Alpha Divided (Alpha Girl Book 3) (26 page)

I didn’t have a free hand to make sure the towel was tightly wrapped, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

“What’s in the jars?” Donovan said.

A tear slipped free and I shook my head.

“
Cherie
.” Dastien’s voice rolled through me. His body heat warmed me as he stepped close, his chest brushing my back and I closed my eyes. “What’s in the jars?”

I kept my eyes shut tight as I held up the one in my left hand. I didn’t think I could take their sympathy and hold it together. “Alpha.” I held up the one in my right. “
Bruja
.”

It was quiet for a second before Donovan spoke. “She’s been stripped.”

It was chaos after that. Questions. Arguments about whether or not it was possible. About how it could’ve been done.

I couldn’t handle it. Not then. Especially not in a towel.

I turned to Dastien. “Hold them please. Don’t break them.”

He nodded, and took the jars.

I moved to my closet, and grabbed out some clothes. I’d feel better once I had clothes. Probably.

I quickly dressed in the bathroom. It was only then—as I brushed my hair—that I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were a dull brown. My skin looked pale and tinged with green. My cheekbones stuck out, and my eyes were sunken in their sockets.

I looked sick. Half-starved. Weak.

I put my hair in a loose braid and went back into the room.

“—Even if it were possible, it would be black. No one would do that. Not when the cost is so high. It’s impossible for—”

“Believe me, the scent of sulfur and the heat and the fire under my skin—when she dies, Luciana will pay a high price for what she’s done.” My voice sounded flat even to me. “
La Aquelarre
is lost. Rupert Hoel is working with them. He’s the one who wanted my alpha power. She wanted my witchy stuff. They absorbed some of it into themselves, and drained the rest into these jars. And now I’m left with nothing. My only hope is that when I open the jars, I’ll have everything back. That it won’t just escape into the world at large, and I’ll get back whatever they’re still carrying. But we don’t have time to research or do anything about it now. Luciana will attack soon, and we need to be ready.”

“Can we stop it?” Meredith said.

“It’s coming whether we want it or not. The coven never cared about me.” I pointed to the jars. “That’s what Luciana wanted, and she got it.” I swallowed. “All we can do now is prepare for a fight.” I glanced at Dastien. “I’m hungry, I think?”

Dr. Gonzales stepped forward. “You look sick. Can I help?”

I shook my head. I didn’t want anything from her bag o’ tricks. “I don’t think anything’s going to fix this except opening those jars, but I need to hold off until tonight. If I open them now, they’ll change their plans. We might not be ready for them next time.” Meredith moved aside as I went into my closet, digging through to find a backpack. The backpack that Claudia and Raphael had given me. I didn’t have any potion vials left, but it still had some other weapons.

I unzipped it, and held it in front of Dastien. He carefully put the jars inside. “Wait. I should wrap them again.” I grabbed a couple of T-shirts, making sure that they were properly cushioned, and then zipped the pack.

My dream of the war on the quad was coming. My gut was telling me that particular nightmare was true, and I had to trust it.

“At midnight, the vampires will come. Then, the witches. And then the traitors from our own pack. We need to figure out who’s good and who’s bad. And we need to get ready. Luciana and Mr. Hoel don’t know that I saw what’s going to happen.” I wasn’t sure if Mr. Hoel was going to kill me tonight, but it was a strong possibility. Maybe if we were ready, I could avoid it. Maybe not. “Can we clear the cafeteria? I want to eat and I want to talk to you, but we can’t trust anyone. Not anyone outside this room. Not yet.”

Donovan nodded. “Don’t you worry, lass. We’ll keep you safe.”

I shrugged the backpack over my shoulders and started for the door. “That’s why I came home.”

***

The cafeteria was pretty much empty, but one growl from Donovan, and the place became completely empty.

“I’ll get you some food,” Dr. Gonzales said. “You sit.”

I nodded and made my way to our normal table. Dastien took the backpack from my shoulders. “I’ll take care of the jars,” he said as I looked back at him.

“Okay.” I trusted him more than I trusted myself at this point.

As I sat down, I sighed. It felt like I was getting a little piece of normal back.

Maybe everything wouldn’t be okay today or the next day, but we’d get there.

