Behind The Alpha Book 4 CASS
Chapter 21

(Chapter song ‘Why So Serious?’ By Hanz Zimmer)

EMBER

“Thanks for helping guys.” Cass side claps his friends.

We met Deacon, Quinn, Graham at the Phoenix training unit.

“No problem, buddy. You know I have your back. You want to explain what this is about.” Deacon asks as he crosses his arms and scratches his temple.

Cass turns to me and gives me a look like he’s struggling on where to begin.

I step up. “Long story short that doesn’t come with a bunch of questions, my brother has something that we need to fix a problem we have. Your friend Michael has kidnapped my brother and Jesse’s boyfriend in hopes to have Puck makes something he needs. No, I don’t know what it is. We need Puck and Curtis saved and you’re going to help us.”

The three men exchange looks then look at me. Quinn steps from the middle. “When do we leave?”

“Right now.” Cass holds out his arm.

We all link up and I blink us to Brooklyn.

The traffic is noisy and there’s cars everywhere. The tall buildings reach for the stars and the people are hustling along the walks.

“Reggie said 8th street.” Cass confirms.

“This way.” Quinn points. “I was born here. I came back to remind myself why my mom took me, so I kind of have the place memorized.” He grins.

Cass leans to me. “Photographic memory.”

“Oh…I wish I had that.” I chuckle.

“Don’t we all.” He chuckles back.

Quinn looks over his shoulder as we walk. “No. You really don’t. It’s more of a pain in the ass than helpful.” He winks, nods and turns.

We cross 8th street and I scope the traffic. I see a line of five black cars half a block ahead.

Cass bounces up between Deacon and Jesse. “There!”

We break into a run just as traffic moves again and the cars turn down a side street.

We bolt around the corner and the cars are gone.

I slow to a stop. “Where’d…they go?”

We walk down the empty dark street. Checking driveways and alleys as we go.

From an empty lot ahead, we hear growling.

“Nice of you to come, Ember.”

Michael steps out of the empty lot with 20 other people behind him. They all have glowing red, sick eyes. They’re dirty and smell so gross.

Michael steps forward. “You’re brother won’t talk. I wonder if he’d be more chatty if he knew his sister was on my table instead of him.” Michael smirks and I throw flames from my eyes.

The guys take off their jackets and toss them.

“Mike, you’re sick, man. You need help. I can help you figure this out. All you need to do is come with me to my lab…” Graham steps forward and tries to plead with him.

“I’m not going anywhere. When are you guys going to get it.” He takes a few more steps. “I like being me. This is who I am. Who I always was. Being with you losers only dragged me down.” He throws a smart, psychotic look our way.

“Anna? River? Emily? They’re losers to you, Mike. They’re your family!” Cass shoves in front.

Mike’s face turns to anger. “NO! ANNA WAS MY FAMILY UNTIL RIVER STOLE HER FROM ME! I GOT NO FAMILY EXCEPT HIM!”

Deacon steps up. “Emily, Mike. How can you say that? She loves you.”

“She’s your fated.” Cass starts. “How can you turn your back on your fated? Michael. Do you even know how lucky you are?”

Michael looks around and scrubs a hand down his face. He holds a hand up and shakes his head. “You know what? Kill them all.” He waves us off, turns around and walks behind the Rogues as they all flash their red eyes and growl darkly.

“Damn. We got to fight now?” Graham looks at us.

Cass nods. “Yeah. Try not to die this time.”

He chuckles. “Believe me. I won’t.”

The Rogues lunge forward and all shift as they run at us.

Cass bursts out his clothes and runs into the group. His textured blonde wolf smashes into them with anger and fury.

“CASS! GET DOWN!”

He looks back and ducks just as I flip over him, pull my crossbow and fire a succession of shots. Soaring as if in slow motion, I pull arrow after arrow from my quiver , sinking them into the heads of the Rogues. My boots hit the pavement and I spin around. I’m hand delivering arrows as the wolves descend on me.

Cass is taking down as many as he can. The barks and growls fill the street and night air. Some lights come on in the windows of the surrounding house, but none of us care at the moment.

