Behind The Alpha Book 8 ADAM

ASTRID

“AADDAAMMM!!”

I stare at my shaking hands as tears flow like rivers from my eyes.

I hold myself as my heart smashes into pieces.

“NOOOO!!” I cry out until I can’t breathe.

He’s gone…just gone.

My chest hurts so much. I’m shaking all over. I don’t care that I’m sitting just feet from a battle.

I barely hear anything as my grief wails out. I look at the ground and try to process everything then something ignited in me.

My blurry eyes narrow and I slowly roll my head to the God. My hand lands on my hilt and pulls.

I stand, wipe my eyes to see and unsheathed my sword.

Her eyes connect with mine and I raise my sword, aiming the tip at her heart. “You killed him.” I clench.

“Oh please, woman.” She scoffs.

“Go to hell!” I yell and start to run, but Hunter stops me.

He puts himself in between us. He pulls me away and snarls. “YOU BRING MY SON BACK NOW!!”

“Your savior can’t save you now.” She smiles.

Phoenix and Adams team surrounds us. Hunters anger pours off him and merges with mine. “Just kill her.”

“We might need her to get Adam back.” He says over his shoulder.

One of the Axelridge Alphas yell, “Get her!” and it was like a battle call. We all ran at her at once and the demon stands between us and her. He lifts his hands and were all thrown back.

In a second, I feel myself lift in the air by magic.

“WHAT? OH GOD! HUNTER!!” I kick my legs and flail my arms.

“ASTRID!” He reaches for my hand and I reach for his.

The sky turned dark, my eyes widen as it fills with battle angels.

“HUNTER!!” I point.

“SHITTT!!” He struggles harder to fight the demons magic.

The other Alphas start to flail and hollers out across the large circle as we all rise closer to the winged attackers.

They deafen our ears with their flapping, soaring wings and calls as they circle and dive around us.

One flies by and slices his dagger into Hunters stomach. “AHHH! FUCK!” He grabs his wound and it burns with glowing, white smoke coming from it.

“Hunter!” I squeeze his hand.

He rolls his head to me. “I'm OK…I'm OK.” He repeats as he breathes hard. His wound pours out blood and starts to glow red. His eyes struggle to stay open.

“Please…don’t leave me.” I cry and grasp at his hand.

“I…won’t…” His body goes limp and I scream out as his hand releases mine.

“No, Hunter!” I reach for him and his head hangs off his neck as blood rains down from his body.

I tried to break free and think of something as the other Alphas all called out in terror.

The angels swooped and cut. Some grabbed men and smashed them into the ground below.

I don’t know what happened next, but an explosion came from underneath us.

We all fell to the ground with oomph’s and groans. The demon below us was gone with Eddie’s body and I crawl to Hunter, covering his body as I watch Marcus hit small round bombs in the air.

They explode amongst the angels and he hit one. It burst into flames and it’s blackened body bounced off the ground. The others screeched in anger and disbelief as they frantically flew around their swarm.

“I’m out!”

The angels circle around and target their sights on us.

“RUN!!!”

Everyone starts running and I see Ash.

“Ash! Ash! Please. Help me.” I wave him down as I start to lift Hunter.

“Hunt?!” He drops to his knees and checks him over.

“An angel cut him. I think he’s dead.” I choke.

“Not for long. GRAHAM!!” He yells into the crowd.

The screeching from the angels had us turn in a panic.

“Here!”

“Get Hunt out of here now!” Ash orders.

“Yep. Got it.” Graham picks up Hunter and they both disappear in a loud canon boom.

“DROP THEM OUT OF THE SKY!” Oliver growls.

A few dires leap into the air, but the angels overpower them as we all run. They snap the wolves necks and the dires hit the ground. The dires necks repair and they scramble to their feet. They run through us in a frantic stampede.

“WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!” Oliver stands with his hands out as the dires yelp and whine.

“Oliver! Come on!” Jake yells.

“DAMN PUPS!!” He growls and joins us.

Just before the angels get a chance to start their attacks, I see Miranda.

“GET DOWN!”

We drop and the Shaman throws a lit bottle at the angels. It explodes in a bright red and white light. The angels scream, turn and fly into the clouds. Their cries fading as they disappear.

We all take stock and try to catch our breath as we stand.

