Destined for the Alpha (18 page)

"Better the peonies-"

"are for healing." he smiled down at her and suddenly it dawned on her that the flowers were not just a pretty decoration but were medicine. She carefully ate the toast, afraid she would make herself sick on eating too much food at once, Philippe slipped out of the bed and kissed the blonde on her head.

Peter slid out from the foot of the bed "You seem to be doing better?" he asked hopefully as she nibbled on bread and fruit.

"Of course, a few blood sacrifices and a lot of running is practically nothing by now."

"Tch, how did we get into this? and the elder council allowing this all to happen." Peter looked at his feet which were dirty from running and wished that his mate's first changing was something more than a dirty room for her first time as a wolf but he couldn't risk it. Roland was out for blood and he wasn't going to risk her neck for some freedom.

"I have a feeling the elder council knew this was going to happen, Peter." Philippe responded, unbuttoning his dirty shirt and tossing it on the floor "ugh I feel like a peasant, the things I do for you Catherine."

Leo grabbed the bouquet of peonies and instantly the brown wilted flowers rejuvenated into the youthful dusty pink. It never ceased to amaze the young Helian the powers that the forest sages held. "Tonight is the full moon, you're welcome to use the sacrifice room for your changing as this place looks a little…confined." Leo said before exiting the room, leaving the three of them alone.

"Are you-can you tell me what I missed?" Peter asked finally and as Catherine finished eating, Philippe went on about their adventures running through the forest and escaping the rabid werewolf that was chasing them for revenge.

After awhile Theo came and showed her to a large hot spring where she bathed, he offered her nothing but his forest green cloak which she took grateful to be wearing anything that wasn't her tattered gown, covered in the blood of her alpha. She rubbed her shoulder where her alpha's bite was. Wondering idly what it would be like to be a wolf like him. Would it hurt when she changed? She wondered what George meant by her alpha coaching him through the process, and once she changed, would they ever go back to John and Ivan? She looked down at her bare feet, now clean of all the dirt from the forest.

Silently she prayed for the process to be quick and painless but she knew it was not the case. She padded down the hallway deep in thought and eventually found herself in the sacrifice room, which was still overgrown with trees, they seemed to glow in response to her presence. She walked towards the altar where she had saved people weeks ago, and dusted the leaves off the marble before sitting on the sacrificial bed, looking back out the room. Tonight was the night, she was going to become a wolf like her mate, but for some reason she felt like it was going to be as tumultuous as the days that preceded them.

She saw Theo walking from the far end of the room to meet the girl who was sitting on the marble bed. He eventually met up with her. "You look good in green" he pulled the hood on the cloak up on her and she smiled from beneath it

"If I had known we were going to be wearing the same thing, I would have changed." she replied, tugging his up.

"Helian girl, are you nervous?"

"A little." Catherine admitted and looked at the sage who was staring at the glowing room that she had brought to life.

"It is strange, I think, for a simple werewolf Helian to make the forest glow." Theo said to the room "It is strange for a werewolf Helian to be a Helian without being a werewolf."

"The forest and I understand each other, I think." replied and the forest seemed to glow brighter in response.

"I see, I would not be surprised if there was more to you than everyone thinks, Helian Catherine."

"I just want," she sighed and looked at the marble she was sitting on, playing with a leaf "everything to go back to what it was."

He shook his head "I'm afraid that can never happen, but what can happen is some dinner first." he offered his hand to her and she took it, leading her out a side door and into a large dining room, where Philippe and Peter were already eating with Leo.

"My brother seems to have doubled, or is that Catherine in his clothing?" the other sage said, using his hand as a visor and squinting at the pair

"She is all clean and ready for anything the world has to throw at her, right, my little Catherine?"

She nodded in response. "So it seems."

Dinner was basic fruits and meat with little seasoning or consideration, which made her long for the French cooking and she watched Philippe wash every sip down with water or wine. "as the days grow short, the nights grow longer, to Catherine's safety!" Leo and Theo said together toasting their wooden goblets together and everyone else toasted together.

