The Alpha Wolf (Crystal Forest Lake Shifter Series Book 5) Read online

  “Harley—”

  “I don’t want to have to hurt your child, Alicia. Please don’t make me.”

  “I won’t,” Alicia said quickly, her face going pale with panic. “I mean, I’ll get them to bond. I promise.”

  “Okay, good,” Harley said. “You seem like a good matchmaker. You’re friends with Sophie. It won’t be hard.”

  “Okay,” Alicia choked. I felt rage swell within me as I stood there, my whole body shaking.

  “Get it done and I’ll leave you, Jackson, and the kid alone. I promise. I’m not a bad person.”

  Alicia said nothing, tears falling from her eyes. Harley’s eyes shifted to the darkness, almost directly at me, as if she knew I was there. I backed away and then turned to run, not slowing down until I was close to the village. I crossed from the woods onto the road, saw movement out of the corner of my eye and caught Alicia bursting through the trees, out of breath. She stopped once she had crossed and tried to catch her breath. I jogged to her and she gaped at me, shocked.

  “S—Sophie,” she said. “Hi.”

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “I just...don’t feel good,” she said in a quiet, sad voice.

  “I’ll walk you to your hut. Let’s go.”

  “Okay,” Alicia said. We started to walk side-by-side and she turned to look at me.

  “How are things going with Gabriel?”

  “Oh, fine,” I lied, not wanting to make her panic by telling her the truth of the fight we’d gotten into before I’d gone into the woods.

  “Do you think you’ll bond?”

  “No,” I said slowly, peering closely at her face. “No, I don’t want to.”

  A look of fear flashed through her eyes and I saw her bottom lip tremble slightly.

  “Sophie, I have to tell you something.”

  “What is it?” I asked, pausing outside the door to her hut. For a moment, I thought she was going to confess to me about her plans with Harley, but instead she gave me a grave look.

  “If you don’t bond with your natural mate... you—you could die.”

  “I could die? What do you mean?”

  “I mean, there’s something inside of you that needs to bond in order to stay alive. You have to do it. Your life depends on it.”

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  “Jackson told me,” she said, pulling her eyes away from mine. “I was so scared to bond with him, but he told me that, and I knew that I had to.”

  “You loved Jackson. You chose to bond with him.”

  “I did. But I also had no other choice,” Alicia said. “And neither do you.”

  “Okay,” I said, feeling so much sympathy for her that it was overwhelming.

  “Well, goodnight,” she said quickly and turned to go inside. I shook my head and walked back to Gabriel’s hut, going inside to see him still sitting on the couch. He looked up at me, standing when I walked in.

  “I’m sorry. You’re not scared,” he said immediately. “I know that. I’ve never known a braver person.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “I’m sorry I got so mad. I know I should be over it, but—”

  “No, of course not. That’s not something you get over. You’re completely right. What I’ve done to you is unforgivable. I’ll never forgive myself for any of it.”

  “I’m not telling you not to forgive yourself, Gabriel.”

  “I know you’re not. I’m just telling you how I feel, how crushing it is to know that it was me. It was all me. I lost the love of my life.”

  “You don’t have to think about it that way. You’ve had other relationships before me. You can have others after. You should be with a shifter.”

  “Nothing mattered. Nothing at all mattered before I met you. Not the village, not the people in it—absolutely nothing. And no relationship I have will ever be the same.”

  “I don’t want to feel guilty about saying no,” I said, studying his face.

  “I don’t want you to feel guilty. I don’t. I don’t want you to be anything but relaxed and happy and safe.”

  “Okay,” I said, nearly melting under the sincerity and love in his gaze.

  “Okay? Are we friends again?”

  I couldn’t help but smile at him as he reached his hand forward to shake mine. I took his and shook, chewing on my lip.

  “Friends,” I said to him with a smile.

  “Good,” he said in a satisfied voice. “Are you hungry?”

