Chapter Eight

“Strider,” the Alpha said sharply, “go get me water. Greg, I need you to call Albert. Brom - wait in my office for a call from Apollo, and take Samantha with you. Maria, I need you to calm her down.”

The wolves burst into action, but I couldn’t focus, considering the Alpha’s red eyes made me drown. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t look away, and he kept his stare on me, his hand still grabbing my hair. “Angela,” he said in a lower, raspier voice that it was almost a growl, “I need you to snap out of it.”

My lips turned dry, my body limp, and suddenly I felt a growing dizziness that darkness crawl through the edges of my sight…

But before I could close my eyes, someone splashed water on my face. Another voice snarled incoherently, and then I was lying in the Alpha’s arms, Strider on my side with a glass of water in his hand and his face scrunched in a scowl. He wet his hand and patted my forehead and my cheeks, as though I was a puppy. Maria crouched next to Strider, her hand on my chest, and even Albert was there, his fingers pressed against my temples. I felt a surge of claustrophobia, being surrounded by these wolves, and my breaths turned shallow and short.

“Dammit,” the Alpha snarled, “what’s wrong with her, Maria?”

“I - I’m not sure,” Maria whispered and I felt my heartbeat accelerating, “her emotions are blocked. Her Spirit is fighting me.”

“Fucking Apollo,” Strider hissed, “where is he when we need him?”

“She’s losing it,” Albert’s quiet voice murmured, “I can’t penetrate her mind - “

A sharp pain cut through my head like a knife, and a scream full or pain and rage ripped out of my throat. The pain spread through my entire body and I lost all control, struggling in the Alpha’s arms, sending fists and kicking the air blindly. I was screaming and screaming, everything a blur, and hysteria taking hold of my system. Fear immediately followed and with it an endless ocean of emotions that had been locked tightly before, and were now free of any reign.

A single moment of clear mind made me yell, “Out!” before coherence became a distant dream. I didn’t know if I was out of my body, or still inside, but I knew I couldn’t take it much longer. The pain made me choke and my emotions blur together, like a storm in the middle of winter. Joy, grief, horror, wrath, laughter, happiness, depression - everything together, and nothing prominent. It was a storm like nothing I’d ever felt, and I needed it to be out and let me be.

So take it out.

I barely realized I heard that strange voice of that inscrutable something inside me, and without the ability to think and to be, I shut my eyes and let go.

Terrible noise deafened me. I heard voices, listened to screams, felt an unbearable cold, and again saw nothing. I felt my back arching, my skin tightening, and my body stretching unnaturally.

And then - silence.

The pain was gone, the darkness disappeared, and my head finally cleared completely. I came back to myself slowly, feeling like I was in charge of my body again.

The first thing I saw was the cloudy sky. Glancing to the side, I saw I was laying like a rag doll on the grass. Gone was the room, with its dry heat, and instead was this open place, with wet grass and wet me.

Slowly, I sat up and looked around. I was in the middle of a huge field, and standing a good, safe distance from me were seven, huge wolves, pacing nervously, with the biggest of them in front of me. The wolf was black with eyes gorgeous, terrifying gold-red eyes. Instinctually, I knew it was the Alpha. The wolves were wet too, as though it had only just stopped raining, but how come I hadn’t felt a thing? Was I really that out of it?

It took me a few, long moments to stand up and when I did, some remaining dizziness made me almost fall down. At once, the black wolf was right in front of me - God, he was fast - and blinding light engulfed him. A second later, the Alpha of the Millennium stood before me in his human form, surprisingly fully clothed - when werewolves shapeshifted their clothes were ripped off and when they shifted into their human form, they were nude, or supposed to be nude - but I didn’t have time to ponder that because, at that exact moment, the Alpha lifted me up, put me over his shoulder in a firearm hold as though I weighed nothing.

I turned frigid when goosebumps rose on my skin, but then it was all gone when he started running in such a speed my breath left me. He moved so fast, everything turned into a blur, and I could barely see the wolves running after us. My heart pounded so loud, I knew he could hear.

Nausea would’ve made me pass out if the Alpha hadn’t stopped when he did, and the rest of the wolves along with him - only the wolves were now human, fully clothed as well. I hadn’t even noticed them shifting during the run. I also hadn’t realized we returned to the Alpha’s mansion.

It suddenly hit me how I must’ve looked like, thrown over the Alpha’s shoulder with my fat ass perked up to the sky, and my face reddened. If my position on his shoulder bothered him, the Alpha didn’t show it; instead, he was stiff as a rock, his muscles locked, and his hands grabbing my legs in an iron hold.