A tray appeared in front of me, and I stared eating and telling the story. Everyone stayed quiet at the table, except for a few laughs when I told them about my attempted witchery. Even I could admit that blowing a hole in the roof was pretty funny.

“So, that’s how I ended up here.” I’d gone through three trays of food while I was talking. Mr. Dawson sat straight and started to speak, but I held up a hand. “A few questions for you guys before anyone says or asks me anything.”

“Please,” Donovan said.

“I’m still feeling drained, even with the food I’ve eaten. I’m not around the gris-gris, but it’s still weakening me. I need that gone before tonight. Any ideas?” If I was going to beat Mr. Hoel, I was going to need all the strength I could get.

“Did you bring it with you?” Donovan asked.

“Yes. It’s in my messenger bag in the backseat of my car. Wrapped in a sock.”

“We’ll burn it. Best way to release whatever’s got a hold of you,” Donovan said. “As for the jars, I do believe setting the power free will bring it back to you. It takes a lot to pull it from you—as you saw. It’s contained for now in the jars, but once we break the seals, the power should be yours again. You’ll be right as rain.”

I stared at the table and swallowed. Dastien reached for my hand under the table. “I can barely hear Dastien and I can’t talk to him in my head anymore.”

“It’ll all come back. You’ll be whole again,” Mr. Dawson said.

“Will I?”

“We’ll make sure of it.”

“As one of the Seven, you need to figure out which wolves we can trust,” I said to Donovan.

“Sebastian has been working on it. It seems Rupert has a good number of wolves supporting him. About half.”

“That’s more than I’d thought,” I said. This didn’t bode well for tonight.

“I thought we fixed the problem wolves months ago,” Mr. Dawson said with a frown. “The ones who acted out with Rupert were punished, but now…it has to go deeper than we thought. Someone more powerful than him…”

“What about the humans?” Chris asked. “If there is a war, we’re going to need to alert them.”

“I think telling them now is a bad idea,” I said. “We’re going to have a battle. There are two outcomes, we win or we lose. If we win, then any that get away will lick their wounds before coming back. Luciana said some covens were with her, but I met a witch from Colorado who said her group was with us. Luciana could be full of it, but there will be some who will back her, even if we defeat her tonight. So, we win tonight. Then, we slowly out ourselves in a good light to the humans and prepare them for the dangers of the supernatural. Then, when the big war comes, we try to handle it as under the radar as possible. If we lose tonight, then it’s all moot. We won’t be around to worry about anything.”

I flashed back to my vision. The sounds of battle surrounded me. I heard Mr. Hoel yelling at me. I could almost taste the iron of my blood filling my mouth.

“Tessa?” Dastien asked.

I blinked. “I’m fine,” I said.

“Liar. Tell me what’s wrong.”

He was right. I wasn’t fine, but I couldn’t tell him all about my vision. Some things were left better unknown. If he was distracted during the fight, it could cost him his life.

If that nightmare came to pass, then I’d be glad that we hadn’t tied ourselves together, and the ceremony was interrupted. Dastien would have to find a way to survive. “I’ll be fine.” It was a less of a lie. One way or another, I’d figure it out. “So what’s next?”

“You need to rest,” Dr. Gonzales said. “Let your body heal.”

“We’ll cook up some potions to fight the vamps and we have a few anti-witchy spells I researched while you were gone. One blinds them for a few minutes, so they can’t cast anything at someone. Another one is a blocking spell. I can mix those up,” Adrian said.

“I’ll grab your stuff from the car,” Chris said. “We’ll burn the gris-gris in the lab and get started with Adrian’s spells.”

I checked the time. It was two in the afternoon. “But class is still going on?”

“I’ll kick them out,” Adrian said. “Some things are more important than teaching the freshman metaphyiscs.”

He had a point. “You’ll come to my room?” I asked Dastien, but I was sure of the answer.

“Of course.”

“Do you want me to come?” Meredith said.

“No. I’ll be okay. But thanks.” I just wanted to be alone. Dastien didn’t count though. He was a part of me, even if I couldn’t really feel the bond right then.

Dastien wore the backpack as we headed back to my room. I wasn’t feeling as sickly as I had been before. But that empty feeling haunted me. I couldn’t shake it—wouldn’t be able to until those jars were a distant memory.

I climbed into bed without taking off any clothes, and Dastien followed, tucking me to his side.