  “Yes, but—”

  I was cut off by the sound of shattering glass, ducking instinctively as Gabriel covered me with his body. A hundred or more crows zoomed in through the window, flapping and cawing, taking the shape of a person. Harley looked at both of us in annoyance.

  “You lied to me,” she said.

  “We had to,” Gabriel said. “You didn’t give us a choice.”

  “I gave you a choice. The choice was to mate or die.”

  “Why are you playing this game, Harley?” Gabriel asked in an annoyed voice. “If you’re so powerful, just fucking kill me. I’ll give you something to fight against.”

  “You’re not strong enough,” she snapped.

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Why is it ridiculous that I want you to be able to fight back?” Harley asked.

  “I can fight you now. Try me.”

  “Try you,” she said dryly. “You mean paralyze you and gut you in front of your mate?”

  “She’s not my mate.”

  “Why not? I don’t get it. You two live to eye-fuck each other. You’ve been disgustingly in love since the moment you met.”

  “I’m not in love with him anymore,” I spoke up. “I don’t want to bond with him.”

  “That’s total bullshit. Have you even tried?”

  “Sophie and I aren’t bonding. The prophecy stands—it will put her in danger. I’m not going to do that under any circumstances.”

  “You sure?” Harley asked in a dangerous voice, one brow lifted as she stared between us. “Because the way I see it, the only other way to get you as strong as possible is to harm your natural mate in front of you.”

  Gabriel let out a growl and stepped between us, but it was too late. He was frozen on the spot. Harley gestured for me to come to her and I found myself drawn toward her without even moving.

  “Harley,” I said as she held my eye, an irritated look on her face. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “I’ve given you two plenty of time,” Harley said, and suddenly I felt a blow to my back that sent me to my knees with a scream, the feeling of a thick switch cutting through my skin. It happened again and I fell forward with a gasp, eyes traveling up to see that Gabriel was still frozen in place. I couldn’t see anyone attacking me—Harley stood there looking down at me coldly as a blow hit my side and I felt my ribs crack. I fell to the ground, blinded by pain, and everything around me went black as the invisible whip struck again.

  Chapter 15: Gabriel

  I watched Sophie’s eyes roll in the back of her head as she went still, my heart pounding in my chest. I couldn’t take my eyes off her, couldn’t move at all from where Harley had frozen me. I saw Sophie’s body shudder as if she had been hit again and I struggled against my invisible binds, stumbling forward as I burst free of the paralysis and dove at Harley, knocking her to the ground as I shifted. I felt something tug at the scruff of my neck, yanking my head back, but I sank my teeth into her shoulder and tore away with her arm, ripping it clean from her body. She screamed and burst into crows, disappearing out the window even as I rushed to Sophie.

  “Sophie,” I huffed, lifting her from the ground. She winced and gasped in pain, whimpering as her eyes flew open. I tried to hold her delicately as I threw open the door to head to the medical hut. She coughed and let out a small gasp, and then shook her head and put her hand on the door.

  “We can’t go to Alicia,” she muttered.

  “Why not?”

  “She’s working—she’s working wi
th Harley.”

  “What?” I asked in bewilderment.

  “We have to stay here,” she insisted, but I continued to carry her anyway.

  “We have to get you a doctor,” I said.

  “No, Gabriel,” she said, meeting my eye with a desperate look. “We can’t. I’m fine.”

  “Sophie—”

  “Please,” she begged.

  “What if you need stitches?”

  “I don’t,” she replied as I reluctantly carried her inside and rested her on the bed. She grimaced and let out a sharp breath as she sat up, pulling her shirt over her head.

  “Can you breathe?” I asked her.

  “I can. It hurts.”

  “She hurt your ribs,” I said, kneeling down on the floor, looking closely at her ribcage. The skin wasn’t broken but there was a large strip of bruised skin, nearly black already.

  “Do you think they’re broken?”

