Huntress and The Alpha King

Broken

Irina

My ears buzzed and my body flooded with adrenaline as shock paralysed me. A swift intake of breath from Quinn tore my eyes from the face on the screen. My hand shook as I swiped the screen and lifted it to my ear.

“Sugar,” his Texan drawl slid into my ear like a knife.

The room fell away, and my disbelief exploded into rage.

“Did you miss me?” he asked.

“You bastard!” I spat through my clenched teeth.

Quinn growled loudly behind me, it reminded me we were still in our suite. My vision had tunnelled at the sound of his voice.

“That’s no way to greet your future king, my queen.”

What the actual f**k? I couldn’t form words.

“Yes, I’ve got bigger plans now,” he said.

He went on as if we spoke of the weather. As if he wasn’t calling me from the phone he took from Alec after he killed him. I felt Quinn’s body ramrod straight behind me as he gripped my shoulder tightly.

“Do you really think I’d ever choose you after you killed Alec?”

“That hunter wasn’t my call to make.”

“That hunter was my f*****g brother! Don’t give me ‘I was only following orders’ s**t!” my voice came out loud and strangled, I could barely speak around my narrowed throat.

“Kill him then or later, it doesn’t matter cause I’m the only one you’ll need going forward.”

“I’m going to carve your heart from your body!”

Anger smashed through me. I shifted my hand to claws and the ripping of upholstery cut through the silence.

He let out a strong laugh and hair stood up on my neck. “Sounds kinky. You always were a spitfire in bed, so much passion. I can’t wait to feel it again.”

Quinn’s grip became impossibly tighter.

“The only thing you’ll feel is my blade.” I pulled out Henry.

“That still sounds kinky!” He chuckled. “No one will stop me claiming you,” he said his tone serious again.

“I will stop you!”

Not a f*****g prize! Kill him painfully! Rip every limb off! Violent images flooded my mind.

“Not what I heard lately, sugar. I heard you were hiding out at your mate’s pack, crying over your hybrid pansy.”

Blood and rage that’s all I could hear. Hiding out? He was going to die!

“Nothing to say?”

“I’ll kill you.” Red tinted my vision.

He laughed again. “You could try, it’ll make great foreplay.”

“Stay away from my mate, you sick fucker,” Quinn said, loudly.

“I thought I could hear a doggie growling in the background. I’m coming for you soon, sugar. I’ll lay waste to your little pack. And you, little doggie, will be dead.”

Cold water flooded me. He’s going to attack the pack? I couldn’t let that happen. I pushed passed my anger and dragged myself back under control.

“Speechless. That was my aim,” he said.

“You don’t need to do this Caleb, this isn’t you,” I said.

“You’ve only ever known my c**k, sugar. You never really knew me,” he said, his tone harder now.

“I knew enough to know this isn’t you.”

“That wolf is dead. I’m Caleb 2.0 now, much improved, ask Alec.”

Fury seized me again. “f**k you, Caleb!”

“Yes, sugar that’s the plan. Maybe I should send you a reminder, jog your memory.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You’ll know, sugar. See you soon.”

The phone clicked off. I threw it across the suite, and it smashed against the opposite wall. I screamed and twisted out of Quinn’s grip.

I wanted to smash things, tear them up. I was going to kill him! It was a mistake not to go and hunt him myself. It was too good to be true, to think the loss of Demetri’s magic would have killed him. I’d been slack. Hiding out! That’s what he thought. I’d show him hiding. I needed weapons. He couldn’t come here to the pack. I might have been training them, but he’d rip through these wolves like tissue paper.

I looked up and Quinn was unnaturally still. His jaw ticked.

“We can’t let him come here,” I said.

“He can’t get in here,” Quinn replied, jaw still tight.

“I need to do something.”

“We need to make a plan.” He replied to his voice even, but his body was tense, a slight tremor passed through it.

This was my mess.

“I’m going to get some more weapons from Alec’s room.”

“Now?”

“Yes now, you heard him. Who knows how close he is to rebuilding Demetri’s vamp-hybrid army? He wouldn’t even need many.”

“Are you saying we can’t defend ourselves even if we stand together?’’

“I’m saying I’ve seen the devastation one vampire-hybrid can wreak, it wouldn’t take many.”

“Then we need a plan.” He planted his feet apart and faced me.

“Er guys, was that the vampire-hybrid guy?” Al asked.

I’d forgotten she was here. She had Avery tucked under one arm. The doc looked even more afraid now.

“Caleb, yes,” I said.

“Maybe we should call my guys back? I’m guessing they’ve not found him, but they can help.”

I didn’t need the triple dipshits here, if they hadn’t found him by now, they weren’t going to. I could do with Nina she was a great tracker, but it sounded like she was still recovering. Next best thing was Preeda. I’d call her. A plan started taking shape.

“Sure, call them.” I walked out the room and headed to Alec’s room.

Alec’s old room. I clenched my fist. I would have vengeance for him. I wanted a crossbow. Yes, a crossbow would make me feel better. And a bottle of Jack.

Quinn jogged after me. “Where the hell are you going?”

“Weapons.” I descended the stairs.

“Irina, wait! You don’t need weapons; we need a plan!”

“As much as I’d like to pull Caleb’s limbs off with my bare hands, I’m going to need weapons.”

