Words of Power (Alice Gray Book 3)

33

"Say something," I pleaded, really needing to know that they weren't ready to drop me off to the nearest loony bin. Anne and Evan's blank, silent stares bored into me. Sam stood still as a statue, scanty threadbare hotel towel the only thing covering his naked form.

"Brad," Anne stated, the word coming out flat and dry.

"Yes, Brad."

The hoots of laughter that burst from all three of them bounced around me, filling the room with the next big joke in the life of Alice Gray. I was in the middle of the chimp enclosure when the zookeepers brought out the bananas.

"Look, his parents didn't consult me when they named him, just accept it, deal with it, and let's move on," I seethed to no one in particular.

The raucous laughter continued echoing around me, filling my head until all I heard was mockery from the only people that were supposed to have my back.

Anger ignited a spark at my core. The heat of a million tiny silver particles multiplying frantically in my blood roared to life. The magic surged through my system towards the only outlet that existed once the energy took hold.

The moment that the tiny pin-pricks of silver welled in the pores of my skin, I heard the tinkle of silver leaves, laughing along joyously with the hilarity that my so-called friends took in the direness of my fate.

The jeers of glee continued all around me, the bastards oblivious to the power that built in the air close to my skin. When the particles began to fuse, the sequence of my life-force flowed bright and strong, reaching out of me as it sensed the rich, healthy witch magic of Evan and Anne and the hot, vital shifter energy around Sam.

I hadn't really been paying much attention before, but when I noticed how bright and vibrant Evan's blue life-force was, and how rich and strong Anne's golden glow looked, I felt a ripple of hunger.

The silver chimes sang their tune, loud and chaotic in my head. If these guys weren't going to help me with Brad, then they'd help me this way, whether they wanted to or not. A grin stretched out my face, wide over my teeth until the muscles in my cheeks ached.

I'd teach them to laugh at me.

The silver web of my magic reached out of me in coiling tendrils, the sequence of my life-force building layer upon layer of its unique pattern until finally I felt the moment that it touched the first bright particles of foreign magic.

My eyelids fluttered closed as the rush of energy burst into my bloodstream. I opened myself up to its wonder as my silver life-force consumed everything in its path. Weaving the particles of gold and blue magic into itself, adjusting their own patterns until they could be assimilated into the silver web, reaching out further, growing exponentially by the rate of magical energy that it consumed.

That I consumed.

Alice.

The growl rumbled around my head as the silver eyes of my companions looked at me from minds that were empty and ready to be filled with my command.

ALICE.

I pushed the deep, angry, animalistic sound out of my head. When it wouldn't go, I let the chimes of the silver leaves eat it up so that all that remained was an annoying vibration that continued underneath the high pitched notes of the silver tree.

I let my eyes drift back over to the glowing orbs that waited for my command.

The flimsy hotel door flew open, its cheap hinges groaning their objection.

My head twisted towards it, and when I saw the enormous biker dude with his disgusting smelly beard, I couldn't help licking my lips. His rich magical energy swelled over me as my body heated.

This guy had power. He was full of it. And I wanted it for myself.

The door slammed shut as he strode towards me. My eyes held his, the excitement of the coming feast making me dizzy with anticipation.

He stopped just before he reached me.

An odd giddy feeling that I hadn't experienced since childhood filled my entire body as the silver particles of my life-force massed around him. The sequence was strong, it was perfect. I waited for the moment when I would feel his foreign magic submit.

Nothing happened.

Doubt, dark and bitter, wriggled its way into my greed-riddled soul. I felt my manic grin drop without realising that my body recognised defeat even before my brain had acknowledged Ralph's greater strength.

"Lucas sent me, he wanted you to have this."

Ralph raised his hand, and placed his massive rough palm on my head. It easily encompassed the top of my skull. The moment that his grip tightened enough that I could feel the pads of his fingers hold my head, a million thoughts and emotions rushed into my consciousness.

My pack.

It all slammed into me. Lucas's frantic attempts to reach me when he sensed that I was losing control, and his devastation that I had shut myself out of the bond. I shouldn't have been able to do that. Only the Alpha could sever the bond.

But I hadn't severed it.

It was back now.

And when I looked at the empty silver eyes of my pack-mates bile burnt the back of my throat. I ran into the bathroom so that I wouldn't hurl all over the room that we all had to share for the next night. I locked the door behind me before sinking to the floor, shame pressing me down onto the cold, clammy tiles.

Oh yeah. That's why I needed the pack bond.

Oh Alice, you nearly lost it this time! How will she face them now?