The Alpha (The Pack 3)

“Yes,” I forced out. “I need medicine. Do you know what kind of medicine?” I kept the inquiry easy, not wanting to pressure him and was rewarded by an image, but it was nothing I recognized. A glass jar, brown liquid filling it halfway, but no labels. “Do you know where I can get it?”

“Wren,” he answered and I perked up, my gaze going to Sam, but she shook her head.

“Wren went with them,” she informed me and my eyebrows lifted. “She insisted, told them they might need her to find it.”

I attempted a nod, but grunted instead. “Small bottle,” I held my fingers two inches apart. “Brown liquid.” I leaned forward, breathing shallowly, as nausea welled. “Search for it.” She nodded, darting from the room, leaving the door open when she went, and a gust of cold air filled the room and I shivered. “Why am I cold?” I muttered to myself, my teeth chattering before it dawned on me that Jess must be cold. As a shifter, I didn’t feel the cold like a normal human, a faster metabolism coupled with my size kept my internal temperature regulated.

“Where the hell is everybody?” The wind blew the words along with the strong scent of lilacs in and I glanced up to see her standing there, agitated. “We need to go rescue my daughter. Now,” she emphasized, her tone imperious, and reminding me so much of Jess, my chest literally ached. Not that I would ever tell Jess anything about her mother reminded me of her. I wasn’t suicidal after all.

“They’re out trying to save Jess,” I snapped, remembering the disappearing act Vivian had pulled. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d be far away from this town by now.”

She eyed me narrowly, stalking forward, and grabbing my chin to twist my face so she could check my eyes. My reflexes were so slow, I barely batted her hands. “They hit you hard,” she murmured. “If they gave you what I think they did, you’re lucky to be alive.”

“What do you know about it?” I asked, the words slurring slightly as my vision doubled. Somehow I was getting worse instead of better.

“They used to give it to the women,” she replied, releasing my chin with a shove. “Easier to rape them when they didn’t fight.”

“This is the only thing I could find that matched your description,” Sam said as she gasped, skidding to a stop when she saw Jess’ mom. “Oh, hi.” She waved awkwardly and Vivian yanked the bottle out of her hand.

“Where did you get this?” She demanded, her voice so authoritative, Sam answered automatically.

“Wren’s room.”

Vivian blinked, something in her expression cracking before it hardened once again and she brought the bottle to me. “Take it all.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure how you knew about this but it’s your lucky day.”

I unscrewed the top, forcing back an instinctive need to gag at the unpleasant smell, and downed the bottle.

Sam watched her like a hawk, standing in the door and I knew it was to make sure Vivian didn’t leave. “Dylan told him,” she explained, pointing to the mute teenager. Vivian stared at him in shock, her hand coming up to point at him as she said, “He’s a –”

I cut her off, wiping my mouth as I told her, “He’s Wren’s brother and my friend.” This time when I stood, my legs held me and I glanced at the little bottle in disbelief. “What’s in this?”

“You don’t want to know,” she replied. “We need to hurry. It took me longer to get back here than I thought it would.”

“Where did you go?”

“I was here when they attacked you,” she answered impatiently. “I saw them take Jess so I followed them since you had a guard dog.” Her gaze flickered to Dylan and I heard her inhale sharply as she realized Dylan was a shifter. Her gaze came back to me as she chose to ignore the implications of his existence. “They’re at an old farm a few miles away. We need to hurry.” Her face was drawn and desperate, and I spared a second to try and strengthen my link to Jess. An image of Caleb in wolf form flickered before slipping away.

“What are they planning?” I demanded as I prowled toward the door, the bitter wind no longer bothering me.

“They are planning to use Jess to force your young Alpha into a challenge with my brother,” she answered tartly. “One that boy will lose in some misplaced desire to try and save her.”

“It’s not misplaced,” I growled.

“Trust me, he’d be kinder to kill her himself,” she replied flatly. A glance at my sister saw her gaze drop and my heart slammed as I realized she agreed with Vivian. “He’s doing her no favors by prolonging her life and that’s if he’s foolish enough to believe my brother would actually kill a breeding female after losing so many.”