Page 33 of Alpha Exile

She shoves my head down into the water and holds me there, ordering me not to fight.

My lungs fill with air and threaten to burst.

The desire to fight is so strong, so all-consuming, that I nearly blackout. Her spell holds me tight in its grip even as every part of my subconscious mind fights.

My body confuses the struggle for air so much that I open my mouth wide and inhale water.

The water drowns my lungs. I feel my consciousness drift away, blackness closing in as the lack of air gets to me. My chest spasms, and I slip down into darkness completely.

It's peaceful, if only for the barest second. Because it doesn't last.

Delphine yanks me out. I sputter and cough, struggling to get in a single breath. She holds my hair tight in her long fingers, a sly smile on her face as I cough spittle and water into the air.

"Open your mouth," she commands, and I already have, because I never closed it. "Now swallow these. Don't think of fighting it—you'll have an easier time if you give in."

I understand what's going to happen a moment before it does.

And for a single second, my resolves slips.

Letting go of the barrier I formed between myself and the pack, I let the bonds flow in. Delphine is distracted temporarily by her own satisfaction, and she doesn't notice as I reach out mentally, as I scramble for them.

I have just enough time to send a single message.

And I realize very quickly that none of them will be able to save me.

Even if they know where I am. Even if they know what's happening to me. My soul will be gone the moment those stones slide down my throat to steal my body and change me permanently.

So I don't waste my moment hoping for an escape. Instead I let a single message go, and I focus on a solitary recipient.

Delilah.

She's a bright spot in my mind, the mate bond flaring weakly to life despite the distance and all that's been stolen from us.

I feel her awareness to me quicken for just a breath before I'm able to tell her,I love you.

Then Delphine shoves her fingers into my throat, forcing the stones down, and her leash snaps closed around me again.

"Swallow my gift," she purrs, stroking my neck with her fingertips, "and power will be yours."

Despite myself, I manage to resist. For a fraction of a second, I think only of Delilah. Of the pack that counts on me and the bright soul within me that connects me to my mates. Everything else fades away, leaving only the desire to seeheragain, to hold her and be with her.

Then Delphine's leash jerks on me, and I swallow.

The two stones should be a lump in my throat that barely moves, but they turn to liquid within me. Warm and soft like molasses, they slide down my esophagus and burn in my stomach.

Where their power ignites and moves through my limbs, searing me body and soul.

I feel him, briefly. An ancient presence, hungry after being trapped for so long. He unfurls his limbs and stretches out, taking over my body.

And I retreat into the darkness in the back of my mind as every inch of me is overtaken by a powerful force I cannot fight against.

Fifteen

Delilah

The wolf within me is eager to fight. I let her loose from my skin, leaping forward to sink my fangs into vampire flesh. My claws extend and rake across necks and backs, shoving beneath skin and muscle to sever spines and break bones.

For a moment, I saw Lance, and that was all the motivation I needed to gather a second wind. My wolf is hungry for her mate. She fights like life itself depends on reuniting with him, and maybe it does, because without him I feel like a shadow of myself.

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