Save Me Mr. Alpha

Pain fills my body, my bones crack, my teeth lengthen, and all I can see is red and all I want is blood. His blood. And I’ll have it to protect the man I love.

Yakunda shifts suddenly, both of us now in wolf form as we claw at each other, grappling, snarling, trying to one up the other and gain ground. Yakunda had scratched me several times with his poisoned claws, but I kept fighting back, the poison seeming to strengthen me as I get more and more aggressive.

He seemed surprised that I wasn’t backing down against his ongoing fight and after I was able to knock him off his feet and send him flying into a tree, cracking the trunk with my force, he shifts back into his human form, staring at me with amazement.

“That’s impossible!”

I shift back as well, something in my mind telling me to.

“You should be weakened by the wolfsbane! Not stronger!” Yakunda snarls at me, snapping his jaw like a wild animal as he forces himself to his feet, slightly leaning against the tree as his brace.

Before I can respond, something changes. A mist of pearlescent dust fills the field littered with bodies of our foes and allies and forces everything into silence. Tyson stares at me, his body weak as he tries to sit up and come help, but the black webs of poison spreading over his body faster and faster are unable.

A flash of white light fills the air and two figures appear from the mist.

I recognize Victoria immediately, her dark robes changing to a light purple. At the appearance of the translucent figure next to her, she looks 100 years younger.

A beautiful woman with blonde curls cascading down her shoulders and cerulean blue eyes stares at me, a soft smile on her face.

I know exactly who she is.

“Cassandra.”

“Cassie,” she nods, a smile gracing her lips again.

“You bitch.” I turn and see Yakunda glaring at the two women across from me and a snarl is released as he lunges at the beautiful women.

Victoria scoffs, raises her hand and a force takes Yakunda back and holds him against the tree firmly. Cassandra raises her hands and tendrils of light from the barrier fall down from the sky and wrap around the vile man until he is covered from his chest and all the way down his feet. A single strand falls and covers his mouth and I smirk as he struggles against the unchanging bonds holding him in place.

“Now that that’s settled, we have a lot to talk about my dear.”

“Victoria, what is going on?”

Victoria sighs and looks away, “Darling, please cover the child. I’ll never understand why you chose for your children to shift back naked once they transformed...”

Cassandra chuckles and I become aware of my nakedness as the adrenaline from fighting Yakunda wears off.

“Well, I like it.” Tyson coughs, his voice weak.

“Tyson!” I cry out, starting to run to his damaged and battered body lying 10 yards away. The mist covering the ground extends around me and halts me for a moment, wrapping me in warmth and silk until it drifts back to the ground and melts away.

I take the time to run to my mate who is struggling to breathe, his chest moving shallowly as he looks at me, tears in his eyes.

“Not a bad view to send me off into the next life,” Tyson coughs, trying to smile at me.

His lips start to turn blue and tears fill my own eyes as I look at his sorry state.

“No. You need to heal. How am I supposed to run a kingdom without a king by my side?” I joke, the three little words I was dying to say getting caught in my throat.

“You and I both know that you are a far superior queen than I was a king.” Tyson smiles at me, blood coating his normally sparkling white teeth.

“No, I can’t. Not without you.” I cry, my hands covering the scratch marks on his chest as the vile black webs of poison continue to spread.

“Of course you can, human or not.”

“Not human anymore.”

“True. Very true.”

“Tyson, I-I--”

“Your wolf is beautiful, My Queen.”

“Tyson, you can’t die. You’ll come back from--”

“You and I know only a miracle can save me.”

“Or magic.”

I turn my head and look at the two women watching us forlornly, sadness gracing their eyes as they look at the man I love slowly dying before my very eyes.

“Help him!” I scream, “Save him!”

“Cassie...”

“No, I can’t lose him! Not yet! Not now! He’s mine!”

Cassandra and Victoria share a sad look before Cassandra finally gives Victoria a soft nod.

“Cassie, are you sure you know what you’re asking for?” Cassandra asks.

I look at her and remember Tyson telling me about how she became the willow tree in the first place.

“You were attacked by a rabid animal and your lover couldn’t save you. So your mom turned you into the willow that you had saved.”

“Sort of. That’s their version of the tale. They kind of romanticized the story over the years.”

Tyson lets out a painful groan and I look at him, his hazel eyes catching mine one last time before he murmurs, “I love you, Cassie.”

He closes his eyes and his breathing gets softer, my panic growing at the thought of losing him.

“What do I need to do to save him?” I demand.

“Do you love him?” Victoria asks.

“Yes.”

“The story, my story, is different than you were told. You see, Charles, my first love, he did leave me. Not until we were married and had a child of course. He ran off after that with the chambermaid he grew up with.”

