Alpha Unleashed (28 page)

Dastien moved to my side before I could open my mouth.
I don't think it's any of your business
.

I suppose, but it's my fault I didn't warn her about the guy. I can't help but feel bad.

Donovan stumbled from the other side of the chapel, ending the chance I had to ask her anything.

A stray branch caught Donovan's cheek. “Damn it all,” he said as he wiped off the blood. “There's nothing back there but woods. The walls are solid. Not a window or door besides this one.”

“We
can
break through the ward,” Cosette said. “But Luciana could be waiting for us to do just that.”

“Maybe we should just go,” I started. “I mean, is it worth—”

A soft scream echoed from inside the church.

We all froze.

“Please tell me there's no one alive in there.” Because if that was a human, then we had to go in. Screw the wards. Screw the circle and whatever was inside it.

“Help me!” The woman's voice rasped. “Please.” She was so hoarse, my throat burned in sympathy. “It's going to kill me.”

Before I could do anything, before I could even think about how to go about this without setting off any traps, Raphael was moving. Any one of the Weres could've stopped him, but none of us really wanted to. There was someone in there who needed our help. We couldn't ignore that. No matter what we might face inside.

He ran up the stairs, threw open the door, and froze. “Oh, shit.”

I started after him, but a wave of energy blasted me back.

Air whipped against my face as I flew through the air.

Dastien screamed my name, his fear ripping through our bond.

I landed with a thud, but something soft was between the ground and me. The scent of pine told me who it was. Dastien had softened my landing.

Thanks. You okay?
I asked.

Yeah. I've taken worse hits.

The others?

We weren't close enough to get hit by the blast. I barely had time to catch you.

Next time maybe catch me before I hit the ground.
I groaned as I rolled off him. Even with him there, it still hurt to hit that hard.

His soft laugh ran through our bond.
Why don't we just try to not have a next time? Okay?

“Teeereeeessa.” The way Claudia drew my name out lifted all the hairs on my arms.

I slowly turned to the doors.

Raphael was scrambling down the stairs. Beyond him, a figure moved back and forth, just out of the reach of the sun.

A major demon.

This one looked like a teenage girl dressed in skinny jeans and a black T-shirt, but the way it moved its head wasn't natural. And the red eyes were unmistakable. My side had healed, but I'd gotten lucky the last time. I couldn't get that close again.

“It won't come outside while the sun's high,” Raphael said. “I don't understand how it's even here.”

“She must've summoned it last night,” Shane said. “It's been trapped there all day.”

“This one's more powerful than the last.” Cosette yanked off her glove and tossed it. A shining new sword appeared in her hands.

“They're dead…” Claudia's soft voice drew my attention to the church beyond. The pews were set at a diagonal, leaving a wide center aisle. Lumps filled that space. Some bigger. Some smaller. A foot stuck into the aisle near the back.

Bodies. She'd drained the New Mexico coven. That was why I hadn't heard from the witch again.

The demon whirled, heading into the darkness of the sanctuary.

“Help!” The call sounded again.

It wasn't too late to help at least one of them. “Stop!” I threw my magic at the demon, putting all my will behind the word, but it barely froze for a second. We needed more firepower. “Everyone got your vials?”

Raphael ran back to the car, but the rest of us were ready. I grabbed a few vials from my bag and left the flap open for easy grabbing. The other
brujos
came to stand beside me, potions in hand.

Raphael came back with a metal bat.

“You sure about that?” I asked.

“Yeah. You guys have it handled on the potion front.” He gripped the bat with both hands. “I want to try this way.”

“Van.” Cosette nodded toward Raphael. “Supe that up for him.”

Without missing a beat, Van touched the bat, mouthing a spell. When he lifted his hand, the metal glowed.

“That'll work,” I said. The Weres had all shifted and agreed on a formation. Lucas, Donovan, and Dastien were closest to the door, while the others fanned out behind. We'd talked potion strategies, but I said it aloud one more time. “I'll take the lead, and you throw behind me. Cosette and Van will jump in when there's an opening.” Everyone nodded.

