Chapter 29 #2
There’s tension in the air. Something is off, I can tell. Like everything is just wrong. Hayden is the Alpha. They’re challenging him, and their voices are getting louder. It’s turning into an argument.
Daisy feels it too, and she quickly scurries over to me and stares at me with big, green, concerned eyes. “What the fuck?”
“I…” I try to speak, but then I start shaking.
I feel myself collapsing. Someone catches me before I hit the floor. My vision goes white, but only for a moment, then I’m hovering over a school. In an instant, I’m pulled forward, right into the middle of it.
Vampires. Everywhere. But they’re the good kind of vampires: dead ones. There’s a battle up ahead, and I move towards it.
Then I see it. The answer. It’s right in front of my eyes as my mates tear into a vampire that looks ancient and withered, with grey saggy skin and blood-red eyes.
But he’s not even a challenge for them. He tries to bite them, and they shrug it off with barely a whine.
His claws do nothing, barely leaving a ripple in their fur.
Then they go for the kill and I sit up abruptly, gasping for air.
“Ansley!” Hayden shouts, his concern obvious. He’s right beside me, holding me, shaking me slightly. “Did you have another vision?”
“What the fuck, girl?” Daisy asks.
“I know the answer,” I gasp, pushing off Hayden to sit up fully. “But first I need a drink. Something stronger than water.”
“I’ll grab the Scotch,” Storm snaps, rushing towards the bar.
I suck in great gulps of air, tears running down my face, my arms and legs still weak. But I have the answer. It was a premonition. I know it was.
Storm hands me a glass. My hand is shaking, so he holds the glass and eases it to my lips. I immediately recoil at what tastes like old leather and it burns when it goes down.
“Not that!” I say, pushing the glass away and choking. “Gack!”
“Let me get her a drink. I’m the bartender,” Daisy squeaks out.
Hayden reaches over and holds my hand. Remy is on my right. Wyatt right above me, behind the couch. Storm is now guzzling the Scotch.
Daisy returns with a blue drink I recognize. Electric Shamrock. It’s supposed to be green, but we made them blue because that was the color curacao we had in college. I reach for the glass and my hand is steadier. I’m able to sip, then drink enough to settle my frayed nerves.
“Thank you,” I sigh, catching my breath. I can talk. “Okay, listen, we have to complete the mating ritual.”
“Your vision was about the mating ritual?” Remy asks hesitantly.
“No, it was about the vampires. You were all there, in a school. There were a bunch of dead ones, but you were all fighting a really old vampire. Grey skin, red eyes. I got the feeling he was the father or grandfather of the others. You tore him apart,” I explain. “I even saw Jaxton. He was there too.”
“Because of your blood?” Hayden grinds out. “It gives us more power against the vampires? How does that have anything to do with the mating ritual?”
“It’s not just my blood. It was more than that,” I say, taking another sip of my drink.
“I don’t understand,” Wyatt says gently, pressing his hands to my shoulders and gently massaging. I tense up a little more at first, but then it feels incredible and I relax.
“You were all bigger,” I say, gesturing to Remy, Storm, and Wyatt. “Like Hayden. You were all Alphas.”
Silence. Remy growls under his breath, narrowing his eyes. Storm leans back, slightly, but his hand rests on my knee. He runs the other one through his silver hair.
“That’s not possible. It’s never happened before,” Wyatt exhales sharply. “One Alpha per pack; that’s how it’s always been.”
“You said that when Jaxton fell in love, he started becoming an Alpha,” I say. “Well, he was damn sure one in the vision I just had, because he was bigger than Hayden.”
“Fuck,” Hayden says. “That’s the answer. The mating ritual. If we complete it, could you imagine that? Five Alpha wolves? Brothers? Part of the same pack?”
“Because of our mate,” Wyatt says, patting my shoulder and continuing to massage. “The rules don’t change just because there’s one of her and five of us. Nature still prevails. Finding our mate still makes us become Alphas.”
“Five Alpha wolves versus a… what sounded like a really old vampire,” Remy says. “That’s a fight we could win.”
“You won’t be alone,” I say. “In my vision, I was there, covered in blood with some kind of weapon. A sword. Daisy was there, too.”
“I get to go to the vampire massacre?” Daisy chimes in, grinning excitedly, her face lighting up. Then her face falls and her voice gets lower. “I’m not sure I want to go to the vampire massacre.”
“No, you can’t go,” Hayden’s declaration is emphatic. “Not Ansley or Daisy. They can’t bite you or claw you, but they could still hurt you. Seriously hurt you. You could be killed.”
“I just had a vision and I was there, bloody sword in hand,” I push back. “So, I’m going. You can fight me on it, but if you believe in my vision enough to complete the mating ritual, then you have to believe all of it.”
“It’s already affecting us,” Wyatt says. “We were arguing. We’ve been doing that more than we used to.”
“Imagine when we’re all Alpha wolves,” Storm chuckles. “We’ll be at each other’s throat all the damn time.”
“I think we can manage,” Hayden huffs. “But if we’re going to do this, I have to go talk to Jaxton. I should have done it before, but this time it’s going to be more complicated than just run of the mill vampires.”
“I can talk to him again,” Remy offers.
“I don’t mind going. I keep his pantries stocked. We talk sometimes when I stop by,” Wyatt says.
“How about this?” Storm says, taking a deep breath. “What if we just talk to him together?”
There’s silence for a moment. A few heads nod. An agreement is made.
I guess now I know how many mates I have.
All five. The entire pack. My heart should be racing, and not just because of the vision. I should be terrified. Five mates. Five Alpha wolves. Five huge men who will want me, claim me, and breed me.
But instead, it just feels… right.