Lost Alpha (4 page)

“Your nieces are in Janie’s room,” he said, stopping at the end of a long hallway. “That’s an interesting perfume you’re wearing. What is it?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, realizing she was trapped at the end of this hallway. She did not like the feeling gathering in the pit of her stomach. Alarm bells started going off in her head when he reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, unlocking the door. She had to leave, but she couldn’t do it without her nieces. “Why do you ask?”

“Because it smells like wolf,” he said, his face suddenly twisting into a mask of rage.

She turned and tried to run, but he was quick. She felt his grubby fingers catching ahold of her hair, yanking her backwards towards him.

“Do you think you can bring that wolf into our home?” he demanded, his voice a tidal wave of rage. “I knew we didn’t finish the job!”

The door swung open to reveal her two nieces sitting on the ground beside Angie and Janie Lockhart. All four appeared to have been crying as they sat huddled in the empty room. With all his might William flung her into the room, bouncing her off the floor as she hit.

She felt all the wind go out of her body and she reached up, gasping for air. She thought a rib had cracked as she felt pain shoot through her midsection.

“Stay in here, wolf lover,” he said. “Victor will be back tonight and he’ll want something good to eat. Hopefully that wolf comes looking for you so we can finish the job.”

Her senses started to come back as she heard the door slam and lock behind him.

“I’m so sorry,” Angie said, reaching a hand out to touch her.

She recoiled in fear, not wanting to let the wererat touch her. She scrambled back towards the wall, cornering herself as she stared out at her nieces and the mother/daughter combo.

“Get away from me!” she screamed. “Girls get away from her! She’s a wererat! Stay away!”

Angie’s eyes grew wide and then the tears came cascading down her cheek as she grabbed her daughter and hugged her tight.

“It’s ok Aunt Paige,” Lyric said, crawling over to her. “She’s on our side.”

Paige looked up at Angie, feeling every emotion possible sweep through her body. Why had they trapped this wererat in the bedroom with her? Why was she locked up with her daughter and Paige’s nieces? Something didn’t add up. Then something Travis said hit her. He told her that werewolf females hardly ever produced children and they had to go to humans to produce their offspring.

“Oh my god,” Paige said, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes. “You poor woman.”

She crawled over to Angie and Janie, wrapping her arms around both.

“It’s ok,” she whispered as mother and daughter cried in her arms. “We’re all going to get out of here. You won’t be a prisoner anymore.”

Paige didn’t know how she was going to get them out; they were trapped in a rat hole, used as bait to lure the wolves. She joined Angie and Janie in weeping as her nieces wrapped their arms around her.

Chapter 6

“How did you find out?” Travis demanded, still standing in the doorway to Paige’s trailer.

“I was checking out the mansion when I saw Paige’s car out front,” Dario said.

“You were what?” Travis asked. “Why would you do something so reckless? I did not give you permission to go snooping around.”

“Forgive me, alpha,” Dario said, looking at the ground like a scolded child. “I was hoping I could find something out to help you.”

“We don’t know for sure they’re holding her,” Travis said, thinking about it. “Her nieces play over there all the time, maybe she was just picking them up.”

“Do you want to take that risk?” Dario asked.

“I do not,” Travis said. “Let’s go.”

Travis had just
shifted
, so he was unable to
shift
into wolf form this quickly. Luckily he had the body and stamina of an Olympic sprinter due to his superior wolf genetics. He followed Dario, both men running down the street on foot. The entire time they ran, Travis felt anger welling up inside of him. Paige wouldn’t be over at the Lockharts this late; they were definitely holding her hostage. He didn’t care about plans or being careful or anything of that sort now, he just wanted to wrap his hands around the throat of a rat and squeeze the life out of it. When that failed he would turn into a wolf and tear them limb for limb, he didn’t care if they could shift into lunar form, they had made a big mistake.

The run was long and brutal, taking much longer than Travis expected. Halfway through, when they had left the main road and entered a wooded area, Dario peeled off his shorts and shifted into wolf form, using all four legs to move quicker. Travis tried to pick up the pace, but the wolf was too fast.