Units get to work on cleaning up the battle and leaders talk about how to explain all this.

Wes approaches and holds me while I quietly cry in his chest. Quinn joins in, laying an arm around my back. Soon Deacon and Cass rest hands on my shoulders. My heart breaks over and over, but the loyalty I feel from these men are saving me from really losing my mind. Oliver stands off to the side with his arms crossed, he hangs his head and I feel his sorrow too. Another member of our team has fallen and we all feel it.

Our moment of silence for Adam was interrupted by Finn.

“What was that?” He asks as he approaches Miranda.

“A little angel repellant.” She smiles.

“Angel repellant. Who are you?” Finn asks suspiciously.

“We've never been formally introduced. Miranda Williams. The Dark Shaman if you require my title.” Miranda supplies.

“Shaman. I don’t recall inviting you to this fight.” He crosses his arms and questions.

“You didn’t.” Miranda raises her chin. “Someone else did.”

“Who?” Finn raises a brow.

“Adam.” She states.

My ears perk and I push off Wes. I slowly walk to the front of the group and stand just a few people away from Finn.

“He told me about this and I suggest you all prepare or suffer the future he’s seeing.” She clasps her hands at her thighs.

My chin quivers. “He’s alive.”

She looks at me and tilts her head. “He is. He’s just…lost.”

“Lost.” I nod and lower my head. “Is there a chance…” I ask as a tear falls.

She walks to me and rests a hand on my arm. “I can't know that. I’m only working from messages left in my mind by my younger self. She didn’t say anything about his return. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.” I hitch and turn away.

I try not to break down as I walk away from the group.

“Astrid!”

I turn and the guys jog to me.

Quinn holds my shoulders and looks into my eyes. “We'll get him back.” He reassures.

“It seems impossible when we don’t know where he is.” I whine.

“That’s where we excel, ok. The impossible is our Forte.” He smirks and bounces a brow. “Have faith.”

I press my lips together and nod.

Oliver leans to me. “If I have to tear that Genesis chick apart to get answers, I will. This ain’t over.”

“Thank you.” I tilt my head as my chin quivers.

He grabs my head and pulls me to his chest. “Anytime.” He leans to my eyes. “You will always have my protection. No matter what. Anyone bothers you, you call me and I’ll take care of it.”

I smile and nod.

“Well, look who has a heart.” Deacon smirks.

Oliver points to him in warning as I giggle a little and wipe my eyes.

“Seriously, Astrid. We'll take care of you until we get Adam back. Don’t worry. You’ll always have a home with us.” Deacon says. The others nod and mumble in agreement.

I sniffle and look around the group. “Thank you. All of you. I can only thank the gods for such a blessing. I’m sure Adam is trying to find his way back to me, I just hope what we saw tonight isn’t happening wherever he is.”

Wes looks around the group. “Miranda said the angel warning came from him. It doesn’t sound good.”

Quinn shakes his head. “This is unbelievable. Heaven? Hell? I mean, yes, the events that I have witnessed thus far are hard to accept, but this? Are we actually suggesting there’s a God?”

“I don’t know.” Cass shrugs. “The Cosmic Industry is pretty large so there could be a God.”

Oliver disagrees. “That angel went down pretty easy. You’d think a being like that would be pretty hard to kill.”

Quinn look to Oliver. “Graham will want that body.”

Oliver nods. “I’ll tell Jake to pack it on ice.”

“In the meantime, we need to figure out how to get Adam back.” Wes folds his arms and looks to the group for suggestions.

Deacon rests his hands on his hips. “I'll see what Jenny can find. We also need to know everything about this Genesis. Yeah, she has a gripe about how we live, but why?”

“She seems to display the classic signs of narcissistic dysfunction.” Quinn offers. “Like she’s better than us.”

“Don’t all cosmic douchebags?” Oliver arches a brow.

“Well, yeah, but none of them are this bad.” Quinn motions a hand to him.

“I agree.” Cass says. “Genesis seems to have a personal grievance which seems weird because she’s the one who makes us in the first place.”

Quinn ticks his head. “You have to admit, humanity as a whole is a huge pile of disappointment. The fact that those who make it to a decent level have to be praised for it, is really sad, if you think about it. As a creator, it would be disheartening to watch your creations poison and murder each other. You'd feel like a complete failure at that point. In short, she’s venting.”