Deacon and Graham shift. Quinn turns to his full Lycan and Jesse brings out his Silverback.

More Rogues join the fight.

“WHERE ARE THEY COMING FROM?” I yell as I drive an arrow into the eye of a rogue wolf trying to rip my throat out.

Quinn opens the mouth of his wolf head. “THIS ISN’T NORMAL. ROGUES DON’T PACK LIKE THIS!” He yells back in a lycan demonic tone.

Cass shifts and lands a punch to the top of a Rogues head, driving his fist into its cheeks with a large growl.

He runs to Quinn and leans on him to catch his breath and regroup. “They did…once before…in Black Lake…but they were controlled by a Dragon.”

“Then let’s get Mike.” Quinn growls. He leaps into the air and lands dead center of the pack. He picks a wolf up and rips his throat out.

I back off and fire to try and keep the numbers down. Ahead of us, more Rogues skid around the corner and toward the fight.

“They keep coming. Holy shit!” I say as I fire more. My arrows whiz through air and land in heads. The bodies just add to the pile.

I reach back and grab nothing. “Shit! I’m out.” Going to have to recycle.

I run into the fight and pull arrows out and drive them into the skulls of other.

The Alphas are all taking down what they can, but this wave seems never ending.

Graham shifts and spin kicks a guy who also shifted. He picks him up and drives him into the ground. He back kicks another, spins, grabs his head and lands it on his knee. He throws punches left and right. He’s holding his own against six wolves.

Deacon is ripping heads off and Cass is feeding other wolves to Quinn. Jesse is tossing them like dolls.

I see Michael run from the fight and head for the lot and leap through the battle. In the lot is an abandoned school. I see him shift and enter the building.

“EMBER!”

I hear Cass, but I don’t want to lose Michael. I slam into the doors Michael went into and throw them open.

“EMBER, WAIT!”

Nope. Not happening.

My boots slide a bit across the floor and I stop and raise my cross bow. The school is old. An obvious hangout for kids judging by the amount of garbage and graffiti on the walls. There’s no light except from a few windows here and there.

I step cautiously as I walk up the wide hallway. My boots are thumping on the damaged floor.

“Ember…” Cass runs up behind me.

“Shush! He’s in here. I can feel it.” I side eye him as we continue.

Cass readies himself as we approach a set of double doors. We both take a door and put our ear to them. Listening for anything that might sound like movement.

I hear a faint whimper from inside and nod to Cass. He nods back.

He pushes me back and stands in front of the door. He lifts a leg and kicks the doors open. The rusted hinges snap and the doors crash to the floor. We rush in and see Curtis and Puck on the floor. They’re both bound and bloodied.

I aim my arrow and eye my target. “Puck, are you ok?” I saw as I lock eyes with Michael and sidestep into the room.

“Oh yeah. I’m just fucking peachy!” He snarls. He’s cuffed with iron cuffs and Curtis is cuffed in silver.

Cass steps in beside me. “Mike. Let them go. You don’t want to do this.” He puts his hands up.

Michael is standing in front of Puck and Curtis with six Rogues all around. “Cass…How long have we known each other?”

“19 years.” He answers.

“And in that time, have I ever done anything I didn’t want to do?” Michael smirks.

“Well, I mean, you said you didn’t want the Dragons attacking like you planned it so…” Cass arches a brow.

Michael grins. “See…That’s where your wrong, Cass. I wanted Torrent to attack. I wanted to kidnap Anna for myself. I wanted Caledon destroyed. I didn’t go through with it out of fear. Fear of being caught and hanged. Fear of having Anna hate me. That wasn’t really me. He showed me who I was. He showed me my true capability. He proved to me that all these years, I was just lying to myself. Lying to Anna. Lying to…” He stopped himself and this look came across his face.

His hand traveled up his chest to his shoulder where his mark is.

“Lying to Emily. That’s what you were going to say. The day that Fate snapped your bond. That was the lie. Is that what your saying?” Cass steps forward. “Are you saying that your love for that woman. The woman who gave you everything and asked for nothing. That woman was not the one you love.”