Cassandra’s voice wasn’t filled with hate or mirth, but understanding.

“Then I met John, the man Tyson’s people would know as the first werewolf king. Oh how I loved him dearly. So, so dearly... he raised my child Theophania as his own and he spoiled her so...”

Cassandra hesitates, lost in a memory as she reflects on the past and I feel myself growing impatient as I think of a future without Tyson in it.

“John and I never had children. After the attack, I was unable to give him children, which sent me into a spiraling depression... so one day, once Theophania was old enough to find love and be wed, a war struck out across the land and I had a choice. A choice to protect all of my people, all of the people who shifted into animals in the night who needed a leader, or to have John and John alone. I would have to sacrifice my child for my own desire and I couldn’t do that. She was everything to me.

“I chose to save the masses and most importantly my child. So to protect the people, I became what you know me as now and became a barrier from the evils of the world. I was able to send the war away for humans to fight and keep the people I loved safe and protected... from a distance. John had plenty of years left in him and as much as he loved me, he ended up remarrying to have a child to inherit the kingdom. Tyson’s ancestors.”

“And?”

“And my daughter had many, many descendants to carry on the family legacy of witchcraft and the like. Over the years werewolf and witch blood mixed and formed my last descendants... a small family of three by the name of Meyers.”

I suck in a breath, shocked at the revelation that Cassandra, and Victoria, were long lost ancestors of mine.

“How does this save Tyson?”

“You have magic in your veins. You have a love for him that my mother and I don’t. You alone can save him as I once saved Theophania.”

“How?”

“Feel the love and form a link to him again and give him everything.”

With those last words, Cassandra and the mist disappear, leaving Victoria and I behind.

“Wait!”

“She can’t help you anymore.”

“What about you?” I accuse, anger filling my bones as I realize she could have told me before about who and what I was instead of filling my mind with the ramblings of vague thoughts and murmurs about who I “truly am.”

“You alone can do this. I am far too old to help you in any way other than helping my daughter to manifest here and explain things--”

“But--”

“But nothing, child. You are strong and determined. You want to save him? Tell him why you need him. Form the bond and save him before death takes him somewhere you won’t be able to rescue him from.”

At that she steps back and stands next to the tree trapping Yakunda to it and watches us carefully.

“Tyson,” I cry out, looking down at him, kneeling next to his body. “I need you to wake up. I need you to come back here. I can’t do this without you. I can’t live without your stupid arrogance around. I need you.”

I think of Tyson and memories fill my head as a small tendril of soft white light fills my mind and attempts to connect to Tyson.

“You were so stupid at the field, all cocky and proud that you had met me even though I had no idea what you would mean to me. You’ve known the entire time what you wanted, what we could become no matter how hard I pushed you away or ran from you.

“You’ve never doubted that things would all work out, even when I was with James you knew I would be yours, one way or another. You’d leave everything you know, for me. You’re so kind and generous and loving and I-I... I love you Tyson. Please come back to me. I need you so much and I love you even more. I don’t love you because of the mate bond. I wasn’t forced or coerced into it. I love you because of who you are and the soul that is so bright and shining that you-you never hesitate to help everyone who needs you.”

A rustle comes from afar and I look and see a saddened Babe and my brothers staring at us, tears in their eyes as they listen to my words as I hover over Tyson’s body. Katie is on her knees sobbing as she realizes what is happening.

“Tyson,” I say firmly, wiping my eyes free of tears as I stare at his stagnant body. “Don’t you DARE die on me Mr. Alpha. I refuse for you to die and leave me here to run your stupid pack without you. Especially after you made me fall in love with you. Don’t you dare fucking die you coward. Get your ass back here because if I have to deal with two werewolf teenagers and your sister by myself, I’ll kill you all over again. Now, WAKE UP before I go throw myself into danger like some pathetic sci-fi protagonist so you can save me, Mr. Alpha. WAKE UP! RIGHT NOW!"

The soft white tendril of the bond in my head starts to glow and get larger and larger and I know that he’s listening.

“Get your sorry Alpha ass up and come love me for the rest of our days so that I don’t have to find some halfwit to marry and lead your kingdom. You’re an alpha. A little poison shouldn’t take you down. Pull yourself together man. You’re better than this! WAKE UP!" I scream, my voice growing hoarse as I get louder and louder, yelling at him.

“I LOVE YOU! Get your ass back before I start loving someone else more--”

Tyson’s hazel eyes shoot open and they practically glow as they stare at me, assessing me to see if my words are true.

“As if you’d find someone as brilliant as me,” he smirks halfheartedly.

“TYSON!” I cry out, lunging towards him and pulling him in a hug, feeling him wince at my strength.

