Chasing the Alpha (Full Moon Series Book 2) Page 18

  “I’m not leaving you, Abigail!”

  She coughed and blood dribbled from her mouth. “Go!” she whispered, forcing the word from her mouth. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she remained on the ground, unmoving.

  Garrett stood up from his place by his wife and he could see all around him that bullets were flying, but there were too many of them. Only six wolves were dead from what he could see, and he tried to make out human forms. The sound of bullets died down just as suddenly as they had started.

  His ears were ringing and his vision was clouded from tears and dirt. He heard screaming in the distance, but he couldn’t tell where it was coming from. He fell to his knees next to his wife and he took her hand in his. A wolf approached him, the same one that had bitten Megan; he pulled back his lips revealing a bloody smile.

  Garrett lowered his head in defeat, his one final plea for compassion. But the wolf did not care, he lunged forward and took a severe bite into Garrett’s already wounded shoulder. Garrett let out a piercing cry of pain, and then he doubled over, landing on top of Abigail. He turned his head to look at his wife one final time before he closed his eyes, now welcoming the darkness.

  Declan pulled into his usual spot at the nature preserve and he noticed Gabriel’s car first and then Aria’s.

  “Fuck,” he said under his breath.

  “What is it?” Noelle asked, struggling with her seat belt.

  “They’re here,” he said. Noelle looked up at him with panic-filled eyes.

  Declan knew that this was their worst fear come to life. He had tried so hard to turn the pack away from seeking revenge, but instead he felt like he simply fueled the fire. It seemed like they all went directly against every call he made, and he realized that he had let this happen.

  He was the alpha, he could have stepped in and refused to allow this hunt to happen. He was the alpha, he could have stopped the wolves from coming here tonight. He was the alpha, he could have stood up to Aria and Gabriel and refused to step down and take a break… as they’d put it. Real alphas didn’t take breaks.

  He prayed that he wasn’t too late to take charge of the situation. He walked over to the other side of the car to help lift Noelle to her feet. She stood up shakily, relying heavily on her crutch.

  In the distance, they heard gun fire. Noelle looked at Declan and seconds later, they heard a loud howl.

  “Declan, we’re too late!” Noelle cried out. She slipped on her crutch and fell to the ground.

  “Don’t say that, Noelle.” Declan reached down for her and pulled her up to her feet. “We can still stop this.”

  She struggled up and they started walking across the way into the woods. Noelle was already slowing them down, with her crutches that continued slipping in the dirt. She fell a few times and Declan had to stop to help her up.

  “Declan just go, please,” Noelle said, starting to cry. “Save my family!”

  “I can’t leave you here like this, Noelle,” he said lifting her up again. “Here climb up onto my back. It might hurt, but we’ll get there faster.”

  Noelle reached for his hand and Declan picked her up swiftly; she gripped her hands around his neck. He wrapped her legs around his waist and began running.

  He could feel Noelle bury her head into his shoulder, but in the distance, he heard the gun shots getting louder and he knew he couldn’t stop. He was getting closer, but suddenly, the shots that fired just stopped.

  “Noelle, how are you doing?” he asked.

  “Just find them.”

  She was breathing hard and he could tell that she was in pain. He slowed down so that he could hear anything that might indicate where the group was, but there was silence.

  Finally, he heard a piercing cry and that was all he needed to locate them. Declan ran the rest of the way and he found the pack of wolves standing around in a circle.

  “What the fuck is going on here?” he yelled out.

  He put Noelle down next to a tree and she sank to the ground like a wilting flower. The wolves turned to face him and they separated, letting the biggest one through.

  “Declan,” it was Gabriel who spoke, “I’m so sorry.”

  Declan pulled his eyebrows together in confusion and he walked toward the circle of wolves. They parted, letting him through, and as soon as he laid eyes on what they were standing around, Declan sank to his knees. He was staring at the mutilated bodies of seven wolves before him —his pack, his family.

  “Who?” he choked out. Declan couldn’t hold back his repulsion anymore and he vomited into the dirt.

  Gabriel transformed back into his human form and he walked up to Declan and put his arm on his shoulder. “We couldn’t make out four of them yet, but we know for sure that Brady is dead. Roger is dead. And…” Gabriel trailed off.

  “Who?” Declan asked.

  “I’m sorry, Declan,” Gabriel said quietly, “Aria is gone too.” Declan looked up at Gabriel’s face and caught his somber expression. He broke down into tears as the grief hit him, suffocating him.

  Declan reached out to Gabriel and took him into a tight embrace, “This is all my fault, Declan. This is all my fault.”

  Declan couldn’t trust himself to speak yet. A part of him wanted to rip Gabriel’s head off for being so stupid and leading the pack into such a deadly situation, but the other part of him felt just as guilty for letting it happen.

  Declan pulled away from Gabriel and asked, “Where are the hunters?” Gabriel pointed to the other side of the woods where the bodies were lined up.

  Declan could feel the sick rising up in his throat again, but he forced it back down. He walked over to the bodies and stared at the seven human bodies lying on the ground.

  He didn’t know how long he stood there before he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. It was Noelle; he tried to go over to her to stop her from witnessing the consequences of the massacre, but he was too late.

  “No!” she cried out at the top of her lungs.

  She fell to her knees next to the man that Declan now recognized as her father. Lying next to his body was her mother. Then there was the rest of her family, lying perfectly still in the dirt. The blood had stopped, but the evidence was there.