  She winced as she brought her fingers there, pressing gently on the bruise, up and down her ribcage.

  “No,” she said. “I think it’s fine.”

  “Let me see your back,” I said. She turned and flinched, then looked back at me.

  “You’re going to be upset,” she said.

  “I’m already very upset,” I told her. “Show me.”

  “Okay,” she mumbled, and turned around slowly on the bed. I took a deep breath, tried to steady my rage when I saw the marks there—two long marks that looked like they’d come from a whip. I remembered the pain of that distinctly when we’d dealt with the witches. Some of the skin was broken along the way, blood dripping from the wounds, the bruises just as black and violent as the ones on her ribs.

  “My baby,” I muttered, kissing her shoulder. “My angel. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault,” she said, looking back at me.

  “This is my fault. Because of the way I’ve lived. Because of the way I treated Harley, like a monster.”

  She didn’t say anything but turned her face away again.

  “I need to clean the blood off,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Does it look like I’ll need stitches?”

  “No, I don’t think so. But there will be scars.”

  “I can deal with scars. I don’t think Sam has the supplies to do stitches.”

  “Oh, right—Alicia,” I said when I came back with a warm, wet towel. “She’s working with Harley?”

  “Yes,” Sophie said, pain in her voice as I started to wipe the blood off of her back. Her whole body shook and I leaned into her, kissed her shoulder again.

  “Just a few more seconds,” I whispered.

  “Okay,” she said in a tiny, high voice. I touched her as delicately as I could, and when her back was clean I put the rag aside.

  “Tell me about Alicia,” I said softly as I started to bandage the broken parts of her skin.

  “I saw her in the woods with Harley. She told Harley that we hadn’t mated—that we lied.”

  “What?” I asked angrily. “Why?”

  “She was forced to. Threatened. Harley threatened Jackson and the baby.”

  “For what? Information?”

  “I think so. Harley told Alicia to force us to mate. I saw Alicia after and she told me that I could die if I don’t bond with my natural mate.”

  “That’s not true,” I said.

  “I know. I didn’t think it was. She’s desperate, though.”

  “If we bond, you’ll get hurt. I’m not doing it. And we couldn’t, anyway. Not if you don’t love me.”

  “I know, I know,” she repeated in frustration. “But what’s the other option? What if she comes back?”

  “She’s going to come back at some point, we know that. She’s not going to hurt you again.”

  “You ripped her arm off,” she said. “She’s probably pissed.”

  “I’m hoping it means she’ll be disabled for a bit, give us time to train more.”

  “And if she does come back?”

  “Then I’ll rip her other arm off. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. If I’m not around, you carry both of your guns.”

  “Excuse me?” she asked with a slight smile. “You skipped over the whole ‘I’m not letting you out of my sight’ Alpha male thing.”

  “I know better by now.”

  “Good, so you’re learning.”

  “I am,” I said with a grin. She blushed slightly and looked away. I wanted to kiss her but didn’t, instead kissed her forehead.

  “Do you think Alicia would help us if we spoke to her? And what about Jackson?”

  “I don’t know about Jackson. I didn’t see him. But I don’t think Alicia would be able to hide it from him.”

  “I’ll talk to him,” I said. “Ask him straight.”

  “He might not answer you if Harley told him not to talk,” she pointed out.

  “Then I’ll figure something out. I can tell when he’s lying. I’m stronger than him if anything happens.”

  “I’ll go to Alicia, then,” she said. “I can talk to her. She was so scared. She needs help.”

  “She needs us to bond.”

  Sophie sighed.

  “Thanks for bandaging me up,” she said, bringing her hand to my cheek. My face was level with hers.

  “You’re not a monster, Gabriel Alarick,” she said softly. My heart fluttered in my chest and I felt emotion rise in my throat.

  “No?”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head slightly with a small smile. “I’m sorry I ever called you that.”

  “You know what I’ve done. Who I’ve been. Terrible things,” I admitted.

