Chapter 25 Heir to the Gamma Bloodline
1742 Words
Chapter 25
Heir to the Gamma Bloodline
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Jada
My body tensed. All the tiny hairs on my body prickled. Cautiously, I peered behind Agatha’s bony shoulders to see the face of Duane Alba staring back at me. I should have recognised that by the Italian accent!
“Duane?” I turned, feeling a nervous flutter in my stomach as I gazed at Gamma Julius’s eldest son, the heir to the Gamma bloodline.
His curly brown hair perfectly complemented his equally brown eyes, which sparkled under the overhead lights. It wasn’t that I had a crush on him. Although my explanation might have suggested otherwise, I couldn’t help but acknowledge his good looks. Despite the undeniable attractiveness of the entire family, Julius’s bloodlust tainted the otherwise idyllic image. The youngest son, Kris, had recently celebrated his thirteenth birthday but lacked the ambition to continue his father’s legacy as Gamma. As a result, the weight of this responsibility was to fall on Duane's broad and masculine shoulders.
I swallowed nervously. “Why are you here?”
“I may look like and sound like my papa, but when it comes to murdering the innocent, kidnapping a Luna and a teenage girl, not to mention the horrible abuse of you, I draw the line.” He winked at me. “You can trust me, Jada...”
Tilting my head to the side, I studied him. Was he telling the truth? Could you trust someone whom you believed to be like their father? I wanted to. “I want to believe you, Duane, but what I witnessed yesterday would make anyone sceptical.”
“I completely understand,” he rubbed a hand across the stubble on his solid chin. “I was in that cabin… I saw their cruel plans.” He sighed heavy-heartedly, “I love my parents, especially my mamá… She has a big heart. And papa used to be that way until…” He trailed off, and his eyes darkened. “But I draw the line at murder, abuse, and kidnapping!”
“So, you’re here because you’re rebelling against my false father?” I asked, brushing my messy hair from my face.
“It’s not the entire reason.” He chuckled a deep chest-rattling laugh that reminded me–there was a newly awakened wolf under all of what he was. “I found my mate! I know she’s my mate… I smelt her when on parole at the Mist Clan. She hasn’t sensed me yet. I think she’s just come of age or is about to. I don’t know what she looks like, but I can’t wait to find out!”
“Ah, you wolves and your hopeless romance,” Agatha rolled her eyes. “Witches don’t believe in all that stuff–imprinting, romance, love at first sight… Pfft!” Agatha put her hands on her hips and swished them around dramatically. “This body will only ever go to someone when I feel like it.”
“You mean when you bewitch someone to want it!” Duane argued.
“Well, you’re never going to get it!” Agatha turned to the side and winked at me, then with another swish at Duane, she glided away.
At the table, she dropped into a seat where her food awaited. There was something I liked about her… something mischievous and playful.
“Don’t worry about Agatha,” Duane laughed, patting my shoulder. “For someone as old as she is, she’s pretty cool… And tough… And a little dangerous.” He pointed the finger at me with a warning glint in his eyes. “Don’t get on her bad side… She had many of them–”
“I don’t have a bad side,” Agatha interrupted from across the room. She ran her hands down her slender figure, “All my sides are good…”
“Anyway, Little Hugh,” Duane gestured to a table laden with food. Steam rose from dishes and fry pans. Now I was hungry. “Like my mama says, food cures all...”
Sighing, I crossed my arms and stared at the Gamma bloodline. “I’m not a Hugh! I don’t know what I am, but I know I would never be a Hugh again!”
Duane playfully punched my arm, grinning, “I’m grateful for that. And whoever you are… Whatever your last name is – you’re still a part of the Celestial Resistance! We’ll defeat your father- false father!”
I nodded and smiled for the first time since the news. “Thanks...”
We sat down with Agatha. She surprisingly welcomed us with open arms.
“This roast lamb is so tender,” Duane commented as he tore the meat from the bone with his powerful jaws.
“I’ve had better,” Agatha snorted as she patted the corner of her mouth with a paper serviette.
“The pork is good,” I admitted honestly.
“We taste like pork…” Agatha added with a coy sideways grin. “Did you know that?”
