Chapter 24 - Brooks
Pacing the floor of my living room, my arms hang heavy at my sides with a different sense of grief that I’m meant to combat.
I thought that losing someone to death was an irreparable ache that needed time to be healed, but grieving the loss of someone who’s still alive feels like death itself.
I should have stopped her when she walked away, but I thought Rissa needed some time to cool off after jumping to conclusions and throwing accusations at me. But now she’s gone, and I don’t have it in my heart to go after her.
Gnawing on my bottom lip, I contemplate my hesitation. I know she’d be wiser than to run off into the woods and try to flee Girdwood again. She knows how dangerous it is out there.
Besides, Connor already informed me that she was last spotted heading toward her old cottage. Maybe that’s what she needs—to cool down in her own space where she doesn’t have to deal with me.
Making a fist, I’m about to throw a punch into the backrest of the couch when racing footsteps thunder outside before a series of urgent knocks rap on the door.
My heart skips a hopeful beat when I suspect it might be Rissa outside, so I rush to the front door and throw it open, disappointment weighing down on me when it’s not her.
“Portia…? What are you doing—”
“I’m sorry, Alpha Brooks,” the older lady wheezes as her breath comes out in unsteady pants as if she’s been running. “Rissa—
“What happened to Rissa?!” I roar when acrid bile rises to the top of my throat, my instincts screaming at me that something is wrong.
I can see it in Portia’s horror-stricken eyes.
“There’s a demon in the village down by the forest. Rissa saw it, and she went after it.”
As soon as Portia tells me this, I push past her onto the porch.
“She told me to come here and tell you that she’s going after it. She says she’ll use the trap to catch the demon,” Portia says behind me.
My pulse races with the thought of Rissa out there, chasing the demon all by herself.
For the first time in my life, I’m afraid.
I’m truly afraid. It’s the kind of fear that sends a werewolf into a spiral that can claim his life.
I’ve seen it happen countless times—my own mother died because she couldn’t handle losing my father to natural causes.
Hanging on by a thread, I turn toward Portia, her voice so distant that I can’t make out what she’s saying. It takes every ounce of self-control I can muster to keep my head above water so I don’t drown in the emotional turmoil threatening to pull me under.
Now is not the time to let my emotional state consume me. I have to go out there and fight. I glance over my shoulder just as a screeching cry bleats through the air, signaling the approach of another demon as black waves of mist saunter toward the forest over my roof.
“Go inside,” I tell Portia, pushing her shoulder with enough force to let her know that I’m serious. I’ve just regained the courage of my innate alpha wolf’s sovereignty, and I need to ride this wave until I get to my mate. “Stay inside and don’t come out. It’s not safe back there.”
Portia nods and locks the door behind her, and I set out toward the forest, shifting into wolf form on my way there and sending out an emergency signal with a howl toward the darkened sky.
As I race toward the woods on my toughened wolf paws, I send out a mind link to the other alphas as a call for help.
“Demons in the woods! Come now!” I call through the mind link, racing into the woods toward the signal of the colorful jets of light that filter through the trees. A trap has been activated, and the screeching, deafening wail of a demon means that it’s been caught.
I navigate the forest with my agile steps, nearing the captured demon just as Alpha Elias’s voice rings out in my head to inform me that he and the others are almost here, coming from every corner of the woods.
We meet at the trap, taking turns to beat the captured demon senseless, and clawing its hideous, shaggy flesh to shreds as the witches throw bolts of flickering flames at the creature.
With one gnarly snap of his teeth, Dawson tears the demon’s head from its body, and its dark, ominous spirit curls in the air before slipping through the trees as it disappears.
We have a moment to catch our breath, but the threat isn’t gone yet. The screeching and bleating cries of more demons sound from deeper in the woods, from the direction the one we killed just disappeared.
I shift into human form involuntarily, as if I’m too exhausted, too overwhelmed by emotion, when I notice no sign of Rissa in this spot.
“Rissa went after the demon!” I yelp out to the others, snapping around when I can feel her presence close by. My body erupts with an electric charge spreading through me, and I know she’s using her magic.
I’ve always been able to sense it, but the sensation is stronger than ever.
Without invoking my wolf, I rush through the woods, relying on instinct to guide me toward my mate just as her scent grows stronger. The other alphas and witches follow my lead as I bolt through the woods, my eyes widening when I find Rissa surrounded by three more demon dogs.
“Rissa!” I yell out so she knows not alone anymore.
“Brooks!” Her voice comes out like a painful cry for help. “The portal! We need to close it before more come!”
I look up to see the round and black, swirling mass in the air behind Rissa’s head as she points to it.
“Distract the demon! Yvonne and I will close the portal!” Aurora yells out as she points at the black mass in the sky.
I shift into wolf form, and the group of Alphas and witches work in tandem to draw the demon’s attention away from Rissa.
We take on the three evil spirits, fighting and dodging their attacks while the witches throw magic lightning bolts at them.
