Master Alpha

Rhea sat beside Lincoln on the couch in Master and Luna’s house. She smiled softly as she remembered that the house had initially belonged to Mistress Bella. After Bella had passed away, Jonathon felt it was his responsibility to take care of the house and moved Luna and Lincoln into it. Rhea had heard the stories of the compassion that Bella had shown Jonathon and Victoria. She remembered Bella’s soft personality compared to the hard exterior that she wore. Rhea had been rather young when Bella died, but she remembered her Mistress. Remembering how her previous Mistress ruled, and living through the rule of her Luna, Rhea tried everyday to incorporate what she learned from the two women into being a guard for the Master Alpha.

Rhea cringed slightly as she remembered her conversation with Lincoln. He informed her that Jonathon would not talk with her since Lincoln had already done so, and she was Lincoln’s guard, after all, but the conversation haunted her still. She cared about Lincoln a lot, which helped mold her into a great guard for him, but the thought of losing that made her nauseous. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep her emotions locked inside and away from her face. I can’t risk losing this, she thought. I’ve been responsible for him since we were kids. He became my best friend. It would be ridiculous for me to lose him because I could not do the job for him that I have agreed to do, that I have spent my life doing. I will not fail him. I can’t.

Rhea wanted to promise Lincoln that there would be more secrets between them moving forward, no matter how small, but she knew that she would break that promise. Her most prized secret was how she truly felt about Lincoln. He may only care for her as a friend, but decades of fighting for him and becoming his friend had developed more than friendship within herself. She suffered silently with each woman that he had bed over the years, but she had grown to master hiding her emotions from people unless she allowed them to be seen. For her to promise no more secrets, she would need to reveal this one, and she could not. She was positive that he would reject her directly once she said it, which would be more painful than just never admitting it to him. She also disliked the cliché that she had fallen into, a guard developing feelings for the man that she is assigned to protect. How original, she thought.

The front door of the house opened, and Lincoln and Rhea instantly rose to their feet as Victoria and Jonathon entered. Rhea was constantly amazed at how much Lincoln was the perfect blend of his parents. Victoria and Jonathon were beautiful on their own, but combined they had created a gorgeous child. Jonathon’s build and striking bone structure created Lincoln’s figure, while Victoria’s tanned skin and piercing blue eyes consumed it. Jonathon was rather muscular, but Lincoln had spent so much more time exercising than his father that he bigger than his father was. Jonathon’s brows were drawn together as concern mixed with anger flooded is emerald eyes. Victoria’s blue eyes revealed exasperation, as if whatever her and Jonathon had spoken about had stolen the energy from them.

“I still don’t like it,” Jonathon said lowly as he closed the front door after he entered the house. Victoria sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. Victoria walked over to the couch and Lincoln and Rhea stepped aside to allow her to sit down. “You may not like it, but I don’t think that we have a lot of options,” Victoria said.

“We haven’t talked to Xavier in decades. How do we even know that he will help?” Jonathon asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“We don’t, my love, but we have to try,” Victoria replied. Rhea observed Lincoln straighten his posture. Victoria noticed the movement as well, a puzzled look on her face. “Don’t worry, Lincoln. I know how to handle Xavier. To ease your father’s concerns, I will be talking to Aurora today ab out accompanying me.”

“I still don’t like it,” Jonathon repeated as he approached his mate.

“Jonny,” Victoria spoke, exasperated.

“I’ll go instead,” Lincoln said suddenly.

“Absolutely not,” Jonathon stated immediately.

“Why?” Victoria asked. She stood up and looked at Lincoln. “I would rather go than endanger you.”

“And I would rather go than endanger you,” Lincoln stated. “Father cannot go alone, and one of you needs to be here with our people. I am a Decant, he will allow me access without a fight.”

“You are also Nanta,” Jonathon said.

“I am, and the Master Alpha. I appreciate you both wanting to protect me, but I need to do this. It is time for me to meet him and show him who I am. One of these days, you expect me to rule our people and keep the alliance with Xavier’s pack. I cannot keep an alliance with a man that I have not met, nor can I keep an alliance because of my parents. I need to make sure that this alliance extends with my ascension, too, and I need to do that myself.”

