Alpha Brothers - the King (book 1)

Chapter 22

Chapter 22
Callum
When I spotted the young witch on the void floor with Archie staring blankly at her, I couldn't help but be annoyed. He was just letting her lie there in the open for everyone to see her. Was he crazy?
"What do you think your doin'?" I asked, halting to a stop.
"I was waitin' for you," he said as if I was in the wrong.
"So you just lied her on the floor for everybody to see?"
"Hold your horses," he groaned, scooping her up in his arms, "Everybody's at the field. You should know that."
I cupped my hand over my eyes, trying to get my thoughts in order. He was right. Everybody that lived in the house was helping set up the field.
"Where's Graham?" Archie asked as we began to make our way to the basement.
"He's got somethin' in the village. How the hell did you manage it?" I asked, amazed that my brother was standing next to me with not even a scratch on him.
"It was quite easily, actually. See little miss, Blue Flower here, isn't very good at her magic. All it took was her to step outside of her coven gates, Ian to throw a bit of sleeping powder in her face and out she went."
"How long till she wakes?" I asked.
He shrugged, "We keep givin' her antiseptic every few hours. Just in case."
I nodded.
When we got to the steal door that kept Harrison in, I stopped him.
"Don't let him see her until he answers the questions," I told him.
He paused thinking for a moment, then nodded and gestured to the other door across the hall. I nodded and opened it for him.
When the witch was safely behind the door, we jumped at the voice behind us.
"Do you two need some help?"
"Jesus Christ Malcolm," I snapped trying to get my breath.
All he did was chuckle.
"And no we don't -."
"We would love your help, thank you Malcolm," I buttered in before Archie finished.
He gave me a death stare but I didn't care. There was a wedge between them that needed to be fixed. Not to mention how much Malcolm probably wanted to confirm his theory.
As soon as we entered the room, Harrison started to pull against his bonds and his lime wolf eyes start to show.
"Calm down Harrison, we brin' gifts," Archie reassure him as we took our places in the room.
Archie and I standing in front of Harrison with our arms crossed and Malcolm in the corner, amongst the shadows.
"Where is she?" He growled, his voice unrecognisable.
"She's asleep. You're not gettin' her till you answer our questions," I told him.
"That wasn't the deal!" He yelled, shaking his bonded hands.
"Our deal was that we get your witch and you answer our questions. We've got your witch," Archie told him with a growing grin.
"No!" He growled.
"Stop fightin', Harrison. There's no point."
At my words he slowly started to calm down and stopped thrashing.
"You're Alpha, who is he?"
He rolled his eyes, "Hector Macangus."
Anger ripped through my body and began to strangle me.
"For how long?" Archie asked.
"Only for a couple of months."
"And what were you doin' in our territory?"
He sighed, "Macangus told me to appear as a rogue and spy on things. He has been doin' it with other members of his pack as well. So when he found out that Alpha King over there had a mate he wanted me to mess with him."
"By drownin' my mate," I growled stepping forward till Archie hit my chest.
"I didn' kill her, did I?"
"But you didn't mind her thinkin' that you would."
"Callum," Malcolm snapped, making me realize how unrecognisable my voice was.
"It was an order," he told me, "from the top of the food chain you don't see the crap rogues like me go through. Anythin' I need to do to survive, I will."
I narrowed my eyes trying to contain my anger. I was a hypocrite. I was angry at someone who tried to kill my mate to survive. But I was willing to trade the life of a young girl for my mate.
"Where's Nathair?"
I frowned at Archie's question, not realising that I wanted to know too.
"How the hell would I know?"
Archie shrugged, "little guy, I'm sure you can hide places where people don't realize that their conversation is bein' listened to."
He scoffed and rolled his eyes, "he's now livin' in the pack. His still under protection but he's out of the safe house."
"Right we will -."
"Talk about that later," I jumped in before Archie could finish.
Archie frowned at me but nodded.
"Is that all your questions?" Harrison asked.
"Is it just our pack that Macangus was spyin' on?" I asked.
He shook his head, "all the packs that border his."
I nodded. That included Ewart's pack.
I turned to Archie and he nodded that we were done.
"Okay Harrison. We're goin' to let you go with your witch. If we see you or her back here, we won't be so nice."
He rolled his eyes at Archie's threat.
"We want your word."
"Fine, whatever. I give you my word not to ever return again."
It was pathetic. But my wolf senses were telling me that I could somehow trust him on that.
I turned to Archie to see if he agreed and he shrugged and dug out a key from his back pocket.
"No funny business," Archie warned, unlocking him.
"Does it look like I could win a fight with you?" He asked.
Archie shrugged, agreeing and stepped back once Harrison's chains fell to the ground. I had forgotten how short he was once he stood. No wonder he needed a witch.
"We will give you a car," at my statement, my brother's eyes widened, "not for you, do you hear me? It's for the witch. I don't want to hear anythin' more of you or of Blue Flower, you got that."
He rolled his eyes at my threat.
"Hey," Archie snapped, "show him respect. He's your king."
Again, he just rolled his eyes.
"I just want my witch."
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes.
"Archie, get him his witch," I ordered.
Archie nodded as we all moved out into the hall. I couldn't watch Archie hand her over. I couldn't describe the affect it had on me. Like I was hurting someone close to me but I couldn't figure out who.
I took the short cut to the library. When I saw the lounge, I paced over to it and flopped my whole body down, letting out a breath of air.
If I could turn back time, I would never have accepted the title. I should have given it up when I had the chance. My pack was so supportive in allowing me to have the title. When I had suggested that we fight it out, everyone, including my siblings had backed down. Everyone had wanted me to take the title. I had at one point too. But I guess I never thought it would happen. I thought it would happen when I was sixty and the title would past straight down to my children.
