Alpha Black
Chapter 40 - End

Alice Forrest

We watched the sunrise, peaking over the horizon and kissing the icy waters of Savage River, the golden streaks that blessed the horizon and the pinks, the way they melted into the blues and blacks of the night sky.

The realise I felt, like a weight had been taken off my chest.

I was able to shift, I’d been realised.

I fell eagerly into the cold waters, the air ripped from my lungs as I shivered in the cool summer morning. Every hair on my body standing on end, my hands shaking – but not from the cold.

I’d taken people’s lives, like it was nothing.

I started with my hands, scrubbing at them with the tops of my nails, layers of blood and dirt falling off me like a second skin. Slowly but surely, I began to work my way up my arms to my torso, washing every inch and crevasse, washing away the blood and dirt, the stains of the night.

That’s when I felt it. Like a stab to my chest, the air tearing from my lungs – the feeling that had pushed me over the edge, to shift, for the beast within me to take control.

I didn’t care that I was naked, as I ran through the forest, another twang of pain stripped through my body. Another life lost.

The sticks and branches of trees scratched my skin, welts of blood forming thin straight lines across my white skin as I ran. I didn’t care about the splinters or the rocks, the bugs and the ants, what lurked in the forest.

I ran towards the execution.

Jolt of pain after pain, shot through my body, it felt like I was being killed. Like I was the one who’s neck was being snapped.

As I ran up the street, Jamie saw me and ran to me, grabbing me by the arms and pulling me into a hug. “I’m so sorry,” he said, “I’m so, so sorry.”

“Where is she?” I sobbed, my knees giving way as Jamie held me, wrapping me in his jumper.

“I’m sorry Al, I’m sorry.”

The tears were hot on my face, they felt like acid, burning my skin, “Where is she?!” I screamed, my throat cursing me for the volume, “where is she?”

Jamie hands were rough, as his took mine in his own and took me towards the pack house, bodies piled high, heads turned in twisted ways – necks snapped, shattered, murdered.

“Tell me she’s alive Jamie,” I sobbed.

But he couldn’t say the words I wanted to hear, as I saw her fiery red hair, stacking amongst the bodies. Her skin grey and her eyes lifeless.

“Jenny,” I sobbed, her name falling from my lips like a lie, like I wasn’t good enough to say the words, “Jen.”

Jamie released me as I sprinted towards, her clawing at the over sized jumper, freeing my hands from the lengths of fabric to run my fingers along her face, “No, Jen, please, no,” I sobbed.

I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Like the air I inhaled was both water and fire, it burned and stun, my body ached and my heart throbbed as my head spun. She couldn’t be dead.

She used to have this summer kissed glow – constant on her skin, her hair this rich fiery red, like nothing I’d ever seen before, she was a striking wolf, strong and tall, her fur the same colour as her hair. Yet her eyes this deep blue, that you could get lost in, the an angry ocean, an unaimable sea.

Her corpse was not this person. The warmth of her body, had already passed, her heart stopped and the blood cooling in her veins, her skin already greying and her eyes empty as she stared up to the sky. The remnants of her make up looked out of place, the dark eye liner was smudged and the smears of glitter and shimmer on her skin only made the lifelessness of her body more obvious.

“Why?” I asked, running my hands along the sides of her face, her skin still soft and her hair still like fine silk. “What did she do?” I sobbed; the words broken as they left my mouth.

Jamie placed a warm hand on my shoulder, his brow furrowed, and his eyes looked so sad, “I’m so sorry Al, I’m so, so sorry.”

“Where is he?”

Jamie swallowed, and held my eye contact.

“Where is he?” I asked again, but this time – it was a command.

Jamie strained his neck, trying not to bend to the words, but he was exhausted, just like the rest of us and his self-control bent like the necks of those who’d been snapped. “He’s in the hospital.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Jamie was right, he was in the hospital. A hospital bed, specifically, two of the older pack healers poking and prodding at the bullet wounds to his stomach, their voices hushed as they cleaned the wounds and poured foul smelling liquids onto them.

I stood in the door way for some time, just looking at him, as he wriggled with discomfort, his face scrunching every time they pressed too harshly or when the liquid seeped into an open wound.

“Excuse me, Luna,” a nurse said from behind me, and I stepped to the side, letting her into the room.

Their eyes all snapped in my direction, and the room quickly hushed.

“We’ll give you two a minute,” one of the healers said, making his way to the door, grabbing the other healer and dragging her out behind him.

“Indeed, the affections of a mate is often as a good as any medicine,” the female healer said, as she brushed past me. She then turned and gestured for the nurse to leave too and she followed, quickly scuttering from the room like a scared mouse.

Nate looked at me, his green eyes seemed so much more vibrant in the hospital lighting, like acid or limes, a vibrant green instead of a mystical as he gestured for me to come closer. I didn’t bother fighting it and I stepped beside the bed, “you smell different,” he said, as he inhaled deeply.

“I can control my scent,” I replied with a shrug. “Helps with hunting,” I said, my words trailing off and leaving a silence hanging in the air.

“They think I’ll be replace,” Nate said, breaking the silence. “They said that that when the silver went into me, it burned the wound closed, and because I shifted back into human, the bullet came out. So, they didn’t cause any more damage.”

To be honest, I wasn’t really listening to his words…

“They think I might have some nerve damage, I can’t walk properly at the moment-“

“I can’t do this anymore Nathaniel,” I said finally, interrupting him.

His gaze seemed to burn into my soul, I felt like I could hear his heart break. His eyes filled with emotion as he searched my face desperately, his perfect lips opened, mouthing words.

“I don’t understand,” he finally choaked out, “you said you loved me.”

“And you betrayed my trust.”

“I did what I needed to, to protect my pack.”

“Ad in doing so, you’ve lost me.”

“You cannot go, you’re the Luna, the Moon Spirits made it so!” he said, he was now grasping at straws.

“The spirits must have made a mistake,” I reaffirmed. I sat down on the side of the hospital bed, placing my hand on his chest, where I could feel his heart beating desperately.

“I won’t let you go,” he said, grasping onto my wrist.

I smiled sweetly at him, his grip was hard, his hand clammy. I was sure that I once would have gasped out or screamed under such a grip, that I would have wriggled on the floor with pain, begging for him to release me.

I was no longer that person.

“You know, as well as I that you cannot stop me from doing anything, you could follow me to whereever I will go. But you won’t be able to drag me back here. I’m not the person you want me to be, I can’t stay here.”

“You can’t leave me,” he said, the desperation growing. “You’re my mate,”

I let out a sigh, “Goodbye Nate,” I said, planting my lips on his and I let the warmth fill me, the sparks the fire, the electricity. I let his emotions wash into my soul, fill me, make me whole for this last moment. I broke from the kiss and left the room before he could open his eyes.

Author's Note:

This is the end!

Thank you so much for reading, don't forget to like the book and write a review.

As most of you know, book two has already started and I look forward to seeing your usernames over there as the Alice and Nate continue to have relationship issues in "His White Luna".