Victoria’s eyes met Jonathon’s, as if communicating telepathically. Rhea looked at Lincoln, and his gaze met hers the second that she did. She offered him a small smile and a nod, telling him that she agreed with him. Her heart was consumed with worry and fear. He can’t go alone, she thought. His life was threatened by this man before he was even born. What if something happens to him now? She felt her heart lurch at the thought of Lincoln not returning from this trip. She briefly worried about him returning with horrific injuries, but the reality of Lincoln dismissed that worry. He would not stop fighting until he was dead; as great of a fighter as he was, an entire Decant pack was something else. Lincoln’s eyes reflected curiosity at Rhea and she cursed herself quietly. Emotions must have shown. “I want to go with him,” Rhea said.

Lincoln’s eyes widened. “Rhea, you can’t. We will be going into uncharted waters. We don’t know how Xavier feels about Nantas after all of this time, how he will feel about just me.”

“All the more reason that I should go,” she smiled. “My job is to protect you. Plus, I need to make the argument for his help, and he may have questions about Lillian’s condition. On the possibility that he will say no, I need to know the second that decision is made so that I can try to determine what blood I can gain access to at the hospital while I’m gathering supplies for the transfusion.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Jonathon said slowly, his jaw clenched with tension. “But she needs to be armed.”

“I know how to fight, Master,” Rhea said.

“I do not dispute that but Decants have significant advantages that make them more powerful than us. You need to tale a silver blade with you for extra protection,” Jonathon replied. “Especially with the full moon approaching.”

“I can protect her. Do you really think bringing an armed Nanta to Xavier’s property is a good idea?” Lincoln asked.

Rhea smiled at Lincoln. “Master Alpha, I know that you can protect me, but an entire pack of wolves would destroy you if you stand between them and a threat, and you know it. Especially on the night of the full moon. You will change, too, and we don’t know how you will react to me if you find me.” Decants could not see or smell someone that was not a fellow Decant during the night of the moon, or they would engage and potentially kill the target. Victoria had been working with her pack to attempt to re-wire their brains to share consciousness with their wolves and observe a target before attacking, but changing centuries of imprinted instinct was going to take time. Lincoln may only be half Decant, but he underwent the same restrictions as the rest of the pack when he shifted every month. Victoria would order Decants to enter Nanta homes to mask the Nanta smell with their own. The result worked out flawlessly; the Nantas remained out of sight while the Decants ran every full moon, not once stopping at the houses in the village since the Decant smell overpowered everything else.

“Take Nathan with you as well,” Victoria said to Lincoln. “The three of you can share a residence. Your scents should mask Rhea’s on the night of the moon. And I agree with her being armed as well. I have made tremendous progress with our people so that they no longer black out when their wolves take over, but we cannot go on to Xavier’s property with the assumption that he has been training his people the same way. He has no reason to re-train his wolves, we do.” Rhea noticed Lincoln’s shoulders tense, the tension rippling through his muscles as he crossed his arms over his chest. She looked at him curiously, but his eyes studied his mother’s face in silence. Victoria’s recommendation was a good one, for an extra Decant to accompany them. Aside from masking Rhea’s scent, it could help persuade Xavier to help them with a full Decant asking as well. Lincoln’s emotions flashed through his eyes with worry prominent. Rhea thought that she had noticed a flicker of fear but automatically dismissed the possibility. Lincoln was not afraid of Xavier; he had built himself up physically and mentally to cripple any fear that he may encounter. Fear was not an emotion that Lincoln felt anymore.

“Okay,” Lincoln finally replied.

“Good,” Rhea chirped as she clapped her hands together. “We leave today. We’re on a clock to get back here before Lillian turns feral.”

“Tell Nathan and then start packing,” Jonathon nodded. “And don’t forget your blade.”

“Of course. Nathan and I will be back in a few hours,” Rhea said.

“I’ll talk to Nathan,” Lincoln said and his eyes shifted to Rhea. “I would like to talk to you separately.”

“Okay?” Rhea asked slowly. “Walk me home then?”