“Sleep.” His chest vibrated under my ear.

“I’m scared to fall asleep. The dreams—nightmares—were so bad.”

“None of it will ever come to pass. I won’t let it.”

He might not have a choice.

I breathed in the scent of him. The forest. The earth. The bit that was just him.

“Relax,” he said as he untied the band around the bottom of my braid. He ran his fingers through my hair, massaging my scalp lightly. “You’re home now. Sleep.”

There was a command in his words, and without my abilities I couldn’t even pretend to fight it. My eyelids grew heavy and the world faded from view.

Chapter Twenty-Two

I woke with a start. My heart was beating so fast. It thundered in my ears.

A beep sounded, and I rolled over.

“Are you okay?” Dastien said.

I lay back down. “Sure.” Only I wasn’t so sure. Something was up. I was so revved that even my teeth tingled. “Who texted?”

Dastien checked his phone. “Adrian. They found the gris-gris and burned it.” He clicked on my bedside lamp. “How’re you feeling now?”

“I don’t know,” I snapped and instantly felt like a jerk. That question was getting old. “Something woke me up,” I said, changing the subject.

“Probably the gris-gris being destroyed.” He grabbed my chin, and forced me to meet his gaze. “How’re you feeling? Be honest.”

I sighed. He was only trying to help, but I didn’t have a great answer for him. “I feel weird. Unsettled.” I paused. “Should we be doing anything? I feel like we’re just lying here and there’s so much to be doing. We’re wasting time.”

“I think you’ve done enough to help the pack. You’ve sacrificed. I’ve sacrificed. They’re doing the busy work. The prep. Sometimes it’s good to delegate. Trust our friends. They’ll get it done.” He got up.

“Aren’t we delegating?” If so, there was no reason for him to be leaving.

“Yes, but there
is
something that only you and I can do. Come on.” He held his hand out to me, and I stared at it for a second. “Trust me.”

I met his golden eyes. “I do.” I put my hand in his and let him pull me from the comfort of my bed.

He slung the backpack on, and kept his hand firmly in mine as we made our way to the common room. He let go of me then, but only long enough to stuff a bunch of food and drinks in a bag, before he reclaimed it. “This way.”

I thought about asking where we were going, but I had a pretty good idea.

We walked across campus to the parking lot, and he opened the front door to his car. “In.”

“Are you sure it’s okay to leave campus right now? I just got back and…”

“Yes. We need this. It’ll be okay.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “If you say so.”

“I say so.” He threw the bag in the back and got in the seat, handing me the backpack. I couldn’t help but peek. I unzipped and looked at the two glowing jars. My energy was still there. I had to keep reminding myself. It hadn’t gone anywhere. Not really.

A year ago, if I could’ve put my visions in a jar and buried them in the backyard, I would’ve done it. I would’ve done anything to get rid of them and be normal. Now I wanted them back so bad I itched to snatch the jars and smash them.

“Ready?” Dastien asked.

“Yeah.”

As he drove, playing soft piano music that soothed my soul, I stared out the window. “Are you mad?” I asked.

“No. Why?”

“Even though you were in the feral cages? Even though I was wrong, and you were right?”

He sighed. “We were both wrong. I was wrong because it was worth trying. We had to give up a lot, but if the witches had been honorable, it would’ve been for the greater good. And you were wrong, too.”

I bit my trembling lip.

“You’re wrong because you’re a good person. You saw the evil there, but you wanted to fix it. You wanted to protect the pack. And that’s the most honorable kind of wrong you could ever be.” He paused. “Wrong is the wrong word.”

I laughed but it sounded a bit desperate, even to me. “Wrong, huh?” He’d used the word a million times.

“It is. It’s not you. This wasn’t your fault. You didn’t ask to get stripped. This is Luciana’s fault. This is Rupert’s fault. All we did was try our best.”

“We failed.”

“Not yet.”

He was right. We still had a chance, but it felt like I’d already failed. I’d gone to the compound and I hadn’t accomplished anything.

As we pulled onto the worst road in the history of roads, I gripped Dastien’s hand tightly. It was good to feel him, to be with him. He calmed me.

Dastien stopped the car as we reached the clearing, and went into the back of the car—pulling out the bag of food and a blanket. While he was busy, I hopped down out and started walking.

He caught up in a second. “Let’s go by the pond.”