Chapter Four

Keeva’s POV

It wasn’t a dream. The floor is as hard and cold this morning as it was last night. The sun streams through the living room window, making me blink from the intensity of its glare. I pull myself up and look around me, the crumpled couch still littering the floor. This is all I have known, this house, my unloving father. Since I turned eighteen and it was confirmed that I am human, he has become even colder to me. I have spent hours praying to The Moon Goddess to try and understand why I was chosen to be human. But there has been no answer. It seems I am alone in this world. I can’t sit here all day, there is no doubt loads to do. I walk through the cold hallway, my bare feet padding lightly, the pain shooting up my leg from my injured ankle.

I warily pull off the black vest that Becky gave to me last night, being careful not to knock open the wound on my shoulder. My breasts spring free, pert and full, big enough to draw unwanted attention. My small waist gives way to thick curvy hips and thighs, my buttocks large and firm. At only five foot four inches tall and a hundred and thirty pounds, my weight seems to have gone to all the right places. The shower stopped working weeks ago, a bath is my only option. It will help ease the pain in my ankle too. I turn the hot water on as far as it will go, the steam instantly fogs the mirror above the sink. I sink down into the deep hot water, letting it burn my skin as it cascades from the tap. The pain in my ankle starts to diminish and my stiff body relaxes and unwinds. I haven’t heard Julius so he must have left already. Good, I don’t want to speak to him, I can still be punished for disobedience regardless of being human.

                It nearly ten am before I’ve finished my bath, and I grab a granola bar on my way out of the door. Nikita stops in her tracks, she turns her head to avoid my gaze, her long black hair covers the side of her face. I can see the flush of red on her cheek. ‘Nikita’ I call as I jog over to her. She looks at me and gives me a big fake smile. ‘Keeva, hey.’ Her words are loud and overly happy. They all know! Of course they know. I’m getting tethered to Zev this evening and they will all be there to witness it.

                ‘I was going to come and get you. Julius asked me to help get you ready for this evening. We need to go to town and collect your gown, we can chat on the way.’ She looks me in my eyes and signals urgently for me to be quiet. I turn my head and look up the path, Chad is lingering near the fence. No doubt told to watch me, to make sure I don’t try and run away. Nikita is an Omega, one of the unfortunate few who are made to visit Julius in the privacy of his bedroom. If she had known about Julius’s plan and he had ordered her not to tell me, then she physically would not have been able to.

All the Omegas live together, the lowest rank in the pack. Made to do all the menial tasks. They cook, clean, grow and harvest most of our food, and are the caretakers to the houses and gardens. Omega house is on the outskirts of the community where the vegetable garden is, and the gates to the compound. A ten-foot wall runs across the front of the property, the edges hemmed in by dense forest.

                Nikita goes into Omega house and reappears a few moments later with her raggedy blue handbag. She pulls a keychain from her purse and we walk towards her old grey car. I yank the door with all my strength and it creaks noisily open. The car is at least twenty five years old. The interior has rips and the faded leather, once a dark black, is now grey. It is spotlessly clean and smells as fresh as line dried linen. Nikita folds her long body into the driver’s seat, which is as far back as it can go, and she starts the car. It comes to life with a loud growl. We set off through the gates of the reserve and I look in the wing mirror to see if we are being followed.

                ‘What the hell am I going to do now? I thought it would work quicker than this Nikita.’ In the privacy of the car, I turn on Nikita, all the anger and fear inside me spilling out. She doesn’t answer me straight away. Her eyes brim with tears that aren’t for me. ‘I’m sorry Nikki, I know you want him gone too!’ I feel ashamed of myself, she had risked so much more than me, and her escape is in jeopardy too. ‘It is working Keeva. Julius is getting weaker by the day. You don’t see it as much because you’re always away, working at that bar.’ The bitterness in her voice is sharp. ‘We will stop and see Celeste before we go to town, I’m sure she will know what to do.’ I’m not sure who she is trying to convince, herself or me?

                The wise woman of the woods, Celeste, smiles from over her smoking cup of tea. ‘I have silver if you want to speed things up girls?’ she laughs at the horrified looks on our faces. I know I want to escape, but I’m not cut out to be a cold-blooded killer. Then again being part of a conspiracy to kill my father wasn’t much better. ‘I don’t think any of us have the stomach for that Celeste. Can we increase the potency of the poison? My coach leaves Monday morning and I will be on it. Mated or not, I’m leaving.’ I have decided, no matter what happens tonight or tomorrow, I will still leave. Nikita looks at me and she shakes her head. ‘If we are found out Keeva do you know what will happen? I think he is starting to suspect me as it is!’ The thought of what Julius would do to us, if he found out what we are doing, makes my blood run cold.

