Page 25 of Alpha Bride

“Call for backup, Sam. Now,” Ryan growls, and she runs back into the small cabin. Ryan turns around to face me. “Take the truck, get to the coven house, and ensure everyone is ready for an attack.”

I nod, climbing over to the driver’s side, but then I look up and see more rogues on the road in front. “Ryan,” I try to shout, but it comes out more like a whisper. “What do we do?”

Samantha leaves the cabin looking grim. “Marian is on her way; it’s going to be fine,” she says, looking directly at me and then back up the trail to where the men have grabbed the woman. “It’s definitely Elenor. She went out earlier, but I don’t know how they’ve got her. She must have opened one of the rune barriers.”

We both look toward the poor witch struggling in the rogue's grasp; now they’ve moved closer, and I see she’s covered in blood. She tries to shout something, but the shifter simply snaps her neck, and she falls to the ground. I gasp, tears springing to my eyes. Samantha’s expression immediately hardens, though; she grabs my hand and gives me a large baton. “This is infused with elemental magic,” she explains. “Hit them with it, and it will burn.”

I nod and stare at the simple baton, grateful for a weapon but knowing that, ultimately, it will be useless if I have to face shifters one-on-one. I offer Samantha a reassuring nod and try to look more confident than I feel. More growls emanate from the tree line, signaling that there is an unknown number of rogues waiting to attack. They must have decided to try and take out the witches and, therefore, the pack defenses. I hear Marian before I see her; the coven has wasted no time in mobilizing a defense, and it’s one anyone would think twice about going up against. The wind whips up around the approaching witches, carrying them above the ground in a group of mini tornadoes that rattle the surrounding forest and send debris flying in their wake. The shifters on the road in front pause and look uncertainly at each other as Marian comes into focus, her eyes black and her long white hair flying around her as she screams an echo of her rage rattling around the forest.

A roar from behind almost drowns my fellow witches out as I turn to see Tristen’s familiar black truck speeding toward us. The rogues on the trail with Elenor’s body don’t even have time to react as he plows into them, sending them crashing into the trees. He screeches to a stop, leaping from his truck, his eyes wild as he approaches.

I want to ask what he’s doing here. Was he following us? But now isn’t the time for questions or dealing with ourproblems. A battle cry sounds from the rogues hidden in the trees, and I know now is a time just to survive.

Chapter 13 - Tristen

As soon as Ryan messaged to say that Emily wanted to go to her coven, I knew I had to be there for that conversation. I need to know what Marian says about our child.My child.

Our baby will be a half-shifter, and I’m not letting the witches get their claws into them. I’m still not sure if that was Emily’s plan all along. Part of me knows she can’t really bewitch anyone; she doesn’t have the magic, but I felt something in the forest that day, something unnaturally strong pulling me toward Emily. So, that doesn’t mean Marian didn’t help her. Perhaps it’s all part of a bigger plan. Ralph always said the witches wanted to rule the island and couldn’t be trusted.

I’m still fired up from my conversation with Callum this morning—sanctimonious bastard. I wasn’t actually surprised that she went running to Ava. I know they’re close. But I am surprised that Callum jumped on me so damn fast. Always the big brother trying to lay down the law. But the fact is, I’m an alpha now, and I don’t take kindly to him interfering. He overstepped this morning, and I damn well told him.

I get why he feels strongly about his mate. Ava’s return was a blessing for him and our whole family. Harper is pretty much the only kid I’ve ever had time for, and now they have another one on the way. I get it. She’s his mate, and he made a huge mistake when he was younger, rejecting her. He blames Ralph in a way, and I can see where he’s coming from. Ralph ran a very different kind of pack, one where Ava wasn’t particularly welcome. Callum thought he was a good alpha by rejecting her and putting the pack first. He was a fool, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong to be wary of the witches and Emily.

Maybe Ralph wasn’t wrong about everything. He never had these problems with Malik or the rogues, and he didn’t need to work with the witches, so he couldn’t have been totally wrong.

Callum even had the nerve to suggest that instead of bewitching me, all Emily had done was reveal herself to be my mate. My sworn mate. He likened his wolf’s feelings for Ava to mine for Emily—the need to be close to her that borders on obsession, the bond, the connection…I told him that was ridiculous, because why would my wolf be fated to mate with a witch and not another shifter, but he assured me it does happen.

