Destined for the Alpha's Embrace

Chapter 4

Andrea shot another nervous glance over her shoulder. There was no car that seemed to be following them. Nothing out of the ordinary happened on the road as Kristy continued to drive them further away from the town they had called home for the last two years. But that didn’t settle her nerves.

“Are you sure no one saw us dump his body in that alley?” she murmured, barely above a whisper.

They hadn’t wanted to risk driving around with a werewolf’s dead body in their trunk for miles. Not only would the scent of the werewolf have left a trail to follow, but they would have also been risking running into human cops. There was only so much magic could do to hide the truth of a dead body.

So they had dumped the body, with the help of a little magic, in an alley in the busiest part of town, which was the center of the nightlife and partying. Andrea wished they could have dumped it in a more isolated area. Preferably a ditch in the middle of nowhere, like a thick forest, but they couldn’t risk it.

Besides, the alley worked out well for them. It had been covered in everything from vomit to used contraceptives and rotting cabbage. Even if the wolf’s friends found the body, it would be a miracle for them to isolate Andrea’s and Kristy’s scents from all that foul mess.

Knowing all that, Andrea would have relaxed a little, except they were still in danger. They were driving around in a car that reeked of a dead wolf. It was like driving around with a target on their backs, hoping they didn’t run into a person with the right nose and claws.

“Nobody saw us, but if you keep checking behind us like you are expecting trouble, you will definitely draw attention to us,” Kristy snapped, not taking her eyes off the road.

Reluctantly, Andrea sat back in her seat and folded her arms across her chest. “Sorry. I just want to be sure.”

“Just relax and act natural. We will be out of this area in no time.”

Andrea shook her head. “And go where, Kristy? We don’t have a coven to run to for safety. This is the fifth town we are forced to leave behind. And this time not because I irritated some witch, or burned some trees, or caused a c***k in the road right in the middle of town… I killed someone… A werewolf. Dammit!”

Andrea raked her trembling fingers through her long, dark curls. “It just had to be a werewolf, of all things,” she muttered. This was worse than bad luck. “I don’t think there is a town we can run to that will be far enough once his friends discover the body.”

“Andrea, shut up! Just… Just shut up! Okay? Please. I don’t need you to point out all the obvious negative facts. They are already running around in my head.”

“Kristy…”

“No!” Kristy shot her sister a stern look before quickly focusing on the road again. Her fingers tightened around the worn steering wheel until her knuckles paled. She took a deep breath before speaking again. Her tone softened the slightest bit. “I already told you not to blame yourself. I will take care of you.”

A heavy silence settled between them, only broken by the hum of the old engine badly in need of a service. Andrea turned away from her sister and watched the passing scenery. Letting her mind wander.

However, after a moment, it was Kristy who decided to break the silence. She turned on the radio with jerky fingers. “I can practically hear the wheels turning in your brain,” she grumbled, returning her focus to the road.

Andrea didn’t respond. She sighed and closed her eyes, hoping to just shut down and forget everything. But whatever peace she hoped to have, even for a second, was lost as soon as the presenter on the radio announced that a man’s body had been discovered in an alley drained of blood.

Andrea shot upright in her seat with her heart beating so hard it threatened to beat right out of her chest. The only thing that held her in the seat was the seat belt secured across her torso. She pressed her hands against the dashboard. Violent tremors traveled through her body.

“Kristy, they are going to catch us,” she cried in a voice filled with terror.

Kristy shot a glance in the rearview mirror as though she expected to have people tailing them already.

“Dammit!” Kristy pressed her foot on the accelerator, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “We could have avoided all this if that stupid mutt hadn’t come looking for problems. Who the hell even goes after a witch?”

Andrea’s insides twisted into an ugly, tight knot. “Maybe he heard that I wasn’t a real witch.”

Kristy took her eyes off the road for a second and gave her a disapproving glare. “You are a real witch and you have the power to prove it.”

“Power which I can’t control,” Andrea argued quietly and turned her head to the side window again.

Kristy refocused her gaze on the road with a frown. She never liked it when Andrea talked about it. Even if it was the truth. “It’s just a little raw and new. You will have it under control soon.”

Andrea scoffed. That was like saying the ocean was just a little blue water and the Coast Guard had everything under control. But Andrea didn’t say that out loud. Instead, she kept her face turned to the window and the passing scenery.

The truth of the matter was, although Andrea had finally shown glimpses of magic in her at the age of eighteen, it wasn’t until her twenty-first birthday that she got any actual powers to speak of. Her elder sister, Kristy, had been practicing magic since she was barely eight years old. She had perfect control over it. Kristy could channel her powers to a specific task and even control how much of it to allow.

That was not the case with Andrea. Not only had she been a late bloomer, but she had absolutely no control over where or how much of it she let loose. After two years, all of Kristy’s teachings had amounted to a lot of frustration and no credible progress.

