Trapped With the Alpha (Balfour Shifters Book 1) (17 page)

Leaning down to give me a slow lingering kiss, he pulls back to rest his cheek on the top of my head. “Just happy to see you relaxed is all. It’s a rarity around here to see you joking and having fun, so I soak it in while I have the chance.”

Releasing a sigh, I wrap my arms around his muscular back and give him a gentle squeeze. “I’m trying, Brody. It’s just that life is overwhelming right now. There’s so much going on in my head, and half the time, I don’t know what I should be doing. Should I be mad? Should I be sad? I just don’t know.”

He brushes his hand down my arms before replying. “How about you just be happy, Pixie? Just try to be happy for a bit, and the rest will sort itself out, all right?”

Nodding my head against his chest, I give him my silent agreement. “Yeah, you’re right. I just need to relax. Getting out with the girls will be good for me.”

“You’re right. Knox is going to follow behind you girls. He’ll be close if you need him, but not too close so you can have your space. I’m really trying to understand how badly you need that right now, baby.”

Reaching up on my tiptoes, I give him a peck on the lips before saying, “Thank you. It means a lot to me to know you are trying. I know this has been stressful on you, too.”

“I’ll survive. As long as I have you at the end of the day, I can handle whatever comes my way. You go and have fun. Try to leave all of our baggage at the door when you go. Just relax and have a good time. Just be Izzy for the day.”

Smiling up at him, I give him a slight nod. “All right, my wolf, I will. I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Pixie,” he says as I head toward the door. “Remember, no matter what you’re wearing, I still think you are the sexiest woman around. Don’t let those two bully you into getting something you aren’t comfortable in.”

“Oh, I won’t.” Letting out a laugh, I shake my head at him as I head out the door.

Brody

MY STOMACH
churns as Izzy walks out the door. I hate letting her go anywhere without me, but she’s leaving me no choice. If I don’t give her a bit of breathing room, she’s gonna break. She’s barely holding on as it is. The last thing she needs is for me to be following her around. If she needs space, I have to give it to her, even if it takes every bit of willpower I have not to follow her out the door.   

Turning away from the entryway, I walk into the kitchen. My eyes zone in on Knox. “You keep an eye on her.”

He nods as he walks toward the door. “Always.”

With that, he walks out, and I turn to look at my pack officers. “Meeting in five.”

Walking out of the room, I head straight to my office and take my place at the head of the table. Running my hands through my hair, my brain fills with worry for Izzy. The creature in me is completely against having her apart from us even for the briefest of moments. “Fuck.”

“What’s wrong now?” Caleb asks as he takes the seat to my right.

“I don’t like letting Izzy going out by herself,” I tell him honestly. 

“Knox is with her. You know he won’t let anything happen to your mate, so shake it off and stop worrying about it,” my brother says, leaning his head back against the chair. 

Looking into his eyes, I tell him what’s going through my head. “She was with me last time something happened. If I couldn’t stop her from being taken away then, how’s Knox gonna keep her safe now?”

He looks at me before telling me something I already know. “If she gets pulled away again, you won’t be able to stop it. You being by her side won’t change a damn thing. If something like that happens again, it’s completely out of your control, Brody.”

That’s the problem. Nothing I do can keep her safe. I was born to protect her, and I feel useless as hell right now. I’m already unable to forgive myself for allowing someone to steal her from me in the past. If it were to happen again, I don’t know how I would survive it. “I know, but it’s still hard letting her go.”

Before he can say anything, members of the pack walk in. Everyone takes their seats as they talk amongst themselves. As soon as they settle down, I slam my hand down on the table to start the meeting. “Okay, everyone, listen up. We need to talk about our plans for the rogues. We’ve sat still long enough. It’s time to get things in motion before this gets even more out of hand than it already is.”

William’s eyes narrow as he turns to look at me. “First, we need to discuss your mate just appearing out of the blue.”

I knew this was coming. He’s been on my ass ever since Izzy showed up. I told the pack what I thought they needed to know, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy them. “What do you want to know? You may as well get all of your questions out now because I won’t allow this to be brought up again.”

He lets a slight growl slip from his mouth, letting me know just how angry he is. “I want to know what in the hell happened to her. I watched that girl grow up, knew her father and mother. Hell, I used to carry her on my shoulders. I deserve some sort of explanation, something more than she was locked away. That doesn’t even make sense to me. How does someone stay locked away for eight-hundred years and not one of us heard a thing about it?”

His words send a wave of anger through me, but I know he’s right. “We’re not sure what happened. Aiden has some ideas, but right now, they’re just conjecture.”

William’s head snaps to my youngest brother, and he growls out, “Talk.”

Aiden sits up straighter, letting my father’s beta know that he isn’t intimidated. “We believe she was cursed by a witch, or, should I say, rather that Brody was cursed by a witch, and Isabel was the pawn used in the situation.”

The room goes silent as everyone turns to look at him. He ignores the stunned silence and goes on. “I’ve done some research, and it appears that the clan may have been cursed for a while.”

“Blain,” the eldest member of the pack, Peter, whispers out, drawing my attention. “This has to do with his first mate?”

“What do you know about Blain Balfour?” I ask, laying my hands flat on the table. This mess is starting to stress me out already, and we aren’t even five minutes into this God forsaken meeting.

He turns his eyes to me as he starts to speak. “I was with him the day he died.”

My body goes alert as the implications of his words hit me. “Was he really thrown from a horse? That’s what the records show, but for some reason, I have a feeling that’s a load of shit.”