I told him to mind his business and focus on his own family. He hung up, telling me not to blow up my own. And now I’m driving on the trail toward Marian’s coven, still fuming but also confused as hell. I’m still pissed at Callum interfering. I’m not sure how well he’d have taken it if Aiden or I had involved ourselves in his business. But what he said about how his wolf’s feelings for Ava mirror mine with Emily planted a seed of doubt that I can’t seem to shake.

As I turn onto the steep incline that leads out to the coven, I’m lost in thought. Emily. Our baby. The threat from Malik and our reliance on the witches’ defenses. I rub my head, the weight of everything that weighs on me, threatening to give me a banging headache. I push it all away, focusing on the road ahead and what I hope to learn today. Perhaps I just need to ask Marian outright if it’s true shifters and witches can be fated mates.

Am I ready for the answer? And what if we are? Will Emily forgive me for everything I’ve said to her—everything I’ve thought about her and accused her of?

A shiver runs through me at the thought of her, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s feeling it, too. Is that how it works?

The trees thin out as the road curves around, revealing the coven in front of me. There are several trucks and cars parked haphazardly on the side of the road, and my gut clenches. Something’s not right. As I get closer, I see a witch lying dead on the road, surrounded by two rogues, and my blood runs cold. Then, I look up and see Emily on the trail ahead with Ryan and another witch at the checkpoint. More rogues are circling his truck, and my instincts kick in.

I slam my foot down on the accelerator, and the truck lurches forward, smashing through the rogue shifters who were blocking the road. They fly into the treeline, their bodies hitting hard against the bark and branches before they slump to the ground with a sickening thud. My eyes lock with Emily's as I skid to a stop in front of them. I jump from the truck and run around to where Emily is standing by the open door of Ryan’s vehicle with the others.

“Are you okay?” I ask, but before she can reply, I hear the sound of Marian and her coven attacking the rogues closer to the coven. Emily’s eyes go wide as Marian fires a volley of magic at a group of rogues, reducing them to ash.

“Glad she’s on our side,” Ryan mutters as we turn to face another group moving to attack. Ryan and I shift simultaneously, our bodies twisting and contorting into our respective wolves. We charge together, letting our instincts take over. The fight is brutal, the adrenaline pumping through us as we tear into the rogues. They’re no match for us, but they’re not going down without a fight, either.

I can smell blood in the air as my teeth sink into the flesh of another rogue’s shoulder, ripping it apart. He screams in pain as he staggers back, his body shifting back into human form, revealing a face contorted in agony until he dies in the dirt. I growl low in my throat before turning to face another rogue wholunges at me from behind, his claws raking into my fur as we roll onto the ground, but I manage to quickly pin him down with a swift blow to the side of his head, his neck snapping with a loud crack under my weight.

With that rogue dead, I turn to check on Emily and see her and the other witch. They’re fighting off a rogue that has slipped through the trees, evading Marian’s counterattack. Emily has some kind of electrified stick and is using it to repel her attacker. The other witch is trying to help some of her sisters stop the rogues from breaking through the tree line with some kind of spell.

Suddenly, I hear a shout from the rogues. “She’s here. Grab the one with red hair.”

My eyes immediately shoot back toward Emily, who looks terrified as several rogues descend on where she’s still fighting. Completely overwhelmed, she calls out for Samatha, the other witch, who spins around and is immediately knocked out by a rogue who jumps out from the checkpoint cabin.

“Emily, get down,” I yell as I spot a rogue lunge for her, and she ducks against the side of the truck, dragging the unconscious witch with her. Filled with rage at the thought of anyone hurting her or our baby, I summon all the magic within me, channeling it into a tornado that whips up the rogues, flinging them against rocks and trees in a rage. The wind howls as they struggle to escape my wrath, but there’s no escape. They’re trapped in the maelstrom of my power.

Finally, when the rogues are lying defeated, the wind dies down, and I shift back into my human form, panting hard as I look for Emily. She’s on the ground, holding onto the unconscious witch. “Are you okay?” I ask, rushing over to her side.

"I...I think so," she replies weakly as the witch stirs in her arms, blood covering her head.

I feel the bile rise in my throat at the thought of how close we came to her being taken, but I manage to keep it down as I pull her into my arms and stand up with her weight leaning against me. Ryan limps over with a bloody gash on his side from where a rogue's claws managed to catch him.

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