“Yeah, well, I'll be venting my grievances right up her ass.” Oliver growls.

“If you can get close.” I eye them all. “Do we know how to destroy her?”

Wes shakes his head no. “The only weapon we had was the prison. Now that it’s destroyed, we got nothing.”

Cass ticks his head. “Someone could kill her and take her place.”

“Who the fuck would want to do that?” Oliver scoffs.

“I’m sure there’s someone out there who would love to be the Creator of Life. We just have to find them.” Wes suggests.

“You even think of touching Genesis and I will kill you all where you stand.”

We turn and a petite woman in a short white dress with short, red wavy hair is standing behind Deacon. She looks like she holds class, but has an arrogance in her appearance.

“Fate?” Deacon eyes her curiously.

Her narrow eyes look us all over as her smug chin lifts and she places her hands behind her back. She steps casually into our circle and faces us. “Genesis is protected by us. If you so much as try to stop her, we will be forced to retaliate.”

“Uh…excuse me. She wants to kill us!” Quinn barks.

“That's unfortunate, but you did do it to yourselves.” She says.

“No. No way. You don’t get to tell us to lay down. You don’t have that kind of control.” Wes scowls.

“You don’t know what kind of control we have so, stop thinking you have any kind of voice here.” She sneers.

Oliver licks his lips and juts out his chin. “You cosmic dicks have been relying on us to clean up your fucking messes and now you want to cut us out? Fuck you, lady.” He growls.

She brushes off his insults and makes herself look tall. “Genesis is integral part of the Cosmos. She creates the bodies that are to be born.”

Quinn gets a look on his face like he put the pieces together. “And you add the souls to those bodies. We kill Genesis, you’re unemployed.”

She narrows her eyes further and stares at him.

He wags a finger at her. “I’m right, aren’t I? You, Destiny, Hope…you’d all be jobless if Genesis gets taken out and the fact that you’re here means we can kill her without taking her place.”

“No. The universe would implode.” She stares straight and raises her chin.

“She’s lying.” Oliver grumbles.

She turns her head to him. “Genesis is sick. She does not understand what she’s doing. She cannot be punished for corrupting her own work without her knowledge of doing it.”

“What do you mean?” Oliver asks.

“She means all of humanity’s corruption came from Genesis herself. Why?” Quinn question.

“The first Shaman.” I jump in and Fate whips her head to me. I look her over. “Miranda told us that Helos was a collection of evil that leeched from the bodies that Genesis created. She’s unhappy. Why?”

Fate laces her hands in front of her thighs. “Genesis was the second cosmic being after Eternity. She was charged with filling the planet he created with life. She did and it was beautiful. Two perfect beings. A man and a woman. She was very proud and took their creation very seriously. She handpicked and designed everything. Right down to the soul.”

“But…” Wes jumps in.

She looks at him. “It took too long.”

“Excuse me?” Cass says.

“The powers above needed demand filled. Genesis was too slow. When they upped the request for more humans, she tried, but couldn’t meet the requirements.” She says.

“So that’s where you all came in.” Oliver mumbles.

“Yes. We were formed, assigned our positions and relieved Genesis of her work load.” Fate places her hands behind her back.

“She hated it, didn’t she? She’s a perfectionist. She didn’t like losing control.” Quinn says.

“No. She didn’t. When we saw the sloppiness of her work, we knew this wouldn’t end well. She tried to destroy them herself until we took that power away from her. She, then, found other ways.” Fate lowers her head.

“Natural disasters and monsters.” Deacons supplies.

“Exactly. She collaborated with the darkness she created in Helos and tried to wipe you all out. We saw her illness and tried to help her, but she disappeared into the timeline. We have yet to find her long enough to pin her down.” Her head floats around the group.

“Ok. So…Why can’t we kill her?” Oliver arches a brow.

“Because. She’s our responsibility and we won’t have you getting in the way.” She eyes him.

Oliver leans to her. “You destroyed the prison.”

“I helped, yes. The skull counteracted the magic of the cross and I just…gave it an extra kick.” She raises her perfectly shaped brow at him.

“Why would you do that?” Cass asks.

“She can’t do her job from prison. She’s not a figure head like Eternity. His mere existence keeps the universe expanding. Genesis needs to be involved in the creation process.” She says smugly. “I can’t have you all running around piecing it together again. It shouldn’t have been created in the first place.”