“What!” I dropped my fork.
Duane jabbed a fork in her direction. “Of course, you would know that! Your kind eats babies and children for a living!”
This time, I blanched. “Are you serious?”
Agatha cackled wickedly. “Only the plumpest of children…”
I couldn’t speak. I suddenly couldn’t move.
Then, the two of them threw their heads back and laughed.
Agatha waved her hand dismissively. “Mother hated the idea of eating babies…” She leaned in closer to me. “And children… Well, she threatened to boil me a few times…”
“You probably deserved it,” Duane teased.
“More than likely,” she agreed. “I was not the easiest child… That might explain why she had grey hairs from an early age.”
I exhaled a breath I didn’t know I was holding. “You had me there.”
She winked at me. “My mother was vegetarian… Mostly. It was not easy to be a vegetarian witch.”
A roar exploded through the bunker, rattling all the plates on the tables. Everyone stood. Those with wolves–more than half the people around me, burst into their wolf form and ran from the room.
“What is going on?” I gasped as I watched Duane contort and writhe into his giant brown wolf.
He huffed something at me, and Agatha then hurried to join the pack—the remaining people–mostly mothers and children, huddled in the far corner.
“What’s happening? What did Duane say?”
“He told me to keep you here…” Agatha’s eyes twinkled. She got to her feet, took me by the arm, and pulled me to mine. “But I was never good at obeying rules. Let’s see this.”
“What?” I gasped as Agatha towed me back down the long corridor.
We didn’t stop until we ran into the back of Kyra.
“You came to see what all the commotion is...” Kyra spun around to meet us. She realised Agatha was beside me, and her face soured. “Don’t go messing with the like of this one, Jada. Her kind got us into this predicament in the first place.”
Agatha laughed in a way that was whimsical, mysterious, and just as mischievous, matching the look in her eyes. “You can’t blame me for what my mother did. She’s the one that the Alpha of the Celestial Moon clan hired to do that little switcheroo with the kids… And the curse to top it off.” She waved her hands around each other, put them on her hips, and swayed them slightly. “I’m nothing like my mother.” She held her hands in front of her face in a praying motion, “Rest her unholy spirit.”
Kyra just grunted and then gestured her defined chin at the hatch. “Some of our guards took out three Celestial Moon clan prowlers and rescued two resistance members.”
“Anna!” I screamed. I knew it had to be Anna and her father – that connection inside me told me.
Letting go of Agatha, I pushed past Kyra and ran out the door. I had been raised as a meek little creature, but Anna was my only shining beacon… and I would risk everything if she were in trouble. Outside in the blinding sunlight, I caught sight of two bloodied human figures draped over the backs of two wolves… one of the wolves I knew was Shushila.
“Anna,” I cried as I ran towards them.
Agatha was suddenly beside me, holding my arm. I turned to her to see that her eyes had lost colour, suddenly becoming an iridescent white. “I feel heartbeats – unconscious, but they will be fine.” Her eyes returned to their normal midnight black. “We need to get them inside and have our resident doctor have a look.”
I stood aside and allowed the wolves to carry Anna and her dad into the bunker. I could see Anna’s bloodied face covered by her red hair. It was such a mess. I couldn’t tell where the blood ended and Anna’s hair began. Next to her, Jackson had been brutalised, and his red hair torn away in chunks. He was missing fingers and toes, and one of his eyes was swollen shut.
“What happened?” I asked as a large charcoal wolf transformed into his human form behind me and hastily grabbed his clothes.
He turned to me. “It seems your dad uncovered the Beta’s betrayal. There is now a bounty on their heads!”
“He is not my father!” I spat as anger fizzled in my chest. “As long as I can help it, I will never see him again!”
“And we will try and keep it that way.” The man said, nodding respectfully at me.
“You’ve got some spunk, kid,” Agatha said.
“Then I want to learn how to fight,” I glanced around at all the faces, finally meeting Duane’s wolf eyes in his human form. “I want to fight and help the Mist Clan against the Celestial Moon Clan!”
He nodded at me. “And I will teach you.”
- Writer
