Behind The Alpha Book 2 WES

THEA

Iris. The oldest of my sisters. I don’t talk with her much due to the fact that she’s evil. She’s what’s known as a Dark Nymph. Her icy demeanor is fortified by her element and it doesn’t matter who it is she’s facing, she will attempt to kill you.

Iris treasures her isolation in her volatile cold. She took the element that she did to avoid the attention of men or creatures which wish to pursue her nymph affections.

She’s considered the Ice Queen of these lands and mountains.

After a taking a few days to make sure my sisters were comfortable in their spaces, we traveled to the north of country. It’s winter in there right now and Iris will travel with the snow. She protects her snowflake with fierce vigor, never letting it out of her sight for a minute. So she rides the north winds following it around the world where snow falls.

Jesse tells us that he saw her briefly around a ski resort in the peaks of the mountains. She won’t stay there long due to the traffic of people, but she has no control where her snowflake goes. It’s actually a benefit to have your anchor constantly moving. It makes it hard to find. When we take her in, we can be sure, it’s safe. We just have to convince her it will be.

The Alphas traveled by plane while Jesse and I flew our birds next to it. I didn’t feel comfortable in the large flying machine. I’d rather be in the sky myself. Jesse feels the same though he’s traveled by plane a lot.

We landed in a small city outside a larger city named Axelridge. The ski resort is here. We have to traverse the mountain to get to the back of the ski hills. She will hide in there until her flake decides to move on.

The Alphas all enter the lodge and head to the counter. I take in the large log cabin. It feels cozy and warm against the cold. It has many fur blankets on the couches. People are gathered around the stone fireplace, talking and drinking hot drinks. I really like this place.

As Jake pays the guardian for entrance to the mountain, a man comes from a back doorway. He’s wearing a black t-shirt, some sort of snow covering tied around his waist. He’s very muscular. Light brown hair and has ink pictures like some of our Alphas.

“What are you dudes doing here?” He sounds annoyed that we are here.

Owen steps forward. “Eddie. How are you?” He extends his hand for a greeting.

The Alpha doesn’t reciprocate. “Fine. I thought Finn was clear, bro. You can’t be here.”

Owen held up us hand. “Finn said Axelridge. He never said Topin Valley.”

“Topin Valley is Alliance. The Snow Dogs are Axelridge.” He narrows his eyes.

“Ok. I understand, but there’s something important on that mountain that we need. Life or death.” Owen motions to the mountain.

“What? What’s up there?” Eddie eyes them.

“We…” Owen looks back at us and then meets Eddie’s eyes. “It’s complicated?” His face winces.

“I don’t do complicated, my guy.” Eddie arches a brow.

Jesse joins Owen’s side and points at Eddie’s face. “Look. There is a very dangerous creature up there and everyone on this mountain is in danger. It will freeze your ass before you have a fraction of second to cry. Now, let us go and thank your fucking stars we're here to catch it.” Jesse’s face looks hot and angry. His chest is stuck out and he’s challenging Eddie to get out of our way.

“A creature. Here. We haven’t seen any creature…” Eddie narrows his eyes.

“…Ok. Got it…” The man behind the desk hangs up the phone. “Eddie. They just pulled three skiers off of Screamer…Ed…They’re frozen fucking solid in blocks of ice.” He looks almost scared.

We turn back to Eddie. The Alphas cross their arms and sport looks that say he should believe us now.

Eddie presses his lips together. “What do you need?”

Jesse looks to us and nods.

****

“Alright. Ice nymph 101.” Jesse stands in front of us. “You hear her song, you’re dead. You touch her skin, you’re dead. You don’t mind you’re back, you’re dead. She can pop out of anywhere. She’ll be thoroughly pissed off. She does not take kindly to men of any persuasion. She does not take kindly to invasions.”

“So how do we catch her?” Hunter asks.

Jesse puts on a glove and pulls out a cylindrical container made of a dark grey metal. He pops the top and you can feel the heat coming from inside it. His fingers grab the top of a smaller container that looks like glass. He puts it on the snow and the snow around it turns to a puddle of water with a tiny, hissing steam cloud billowing out from under it.