It was not five minutes later before a small old man dressed in black friar robes rushed into the rooms "Masters we have impatient company, master Roland and missus Cordelia."

Catherine dropped her cup on the table spilling everywhere. "and how long before nightfall?"

"Less than a half hour I suppose but I-"

Peter got up and grabbed Catherine's arm, dragging her out of the chair "just let her change, I can take care of the rest."

Theo and Leo nodded and looked at the friar, "stall him." they said in unison.

The three wolves left the dining room for the sacrifice hall, leaving the sages to fend for themselves. Peter sat her down on the marble slab, he looked fearful as he watched the far wall. Philippe bolted the door closest them and rushed over.

"You're going to have a headache, but that's your memories." Peter said and he kissed her forehead

"and a body ache, but that's normal." Philippe cut off the first alpha and looked her over nervously.

"All you need to do is relax, and don't fight it, if you let nature take its course, you will live. If you fight against your wolf there is no way for it to survive." Peter pushed down her hood and smiled "This is it my Catherine, all we do is wait."

"I'm scared." she admitted, folding her hands on her lap and looking up at her alpha who had still not changed out of his black suit.

"No need, we're both here for you. Just relax." Peter reassured but he looked scared himself, she knew this was not his ideal. She took a deep breath and rubbed her alpha's arm in hopes of calming him down but knew that she was probably of no help.  Ten minutes passed in silence, but it felt like an eternity, she could not see the sky so she was unsure of when she was going to change, she just watched the calming glowing leaves, waiting for her head to start hurting, or something to signal that she would soon be a wolf.

The room quaked and she looked around, was it an earthquake? "Roland." Peter whispered, stepping in front of the small girl on the altar, Catherine had thought that the sages would have dealt with them, but evidently not.

She brought her knees to her chest, she had not the time or the power to deal with Cordelia who had somehow survived being splashed with tincture of silver, and to think Roland had somehow found them deep in the forest. They were not alone, they had assistance, and the puzzle pieces, Catherine believed, were starting to fall together neatly.

Another few minutes passed before she heard banging on the far wall, "fuck, fuck, Catherine, you best make this quick." Philippe replied listening to the loud rumbles the room was making, she couldn't even see the door on the far wall.

"It's fine, as long as he doesn't get to her until she changes, she's worthless to them afterwards." Peter reassured the small scholarly wolf that was staring at the door in fear.      

She could hear the voices of the sages rising and then the door burst open, revealing a one armed Cordelia who was wearing a long sleeved red velvet dress, one sleeve hanging limply at her side and a furious Roland, the sages on the ground, bloody.

"Oh." was all she could manage, the soul sucking feeling in her chest as she realized that there was nowhere left to run before her changing, looking out onto the scene, realizing that the sages were hurt, and that she was next. Everyone around her was always getting hurt, and she saw Philippe and Peter turn into wolves before her, she jumped behind the altar in a last ditch effort to protect herself and curled herself into a ball. All she wanted was to survive her changing. She laid her head on her knees and closed her eyes.

It was a roar that preceded her head exploding, it felt like it had been knocked off the concrete. She screamed as she fell over onto the ground, her whole body twitching in response. This was no longer pain, this was abject agony. She could see stars as she lay on the ground helpless, trying to let it pass and relax like Peter had told her but she was currently unsure of how she was remaining conscious.

It was the memories that came back first, of a family, of a sister, of being taken from her bed by Peter and the pain and confusion that followed. Her normal life, how many times she had been to the woods, visiting friends at college, her dream to be a psychologist, of a doggy she had seen in the woods when she was eight. She howled in pain her body convulsing as she remembered being chased by her own clan, the terror she felt when Peter bit her, her silent pleas to be let go, wondering if her family missed her at all. Her screams were joined by another and she felt her body tense up a final time before she lay limp on the ground.

Chapter 15

She had not changed, Catherine was very much human as she lay on the floor of the sacrifice room.

It was a full five minutes before the small girl opened her eyes again, her body was sore, but she felt so much more alive, she climbed to stand on her wobbly legs and she watched the one armed Cordelia advance towards her. She saw behind her the golden wolf was laying lifeless on the ground and felt her heart break. Philippe had been tossed aside like a rag doll, lifeless. Her alpha had been murdered, everyone had been killed just to protect her, there was no one left.

