Your Silver Bullets Won't Save You Now

“Max?”

“Carta. You’re alive,”

Air rushed into my lungs, a wind spiralled around me, and suddenly I was back in the forest, where I’d last seen Max.

He stood with one hand leaning against a tree, his eyes watched me closely, my breath hitched in my throat. It felt different this time, this meeting with Max. I felt different.

He watched me in silence, the trees towered over us, casting us into shadows. My wolf eyes, I knew, were glowing brightly allowing me to see him properly. “Max.” I whispered, taking a step closer, leaves and twigs crumpling under my foot.

He smiled, a lazy smile and stood up straight. Gently holding out his hand, it skimmed down my cheek, sending goose bumps along my flesh. “I thought you were dead.” I whispered again, shivering slightly as the wind turned colder.

Was it my imagination or had it just got darker?

“I’ll never be dead to you Carta.” He smiled, and once again traced his hand over my cheek. I shuddered involuntarily, he suddenly seemed taller than before. My heart thumped in fear, had it got darker again?

“Max?” I whispered, taking a step back as he advanced on me, but this wasn’t Max anymore, this was something different. This wasn’t the Max that I- that I loved.

*

Air. Breathe. Dizzy.

“Uhhhhhh.” I gasped, sitting up in the unfamiliar bed. My heart beat erratically inside my chest, my breathing laboured, the hair of the back of my neck stood on end and my head span violently in circles.

Gripping the bed sheets I slammed my eyes closed, away from the burning sunlight. Slowly I felt the dizziness subside and I chanced a quick look around the room. Spinning only lightly I took in the sight before me. Feher lay on the floor to my right, curled up in a bowl and snoring softly. Straight in front of me was a huge bay window, in front of which sat Eric and Tom, both fallen asleep on one another. I lay in a big bed, a glass of water sat on the bed side table. Where was I?

A vague memory of a dream swirled through my mind, Max. Where was Max? Dead.

I gulped and groaned as my stomach tightened in pain. What was wrong with me?

I took a deep breath, laying back in the bed. The last thing I remembered I was downstairs in the Galik’s HQ, confirming the deal with Damien. The deal, oh God, the deal.

I had to marry Damien. No sooner was I struggling to find a way out of one arranged marriage and I go and lock myself into another one. ’And I still hadn’t got the bottom of what happened to my Father’

I glanced at Feher. Could he have done it?

My stomach clenched again and I groaned lowly in my throat. I felt ill, but I didn’t really feel ill. I just felt like something was wrong; something was missing.

That’s what had happened before, I remembered the pain, remembering Max was gone and then- well, then nothing, except for the creepy dream that still had my heart beating just slightly too fast.

Max is dead. Max. My Max, who isn’t really my Max, but could have been, I think.

I sighed heavily. We’d kissed, that had to mean something.

Since becoming Alpha everything seemed like it had become more serious, like I’d had to grow up or something. This thing with Max, whatever it is, was, it suddenly felt like it could have been more than just a casual girlfriend, boyfriend thing.

I knew wolves mated for life, but this was ridiculous. I’m too young for these kind of thoughts. My memories surfaced reminding me of how young my parents had been when they’d had me. But that wasn’t the point, it was never the point.

I sighed again and rubbed my hand over my face. Here I was, supposedly only having just accepted the fact that Max was dead and yet I was already planning our future together. I’d finally lost my mind.

A wave of pain washed over me, that sent me spiralling into sleep, if for nothing more than to hide from the pain.

*

“Carta? You alive?” I groaned and slapped the hand away from me as it shook my shoulder gently. I eventually woke up, growling at the face hung above me. Eric stepped back, and grimaced as I instinctively lashed out and hit him on the chest, as he went to shake me again.

“Sorry.” I grumbled as I sat up and brushed my hands over my face, taking in deep breaths and preying for energy. I slowly looked up and around the room. It was just me and Eric.

“Where are the others?” I asked quietly as I stood up, righting my clothing and stretched.

“Feher’s downstairs calling the others and Tom is patrolling. We’re in the house next door to the Galik’s. They own the whole road apparently, this one isn’t currently rented out, so Damien said we could use it until…” He trailed off and suddenly find something very entertaining in his shoes.

“Until the wedding?” I asked quietly. He wouldn’t look at me, but he nodded, fumbling with his hands. “Did he say when it would be?”

Eric’s head snapped up. “You’re not really going to go through with it are you? Feher said-“

“I don’t care what Feher said. I gave him my word. We need them to save ourselves.”

“But we could beat the Vampires, I know we could, if we just spent a little time and trained an-“

“We haven’t got time. I’m going through with it. End of. Now when does he plan to hold the ceremony?”