Lincoln nodded and Rhea nodded goodbye to Master and Luna. She exited the house and began walking through the village. She felt Lincoln behind her but did not say anything to him. He was the one that wanted to talk, probably to make sure that she knew how serious the trip is. But I do know, she thought. That’s what I opted to go. I need to protect him, and I am Lillian’s best argument at getting the blood. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. If he says no, I’m going to have to test my limits with my connection at the hospital. She had confided in a fellow nurse about her true nature, that Rhea was a Nanta. She had waited until she truly believed that she could trust him, and she was right. The nurse did not treat her any differently, but, more importantly, he was not afraid of her. She had not told anyone the extent of her connection, that he knew what she really was, but she was going to now.

Rhea opened her front door and entered her house. Her house was more of a studio than the other houses in the village. Directly in front of her was a clear view of the living room with the kitchen to the right. Over to the left was a door that led to her bedroom, her bathroom only accessible through her bedroom. A small blue suede couch resided in the living room with a dark oak coffee table placed in front of it. The kitchen was pearl marble, the window attached to the kitchen naked as the blue curtains had been pulled open. The other side of the living room sat a dark oak dining table that matched the coffee table, two matching chairs around it. Rhea walked over to the couch and sat down. Lincoln closed the door and moved to sit beside her. She leaned back into the couch and looked at him as she pulled her legs underneath her to sit criss-cross.

“I wish you hadn’t volunteered,” Lincoln whispered, his gaze fixed on the wall in front of him.

“I can’t let you go alone, and I’m the one that needs to be there,” Rhea spoke softly. “I’ll be fine.”

“What if something happens?”

“Then make sure that you still get the blood for Lillian.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I,” Rhea retorted, and Lincoln’s eyes snapped to hers. “That child is more important than I am.”

“Not to me,” he whispered softly.

“She should be,” Rhea said. She placed her hand on his arm and squeezed lightly. “Put your emotions aside and think for a minute, my prince. She may be the first of us with this illness, but do you really think that she will be the last? We need to know if this treatment will work for all of our sakes. If something happens to me, and this treatment does work, then it will have been worth it. But we can’t ignore this option for the same reason. We want our kind to survive, they are more important than I am.”

“You’re still taking a silver blade, and I don’t want you on that land without myself or Nathan present,” Lincoln said as he clenched his jaw.

“Linc, I’ll have a silver blade. I will be fine one my own if I need to be.”

“You won’t be.”

“Stop, Linc,” she smiled and squeezed his arm again. “Stop worrying about me so much.” Her heart warmed at his concern for her, but he had other matters to deal with right now He needed to advise Nathan of the trip, and they all needed to pack. “You should get some rest,” she whispered. “That is a long drive, and I’m sure that you don’t want to be asleep when we arrive.”

“You’re correct there,” Lincoln nodded. He stood up and Rhea’s hand fell from his arm. “Make sure that you eat before we leave, I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Linc,” Rhea said as she rose to her feet. “I need to tell you something.” He nodded at her, prompting her to continue. “When I was attending nursing school with the humans and worked at the hospital, I made a friend. He was very nice and helpful, we just hit off.” She noticed Lincoln’s eyes harden suddenly. She sighed. “I told him what I am, Linc, but I did not reveal anything else. I told him that I was being transferred to the States to help our kind there. He asked what state, but I told him that I couldn’t say and that was the end of it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Lincoln asked through clenched teeth.

“Because I trust him, and he’s proven it to me. No one needed to interrogate him. But I’m telling you now because he is my connection at the hospital. He proceeded with nursing at that hospital.”

“He’s how you’re going to get the equipment.”

“And how to get the blood if Xavier says no,” she nodded.

Lincoln growled and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “You made yourself a target.”

“No, I didn’t, I made myself a friend. We need one of those, someone who can help us get more blood or supplies from a hospital and create a valid reason why that stuff is missing.”

“You really trust him?”

“I do.”

“Like you trust me?”

“No,” Rhea answered, an eyebrow cocked in curiosity. “I could never trust anyone like I trust you, Linc. You know this.” It was strange to her that she even had to clarify the trust level. If she did not better, she would swear that Lincoln was a little jealous. He nodded and walked over to the front door. “I’m going with you to the hospital, too. Make sure that you have your list.”