Alpha Divided (Alpha Girl Book 3) (18 page)

Raphael stood up. “I’ll go with you.”

“You don’t have to.” If I got caught, I didn’t want him to get in any trouble. I said as much and he shook his head at me.

“Trust me. It’ll be better for you if I’m with you. I know how to handle Luciana.”

Somehow I doubted that, but we headed out to the main road—the only road in the compound—together.

Houses and other buildings butted up against the dirt road, but there definitely wasn’t enough space for more than sixty people. I wondered who decided who lived on the compound and who didn’t. Was it based on some sort of hierarchy?

The night was quiet, and if I closed my eyes, I could almost pretend I was back at St. Ailbe’s. The scents were nearly the same, but notes of oil from the nearby cars, and dinners being cooked intruded on my illusion.

The little steeple of the schoolhouse cut into the sky up ahead. It wasn’t that tall, but the white paint stood out against the setting sun. “So do you go to school there?”

“I used to.” Raphael paused. “When we get there, try to be as quiet as possible. Luciana didn’t invite you for a reason.”

“What do you mean?”

“Luciana wants something from you, and she’s letting you get comfortable. Lazy. You going in there will show her that you’re not comfortable. In my experience, it’s much better to have your enemy underestimate you.” He paused to pick up a rock from the ground. He tossed from hand to hand before dropping it. “I know you’re having trouble with spells, but if you could maybe learn some defensive stuff, that’d be good.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. Nothing I’m doing works.”

“Well, then maybe we can make something up for you. A charm to keep bad energies away could help. I’ll talk to Claudia about it.”

I nodded.

The schoolhouse was still a little ways away, but Raphael started walking between the houses. “You’ve got really good hearing, right?”

“Yup.”

“Good. There aren’t any windows in the back. Not any at our height, at least. Less chance of being noticed. You can press your ear to the wall.”

I probably didn’t even need to get that close. My hearing was damned good. “Yeah. That’ll do.” As we neared the schoolhouse, I realized I definitely wouldn’t need to do that. The walls of the old building were thin, and the people inside were yelling. I grasped Raphael’s arm to stop him, and suddenly I felt different. Like I was outside my own body.

I shook my head, trying to break free of the feeling, but I couldn’t.

“Are you okay?” Raphael asked.

“Fine. Just got dizzy for a second.”

Raphael faced me. “I thought Weres didn’t get dizzy.”

“Well, this one did. Let’s go. And be quiet.”

We stepped close to the back wall of the schoolhouse, and Raphael pressed his ear against the wood. I stayed back a little ways. Hearing the voices wasn’t a problem. It wasn’t like they were talking quietly. At all.

“The pack doesn’t understand and they never will,” Luciana said. “The humans are weak. The wolves don’t think we’re as strong as they are and they hardly see us as supernatural. They think us a subset of humans. We’re not human.”

That was what she thought? That the Weres saw them as humans? It was entirely inaccurate. From everything that I’d seen and heard, the Weres really respected, and sometimes even feared the witches.

“The pack here will never accept witches as equals,” said a man.

That voice. It seemed familiar. I couldn’t quite place it, but something about the sound made me irrationally angry.

“The only way to make sure we’re positioned as leaders when supernaturals are revealed is to eliminate the pack structure. We need to show the pack that our coven is strong. We need to fight for our voice. We’ve hidden here too long—”

Shouts of agreement filled the night.

I stepped closer to the wall as I tried to distinguish the voices, and stepped on a twig. I winced, and hoped that no one inside had heard.

But I wasn’t that lucky.

“Someone’s listening.” I heard the whisper under all the yelling. I wasn’t sure how I heard it with all the commotion, but my wolf must’ve sensed the danger.

I grabbed Raphael’s arm and that dizzy feeling came back. He yanked free. “What?” he whispered.

“They know we’re here,” I mouthed.

He gave me funny look. “Impossible,” he mouthed.

I started to walk away, but suddenly the schoolhouse was quiet. The side door slammed against the wall as it opened and I froze in place.

“See. This is what I’m talking about. She’s supposed to be one of us, but she’s spying, and turning our own against us,” Luciana said, and the gathered group voiced their agreement.

