Page 6 of Cruel Alpha Beast
I slump back into my own chair, feeling like an elephant is sitting on my chest. The familiar dark clouds flood my line of sight. Another vision. These ones are bloodier than the others before.
A violent scrap of shifters again. Claws and fangs break skin and carve through fur. The paved streets pool with a sickening amount of blood and gore, teeth, and tufts of skin. A teacher I once had falls to the ground, her cloudy eyes staring out at nothing.
Like a movie scene, the vision zooms in on Miss Theresa’s face. I see black spots creeping up her neck and her arms. She looks ragged, and not because of the skirmish surrounding her. She’s been sick for some time. And the deeper I look in the vision, I can see that others have been plagued with the same thing.
My body shakes, and the clouds disperse. Once again, today, I’m roused from a vision by Danielle. Only this time, she looks even more concerned than she did earlier. Her hands clasp my arms so tightly that her knuckles have turned white. She keeps shaking as I blink the darkness away completely and come back into myself.
“Lacey,Lacey!” she hisses. “What’s going on?”
“I have to call Greg,” I gasp out. “I need to call him right now.”
As soon as she releases me, I lean over to grab my phone from the small patio table at my side. Despite my fingers quivering, I’m able to find my brother’s contact information and make the call, but it goes straight to voicemail. My stomach fills with dread as soon as I hear the robotic voice telling me he missed my call.
“Fuck,” I mutter to myself. “He hasn’t picked up any of my calls in days. Usually, it rings a lot, but this time it didn’t.”
Danielle runs a hand through her long hair, pacing back and forth on the porch. “This can’t be good.”
I shake my head and get out of the chair. “I have to go back. I have to warn my old pack in person. Something terrible is going to happen.”
“Wait,” Danielle interrupts. “Why are you doing this? I thought you said your old pack was awful to you.”
“They were, but I have to do it. For Greg.” An image of Sawyer’s shirtless body over mine on the edge of the lake infiltrates my mind, thickening my throat. “Forhim.”
Chapter 2 - Sawyer
A light breeze blows against me, cooling the skin of my arms uncovered by my short-sleeved T-shirt. I stand on the outskirts of the village, staring out into the trees. My sneakers rest on a small patch of dirt worn down by my regular visits.
I’ve been drawn to this spot by the edge of the forest for years now, but I’m not entirely sure why. It’s like I’ve been waiting for something to happen, or even someone to walk through those trees. A savior, maybe.
Except I’m the alpha of this pack. If anyone’s going to be a savior, it’s me.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I reach in and see that my alarm is going off. A reminder that I have to get going. I press the button for it to stop and take one last look at the trees. Through the shadows, I can see that everything within is calm and peaceful. Whatever it is in there I’m looking for, at least I know it’s okay. For now, anyway.
I turn on my heel and head back down the path. Lining the way are the wildflowers that grow here. Once bright and colorful, they’ve become shriveled and black, and they’ve only gotten worse in the last year.
In the near distance, the crystal blue lake glitters in the sun, but I can’t deny that the surface looks much lower than it should be. Has been for a while. If I carry on down its length, I’ll find one of the rivers branching off the lake—well, I’ll find a drying, cracked riverbed that’s lucky enough to have a trickle of water traveling through it.
The flowers were the first sign of something wrong here. The rivers are far more concerning. But worst of all, I’ve noticeda change in my people. We’ve always had a calm, idyllic life in this valley. However, tempers are starting to rise.
Instead of the easy-breezy town hall meetings with the other two packs that were once standard, people are now arguing over the most minor things. I once had to break up a fight over the length of grass on someone’s neighbor’s lawn. But sometimes, the arguments can get very personal, like people are pulling secrets out of thin air.
I’ve been an alpha for three years now. My father trained me well. I know what I’m doing. I can handle anything. I just hate to see my valley turning into this rotting, drying, angry shell of what it used to be.
Unfortunately, I still haven’t figured out how to fix everything.
That’s why I’m headed to the hall right now. My meetings with Jasper and Ellis were once like those of our fathers—cold beers running down our throats, shooting the shit, maybe having a few conversations here and there about throwing potlucks and festivals, but nothing too serious. Now, we’ve been meeting much more frequently, even inviting Greg along as an advisor to help us through.
Leaving nature behind, I find the streets of the valley waiting for me. The sun shines brightly on our infrastructure, and for one gleaming moment, it feels like everything isn’t falling apart around me.
“Asshole, I said Isawthat trash come out of yourpocket, and youdidn’tpick itup!”
“Fuck you, Bruce, I didn’t even have trash in my pocket!”
“Then what the fuck is this gum wrapper on the ground, Jerry?”
“I don’t even chew gum, dumbass!”
“Well, you probably should start! Maybe yourwifewouldn’t be coming onto me if your breath didn’t smell likeshit!”
