routine?"

"Yes," he had responded and looked away from the small female who was still feeling rather weak from her escapades the night before. She had wondered why her omega would not meet her eyes and instinctively felt something was wrong. "John?"

The door swung open almost off its hinges. Ivan was breathing heavily, his hands balled into white-hot fists "Ivan?" Her beta shot her a glance before storming off down the stone hallway. Peter had emerged last "There is nothing to be done, John take her to Philippe." He kissed her roughly, his teeth drawing blood from her lips. She brought her fingers to her lips and watched him follow his beta, and he didn't look back.

She touched her lips absentmindedly while sitting next to Philippe, remembering the events of this afternoon. "Would you like some dinner?" he asked while turning a page.

She looked over at him and shook her head, her heart skipping a beat as he flashed an award-winning smile. She looked out the large window and wondered what her clan was up to and hoped they would be okay. She knew that she would be no help to them "cleaning up" whatever that meant exactly.

"Your clan often plays janitor, they're high ranking because of their ability to get jobs done. You should be proud of such a group ma petite chiot."

"I don't know what that means, I just want them to be safe." Catherine admitted and Philippe offered her his glass of brandy she hesitated but he nudged it into her small hands

"I have a feeling it's going to be a rough night for you," he smiled at the small girl and she watched him warily before taking a sip. The liquid tasted bitter and burned all the way down. She wondered why anyone would drink this stuff willingly, but held onto the glass in silence. An hour passed before the sun finally set and Catherine had finished the glass of brandy, feeling tired she leaned over to lie on the armrest. She felt Philippe’s hand rub her back as she yawned. How was it with her own clan she never felt so calm, but with Philippe she was a puddle within an hour. Was it the atmosphere? Was it the peace? Or perhaps the lack of other wolves? A few more minutes went by

"What's the changing like?" she asked, staring out the window, watching the waning moon climb higher in the sky.

"I was born a werewolf, George will know, he was recently changed."

"Who?"

She heard footsteps from down the hallway at a brisk walk but did not move to see who it was; they probably weren't on their way to this room. She yawned and closed her eyes.

"Sir?" A well built man, with a hair cut much like Philippe’s, combed backwards but still rather long stood before them and startled the small blonde, knocking the empty glass onto the floor "Oh! Oh sorry!" She went to pick it up worrying that the water would stain the carpet but George had gotten to it sooner.  

"Meet my delta George, Catherine, ask him your question." She sat up so quickly her head was dizzy.

George had almost military like attention, his posture was rigid and he did not look at them but down the hall. "Can he sit down? It looks uncomfortable" she leaned over and whispered and Philippe laughed

"Do as the lady asks."

Two regal chairs were across the room near the window she often found herself staring out at, worn in red velvet with deep oak inlays. George took a seat and looked at Catherine expectantly. There was no fighting or unnecessary talking; Philippe’s clan was much different than her own. "What was your changing like?" Catherine ventured quietly and George looked over at his alpha before answering slowly

"It was painful and frightening the first time, but it felt like achieving some kind of new ultimate freedom. If my alpha had not been with me though, I probably wouldn't have made it." He lapsed into a silence for a second "It is much different once you change, you become more powerful, more aware, and more connected to your pack."

George looked at her expectantly, waiting for the next question like an obedient dog ready to please his master. She felt so warm all of a sudden and pushed some hair out of her face. "Why did your alpha have to be there?" she asked genuinely curious, her pack never exhibited a pack personality except for John who constantly got yelled at. Her beta and alpha were always fighting and she hardly saw her deltas.

"The pain makes you try to stop the transformation if you're not one with your wolf, you'll die. Alpha Philippe helped me through mine." 

"How?"

"Sometimes, ma petite chiot, your alpha gives your wolf a push in the right direction." Philippe closed his book and looked over at George who was sitting waiting for the next question.

"Bring us food, delta, refill her cup, and do it quickly. I'm hungry." He said boredly. Philippe reminded her of royalty the way he ordered everyone around but when it came to her, he seemed just content to lapse into a comfortable silence.

George almost ran out of the room and Philippe looked over at her and smiled "I run a tight ship, are you surprised?"