Higher Than The Alpha (#Wattys2014) »ᴄɵᴍᴘᴌᴇтᴇ«

NINE

NINE – Drown Out [Christopher]

Standing by my car, as I waited for the last of my sons that I had called to appear, just reminded me of the wealth I had acquired over the past. Of course, the that was late was John-Joe, or JJ as he liked to be called.

Looking over to Caine, who growled in impatience, led me to look at all my sons. All of them, but Alexander, had the same colouring as myself. The colouring that showed we were red tigers. Black with red and white flecked hair, amber eyes, and golden skin. The only way you could tell the difference was in the slight facial and body differences and height.

I, myself, was six-eight. Caine was six-three with a sharp jaw, and straight posture. Taink, or as he liked to be called, Ink, was a six-ten broad wall of muscle. And when you added all the tattoos... Not even I disrupted Taink when he was in a mood. Not many did. Then there were the angels – only in appearance. Lusan and Layke. Identical twins at six-eight, you could only tell who was who by personality. Lusan had cold eyes where Layke had warmth. Not that the warmth made much difference. Layke would kill you as fast as Lusan would. The only difference would be that Layke would laugh as he did it, Lusan would just do.

As JJ finally appeared, I raised my hand as an order to stop the growls. The brothers wanted to find Alexander and his mate as much as I did. Mates were rare. That Alexander had found his before he was even twenty was a shock.

"Don't bother growling at me," JJ said, flicking his messy hair style out of the way as he walked to join the circle. It was almost amusing to see JJ, who stood at six-foot with a lot less bulk than his brothers, stand between his much larger siblings and not care if they'd start on him. But then, he'd grown up with them. "The house they've claimed was an ex-Pack House. The first door is made of a metal that we can't dent, and I think they've added some fun toys in there for our little brother to enjoy during his stay.

"The wolves are following the Alpha blindly. Alpha says jump, they jump. He's using a lot of Alpha-law on them as well from what I heard. Especially on one wolf who keeps trying to bring our little brother's mate up in conversation. The only–"

"Why?" Caine asked. "Why do one of the wolves care about Alexander's mate?"

JJ glared. "Don't slice and dice the messenger. I think he's trying to persuade their Alpha to let her out the room that Alexander is in."

"Why would he do that?" Taink joined in the conversation.

JJ sighed. "When I got close..." he shook his head. "Right now, I want to go home and curl up with a bottle of the strongest stuff you can find to get rid of those screams. I can image the wolves wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the Alpha-law the Alpha had put on them."

"Why are they screaming?" Hearing Lusan join the conversation, with his light and airy voice, at that point with the question he asked wasn't the most comforting thing in the world. As, not even I, messed with Taink, nor would I with Lusan. Layke, maybe, but not Lusan.

Maybe we should have left Lusan out of this, I said to my tiger.

Maybe, my tiger replied. But Lusan and Layke will get us in quicker and a lot less messier.

JJ shuffled on his feet. Even though JJ was one-hundred-forty-two years older than Lusan, it was clearer who had dealt more with death. JJ was a partier, a killer when needed, Lusan was death.

"I think they're running a current throughout the room that makes us unable to stop the shift."

That made the circle pause.

"Where is Alexander's mate?" I demanded, even though he'd already told us.

"A human can't survive a current like that," Caine said desperately. "She won't survive."

  

JJ looked at me with haunted eyes after that. "It's her screams I want to drown out."

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