Before I Rise
The Stranger

Em’s POV

I stretched my arms above my head as I walked to the couch in mine and Marcus’s room. I still wasn’t a hundred percent on board with this whole relaxation thing, but I really was worn out.

The past three days with Marcus have been absolutely magical. I will cherish those days for the rest of my life. Who knows when the next time we will be able to escape for a few days away from everyone.

Just as I sat on the couch and got in a comfortable position, the door was suddenly thrown open. I looked over to see a disheveled woman that was definitely bigger than me in height and muscle mass standing in the doorway. She quickly scanned the room with a deadly glare on her sun kissed face, stopping once her eyes connected with mine. She quickly slammed the door closed and began to walk closer to me.

I suddenly felt a rush of fear run through my entire body. I had no idea who she was or why she was here, but she did not look friendly at all.

“Who are you?” I asked as I got up and took a step back, trying to put some distance between us. She continued approaching me instead of answering my question. The closer she got, the more distance I attempted to put between us. I finally ran out of room and had accidently trapped myself in a corner. This was not good.

She finally got to me and grabbed my wrist in a death grip. She turned around and began to pull me away from the corner.

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!” I screamed out, as I tried to pull my wrist from her grip. It would not budge, not even a centimeter.

My heart rate began to pick up and I quickly looked around the room to see if there was anything in here that could help me get away from this stranger. I wished at this very moment that there was a way that I could contact Marcus and let him know I was in trouble. Finally, I realized I would have to get physical with her if I had any hope of getting away. I had no idea if I could even fight, but I was not about to let this crazy woman take me without at least trying to defend myself. At least I could prolong her taking me away, which would give Marcus enough time to come back.

I took a deep breath before leaning my head down where her hand was wrapped around my wrist, and clamped my mouth on her hand as hard as I could.

A growl echoed in the room as she finally let my wrist go. I didn’t even hesitate as I ran past her towards the door. Just as I was about to open it, it swung open again and I crashed against whoever was on the other side.

“Whoa are you ok Em?” I felt instant relief when I recognized the voice.

“Alicia, I am so glad you’re here! We need to get Marcus up here ASAP! There’s a crazy woman that just tried to kidnap me.”

“Wait, what?” She looked past me to see what I was talking about. As soon as she did, her body seemed to freeze up. It wasn’t in the way one does out of fear, but for a whole other reason. “Oh my Goddess.” Alicia whispered, as she let go of me and walked into the room.

I turned around to see why she was acting like that. The strange woman stood a few paces behind us, her hazel eyes were as wide as they could get and held a look of awe as she looked back at Alicia.

“What’s going on?” Curious as to why they were both just standing there staring at each other.

My question seemed to snap the woman back into reality, as her death glare returned.

She finally turned to look at me and began to explain. “I’m Alpha Alexis. Marcus sent me to come replace you and take you to some place safe. The rogues that attacked my pack are here.” She solemnly whispered the last part, making my fear return.

Knowing what happened to Alpha Alexis pack, made me grow in concern each second that went by for my mate and for my pack members. What was going to happen?

“I also came to do the same. After Julie alerted all the pack members to get somewhere safe, I came to make sure you were okay Em. I didn’t know Marcus had already asked someone to check on you.” Alicia said with a hint of shyness in her voice as she looked at Alexis. “I never would have expected to replace you in here, or more like in this situation.” Alicia let out a nervous chuckle. I was even more confused on what was going on, as I haven’t ever seen Alicia this nervous before.

Alicia took a step forward, but was immediately stopped by Alpha Alexis. “Don’t, we do not have time for this. I need to get the Luna to safety.”

Alicia grimaced before nodding her head.

“There’s a safety room that’s in the closet over there. The only people that know about it are the Alpha family, we should be safe in there.”

Alexis and I followed Alicia into the closet. She took a second to feel around some cabinets, before pushing on an empty shelf. Once she did, part of the cabinet moved back a few inches into the wall and towards the left. All three of us walked into the medium size room before shutting the door.

In the room were two twin size beds, one against the left wall and one against the right wall. In between the beds were a mini fridge, a small cabinet that held canned food, and some snacks. It was the perfect set up to have if you needed to hide out somewhere for a few days. Marcus showed this to me right after he moved me into our room in case I ever needed it. I brushed him off at the time, I truly thought I would never have to step foot in this room.

“Nice set up.” Alexis said as she sat on the bed towards the right. Alicia took the other and patted the spot right next to her for me, but I was too anxious to sit right now. My mind was purely on the thought of Marcus and the rogues.

Alicia let out a loud sigh. “Come on Em, just sit and relax. He’s okay, I promise. The rogues haven’t even attempted to cross our boundary line yet, and Marcus isn’t going to order everyone to attack unless they do.”