He rests his arms on his knees as he squats down. “Essence of Fire. Courtesy of our resident lava nymph. Hit her with this, she’ll warm up and be subdued.”

“Won’t that kill her?” I ask.

Jesse shakes his head. “No. Not right away, but the longer she stays warm, then she’ll start to die. When we nab her, we have to act fast. Get her on ice as fast as we can.”

“How do we do it?” Wes asks.

Jesse stands. “Welp. We have to bait her. Get her into an open area and toss this out. Doesn’t have to be on her, just close enough for the essence to encase her in the heat. We’ll need thermal blankets to keep her in until she gets to her tank.”

Eddie claps his back. “We got plenty of those.”

“She won’t like this at all, lady and gents. Be prepared for a mother of all nymph tantrums.” Jesse cautions.

Jake nods. “We got this.” He fist bumps Brody.

“In the bag.” Brody grins.

“Let’s get this over with. The dry cold is messing with the PH of my hair.” Darcy scowls.

Zane shakes his head. “Can we not have a day where you don’t talk about your damn hair?”

“My hair is an investment. Do you know how much I pay to look this good?” Darcy snips back.

“How the hell does Sam survive you?” Peter groans.

“My hairs not the only thing on me that’s fabulous.” He slyly grins.

“Get outside.” Sawyer shoves him out the door.

“Easy! God.” Darcy growls.

Eddie leads us to the ski lifts and when our chair comes around, Wes pulls me on and lowers the bar.

“This is amazing!” I look down at my dangling feet. I turn to Wes. “Transport up mountains?”

Wes ticks his head. “We have transport for anything really. That way we can save energy for other things.”

He grins and nuzzles my neck. I giggle and try to avoid his little nips.

He sits back. “When we get to the top, we have to make our way to the other side. Are you going to be ok with this amount of cold?” He adjusts the collar of my parka, as he calls it.

“Yes. This covering is sufficient. I can change my body heat if I need to.” I smile.

“Seriously?” His says curiously.

“Yes. As a shifter, I can up or lower my body heat to survive the different elements. I do prefer my temperate climate though.” I smile.

He leans to my lips. “You are so damn amazing.” He grins and kisses me.

“So are you.” I say with dreamy eyes and give him soft kisses back.

“You two wanna cool it. We’re about to die.” Jesse grits over his shoulder and tips his hat down.

“Awe…Do you wanna kiss too?” Wes chuckles.

Jesse face falls. “That’s not funny, boy.” He shoots Wes a warning look.

Wes just laughs him off.

Once we crest the ski hill, we dismount the chairs. We all put our packs on.

“We’ll have to trek it from here. My last run in with Iris was about three miles east. We'll start there.” Jesse instructs.

We climb the cold, wind whipped peaks of the mountain. The snow was deep and the rocks slippery. Wes tried to shelter me from the wind as we hiked, but it was getting harder the deeper into the wilderness we went.

The bitter cold bit at us with every step. I have no doubt Iris is here. My intuition tells me this storm is not here by chance. It’s a warning.

“She’s close!” I yell to Jesse.

He stops and turns. “I figured! Get ready!” His cowhide riders jacket flaps wildly in the wind.

Just as he turns, a roar comes from the pines. Jesse is slammed by a white blur. It takes a minute for us to figure out what just happened.

“WHAT?!”

“IS THAT…A POLAR BEAR?”

The Alphas rush to Jesse’s aide. The polar bear has him pinned in some brush.

“JESSE!” Wes yells. He explodes out of his clothes. His light brown wolf bounds to the fight.

Several more Alphas shift and go in for the attack.

They jump on the bear and pull at its thick white fur.

It’s a complete dog pile with Jesse on the bottom. The polar bears muzzle was turning red when he was thrown back with the wolves in the wide open space between the pines. A Kodiak bear stands on its hind legs and let’s out a roar.

The polar bear fights the wolves as they bite at his legs and head.

Jesse runs at the bear and hits its side. The polar bear rolls through the snow. Jesse throws his brown bears weight onto it and goes for the throat.

Their claws dig in. Their vicious jaws bite and tear at each others thick hides. The surrounding snow splashed with dark red as they fought. It wasn’t long before both bears were coated in drool and blood.

