Page 25 of Alpha Exile

Ten

Kieran

I'm not sure what time of day it is when we get up and start moving again. All I know is that my feet hurt, and I barely slept on the stone slab that was meant to pass for my bed. Every muscle in my body aches, and there's a dull pressure behind my eyes that must be the start of a headache.

But last night, in the cover of sleep—our sleep, since Delphine didn't appear to drowse off—we came up with a plan.

A horrible plan.

The only one we have, and the only one that's likely to work.

Our plan is to wait until Delphine is distracted, even just a little bit. Once she is, Roarke and I will pounce on her and subdue her, pinning her to the ground. Finn is meant to slip in behind us and cut the vials from her belt and neck, using the small utility knife he keeps on his belt, which he found still hidden behind the belt buckle.

While we're doing that—and probably failing—Bastian and Lance, who are behind us in line, are supposed to hold off the vampires. I'm not sure what good they'll do at that, but it's better than nothing.

This entire morning, I've been trying to come up with a better plan. And I've failed. It's the only one we've got. And if Roarke is correct, and we're almost to Delphine's final stop...

Well, it's better than nothing.

As I'm watching the hybrid, waiting for an opening, one of the feral vampires slides up the tunnel beside me. I feel his eyes on me, his lips peeled back from fangs none of the ferals seem to ever sheath. He isn't as far gone as some of the others, but his eyes are almost completely black pupils from hunger.

I jerk back from him as much as I can, my lower body held tight by Delphine's grip on the spell that controls me. She doesn't seem to be as distractible today as she was yesterday.

"Hey buddy, mind giving me some room?" I pitch my voice high enough to be heard, a little concerned that I'm about to get jumped. "This isn't a tunnel of love, meant for two."

"Get up here!" Delphine's voice snaps the feral to attention, and he races forward, catching up with her only to get slapped in the face. "Stop dithering. Did you get what I wanted?"

The vampire passes something over to her, which she brings up to her nose, sniffs lightly, then drops to the ground. My eyes catch it, and as the trail brings first Roarke, then me, past the spot, I study what it was.

A bright blue length of fuzzy moss, the same as the kind that I've seen stretch above us on the ceiling sometimes. Glancing up to make sure Delphine isn't watching, I bend down to grab the moss and stuff it in my pocket. It's damp, and probably useless, but I want to know why she grabbed it.

Up ahead, Delphine's head is bent up to speak to the vampire. Her hand strays briefly from the vial at her waist. Roarke turns to look at me significantly, and I nod sharply.

As soon as her attention drifts away enough for us to break from her hold, we'll attack.

For better or for worse.

My pulse pounds, and my fingers tingle. I stretch my toes against the cavern floor, wishing for a good pair of shoes. Breathing in deeply, I take a large step forward to test the limits of the spell. Delphine's attention strays as the vampire mutters something to her, and her voice rises sharply in response—

We take a turn around the tunnel's curve, and I see Delilah.

It takes the breath from me so thoroughly that I forget I was about to jump on Delphine. I can sense Roarke's eyes on me, his mouth turned down in a frown, his fingers beckoning me forward. He doesn't want to make a move without me. But he doesn't see her ahead of us, a slim figure in the cavern's blue light, her hair a soft halo around her.

She's so sweet and demure, yet so strong and fiery. Her head is tilted upward, and she's looking at a man standing in front of her. He's also familiar, but it isn't until we're closer to them in the tunnels that I realize why.

Alpha William.

Delilah's father, William Glass, is standing next to her in these underground tunnels. Only he's not the William I knew towards the end of his life. This is the young William, closer to the alpha I remember from my childhood. His hair is dark, his eyes clear, and his beard well-kept and freshly shaven.

He turns towards me, his eyes seeing straight through me, and walks in our direction. After a long moment, Delilah turns and trails after him, her mouth open but no sound coming out.

Only it isn't Delilah. She doesn't have her green eyes, or her dyed maroon hair. She's shorter and more willowy, with a smattering of freckles across her cheeks, which are peaked with red color.

They're both walking straight towards me.

Roarke doesn't see them as he hisses my name in concern. "Kieran?"

My mouth draws open as not-Delilah and her father walk right through Delphine, who doesn't seem to notice them pass. A moment later, they walk through Roarke as well.

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