“Right. Why have something around that can hold cosmic being accountable for their actions.” Quinn sneers.

“We have our reasons. Now. You back off and things won’t get ugly.” She warns. “Let us handle Genesis.”

“Sure. We'll just let you all…police yourselves.” Oliver waves his hand at her with snark on his words. “You really have a fucking screw loose.”

She scowls at him. “You want crazy, Oliver. I can fill that request.”

“Ollie.” Deacon raises his hand to him. “Look. We won’t sit idly by and watch the world be torn apart by Genesis. Humanity has prevailed this far. This is no different.”

She meets his eyes. “Fine. Then I guess it will be a matter of who gets her first.” She steps back into the open. “I suggest you ready yourselves. You want a Cosmic battle…” She tilts her head and stares at us darkly. “You got one.”

She blinks out and we all stare at each other with concern.

Deacon scratches his temple. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but…did we just declare war on the Cosmic Universe?”

Quinn crosses his arms. “Pretty much. Yep.”

Oliver pulls out a cigar, bites the end off, sticks it in his teeth and lights it. He inhales and pulls it out. Clouds of cigar smoke floats around his head.

“I like it.” He grins as he puts the cigar back in his teeth.

“Of course, you would.” Wes grumbles.

With the events that had unfolded, the city streets filled with sirens. We look around and decide it’s time to go.

“Jake and Finn will clean this up. We need to get back and do as Miranda says. Prepare for all this.” Cass instructs.

“Who made you Adam?” Oliver grumbles.

Cass turns to him. “If we left it up to you, we’d all be pillars of salt right now.” He arches a brow and crosses his arms.

Oliver thinks and ticks the corner of lip down. “Fair enough.”

We all shake our heads and walk off the property.

“Astrid you can stay with me at the pack house in Phoenix.” Quinn offers.

“That’s very kind, but I have my own mission to save my people from Iris. They may have left, but I’m not leaving. I will defend my home until I can’t.” I say as I adjust my sword.

Wes steps up to me. “I’ll send my sister-in-laws. They can help.”

“Thank you. I don’t want to endanger your family.” I smile.

“She’s my family too. She’s most likely confused. It’ll take me a while to find them, but I’ll send them to you.” He says softly.

“You are good friend, Alpha Andrews.” I hug him tight.

“Take care of yourself. We'll contact you if we find anything to get Adam back.” He says.

“I’m just happy to know he’s still alive. I will miss him, but if he is truly lost, I have to move on. In his honor.” I say solemnly.

I pull back and look to my friends. “When I first came off the mountain, I didn’t know what to expect. I’m glad Christian has such good friends to rely on. Hopefully, he will settle our people and we can once again be part of your alliance. I know you will always have my support.”

They shyly smile and look down.

“Let’s go home.” I suggest.

They crowd around me and we walk off the property that’s now covered in soldiers picking up the dead and the house is a mere shell of its former self.

Moving on from this will be difficult, but I have grown so much. The world is much bigger than what I understood it to be and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I will now go to my village and hunt the monster down. If anything should come out of this, my people should have a right to live.

I will hold Adam at my side in spirit. The love he held for me will give me the strength to succeed. My dark warrior will always live in my heart. No other will replace him for the rest of my days on this earth.

His entire being filled me. He lives in me and always will. I wish fate had a different story to tell, but I will accept it. I now know how cruel she is and I must hold strong.

Wherever Adam might be, I know that’s the only thing he’d ever want me to be.

Days later, I’m hunting the forests of my village and I've been coming up empty. Feeling defeated, I slump in the snow against a tree trunk. My sadness activates my heat.

The pain of losing Adam seems to be growing by the day. I barely eat. I can’t sleep. I cry non-stop.

“Please, come back.” I choke as tears roll down my cheeks.

I rest my head on the bark and look up to the full Blue Moon slowly moving across the sky to it’s peak. It’s deep blue light makes the snow on the branches sparkle like diamonds.

We were supposed to prove our hearts under this moon. How could my vision be so wrong when every other was right?

I pull up my knees, wrap my arms around them and bury my head.

Snow starts to slowly fall from the small clouds that drift across the large moon.

“Where are you?” I sob quietly in the sleeping forest.