Read fate of the alpha - episode 3 for Free Online Page A

fun.”
    “There’s more,” Erik paused again, unsure how to continue.
    Bonnie cocked her head, waiting.
    Better to just get it all out there. He took a breath and told her everything.
    “There were men in the cavern. They were dead. It was horrible. Some of them had been... decapitated. And there was no blood. And there was a grate, shaped like one of the symbols. And there was something alive behind it,” he finished quickly.
    He looked over at Bonnie. She was frozen, her face inscrutable.
    He was a stranger, and what he’d told her was just plain crazy. For the hundredth time, he cursed the lack of his wolf to help him get a better reading on her.
    “We need to go see Teresa Simkins,” Bonnie said. “ Now .”

                                   

    CHAPTER 8
    T eresa Simkins lived by the creek. So close to the creek, in fact, that they couldn’t get there by car.
    Erik had insisted upon driving, but they could get the pick-up truck only so far into the woods before he had to park it and walk.
    Though it was only late afternoon, the swamp was nearly dark, except for the light of the waning moon above. The moonlight made Bonnie’s hair shine and Erik wondered if it was affecting her, and how he might have responded if he were still a wolf.
    A fine mist rose out of the muddy ground. After another five minutes their feet began to squelch in the mud.
    “Are you sure—” Erik began.
    But Bonnie whipped around and put a finger to her lips.
    There was nothing to do but continue.
    As Erik was beginning to relax and get into the spooky scenery, he spotted movement at his feet.
    Snake.
    The brown, hourglass markings on its body and the lighter, unmarked head made it instantly recognizable as a venomous copperhead. His dad had taught him to spot them when he used to take Erik fishing.
    Erik almost cried out in pain and fear as the scar on his back burned.
    The snake slithered past him into the water, unperturbed.
    What the hell? Was he afraid of snakes now? Erik had always liked animals. He knew the snake meant him no harm, but his heart pounded like he was in mortal danger.
    And why was his scar burning? He wasn’t fucking Harry Potter.
    Bonnie continued to walk calmly ahead of him. Erik took a few deep breaths as he followed her, willing himself to get his shit together.
    The cold, wet air threatened to sink into his bones. He wondered how Bonnie could stand it in her thin sweater, then remembered that she was a wolf, and it would take more than this to make her cold.
    A shadow emerged from the mist, its shape becoming more familiar as they approached.
    It was a house, but it was unlike any house Erik had ever seen before.
    The entire structure lacked any discernible right angles, and straight lines seemed to be few and far between. Twigs and roots poked from the thatched roof and reached up into the sky like bony fingers. In several places, the ivy that hung from the structure like matted fur had completely overtaken the walls.
    Thin tendrils of bluish smoke seeped under the door and joined with the mist outside as Bonnie stepped onto the porch, Erik following uneasily behind.
    What little paint was left peeled off the wooden railing in quarter-sized flakes as their footsteps disturbed the thick coat of bright yellow pollen dusting the porch floor.
    “ Miss Simkins! ” Bonnie yelled at the top of her lungs, yanking open the dubious looking screen and banging loudly on the inner door.
    Erik twitched at the loud sound after their long, silent walk.
    “Sorry, she’s mostly deaf,” Bonnie explained. “And more than a little blind.”
    Perfect.
    An uncomfortable feeling tugged at the back of Erik’s mind, like he had stepped into a storybook, and not the kind where everyone lives happily ever after.
    The door swung open and for a moment Erik thought no one was there. Then he realized that the person who had opened it was quite a bit shorter than he’d expected.
    Teresa Simkins