Alpha Asher By Jane Doe

Chapter 218

“Lola-Lola, wait! Where are you going?” Breyona called out, her voice echoing down the empty hallway.

I turned, remembering that I actually didn’t know where I was going. All I knew was that I needed to do something, anything to smother the pain holding me in its serrated grip.

“Where was Cordelia’s body found?” I asked impatiently.

Beneath the pain, a small wave of guilt washed over me. This wasn’t Breyona’s fault. She’d been through just as much as I had, and it wasn’t right to take my frustrations out on her.

“I-I can just take you there if you want. I’m meeting up with Giovanni anyway…you know, to help find Asher.” She tacked the second part on quietly.

It was a bit grating the way everyone was walking on eggshells around me, like I was a bomb whose timer was slowly ticking away. Staring into Breyona’s eyes, watching the warm flecks of brown deepen in color, made me realize that since her parents were murdered, that was how everyone’s been treating her as well.

If there was one person who understood, it was Breyona.

“Perfect. Let’s go.” I replied, softening my tone.

I had to bite back a snarl when a wave of pain vibrated down the mate-bond.

Even without grandma’s side of things, I would’ve never believed that Asher had…had done what he did of his own accord. It went against everything he believed in and stood for. More than anything I wanted to soothe his pain, but all I could hear were my dad’s words rattling in my skull.

I needed to find the witch first, then I would go to Asher.

I’d take every ounce of his pain, piece every broken shard back together again and bind them with the love I had for him. Love that hadn’t faded in the slightest despite the fact that his body was the weapon that killed my brother.

“If you guys find Asher, keep him safe for me, okay? Tell him I know what happened and that it wasn’t his fault.”

Breyona’s grief-stricken eyes softened as she nodded. “Of course, Lola.”

Once outside, Breyona was quick to shift and bend the shadows around our forms, propelling us through darkness that spat us out nearly fifteen minutes away from the hospital.

We stood in the mulch of a children’s playground, and while I didn’t recognize the jungle gym, I did recognize the surrounding park. The clusters of square hedges and yellow wildflowers stood out like a beacon, even in the dark.

track of how many times I’d passed this place on

radiating from the forest. During the

the place so desolate before, so ominous in

swayed lightly in the breeze were in need of oiling, squeaking in tune to the merry-go-round, creating a song that sounded like

our surroundings. She shifted from foot to foot, shuddering from the cold breeze even though her werewolf genes protected her from the brunt of it.

just ahead. It’s barely a minute walk inside the forest line, but you’ll know it once

wanted to tell Breyona not to worry about me and that I’d be safe, but the moment I locked eyes with the shadows lingering along the forests edge, words escaped me. I turned away from my best-friend and headed in the direction she pointed me in,

“Please be careful, Lola.”

as I wanted to, I

much things had changed and how being careful was no

a blood-crusted femur bone would flash in my mind. I kept my eyes peeled, staring through the darkness, embracing

all but daring a witch to

walk to find where Cordelia lost her life, but

fit two full-grown wolves. Moonlight streamed down on the patch

of the blood stain. Unable to help myself, an image of Cordelia came to mind, her lying helpless and wounded

wracked my body. This time it wasn’t from the mate-bond, but from myself. I silently wondered how

In fact, we barely had anything more than a student- teacher relationship, but she was someone I trusted-someone I looked up to and wanted good things for. There was a kindness to her, an inner light that

where she died, cold and alone, only brought more

back of my head whispered, it’s words like freshly sharpened

away from fully descending into madness by telling it to shut the fuck up when the shadows, who had been watching my every move since leaving

‘Over there…by the tree.’

shadows hadn’t spoken a word the entire trek through the forest, choosing to keep their distance even more

that they could sense. how close to the edge I was, and knew that with every passing second, my foot came closer and closer

slithered along the forest floor, gathering around the base of a particular tree. It was bigger than the rest, it’s roots more pronounced as they crawled across the earth,

groove along one of the longer roots, a hint of the tree’s pale flesh peeking through

choice but to step in her blood, wincing

a sigil…’

first I’d heard from her since waking up in the forest. I’d almost thought she was unaffected by what happened, but

knew that

terrified that there was some possibility, no matter how small, that we