"You-" Catherine's voice was full of vengeance and she groped around underneath the marble slab until she felt the sharp sacrificial blade cut her fingers. She grabbed it, ignoring the pain, and the fact that she barely had use of her limbs, she held herself up on the slab and Cordelia laughed.

"Barely alive, it's a wonder you're not dead yet, I guess a Helian death is different. You did not change, you are but a shell!"

"I suppose that is the case, Cordelia." She took a deep breath and pulled the dagger out, finally holding the hilt, feeling her blood run down her arm. "Do you know where we are Cordelia?'

"Some forest-y church?"

"We are in the sacrificial hall," a slow smile spread across Catherine's face as she grabbed Catherine's hand, her only hand, she thought. She drove a dagger into the back of her hand, causing Cordelia to scream and stagger back. "How did you get? Where did you get?"

Roland ran to his beta's aid but Catherine grabbed the empty sleeve of the dress and pulled the wicked beta back towards her, causing the werewolf to stop, she noticed both werewolves laying on the ground, completely motionless. "Alpha Roland!" She called, realizing now that if the sages had been killed and her alpha was dead she had nothing left to lose "Tell me, have you witnessed a sacrifice in this hall?"

"and if I have?" he replied cautiously approaching them, watching the silver eat away at his beta's other hand.

"What is it the sages say before they take a life?"

"Only blood begets birth." he replied almost automatically.

"So correct, so correct!" she laughed maniacally her grief driving her mad, and yanked Cordelia back towards the slab kicking her in the back of the knees making her kneel before the marble "as your alpha, Cordelia, he has the right to offer you. as he just did. Blood offered, Blood Accepted. vlos belbaunin, joros emplaniilid."

It was a refreshing feeling that she felt once the blade quickly sliced through the back of her neck, killing her almost instantly. The power that rushed into her was much different than the feeling she got from offering herself to others and as the corpse collapsed to the floor of the offering room she untied the green cloak, revealing her naked figure, alive, finally alive, and full of energy with nothing left to lose. All Catherine had life was her power and this knife.

"Alpha Roland, do you understand what is to come next?" she smiled, wiping the blood off the face of the blade with two fingers, the forest leaves glowing to almost sunlight levels, she flicked it on the floor and held up the silver sacrificial dagger. Her whole body thrumming with power from the sacrifice, so this is why the sages did it, this is why so many were killed in the name of the forest. It was this feeling, this temporary high, this is what she owed to death. "Do you know why the elders kept saying they wanted to run tests on me?"

Roland began to back away from the deranged girl, back towards the door in which he came, finally realizing what he was up against. "No."

"Answer me Roland!" she screamed and it seemed like the room shook.

"You…you don't have the scent of a Helian!" he sounded less like a fearsome alpha and more like the scared omegas he had in his service. She advanced on him and laughed when he tripped over Philippe’s lifeless form, straddling his body and holding the knife over her head, her hand on his throat.

"Do you know why that is, alpha Roland?" she asked mockingly

"Alpha Catherine, please-"

"It's because I'm not. Only blood begets birth, Alpha Roland." she ran the knife down his shirt, cutting open the black button down he had worn when they were kidnapped, "Blood offered, blood accepted, vlos belbaunin, joros emplaniilid." She brought the blade down with a sickening thud, as she drove it through the murderer, his howls were drowned in a rush of wind and light as she felt exhilarated. This was true power, it made her heart beat too fast, her lungs fill too deeply, it was better than any pleasure, and it was overwhelming. She opened her eyes to see the forest had grown in response, flowers had bloomed on the floor and she got off of the murderous alpha.

She ran over to the golden wolf and placed her bloody hands on his side, running her fingers through his fur, tears falling down her face as she hugged her alpha one last time. She laid her head on his side, wishing that there could be anything done to avenge his death. He was her kidnapper, he was her killer, he was her lover, and her protector. A wheeze, it was barely a wheeze if it was a breath. She heard it and sat up.