The wolves try and help by filling their jaws with the bears skin.

The polar bear throws Jesse and runs up the pass. He stops and shifts.

I rush to Jesse’s side. He’s shifted and on one knee as he recovers from his injuries. He lifts his head to our father who stands proudly in the snow. His face twisted and evil.

Jesse gets to his feet. “You’ll have to do better than that.”

“You’re pathetic, Jesse. You’re the most worthless thing that ever came from my loins.” He spits.

Jesse wipes the blood from his face as he steps up to challenge Artemis. “Comin’ from you, Daddy, I’ll take that as a compliment.” Jesse growls.

I step in between them. “Father, enough!” I yell.

“Don’t you throw that forked tongue at me, girl. You are a monster who took your mother’s life. The fact that you exist proves there is a hell.” His face was twisted in anger.

His words hit me deep. “I didn’t…” Sadness fills me as his accusation stabs my heart.

Wes grabs my arm and pulls me behind him. “Fuck you, you son of a bitch!” Wes’ eyes glow blue, his wolf surfaces to protect me. “You keep your fucking mouth off her.”

“You must be this little demons lover. I pity you to be burdened by the likes of her.” Artemis eyes Wes with disgust and judgement.

“There is a hell, Artemis and you’re the fucking king of it.” Jesse stands beside Wes in equal strength. The Alphas all stand behind us.

“You know, Jesse. I’ve come to realize I didn’t beat you hard enough. I should change that.” He narrows his eyes with a snarl.

“Bring it.” Jesse juts his chin out.

“ENOUGH!” Wes yells, shifts and flies through the air at Artemis who shifts too.

“WES!!” I yell. I shift to my wolf and run to help him. He can’t fight my father alone.

The two wolves snarl and bite at each other on hind legs.

Jesse and the Alphas all shift and rush the fight. It’s just a mess of teeth, fur and screams that compete against the noise of the raging snow storm.

Then a sharp whistling sound of something flying fast through the air, cuts the noise of the wolves. The hard thud of something big shook the ground.

The wolves back off, shift and turn around.

Another loud whistling air sound.

Wes looks up and points. “Shit! Look out!”

We direct our eyes to where he’s pointing and see the sharp point of a gigantic ice spear heading right for us.

Everyone jumps out of the way just as the spear embeds itself into the snow.

“HOW DARE YOU PURSUE ME?!

The voice boomed through the storm. It sounded angry with the coating of the sound of icicles hitting each other.

Artemis met the eyes of Iris. Dressed in a long, white, flowing gown, she appeared out of the driving snow. She grabs his throat. “You defile my element?! You bring your evil into my kingdom?! How dare you?!” She raises her fingers and sharp icicles grow from her fingertips. “I’ll kill you where you stand!!”

She drives her icy fingers into Artemis’ chest where his heart is. Artemis fills with shock as his chest is deeply punctured.

I gasp and hide behind Wes. He reaches an arm back and holds me. “It’s ok. It’ll be ok.” I sense even he’s not believing his words.

Artemis gasps for air as he tries to pull her hand off his chest.

She leans close to him. “You’ll die at my feet.” She coldly grits to her father.

“You first, demon.” He chokes. He shifts to a bird which changes Iris' grip. He screeches as he flies off, trying to maneuver in the storm as he quickly escapes.

Iris lifts her blood coating fingers in front of her face. She turns her head to us.

Her eyes narrow. “Hellions. Disgusting creatures.” Her lip snarls and her ice cold stare seems to rip into your soul.

“Iris. Just listen to reason.” Jesse puts up his hand and approaches her with caution. He holds an arm back. “My satchel. Quick.” He says to Wes.

Wes looks around the shredded fabrics and finds his light brown side satchel. He puts it into Jesse’s open hand. Jesse takes it and pull out the container and the glove.

“I can turn your blood to ice, brother. Don’t dare test me with another step.” She grits her teeth. “These vile people in my presence deserve death.”

She turns to us and throws her hands to her sides. Dagger sized icicles descend from her palms. She tilts her head forward as she squares up for a fight.

The Alphas all shift to their wolves in defense.

