Alpha Asher By Jane Doe

Chapter 211

I was so unfathomably tired of death.

The pale rider and I knew each other intimately. We were partners in a dance I no longer remembered the movements for, one I wished would end already but knew never would.

There were so many fallen wolves. So many families to contact, so many devastating blows to land.

Just as many, if not more, witches littered the ground.

They had friends, I‘m sure. Families that would wonder where they were or if they were ever coming back. They would be mourned by someone, somewhere.

It had taken me months to no longer have nightmares of my father‘s severed head tumbling from his shoulders, rolling across the ground in a sea of blood. Every

time I escaped the pull of a nightmare, a new one sprouted in its place, brought on by all of the death and carnage.

Even now, after all these months, I couldn‘t even look at grass without seeing flashes of it covered in blood.

I kept to Asher‘s side, shifting between human and wolf as I killed in both forms. Each life I took broke something inside of me that could never be fixed.

Asher was horrifically elegant in his wolf form, slashing throats and sinking his teeth into anything that wielded magic. He knew the dance moves, knew death much longer than I had. There were rare beings in this world born and bred to send people to the other side.

Asher was one of these beings. The more ! killed and slaughtered, the faster I realized that I was not.

So, I piggybacked off his strength and ferocity, letting his one–track mind

smother my feelings of regret and doubt.

We searched through the sea of crimson high and low looking for Ember, but she wasn‘t here.

I used my magic sparingly, diffusing some of the more powerful witches before they had a chance to kill any more of our warriors. I‘d just slashed through a miniature fucking tornado when I hesitated.

The witch that had conjured it was a child, barely a pre–teen.

Her face was round, her cheeks plump and flushed with blood. The rise and fall of her chest were heavy, spattered with blood that could‘ve easily been hers or someone else‘s. Seeing my hesitation, she blinked in surprise. Her lips opened to form a small‘o,‘ and her fingers twitched like she wasn‘t sure what to do next.

Staring at her through Maya‘s eyes, all I could think was that she wasn’t supposed

she tried again and again to pick the perfect outfit for her first day. Worried about crappy boyfriends

kill her, and my hesitation almost

as she twisted it into a sneer. Asher‘s voice bellowed through the mind–link

‘Lola, watch out!

rolled to the left, partially thrown by Asher as he barreled into the witch creeping up behind me, a curved blade in her

wheat–colored fur tackled the young witch and crushed her neck in its maw. The warrior dropped the dying

fuck was that, Lola?‘ Asher panted, letting out a huff of hot air from

look at him. I couldn‘t. The girl was laying there, gurgling as she choked on her own blood. Within seconds the light faded from

Asher.‘ I whispered. ‘She‘s a child.‘

his strength, he had a heart just like anyone else, and I could feel it ache for the girl. It was

hold his head high.

He replied

closed my eyes, hearing nothing but the carnage that

he brushed his snout along my neck. His voice circled my head, full of such warmth and understanding that I wanted to cry.

stop it. You have the power,

permission, or perhaps support, because the moment I had Asher‘s approval, magic

I knew just how to end it.

the image of her locked away in a cell as

and stone scattering in all directions. It stung as it pelted my face and arms, but the clothes I kept as I shifted

my body that reminded me of having over a dozen extra limbs. I swung my arms to the left,

were lifted into the

roots wrapped around them,

remained pinned in place. Witches scrambled to escape the roots I commanded left and right. I began to tire so quickly that I had to bite my tongue to keep from crying out when they began retreating

where I‘d pierced my tongue, but I held on until the witches were driven back into the forest,

erupted in an orchestra of deafening howls. Snouts were turned towards the sky and victories were bellowed in the only song we

up at Asher, losing myself in

He said, his voice oozing

of this was to end the fight, to stop the senseless killing.

to get easier.” I grumbled.

using it a lot lately.” Asher

going to have to keep using it. I’ve got a town of Vampire’s

I chuckled weakly, “Tell Cordelia we‘re going to

Once the Hemlock was delivered, we administered doses to the witches and brought them to their