The Reluctant Alphas Reluctant Luna

Chapter 4

Flashback to when Alyssa tried to find the antidote for Dylan**

Alyssa frantically searched her father’s study. He’d already admitted that he’d tried to have Xavier poisoned. She’d just barely managed to save Xavier and get him to a hospital. Her father had challenged Xavier and nearly killed him. Thankfully, Xavier was healing now with his mother by his side. Alyssa held back a sob. Being in her father's study brought back awful memories. And she couldn’t help but miss her own mother who was now dead. Mom would know exactly what to do right now.

Her mother who had loved her and her father was ready to replace her with Rose. Alyssa shuddered. Her mother didn’t deserve to be talked about the way her father had talked about her earlier....like she'd been an inconvenience. Alistair had called his mate weak….unable to sire strong sons and said it was pure dumb luck that she’d died. Her mother had been the most wonderful and sweetest person. Alyssa couldn’t help but remember how much her mother had tried to discourage her from her obsession with Xavier. But instead, Alyssa had allowed her father to influence her until she’d very nearly become the monster that he was. No she didn’t want to be like him. She wanted to be like her mother…

“Looking for something?” a voice spoke up in a dangerously low voice.

Alyssa jumped, turning to look at Alistair. She looked straight back at him, tilting her chin up confidently. She wouldn’t be afraid of him. She had to get Dylan the antidote. She couldn’t let him suffer any longer.

“The antidote,” Alyssa said loudly. “It was never meant for Dylan. He drank it by mistake, it’s only fair that we fix our mistake.”

She purposefully said ‘our’ , grouping herself in with her father’s schmes, hoping he’d think she was on his side. But she wasn’t. She didn’t want anything to do with his sick plans.

Alistair tilted his head, looking at Alyssa closely.

“You seem to be awfully worried over the third Sinclair brother,” Alistair mused.

Alyssa gulped. She had to be careful. Who knows what Alistair might do if he found out Dylan was her mate?

“It’s called common decency father,” Alyssa said coolly. “And Xavier would never accept me if he found out I could have helped his brother and didn’t.”

Alistair rolled his eyes.

“I have no need of Xavier. You don’t need to be with him anymore. Find yourself a strong alpha with a strong pack we can align ourselves with,” Alistair encouraged, walking past Alyssa and getting behind his desk.

Alyssa crossed her arms stubbornly. Alistair sighed.

“If I see him a second time, I will not let Xavier live,” Alistair warned, reaching into a secret compartment under his desk. With a push of a button, a small hidden drawer opened, revealing the antidote.

Alyssa’s eyes lit up and her wolf made her nearly jumped over the table to get to it. She just barely managed to control her instinct. Slowly, she reached out and took the offered vial from her father.

“Thank you,” Alyssa said quietly.

Just before her fingers closed over the vial, Alistair pulled it back out of her reach. Alyssa nearly growled in frustration. 

“I want something in return,” Alistair spoke up as Alysssa did her best to control herself.

Alyssa schooled her features and looked at her father.

“What?” she asked quietly. ‘Anything’ resounded in her brain as her wolf whined pleadingly, wanting nothing more than to get the antidote to Dylan.

“I want you to visit Rose and make her more…amenable towards me,” Alistair spoke carefully.

“Amenable?” Alyssa asked perplexed, the color draining from her face.

“I want her to accept me as her mate. She was made to be a luna. She’ll be able to sire strong boys and have my pups without any problems, unlike your mother,” Alistair mentioned his late-mate with distaste.

Bile rose up in Alyssa’s throat and her stomach churned at what Alistair was alluding to. Rose was younger than Alyssa and he wanted to make her his luna? This was….her eyes widened in horror. He was no better than Andrew Wells, the despicable alpha who’d used her when she was a child. The age-gap was probably as much, if not more. Alyssa took a deep breath, shooling her features and keeping her eyes on the antidote.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Alyssa said softly, holding her hand palm up for the antidote.

The minute Alistair placed it in her hand, her fingers closed over it like it was a prize she’d just won.

“Forget about Xavier. He might not even recover from the brain damage. I made sure to hit his head hard enough,” Alistair said with a chuckle. “He’ll probably be comatose, a vegetable for the rest of his life.”

Alyssa simply shrugged, turning her back on her father so he couldn’t see revulsion on her face. How could he talk about harming someone so easily? Was he truly that heartless? Ex or not, Alyssa didn’t ever want to be resposinble for someone’s death.

She opened the door to leave the study and turned her head at the last minute, hoping her words sounded convincing enough.

“I’ll let you know what happens with Rose.”

With those last words and the pleased look on Alistair’s face, Alyssa left to go find Dylan. She didn’t have to look far. He was in the hospital with Lana where his brother Tony was still in a coma from the severe burns he’d sustained from a fire. They were purposefully keeping him sedated so his body could heal slowly.

“What are you doing here?” Dylan asked harshly, meeting her outside the hospital.

He had bags under his eyes and he looked like hell. Her heart clenched at the thought that the poison was slowly eating away at him. She held out the vial.

“I…I got it from my dad,” Alyssa murmured, averting her eyes in embarrassment. “I didn’t know what he was planning-“

“Bullshit!” Dylan burst out. “You knew the entire time! You were helping him.”

“I wasn’t!” Alyssa exclaimed,almost in tears. “Please! Why would I do any of this? I loved my mom! I would never want...” Alyssa choked on a sob, trying to swallow down her emotions.“You have to believe….I didn’t want any of this to happen! Please-“ Alyssa begged holding out the antidote. “Just take it! My wolf can’t stand seeing you like this. It’s….it’s hurting me….” Alyssa trailed off, unsure what to say next. Hoping he was convinced.