I finally decided to listen to her and sat down. She took my hand into hers and gave me a small reassuring squeeze. I appreciated her attempt to calm me down, but my mind was still focused on Marcus and all the horrible things that could happen to him.

“Are you thirsty?” Alicia asked, “I think there’s some water bottles or soda in the fridge if you want one.”

I shook my head at Alicia. My stomach was starting to cramp as a result of all the worrying I was doing. I didn’t want to unexpectedly throw up, especially because we were in such a small room with no real toilet. There was a medium size can in one corner of the room that Marcus told me was used as a toilet; however, I was definitely not about to put my face anywhere near that thing.

“What about you, would you like anything?” Alicia asked Alexis.

Alexis glared hard at Alicia. “No.” She spit out.

Alicia gripped my hand hard as she shrunk back and looked down. Every trace of uncertainty was replaced with the feeling of rage. Alpha or not, no way was this bitch about to snap at my best friend.

“Hey! Don’t talk to her like that! She didn’t do anything wrong to you, all she did was ask a simple question. No need to get your panties in a twist.” I sent my own death glare in her direction. Her eyes got huge and her mouth sprang wide open in shock.

“Em! She’s an Alpha!” I turned to look at Alicia, she too looked shocked at what I had said.

“So? Nobody is going to talk to my best friend like that, especially since she doesn’t deserve it.” I crossed my arms to let her know there was no room for argument.

Alicia suddenly smirked at me. “Dang bestie, since when did you become so fiesty? Does my cousin know how feisty you can get?”

“Oh he discovered that side of me three days ago.” I retorted with a wink. Alicia let out a booming laugh.

I glanced towards Alpha Alexis. She had a look on her face like an astrologist has when they look up at the night sky, full of fascination and admiration. What was this Alpha’s deal? One minute she’s biting Alicia’s head off, and the next she looks like a lost puppy. Apha Alexis caught me looking at her. She quickly wiped the look off her face and replaced it with a completely detached look.

Alexis cleared her throat and asked, “Any updates?”

Alicia’s eyes glazed over for a few seconds before answering. “The rogues seem to be retreating. Marcus is going to hold formation for a little bit longer just in case.”

Instant relief filled me after she said that. Everybody was okay, but for how long? According to Marcus, this is exactly what happened to Alpha Alexis’s pack right before they were wiped out. If history repeats itself, the rogues would definitely be back.

The three of us were quiet for a while, each of us wrapped up in our own thoughts and feelings. Finally after what felt like an eternity, Alicia’s voice broke through the silence.

“Marcus just informed everyone in the pack that it was safe to come out now. He wants one of us to stay with you Em, until he gets back to the pack house.”

“Oh thank the Goddess, get me out of this room.” I quickly stood up, I was anxious to see Marcus. I know that he was okay, but I wasn’t going to relax until I saw him.

Alpha Alexis and Alicia both stood up right after me and headed to the door. They both reached for the lock at the same time. The two of them let out a loud, shock filled gasp as soon as their hands accidentally touched. The both of them turned to look at each other, they each shared the same wide eyed expression on their faces. They just stood there for a few seconds, before suddenly and unexpectedly Alpha Alexis reached out towards Alicia and pulled her face towards hers. Confusion and shock ran through my body as their lips interlocked. I stood there, wondering if I should say something or not.

Just as I was about too, Alpha Alexis quickly pulled away and pushed Alicia back.

“STOP!” She shouted, as she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. “Don’t. Touch. Me.”

Alicia just stood there as tears began to stream down her face. My heart broke at the expression that was on Alicia’s face. I still had no idea what was going on, but she certainly did not deserve this.

When I finally decided to say something, I was stopped as the door to the safe room opened. My heart instantly warmed when Marcus walked into the room. Other than the confused look on his handsome face, he was perfectly fine. Not a hair on his head out of place.

“What’s going on here?” He asked us as he walked up to me and pulled me into his arms. “Are you okay?”

I nodded my head and squeezed him hard. “Yeah, I was so worried about you.”

“I’m okay my love.” He kissed the top of my head before taking a step back and moving to my side. “Are you two ok?”

Instead of answering him, Alicia quickly ran out of the room. I took a few steps forward to chase after her, but a hand stopped me.

“Wait Em, I need you. Actually I need both of you. I want to have a meeting with you two, Dave, Jacoby, and some of my Elite Head Warriors. We need to discuss safety and defensive measures. I do not want to put it off.” Marcus said.

I nodded my head to let him know I understood and all three of us started to head for his office.

I had no idea what just happened and I know I needed to check on Alicia, but Marcus was right. All that could wait. We had more pressing matters to address. I just hoped after everything was said and done, we would all come out unscathed.