Finally, after an eternity of running, they stopped outside the iron fence that surrounded the Lockhart’s estate.

Travis was completely spent, gasping for air, as he leaned against a stone pillar for support. Dario looked up at him with big wolf eyes, waiting for him to give direction.

After catching his breath Travis pointed towards the house. “They don’t have cameras or anything, do they?”

Dario shook his head.

“Did you enter the property earlier?”

Dario nodded his head.

“Then show me how you got in.”

Dario got low and stalked around the perimeter of the fence, heading west of the house. He brought Travis to an area where one of the stone columns had collapsed, leaving an opening for someone to hop through between the fence and column. Dario nimbly jumped through while Travis, much more awkward in his human form, slid through causing the iron fence to collapse even more. It made a horrible creaking sound that filled the nighttime air. Travis stood frozen for a minute, his eyes darting around. After several moments he felt satisfied nobody had heard them.

He squatted low and followed Dario to the house. There was a huge stone driveway out front where several old cars sat in addition to Paige’s cherry red Mustang. Travis’ nostrils flared and he bit back his anger as he saw her car sitting in the driveway, waiting for her to come back and take it away.

Travis pointed to the front door and Dario’s wolf nodded, wanting to check out the lay of the land. They began to sneak that way when the front door opened, bathing the front of the house in light. Both wolves ducked behind a beat up old Cadillac that was at the very edge of the driveway. Dario managed to crawl under the Cadillac, concealing himself completely, but Travis was too big to work his way in. Instead he just sat calmly, hoping nobody walked their way.

He could hear his heart beating as he heard two people talking in front of the house. He strained to listen, but they were speaking in hushed tones.

Just as he decided to peek his head around the fender of the car and get a look headlights bathed the front of the house. He slid to the rear of the car, looking at the driveway that led to the house. A large, black stretch limousine was pulling up to the house.

Who the fuck is that?
Travis thought. He continued to watch as a short, fat, balding man ran to the limo, hopping anxiously from one foot to the other.

A large driver exited the vehicle, stoically walking down the edge of the vehicle, pushing the squat wererat back in the process. He opened the door of the limo allowing a tall, older gentleman to stand up out of the vehicle. The man wore a long peacoat over a dark suit. His eyes were glowed a ghostly red and his gray hair was slicked straight back. There was no doubt in Travis’ mind, this man was a vampire.

“Victor,” the wererat said loudly. “Welcome back.”

“Cut the crap William,” Victor responded. “What news do you have for me?”

“We caught the werewolves’ girlfriend,” William said excitedly.

“And?” Victor asked, sounding annoyed.

“We can capture the werewolf now,” William said. He was cowering at the power radiating from the vampire.

“Do you think I care about some damn werewolf?” Victor asked. “If I cared about the werewolf then I would have killed him the night I grabbed the staff. I saw him as I was leaving; he looked me in the eyes. If his life was consequential to anything then I would have ended it right there. But I didn’t. You know why?”

“N….” William started, but the vampire cut him off.

“Because he’s a worthless piece of garbage that can do nothing to stop me now. Who cares if one survives? This isn’t a TV show; he won’t be having his revenge. I have the staff, the land is mine. They will break ground tomorrow on the oilfield project and the land will grow my pocket book.”

“Yes sir,” the rat said. “Of course sir.”

“Is there anything else important?” he asked.

“Well we did capture his girlfriend and her nieces,” William said. “Perhaps you’re hungry?”

“William, you are making sense now my good boy,” Victor said. “I’m famished from the flight over. Let’s go.”

Travis watched as the two of them went back into the house, leaving the brutish driver and a smaller, skinnier rat behind.

You cocky bastard,
Travis thought, thinking about the vampire’s words. He wasn’t scared of Travis at all, a big mistake.
They’re going to destroy Bowshot tomorrow, I have to rescue Paige and get the staff back.

Dario crawled back from under the Cadillac, looking up at Travis. He pointed at the two men standing by the limo and made a slashing motion across his throat. The wolf nodded in agreement and prepared to strike.

