Alpha Devotion: Paranormal Romance Collection Read online

  6

  Draven watched as the cab drove away. Morgan didn’t even so much as glance back and Draven knew then how much he had hurt her. He felt like his world was falling apart and he didn’t even know how they had ended up here. He had really thought Morgan was into it last night. No, he hadn’t just thought she was into it; he knew she was. So why was she so pissed off with him now? It just didn’t make any sense to him.

  He couldn’t work it out. He had no idea what had gone wrong. He did know that he couldn’t face his parents right now, though. He went into the house and found a notebook and pen on the little table at the bottom of the stairs. He scrawled out a quick note—gone for a walk, catch up later—and went into the kitchen and left it beside the coffee machine where he knew they would see it. He knew that they would assume he meant both he and Morgan had gone off together somewhere and the thought of their happiness at him finding love, smiling at the thought of him and Morgan walking through the countryside hand in hand, giggling and sneaking kisses, made him feel sick for a moment.

  He shook off the feeling and ran back upstairs. He pushed his feet into his sneakers and grabbed his cell phone and then he went back downstairs and let himself out of the front door. As he made his way down the path, he was almost waiting for the door to open behind him and one of his parents to appear, demanding to know where Morgan was. It didn’t happen and Draven started to relax as he walked along a winding path through the fields opposite the house.

  He walked for a good hour and then he came across a small stream. He sat down beside the stream and took his shoes and socks off, rolled his jeans up to his knees, and put his feet in the water. He gasped when they made contact with the icy cold water, but he forced himself to leave them in the stream and after a few minutes, it didn’t feel so cold anymore. He lay back on the grass and closed his eyes.

  All he could see when he closed them was Morgan. He missed her already and he cursed himself once more for upsetting her this way. He never should have asked her to act as his pretend mate-to-be. He should have just refused the stupid enchantment and let himself be banished, let his parents argue their way out of losing control of the pack. At least then Morgan wouldn’t hate him.

  Sighing, he sat back up and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He unlocked the screen and scrolled through his recent call list until he found Morgan’s name. He hit call and brought his cell phone up to his ear, listening to it ring on Morgan’s end. The call went to voicemail, unanswered, ignored on purpose most likely, and Draven cut it off. He opened his text messages and typed out a message to Morgan.

  “I really am so sorry, Morgan. I don’t know what else to say. Please talk to me. D x”

  He hit send and waited. No message came back. He told himself he would just have to talk to his parents and then go back to the city immediately afterwards and see if he could get Morgan to forgive him. He didn’t want to wait until Monday to sort this out. She was his best friend and he needed her in his life.

  Draven’s dragon began to stir inside of him as his insides churned and he sighed again. He couldn’t believe how quickly things had fallen apart. Last night had been one of the best nights of his life, and now this, the worst day of his life by far. And he was still no further forward with breaking the enchantment, and his parents were going to be on his case even more once he told them that he and Morgan were over before they had really begun.

  “Yup. You made a fucking mess of all of this, Draven,” he said to himself. “A fucking mess indeed.”

  7

  Morgan was still sitting in the cab. She was starting to get restless now, feeling like she had been in it for far too long, and still they were driving through the countryside. How much longer before we even hit civilization? Morgan wondered.

  “Excuse me?” Morgan said to the cab driver. “Where exactly are you taking me?”

  “To the train station, ma’am,” the cab driver said, glancing over his shoulder at her. “That’s what you asked for, right?”

  “Right,” Morgan said. “I didn’t realize it would be so far away. We went to a restaurant last night and it was only about a ten-minute drive.”

  “Yeah, that was likely in the village I came out from to collect you. There’s no station there. We’re about half an hour away from the next big town and then we’ll hit the station in another ten minutes or so once we’re in town. Depending on the traffic, of course. What time is your train?”

  “I don’t have a specific one booked. I’ll just catch the next one,” Morgan said.

  The cab driver nodded.

  “They run pretty much every half hour in both directions so you shouldn’t have too long of a wait,” the cab driver said.

  Morgan fell quiet again, watching the countryside pass by. A few cars passed them in the opposite direction but they were few and far between. Had it really taken this long driving through the countryside on the way here? Morgan couldn’t remember. She had been less interested in the scenery on the way out here and more interested in acting her role.

  She felt a spear of pain in her stomach as she thought of the journey to the cottage, sitting beside Draven and chatting away about their plans for the weekend. It felt like a lifetime ago now, but at the same time, it felt all too fresh and painful.

  “Oh, fucking hell!” the cab driver exclaimed. He caught himself and glanced back at Morgan, blushing slightly. “Sorry for the language there, ma’am.”

  Morgan waved his apology away as he applied the brakes and she peered between the seats to see what was going on. Her heart sank when she saw it. A car was stretched across both lanes of the road, blocking it completely, smoke pouring out from beneath the hood.

  “Looks like there’s been an accident or something,” the cab driver said. He pulled to the side of the road in front of the car. “I’ll go and see what’s going on.”

