Page 32 of Alpha Exile

I take a step forward, barely realizing that I've instinctively shifted into my human form as my feet hit the ground. Desire stirs in me, potent and strong; my wolf is hungry and full of yearning within me, and he aches to be reunited with his mate again.

Of course, just as I take another step forward, a feral vamp peels away from the pack.

My wolf gnashes his teeth in anger, frustrated to be kept from his female and full of potent rage. So I let his strength flow into my muscles and guide my limbs. Snarling at the vampire, I shove my hand into his chest and grab tight onto his spine. Blood sprays across my face and chest as I rip it from his body and tear it in half, turning him into a useless pile of ash at my feet.

In the same moment, claws dig into the back of my neck and pierce my skin.

I struggle away from them, twisting around to get a good look at the vamp attacking me.

Instead I look into the sinister eyes of an unnaturally beautiful woman's face.

Delphine.She curls her fingers into my neck and whispers out a word that flows through the air like smoke. It curls around my ears and sinks into my skin.

I'm not even able to shout before she has her leash back around me, snug enough to dig into my skin and freeze my muscles.

"That was a nice try," she murmurs in my ear, her voice hissing across my skin, "but you can't get rid of me that easily."

Fearing that she'll reach into the pack through my bond with them, I instinctively cut it off completely.

It feels like shutting off every light in a well-lit house, closing the doors, and snapping the curtains shut. I was surrounded by light before—even the dim light of the pack in the distance—but now I'm in complete darkness. Without the beating of those hundreds of hearts, I barely know who I am anymore.

But if I can't feel them, then neither can Delphine.

The snarl of hatred in my ear confirms that. "Clever little alpha. We'll see how long you last once the Power Stone is in you.”

She withdraws her fingers from my neck, smears my blood across her hands, and whips her fingers at me in a crude gesture to follow her. Unable to pilot my own body, I fall in line behind her, my legs marching in perfect synch with her footsteps.

As I walk away, I desperately want to call out to the warriors. To reach through the bonds and scream at them that I'm being stolen away.

If I do so, Delphine will be able to control them as well as me.

So I resist the impulse, even as the darkness of the caverns swallows me whole. Even as time slips past me, my conscious mind unable to hold onto anything without a soul to speak to or look at. All I can do is stare at Delphine's back, her tattered, white dress dragging the cavern floor, and follow her without pause.

It feels like hours pass.

We go so deep that pressure builds up around my ears, and more than once I nearly slip forward, the cavern's tunnels suddenly descending at a sharp incline. Delphine moves confidently, no distractions breaking her attention this time, and I'm unable to slip free of her control even a little bit.

At some point we cross over a thin suspension bridge. A chill settles in me then, and I feel a sudden sense of foreboding. It's as if the very air is warning me to stop, turn around, go back—except that I can't, because I'm not in control of my own body.

Before I know it, we've come to the end of our journey.

At least that's what it feels like. The incline beneath us eases suddenly, and the path widens. Blue light pulses from the lichen far above, shining down on suddenly straight, perfectly parallel walls. We walk forward more, and suddenly my feet come in contact with tile.

There are similar, smaller tiles on the walls on either side of us, depicting abstract blue and green swirls of water and foliage. This long, manmade hallway eventually empties out into a large, domed cavern that smells like water. A trickling sound hits my ears, and my hackles instinctively go up.

Not because of the fountain in the center of the tunnel, which pours out into a still, smooth pool of clear water. Something about this cavern feels peaceful and comforting, even though the thickness of magic in the air pricks my skin.

No, what gets my hackles up is the satisfied smile on Delphine's face as she turns towards me, her hands beckoning towards the pool.

"Kneel down at the water's edge," she commands, and I do, because I must.

My mind feels like something slippery that I can't quite hold onto. Every time I try to move my body, the thought falls out of my head as soon as it occurs to me.

The tiles at the edge of the pool are chilly, just like the water, far as we are now from the warmth of the sun.

Delphine comes to stand beside me, and I see, from the corner of my eye, that she has a pair of glowing red stones resting in the palm of her hand.

"This will hurt you more than it hurts me. The Power Stones are strong, though. They'll be quick to take over. So rest easy knowing that your agony will be brief."

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