I turned to look at her, and was surprised to see a familiar face standing beside her. It’d been a while since I last saw him, but I’d never forget him and his chin-length blond hair streaked with gray. Especially since he was wearing another slick three-piece suit.

Rupert Hoel.

Everyone else in his family had shown up, so it wasn’t all that surprising that he had, too. But what was shocking was that he was here, with the coven. I’d been too busy chasing my tail to realize who was behind this whole clusterfuck.

This time when I yanked Raphael’s arm, he didn’t pull free. The dizzy feeling was back. Stronger.

I closed my eyes.

“Are you okay?” Raphael said.

I opened my eyes. We stood behind the last house before the schoolhouse.

What just happened?

I turned in a circle.
How did I get back here?

As I realized the only possibility, cold sweat broke out on my forehead.

I’d just had a vision of the future.

Oh no. Oh hell no. This was so not happening.

Chapter Fourteen

I spun, stomping back toward my cousins’ house, but Raphael stopped me.

“Are you okay?” He asked as he gripped my arm.

“No.” I snapped, jerking away from him.

That was rude. I needed to calm down, but this whole seeing the future thing had totally thrown me for a loop.

I took a breath and tried to calm down. “I’m sorry, but I’m so beyond not okay. We need to go back to your house.”

He looked from the lit up windows, then back to me.

“I swear. We need to go back. I just…” I started walking again.

“Okay. Okay. We’ll go.”

I was already walking. Nothing could drag me back there.

In my normal visions, I was always removed—distant from what was happening. This was like living the same moment twice. Or almost the same thing. Like déjà vu on crack.

But what was even more disturbing was seeing the ass-Hoel with Luciana. Was he the reason she wanted me here so bad? Was it revenge for ruining his attempt at a coup? Or was he really teaming up with Luciana?

If someone had asked me a few hours ago if that was even possible, I would’ve said the idea was nuts. Luciana hated the Weres. But if I trusted the vision—and I did—Mr. Hoel was standing in the schoolhouse right now. With her. At a coven meeting.

If Mr. Hoel was plotting with Luciana, I had to tread carefully. He’d almost gotten four of the top alphas killed. He’d sold our location to the vampires. His endgame had always been about power, and I’d bet my life that his plan was still the same. Everything I’d overheard during my vision backed this up. He was making another play to get more power, take down the Seven, and out supernaturals to the rest of the world.

Only this time, he was using Luciana to divide the pack. Same story, different day. So, how did I beat him this time? The stakes were higher. Fighting the witches would only result in lots of people dying on both sides.

That wasn’t the way to come out to the humans. Showing them our violent side would make them afraid. It’d be witch hunts all over again.

So many scenarios ran through my head that I hadn’t even noticed Raphael had stopped walking until he spoke. “What the hell happened back there? Why did you chicken out?”

I wasn’t ready to talk about it, but I guessed it was unavoidable. “No. I just…no.” I didn’t know how to put what happened into words. “I had the worst déjà vu. It was like the Matrix had a huge fucking glitch.”

“A glitch in the Matrix?”

This was going to sound totally insane. Hearing what future visions were like was totally different from experiencing one.

I needed more visions like I needed a hole in the head.

I waited until we were down the road a little more. I didn’t want to be overheard. “I guess I had a vision. We went to the schoolhouse, but as soon as you put your ear to the wall, they knew we were there. Anyhow, it was turning into a bad scene—Luciana and the others were pissed. Then I jolted back to where we were right before you asked me if I was okay for the
second
time. In the exact same spot.”

A slow grin spread across his face. “See. You can do it. See the future. We should start testing it out. We should—”

I tuned him out as I stared up at the stars. It was a clear night, and now that we were far away from the meeting—a quiet one, too. If I closed my eyes, I’d bet I could forget the last fifteen minutes had happened.

For about the millionth time, I wished Dastien were here.

Oh no. I had to get word to him. He had to know that the pack was in danger.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a cell that works?” I asked. Even if I couldn’t really talk to him, he needed to know that Mr. Hoel was here and working with Luciana.

“No service out here. And Luciana is the only one who knows how to turn our phone on. But…”

I knew it. He’d been holding out on me. “Please. Just this once. I need to talk to Dastien. He has to know what I just saw.”

