Alpha Revelation

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Amanda stepped out of her room and instantly shivered as a cold, nearly frigid, burst of air touched her skin. Her senses were pricked and she stopped, listening carefully for any sound that seemed out of place.

“Sarina?”

The cold moved from the center of her body and seemed to focus on her cheek, as if someone was touching it.

Mama.

The single word was less than a whisper, so faint that Amanda wasn’t sure she hadn’t made it up.

“Sarina? Are you okay? What happened to you? Where are you?”

The next words she heard were, help and body.

Looking up at the ceiling, Amanda knew then that her Sarina was in danger. Whoever or whatever was in her body, it wasn’t her daughter. Immediately she got Romeo involved.

“You’re saying that Sarina, our Sarina, isn’t the young woman who should be sleeping next to her mate upstairs?” asked Romeo.

“I’m saying that our Sarina touched my face with a hand, made of the iciest breeze I’ve ever felt. She said she needed help and there’s something to do with her body. I’m guessing that she’s been pulled or kicked out of hers by whoever took up residence in her.”

“So how do we get it out and Sarina back in?”

Amanda sighed. She loved Romeo. Never once had he questioned her, or made her feel insecure. He’d loved her well and supported her in every decision, even when he’d disagreed with her method. He’d been the first to trust her abilities and she knew now he trusted her instincts.

“We need to exorcise whatever’s holding her body captive,” Amanda explained. “It’s not going to be easy, because whenever a demon or entity takes over a body, their actual survival depends on locking that person out or away. If someone has managed to kick Sarina’s spirit from her body, getting her back in will take everything I have in me.”

“Tell me how to help,” Romeo replied, his light eyes simmering. Another alpha trait, Amanda now admired. At first, she’d seen only the arrogance and ignorance. He was so full of himself back then that it overflowed until everyone, including her, wanted to punch him in the face.

Now that arrogance paid off in the cocky way he always backed her up. Never, since the day they’d mated had she ever doubted whether or not he would support her. Be it a decision about their children, her powers, or their pack; Amanda knew that she would always have an ally in Romeo. It was just one of the things she cherished in their marriage.

>>

Brody sat up and looked down at the woman sleeping in his bed. On the outside, she was Sarina, his stunning, gorgeous mate. Her long, flowing hair lay over her shoulder and spilled across her pillow. Her lithe body still turned him on, even after carrying and delivering twins. Sighing, he knew it was the woman inside that beauty though, who had truly captivated him and whoever was there now wasn’t his mate. He’d have known sooner if he hadn’t been so enamored with the idea of finally having peace and quiet.

His whole relationship with Sarina had been so full of drama, battles and stemming all-out war that Brody had wanted desperately to have this time. To nurture what he’d wanted from the beginning, a chance.

She stirred and stretched, a smile forming on her lips. “Good morning handsome,” she cooed.

Brody nearly fell for it, until Sarina’s face filled his memory. Her words echoed in the back of his mind. He felt like jumping out of the bed as if it was on fire but he didn’t want to arouse her suspicions. Instead he stretched and made an excuse about getting a shower.

“I smell,” he simply said.

“Want some company?” asked Sarina.

Inwardly he groaned. He wanted Sarina so bad his body ached for her. “Nah, I won’t be long enough for that. Some of the pack members need repairs on their homes so I’m gonna grab a quick bite to eat and then I’ll be out.”

“Alright,” she said smiling and gave him a wink. It was so much like what Sarina would do that turning away from her was the hardest thing he’d ever done. He shut the bathroom door and sighed. He had to convince Amanda and Romeo that their daughter needed help. True to his word, he made his shower ten minutes and was downstairs in fifteen. He grabbed an apple and a muffin and started toward the parlor when he spotted Amanda and Romeo heading his way.

“We need to talk,” said Brody.

They closed the doors and locked them. Amanda put a spell on the doors to bar their voices from traveling outside the room. “It’s about Sarina,” everyone said in unison.

“You know?” they asked of each other.

“Sarina came to me this morning as an ice cold wind. She said ‘Mama’, ‘help’ and ‘body’. I’m guessing, but I think she needs help with her body.”

“Sarina is trapped in the underworld,” Brody informed them, “by Lilith and whatever devil she’s aligned herself with. Whoever he is, he must be pretty damn powerful to pull off a stunt like this. We may need more help than we have at the moment. Apparently, from what Sarina says, Lilith agreed to help him get all of us if he gave her one last chance to prove that she could take down the Traverse line.”

“I can deal with Lilith, especially trapped inside Sarina’s body. Do you know what she’s planning?” asked Amanda.

“I’m not sure,” Brody said with a sigh. He paced across the room and turned back toward them. “Whatever it is, it’s not good. Not that I’d expect it to be.”

“Why can’t that b***h just leave well enough alone? How many damn times do we have to kill her for it to stick?” said Amanda.

“I’m not sure,” Romeo finally said, “But I’m going to make sure of it this time.” Before Brody could stop him, Romeo was through the double doors and up the stairs, nearly knocking Sarina’s bedroom door from the hinges when he barreled through it. Already regretting it, Romeo was too late to keep himself from seeing his oldest daughter’s n***d backside before he closed his eyes. Still, his indignation came through in the command his voice held.

“Hey Dad,” Sarina said in a way that made it hard for him to see her as anything but the little girl who’d come so quickly into his life. Focusing his mental clarity, he pressed on.

“Don’t you dare call me that,” he growled, nearly changing into his wolf as he did so. “I am fairly certain that you aren’t my daughter, no matter how much you look like her.”

“Okay,” she laughed. “Dad, I get that you and Mom have been under some uber stress lately with Fenris and all, but really? I’m just about to walk down the aisle to marry my best friend. Haven’t we all been through enough?”

Romeo ignored her state of undress and pinned her against the wall, his massive hand clamping easily around her throat. “You won’t be walking anywhere, you harlot,” he growled in a low, menacing voice. It happened so fast that if he’d been questioned sometime later about his certainty of the event, he wouldn’t have been positive at all, except he’d caught it in that instant. Her eyes had changed and he’d seen Lilith under the mask of his daughter’s face. The fierce growl that rent the air was as vicious as Romeo had ever let go, as anger and fear mixed a wicked concoction in his stomach.

Amanda stood back and watched her husband with an admiration that didn’t need words to be expressed. Still, she needed to save her daughter’s body from being permanently disfigured by her father’s anger and there was only one way to ensure that Lilith never, ever had the chance to scratch and claw her way out of the pits of Hell again.

“We need to take her down to the room,” she said, absorbing the steely look Romeo threw her way. Years ago she would have cowered under that dangerous stare. Now she stood her ground and waited. Amanda held out a blanket and Romeo unceremoniously pushed the witch into it to conserve what modesty Sarina would have left when everything was done.

“Lead the way,” Romeo said, his voice still harsh. Amanda could tell though that the anger was edging itself away. Deep down, Romeo knew that when everything was said and done, his daughter would need her body.

Amanda turned without another word and headed down to the room she’d created just for occasions like this. She’d never expected to need it this way, but then again, she’d never much expected any of this, truth be told. “From here on, it’s just the three of us,” Amanda said, stopping both Romeo and Brody at the door. I won’t come out until Lilith is back in Hell where she belongs and we have our daughter back.”

“Make sure of it,” Romeo said as he embraced Amanda, pressing a warm kiss against her startled lips. Pulling back, his blue eyes held all he felt for her.

Amanda stepped through the door and didn’t have to click the lock to seal the door. It wasn’t the first time she’d used the room, nor was it the first time Sarina had stepped foot into this magical place.