Cass looks around. “This? This what you want? Not the beautiful creature crying her eyes out every night for you back in White Rock? Is that the lie, Mike? I only ask because it looks like you’re having a hard time believing the truth you believe now.”

“ENOUGH!” Michael’s face twists into anger. “My life is not up for discussion, Cass. I want the tracker.” He pulls a gun and walks to Curtis. He cocks it and aims it at Curtis’ head who side eyes the barrel.

Cass raises a hand. “OK…Ok, Mike. We'll get the tracker. Just let them go.”

“What? Do you think I’m stupid? Produce it first.” He growls.

“I can’t produce it if I’m weakened, you idiot.” Puck gives him a sarcastic look.

Michael looks at us then looks at Puck.

I catch Pucks eye and he gives me a wink. He’s got a plan.

Cass pleads further. “Let Puck go, he’ll give you the tracker and you can leave. We won’t follow.” Cass’ voice was surprisingly calm.

Michael looks to his Rogues. He keeps the gun trained on Puck as he takes keys out of his pocket and undoes the cuffs. Puck rubs his wrists and stands.

He stretches and smiles. “Ah, so much better.”

Michael aims his way. “The tracker!”

Puck looks at me, bites his smile and ticks his head. “Sure. Why the hell not…” He throws a hand like he tossing a ball. The arrow appears in midair and flies toward me.

“THE TEAR!” Puck yells. I grab the arrow out of the air and pull the vial I stole from Cass’ coat out of my pocket. The whole thing was mere seconds.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Michael backhands Puck as the Rogues all shift.

I stick the vial cork in my mouth, open it and pour to tear into the shaft.

The shaft is painted in blue light from the middle to both ends.

Michael and the Rogues stop as the room fills with an ear-piercing whine. It gets louder and louder as we all fall to our knees, covering our ears. The glow on the shaft starts to pulse. Each pulse is bigger than the last as the sound increases. It gives one more big pulse, the sound stops for a quick second and blue light explodes from it with a shockwave that hit us all and slid us to the walls of the room.

Puck took off Curtis' cuffs. His eyes flash blue.

They run to us just as Michael and the Rogues recover.

“Ok. Let’s go.” Puck grabs our arms.

“Wait! Our friends are outside.” Cass says.

“What the hell are they doing out there?” Puck says.

“Saving your ass.” Cass growls.

“Guys!” I says and point as Michael and the wolves shifts.

“FUCK! RUN!” Cass yells and they all shift. I run as fast as I can.

I can feel the heat coming up from behind as I hear them crash through the doorway. They’re barks and growls fill my chest.

I turn and fire a round of bolts their way. I hit two of rogues and they go down. I fire one at Michael and he dodges it.

We slam through the door.

“SHIFT! STOP!” I yell.

They stop and shift. I run up. “Grab arms.”

They do and I blink to the others. The fight on the street is still going.

“CURT!”

“JESS!”

Jesse melts to Nala. They run to each other and slam lips. Curtis kisses her deep. She breaks the kiss and hugs him. “Thank God…oh thank you…” She hugs him tightly. “Are you ok?” She says as she checks him over.

“Yeah, baby. I’m OK.”

“Guys, we gotta go!”

Quinn slams a Rogue into another one. He howls loud and slams his foot on the two piled on each other. His Lycan squishes their heads together. Their grey matter splatters on the pavement.

“QUINN!” I yell.

He turns and runs to us. Graham, Deacon, Nala and Curtis link up with Puck and I take Cass and Quinn. As the Rogues descend on us, we blink out.

We reappear in Cass' pack house and all of us almost lose our balance. The guys stumble to the couches and flop down on them.

“What the hell was that?” Deacon scrubs his dirty face.

Graham shakes his head. “I don’t know. Biologically speaking, those were not Rogues that we know. This was organized and logical pack behaviors.”

Cass joins them and sits in a chair. “How’s that possible? I’m mean, sure White had control of the packs, but it wasn’t anything like this. They didn’t hold the flight response Rogues normally have.”

Curtis shakes his head. “Whatever has Michael, has them too. I heard them talking about someone named Lefu.”

Cass leans on his knees. “Lefu. Why does that sound familiar?”

