Chapter 21 #2
Thunder and lightning fill the sky once more and Hades half stumbles under the might of Zeus's will as he climbs into his chariot.
A manic, victorious grin on his face. His eyes sparkling with rage and enjoyment all rolled together into the expression of insanity.
He gives the reins a harsh shake and the horses leap into the air before diving down into a void directly beneath them.
The pit of inky blackness closes leaving charred, reeking earth.
The shadowy ropes around us release and they slither away into dark corners like snakes.
I fall to the floor coughing and sobbing as I glare up at the sky. Zeus is gone and the clouds disperse revealing a clear sky.
My mums cries fill the ranch, broken by sobs from the pack. I crawl to where my mum lay hunched over cradling her chest. Tears streaking down her face. I wrap myself around her and cry into her shoulder.
“I'm sorry Mum. I'm so sorry.”
She wraps her arms around me and she clings to me so tight that I feel her nails dig into my skin as she breaks in half.
Lost in her sorrow. I hold her as her weight pushes me back.
Like she can no longer bear the weight of her own body.
Her grief pulling her down like gravity.
We stay like that for a while. Kneeling on the ground holding each other as the tears slide freely down our cheeks.
I hear movement around us from the pack and I look up when sorrowful howling fills the world.
The sound is heart wrenching. Full of grief and despair for their Alpha.
They have all changed into their wolf forms and are in a circle around the blood stained soil in front of the charred remains of Caleb's' enormous form.
My mum holds me as we stand and walk closer. Separate from their circle. Her legs shake and I do my best to hold her upright. We are part of the pack, but we are not wolves. We stand in silence as they howl deeply from their souls around all that is left of my Dad.
I feel a shadow on the edge of my consciousness and I turn my head to see Alistair still kneeling on the ground. Through the torrent of grief that threatens to rip me to shreds I loosen the shield around my mind to let him in.
“Be careful of Lukas. He will come for your mum. To secure his place as Alpha he can have no rival. He'll kill her to become Alpha.”
His voice is far away despite our closeness. I know instantly that it's to prevent me from feeling his pain and reacting. Thus alerting the pack and reminding them of his presence.
“She's still their leader! They love her!”
I can't wrap my head around what he is suggesting. Lukas would never kill my mum. The pack adore her. They won't betray her after she just lost her mate.
“She is not a wolf!” His voice in my head is filed with warning and desperation.
I shake it off. He doesn't know this pack. I love and trust all of them. Lukas would never do anything to hurt her. Anger rushes up through my grief at his sheer audacity to even suggest such a thing could be possible.
“He won't hurt her asshole! Besides what can I do to help anyway! I'm powerless thanks to your fucking father!”
I slam my shields up and turn to hug my mum. The pack would never hurt her. Never.
The howling stops and my Mum steps forward holding my hand.
The pack step back making the circle bigger to accommodate us.
She pulls fire from the camp fire next to us and arches it over Caleb's body.
The fire engulfs him in such an inferno that within minutes all that is left are black bones.
She clenches her fist and they break into dust that the earth soon absorbs.
All evidence of the betrayer is gone. He doesn't exist and he doesn't deserve to be remembered.
Gwen raises her hands as she calls on the earth and she encourages the grass to return.
Flowers spring up in a ring around where my Dads blood once stained the soil with an oak tree slowing rising from the centre.
It reaches 10 feet tall before she stumbles against me utterly exhausted from her use of power and her grief.
It kills me that I can't help her. To help the tree grow tall and glorious.
Magnificent in its strength as my Dad was in his.
Proud, loyal and dependable. Tall enough to watch over everyone as he did.
He knew his death was coming and he faced it with ferocity.
Determined to strike at Hades before he faced death.
To attack him for all the hurt and pain he had caused everyone that my Dad had loved.
To show the pack one last act of defiance against evil.
He was a true Alpha and if Lukas is the one to rise to take his place I can only hope that he will strive to be the man Carter was.