                Celeste turns and reaches up to the shelf next to her, all kinds of potions, some in small vials and some in large bottles, fill every available space. She gives Nikita two vials of a purple liquid, its contents could only be extract of wolfsbane. ‘Don’t use it all at once, that would be a lethal dose, even for an ancient werewolf. I agree, you can’t be discovered, but we all need Julius gone. Sooner rather than later.’ Julius has been busy making enemies both in and outside of his pack. Celeste stands and makes her way across her small cottage to the door. Dried herbs and spices hang from the beams of her low ceilings. Even as short women we need to pick our route carefully, to avoid hitting our heads on some of the longer bunches. Our plan is back in action, and with a larger dose of poison in hand we leave, to continue our ride into town.

Julius’s POV

‘There is no mistake then doctor? I have months, that’s all?’ I can’t believe it. All the mistakes, all the things I have sacrificed, and cancer is going to be the mother fucker that takes me down. I still don’t know who has been slipping me wolfsbane, but it’s the only explanation. Werewolves don’t die from cancer, they die from being poisoned or ripped apart. Wolfsbane is lethal to werewolves, a large doses can kill us instantly, but if a small dose is given over time then it weakens us. I wasn’t aware of being poisoned until the cancer had already taken hold. Slowly, being murdered from the shadows. Looking up at the young doctor’s kind face, she nods. Six months, maybe nine if I’m lucky, then I will be cold in the ground.

                I knew Keeva wouldn’t take it well, but I can’t protect her forever. At least making her mated to Zev will mean that when he becomes Alpha, she will be safe. It has been so long since I have had to command any of my pack that using the Alpha command on Zev didn’t feel right. I’m sure he will treat her well. He is a good man after all, a good wolf, always loyal to me and to the pack. This way the pack stays strong and stays together.

                My once strong legs shake as I leave the doctor’s office, pills in my hand, and a warning to take it easy. The sun is bright this morning. The main street is quiet and the smell of sweet fresh cake wafts down the street from the bakery. I see Nikita’s car skid around the corner on to the street. I duck into the alleyway to the right. The smell of human urine makes my nose wrinkle in disgust. No doubt she is taking Keeva to collect the gown that was ordered weeks ago in preparation for today. She will forgive me, I hope. I’ll collect the cake from the bakery. Then I’ll go back to the reservation to make sure everything is ready for this evening.              

                A sudden and strong breeze comes from the south, I inhale as deeply as I can. What is that smell? I remember the scent but from where? From whom? These stupid pills, they have made me forget so much, and notice less of what’s going on around me. Like I’m out of it. The pain is almost unbearable without them, I can’t stand it. It’s coming from the woods just beyond town. I nearly run from the alleyway, fighting the urge to shift. I can’t be seen. The scent vanishes as quickly as it came, the wind has changed direction. It was such a fleeting moment that I think maybe I’m just imagining things.     

                To celebrate Keeva being mated I’ll take Nikita again for the night. Her long thin body that’s so fragile beneath my Alpha physique. My mind may be getting weak but my dick is still strong, and the animal in me needs to be released. I want to feel her small tight pussy stretch as I enter her from behind, and hear her moans when I make her cum all over me. My cock starts to swell in my trousers. The bell dings overhead as I step into the bakery. The bright pinks and yellows of the décor greet me long, along with the sweet smell of cakes and the earthy smell of fresh bread. Mrs Henderson greets me with a smile and my cock twitches in an unseen reply.

Channon’s POV

He caught my scent. I should have stayed away, the feeble old fool might recognise me. Now I’m also an Alpha, my scent has changed from the pup he knew. It’s stronger. Fifteen years is nothing but a blink of the eye to a wolf’s sense of smell. The way he put his head back and sniffed, he remembered something. I watch him slowly walk down the road to the bakery. I haven’t waited and planned for all these years to make a mistake now. To undo everything I have worked for. I can’t help but touch the necklace around my neck, it was hers. My Mom’s. It was given to her by the man she loved, my father, all those years ago. I must leave before he senses my presence, ill or not, he is a wolf.

                Before I can turn and leave I see her, Keeva. She leaves the battered old car with another young wolf. I still don’t know what Jonas had been playing at, he never can keep his dick in his trousers. But this time it had paid off. He had found the daughter of the Alpha, his human daughter, my stepsister. I can feel my inner beast stirring with want, and I feel drawn towards her in a way I’ve never felt for anyone else before.