Graham and Deacon exchange looks. Deacons glances at us. “It’s who rose from the black cross that Destiny gave to Gia. The cross from Eternity’s prison.

Nala sits beside Curtis and laces her fingers with his. “He’s an old being. A first creature of two. Lycan and Vampire.”

Deacon stopped her. “Wait. Like Lainey?”

Nala nods. “She’s his descendent.”

“Ok. So what are we looking at here. What can we expect?” Cass asks.

Nala arches a brow and eyes us all. “Death.”

Graham rubs his palms together. “Well, that’s not good.”

“There is a way to stop him. We just need to replace it. Zander and Jake are on the search as we speak.” Nala supplies.

“What about this library?” I ask.

“It’s a witches vault.” Puck says as he lifts a giant sandwich and takes a bite.

“Thanks for asking.” Cass scowls.

“No problem.” Puck smiles with a mouthful.

“A witches vault? Why does Michael want it?” I question.

“My father’s blade. It has power in it that he needs.” Nala informs. “It was placed with the library before it disappeared.”

“How did they know it’s there?” I ask.

“That remains to be clarified. We suspect there’s a third Shaman. The Rogues tonight may have solidified that theory.” Nala says as Curtis plays with her hair.

Graham crosses his arms. “It’s definitely a good reason for their behavior. If they’re under the influence of some sort of drug, they could act like a well organized pack.”

Cass scrubs a hand down his face. “Well, ok. Puck. You’re staying here. All you guys, tighten your security. If they can get to Nala, they can come for you too.”

Graham stands up. He looks at his dirty, bloody skin. “I’ll run some tests on this blood and see if I can figure out what’s going on.”

Deacon stands too. “I am in desperate need of sleep. I have some new members to link into my pack and I don’t want to be exhausted for that.”

Cass stands and offers a hand. Deacon takes it. “New members? Look at you being the bad Alpha.”

Deacon chuckles. “Not bad. I’m the awesome Alpha. Everyone loves the awesome Alpha.”

Cass claps his back with a chuckle.

“I’ll get you guys home.” I gather them all up in a circle.

“Curtis, glad your safe. I’m sorry you got dragged into this.” Cass claps his arm.

“Don’t worry about. It’s not the first time I’ve been tied up.” He winks, looks at Nala and smirks.

I look to Cass who bounces his brow.

“Let’s go to Phoenix.” I close the linked arms and blink my way around, dropping people off to their homes, when I get back, Cass is in the shower.

I walk into the steamy bathroom. “You were great.” I mumble.

“You were amazing.” He responds.

“Not that amazing.” I sigh as I lean on the wall beside the door. “Michael’s still out there.”

“We'll help him. We just need to figure out how.” He says.

I look my nails over. “Cass…about the tear…”

He slides the door open. “It’s OK. I understand.” His hair is stuck to his head in soapy wetness.

“I really don’t think you do.” I respond.

“Ember, I do. You have trust issues. I see that. That’s OK. I completely understand.” He grins.

I look over his wet face and push off the wall. “It may not be as bad as you think.” I mumble.

He smiles. “I know it’s not.” He slides a hand into my hair and pulls me to his lips.

His tongue glides past my lips and replaces mine.

Every time he kisses me, I feel myself fall. Spiral out of control. In my heart, I want him to catch me. My mind is trying desperately to convince me he won’t.

I want to let go. To stop all this and just be free to love again, but Cass scares me. He’s so real, but I know he’s not authentic. His love is unnaturally compounded and I’m afraid that when he realizes that, he won’t actually want me. He just wanted the thought of me.

He breaks the kiss, but stays close. “You know what you need.”

I give a little kiss back. “What?”

He smiles. “A nice, hot shower.”

“What?”

Before I knew it, he yanked me into the shower, clothes and all. “CASS!!”

He’s laughing and kissing me under the flowing water of the shower head. “Don’t worry. I’ll undress you.” He presses me against the wall and takes my lips again and I can’t fight it.

I’m losing myself in Cass. I’m losing my old self. I’m starting to double think this mission.

I feel it. It’s starting to feel real. Deep down, I feel it.

Love.