Carter, Son of Hercules, Son of Zeus. Alpha to the pack of Yellowstone. The husband and Moira bonded mate of Gwen. My Dad.
“I love you Dad.” I mutter to the tree as another tear slides down my cheek.
My mum and I hold each other. If I hold onto her tight enough I can stop the pain of her heart breaking in two. Stop the pieces from shattering in her grief.
Lukas breaks from the circle and starts pacing.
His four paws thudding on the ground as he moves.
It's strange how similar his mannerisms are from when he is human.
He always paces or walks around whenever he's deep in thought or anxious.
Like he's warring with himself. The angel on his right shoulder pulling him one way and the devil on the other dragging him back.
Caleb was the only person he ever seemed to really confide in.
A small seed of fear grows in the pit of my stomach as I watch his internal battle.
The pack start to shift nervously. Their eyes darting from Me, my Mum to Alistair.
Who's still kneeling prone on the ground.
My mums posture straightens as she notices the shift in the packs energy.
Alistair watches intently through the hair hanging over his eyes.
His grey eyes are stark in the shadows. He doesn't miss a thing as he assesses his situation.
Lukas stops pacing as he turns to Alistair.
He releases a low, guttural growl between his bared teeth as he stalks forward.
His amber eyes pinned on Alistair's, exposed, barely beating heart.
It's impossible for me to look at the gruesome wound without feeling sick.
The way Lukas's gaze is focused on it is nothing short of hunger.
Hunger for revenge. My stomach drops and I move.
Sprinting to stand between them. My back to Alistair as I hold my arms out wide.
“No!” I shout. “Don't hurt him!”
My heart hammers in my chest as Lukas blinks at me. He crouches lower as he barks in my face. Ordering me to move. I stand firm.
“You will not kill him. I won't let you.” I snarl back, barring my teeth.
Lukas's claws dig into the earth as his flaming amber eyes burn into mine. His growl is a warning and a command but I don't balk. I know he won't hurt me. Will he?
There's no shred of the Lukas I know standing before me. This is a new alpha facing one of the biggest threats they have. The Son of their enemy kneeling defenceless behind me, but I can't let Lukas do this. There's been too much death today and I can't bear to witness any more.
Lukas snaps his jaws mere inches from my face before turning and running into the woods. The pack chasing after him.
I finally release a shaky breath and fall to my knees, but I don't stop watching the gap in the trees where Lukas went. Mum walks over to the fire and drops exhausted into a seat. She stares into the flames but I can also feel her eyes flicking over to where Alistair and I both kneel.
I can't bring myself to turn to look at him.
From our fates being tied together with the bond, his history, to the fact that he is now sitting two feet from me with his chest carved open I don't know what to think or do.
I know Hades is pure evil but how can he let his own son suffer like this and then leave him to the mercy of the pack after he killed their alpha?
I lift my head when I hear metal scrapping though the trees. Lukas returns with the pack all in their humanoid forms and clothed. Lukas is dragging a cage behind him. His eyes full of anger and resolve. He brings it to the centre of the clearing a few meters from the fire and opens the door.
“Get in.” He says in a flat tone as he glares at Alistair.
Alistair lifts his head. Flicking his hair out of his eyes in a calm, unbothered manner. I realise that his wrists are no longer bound but the exhaustion from his injury has left him too weak to fight or be a threat.
His voice is soft like butter when he speaks and it makes goose bumps rise along my flesh.
“How the roles have reversed Luke.” He smiles and my stomach twists.
He rises slowly. He stops his wince but I see the pain he tries to hide. He moves past me barely brushing my shoulder with the side of his leg. He gets to the cage then crouches down and kneels in the centre.
Lukas slams the door shut. The locks mechanical clicks resonate as Lukas types a code that I can't see into the keypad, sealing it closed.
Lukas then turns to address us all.
“No one is to go near him or talk to him. You are not to heal him with your blood.” He says glaring at me. “Penny, Izzy and Jason you will take it in turns to guard him with 6 hourly change overs.”