“HOLD! HOLD BACK!!” Jesse throws a hand up to us. He turns to Iris. “Iris, you need to calm down.”

The storm got really heavy. The clouds darkened and Jesse took out the essence.

“IRIS! WE DON’T WANT TO FIGHT!” Jesse yells.

Her hair flies in the surge of the storm. The ice pellets sting our skin like knife points. Her nymph face turns grotesque.

“DON'T DARE TELL ME TO CALM!!!” She roars.

She throws the ice daggers just as Jesse throws the Essence on the ground. It lands just under her. The glass breaks and the essence floats out like a red hot cloud.

The ice daggers hit Jesse in the chest and side. He jolts with each hit and falls to his knees.

“JESSE!” I cry and run to him. I fall to my knees and his shaking hands hover over the crystal clear, broken ice hilts sticking out of his skin.

Wes skids to the ground beside him. “Let me look.”

The area glows red.

“NO! YOU CAN'T! NOOOO!” Iris thrashes in the air as the cloud envelops her body. It hisses and squeals as she’s wrapped like a spiders sac. “NOOOO!!” Her screams of terror and pain fill our ears and we have to cover them.

Wes grabs Jesse’s shoulder and the ice dagger in his chest. He rips it out and Jesse arches back, screaming in pain.

“One more, buddy. One more.” Wes grits.

I hold Jesse’s head and watch Iris fall to the ground. She tries desperately to fight the essence off. It’s like watching her drown in a puddle of water. It brings me pain that she hurts so much. Her cries pull at my soul.

Jesse hangs onto me as Wes rips out the second chunk of ice.

The wolves all shift.

“GET THE BLANKETS!” Owen orders.

Mateo, Zane, Ash and Sawyer find the thermal blankets and rush to Iris. They throw one over her and lay out others to cacoon her in. They roll her up.

Peter ties the ends and fashions a harness to her feet. Ash and Mateo shift and each take a rope into their teeth.

“GO! GO! GO!” Owen barks.

“Jesse, are you ok?” I search his face as my tears freeze.

“Yeah, Sweet Pea. I’ll be good.” He huffs breaths.

Wes inspects his wounds. “He’s healing, but I don’t recommend shifting. Can you walk?”

“Sure…Why not?…” He grits as he stands.

He holds the hole in his stomach.

I support my brother. “Can you increase your temperature.”

“I think so.” He says. I can feel him get warm.

Wes kisses my head. “I have to shift. I don’t have that trick.”

I smile. “It’s fine. I have him. Thank you, Wesley.”

“You don’t ever need to thank me.” He kisses my lips.

I help Jesse through the mountain pass and by the time we get to the entrance of the ski hill, he was healed and we shifted to catch up with the others.

We kept Iris in the cabin of the plane to keep her warm. Once back at Phoenix, Jesse carried her through the Phoenix security unit.

“We have an entire air conditioning system and snow machine set up. She should be comfortable.” Ricky informs as she leads us to the lower levels of the prison unit.

They dedicated a whole room to my sisters.

She punches a code into the keypad and the door slides open. Inside were three, very large, cylinder tanks. Magda sat on her rock playing with her lava. It was a metal reinforced tank with a square window. Temperature displays were on the outside.

Faye floated on a cloud in a wind driven tank. She dissipated and reappeared, kicking up wind gusts. A monitor is on the outside to measure her powerful winds.

The last tank was coated in a thin sheet of ice crystals. Ricky opens the hatch and Wes undoes the end of the blankets. Sensing the cold again, her nymph form takes to it right away. She violently wisps around the tank and lands on the snow covered floor.

Wes slams the hatch closed. Ricky sets the monitors for temperature and integrity of the tank.

I step up to my sister. “This will only be temporary. Just until we can catch father. Please know this is not out of evil purposes.”

My sister’s all turn their backs to me which breaks my heart.

Wes hugs me from behind. “Give them a few more days. They’ll come around.”

I nod and he leads me out of the room.

I wipe my face. “Now what?”

“Now. We wait.” Wes says as he takes my hand and laces his fingers with mine. “This is a good plan Thea. Well stop him.”

“I hope so.” I breathe.