Page 53 of Cruel Alpha Beast
Lifting the book as carefully as I can, I bring it with me to the kitchen and brew myself a cup of coffee. The drink is perfectly warm and sweet by the time I open the book’s heavy cover again.
Everything in the tome is handwritten in an inky scrawl, but I’m able to read it perfectly fine under the ceiling light of the kitchen. I scan through pages and pages of “old legends,” searching for mentions of a tree anywhere. It takes some time, but my husband is still asleep, and my coffee is a mere brown ring at the bottom of my mug, when I finally find exactly what I’m looking for.
***
The sun is bright over my head, reflecting off the lake and nearly blinding me as I approach it. Behind me, a bleary-eyed Sawyer leads a half-asleep Greg, a grumpy Ellis, and a zoned-out Jasper. Waiting by the cat-o’-nine-tails are Danielle and Monroe, who are tending to a very different version of Penelope than the one I’ve known in my short time of living in the coven.
The old woman has a large, bloody bandage wrapped around one of her arms, and her skin is papery white. The skin beneath her eyes is puffy and dark, like she’s been trying to get rest, but her body won’t allow it.
I want to run into her arms, especially when she stares at me like she’s so excited to see me again. That’s all I’ve ever wanted—someone other than Greg to look at me in that way. To miss me while I’m gone. To be happy when I’m there.
I had it in my brief time living with the coven. I have it with Shea. And now I’m starting to think I have it with Sawyer.
As much as my body is itching to launch onto Penelope, I settle for gently kneeling down at her side and carefully putting one arm around her waist. “I’m so happy you’re alright.”
“You as well, Lacey,” Penelope replies in my ear. “I’m so proud of you, and all you’ve become in such a short time.”
I catch her exchanging glances with Sawyer behind my head. He looks happy to hear her say that, and I begin to wonder if this look has anything to do with what happened the night of the attack on the thicket.
“We’re all here,” Sawyer says. “Now, let’s get a jump start on what exactly we’re here for.”
I can tell that Ellis is wondering about the same thing. He looks at me, almost daring me to go on and tell him something that wasn’t worth waking up so early to hear.
Sitting at Penelope’s side, I take off the backpack hanging from my shoulders and set it between my legs. After unzipping the bag, I pull out the large tome and find the page I marked with one of Shea’s drawings.
“So, I found this story,” I tell them.
Catching Jasper’s eye, I can sense that no one wants me to read the story verbatim, as they might fall asleep, so I decide to give them a mere summary instead.
“This happened almost half a millennia ago,” I start. “The wolves and witches lived in perfect harmony in this very valley, helping each other get through life side-by-side, as allies. I know that’s hard for some of us here to imagine right now, but it’s the truth.”
Ellis crosses his arms over his chest, but he has enough grace not to interrupt me.
“There was a witch named Willow,” I say, eyeing Sawyer. “She fell in love with the alpha of the valley—”
“It wasn’t split into towns for a long time,” Penelope adds. “There was only one alpha ruling here for many generations.”
“Thanks, Penelope.” I nod my head. “After Willow and the alphajoined as one, he rejected her as his mate, as she was not a shifter like him.”
“The story is all coming back to me now,” Penelope mutters. “Oh, I wish I had thought of all of this much, much earlier.”
“It’s okay,” Monroe says comfortingly, patting her arm.
“As alpha, he was expected to bear sons who could take his place one day,” I continue, my eyes drifting from Sawyer to Ellis, and then to Jasper. “Being a witch, there was a chance thatWillow would not give birth to one of his kind, and so, he left her.”
“Willow’s heart was broken beyond all repair,” Penelope adds. “She wandered the woods, sowing tears into the soil of our earth, which contained just enough magic to blight the plants on the edges of the valley.”
I nod and continue my retelling. “Eventually, when the other witches heard tell of what had happened with their friend, their sister, they followed her into the woods and created a coven that men and shifters were not allowed to be a part of.”
“They were able to cast a curse on the people of this valley,” Penelope says. “It led to sickness and dark marks on the skin. And the curse sought to ruin most friendships in the valley. Shifters were arguing over nothing and everything all at the same time.”
Sawyer nods his head deeply, glancing at the other two alphas, knowing that they would be unable to deny that such a thing was happening in their own towns.
“Knowing he must do whatever he could to protect the people in his charge, the alpha met regularly with a woman in the valley, born to shifters, but without the power to shift herself. In fact, she was not only a shiftless wolf, but she also had powers of clairvoyance. Visions. Does that sound familiar to anyone?” I point a finger directly at myself.
Sawyer lifts his eyebrows slightly, watching me even more curiously than before. It’s like the pieces are coming together in his mind. And even the other alphas are starting to look at me in a different way than they ever had before.
“The alpha and the shiftless wolf worked together to put a stop to Willow’s acts of vengeance. They did everything theycould think of to take her down, but her powers were just too strong,” I continue.
