Fated To The Alpha (Complete Fated Series collection)

Book 3 Chapter 4

Katya POV

Squeezing into my tights, I had just pulled them up, getting ready to meet my brother when the coldest feeling ran over me. I felt like my life was being sucked out, making me clutch the dresser for support. I shake the feeling away and gasp like life is being sucked out of me.

“Kat?” Mateo says, rushing into the room, but the feeling vanishes as quickly as it came.

“I’m fine, I must have stood up too quickly,” I tell him, though he still insists on checking every piece of me when suddenly Ezra’s voice flits through my head.

“Everything ok at home, you feel?” He doesn’t finish, just goes quiet through the link.

“Yes, I stood up too quickly; I am fine,” I mind link back.

“Mateo, stop it; I am fine,” I tell him, shoving his hands away as he tries to lift my shirt to look at my belly. I see his eyes glaze over and have no doubt he is talking to Ezra. I roll my eyes; they panic at the most stupid things. Grabbing my phone, I pocket it, heading for the door.

“Kat, maybe we should take you to see Mathias,” Mateo worries, but I shake my head and continue down the stairs to leave.

“I told you I stood up too quickly,” I tell him, not seeing why they were concerned. Mateo growls and shakes his head, grabbing my hand.

“Kat, Ezra felt it too; I didn’t imagine it.”

“Imagine what?” I tell him, pulling my hand from his and grabbing his car keys from the hall stand. I passed them to him.

“It felt like you died or were dying; believe me, that feeling, that emptiness sits with you, you don't forget it.”

“Not dead, right here, Mateo. I was trying to get my tights on and stood back up straight too quickly” He shakes his head.

“Let's go to Andrei’s then; if it makes you feel better, we can stop and see Mathias on the way home,” I tell him, knowing he wouldn’t give in. He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a breath.

“Fine, but let's be quick,” he says, opening the door. We drove to Andrei’s Pack, and the entire time Mateo kept sending me nervous glances while I kept telling him to watch the road. Pulling up out front of the packhouse. I hop out; this place always made me so distressed; it was like a small ghost town, barely anyone about because there was barely anyone left.

Walking to the door, I frowned at the solid door before hearing Andrei talking on the other side; I could just make out his voice.

“Stay, I am just letting my sister in, so sit and behave,” I hear him say, and I raise an eyebrow at his words, sounding like he was talking to a pet, not a person. I hear the door unlock and open before hearing Andrei growl and another vicious growl which must have been from his mate. I see fur run at me as I step in, but Andrei grabs the grey wolf by the scruff of the neck, and she turns, sinking her teeth in his other arm.

“f**k!” Andrei growls, letting her go as Mateo shuts the door. The She-wolf backs up, her entire body shaking.

“You bite my sister, I will bloody.”

“Enough, Andrei,” I tell him. Then, at the sound of my voice, her growling stops, and she sniffs the air, and I step around Mateo, so I was in view of her.

I opened up the link forcing it on her so I could speak to her; as soon as it connected, her eyes widened.

“Woman, you are a woman,” she sobbed through the link; she went to race toward me, Mateo stepped in her path, and she instantly backed up. I grab his hand, tugging him back.

“She won’t hurt me; she is relieved because I am female,” I tell him, and he looks at her wolf before growling and stepping aside. I step toward her. “What is your name?”

“Sage, please, you have to help me; he locked me in here,” she says before suddenly shifting; she moved so quickly I barely saw her move before she was clinging to me like I was her lifeline. Andrei growls and steps toward her, and she panics, shifting back. I hold my arm out, blocking him from her.

“Leave or stay still; she is f*****g scared,” I warn him and Mateo. They both backed up, but this time, I walked toward her before kneeling in front of her, her wolf was small, and I could feel her bones under her fur, showing how underweight she was.

“Your name is sage?” I asked her; I thought the name was fitting; she was matched to purify his soul; the name seemed fitting with what she intended. I just hoped they could save each other. I could feel Mateo’s desperation for ripping me away from the she-wolf; he didn’t like that I was this close to an unknown wolf.

“Kat?” He says behind me.

“She won't hurt me,” I tell them.

“Your wolf's name?” I ask her before hearing the soft, muffled noise of her wolf coming through.

“Sierra,” her wolf answers.

“Andrei, give me your shirt,” I tell him, holding my hand out behind me.

He takes it off, and her eyes dart to him, and I hear her heart rate pick up, I wasn’t sure if it was the bond she was reacting to at seeing her mate or fear, but her fear perfuming the room, I figured it was the latter.

“Can you shift back? I have a shirt you can put on; they won’t hurt you. That man,” I tell her looking at my brother. “He is your mate,” I tell her, she whines, shaking her furry head.

“Not mate, my mate is dead,” she says though she sounded unsure as her eyes darted to him. “He is; you should be able to feel it; can you feel it, Sierra?” I asked her wolf, she whimpers, and I knew she could.