  “But you’ve saved me over and over again.”

  “It’s because I love you.”

  “I know,” she said. “I know you do.”

  “Remember the first time I saw you?”

  “Yes,” she said, her face bursting into a bright grin. “You were so awkward. Stumbling over your words.”

  “A total idiot,” I said.

  “It was cute,” she insisted. I shook my head.

  “I’ve loved you since that moment.”

  She paused, looked away.

  “What if we try to bond?” she asked softly. “Maybe we should try.”

  “I’m sorry, what?” I asked, dumbfounded by her words.

  “I mean, we don’t have much of a choice, do we? Maybe we should at least try.”

  “Do you want to?”

  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I don’t know what I want.”

  “Do you love me, Sophie?”

  She held my eye for a moment.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered. “Maybe.”

  “You have to be sure. You have to know,” I said.

  “Sometimes I feel like I could.”

  “Like when?” I asked.

  “Like when you kiss me,” she said. “Or when you smile or laugh.”

  “Maybe I should do those things more often,” I said.

  “Maybe you should,” she said, glancing down at my mouth. “To remind me how I feel.”

  “Does that mean I get to kiss you whenever I want?” I asked.

  “Maybe,” she replied.

  “Starting now?”

  She gave a small nod even as I leaned in to kiss her softly.

  “Do you love me now?” I asked against her lips.

  “Maybe,” she said again with a smile. “Just for right now.”

  “I can take that,” I said, kissing her again, then again before pulling away.

  “What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.

  “You need some rest.”

  “But I want you to kiss me,” she said and pouted. I nearly groaned at the playful look on her face.

  “Sleep,” I instructed, lifting her from my bed and carrying her into her own. I rested her on the bed and she lay on her uninjured side, watching me as I pulled the blanket to cover her.

  “Goodn
ight, Sophie,” I said, kissing her one more time.

  “Goodnight,” she whispered as I shut the door behind me, feeling light and ecstatic as I went to my own bed. I turned the light off and lay on my back, staring at the ceiling, feeling too excited to sleep. I thought for a long time about going to Sophie’s room, lifting her into my arms and carrying her back to my bed. I almost went to do it before I heard a noise outside, the sound of tapping on the window. I sat up in bed and listened closely. There was another tap on the door this time, and I slipped out of bed and opened it to see Jackson on the other side.

  “I’m sorry,” he murmured with red, fearful eyes.

  “Wh—” I began but was cut off when his hand swung out of nowhere, knocking me over the head with a rock the size of his fist. I stumbled, dazed, completely confused with my head throbbing, then collapsed to the ground, out cold.

  Chapter 16: Sophie

  “Gabriel?” I called when I opened the door to see that the hut was empty, the door open.

  “Are you outside?” I asked, walking toward the door. I paused when I saw blood droplets on the ground in the doorway, my heart freezing in my chest.

  “Gabriel,” I called again, stepping over the blood, looking around as my heart raced. I didn’t see him anywhere, nor did I see a trail of blood leading in any direction.

  “Shit,” I muttered, and without hesitation, I started to jog toward the medical hut, not knowing where else to go. I burst in on Alicia with another patient.

  “Where is he?” I asked her frantically. She stood there for a moment, her face going pale.

  “I’ll be done in a minute,” she said.

  “One minute,” I snapped at her, leaving her alone with her patient. A few moments later the man left and I went into the medical hut to see Alicia standing there looking at the ground.

  “Gabriel,” I said, going to her, turning her face to look at me. “Tell me where he is.”

  “I’m so sorry,” she sobbed, bursting into tears.

  “We’ll talk about it later. It’s okay. Just tell me where he is.”

  “I don’t know. He’s in the woods somewhere. Jackson...was supposed to take him to Harley.”

  “In the woods somewhere? You don’t know where?”

  “No,” she replied and sniffed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t have a choice. Neither one of us did. Our baby—”