Master Alpha

Rhea was sitting on the floor beside Lillian’s bed. Rhea’s auburn hair spilled over Lillian’s blanket as Rhea’s upper body lay on the bed. She was wearing a black tank top with a pair of jean shorts. She had returned late last night and had had enough energy to hook Lillian up to treatment. An IV bag of blood had been carefully tacked on the wall against the bedside table. Lillian had medical tape against her arm to keep the needle and tubing secured in place in case she twitched or jerked suddenly. The tubing for the bag ran into Lillian’s right arm, which Rhea made sure to avoid when she had laid down.

Rhea was thankful that they had returned when they did. Lillian had paled so much more in their absence that she appeared almost grey. Her sweating had become a tsunami while her body continued to fight against the infection. The poor girl’s brown eyes had faded to a permanent pale red. Lillian had been conscious enough last night to offer a greeting to Rhea but had quickly slipped back into a deep sleep. If Lillian had not been a Nanta, Rhea was sure that she would have slipped into a coma by now if she somehow had not died first.

Rhea’s mind kept drifting back to Lincoln as her body tried to coax her to sleep. She cursed herself each time that her mate entered her thoughts. I need to keep my mind on Lillian, she thought. Lillian’s breathing was slow and shallow, her heart rate mimicking it. All I can do is wait, though, she thought. Stressing about this will not make the treatment work faster.

Fatigue consumed Rhea as she reminisced about Lincoln and the comfort that he offered her. She always felt calm and relaxed around him, but the mating bond had sparked of level of happiness in her that she had not felt in a long time. She smiled lightly. She had been hopelessly in love with him for decades, and he ended up being her mate. She wondered what would have happened if she had been around Lincoln during the other moons in the past. The fire that his skin shared with hers had vanished after they consummated the mating bond, but Lincoln said that his body had felt like that for years. He had been waiting for her all of this time, and they had no idea.

Rhea felt herself begin to fall into the abyss of sleep. She had not slept since the night before the moon. Since Lincoln had neglected rest after the moon, Rhea drove back while him and Nathan slept on the drive. Rhea smiled softly how grumpy Nathan was to have been denied sleep because of her and Lincoln exploring pleasure; but how quick a hug popped out of him for both of them when learning that they were more than just sleeping together, that they were mates, too. Her and Lincoln had agreed to not disclose the knowledge of their mate status until after Lillian was cured to prove that all of their focus was just on the child. The mating bond made couples want to focus only on each other; while that was true, they both had jobs to do, and needed to prove that they could complete their jobs despite that.

Rhea felt Lillian’s body stir against her. She contemplated looking at the child, but she knew that Lillian was a restless sleeper. Rhea bundled her hair in hand and dropped it down her back to avoid Lillian pulling on it. Rhea began to allow herself to drift off to sleep when Lillian’s legs moved upward. Rhea raised her head and found Lillian sitting upright, her pale red eyes now a bright crimson color. Rhea sat up and pulled herself on to the bed. She sat in front of Lillian and place a hand on her face. “Hey, Lilly,” she whispered. “How are you feeling?”

Lillian remained quiet and still. Rhea heard Lillian’s breathing begin to increase in sync with her increasing heartbeat. Rhea checked Lillian’s arm and confirmed that the needle had remained inserted. She glanced at the IV bag on the wall and watched as the blood continued its slow drop through the tubing to enter Lillian’s arm. Rhea’s gaze shifted back to Lillian’s face and was startled to find the child’s fangs drawn. “Lilly, are you okay?” Rhea asked softly. Lillian remained quiet with her bright, red eyes fixated on Rhea’s auburn ones. Rhea leaned forward and touched a hand to Lillian’s face gently. She’s burning up, she thought. “Lilly—”

Rhea was cut off as the child lunged at her and knocked her to the floor. Lillian buried her fangs into Rhea’s throat with a snarl. Rhea growled and felt her own fangs descend in defense. She grabbed a fistful of the child’s hair and ripped Lillian’s fangs out of her throat. Blood poured down Rhea’s body as the child began screaming and clawing at Rhea’s face. Lillian’s fingers became coated in blood, to which the child brought her fingers to her lips and began to suckle. Rhea watched Lillian attempt to feed on her again and yanked her backwards by her hair. The child began clawing away at Rhea’s face, desperate for more blood. Rhea’s free hand encircled Lillian’s throat and she squeezed tightly. She watched as the child’s attack on her face only harshened due to the lack of oxygen. Rhea snarled and propelled them both off the floor.

Rhea jumped to her feet and tightened her grip around Lillian’s throat. She released the child’s hair and secured both of Lillian’s wrists in her free hand. Lillian snarled and struggled to free herself as she kicked at Rhea. Rhea whirled around and slammed the child’s back into the wall. “Enough!” Rhea bellowed, but it fell on deaf ears. Lillian began thrusting her body backwards to use the momentum of bouncing off the wall in an attempt to escape. Rhea slammed Lillian into the wall again. She heard rushed footsteps, followed by the bedroom door bursting open.

Rhea heard the gasps of Lillian’s parents as they surveyed the scene. Rhea felt her own heart crack as she looked at the little girl in front of her. Desperate, thrashing, an animal. She had gone feral. I failed, Rhea thought bitterly. She inhaled sharply to prevent tears that were threatening to fall. This is not the time for emotion, she thought. I have to make sure that the child does not hurt anyone else. Rhea’s own wounds had since healed, but her skin remained sticky with her own blood. Lillian’s possessed eyes kept flicking from Rhea’s throat to her face, any part of Rhea that had blood exposed as she struggled. She won’t stop, Rhea thought.

