Owned by the Alphas 3: Marked by the Alphas

We turned a corner, and the dark opening to a wall of rocks and debris covered a mountain of a man. If it was a man. It had skin, but it was scarred and stretched with tattoos covering it. But they weren't territory tattoos like my alphas; these ones looked magical, like they were runes or something.

"They locked Adrenna's lover in that body," Brax whispered, and the beast snarled, shaking and moving, trying to get out, but the cave shook with every move he made.

I stumbled into Brax, and he caught me. I steadied myself against him, then moved toward the beast. His eyes snapped to me between the rocks of his cage, and they looked...sad.

I frowned, the black eyes so intimidating but so deep. A scar ran down one eye, right through the cheek, and his face was distorted. His skin was lightly furred too.

His hands almost paws, claws out, his teeth gnashing angrily as I stepped closer.

"He was human once?"

"According to Tabitha, whatever her word means to you." Brax shrugged, and he knew it meant a whole damn lot.

"We're going to get you out of here," I said to the beast. He gnashed his teeth angrily, thrashing more so more rocks pushed down on him. A boulder broke free and rolled down, almost taking me with it, but Brax swung me out of the way before it hit, and we toppled to the ground.

I landed with a thud on the ground as Brax did.

"Careful," he coughed, wincing as he stood up and helped me up, debris dust filling the air. I moved through it and back to the beast.

"We need you to stay still so we can get you out without being crushed," I said to him, not even sure if he could understand me. He eyed me, his head turning before he whined and shook a small amount. When he did, blood trickled down his thick veining neck.

"He's hurt. I don't know if he can die, but I really don't want that happening before he's killed Adrenna," I snapped, and at the mention of her name, he let out another roar that crossed into a howl. I covered my ears, hiding in Brax's arms as the entire cave roared with him.

It shook and thundered before releasing another load of rocks and obstructive boulders. The beast gnashed its teeth, gnarling, as it frothed. It was some kind of human-wolf crossover that went wrong. Like he was stuck mid-transition and couldn't get through either side of human or wolf. And the size of a dragon, that too. It made the idea of getting him out, ridiculously unlikely, but I had to try.

I ignored the debris that fell after the mini earthquake, ignored the small rocks that tore through my shirt, left scratches, and cut my skin. I didn't have time to wallow or worry about the magnitude of what we had to do; I just had to do it.

3. The Caves

LORELAI

I spent the next few hours hauling stone, rock, and debris from the piles caging in the beast. I didn't mention the witch who he was spelled to hunt; I didn't even mention Zale. Instead, I just focused on what I was doing.

My body was warm now, damp with sweat, as the exercise ached in my muscles.

My arms hurt, my stomach, my legs. My throat was bone dry and burning; my head was pounding from lack of food, and I had no idea how much actual time had passed, but we were getting closer.

The beast only got angry every few minutes and didn't constantly growl at us, so that was our upside.

The shadows helped by flicking rocks out of the way, but we had to be careful which ones we moved, or the whole cave was going to collapse on us.

"When we get you out of here, follow the cave out toward the water; there's a portal on the bank there. It will take you to her," I whispered to the beast as I finally got the boulder from his back that was pressing down on his neck, making it bleed.

Brax helped me move it to the side, and the beast shook out his head, his bones crackling as he stretched. He turned to me and nodded once, his lip curling.

Brax moved down by his feet, clearing each paw, as I tried to find safe ones to move on him.

I found one and went to pull, but my shadows hissed. I frowned and looked to Brax, who wore the same expression. The beast gnashed his teeth, snarling with a feral look as he tried to move more.

It made the rubble move with him, the same rubble I was standing on to balance.

A pang hit my stomach, almost like an electric shock.

"I think there is something trying to use the portal," I said, frowning and hardening my hold on my shadows as they swirled and moved back inside, confirming my suspicions. My hold on my magic was distant, but my shadows could feel it too.

"We need to get to that portal," I said, and Brax nodded just as the beast roared.

"Stop!" I screamed as his movements shifted everything beneath me. I toppled down. Brax went for me, but his human pace wasn't fast enough. My head bounced off the edge of a concrete slab with a sickening thud before I rolled down.

I grimaced as the ache grew increasingly painful, blood trickling down my forehead.

"Fuck, your head," Brax breathed, looking at the top of it. "It needs stitches," he said.

I shook my head. "It needs healing, which we can do once we're back. C'mon," I said and ran to where the restless beast thundered and roared. The caves groaned too, threatening us again, and my shadows were on high alert, urging me to leave, but I wasn't finished. I had to get the beast free.

It wanted out too, and apparently, we had cleared enough because it let out another deafening sound before it bashed the rest of the debris away.

It had the caves shaking again.

"Shit, it's going to come down on us!" Brax growled through the crumbling walls and roof.

The beast shook out his body, bones crunching, teeth frothing before raking his claws through the rubble.

If I understood beast, I would say he grinned, and then he was gone, running, taking off through the tunnels, leaving us behind in the collapsing caves to be crushed to death after we had just saved it. Great.

I turned to Brax.

"We've got to run!" I screamed, and he nodded, grabbing my hand and taking off, almost dragging me through the caves. They were definitely trying to kill us. I couldn't make a step without faltering on more debris, more skin scratched up, and my head was pounding.

It had stopped bleeding, I think, but it was hard to tell when there was new blood breaking free of the cuts on my arms and face. Brax was getting cut up too, and I pushed my protesting legs faster.

The shadows were helping, catching whatever they could, but mine were also keeping my will strong over the portal. Whatever was trying to test it, to see if it could get through, was still trying, and I had no idea if it could or if I could stop it without having a tether to my magic.

"Run, Little Luna. Your beast is almost here; he is just killing his way through the shadows that are inspecting the portal," Kai urged. I tried to listen, but my breath was harsh as it passed through my chest, and the caves were filling in quickly.

"The beast can kill shadows?" Brax asked.

"Looks like," Derik said, his voice low, and I raised a brow at that. We hadn't come across something like that before. But the witches said he would only go after Adrenna.

"It'll only come for you if you stand in the way of what it wants," Derik explained, and I knew that, so I focused on where my feet were going and not dying.

By the time we got to the bank, the water was thrashing as it filled with rocks too.

"Fuck," Brax cursed. I looked at the dark water, swallowing hard as panic settled in.

"What are the chances the cave out of here is still open?" I grimaced. Brax shrugged.

"Probably about the same as getting into the shadow realm and out again with all our body parts." He tried some dry humor, but I was not amused. I sucked in a breath.

"We have no choice."

"It's not far. Now that I know where we're going, we should get straight through."