Travis stayed low, walking in a squatting position towards the limo. As he passed the back of the car he saw a large rock on the ground. He smiled picking it up and continued towards the limo driver. Just as he got close he stood up and broke into a full run. The limo driver spun around, his eyes growing wide at the sight of an equally large man bearing down on him. He tried to get his hands up to shield himself but Travis was already swinging the rock with all his might. It crashed into the side of the man’s head, splitting his skull and creating a loud cracking noise. The driver’s eyes rolled back and he collapsed onto the front of the limo, blood spurting from the wound.

“What the!” the rat said, starting to
shift
. It was obvious he was shifting into lunar form, hair was sprouting all over his body but his size wasn’t changing.

He didn’t get a chance to finish his transformation, instead Dario leapt onto his back, burying his powerful jaws into the back of the rat’s neck. The wererat never had a chance as he was killed instantly by the wolf’s powerful jaws as they snapped his neck.

Travis stood over his two dead adversaries, a feeling of satisfaction resonating through his body. There was no turning back now, they had to assault the mansion and rescue Paige or all was lost.

Chapter 7

“Did you know what they were?” Paige asked Angie, rubbing her back.

“I thought William Jr. was a good guy,” she said. “We met and fell in love and got married in Texas. It all seemed to be a fairytale, until I had Janie. That’s when he started getting crazy, possessive. A year ago, just after Angie turned 11, he told me we were moving to Oklahoma to live with his family. I didn’t want to come, I loved it in Dallas, but he insisted. He told me changes were going to happen to Janie in the next year or two and we needed his families support.”

“Changes?” Paige asked, feeling dread in her stomach.

“He wouldn’t tell me until we moved her,” she said. “I tried to get it out of him but he threatened me. At this point I was so scared I went along with whatever he said. When I got here, I found out what they were. My baby! My baby is going to be one of them!”

Paige moved her arm around Angie’s neck, half putting her in a headlock and pulling her in tight. “Don’t talk like that in front of Janie. She’s still your little girl, you have to love her.”

“I do love my baby” she sobbed. “I’d never give her up, but how could they do this?”

“It’s what they are,” Paige said. “You couldn’t have known. She won’t be like them though; they’re not all like that.”

“How do you know?” Angie asked, her face scrunched up and red from crying. Her beautiful red hair was a tangled mess and her green eyes were bloodshot.

“Because the wolves will save us,” Paige said.

Angie’s eyes got wide and she sat up and grabbed Paige by the shoulders. “The wolves can’t come here! They want to kill them, they’ll
shift
and kill the wolves.”

“A rat can’t kill a wolf!” Lyric declared, oblivious to the actual conversation. Lily looked completely distressed, picking up on the danger they were in.

“They will
shift
into that lunar form thing,” Angie said. “They usually carry weapons in that form; your wolves won’t have a chance.”

“How can they do it?” Paige asked. “It’s not a full moon.”

“Grandpa swallows this!” Janie said, holding up a small gray rock.

“What is that?” Paige asked, taking it from her.

“It’s a moon rock,” Angie said. “The vampire they’re working for has a lot of it. They grind it up and put it in their food or drink, it lets them
shift
into lunar from whenever they want as long as they keep taking it.”

“Who is this vampire?” Paige asked. She had wanted to disbelieve Travis when he mentioned the vampire, but now it was staring her right in the face.

“His name is Victor Dance,” she said. “He owns an oil company. He wanted the land the wolves lived on so he paid the family to help him take out the wolves that lived there. William is greedy and stupid, he’s the perfect puppet. He’ll do whatever you say without questions.”

“An expendable asset,” Paige muttered. It was like the rats were native being armed by a foreign government hoping to overthrow the current regime.

“They’re going to feed us all to Victor,” Angie said, beginning to get hysterical again. “He’s going to suck our blood dry.”

“Why would they kill you?” Paige asked. She looked back at her nieces whose faces had turned white with shock. They’d heard every word and comprehended it. “It’ll be fine girls, Travis will save us.”