Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
“With my pup?”
“Yes,” I say with another nod.
Reid’s jaw ticks, but he says nothing. His hold on me tightens, though, his body tensing at Dominic’s words, at the threat to the pup he’s claimed as his own.
Dominic’s chest swells and the cruel smile returns to his face. “He’ll have to relinquish you to me now,” he says. “You’re carrying my pup, my alpha heir.”
“That’s not how our laws work,” King Malachi says, pushing Dominic harder against the bed. “She’ll be your heir, yes, but that doesn’t give you a claim over Taryn. The council won’t break a mate bond for a custody dispute.”
“She?” Dominic’s head whips to look at King Malachi, and then he stares at me, fire in his eyes and vitriol in his words. “She?! You’re carrying a female?”
His body trembles and he shakes his head, his neck tendons jutting out and his hands clutching at the blanket on the bed. A cloud of black, gray, and red hovers over him, warping and snaking around him, pulsing with his movements and his words. “What the fuck am I supposed to do with a female heir?”
“The same you would with a male,” Wesley says, his hands forming fists. “Train them to be a good, strong, and fair alpha.”
“I don’t want a female!” he roars, his chest heaving and the cloud shivering, flickering from sight and then returning. “You can’t do anything right, can you, Taryn? You couldn’t stay away from your mate, you couldn’t complete your warrior challenge, and you couldn’t give me a male heir!”
“That’s not how science works,” Reid says, rolling his eyes. “Even I know that.”
Dominic’s nostrils flare again and he continues his rant, but I block his words out, focusing on his body language and the swirling cloud hovering around him, darting in and out of his body and his soul, poking and tugging at him, plucking at invisible strings. It started as a mere disturbance of the air, but it’s coalesced into a living, writhing entity, growing stronger and darker by the minute.
I step around Reid, staying at his side but examining the cloud and Dominic’s reaction to it. He flinches away from where it reaches for him, and each time his jaw or fists clench before he speaks.
Dr. Russo turns from his workstation, syringe in hand, and I hold my hands up, running to the bedside. “Stop!”
“Taryn!” Reid darts forward and grabs me around the middle, yanking me backwards.
“Wait!” I yell, clutching at his arm. “Wait, please. I know this sounds crazy, but… I have a gut feeling and I want to try something.”
“Taryn…”
“I need you to trust me,” I say, rubbing his forearm. “You can stay right here and hold me, but something isn’t right. There’s a darkness surrounding him—invading him—an unnatural, foreign darkness.”
Dr. Russo freezes with the syringe poised over the IV, and he exchanges a look with King Malachi. “You can see it? In his aura?” he asks.
“In his aura and in his body, yes.”
Dominic stares at me, held down by both the king and Wesley. His body shakes and fights them, but his eyes… behind the cold steel, there is something else, something reminiscent of the male he was before.
I take a deep breath as Reid loosens his hold on me, and I place my hands on Dominic’s arm like before, only this time I focus on his aura, his luminous spiritual body, instead of his physical one. My golden light pours into him, and I send it to his corrupted soul and his clouded aura. I’m met with resistance, the noxious cloud fighting against me and pressing down, searching for gaps or holes in my power. But I grit my teeth and push harder, creating a solid, golden layer between the cloud and Dominic’s true aura.
He gasps and blinks. The ice falls from his eyes, and his body relaxes as he takes in lungfuls of air. His head circles the room, his gaze landing on each of us—the king and Wesley, the doctor, and finally me.
“Taryn?” His eyes scan the room again and he frowns. “I don’t understand. Where are we?”
“We’re at Crescent Lake. You’re in a hospital cell.”
He looks down at his cuffed hand and again at the king and Wesley, who hold him down. “Why?” he asks, blinking as he looks at me.
I grit my teeth as the cloud bears down against my powers, trying to force its way back into Dominic, and Reid squeezes me, pushing more strength through the bond.
“There was a rogue attack on the night of the wedding. They attacked you as you drove home,” Wesley answers for me.
“The wedding?” Dominic’s brows push together and he shakes his head. “But I never left the wedding.”
The king and Wes exchange a glance. “What’s the last thing you remember? From the wedding?” Wes asks.
“I remember Taryn reading the letters at the tables. I remember you and Haven cutting your cake. And I remember Taryn…” He licks his lips and squeezes his eyes shut for a moment. “I remember her dancing with Reid and… and that’s it.”
“It’s Wednesday now,” Wes informs him. “The attack was on your pack and it’s all been burnt to the ground. Your members are split between my pack and Ben’s. The rogues are gone, but we found you injured at Silver Ridge this morning as we examined the ruins.”
Dominic swallows and squeezes his eyes shut, his head falling against his pillow. “I don’t remember any of that,” he says, shaking his head.
“Really?” Reid says, disbelief dripping from his voice. “You don’t remember alpha commanding Taryn to leave when she didn’t want to? You don’t remember that you tried to alpha command her to be your luna and—“
“Luna?” Dominic snaps his head up and stares at Reid. “Why would I ask her to be my luna? We ended things. She wanted more, and I wasn’t willing to give her that. And I would never… never abuse my position like that,” he adds.
“Well you did,” Reid says. “The attacking rogues stopped you from succeeding, but you would have if they hadn’t shown up when they did.”
I groan as the aura around him rallies its strength and shoves against me, my body shaking in Reid’s arms. “I can’t keep it away from him anymore,” I say. “It’s too powerful.” I gasp and push one last time, catching Dominic’s eye before I let go of his arm. “I’m sorry.”
I collapse against Reid’s body, and he lifts me in his arms and runs to the wall as Dominic’s snarling roars and growls return, his eyes returning to the distant, cruel, unfeeling version. The cloud descends into and around him again, diving into his soul and settling over his skin, prowling closer than before. Reid holds me against his chest in a fierce hug, his arms winding around my body as Dr. Russo pushes the sedative into the IV, and Dominic’s thrashing slows until he’s once again unconscious.
Reid stares at him, chest rising and falling with his rapid breaths and heartbeat, then he swivels his head towards me. “What the fuck just happened?”
REID
“What the fuck just happened?” I ask, clutching Taryn against my body.
She trembles and her skin is colder than ice, her teeth chattering and her eyes squeezed shut. She snuggles closer to me, gripping my sweatshirt, her face burying into the fabric as she takes deep breaths. I keep one arm around her waist and cup her cheek with the other, my eyes scanning her face, my heart pounding like a drum in my chest, worry and fear rushing through me like a jolt of lightning in my veins.
Her beautiful skin has a gray tinge to it, and her eyelids flutter in time with her shivering body. Her heart beats faster than mine, and rapid breaths force her chest and shoulders up and down at an unnatural pace. I clutch the back of her head and hug her to my chest again, swaying side to side, hoping the calming movement will help settle her nerves.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?