Another scream, this one of pure pain and terror.

I licked my dry lips. “Let's do this.”

“With the power of Jesus Christ, I banish you.” The words activated the potions, and I tossed them through the doors. An explosion echoed inside the sanctuary, and I rushed into the doorway with the wolves at my side.

The demon lay on the ground, arms splayed wide. I almost celebrated.

Then it levitated two feet off the ground and flipped onto its feet. It hissed and lunged for me at full steam.

Oh, hell no.

I threw three vials as I backed up, but that didn't stop it. I would've turned and run, but the wolves jumped in front of me. Dastien dodged and Lucas almost got a mouthful of it.

Adrian flew at it, but the demon slashed out with its nails. Adrian yelped, tumbling into a pew.

Shit.

Shane got to his side first, chucking vial after vial, but the demon saw Adrian's blood and kept heading for him.

“Hey!” I tossed a vial and invoked it. It exploded on the demon's back, sinking a small crater in its skin.
That
got its attention.

As the demon started for me, I spotted Cosette and Van slinking into place behind it. We'd talked out this scenario on the plane. We just needed a little time for the fey to get in place. Then, Claudia, Shane, and I would throw our potions, and Cosette—and now Van too—would go for the head. The wolves would keep it distracted and herd it where we wanted.

“You will not defeat the mistress.” Its voice was a hair-raising, high-pitched rasp.

I stopped moving.

It talked. Holy shit. Was it talking to me? About Luciana?

“If you tell us where she is, we'll defeat her,” I said, trying to bait the little monster. “Don't you want to be free of her control?”

It hissed, and goose bumps ran up my arms. “The mistress is not Luciana. Not anymore.” It laughed the same laugh I'd heard from Raphael not so long ago. Not a similar laugh. The
exact
same laugh.

I spotted Raphael on my right, twisting the bat in his hands. His jaw was clenched tight and little lines formed around his mouth.

The woman coughed from the back of the room. It sounded wet, like she was bleeding. Hurt.

We needed to end this, and soon. But if we got some information before we killed this thing, even better. “I bet your mistress is too scared to face us. She ran all the way here, but we'll find her.”

It laughed again as it levitated off the ground. It hadn't even turned to listen to me. Instead, it stared straight at Raphael “I remember you,” it said. “Your soul was tasty. Kept a few bits of it for myself.”

Raphael roared and swung the bat, aiming for the demon's head. Light flashed as it connected and the demon flew across the room, slamming into a pew. Wood splintered around it.

I strode to it, holding a vial ready. No more beating around the bush for this girl. Not if it was going to torment my cousin. “If your master is so powerful, then where is she?”

“Not telling.”

I threw the vial. It screeched in pain as its skin melted, steam rising as the potion bubbled. The smell it gave off—like burning plastic—reeked.

“Where is she?”

“Not—”

I threw another vial. Then another. Claudia and Shane started lobbing potions, too. Its skin made a sickening crackling noise as the potions hit, but it was still breathing. Still alive.

The demon gave off an ear-splitting cry as it flew in the air.

I dodged, throwing myself on the ground.

Shane yelled, and my blood went cold.

We needed to end this now.

I kipped up, and threw three more vials before reaching in my bag. Claudia met my gaze, her hand raised with her own vials. “Cosette!”

Claudia and I threw our vials in unison.

“My pleasure.” Cosette hooked arms with Van and he launched her into the air. She flew, sword raised and glittering. The blade came down, decapitating it in one glowing strike.

The earth cracked open with a roar and flash, sucking the demon back to hell.

Eerie silence echoed through the church for all of five seconds.

Then a gun cocked.

“SFPD. Drop your weapons. Now.” No less than ten cops swarmed into the sanctuary, guns out. Some of them wore Kevlar vests, others had shotguns instead of handguns, but all of them looked like they weren't fucking around.

Wolf-Dastien nudged me with his head, and I closed my eyes. This was so not happening.