“He won’t hurt you; he just wants to look after you; he lost his mate too,” I tell her. I see Andrei look away at my words and the ceiling. I know his loss hurt him deeply; I could see it every time I looked at him and judging by the way she was staring at him, she could see it too.

“Why are there no women? I smell no women here?” She asks.

“Another pack killed all their women and children; you are safe here, I promise” I tried to reassure her, but she clearly distrusted men.

I lift his shirt pulling it over her head, hoping she will shift, and she does, clutching my arms.

“Help me,” she begged, her blue eyes wide as she peered at me. I tried to hide my shock at her appearance; now, I could look at her properly.

She had a scar that ran the entire length of her face, from her hairline, over her eyelid to her chin on one side. Even with the scar, she was still beautiful. Her long hair was dirty and matted but hung past her bottom as she crouched, her hair falling down her back like a waterfall and spilling onto the ground behind her. Her arms were scarred, as I stared at them clinging to me, her hands so badly calloused her skin felt rough, and I could see her elbows were calloused to like she spent a long time on a hard surface, her knees were the same from what I could see peeking out from under the shirt.

I lift the front of her shirt to her nose. “He smells good to you?” I ask her; she sniffs the shirt, her eyes darting to Andrei warily, then back at me, and she nods. She was older than me, probably about 20 or 21. I looked over my shoulder at Andrei, who was staring at her, but he couldn't see much beside her face, yet I could see the question in his eyes about how she got the scar.

“I promise my brother won’t hurt you. Do you mind if I touch you?”

“You are?” She whispers, looking at my hands holding her arms where she clutched me. I chuckled, I was touching her, but that's not what I meant.

“Yes, but I want to see in your head, see where you come from. I swear my brother won’t hurt you; he wants to help, I want to help you,” I tell her.

“You won't tell,” she says, and I frown.

“I can’t promise that” I tell her. She pulls her hands from mine, pulling them to her chest and moving away.

“I will only tell him what he needs to know,” I tell her, but she shakes her head, her entire body trembling. Then, when I place my hand on her back, she begins to shake, and I notice her shifting.

“Let me see,” I commanded her; I hated doing it, but if this fails, I have to kill my brother, and I don't want it to come to that, so any help on this end will help ensure I don't have to kill him.

She whimpers but holds her hand out, and I shake my head instead of touching my fingers to her head.

“Images flicker and slow, stopping as I filter through major events in her life. I find she was born a rogue, her mother and she were taken by another group of rogues, her father was killed before she was the age to shift. Her mother chained, and so was she. The rogues would torture her to get her mother to comply until she eventually died when she was in her mid-teens from what the rogues put her through.

Sage’s life was tragic; she learned to switch between forms so she wouldn't be subjected to the things they put her mother through, though it only worked until they beat her badly enough, forcing her to shift back. Her memories sickened me.

I felt bile rise in my throat, felt her terror and pain. The rogue men she was with tortured her in every way possible, her guilt that she was used against her mother to obey ate at her. Then when she stumbled across her mate on their journey, he tried to save her from them, only getting himself slaughtered in front of her while she was chained to a tree and forced to watch.

A lifetime of pain, I could see why she didn’t trust him, not trusting any man after what she endured, the Moon Goddess was right. Andrei would have trouble breaking her; there was nothing left to break, her soul shattered and haunted by everything she endured, making me wonder if I had set Andrei up for failure if I subjected this woman to more pain.

I let her go, unable to see anymore, it is like living it with her, and I don’t know how she was even functioning; I would have killed myself then endure what she did, though many times she tried.

“You're safe; you never have to go through any of that again; he will protect you. I give you my word, Sage,” I tell her, and I hear Andrei repeat her name. I look over at him and smile grimly, and his face falls. I don’t know what he saw on my face, but the energy coming off him was murderous, and she cowers, shifting back. Finally, his eyes soften, and he steps toward her.

“I’m not mad at you,” he tells her. But she shakes like a leaf.

“Can I come with you?” She asks through the newly established link. I brush her fur.

“I will come back, but you are safe here with your mate.”

“No, please, he will put the muzzle on me,” she says, her voice shaking in fear. I glare at my brother, and he steps away from me.

“Did you muzzle her?” I demand. Mateo glares at him, also outraged.

“She was ripping me to shreds; she bit my face” He defends himself.

“Bloody hell Andrei, have some patience; she doesn’t know you.”

“I have the patience of a saint; I sat in that cave for hours waiting her out, but I wasn’t going to be mauled to death, and I didn’t stop her taking it off once I got her inside.”

“Yeah, because you knew you were asking me to come here, I swear Andrei put that thing on her again, and I will muzzle you, got it” He growls low but nods, folding his arms across his chest.

“Fine, but she bites me again. So, I am biting her back,” he says. I roll my eyes at his childishness.

“I will come back in a few days, but he won't hurt you, will you, Andrei?” I called at him.

“No, of course not; she is my mate; what do you think I am, Kat?” I don’t bother answering because I know exactly who he is. I have seen it; I just hoped Sage never witnesses that side of him.