Jos's POV
I wonder what is happening with my friend? All of a sudden, she stopped moving and is now looking at an empty spot in the kitchen... is she looking at one of them? One of our pack members that I can't see? a ghost?
This is so awkward, should I ask what's happening?
"They dare".
I flinch at her voice, it sounds like always... like that monotone calm voice but it feels different, angry and vicious.
I feel shivers all over my body.
I know she's angry, I know because she's my alpha, we know when our alpha is angry and we feel incited by their feelings, that's why for many packs is hard to say no to their alpha.
The air arounds us gets colder, black smoke starts covering the kitchen floor, the windows shake, and I find it hard to breath... I feel as if I'm standing at death's door.
Like a small rabbit in front of a tiger.
"They dare...!!" she talks with gritted teeth.
I can see the veins in her neck popping, her voice even raises a little, she gets up from the seat she was sitting on and starts walking towards the exit of the pack house.
"Allie?" Lucas asks.
Goddess, I love this man. He puts a hand on her shoulder, and she stops walking.
She turns to us, and we both flinch, her gaze ice cold but if you look long enough you will see the anger hidden behind. A fire-like anger ready to gobble up everything in its path.
A shadow starts appearing in front of us and the heavy feeling in my chest gets worse. I feel like I'm in a dark tunnel and that shadow is waiting for me at the end, ready to eat me whole, to make me disappear into nothingness.
That must be him, right? Benjamin? This is different from what Allie told me, she told me it was just a man-shaped shadow, this is not just a shadow! It's wicked, wrong, it's like watching death standing in front of us.
I turn to look at Lucas and he's pale, trembling just like me.
Has she been watching this all this time? How...? How is she still sane? Just being near this thing is making me nauseous, just seeing him makes me wish to die if that's the only way to get away from it.
"...Kill them" she whispers, it was so low that I almost didn't hear her. "I will kill them" I hear Allie's vicious voice again. Snapping me out of it.
"Allie" The monster talks, no... stop, he's not a monster, he's a pack member.
He's my ally, an ally, an ally, an ally. I hope that if I repeat it long enough, I will convince myself of it.
"Calm down, we need to hurry but going like this is not going to help Linda or Wes" the shadow talks. Wes? He means Wesley? and Linda? The rogue queen? Is something wrong with them?
Allie takes a deep breath "...I'm calm" she says, her gaze still cold "Jos, are you fast?"
"What?".
Why is she asking me this?
"We don't have time, Linda's in danger. Are you fast?".
How did she know I was fast? I never told her.
"The fastest" I reply with a cocky smile.
How the hell did I calm down this fast? This must be what turning into Beta does to you.
"Then shift".
What? Now?
"I will ride your back, Lucas, stay here, I need you to cover for us" she instructs with a clear voice.
"They will see you running out!" Lucas shouts and I see Allie's amuse and wicked smile.
"They will not" she says with dangerous confidence "No one ever see death getting closer until it's too late"
I feel a thick drop of sweat running down my back, and I know Lucas feels the same...
I love her to the moon and back, but she can be scary when she acts like this. When I feel this, I only have one thought in my head: 'I'm glad I'm not her enemy'.
Allie nonchalantly starts walking towards the main door, and I follow behind her. The black mist comes out with each step she takes and starts to cover us, making a small dome around us. This mist feels chilly and scary but weirdly soothing.
I... I want to touch it, I think it'll feel like my mama's embrace when I was a child, a safe heaven just for me... I want to touch it, no, I need to touch it.
I extend my hand towards the mist.
"Don't touch it" Allie's stern voice makes me flinch; I feel like a spell was broken with her voice... how did she know I was trying to touch it? I'm walking behind her.
"Will it hurt me?" I jerked away from the mist and get closer to her.
"No, but... it feels weirdly soothing, right? It's because death is soothing, scary and unknown but welcoming. You should not feel death the same as me, as an everyday inconvenience, if you touch it, you will feel the energy I use to create it, and the living should not feel the death, not like this"
What she says is really confusing but I know she must have a really heavy meaning behind those words, she always does.
We start walking next to a couple of pack members and I hold my breath, shit, they're going to catch us.
We pass right next to them, but they don't even glance at us.
What the fuck? Dude, we passed like 2 feet away from you! I feel disappointed at this useless guards.
"They can't see us, Jos" Allie explains to me, and I shiver.
She can do that? Then why did she stay here? Why did she stay in the pack house after Nick's kidnapping?
"I was alone. Had Blacky been with me since day one, I would've left this place without you even noticing but I was alone when I reached this place, and by the time I met Ben, I already wanted to stay for my mischief".
What the hell? Can she read minds?
"It seems you wanted to ask, that's why I'm answering before you do".
We reach the forest and I take my clothes off; Allie folds them and holds them, and I stand on my fours, I feel the familiar sensation of my bones cracking and after a couple seconds Freya's body is standing in front of Allie.
Allie looks at me with a curious gaze and smiles like a child.
"I knew you were beautiful Freya, but you still took my breath away, if we weren't in such a hurry, I would pet you" I feel Freya's embarrassment, but I know she liked it.
Allie doesn't say anything and climbs on my back.
"Follow Ben" she instructs, and I start running, following my scary pack member.
I run as fast as my legs let me, I don't know the rogue queen or Wesley, but I don't need to know them.
They're important to Allie, so they're important to me. I refuse to let my friend see the ghost of a close friend. I will not die, and I will not let others die.
I don't want her to be further away from the living, I don't want her only interaction to be with dead people, I still remember how she told me I was her first living friend... at the time I didn't understand but now... it feels so unfair, she's so kind, even when she doesn't want to admit it, and no one knows what she does. How she sacrifices herself for the sake of others.
"Focus" Allie's voice takes me back from my thoughts again.
I push myself harder, speeding up.
-We can do this, Freya- I speak to my wolf.
-We'll get there on time, we will not let her down- Freya reassures me.
We pass the limit of the pack's territory and reach a thick part of the forest. I freeze at the view. A wicked, dangerous looking man is choking a tall man, a woman covered in blood is flat on the floor just a few feet away from them, she's awake but heavily injured, it seems she's desperately trying to get up and aid the man under the choke.
"I'll deal with the recoil, get him" I hear Allie's dangerously cold voice.
Who is she talking to? It doesn't seem she's talking with Ben.
The dome that was covering us dissipates and the mist starts covering the ground, it feels different than earlier, before it was like a scary but strangely soothing blanket, now it's like a natural disaster, ready to destroy us.
"Allie...?" The woman on the floor says while gasping in pain.
"It's alright Linda, thank you for trying to save my pack member. I'll take it from here" Allie says with a calm expression on her face.