“I’m sorry, Lillian” Rhea whispered. She squeezed the child’s throat tighter. Lillian became spastic as she thrashed for freedom. Rhea’s grip tightened on Lillian’s wrists until she heard a simultaneous crack come from them. She had broken both of Lillian’s wrists to prevent her from grabbing anything, but Lillian flailed her useless hands around desperately. It’s only temporary, Rhea thought. Rhea squeezed Lillian’s throat tighter and closed her eyes. She felt her fingertips touch through Lillian’s throat and quickly snapped the child’s neck. Lillian instantly fell limp in Rhea’s grasp. “I’m sorry,” Rhea whispered again,

Rhea opened her eyes and turned to face the parents. She kept Lillian tightly in her grasp, her hand still wrapped around the child’s throat. It was only a matter of time before Lillian’s body healed itself and brought her back to consciousness. Snapping a Nanta’s neck was the equivalent to knocking out a human with a punch; it was just buying time. Rhea had to keep Lillian secured with her hand around her throat for when she did regain consciousness, so that she could snap the child’s neck all over again to prevent her from harming anyone else. “I need to take her to Master Jonathon,” Rhea said softly.

“You’re going to kill her,” Diana whispered in horror.

“No, I need him to restrain her while I work on modifying the treatment.”

“We can restrain her here,” Levi said.

Rhea smiled numbly and shook her head. “No, you can’t. Typical restraints will not work on a Nanta, let alone a feral Nanta. The only thing that will work is breaking her neck every time that she awakens.”

“We can do that here,” Levi repeated.

“Really?” Rhea asked as she looked at him. “You would really be able to break your daughter’s neck without hesitation, each time that she opened her eyes? You would understand that she cannot leave, no matter what, that to save her means to temporarily kill her over and over again?”

Levi opened his mouth to protest but instantly closed it and clenched his jaw. Diana gripped Levi’s arm with one hand while she used the other hand to wipes tears from her cheek. “How long?” Diana struggled to ask as she choked on a sob.

“I will work as fast as I can, but I can’t guarantee anything,” Rhea answered. She hated herself for reminding them that she could fail again, that their daughter may have to die completely if she does fail again. But we are in unchartered waters, Rhea thought. I have no idea if I can modify the treatment well enough, let alone fast enough, but I have to try. Rhea’s eyes shifted back to Lillian as the child began to awaken. She watched the child’s eyes open, permanently stained with the bright red of her Nanta until she was cured. What if that is a life-long side effect, even after the cure? Rhea wondered. She observed as the feral nature began to awaken. Lillian snarled and began to fight against Rhea’s grasp. Rhea inhaled and snapped Lillian’s neck, the child once again limp in her hand.

Diana wailed and Rhea took the reaction as her cue to leave. She quickly exited the house and began walking to Lincoln’s. Any parent would be devastated at the harm or death of a child, but for Nantas and Decants it was much worse. Both races are immortal, typically only dying either by severe murder or old age. While Lillian was not currently dead by their standards, she was technically dead. The child was not breathing, and her heartbeat had dwindled down so much that Rhea could not even hear it. Her Nanta blood and body would work to rejuvenate itself, but she did still technically die. It was the closest way for a Nanta or Decant to be rendered unconscious.

Rhea felt tears fall down her cheeks, which prompted her to walk even faster. She was thankful that everyone else was asleep, that the cover of night assisted her in transporting the child with no witnesses. Master Jonathon had kept Lillian’s condition hidden from the people until he had a concrete answer, a cure or death. She understood his reasoning, there was no need for panic. Not yet. She had hoped that the virgin blood would be enough, but part of her had the nagging feeling that it would not be enough. She cringed as her mind drifted to being Lillian’s parents right now, to how she would be reacting if she had to watch her own child suffer and die multiple times until a cure was found. If there is a cure, she thought. At least Lillian being a Nanta will buy me some more time. If she was a human battling an infection this severe, she would have been dead by now.

Rhea banged her fist against Lincoln’s front door. The noise appeared to awaken Lillian and she began to stir. Rhea studied her sadly. I hope I can save you, she thought. The front door swung open, and Rhea was greeted by her mate. Lincoln was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants with his chest bare, his black hair tousled in different directions. Rhea felt her strength threaten to abandon her. She longed to curl up in his arms and release the tidal wave of emotions that threatened to break down her dam of restraint. Her fear that she could not cure Lillian, her devastation for killing the child, her worry about the rest of their kind if she could not save Lillian. She longed to be in his arms and feel that wave seep out of her, if only for a moment, but she could not. She inhaled sharply as she watched Lincoln’s blue eyes brighten with worry and rage as he observed her.

“I need your dad,” Rhea said.

“Rhea, what the fuck happened?” Lincoln’s eyes shifted to Lillian in bewilderment. “What’s going on?”

“I need your dad,” Rhea repeated. She heard Lillian draw in a raspy breath, followed by a snarl. Panic shot through Rhea like a bolt of lightning. If she bites Lincoln, she will kill him, she thought. Lillian began to thrash against Rhea’s grasp. A loud crack split through the silence as Rhea snapped Lillian’s neck again. Lincoln’s eyes widened as Lillian fell limp. “I need your dad,” Rhea repeated, agony in her voice. “It didn’t work.”