Dylan stood there, arms crossed, staring at her. He was a few inches shorter than her and it irked him to no end, driving home her point that he was insignificant. And he definitely didn’t want to tilt his head up to look at her, the alpha in him looked up to no one. So he settled on staring at her shoulder begrudgingly.

“I…I have to go check on Rose and get back to Xavier. Your mother is there with him,” assured Alyssa. “I managed to get her there."

Dylan’s head shot up to look her in the eye, his wolf trying to asses if she was lying or not.

“I got your mother to him,” Alyssa assured. “And I’ll make sure he heals and comes back. I’ll fix all this, I promise you.”

“And then what?” Dylan asked in a hard voice, staring straight into her ice-blue eyes.

She stared back at his dark blue eyes stonily. “And then you reject me.”

Dylan reached for the antidote. “Looks like we have a deal,” he said heavily.

“Please drink it,” Alyssa said in a small voice.

“I guess if I die, it’s not like things can get any worse,” Dylan joked grimly with a shrug.

“Don’t joke like that!” Alyssa snapped shrilly.

He opened the vial and downed the entire contents, half expecting himself to drop down dead any minute. But….he didn’t. Instead, he felt a little better. His hearing became sharper….his eyes could see better too now. It was like his power was growing…

Dylan flexed his hand in amazement, no longer feeling like it was an intense effort to move. No longer feeling constantly tired and drained. Alyssa breathed a sigh of relief as she watched him. His skin looked a tad brighter and his eyes weren’t as bloodshot anymore. The antidote was slowly working.

“You’ll become stronger the longer the antidote remains in your system,” Alyssa assured. “Just be careful and don’t challenge my dad. Wait for Xavier to come and defeat him,” Alyssa instructed quietly.

She turned on her heel and left, getting into her car and driving away. Dylan watched her go, wondering why the hell his wolf wanted her to place as much faith in him as she did in Xavier.

End of Flashback

* * *

“Hi Elena!” Alyssa exclaimed as the toddler jumped over the threshold of the alpha mansion and into Alyssa's arms.

“b***h!” Elena yelled gleefully.

Alyssa’s eyebrows rose into her hairline as Rose reprimanded Elena

“She picked up a bad word,” Rose said apologetically as Elena shimmied out of Alyssa’s grasp and ran away before Rose could put her in timeout. “And she won’t stop saying it. Come on in.”

“It’s O.K.” Alyssa assured, following Rose into the dining room.

“We’ve got lasagna and salad tonight,” Rose said brightly.

“Lorraine still working here?” Alyssa queried.

It felt a bit weird to be here, if she was honest. But whatever she'd had with Xavier seemed like a lifetime ago. Like another Alyssa.

“You know it,” Rose retorted. “With Luna duties and training in the pack clinic, I barely have time. Plus Elena and Xander keep me on my toes.”

“You know I help out,” came a disgruntled voice.

Both girls turned to see Xavier walking into the room, holding his son.

“Oh he’s precious,” Alyssa gushed, laying eyes on Xander for the first time. He looked exactly like his father.

“Yeah, Xander’s already got the ladies wrapped around his finger,” Xavier joked, walking over to stand beside Rose. He put an arm around his mate lovingly. “So how long are you in town for?” Xavier asked Alyssa politely.

“Oh…I’ll be here awhile,” Alyssa said evasively. She didn’t want to let them know she’d be teaching at the University.

Knowing Rose, that would open up a whole bag of questions Alyssa wasn’t ready to answer. Alyssa hadn’t exactly told anyone she couldn’t turn any longer and if Rose knew Alyssa would be around, she might end up inviting Alyssa to pack events. Events that involved customary wolf runs.

“Any reason you’re here?” Rose asked conversationally. “You haven’t been back since…well…” Rose averted her gaze.

“Since my dad was defeated by Xavier?” Alyssa provided.

“Yea…that seems about right,” Xavier said matter-of-factly.

Rose coughed awkwardly into her hand.

“You can talk about it,” Alyssa said gently. "It doesn’t bther me. My dad got what he deserved. I helped Xavier…” Alyssa shook her head mournfully. “It’s the least I could do considering…” Alyssa trailed off.

“Considering your dad was practically responsible for the brakes malfunctioning on my dad’s car,” Xavier provided again matter-of-factly.

Rose gasped. Alyssa simply nodded.

“Stop being rude!” Rose admonished Xavier.

Xavier shrugged.

“I’m not being rude,” Xavier argued defensively. He looked at Alyssa kindly. “Look, you aren’t responsible for your father’s sins. You’re responsible for yourself. So stop feeling bad over things Alistair did. That’s not you. You’re not your father Alyssa….though for awhile you were going down a dangerous road led by him. But I think….you realized you were wrong and did your best to make up for it. You shouldn’t keep punishing yourself. Your dad is evil, you aren’t. Not anymore atleast,” Xavier added as an afterthought.

Rose gasped again.

Alyssa simply laughed weakly. Xavier did always have a dark sense of humour.

“It’s O.K. Rose. Xavier’s right. I was evil for a bit….but I try not to be anymore,” Alyssa said hopefully.

“So, what if we gave you another opportunity to help be….not evil?” Xavier suggested, a hopefully gleam in his eyes.

“What?” Alyssa asked cautiously.

“No work talk at the dinner table,” Rose snapped.

Xavier nodded his head towards Rose.

“Rose will fill you in after we have dinner. I have to tuck Elena into bed and then go for patrols. But the file is with her.”

Alyssa nodded, wondering what in the world they could need her help with now. Trepidtion filled her as she hoped everything was O.K.