Sold To The Alpha
A Love spoken Chapter 43

The clouds cast a gloomy greyness the following morning, matching the mood of the trio as they awoke from their fitful sleep. Vaughn had been plagued throughout the night by dreams of Olivia screaming for him to help her, he would run as fast as he could toward her voice, but when he would get near to her, her face would contort into a bitter grimace and she would shout that she hated him before disappearing in front of his eyes. Grabbing a quick breakfast from their back packs, they scrambled to their feet, making sure the camp fire was extinguished before heading back through the field toward the Black forest.

Once they were stood in front of the charred treeline, none of them spoke as they each contemplated how best to get to the centre and rescue Olivia.

'Maybe we should spilt up' Gabriella started in a low voice.

'No' Vaughn replied harshly, 'we stick together so that if any of us are attacked the other two can offer back up or distraction!

Shrugging, Gabriella offered no objection to the Prince's decision, taking a deep breath, Vaughn continued, 'I will go first, Gabby, you will follow behind me then Rowan brings up the rear' he decided.

Gabby opened her mouth to object when Rowan grabbed the Prince's arm, shaking his head vehemently, pointing to himself.

Removing the agitated warrior's grip from his arm, he leaned forward and spoke in a low tone, 'we need to keep Gabby safe Rowan, and as the highest ranking.. 'he started.

Rowan stamped his foot impatiently, cutting off the hybrid's words, pointing again to himself and crossing his arms defiantly.

'He is not going to give in Vaughn, he wants to go first' Gabriella grumbled exasperatedly, 'probably because if anything takes you out, he will be unable to grab me and run' she added with a scoff, obviously unimpressed that her mate felt she needed him to save

her.

Vaughn sighed heavily before nodding reluctantly, 'fine, Rowan goes first, then Gabby and then me' he agreed, his face showing his displeasure while Rowan grinned triumphantly.

'I don't see why I have to go in the middle' Gabriella added sullenly, 'in case you have forgotten, I am descended from the last white wolf, I should have the white wolf powers!

Vaughn refrained from rolling his eyes as he asked, 'but have you ever manifested the wolf powers?' he asked softly.

Gabriella hesitated slightly before reluctantly shaking her head, 'but my mum didn't manifest them until she was eighteen' she defended herself, 'and only when she got really heightened emotions, maybe my emotions just haven't been strong enough for them to come forward yet.

Vaughn gave her a small smile, 'maybe Gabs, but I don't really want to risk your safety on a hope that what we face in there will be enough to make your white wolf powers come forward' he said quietly.

The princess huffed angrily but refrained from any further arguments, instead taking her place behind Rowan, extending her claws in readiness though the prince distinctly heard her mutter under her breath,'I'm a damn Alpha's daughter on both sides, I can take care of my damn self, I don't need a pair of stuck up egotistical werewolves to hold my hand.

Moving behind Gabriella, Vaughn nodded to Rowan who silently stepped forward heading into the trees in front of them. They had gone no more than a dozen steps when the same ethereally beautiful witch appeared in front of them.

'I see you have returned travellers' she said musically, 'but I must ask you to turn around and leave our territory!

Vaughn stepped out from behind the trio and shook his head, 'I am sorry ma'am, but we cannot do that, your coven has someone who does not belong to you and we are going to get her back!'

The young witch tilted her head slightly, looking over the group with a hint of amusement, 'you gave the she wolf to us, did you not?' she asked, 'she is your mate and you handed her over to our Coven, that does sound like she is now our property! Gabriella pushed between the two men growling angrily, 'she may be his mate but that doesn't make her his property to barter with a bunch of witches' she scowled furiously, 'only Olivia can decide if she wants to belong to you and she has not said that she does, so we will come in and get her.'

The young witch seemed unphased by the princess' rant, gazing at her with interest before speaking, 'she is a close friend to you I can tell, I understand that you feel the need to attempt to release her but I am bound to stop you by any means possible. I implore you to retreat from your mission, I do not wish to hurt you and the creatures that roam this forest are not known for their compassion' she implored.

Ignoring the witch's warning, Gabriella went to push past as the young woman waved her hands lazily, lifting the princess off of her feet and throwing her backwards. Rowan rushed at the witch, knocking her to the ground as Vaughn raced over to the teenager and helped her to her feet, checking her over as her face contorted with fury.