The fight is horrifying, and even as I battle a demon alongside Thane, I can sense that Rissa’s strength is dwindling.
Instinctively feeling like she needs me right now, I tell Thane to cover me through the mind link.
When his thunderous howl rings out, he lunges for the demon.
“Go, Brooks!”
His words spur me into human form as I race toward Rissa just as Aurora and Yvonne get to her.
“You can do it, baby!” I yell out with urgency in my voice.
She stares at me with round, green eyes, gulping as she nods and takes my encouragement. I can feel in my bones that she’s regained her strength, and she turns and places her hand on the one Aurora holds out between them.
What happens next is a magnificent show of teamwork from the three witches, who each have one of their hands stacked together, the other aimed at the portal.
Bursts of colorful bolts of magic penetrate the portal’s center, an energetic ball of their combined powers growing until it’s large enough to envelop the portal.
“Brooks! We need you!” Aurora shouts out, her face strained as they struggle to keep the ball of magic alive. Only the green light flickers as if it’s about to die out, and it means that Rissa is getting weak again.
Rushing over to the three witches while the other Alphas battle the demons behind us, Aurora steps aside and hastily nods at Rissa, who seems to be having some kind of epileptic attack that shudders her body and keeps her eyes stuck to the portal.
“She’s going into shock, and she needs you!” Aurora yells out to me.
“What do I have to do?!” I ask, my eyes zapping from Rissa’s hands to her face, where her eyes become blank pools of lifeless green. Panic rises like bile in my throat, and I snap, “Tell me, Aurora!”
“I don’t know, Brooks! This has never happened before!”
Yvonne places the hand she isn’t using to wield the magic ball on Rissa’s chest. “Her heart rate is dropping. She’s gonna die!”
Muttering a string of curses under my breath, I step in front of Rissa and grab her face, acting on pure instinct when I crush my lips to hers and kiss her with unabashed passion.
I hear her sighing with relief, but her power doesn’t falter.
Instead, it grows stronger, the magic ball behind me getting hotter against my back.
I don’t stop kissing her. I can’t stop kissing her, our lips locked in the most passionate, soulful kiss I’ve ever experienced.
It’s as if she’s drawing strength from me, my mouth feeding her with more power while my body is lit up with energy that courses through my veins.
It’s so magical and freeing that even with the battle raging on between my fellow alphas and the greatest threat we’ve ever faced, I can’t let her lips go.
Giving it my all while Rissa gives her all to the magic she feeds into the portal with her friends, a whirring sound rips through the field, echoing through the forest until the alphas howl in triumph over the demon’s defeat.
I break the kiss when it feels safe to do so, and Rissa’s eyelids hang heavy over tired eyes that return to their usual shade of green. Her arms fall to her sides with a drawn-out sigh, and she collapses forward.
“Brooks,” she murmurs, but I hold her tightly in my arms.
“Shh…it’s okay…they’re gone…you’re safe…” I whisper into the top of her head, pressing a kiss there to console her.
I receive a nod of appreciation from Aurora before she rushes into her mate’s waiting arms. With one quick glance around, I see that the demons are gone, the night sky returning to its usual shade of navy blue with stars twinkling to give it a luminescent glow.
Relief only comes fully when Rissa’s breathing becomes steady again. For a moment there, I thought I lost her, and I don’t know how I would have survived not meeting her eyes the same way I can when she lifts her face now and stares at me with sadness, glossing them with tears.
“I’m so sorry,” she sobs, hanging her head.
Hooking a finger beneath her chin, I frown as I stare into her sad eyes.
“You have nothing to apologize for, sweetheart…you did nothing wrong.”
Her bottom lip trembles with worry. “I did. All those things I said earlier…”
“It doesn’t matter,” I assure her. “I thought I was gonna lose you, and the only thing that matters is that you’re still here with me.”
Rissa gulps as she blinks back her tears. “I shouldn’t have doubted you, Brooks. You have every right to be angry with me.”
“Except, I’m not.” I shake my head. “How can I be angry with you when I gave you reason to doubt me? I pushed you away, and I realize now that I shouldn’t have.
You’re the most important person in my life, and I’ll never shut you out again.
I love you, Rissa Rudolph. I love you with all of my heart and soul. ”
Rissa gasps, her brows furrowing in a hesitant frown. “You-you mean that?”
“Of course I do,” I affirm as I cup her cheeks and feel the warmth of her wary breath fan my face. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Brooks,” Rissa responds without hesitation, and we both lean in for our lips to meet in a soft kiss that seals the deal. A sense of wholeness keeps our lips locked for a long moment, neither of us ready to break the kiss.
I have a feeling that from this moment on, neither of us will ever think of breaking the mate bond, either. Love can’t be broken, even when it’s something I’ve tried to deny.
But loving Rissa Rudolph is the most natural feeling in the world, and I’m done fighting with myself trying to deny my innate feelings.