Alpha Ultima

Chapter 10

I'm not sure what I had expected. A whoosh of magic, a rush of wind, goosebumps to flow over my skin, maybe? I was slightly disappointed when nothing out of the ordinary happened.

What I didn't expect, was a cheer of excitement and Tyler to rush over to me, wrapping me in his arms. He lifted me off the ground and swung my body around in a circle before putting me down and taking a quick step back.

"Thank you." He said, still smiling brightly.

"Explain. Now." I demanded.

The smile faded slightly and he nodded his head. I watched curiously as he crossed his arms over his chest and began to pace the ground in front of me.

"I... I don't even know where to start. There's so much you need to know."

His words came out small, quiet. I watched silently as so many emotions flickered through his green eyes. Fear, anger, uncertainty. Emotion after emotion flashed by before he stopped his pacing and met my gaze.

"Okay. I think I just need to start at the beginning. I don't want to miss anything important."

Before I even have a chance to blink, he's no longer standing in front of me, but sitting on the grass cross legged and looking at me expectantly. I rolled my eyes and on a huff of breath, sat down too.

"I was nineteen when I met Chantal. The moment when our eyes connected and the bond snapped into place, I was over the moon." I watched his eyes fade as he spoke, bringing his memories to the forefront of his mind.

"She was perfect. She was so fucking beautiful that it almost hurt to look at. I should have known it was too good to be true. I should have known that I couldn't have something go right in my life. Not even just once." A bitter laugh escaped his mouth and he shook his head.

"Our mating bond was never completed. Chantal and my father hatched the plan to take over your mates packs together. She kept telling me that once the ceremony joining her with Xander and Quinn was completed, that we would rule together-"

"So you went along with the plan to please her? You hurt me for power?" Lupin's energy comes through, contorting my voice into a snarl, my eyes shining white.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Just wait, sweet stuff. Let me finish before you decide whether or not you're going to rip my head off. Okay?" His hands remained raised in their submissive position until I nodded for him to continue.

"She was my mate, you need to understand that. There was nothing I wouldn't have done for her. The more her and my father talked about this plan... the more sense it made in my head. I didn't realize how badly I was being manipulated." He scoffed and shook his head angrily.

"I didn't know how much of a heartless bitch my mate was... until it was too late. Once my father gave me your blood, it took three days to take back full control of my Lycan. Six months of rigorous training to obtain his submission. Another year until our bond was strong enough that I would never lose control like that again." His voice was soft, his eyes dazed in his reverie.

"Why did it take so long? The Lycan's who joined my pack after you and your sadistic father ruined my mating ceremony, had control almost right away."

"Because once I had consumed your blood, the Sire Bond to my father snapped into place instantly." Tyler snarled. "I felt so entirely indebted to him that it overwhelmed me. When my father turned me into a Lycan, I held no control for a very long time. Your blood changed that, even if it took a while to take over the reins." He shook his head and chuckled darkly.

"Once my bond with my Lycan was strong enough, the damage was already done, yes I had full control of my Lycan, but at what cost? I had very little memory of the first few days. It took almost a month for the night of your mating ceremony to come back to me." His eyes are filled to the brim with liquid silver.

"The pull of the bond was strong. I had to fight tooth and nail not to drag my body across the country to grovel at your feet. My father and Chantal were planning something and I needed to figure out what it was. I would come into a room and they would be hiding in a corner, whispering quietly to each other. The moment they would see me, it would stop. It took me catching-" his voice breaks.

He turns away from me suddenly, his jaw clenched tightly. I can feel the anger coming off of his body in waves.

"It's okay, Tyler. You can tell me." I place my hand on his shoulder, turning him back to face me.

"One night, I was fast asleep in my room. I woke up from a sharp pain in my chest. Goddess, it hurt so badly." His hand began rubbing across his sternum, as if he could still feel it now. "I turned to get wake Chantal, and see if she could help me, but she wasn't there."

Oh no. I know where this is going. My heart clenched in my chest and I looked into his pain filled eyes.

"I stumbled my way through the house before I found her in the study, bent over my fathers desk being railed from behind by the old bastard himself. I rejected her and the bond immediately. I felt like such a love struck idiot. She completed the bond with my father that night."

His arms are wrapped around himself tightly, and fire burned brightly in his emerald eyes.

"Goddess, Tyler. I truly don't know what to say to you. I'll be honest and say that I'm struggling with whether to laugh at you for the Karma of the situation, or give you a hug and show you empathy." I shook my head.

He looked at me with such a deep sadness in his expression and I knew which direction I was going to go. The Goddess can damn my forgiving self all to hell! I let my head fall backwards and a deep groan escaped my throat before I walked towards him and enveloped him in my arms.

He stilled in my arms as if he wasn't expecting this kind of reaction from me. Well, to be fair, neither was I. I fully expected to let Lupin fight the tall, lanky bastard, but here we are.

After a moment I felt him relax and wrap his arms around my waist in return. His head drops to my shoulder and he presses his face into the crook of my neck. I can feel him breathing in my scent and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I quickly take a step back and shake my head.

"Why are you telling me all of this? Why did you need to be removed from the bond?"

What was so important that he couldn't tell me before I released him? It still didn't make any sense. I may feel pity for what he has had to endure, and I may understand why he did some of the things that he did, but that doesn't take away the fact that it happened.

"I needed you to see that I will be on your side without a forced bond. I can't be held back by that any longer. I can't keep being a prisoner. I was prisoner to my Lycan's lack of control, then I became my fathers lackey, and then held under the bond to you. I need everyone to know, including myself, that the decisions and actions that I make from here on out, are that of my own."

"Okay. That I can understand." I nodded to him. "But what I don't understand is what you are on my side for?"

"War." He says seriously as he looks at me with a straight face. "My father is building his army. I overheard him talking to the vampire coven leader from a few states over, while he was in his office."

Well, we knew this was going to come at some point. My mates had been planning and preparing for five years. Quinn always said Viktor wasn't just going to take defeat sitting down. That he was biding his time. Guess he was right.

I could feel Lupin stirring anxiously in my mind. She wasn't comfortable with the direction the conversation was going. She wanted the comfort of our mates and the longer I stood here with Tyler, the more I did too.

"Alright. Let's go." I walked past him and continued on to the edge of the clearing. I knew he would follow me without having to look back to check.

"Go where?" His voice came from just a few feet behind me.

I turned and looked at him over my shoulder, smiling softly. "Home."

Let's just hope my mates don't kill him before he can even step foot in the house.