Page 10 of Red's Beast

“What is that I’m feeling?” Another calls out.

My jaw aches as my teeth lengthen. Claws appear on my fingertips and my skin ripples with white fur. This is the first time I have ever seen her.

“What are you doing?” Nigel asks as his head turns to the side.

I growl between clenched teeth as I answer the challenge in his voice with one of my own. “Saving her.”

The alpha call I emit reverberates through the air with a force that is like an explosion. I’m taken aback by how strong it comes out.

A few seconds pass by and right as I feel my body giving out, I can feel Alana latching onto me. She slowly comes back from the depths of death and then opens her eyes.

Nigel is shocked when he looks down at her.

I finally let go of the power and fall slightly from exhaustion.

“Thank you, my love,” she says as he looks up at him with love in her gaze.

The healer finally arrives and pushes through the crowd. He kneels down, carefully placing his bag and other supplies right next to him. Once he sees she’s alive and her wounds starting to heal, the poor man scoffs. “Her color has returned, and she seems to be healing as expected. What in the world happened here while I was gone?”

Nigel abruptly stands when he hears the healer’s words, but his back is facing me so I can’t see his face. All I can see is the bristles of short hair standing on his neck and the black shirt they disappear beneath. His hands are out to his side, near the pockets of his pants, tightly clenched. Then he turns to look at me over his shoulder.

It’s then I know that I’m in deep trouble.

“The alpha call worked on her,” he says, his voice barely a whisper.

But it’s what he’s not saying that grabs my attention. He means my alpha call, not his. The rest of the pack believe it’s his and, well, he didn’t lie to them. An alpha call brought her back, but it wasn’t his.

I glance down to check on the healer, only for his gaze to be locked on me. He’s already put everything together and realizes what I have done. It’s not like the pack doesn’t know who I am.

They’re well aware that I’m the granddaughter of the old alpha, which means I should have been an alpha.

I grit my teeth together as I look around. Their gazes are all slowly moving to me, but I don’t want their attention.

I promised grandmother I’d never show what powers I have, yet I have shown something I didn’t even know I possessed and right in front of the entire pack. Things are about to hit and I’m not prepared.

Whispers stir behind me as others discuss what they have witnessed. Corbin is talking to Ophelia, though I don’t see them behind me.

“Did you see her?” He asks. “She is an alpha.”

My heart drops to my stomach as I realize he’s figured it out. This isn’t good.

I look down one last time before I bolt to make sure that Alana is fine, then I slowly rise from the ground, still in my half shifted form. Without thinking, I break through the crowd and run straight for my house.

At the door, I grip the knob tightly, my long claws clicking against the metal. I swing it open and hurry inside before slamming the door closed behind me with a loud thud.

I lean against the door as I raise my clawed hand to gaze at what I’m becoming. “What have I done? I should have never saved her. Now they’re going to know that I’m a hidden alpha. This isn’t what I wanted.”

That’s not who we are. We are an alpha and we take care of those in our care.

“An alpha?” I ask with a scoff. “You have to be kidding me. Why would I be an alpha to them when they have followed along with Nigel and how he treats me? If I make one wrong move, they’d hurt my grandmother, who is my only family left. You aren’t in your right mind.”

My wolf recedes into the depths of my mind, and I instantly regret my words.

“I really shouldn’t have said that.”

For a second, I pant for breath and try to focus on shifting back. Instantly, the claws disappear and I feel something odd as my teeth return to normal. I reach up, patting my face with my fingertips before I breathe a sigh of relief.

In a way, I miss the form already, but I can’t run around like that all the time.

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