“On the ground. All of you. Any wolf that makes a move toward us gets a silver bullet right through the eye.”

A gunshot, we could heal. But I wasn't so sure about silver bullets, let alone a silver bullet to the head. I lifted my arms in the air and got to my knees.

“Everyone. On the ground.”

I spared a glance for the others.

Shit. Me and my cousins were the only ones cooperating. A bead of sweat rolled down the nearest cop's cheek. All of them reeked of the sickly sweet scent of fear. One wrong move and they'd all snap.

Help me out, Dastien. We have to cooperate.
“You guys have to get down,” I said just loud enough for the Weres to hear.

“No,” Donovan growled the word. He must have just shifted back. I peeked at him, off to my right. Even standing there, naked as the day God made him, he looked fierce. Waves of alpha energy rolled off him, and my throat tightened.

This could go bad. Very quickly.

“Yes. You will.”

“They have a gun pointed at my mate. I'll not be surrendering.” The other wolves growled.

“You should listen to your friend. Down on your knees,” one shotgun carrying cop said as he took one step forward.

“You all will shift back and be nice to these police officers.” I raised my voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “We have to make a choice. We could force our way out of here, but is that the right thing to do?”

“Maybe Donovan has a point,” Shane said. “If we don't leave, we'll be tied up with the police, just like Luciana wanted.”

Dastien's anger rolled through our bond. Even my own mate thought I was being dumb, but I couldn't give in. A mistake here could destroy the trust between humans and werewolves forever.

I swallowed down my nerves. “I'll call the FBI, and they'll help clear this up. We need to show the humans we can work with them or they'll see us as nothing more than animals. If we don't go with them now, peacefully, we'll ruin any chance of them trusting us. Monsters like Luciana will come and go, but the rest of our lives with the humans—we can't throw that away.”

I cleared my throat. “Officers. The wolves are going to shift now, and they'll need the clothes from our car. I'm sure you're already searching it, so if you'd please bring the bags here for them, we'll happily go with you. We have two injured humans. One badly hurt. I don't know if she's still alive. And Shane? You okay?”

“Hurts.” His voice was strained. He just had to hold on. A few minutes more.

None of the cops moved.

“Please. We're going to need an ambulance.”

“We already called one.”

I let go of a little bit of tension. I was going to have to get the EMTs to use holy water on them, but maybe… “We haven't done anything wrong here. This is the work of Luciana Alvarez. It's exactly the same as what happened in Cedar Ridge, Texas. If you get us the clothes, we can sort this all out.”

“She needs to drop her weapon.”

I looked at Cosette. She bit her lip as she eyed the door. “Would you rather I just made this all go away?”

Tempting.
Really
tempting. But I shook my head. “We tried that last time and look where it got us. We have to cooperate.”

“Fine. But I'm not kneeling in demon ashes.” Her sword winked out and she brushed her hands on her jeans.

“What the fuck was that?” A cop yelled.

Ugh. Way to diffuse the situation. I waved my hands, drawing the cops' attention back to me. “Please don't be afraid. The wolves are going to shift now.”

One by one, the guys took their human forms until only Meredith was left. She huddled against Donovan's legs and I didn't blame her. “Now, we need our clothes. Please.”

A cop disappeared and came back a minute later with one of the Cazadores' duffels of clothes. He tossed it toward us.

The guys held their hands out and slowly reached for clothes. Everyone was moving very slowly. Carefully. Making sure there were no mistakes. It was necessary, but we didn't have this much time. Adrian and Shane—not to mention the woman—needed help now.

My arms ached, but I wasn't about to lower them.

“What about that one?” One of the cops motioned at Meredith with his guns.

Donovan growled.

“Calm down,” I whispered. “That's my friend Meredith. She's a minor and would like some privacy to change.”

She approached bag, grabbing the sweats in her mouth, and then slowly walked behind a pew. A few moments later, she stood, fully clothed.

“Thank you,” she said.

This isn't going to go well,
cherie.

Yeah, but we're screwed either way. At least now we can be seen as cooperative.