He stands up, his body trembling as he walks to the liquor cabinet and pours himself a drink. “He was but he wasn’t.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Caleb asks, strumming his fingers against the tabletop, his own anxiety becoming apparent. 

Taking his seat, Peter tosses back his drink before looking over to Caleb. “I was your grandfather’s beta. I was by David’s side every day of his life.”

I knew Peter was my grandfather, Richard’s, beta; everyone does. He is respected for the time he served his Alpha, and will hold a seat on my council ‘til the day he no longer walks this earth. Right now, though, the only thing that matters is what he knows about Blain.

“Tell us about the day Blain died,” I demand, not willing to wait for an answer.

Peter nods, leaning back in his chair. “Richard and I rode out to check the borders with Blain. We were riding slowly, talking amongst ourselves about the trouble we were having with a neighboring clan. We were just out of sight of the keep when Blain flew through the air.”

“What do you mean, he flew through the air?” I ask, wanting more details.

“I was no more than two feet behind his horse, and I didn’t see it buck. One minute, he was in the saddle, and the next, he was on the ground. His horse never broke his pace,” he answers, placing his elbows on the table. “Richard and I studied the ground. There wasn’t as much as a divot to cause the horse to misstep. We checked his saddle, and it was in fine working order.”

He goes quiet for a second before looking into my eyes. “I swear, it was like something grabbed him and tossed him off the horse. When I say he flew off that damn horse, I mean he literally flew off of it. I’ve never seen anything else like it in my very long life.”

“The witch was getting her revenge,” Aiden says before walking over to my desk. He picks up the book he has been studying the last week then returns to his seat. “I don’t think Isabel was cursed. I think it’s the Balfour Alphas who hold the curse. The women are just what I said, a pawn to be used against us.”

Older members of the pack start adding stories of their own, things I had never heard before. As story after story fills the room, I feel like my head is spinning with all the information flitting about. Finally, I can’t take another minute of all the voices talking at once, and I slam my fist down on the table shouting, “Enough.”

Looking over to Aiden, I ask, “Have you found anything else?”

“Most of our written history was lost in the fire, but I’ve tried to piece together what I could. I have noticed that there are odd notations from all of the alphas, including you,” he replies flicking his eyes up to meet mine before flipping through the pages again. 

“What are you talking about?” I ask, trying to figure out what he means. As my father taught me, I have kept a written history of our clan—births, deaths, marriages, anything important. Nothing stands out to me as odd.

My brother finds the page he was looking for and points to a passage. “Right here, you wrote of being bitten by a black adder. Have you ever heard of a shifter being bitten by a snake, or any animal for that matter?”

William speaks up, not giving me a chance to answer. “Hell no, I could play with an adder, and it wouldn’t dare strike me.”

A few grumbled agreements fill the room as Aiden goes on. “Then, here, you wrote that you were considering making Collin captain of your guards. A week later, he turned down your request. When has a Balfour clan member refused his Laird and Alpha? In all of the records kept over the centuries, there has never before been a member turn down such an important position.”

“We all know that he is a rogue, so that doesn’t mean anything,” I reply, shrugging off Aiden’s statement, not understanding why Collin’s actions are so important or what the hell they have to do with what happened to Isabel. 

“That’s Aiden’s point. Balfours do not turn rogue. Never in our history have we had a true Balfour go against our Alpha,” Caleb pipes in, shaking his head. 

He’s right. Nothing has ever come between a Balfour warrior and his Alpha. “So, you think Collin has been cursed by this witch, too.”

Aiden shakes his head before responding. “I don’t know if he’s been cursed, but I’m pretty sure he’s being used by the witch in one way or another. Maybe she has some sort of hold on him or something. Hell, I don’t know.”

“What about his followers?” William asks, standing up to get his own drink.

“There are very few true Balfours with him. Most do not come from the direct line,” Aiden replies with a shrug. “The few who are by his side are probably being used by the witch, too. For all we know, she has been able to alter their memories, just like she did with all of us in regards to us forgetting about Izzy.”

I let my chin fall to my chest, closing my eyes. How could this all be going on, and I missed it all? Hell, how had my father and grandfather missed it? More importantly, how the hell am I gonna stop it before Izzy gets hurt again?

Raising my head, I look around the room. “Now that we know the problem, what are we gonna do about it? Does anyone have an idea on how to break a curse that’s been messing with our pack for over a thousand years?”

Of course, Aiden has something to say. “First, we have to find the witch.”

I bark out an angry laugh. “Considering we don’t know who she is, that should be easy enough. Fuck that. I say we go after Colin and make that bastard talk.”

“Her name is Anne. She was part of the McGregor clan, but she was thrown out by her Laird as a young lass,” Peter says, looking around the table. “Some of you should remember tales of her.”

“The McGregor witch?” Caleb asks, looking confused. “She was young when I met her. It couldn’t be the same woman.”

I know her. We all do. She lived on the borders of McGregor lands. People called her a witch, shunned her completely. I never believed it, though. She was a beautiful lass who would sell her charms for a bit of coin. Nearly every lad in the area visited her from time to time to scratch that proverbial itch. 

“Some witches do not age. If you remember, it’s noted that her daughter didn’t inherit her immortality, so obviously, one of them did, if it’s noted that some weren’t granted that particular trait,” Aiden answers, still looking at the book in front of him. “She’s probably still as young as she was the day she cursed Blain.”

William looks over to me, shaking his head. “I don’t know if she ages or not, but I’ve been told she can change her appearance.”

Thinking back, I start to describe her. “She had blonde hair and really dark…”

Finn cuts me off with a shake of his head. “She had long black hair, and she barely reached my shoulders.”