Chapter 13
The hall was in an uproar, and it looked like Michael wasn’t going to be able to control the pack. Abott was pushing for them all to go find Cal and to kill the human. She had done something to him, and since she was changing, they were convinced that Trenton had sent her in to weaken the pack. The leader would never do such a thing in his right mind, which meant that she had to have put a spell on him.
Michael tried to get it back under control, but before he knew what was happening, they were changing and running off into the night, deep into the woods that Cal and Ali had taken off in. Cal was weighed down by his new mate. Michael had not said anything about the child. If something happened to it, the pack would be done for, and there would be no more River Pack.
The old man fretted as he tried to think of what to do. He called in the rest of the elders, something that should have been done at first. Michael tried to shoulder it all, but it had become too much for just him. Something had to be done or the whole clan was going to be ruined.
* * *
Abott wasin the lead and before they were too far into the woods; he had picked up the trail. The girl was almost completely transformed. He could smell the difference and the idea that the leader was off with her, choosing her instead of his own kind, was just further proof to him that Cal never should have been the Alpha.
It didn’t take long for a few of the pack to get to Cal. He had her on his back and it was slowing him down. Abott pushed off in front of him and stopped dead in his tracks, making Cal slow down before they collided. Cal couldn’t slow down in time and the impact sent Ali sailing into the air.
Ali hit a tree and it knocked her out for a moment. Cal tried to go to her, but Abott was on him and he had to contend with his older brother. This was the betrayal that Michael had talked about and Calum should have known that it was going to come from Abott.
“What are you doing here, Abott? What have you done to my mate?”
“She’s a vampire.”
“No, she’s not.” Cal was trying to see her in the bushes ahead of him, but she’d sailed too far, and it was pitch black around them. He couldn’t see anything, and he wanted to make sure that she was okay.
“She will be soon. You mated with a changing human. Tell me that you didn’t know about it.”
Cal didn’t answer him. He was trying to see his way out of it, but he could hear more of the pack coming. The old man hadn’t been able to hold them back as he’d hoped he would.
As more of his brothers moved in around the two men, Cal knew what was going to come next. It was a long time coming between him and his older brother. Abott had never handled the fact that he was made Alpha and not him. Their father was gone now, and it was one of the last things that he did before he died. It had been a reason of contention between the two men ever since.
“I don’t want to do this right now, Abott. We are waging a war between ourselves while enemies are coming.”
“You’re going to have to chose between the pack and a nightwalker. Tell me that you will come back with us and finish her off before the rest of her kind get to the village. This is what must happen, Calum, and you know it. This is the way of our people and I shouldn’t have to tell you this.”
Cal didn’t know what to say, but he didn’t disagree fast enough for the changing human watching from the bushes. Ali didn’t stick around when the silence went through the woods. Every word, or lack of words, was heard in the deafening silence, and she couldn’t stick around any longer. Something in her told her to run. Cal was going to pick his clan over her; she just knew it.
Ali had thought that it was going to be different, but now she saw that Cal was going to side with his own kind. She couldn’t blame him, not really, but it told her that she had to get out of there before the others convinced him to end her too.
Ali felt tears rushing to her cheeks with the idea that he was going to turn on her. She had to get out of there as soon as she could, but she had no idea where she was or where she was going. Ali knew that she had to go before they realized that she was gone.
Her body hurt from the night with Cal and the changes going on within. Every second she felt a hunger grow more intense and when she started to run, Ali realized that she was going faster than she ever had before. Whatever was bogging her down for the last couple of days was energizing her to no end now. She was pushing towards the horizon, going faster and faster until she couldn’t even hear the ruckus behind her any more. Ali was still in shock that Cal had betrayed her like he had, but she knew that blood came first. All that was said about them being mated and her being his was obviously just a lie. It was a good one too, because Ali had believed it.
She stopped after some time to take a break and look around her. The skin of her hand was glowing in the moonlight and she didn’t know what to think about it. It was clear that she was changing, and it was coming quickly now. Where was she going to go? It wasn’t like she would be able to just go home.
Hearing something in the woods behind Ali propelled herself forward into the darkness, headed north. She didn’t know what was there, but something told her that everything she needed was in that direction. She was going a little more east than north after a time, listening to something inside of her that directed her. Ali didn’t know if it was the right way, but she knew that something was pulling her in that direction.
As the night wore on, Ali finally got tired and stopped to slump down against a tree. She was in a place she’d never seen before. Ali doubted that anyone had seen such a place so deep in the woods. It felt untouched by man, but Ali had to think that it wasn’t just man in the woods. She knew now that there really were creatures that go bump in the night.
Ali heard something moving in the woods towards her. She couldn’t see anything, her sight better but still held down by her human capabilities. She was too tired to run anymore. Her heart was broken, and she didn’t want to see Cal coming towards her with the intent of ending her life. She had been bitten, nicked by Trenton’s teeth when he’d kissed her, and now it was her time. For a fleeting moment, she thought that the tragedy would have a happy ending, but Ali didn’t believe that anymore. She knew now that this wasn’t going to end well for her and the sound of approaching feet were all she needed to cement that thought in her mind.
She waited for the impact. Ali had seen it come to others and she just hoped that it was quick. Maybe it was better to take her out of her misery. She didn’t want to become what she was supposed to, and the more she thought about it, the more she could see the mercy in the actions of the shifter clan. Being a nightwalker was no way to live. Death was mercy.
“There is no mercy in killing a beautiful girl like yourself. Those animals have a twisted sense of right and wrong. I assure you, Ali, that we are far more civilized than that.”
Ali knew that voice from before, and her heart leaped when she saw Trenton standing in front of her. It was hard for her to look him in the eyes, knowing that the draw she felt was from him. It was like before, just as Cal had described it to her. She felt the same for him, different maybe, but somehow an unnatural draw to a being that wasn’t human. Ali was starting to think that they both had the talent.
“What do you want?”
“I want to help you, Ali. That’s it. You look like you could use some help. The change is going to happen faster, and you best be out of these woods before the sun comes up. It could get rather unpleasant.”
That got Ali’s attention, and she looked to the sky. It was still black, but she knew that soon the sun would be coming up on the horizon.
“So, all of that nonsense about sunlight is true?”
Trenton agreed, and the pale man extended his hand to Ali to help her up. She took it, knowing that he was right. She did need some help, and not just from the imminent rising sun.
“Why do you think they call us nightwalkers, Ali?”
Ali paused. Us. She was going to be one too. Soon. It was hard for Ali to think of herself as one of them, but she could feel that he was right about the change happening quickly. A little too quickly now.