  He got out of the car and Morgan sighed again. It was like she was fated not to get back home any time soon. She could feel herself getting angry, but she swallowed it down. Her frustration wasn’t going to get her home any sooner. If anything, it would just make it feel as though the time was passing by even more slowly.

  She watched as the cab driver approached the car and spoke to the man who was leaning into the hood of the car, peering at the engine. Morgan thought maybe they hadn’t had an accident but rather had broken down, maybe skidding as the engine failed. She thought that was actually worse. It would take much longer to get a recovery service out here than it would have taken to get the police out here if there had been an accident.

  Morgan watched as the man straightened up, pulling himself out from beneath the hood. The passenger door of the car opened and another man stepped out. Morgan frowned, her instincts telling her something was off about this, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. The two men stood on either side of the cab driver.

  As Morgan watched, one of them turned and started to run toward the cab. At the same time, the other one swung out with his fist, smacking the cab driver in the temple. The cab driver went down. Morgan jumped from the cab, her dragon stirring inside of her.

  “What the hell is going on here?” she demanded.

  The man who was running toward the cab reached her and grabbed her by the top of her arm. She tried to pull her arm away, but his grip was too strong. Morgan told herself to relax. If things got too far out of hand, she would simply turn into a dragon and then the men would regret choosing this course of action.

  “Come quietly and no one gets hurt,” the man hissed in Morgan’s ear.

  “I don’t fucking think so,” Morgan snapped, standing her ground. “What’s going on?”

  “I’ll tell you what’s going on,” the man said. “Either you come quietly or I make a phone call, and the men I have surrounding Creely Cottage burn the place to the ground. With your precious boyfriend and the ruling couple inside. Which is it to be? I’m easy either way.”

  Morgan’s mind was working overtime. This man k
new exactly where to find Draven, Joy, and Miller. And he knew who they were. That could only mean he was a dragon himself, and that he had been watching them for some reason. Waiting for this chance maybe.

  “Who are you? What do you want from me?” Morgan snapped.

  “That’s a long story, Morgan, and right now, we’re risking being seen. We’ll explain everything once we have you somewhere nice and quiet,” he said.

  “Like hell,” Morgan said.

  She let her dragon come forth and began to turn. She felt scales exploding over her body, power flooding through her veins.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” the other man shouted. “Unless you want this man’s blood on your hands.”

  Morgan glanced over at them. The man stood over the cab driver, who was still unconscious on the ground. He held a blade to the man’s throat. Reluctantly, Morgan swallowed her dragon back down, feeling the scales receding, her power ebbing away. The man with the knife smiled at her.

  “Good choice,” he said.

  The man holding her arm began to move and Morgan felt herself being dragged along. She gave up resisting the pull and walked normally. The man stopped pulling at her arm, walking by her side, although he didn’t relax his grip on her. Morgan figured the best plan was for her to wait until the men were far enough away from the cab driver to be able to hurt him, and then turn and end this thing.

  “Ow!” Morgan cried indignantly when they reached the other car and she felt a needle being jabbed into her arm. “What the hell was that?”

  “Just a little insurance,” her captor grinned. “It’ll stop you turning.”

  Morgan instantly tried to bring out her dragon and panic flooded her when she couldn’t do it. The men had successfully neutralized her dragon. The second man moved away from the cab driver and opened the back door of the car. The man holding Morgan shoved her roughly toward the open door.

  “Get in,” he commanded.

  “Wait,” Morgan said. She knew she was risking her life by arguing with the men, but she couldn’t just get in the car and let them kill the cab driver. She nodded toward him. “Whatever this is, he has nothing to do with it.”

  “And as long as you cooperate, he won’t be harmed. He’s unconscious, but that’s all,” one of the men said.

  Morgan knew it was the best she could do for the cab driver and she let herself be pushed into the car. The door slammed behind her. As soon as the men turned away, Morgan reached for the handle of the door. It wouldn’t budge. She leaned across the seat, already knowing the other door would be stuck fast but needing to try it anyway. She was right; the door handle wouldn’t budge.

  A sheet of metal grating covered the seat backs in front of her, keeping her from moving to the front of the car, and she knew with her dragon subdued, she wouldn’t be strong enough to kick it down. She thought about trying anyway, but she knew if she did, she was signing the cab driver’s death warrant and she didn’t want that hanging over her head.

  She watched out of the window as the two men dragged the cab driver to the side of the road. At least they’re not leaving him where he could be run over, Morgan thought to herself. One of them moved to the cab and came out clutching her handbag and suitcase. He walked to the trunk of the car and threw them in there.

  “That’ll stop the police learning they have a missing person if someone spots the cab driver and calls them,” he said in a self-satisfied tone that made Morgan want to roll her eyes.

  The other man slammed the hood closed and both men got into the front seats of the car. The engine started on the first go and Morgan gasped. The men laughed.

  “There was no engine trouble,” one of them said. “Just a bit of steam to make it look good.”