When we passed through the entrance hall, the wolves inside stared at me with awe and fear, as though they saw a ghost - or a Spirit, more likely. We went to the second floor, where we entered one of the room which was a lounge, apparently, with a lit-up fireplace and comfortable sofas. There were a few desks with computers, which was at odds with the antique style of the room.

The Alpha put me down on one of the sofas, the one that sat directly in front of the fireplace. He handed me a towel, while one was already wrapped around his neck. His damp hair seemed darker, and his lashes made drops fall onto his cheeks. He looked so sexy at that moment that I felt my face blush again. He didn’t look at me and instead turned to the wolves, who were also drying themselves up. I, however, couldn’t look away from him, noticing the way his shirt and jeans were plastered against his body, giving me a sneak peek into the body that hid beneath. I was too close to drooling to my liking that I had to look away, planting my eyes on the ground instead and wiping my hair in annoyance. Why the hell did I care about his looks? Why did I care about him at all?

I forced my thoughts away from the Alpha and on the situation at hand instead because it was way more important and crucial than the Alpha’s wet, hot state. “What happened?” I asked, my voice hoarse and raspy with misuse, as though I’d abstained from speaking for days.

Silence fell on the lounge. I knew that the explanation I would get wasn’t going to be good. The sofa gave in, and I glanced, seeing the Alpha sitting not too far from me. On my other side sat Strider, and I tried to understand what was his role in all of this. He was only a Guard, right? Why did he act like the Alpha’s right-hand?

The Alpha’s low, growly voice made me snap my attention back to him. “You lost control over your emotions,” he said, “and it made your Spirit go mad.”

It didn’t sound good. Not at all. “What happened?” I asked again, this time in a whisper.

“You created a hurricane,” he replied, voice dry all of a sudden. “The storm began when I took you out of the mansion, but it chased us until I brought you to that field. You were screaming all the way through, trying to get out of my hold, and eventually, the hurricane became a flood, all with thunders and lightning, and a small earthquake, too. Afterward, I put you on the ground, and we waited for you to wake up. We shifted into our wolf form so we would be able to restrain you more effectively if you were to lose your mind again.”

I winced at the word restrain. It made me feel like a cornered animal instead of a human being. Tears filled my eyes, but I took a deep breath and forced them down. I would not cry, no matter what. “I understand,” I muttered, “so this all S-Spirit thing… it’s real.” I lowered my head, hiding my face behind my hair.

“Yes,” was the Alpha’s simple reply.

I shuddered, disgusted with myself. I’d always disliked myself, maybe even hated, but now - I was disgusted by what I was. I’d never been a normal woman, what with my anger problems and mental issues, but now… Now I had something inside of me that caused chaos and disasters, and if that wasn’t detestable, I didn’t know what was.

I’m not a something. I’m a Spirit. I even have a name.

I turned into a stone. The Alpha and Strider froze as well. Again this voice in my head appeared. What the hell did he want from me?

It’s not a ‘he’, Angela. It’s a ‘she’. And my name is Tempest, thank you for asking.

Tempest? This voice had a name? I must’ve truly lost all traces of common sense if I was hearing voices in my head and giving them fictional names.

God help, but you’re stubborn, the voice murmured dryly. Why are you so insistent on not believing me when I tell you I’m a Spirit? I’m not a fragment of your imagination, girl. I’m a part of you, part of your soul. An inseparable part, too. Without me, you cannot exist. With you, I cannot exist. We’re stuck together for eternity - since, thanks to me, you’re immortal.

Immortal? No, it couldn’t be. This voice - this madness - it’s lying to me. I couldn’t be immortal. Only the Alpha of the Millennium was immortal. No one else was fucking immortal!

The voice sighed - dammit, I heard sighing voices! What the hell was wrong with me? You forgot what Samantha Lawrence told you, the voice said, Apollo was born in 269 and he’s still alive. How do you think he’s alive after almost two-thousand years?

“Leave me alone!” I called, putting my head in my hands. “Get out of my head!”

Yes, talk loud, stupid girl. That way Frederick Rhodes and Strider Luxford will consider you mad. Very wise. I was sure the voice was snorting, mocking me, now. But voices weren’t supposed to snort. There wasn’t supposed to be a voice in my head to begin with!

“Angela, what’s going on?” the Alpha asked demandingly. He was now on his knees before me, looking at me straight in the eye. “Who do you want to get out of your head?”

I couldn’t tell him I was hearing voices. He would laugh at me, or worse - think I was mental. It was more than enough that I thought so. “S-Sorry,” I mumbled, blushing in humiliation, “I just remembered something…” I trailed off.

The Alpha’s face turned unreadable, as it seemed to do often. “I see,” he said, and I knew he didn’t buy my little lie. The blush on my face deepened.

In my head, the voice hollered with laughter.