The Alpha Who Cursed His Mate (The Alpha Series Book 2)

We trudge down the left tunnel, holding our magically lit sticks in the air that illuminates the cave. Leon, still in wolf form, grabs a rat and eats it.

‘So gross, dad!’ May says.

Leon ignores her and finishes his meal. We continue through the tunnel to find another two tunnels.

‘We go left.’ I say before May even asks.

The tunnel becomes smaller. I have to bend my head down to fit. After what feels like hours of being in here, we finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We can hear yelling in the distance and approach with caution. Peeking our heads out, it is almost nightfall. I touch the end of the lit stick. It’s not hot, so I tuck it into my pocket to hide the glow. May does the same. We follow the sound of people yelling. There are some thick bushes nearby. I signal for Leon and May to follow me. I crawl into the bushes and inspect the commotion.

A large circle of stones with sticks and branches in the middle are waiting to be set alight. An oversized stone chair carved out of what had once been a boulder was now in its place. It has a throne-like look to it.

There is a she-wolf with her hands tied together with rope. A rogue approaches her from behind and kicks her down to the ground.

‘Hurry and fetch the wine, wench!’ He yells.

A dozen rogues appear exiting from another cave nearby. The she-wolf, with her hands tied, runs into the cave. After a few minutes, she leaves the cave with a jug and places it by the stone chair. Another she-wolf exits the cave carrying a pitcher. She looks to be around my mum’s age. As the moon rises, more rogues appear and gather around the circle of stones.

The rogues chant, ‘Moss, Moss, Moss!’ He enters the ceremony, chest out, with a pompous look on his face as if he is ultimate and superior to all.

‘I can’t see Nina anywhere.’ I say.

‘I can’t see her either.’ May says.

Moss approaches the stone throne and sits; he takes a chalice from the ground and looks at the poor girl on the ground with the jug of wine.

‘Hurry and fill my damn cup. You’re probably the most useless slave yet.’

‘Yes, Alpha, Sorry Alpha.’ she says, kneeling and filling his chalice.

‘Is everyone ready for my wolf ceremony?’ he yells.

‘Yes!’ Everyone cheers.

‘Someone, bring out our future Luna to get this party started!’ He cheers.

They dragged Nina out of the cave. Her hands are tied, she is unkempt, with a few scrapes and bruises on her lower legs and knees. They have kept her in a dirty cell all this time.

My eyes are black with rage. My wolf wants to kill every rogue celebrating. Pain surges through my body as I’m about to yell at my pain. May covers my mouth with her hand tightly.

‘Don’t you dare make a sound.’ I swallow my pain and focus on controlling my wolf. Once I’m calm, I watch as someone forcibly places Nina on the ground on the other side of the stone throne.

The slave and Nina give each other a sympathetic look.

‘Smile, Nina, it’s my wolf ceremony. At least pretend to be happy.’ Moss says.

Nina spits at his feet.

‘I’ll smile when I turn your wolf ceremony into your wolf’s funeral.’ She yells.

‘If you weren’t my chosen mate, you would get ten lashes. Instead, I’ll give your punishment to Gianna for your insolence.’

Gianna must be a slave. She bursts into tears.

‘No, you can’t punish her. Leave her alone, punish me instead.’ Nina cries.

Moss nods for two rogues to take Gianna to a post and loops her tied hands over it. Nina runs to Gianna and hugs her tight.

‘No, get away from her!’ Nina screams.

Another rogue approaches and drags Nina away back towards Moss.

‘We need to do something. We can’t just sit back and watch.’ I say to May.

‘They outnumber us. What do we do?’ May asks.

Moss grabs Nina’s wrist and tries to punch him a few times. He laughs, pulls Nina onto his lap, and holds her arms down. He is going to force Nina to watch Gianna receive ten lashes.

My eyes are black again. I yell in pain as the rogue gives Gianna her first lash.

She screams, but they stop the lashing and turn towards my yells of pain.

‘This isn’t good. They know we are here.’ May says.

‘I’m going to shift; I can’t control my wolf.’ I tell her.

‘Dad and I will distract them for as long as we can while you shift.’

I nod and yell as a few bones snap.

The stick in May’s pocket glows brighter. We all stare at it in awe as rogues approach.

‘I wonder?’ May says as she pulls it out and holds it up. ‘The spells we read in the book of spells and hexes, Magnus!’ She says.

I’m confused. I give May a strange look before another bone breaks.

May steps out from the bushes, holds the stick high in the air, and yells ‘Tumultuous Volley!’

Thunder erupts, and dark clouds appear and swirl around high above the rogues.

Tumultuous Volley is one spell in the book I had read. It summons a storm and strikes enemies down with lightning.

The rogues pause and look up at the storm brewing above them. Then, one by one, lightning strikes them down. She-wolves scream and scatter.

Moss and the others look on with horror.

‘May!’ Nina screams.

The rogues spread out to avoid the storm and run towards May.

‘Oh no, M-Magnus, what was the flame spell?’

‘Inferno Flamo.’ I yell.

‘Inferno Flamo.’ She repeats loudly.

A ball of flame appears. May aims and flings it towards a rogue, then another ball of flame appears. She knocks down as many as she can as they run towards the creek to put the flames out.

I’ve finally shifted. I let out a fierce howl. Leon stays by my side as we attack the rogues. We lunge and bite into them and fling their bodies away. An elderly she-wolf comes out of the cave with a furious look on her face. The rogues that can shift into a wolf do so and run towards Leon and me.

We are getting closer to Moss. He drags Nina towards the old lady and the other woman. As they take Nina’s wrists, he falls to the ground and yells as his bones snap. His first shift has begun.

Within a couple of minutes, he has shifted. His wolf is large and brown with a grey tail and grey ears. Not a handsome wolf at all. I must be twice his size as well.

He lets out a terrible howl, not the least bit intimidating, and runs towards Leon and me fighting his rogues. Moss lunges at Leon and bites his leg. Leon whimpers and tries to fight off another rogue already attacking him. I lunge at Moss and knock him over with ease. Balls of flame are shooting past us, and thick fog appears everywhere as May yells.

‘Tremendous Nebulus!’

The only person I can see is Moss, snarling and snapping his teeth at me. I can hear Nina yelling my name.

‘Magnus!’

Moss lunges at me. I snap my teeth over his front leg, breaking it. He lets out a howl of pain and snarls back at me. Before he makes his next move, I lunge, knocking him onto his back. I press my front paws on his chest to keep him down and rip ferociously into his neck. He falls limp as a puddle of blood forms on his torn open neck. As the fog dissipates, the woman around my mother’s age lets out a horrific scream and runs towards Moss’s dead body.

‘No! Not my son, he can’t be dead!’ she screams, cradling his head. I take a few steps back. She looks up at me with a fierce stare.

‘You, you will pay for this. I should have killed your mother long ago, and now I will kill you too!’