“The only landline that’s always turned on is in Luciana’s house. She’s busy at the meeting and Daniel’s at our house—”

“You mean Daniel has a working phone?” And he hadn’t told me? He was so going to hear about this.

“And Internet. All of us have to ask permission before we make a call and she goes over the log on every phone bill.”

What was this? A fascist regime? No wonder they hadn’t told me about the phone. The more I learned about Luciana, the more I confirmed that she was a complete psychopath.

“I’ll be gone before she gets the next phone bill. You can put all the blame on me.”

He thought for a second, and I crossed my fingers. Short of leaving this compound, I wasn’t sure what to do. But getting word to Dastien was imperative.

“This way,” he said finally, and I let out a sigh of relief.

He paused in front of a white house four houses down and across the street from his own house. “I’m going to get you the portable from inside. Probably better if we stay out here in case she comes back.”

“Sure.” Even given the circumstances, I was nearly giddy with the thought of hearing Dastien’s voice.

Raphael reappeared a second later with the phone in his hand. “Be fast. I don’t know how much time we have before the meeting ends.”

I nodded. “I appreciate it.” I quickly dialed Dastien’s cell.

Meredith answered. “Dastien’s phone.”

Why did she have his phone? “Hey, it’s me.”

“Tessa?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my God. Hang on. I’ll get him. Just give me one second.” I heard doors slam as she moved through the building.

“What’s going on? How is he? Why do you have his phone?”

I heard her and Chris arguing but it was muffled, so I couldn’t hear what they were saying. A second later, Chris’ voice came on the phone. “Hey. So Dastien’s been a mess. He’s locked in the feral cages. We’re heading to them now. I’ll put you on speaker and hopefully he’ll change forms.”

My heart dropped. “What do you mean he’s in the cages?”

“The lack of the bond has been really hard on him. Just hang on a sec. Let me get him for you.”

The sound of doors clanging closed echoed through the phone.

“All right,” Chris said. “I’m putting you on speaker.”

“Dastien?” I said.

“Oh thank God,” Meredith murmured, her voice sounded tinny.

“
Cherie
.”

I gasped at the gravelly tone in his voice. “What’s going on? Why are you in the cages?”

He muttered something in French.

I really was going to have to learn his language. “English,” I said as I rubbed my forehead. There were too many things going wrong tonight.

He paused his ramblings and switched to something I could actually understand. “It’s hard for me, this distance thing,” Dastien said. “I was okay at first, but I just… I was going to break the deal—go get you—so Dr. Gonzales drugged me. I woke up here. It’s easier as the wolf…if I order something as a human, it’s hard for everyone. They have to obey… How are you?”

I winced. I was better than him, that was for sure. “I’m okay. Worried about you now.”

“How are they treating you? Are you eating enough?”

“I’m fine. I’m having some weird vision stuff though. I just wanted to talk to you. I don’t have long. The coven’s having a meeting and I’m using Luciana’s phone—the only one on the compound.”

“
Merde.
That doesn’t sound like a good idea.”

“I’m glad I took the risk. You need to not be in the cages.” I closed my eyes and pictured him. I wished I could actually see him. I’d been able to reach him over distances a few times before, if I concentrated, but with the bond silent…

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay as soon as we’re back together.” He was lying. I didn’t need our bond to know that. If he’d been knocked out and locked up, he was so far beyond fine it wasn’t even funny. “What’s wrong with your visions?” He asked.

Explaining that would take way too much time. “It doesn’t matter. The important thing is that Mr. Hoel is here, spouting his usual bull and plotting with the coven. This is bigger than we thought.”

Dastien let out a string of curses.

“And if you’re in that cage, then you’re not keeping an eye on the pack.”

Raphael tapped his wrist. I turned my back on him.

“I’ve used up all my time. You’ve got to figure out what’s going on in the pack. If Mr. Hoel is back, then that means there could be another revolt on the way.”

“
Merde.
You’re right. I’m going to do better. It’s hard, but… I have a few ideas about what he might be planning, but joining forces with the coven? There’s a piece that we’re missing, and you can’t come home until you figure it out. I think—”