fate of the alpha - episode 3 by Tasha Black Page A

stopped speaking suddenly. Which was a good thing, because Ainsley had missed most of what he’d just said.
    She looked up to see the kindergarten bus dropping the children off at the corner — all dressed up for Halloween.
    Could it be Halloween already?
    The twins from next door bounded off, dressed up as Wendy and Captain Hook. The long-suffering nanny shuffled them into the house, scolding them gently for not wearing coats. Ainsley wondered idly if their big brother would be Peter Pan.
    As soon as the door shut behind them, Julian grabbed her hand.
    “Ainsley, what’s wrong?” he asked.
    She stared at him in stunned silence for a moment, then remembered herself.
    “What’s wrong?” she asked. “The whole world is at stake here. Everything is wrong.”
    “No. There’s something else. Are you getting a feeling about something?”
    “A feeling?”
    “An instinct,” he said, a note of hope in his voice. “A premonition. Don’t make light of your gift, Ainsley. Any clues we have, whether they’re from your wolf senses or your magic, might be important.”
    She shook her head sadly. If only she did have an intuition. Instead she had the teetering scales of Erik and the pack tipping back and forth in her head, threatening her very sanity.
    “Well, if you do get a feeling, don’t sit on it,” he told her.
    “I won’t. Where’s Grace?” she asked, hoping the mention of her best friend would distract him.
    “She’ll be here soon,” Julian replied, but he looked anxious. “She said she had something to do after work.”
    Ainsley figured it was because of what Grace needed to do at work. By now, Grace would have had to convince Dale that Garrett was actually a wolf, since there was no time to explain about the magic. Then she’d have to convince him not to transport him to a hospital, in spite of his hacked off hand. Grace had figured that since she could demonstrate that Garrett had murdered Lilliana, Dale would be easy to convince.
    Ainsley thought the whole thing sounded sloppy, but couldn’t come up with a better idea that allowed Grace to handle as much of the problem through legal channels as possible.
    If Dale didn’t relent, and if he let Garrett out of the cell...
    Her next thought should have been that something could happen to Grace. Instead she caught herself thinking that she might not have a choice about Erik anymore.
    Erik, the pack, Erik...
    “Are you sure the key is safe?” she asked Julian, not quite wanting to ask where the key was, as that might be the first step down a dark path.
    “It’s in the chest, covered in protective wards,” he said with a half smile. “If anyone besides you opens it, they are in for a nasty surprise.”
    And that was that.
    “So do we tackle the thing in the tomb head on?” she asked.
    “If it is released using the key, it will be strong,” Julian replied. “It’s already been strengthened by the ritual sacrifice of the girl.”
    Lilliana. Ainsley knew Julian had avoided using her name on purpose. As long as he had been fighting this fight, the casualties still pained him. He might be an ageless warrior, but he was still human.
    Ainsley’s broken heart throbbed. If her own human side were stronger, would she bring Erik back?
    “Garrett said the tomb can be opened without the key. Is that true?” she asked.
    “Not easily. They could blast or dig their way through the stone, but the barrier is magical, too,” Julian replied thoughtfully. “The moroi would be bound to the location until it had fed on enough prana.”
    “Prada?” Ainsley asked.
    “Prana is the sanskrit term. It is also called Chi, or life-force.” Julian studied his hands. “Sometime even the soul.”
    “This thing eats souls ?” Ainsley asked, willing herself to remain calm.
    “Something like that,” he replied softly.
    “So, if we break the stone, we will have a weakened version to deal with, is that right?” Ainsley asked.
    “Well, yes, but it will be nearly