They nod and Jason walks over to the log nearest the cage to take the first watch.
Penny and Izzy stay by Lukas's side. They stare at nothing with blank expressions.
Like perfect soldiers. I don't recognise the pack they are now.
How can they be so cold after everything that has happened?
My mum is slumped by the fire still with tears sliding down her cheeks.
Her eyes are hollow as she watches the flames.
“Alistair?” I ask down the bond. I've left the walls around my mind down and it seems he has done the same. I make sure to keep my expression the same. One of despair, grief and shock.
“Psychi Mou?” His velvety soft voice is like a caress in my mind.
“Your chest-”
“Is fine. Don't take your eyes off Lukas.”
“It is not fine! I can see your fucking heart!”
My stomach roils again at what I did to him and I force down the bile working its way up my throat.
“By all means heal me when you have your powers back. The poison should wear off after about twenty four hours. Until then you need to make sure Lukas doesn't do anything stupid.”
I shift my gaze to Lukas as he strides over to me. Dragging me to my feet by the elbow. I rip my arm from his grasp as soon as I get to my feet and shoot him a glare.
“Who the fuck are you right now?” I ask.
“I am the Alpha of this pack and you will do as I say Krista.” His tone is stern and it pisses me right off.
“I just watched my dad get torn to pieces and my mum has just lost her Moira bonded mate. Have some compassion and stop being a domineering prick!” I turn my back on him and head towards my mum who has gotten to her feet.
She holds her hand out to me and I take it before turning back to Lukas. He stands there flanked by Izzy and Penny and Jason stands at his post. I've never felt more separate from them since the day I arrived at the ranch. The love and warmth they have always shown me is gone.
Since they learned about Alistair and the bond he and I share, they were distant. Then after tonight with Carters and Caleb's deaths, the dynamic has flipped on its head. There's no love, loyalty or warmth in their eyes. Not even for my mum. That realisation hits my like a punch to the gut.
Do they blame us for this? My mum loves them and has been with them for I don't even know how many years.
She is their leader. Their rock beside my dad.
Alistair said Lukas might kill her and right now in this moment I start to wonder if he is right.
Were they only loyal to her because she was Carters bonded Mate?
With him gone and the fact she isn't a wolf- what does that make her in their eyes?
Did they ever love her at all? The questions and worries fly through my mind along with what this could all mean for my mum and I.
If they don't want us here will they let us leave? I wish for my powers now more than ever. If only to keep my mum protected.
She squeezes my hand and I squeeze hers back. Lukas stands proud before us as he pulls a glass vile from his pocket. The black liquid swirling inside is almost gone. Only one sip remains. I immediately know what it is. My stomach drops as he holds it out to my mum.
“Drink it.” He says softly but his tone is as sharp as a knife.
Mum shakes her head as she pushes me behind her.
“I should kill you, you know.” Lukas all but whispers. “It's what my wolf wants. What Zeus asks of us so that our reign cannot be questioned.”
“I know.” Mum replies holding her chin high.
“This is your way out of that.” He smiles like he's impressed with his own idea. “Drink this. Lose your power and I will take Krista to be my mate. All will be as it should be.”
Alistair's voice is soft in my mind.
“He thinks it's permanent.”
I glance at him as a realise his plan. After everything he's done I shouldn't trust him but my gut says differently.
Gaia's message replays in my head. Fall into the darkness to find the light.
I tug gently on my mums arm. She looks at me and I give the slightest nod I can manage.
Trying to convey the confidence that I really don't feel myself.
Her mouth tightens but she nods.
Lukas smiles as he passes her the glass vile.
She drinks the small remainder of liquid in one go.
Lukas smiles triumphantly as he takes a seat by the fire, picking up a bottle of cider as he does.
The pack follow his lead and so do my mum and I.
He passes a drink to everyone then holds his up in a toast.
“To Carter and Caleb!” He exclaims.