  Declan walked up to Noelle and took her into his arms. She struggled against him, hitting him hard in the chest; but he let her.

  “You!” she cried out. “You did this! You knew this would happen!”

  “Noelle, I had no idea about any of this. Do you honestly believe I would have let this happen?”

  “You wanted revenge for your dead girlfriend!” Noelle was losing her breath and Declan was unable to quiet her down, so he kissed her so she would stop yelling.

  He could hear the gasps coming from behind him as the wolves watched the interaction between the two of them. The majority of the pack had already transformed back into their human forms and he could hear them all start whispering.

  Declan forced Noelle to sit down and she started sobbing, her entire body shaking with anger and despair.

  “You know her?” Gabriel said, walking up to Declan.

  “Yes,” admitted Declan, “Gabe, I love her. And this —you —no.” Declan paused, shaking his head. “No, we —we just killed her entire family.”

  “Declan, I had no idea about this. Isn’t this the girl that shot Cassidy?”

  “Yes.” Declan sighed. “But she only did that because I threatened her father’s life. She did exactly what any one of us would have done had the tables been turned. But this —there is no way to fix this.”

  Gabriel looked over at Noelle and he walked up to her. Declan tensed up, worried what Gabriel would try to do. But to his surprise, he leaned down to Noelle and took her hands in his. He lifted her up and hugged her for a long moment before pulling back to tell her something.

  Declan waited a moment before walking up to the two of them. He was confused when he saw Noelle’s expression.

  “What is it, Noelle? What did he say?”
She turned to look at Declan and she opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. “What did you do to her?” Declan asked, turning his gaze on Gabriel.

  “Dec,” Gabriel said, “when we got out here, I saw Aria and she pulled me to the side to talk. She didn’t say why, but she just told me about this idea she had come up with.”

  Declan listened as Gabriel recounted the earlier interaction, and he felt his heart aching at the thought of Aria being gone. He couldn’t believe how often he had actually considered taking care of her himself, but he could never follow through with it. Declan knew that deep down, she was not a bad person and all that she really wanted was to feel like someone wanted her.

  “So anyways,” Gabriel continued, “they’re not dead.”

  “What?” Declan asked, not sure if he’d heard Gabriel correctly.

  “Were you listening to me?” Gabriel asked. “Aria’s idea —she told me don’t kill them. The best revenge we could get on the hunters would be to turn them into the thing they hated the most. They’re not dead.”

  Declan turned to look at the bodies lying on the ground. He had noticed that the blood had stopped, but he hadn’t considered the fact that it was way too soon for that to have happened. The wounds were deep and any person would have taken more than hour to stop bleeding.

  Declan leaned down and looked at the wound on Garrett’s shoulder… and just as he expected, the wound was actually beginning to seal by itself.

  Declan looked up at Noelle who had pressed herself up against a tree, clearly in shock. Her eyes didn’t leave her father’s body. Declan had no idea what to say to her or what to do at this point. His only hope was that she was somehow comforted by the reality of what had happened.

  Gabriel was right. These hunters were not dead. They were transforming. They were going to be werewolves, too.

  “Oh, God,” said Noelle.

  “Shit!” said Declan.

  “This is just plain old dejavu…”

  Book 3 Curse of an Alpha

  Declan Hall is still trying to come to terms with the reality of multiple situations. Ones that are continually making his brain go into a desperate overload. He's infatuated with the beautiful Noelle, but the newest happenings have made life nearly impossible to be with her. Should he move on?

  He's got a real chance to find a cure for the after-effects of silver. This could save his entire pack from the hunters... and ultimately from the threat of extinction. But who is this Doctor Edmund Stone? And why would he even want to help out a pack of werewolves, anyway?

  Declan tries to remain the perfectly strong and focused Alpha that his pack members need. But his intuition is sometimes flawed by his own longing heart. A heart that longs to be with his one true desire. The gorgeous Noelle. But, right now, she's ignoring him for letting her family become involved. She's even looking elsewhere, it seems. There are secrets coming to them all. But who will it affect the most? And in what unbelievable, mind-shattering ways?

  Book 3 Curse of an Alpha

  About the Author

  Mia Rose currently resides in Naperville, IL with her husband and daughter. Mia has been writing for over half of her life, and has an extensive catalog of steamy ideas that she has yet to write. She predominately enjoys writing paranormal romance, but she has spent a great deal of her career writing romance. When she’s not writing or dreaming up another racy plot, she likes to spend her free time binge watching old sitcoms and traveling with her family.

  I adore my readers and love connecting with them socially.

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  Afterword

  Hey, everyone!! Thank you so much for reading my book! Did you know that other Amazon readers might be interested to hear your thoughts, too?

  If you loved it as much as I enjoyed plotting and planning it for you, I would ask that you leave me a wicked-good review here on Amazon, if you don't mind! That would be awesome. I would be ever so grateful! Chasing the Alpha

  Additionally, if you have any super-awesome ideas for my other works, or if you want to send me some feedback good or bad, then you can drop me a line at my email here newsletter@author-miarose.com all your feedback helps me improve my books for you! the readers :)

  P.S if you haven’t already grabbed your free book “ALPHA” here is the link to do so :) ALPHA

  Thanking you all so very much as always, for reading and helping me with my dreams as an author!