Page 1 of Alpha Exile

One

Roarke

Watching Delilah go under and into the dream world, I can't help but feel nervous. Her aunt Kerry keeps insisting that this spell is dangerous, but nothing will deter Delilah. She knows that we need Gregor's dagger, and she's certain she can get it if only she speaks to Vivia.

I can't help but feel that no matter what, we'll always be two steps behind Delphine.

Even now, I feel certain that we missed something during the battle with her simulacrum and the vampires who follow her. I can't shake the feeling of their claws digging into my side, their fangs sinking into my skin. They took our blood and fur and disappeared into the darkness, as if they'd never really beenthereat all.

"None of it was real," Lance says aloud, echoing my thoughts. I glance at him sideways, and he explains, "That battle we just fought, if you can call it that. We were facing the same dozen vampires over and over, and even though we killed so many, I don't think any of them died."

Bastian says, "She has dark magic. So much of it. We'll never be able to fight her on her playing field."

"Good thing Delilah is going to get that dagger, then," Finn says cheerily, "since Delphine won't be able to castanydark magic once she's had her throat slit."

I snort, though I can't help but agree with him. The idea of fighting the immortal with magic has always felt a littlewrongto me. I saw what sinking into the depths of magic almost did to Delilah when she tried to take over John deLance's body and force him to her will. It nearly choked her bright, vibrant spirit.

Watching her sink back onto the recliner now, her face pale and wan, I can't help but worry. I drag my eyes away from her and look out the window to the yard down below and the street out beyond it, which stretches out into the darkness and winds across the land.

Somewhere out there, beyond the territory's borders, is Delphine. Watching. Waiting. Biding her time. For an attack that will come without warning, and is sure to upend our entire pack with its violence and fury.

Unless we get to her first.

"She's under completely now," Kerry murmurs, her voice soft as she pushes Delilah's dyed maroon hair back from her forehead and smoothes out the wrinkle in her brow. "It could be hours before she's done dream walking and comes out of it."

"Do you think she'll find Vivia's spirit?" I surprise myself by asking, staring deep into Kerry's eyes and searching for the answer in her expression. "She's tried to summon Vivia a dozen different times, and it hasn't worked. I've done the same. It's almost like she's... gone."

"I don't know if it'll work. If it doesn't, then I'm confident that nothing will," Kerry confesses, exhaustion settling around the lines of her face. "I've spent my whole life dwelling on the thought of Delphine's death. It was the only thing I wanted when I was young, and my weaver witch training began in earnest."

"How old were you when you started training?"

"Twelve," she says bluntly. "Even then, I knew the burden that keeping her captive would be."

"I can't imagine."

"It feels like it was inevitable that Delphine freed herself. Even then, I knew that I wouldn't be able to hold her in forever if I was the only witch with the power to do so." She takes Delilah's hands and folds them together over her chest so that she looks like she's resting peacefully. "If there's a way to end Delphine's life once and for all, I think Delilah is likely to be the one to find it. I just wish I could protect her from what's going to come once she does."

I don't get it right away, but Finn does. "She's going to have to kill her. Even then, death is the last thing that Delilah wants to put out into the world."

"Yes, she will."

The thought of the brightness going out of Delilah's eyes makes me shudder, so I vow aloud, "If it comes to it, I'll take the dagger and do it myself."

"We all would," Lance offers gruffly.

"I have no doubt that's true." Kerry looks up from her niece's prone form, her expression wise beyond her years. "But I have the feeling that it will all fall on Delilah's shoulders, in the end. Only someone as similarly powerful will be able to kill Delphine. Which is why she has to train as much as possible, so she can meet her on the same level."

Reflecting on that, I let my gaze wander out the window again. Taking in a deep breath, I reach out instinctively for the pack and its land that stretches around me. The motion feels easy now, as simple and instinctual as breathing.

There's tension running through the pack. Every warrior who was called to the battle feels dismayed and uneasy about what happens. Patrols are at their height; Niall has led some of our brand-new pack members towards the borders. I can feel young warrior Ian's giddy strength, and sense that he's aware his former female mate has returned to the pack, ready to forge a bond now that the curse has been lifted.

Pulling back in again, I touch against the land at every point nearby. There's the stream that runs through Juniper, and a lake out in the territory. Closer, there are trees that stretch their leaves up, eager for the summer sun. Grass that flourishes. Seeds beneath the surface of the earth, long dormant and eager to spring up.

All of it connected to me.

I breathe in and out with the motions of the wind that rustles the trees. Let the stream become the pulse of my heart. The grass, the flicker of my eyelids as I ease them open. Minutes have passed, and Delilah is deep in the dream world now, her mate bond buried beneath a dark unconsciousness.

Out in the darkness of the territory, a predator stirs.

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