Throwing Vaughn away from her, the princess launched herself at the struggling witch and plunged her claws straight into her chest, drawing a scream of pain from the beauty. Retracting her claws from the woman's flesh, Gabriella pushed herself up from the floor, breathing heavily. 'I won't kill you this time as you are just doing your job' she said stiffly, 'but if you try to stop me again I will end your life' she growled before walking past the wounded witch and heading into the dark forest in front of her. Rowan and Vaughn hurried to catch her up, each of them falling into step either side of her, taking quick glances at her stubborn chin as she marched onward, not even trying to muffle her footsteps.

To their right they saw a flash of colour as something raced through the trees, its speed so fast that none of them could focus on it.

Rowan stopped suddenly, looking around carefully, he took a few deep breaths, his eyes narrowing as he tried to narrow in on what had caught his attention.

'What is it?' Vaughn asked hopelessly, staring around them in agitation.

Rowan shook his head, as she started to pull off his shirt, jeans and shoes, pushing them into his back pack as he loosened the straps before the sound of cracking bones filled the air as he shifted into his large grey wolf.

Growling in a low tone, he positioned himself in front of Gabriella, his eyes fixated on a spot between two closely growing trees.

'Here little puppy' came a mocking voice as the hackles on Rowan's neck stood up, his growl getting louder as his body took on a protective stance.

'Aww the puppy is angry' came another whispering voice from behind another tree, Vaughn immediately moving to put himself between the bodiless voice and Gabriella, his claws out in preparation.

'Ooooo look at the scary Vampire' came a third voice, dripping with scorn.

'Show yourselves cowards' Vaughn yelled, his head swivelling back and forth to try and spot any of the owners of the creepy ridicule filled voices.

'Show yourselves, show yourselves' the first voice mimicked, 'so bossy, you are not our boss little Vamp, try asking nicely! None of the voices seemed in any hurry to show themselves to the trio, preferring to continue to mock them from their hiding places around them. Vaughn growled angrily, his canines extending, his eyes beginning to shift colour as his wolf started to scratch to get out.

'Who are you?' Vaughn demanded, his hand holding on to Gabriella's wrist protectively.

'We are the shadows of evil' the voice replied with a cackle, 'the creatures that haunt the nightmares of men, the collectors of the damned.

Gabriella gasped suddenly, using her other hand to pull desperately on the back of Vaughn's jacket, 'they are demons' she muttered in panic.

'Correct little princess' the first voice replied, the pleasure in her fear evident in his voice, 'you will make a fine addition to the underworld, pretty one.'

Gabriella shuddered as she whispered furiously, 'do not let them kill you! they'll take your souls! The Coven must have summoned them, they knew we would try to get Olivia back!

Vaughn's eyes widened at the teenagers words, 'how do you know what they are?' he asked quickly, his eyes darting back and forth into the gloom of the surrounding darkness.

'Vaya' Gabriella hissed back, inching closer to the two warriors, 'she always said we needed to know what creatures existed and could hurt us, she insisted we cover even mythical creatures that most people don't even think exist including demon's' 'Please tell me she told you how to kill these things' Vaughn muttered under his breath.

Gabriella groaned, 'you can't kill something that isn't alive Vaughn! We need to send them back to where they got summoned from!

'OK, now is not the time for a school lesson Gabs, how do we get rid of them?' he asked frantically.

'We can't! You need like a silver sword embalmed with something as hot as magical fire' Gabriella replied ruefully, before suddenly opening her eyes wide, 'but..' she muttered as she pulled herself out of Vaughn's grasp and grabbed a stick off the ground, digging it into the mud and dragging it quickly up and down around them until they were stood in a crudely drawn pentagon.

'Clever girl' the second voice rasped in annoyance.

'What is this?' Vaughn asked confused.

'It's a pentagram, they can't step into it without becoming trapped' Gabriella said letting out a breath.

'But now we can't step out of it and go and get Olivia without those things grabbing us' Vaughn groaned.

'Well at least I bought us some time' Gabriella snapped back angrily, 'now lets figure out what the hell we are going to do to get out of this, unless you happen to have some holy water or maybe a hand full of dirt from some hallowed ground in your pocket?' A distant rumble above their heads caused the three to look upwards

'Seriously?' Gabriella shouted at the trees, 'you called a storm!'

'What's so bad about a storm?' Vaughn questioned, not sure he wanted to know the answer, 'the trees should offer us protection from the rain.' 'Yeah, but the water can also wash away the lines of the pentagram meaning these a*s holes will be able to get to us' Gabriella bit back angrily.