I paused on the threshold of Alec’s room; his scent was fading. I rounded the bed and pulled a chest out from underneath it. The lid creaked and exposed a case of crossbows and some tranquiliser guns.

“No, I mean we need to stop and talk about this.” He pulled me around to face him. He looked wrecked. The dark circles under his eyes and the tension that lined his face made him look older than his years.

“There’s nothing to talk about, before you say anything, I’m going to take Preeda. See, not doing everything alone. Going with backup.”

“Since when has one of your ad-hoc plans gone off right? You are angry and upset and if you go off now it’s all going to go wrong.”

I bristled at the fairly accurate assessment.

“No plan is fool proof. Things change last minute sometimes. I’m not putting the pack in danger. We didn’t know if Caleb survived. Now we know. He needs to be eliminated. Good thing I’m a hunter.”

Something people seemed to forget!

“You are wanted by the council. The only reason we’ve evaded them so far is because we are so well warded here, and my name still holds weight. But if you go off half-c****d with Preeda trying to find Caleb, they will capture you!” He pulled at his hair, looking a bit deranged.

“So, I’ll travel carefully.”

He had a point, and it gave me an idea.

“Wait here.” I went back up to the alpha suite and recovered my smashed-up phone. I took out the sim and jogged back down to Alec’s room where Quinn paced about like a lion.

“What are you doing?” He eyed the sim in my hand.

“Asking for help.” I placed the sim in another one of Alec’s burners and turned it back on. I flicked through my contacts and held it to my ear as it connected.

“Zee?”

Quinn gave a huge growl. “You’ve got to be f*****g kidding me?”

“Pulchra,” Ezekiel’s smooth baritone filled the line.

“Hang that f*****g call up now! We don’t need his help.” Quinn’s nostrils flared as he bared his teeth.

“Did you call me by accident in the middle of a marital dispute or do you want something?” Zee asked.

“I need a plane.”

“Here was me thinking you wanted me for my body, not my planes.”

Quinn growled again and lunged for the phone. I danced back out of his reach.

“Can I have it ASAP from your strip in LA?”

“No please? Honestly, you’ve been at that wolf pack too long, it’s like you’ve turned feral.”

“Zee!”

“Two hours, my assistant will call you. You owe me.”

“I don’t owe you jackshit and you f*****g know it.”

He laughed richly. “Piss and vinegar, my favorite flavour.”

I cut the phone off. He owed me far more than a plane and he knew it.

“What the actual f**k, Irina?” Quinn exploded.

I stared at him, his every muscle strained, and a vein popped in his temple. He looked dangerous for the first time.

“What? You said I needed to travel under the radar. Zee’s plane will help with that.”

“No, I said we need to come up with a plan. Not ask a f*****g angel-demon hybrid for help. We don’t need his help!”

“I get that you don’t like him. But he’s not a threat.”

“That’s not the point!” He spat.

“What is the point?”

“I CAN HELP! Why am I the last person you ask? Why can’t we do this together? Why do you constantly push me away? What can I do to make you see this?” He roared.

I stilled. Was that what I always did? Maybe. But I was getting help this time. I didn’t want him and the pack in harm’s way. Caleb’s sick plan involved me, not them.

“I don’t need to involve you and the pack. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

“I’m your mate, why wouldn’t you involve me? Why am I your last resort? What do you want from me?”

“Right now, I want you to calm down. I will go and deal with this with Preeda, and we’ll talk when I get back.”

“No.” He grabbed my arm. “You’re not going anywhere.”

I twisted out of his grip. “I’m not some delicate Luna! And I’m not hiding out here at the pack.”

“You’re going to let him goad you? He wants you away from me. He knows how to push your buttons. Don’t play into his hands.”

“I need to be away from here, he can’t come here, the pack will be decimated.”

“So, you do think we can’t defend ourselves! That’s pretty damning considering you’ve been training us!”

Irritation shot though me.

“Don’t twist my words because you are upset.”

“Damn right I’m upset my mate is running off again! How many times must I come after you?”

“Maybe you shouldn’t.”

He reared back as if I’d struck him. “So, you are leaving me?”

“I didn’t say that. You are twisting things.”

I didn’t have time for this.

“No, I think I’m finally hearing what you are saying, what you’ve been showing me repeatedly. You don’t choose me. You don’t need me. You don’t want to be remarked and repair our bond. Maybe I’ve just been too damn in love with you to hear what you’ve been trying to hammer home.”

My chest pinched painfully. He’d had enough of me.

“That’s not true,” I said.

“Isn’t it?” he asked, still angry.

I couldn’t answer that. Had I been a good mate? That answer fell squarely in the ‘no’ category.

His eyes glistened and pain was etched into every feature. “If you walk out that door, don’t bother coming back.”

His declaration resounded around Alec’s empty room like a gong. An ultimatum. Sadness and pain washed through me, knowing I wasn’t going to make the choice he wanted. I’d created this pain with my every action. Maybe it was best for him in the long run.

I faltered on my way to the door, I paused on the threshold, unable to meet his eye. I couldn’t let him see me fall apart as I said the words.

“Next time you pick a Luna, choose wisely.” The words caught in my throat as I left the room.

A pained roar filled the corridor. I looked back to see Quinn’s black wolf charge through the door and down the stairs. An ache had opened in my chest. Maybe I did have a heart after all and now it was broken like the rest of me.