When I heard the door open, I sat up and smiled when Liv stumbled through with a canvas in her hands.
"Oh, hey Callum," she said, shuffling over to the window.
"Hey, when did you get back?" I asked.
"Mm, about ten minutes ago."
"What are you doin'?" I asked, chuckling as I watched her.
"Um, looking for inspiration," she said shifting this canvas on an angle and lining up the light.
"And what's your inspiration?"
Looking me dead in the eyes, she ordered, "shift."
"E-excuse me?" I stuttered not believing I heard her right.
"The day we met, well, the day I met you, you said that you were an art fan. You also said that you were only interested in wolf art, so..."
When she didn't finished, I realized that she wanted me to connect the dots.
"Liv, you're supposed to paint what you want to paint. Not what I want -."
"But you don't get it. I'll be painting you."
I frowned, standing and walking over to her.
"I'll be painting you which is something that I want to paint."
I still didn't believe her.
"In my wolf form?" I asked.
She nodded. I sighed and gave in.
"Okay."
I stood in the middle of the room, away from all the furniture. I stripped down to nothing and allowed the wolf to raise up inside of me. My skin melted away and black fur replaced it. Bones dissolved and new ones grew. My hands and feet were replaced by claws and I now stood on four legs instead of two.
Everything was black and white but a ring of gold circled my mate as she stood very still, looking at me.
"Can you understand me?"
The human inside of me recognised that words and I nodded.
"Okay, um, come here."
I did as she ordered and moved closer to where she was surrounded by light.
"Okay, sit."
I did as she asked making her giggle. I watched her curiously as she used a stick to draw something on a large white square. What was my mate doing?
"Stay still, Callum."
I recognised my human name and tried to remain in the same sitting position.
We were silent for moments and I started to yearn to hear her voice. I started to whimper making a grin spread across her face and she started to giggle.
"I don't speak wolf Callum," she chuckled, focusing on the white square instead of me.
I whimpered louder and took a step forward to try and get her attention.
"Callum, stay still," she ordered.
I went back to my position, whimpering as I did.
"God, you're worse than a dog."
At her words, I frowned. Why did my mate think I was a dog?
"Are you bored? Is that your problem?"
I thought about her question trying to process them through my wolf brain. I didn't understand them but I didn't want her to stop talking.
She sighed, "It's not like we can talk -"
At the word talk, I nodded making her pause.
"Talk? You want me to talk."
Excitement built up inside of me, bringing me to my four feet.
"Okay, fine, I'll talk if you stay still."
I sat down and waited till I heard her beautiful voice again.
She continued to talk about the past though I only understood half of it. All I wanted to do was transform into my other form and translate the words through my human brain.
By the time she was finished the sun had almost set outside and she had to turn on the three small tree like objects. Light brighter than the sun came from them making everything sunny.
My mate sighed and walked over to me. Excitement burst through me again, bringing me to a stand. She was so small for a human. I was eye level to her and because of my ears, I was taller than her.
I nudge my head at her and shifted on my feet, trying to tell her to touch me. She giggled and cautiously ran her fingers through my fur. She wasn't frightened but cautious to how I would react to her. When I sensed her calmness, I took a step forward and bowed my head and rub it against her thighs. From here, I felt fingers scratch between my shoulder blades making soft rumbles escape my lips. My tail began to wag and my two front legs collapse at the pleasure. Her hands scratched up my back making my body moved to match her rhythm. Without control, I fell to the ground and rolled on my back. My mate followed me down and so much like a wolf, started to bury her head in my fur. The human inside of me raised up inside of me causing me to change to a different form.
My whole body felt refreshed, like I had just come out of the shower. My wolf thoughts quickly being processed through my human brain making me try and connect the dots.
Liv straddled me and knelt down to kiss my lips.
Inches from them, she asked, "show me your wolf eyes?"
Without a thought, I showed them to her making her go speechless.
She cupped my cheeks and gently brushed under my eyes. I watched her lips slightly mouthed beautiful before she took my lips in mine.
My whole body reacted to hers when I felt her fingers started to trace my tattoo. I felt her pull back but I didn't mind. Her fingers on my body was just as pleasurable.
"Why the crescent moon and star? You're not Muslim, are you?"
I chuckled at her question.
"No, I'm not a Muslim. It's the symbol of my pack. Each pack has their own symbol, the crescent moon and star is ours."
"Do the others have the tattoo?" she asked.
I nodded, "I got it done when I was eighteen and then Malcolm and Archie got it done together. I guess it became a trend. Ma was furious when she found out."
She giggled, "Not your Dad."
I shook my head, "Everythin' would have been fine if Allie didn't get it. Pa brought her round eventually."
She giggled at that and continued to trace the tattoo.
"You said that Malcom and Archie got theirs together. Were they close?"
I nodded, "They were. They're barely a year apart so, aye, they were close. That's why it has been so hard for Archie to forgive him."
"But, surely Archie understands that –,"
"He understands," I told her, "But understandin' is different to forgivin',"
She nodded.
"So, you don't blame him for shutting himself away?"
I shrugged, "I didn't understand the feelin', not until I met you. And that's what Archie's havin' trouble with. He doesn't understand what it feels like to have a mate or someone that is important to him and to lose them."
"But you haven't lost me," she stated.
"There were times where I thought I had."
She frowned.
"When I first saw you in the gully, when I heard that you were dancin' with Macangus, when I saw you splashin' in the bath. There's not a single moment that I'm not scared of loosin' you."
"Don't be scared," she told me.
"That's easier said than done."