  The driver turned the car back onto the road and they sped off.

  “Where are you taking me?” Morgan asked. “Who are you?”

  The men exchanged glances and the driver shrugged.

  “I’m Shem and this is Marty,” he said. “And you’ll see where we’re taking you soon enough.”

  “What is this? What do you want with me?” Morgan demanded.

  Shem sighed.

  “Listen, lady, enough with the questions. When we get where we’re going, we’ll explain everything. Or maybe we won’t. But for now, just sit back, relax, and enjoy the view, okay?”

  Morgan felt like she would never be able to relax again, but Shem and Marty were just ignoring her questions now and eventually, she fell silent, trying to work out who they were and what they wanted from her.

  Morgan glanced at her watch. It was almost noon and she had been in the cage now for nearly an hour. That meant she was about three hours’ drive away from the cottage. She had no real idea where that put her geographically, and it made no difference anyway. It wasn’t like she could call the police or anything.

  The men had hauled her from the car when they reached this area, a mountainous area covered in rocks and large trees, still in the middle of nowhere. They had dragged her into a cave and she had baulked when she saw the large metal cage inside, but as much as she had tried to resist the men, they had pulled her to the cage like she weighed nothing. She had been thrown inside and the door was locked and then the men had left her there alone.

  Morgan could see no way out of this. At least not until whatever they had injected into her to curb her dragon wore off. Then she would be able to turn again and she knew her dragon would be strong enough to get through the bars.

  Morgan sighed. She felt all churned up inside, a mixture of fear and yes, as strange as it felt to admit it, boredom. Each minute that passed felt like an hour. Morgan jumped up from the floor where she sat when she heard footsteps approaching the cave.

  “Hello? Is someone out there? Please help me!” Morgan shouted.

  She heard a laugh and then Shem came into sight.

  “Do you really think we’re keeping you where people will be walking by?” he said, shaking his head.

  Morgan shrugged her shoulders. She hadn’t really thought that at all, but it would have been foolish not to at least try and attract someone’s attention when she heard movement.

  “I think it’s time you learn the truth about why you’re here. Don’t you?” Shem said.

  Morgan nodded her head. Although she was afraid to hear she was going to be killed or used in some awful way, she thought the not knowing had to be even worse. She had imagined some awful scenarios and surely the truth couldn’t be as bad as the things her imagination had cooked up.

  “As you know, my name is Shem. What you don’t know is that I am the alpha dragon of the resistance movement pack, and you, dear Morgan, have just become a big part of that,” Shem said.

  “I don’t understand,” Morgan said, frowning.

  “Oh, come on now, don’t play dumb with me. Surely Draven has told you about us.”

  Morgan thought for a moment and then her eyes widened.

  “You’re part of the pack who wants to overthrow the ruling couple and take over,” she said.

  “Not exactly,” Shem smiled. “I have no intentions of taking over anything. We believe that every pack should be free to live their own way, by their own rules. The idea of one supreme ruler, or two in this case, is outdated and things need to change.”

  “So, let me guess,” Morgan said. “You think you can use me as some sort of bargaining chip? Get the ruling couple to give up their power in exchange for my life?”

  Shem nodded and smiled.

  “You catch on quickly,” he said.

  “You’re wasting your time,” Morgan said with a bitter laugh. “The ruling couple doesn’t care about me.”

  “Oh, don’t worry, we know that. I mean, it’s nothing personal, I’m sure they think you’re a great match for their son and all that, but they have no interest in even hearing us out, let alone negotiating with us. They would happily sacrifice your life and condone it by saying it was for the good of the whole pack,” Shem said.

  �
�So what? You’re going to kill me either way just to send some sort of a message? Tell the pack what happened and hope they overthrow the ruling couple themselves?” Morgan asked.

  “No,” Shem said. “We did consider that. But Marty, he’s my beta by the way, brought up a very good point. There is a chance the pack would rebel against the ruling couple if they learned what they had done. But there is also a chance they would sympathize with them. And then they would become even more heroic in the eyes of the pack. Making the hardest choice to save them and all that, you know.”

  “Right,” Morgan said. “So, what’s your plan?”

  She didn’t really expect Shem to tell her, but he smiled and started to explain.

  “Well, the ruling couple might be willing to sacrifice your life to save the whole pack. But they’re not going to sacrifice their own son’s life, not for anything. So we plan on using you to draw him in.”

  Morgan actually laughed. She couldn’t help herself. Shem raised an eyebrow at her laughter and Morgan shook her head.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just ironic. Your plan would have been genius except for one thing. Draven doesn’t care about me any more than his parents do.”

  “You’re his one true mate. You expect me to believe he doesn’t care about you?” Shem said.

  “I’m not his one true mate. He asked me to play the role to fool his parents so they don’t question why the enchantment isn’t working. He doesn’t want a mate,” Morgan said.

  “Is that what he’s telling himself? Oh, that’s cute,” Shem said.

  It was Morgan’s turn to raise an eyebrow.