“Hey Princess.”

“Don’t call me that!” I sniffle as tears fall down my cheeks again, “We both know I’m a better Queen than you’re a king anyways.”

“Very true.”

I look down and see that the webs of black poison infiltrating Tyson’s body have slowly started to retreat back to the original wounds and I find myself hugging Tyson all over again. Katie, Chase, Charles, and Babe all start running towards us as Tyson slowly sits up with a moan.

“Were you serious about that?” he murmurs as everyone nears.

“About what?” I cry.

“Everything you just said.”

“I don’t--”

“Cassie, I know you love me. I’ve known for a while, mate bond remember? But were you serious about becoming a sci-fi protagonist just so I’d come and save you?” Tyson smirks and I find myself in the midst of laughing and growling at him.

After deciding that hitting a man who was healing from a terrible poison wasn’t my best plan, I settled on second best and lunges at him, pulling him to me and kissing him intensely, the rollercoaster of emotions taking a back seat to the fireworks I felt as I kissed my literal soulmate.

After hugs (and kisses from me of course) from everyone, Katie and I escorted the still injured Tyson back to the castle. Babe did rounds with the boys recruiting uninjured pack members to help those who were wounded from the battle and locking up the enemies who were still left alive. Yakunda had been escorted to the pack prison, locked in the smallest cell possible with the highest security measures we had.

Marie tended to the sick and injured as I went and informed the pack members hiding in the safe rooms that everything was over and that we were victorious.

People were running around the castle for days. Fixing walls, cleaning broken glass, scrubbing the blood off of every surface because despite the battle that had happened within the castle walls, my coronation ball was still expected.

Tyson slept most of the next few days away in the royal suite, with me nearby working on pack duties from the messy desk he kept in the room. Anytime he moaned or groaned or needed something in his brief times awake, I was there. I slept on the floor next to him, afraid to leave him or to sleep next to him afraid I’d accidentally elbow or hurt him in his sleep.

“Cassie...” Tyson murmurs. He sits up in the bed and slides his feet to the side of the bed.

“Hey, you’re awake!”

“And feeling much better.” Tyson yawns, stretching his body out as he moves to stand. I run over to him and help him to his feet and he smiles at me that devastatingly handsome smile that I used to hate.

Now it just filled me with constant warmth.

“That’s good; everyone has been worried.”

“You as well?”

“You wish,” I tease, swatting his arm playfully.

“What day is it?”

“Thursday.”

“Wow...”

“Yeah.”

“Cassie?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

“Tyson, you know--”

“I know. But I wanted to tell you anyways. Thank you for protecting the pack and getting them on their feet. Thank you for saving me and taking care of me. Thank you, most of all, thank you for loving me and giving me a chance.”

I’m silent as I look down at my pink-painted toes, curtesy of Katie and a team of nail artists working to get me “Queen ready” the last few days. I focus my eyes on the teeny, tiny white flowers on my big toes and Tyson lets out a sigh at my silence.

“Cassie.”

“I love you.” I blurt out, uncharacteristicly.

“I know.”

“I just thought I should say it when you weren’t dying.”

Tyson smiles making my insides turn to mush at the thought.

“I love you too, My Queen.”

Tyson and I stayed in the royal suite an extra day to make sure he was fully healed. That and he wouldn’t let me out of arm’s reach since we said those three little words. And during that time, Tyson revealed what was hidden under the sheet covering the easel.

They were sketches of me and I realized that “my” dream from weeks ago wasn’t my own, but his. How ironic. My embarrassment truly belonged to him after all.

Once the sketch pad was revealed, the sketches were hung proudly and Tyson continued to sketch me in the privacy of the suite. Similar to the dream’s vision of the sketches Tyson had conjured up, I smile coyly in some of them, others I stick my tongue out flirtatiously, and in concordance with Tyson’s more risqué thoughts, some are of me laying in bed, my hair a messy, frizzy mess.

Tyson showers in the bathroom as I sit in bed reviewing pack papers before Saturday’s ball.

I hear the turn of a doorknob and I look up and see Tyson coming in the room, a towel covering his lower half.

“Good Morning my Queen...” he teases, eyeing me up and down. Surprisingly I’m unfazed at the sexual look coating his face. He walks closer to me, a sly grin on his face as he grabs a pair of sweats from a chair in a corner.

“Trying to seduce me already?”

“You wish,” he mocks.

“And if I do?”

Tyson’s eyes flicker black and he lets out a low growl.

“Don’t tease me about things you’re not ready for.”

“And if I am?”

Tyson smiles, drops his towel and lunges at me.

A/N: The next chapter shall be the last one of this story, an epilogue and summary of the ball all wrapped up in one! Let me know what you think!