And because of her, they were doomed once again. The first year had been rough. Andrea had made so many catastrophic mistakes that they had to flee four different towns before they were discovered. Humans didn’t take too kindly to anything supernatural. They would have been burned to death if caught. And now she had done it again and put them both at risk.

Unshed tears burned in her eyes, but Andrea fought to not let them fall. She didn’t want to upset her sister anymore. Especially not when they were depending on Kristy’s sharp reflexes to keep the speeding old car steady and not crush them into a tree.

Minutes passed, as they covered more distance. Then Kristy drove the car off the highway and took the turn into what looked like a gravel road leading to nowhere. Andrea snapped out of her troubled thoughts and the self-pity party she had been internally throwing for herself.

“Whe-where are we going?” she stuttered, alarmed.

Just then, the car bounced up and down on the uneven road. Jolting Andrea against her seat. She instinctively reached for the car’s grab handle and held on tight. She shot a worried look toward the thick trees suddenly surrounding them.

“Kristy?”

“We can’t hide in a normal town. They will find us,” Kristy answered, her eyes trained on the rough road ahead even as she twisted the steering wheel sharply to avoid a deep hole in the ground. Not that it helped. The car still quaked and bounced around as though it were about to break apart.

Andrea gasped and tightened her hold to brace for more. It took her a second to find her voice again. “So, where are you taking us?”

Kristy glanced Andrea’s way for a second before she responded. “Into the Yellow Valley pack territory.”

Andrea’s eyes popped wide in horror. “Wolves? Are you crazy? They will kill us on sight!”

“Not if they don’t know we are witches.”

Andrea gave her sister a look like she thought the woman had lost her mind. “But we are, and there is no werewolf that would miss that even if we took a dip in horse s**t and stuck feathers all over our bodies.”

Kristy cringed at the image Andrea painted. A beat later, she shook her head as though to get rid of it and brought the car to a sudden stop. Thankfully, she remembered to put the car in park before she faced Andrea. “Look. I heard rumors that the Alpha of Yellow Valley is strong and feared by other packs. It will be the safest place for us to hide until we can figure something else out.”

“We can’t hide from wolves in the middle of a pack of wolves, Kristy. That is just stupid!” Andrea had an urge to grab her sister and shake her. What was Kristy thinking? This was insane!

Kristy shook her head. “The man wasn’t from Yellow Valley, so the friends won’t be searching there.”

“You don’t know that!” Andrea cried in growing frustration, throwing her arms in the air. “But that doesn’t change the fact that we are still witches and the wolves would skin us. Every witch knows not to go into wolf territory. There is too much bad blood between us.”

But her sister shook her head again. “Not all packs subscribe to that package of hate. Anyway, I have a solution for that. A cloaking spell. They won’t know we are witches.”

Andrea frowned, giving it some thought. It still didn’t add up. “A cloaking spell may hide the fact that we are witches, but that leaves us as humans. Kristy, humans are still not allowed among the pack.”

A frustrated growl left Kristy’s throat. “Andrea! Just trust me. This alpha is different. I wouldn’t walk you into a hungry lion’s den, for god’s sake. I will keep you safe.”

She wanted to argue more. Andrea wanted to tell her sister the plan was a death trap, but she held her tongue. Guilt ate at her. If she hadn’t lost control, if she wasn’t a freak, none of it would have happened. She wouldn’t have killed the werewolf in their beautiful, tiny home and they wouldn’t be running.

She only hoped Kristy really knew what she was doing.

Sensing she had won the argument, Kristy turned back to the steering wheel and released the brakes on the old car. They drove for another hour before the ‘road’ became too rough for their compact car to manage. Kristy abandoned it under some trees, leaving a small open bottle of mysterious concoction in it, and the two sisters set out on foot with their backpacks.

Several steps later, Kristy suddenly stopped. “I have to do the spell now. We are entering their territory.”

Andrea looked around at the trees that surrounded them on every side. She had no idea how her sister even knew they were about to enter pack territory. It wasn’t like there was a welcoming banner hanging across the branches. However, Andrea did know one thing. If Kristy could tell they were about to enter wolf territory, then the wolves would also know they had two unwanted visitors really soon. “I don’t like this, Kristy.”

“We don’t have a choice.”

Her sister removed her necklace with an ancient green stone and then grabbed Andrea’s hands and held it between them. A second later, she started murmuring under her breath. Andrea listened with half an ear. Her mind was troubled by all the things that could go wrong with the plan. She thought they had a better chance of surviving if they just drove to another town and started afresh like they had been doing for years.

Andrea’s mind was still going over possibilities when Kristy’s grip on her hands suddenly tightened, grabbing her attention instantly. Andrea looked at her sister’s alert face. Kristy was staring into the trees.

The hairs on Andrea’s nape tingled. “What is it?” she whispered.

Kristy released her left hand and placed her shaky fingers on Andrea’s lips. “They are coming,” she whispered back.