Alpha Asher and Lola novel Chapter 208

Chapter 208

The trip home was filled with silence.

It wasn’t the comfortable kind that faded

into the background and made your

eyelids grow heavy as the purr of the car’s engine droned on and on.

This one was full of tension and unspoken words that were so loud they needn’t be spoken at all.

Zeke, Clara, and Mason hitched a ride with Asher and I since Tessa was currently tied up and unconscious in the back of the work van Breyona drove. Giovanni and Tristan had no choice but to sit back there as well considering they were the only windows blacked out from the rising sun.

It would’ve been safer to wait until dark to move, but we didn’t have the time to

waste.

There was no telling if Ember would come back for her twin with more witches, and now that the location of the safe haven was compromised, we needed every spare warrior available to protect the territory.

It did help that Deacon, Dina, and Spence stayed behind, but there was still the risk

of the witches attacking during the day.

Since my nerves were too frayed to sleep, I spent the entire drive home thinking of ways to magically protect the safe haven Asher and I created.

Undoubtedly, Cordelia would be able to help. She could use her protection magic to cast an alarm – like spell, one that would alert us if any witches crossed the boundary, but it would do nothing to give us a heads up

I’d been able to turn a Vampire into a

Werewolf and a Werewolf into a shadow creature, so I couldn’t help but toy with the idea of somehow creating a protective shield over the land. It was a solid plan, but I’d have to be extremely specific on who would be allowed through. 2

By the time we made it to the pack’s boundary lines, I had a stronger idea of what I wanted to do.

I had no doubt that it would take a crap ton of energy, but a shield was exactly what the safe haven needed. Vampires without ill-intentions would be able to pass through and seek shelter, along with any wolves from our pack.

While Asher, Zeke, and a few of the others transported Tessa into one of the reinforced holding cells, I ran my plan by Cordelia.

The middle-aged witch had been in the middle of smudging the house, singing a

whimsical song as she waved the smoking bundle of Sage through every corner of each room. She’d been hesitant over how much energy it would cost me, but was positive it wouldn’t draw on any dark, evil magic.

After telling her about Tessa, she very reluctantly gave me a bundle of some bitter smelling plant she called Hemlock. There wasn’t a drug or herb on this planet that could take away a witch’s power, but this poisonous root would make it harder for Tessa to have access to it. The only stipulation was that it couldn’t be administered for more than a couple weeks, or you’d run the risk of death. It gave us time, and time was exactly what we needed.

Only Brandon, Zeke, and Asher remained when I made my way down to the prison cells. The overhead lights were bright, reflecting off the pale tile floors and

white walls. If you turned your head and ignored the row of glass boxes with cots inside, you could almost fool yourself into thinking this was some ordinary human office building.

“What are you doing here?” I asked Brandon.

Asher’s brother was mean-mugging Tessa through the observation glass, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the wall. The scowl on his face was identical to Asher’s.

Zeke, who sat in one of the metal chairs looking just as distraught as he had hours ago, snorted dryly.

“I asked the same thing.”

“And I’ll say what I said before. What’s it fucking matter? Her twin nearly melted my head off and everyone’s on my ass for wanting to know where I can find the

bitch?” Brandon snapped with a surprising amount of hostility.

Asher leveled a look in his direction, one

that was scarily calm.

Brandon held his brother’s stare for a few tension-filled seconds before averting his eyes.