“Under the next full moon.”

“So I’ve got a little under 3 weeks?”

“Yes.”

“That’s too long. We need to get this over and done with and the truce finalised. I can’t wait much longer-“

“What about Max?” He didn’t look at me when he said that.

It’s probably best he didn’t look at me when he said that.

“What about him?” I asked in a clearly strained voice. Tears burned my eyes and my hand wrapped around my stomach as the pain began again. “He’s dead.” I reminded both of us, I closed my eyes, tears building behind my eye lids making my eyes ache.

“He’s your mate. You’d know if he was dead.”

I snapped.

Claws, teeth, fur and growling, I launched myself at Eric, going for the jugular. All human morals and thoughts left me as I for once, truly gave into my animal instincts. I wanted blood, I wanted dead.

I wanted to make Eric suffer for what he’d just said.

*

“You need to get here now. The Alpha has gotten herself locked into an agreement with the Galik’s that she can’t possibly hope to fulfil. I need you to find a female and add her to the pack. On the Alpha’s authority; by any means necessary. – No arguments. Do it.” He snapped the phone shut and took a deep breath.

And slowly let it out. He was angry, he could feel his anger in his limbs and heart.

She really thought she could promise herself to another man? Another species? An enemy species?

It was disgusting. She was his, when would she see that?

In just the same way as she was his, he was hers and always would be, from the moment her Father had promised her to him, he had become no one’s but hers.

She was playing it hard to get though, first there was the Max-boy, he was useless, weak. Feher knew he wouldn’t be around long.

He’d only seen Damien briefly before all of this, but he knew in that brief glance that Damien would see that Max never won Carta. At the time he hadn’t understood why, and now that he did, he wanted to rip Damien’s head from his body and shove it- Well. As previously mentioned. He was angry. Very angry.

Now there was the agreement with Damien. What would make her agree to that? Make her that desperate? Did she not believe in the strength of her own pack?

And now she was showing signs of MSA (Mate Separation Anxiety), every Wolf knew the signs. The pain, the mood swings, the fainting. She’d loose her mind soon. But what worried Feher most was that he was right here, beside her. So that didn’t make him her mate, it made someone else her mate. But who? Who could possibly be Carta’s mate, when she’d been promised to him and every wolf in a hundred mile radius, knew it.

So she’d met her mate, she had to have done, and then been separated from him. But it just wasn’t possible. Anger. Again, flooded through his veins and he leashed out and smashed his fist against the house, pieces of brick crumbling around his knuckles.

How is it that she can love every other man, offer herself to every other man and never him?

Sure he wanted the power of the pack, he wanted to be Alpha, but as he was soon learning, he really rather wanted her to. Becoming Alpha had changed her, made her seem older than before, more deadly than before and he loved it. He thought he might love her.

But know, he’d have to over-ride the mating bond, which was bloody hard, he knew it was.

His Mother had tried to do so with Carta’s parents bond. She wanted power, she wanted a son to become Alpha. But where his Mother hadn’t succeed, Feher knew he would.

But if she was going to insist on agreeing to stupid things like this marriage, then he was going to have to do his hardest to save her. Even if she hated him for it. So she’d ordered one of his friends to add a female to the pack. If Carta wasn’t the only one, then he could get her out of the deal.

It would mean either forcing another wolf from another pack to join. Probably through mating. Or, turning a human, as It was possible, though they wouldn’t be full wolves like Carta. But enough of a wolf to count for this deal.

He clenched his fists tightly. Angry. Again.

He sighed heavily. He felt so weak. Sent running around in circles just because of one, measly wolf. He was Feher. A born Alpha and yet here he was, sneaking around behind his Alpha’s back, because he knew if she even caught a whiff of what he was doing, she’d flip.
But someone was going to have to take care of her. And if she wasn’t willing to take care of herself, he’d just have to do it for her; no matter what the cost was to him.

He slowly began to realise that he would save her no matter what, even if it means that she never recognises him as her mate or her Alpha.

He slapped himself on the forehead, he really was losing his mind. One minute becoming Alpha is the only thing he wants, the next minute it’s her safety and her happiness. He needed to hunt, he needed to kill, he needed to protect the Alpha.

Teeth turned to canines, fingers to claws, skin to fur as he rushed through the house and up, what was left of the stair case. He could hear growling and yapping, he heard the thud of body hitting body and wondered for a brief second if Eric was trying to murder the Alpha, murder his Alpha.

But as he barrelled into the room, he knew he’d gotten it completely wrong.

The Alpha was trying to kill Eric.

And so far, she was succeeding.