Mating the Female Alpha
Chapter 93 – Leave my pup alone!

Third Person POV

The layer was dark; Caleb had to squint his eyes in order to see properly. Even with his wolf's eyes, it was difficult to navigate through the dark halls that to what felt like nowhere. There were no sounds that indicated any life within the layer, and he wasn't sure where the halls ended, but he found what seemed to be an elevator in one of the darkest corners.

His heart was pounding violently against his chest as he stepped into the elevator. He knew already it was going to lead him down to the layer where Alaric has kept his sister for torture. He doesn't think he was going to find Bernice down there, but he feared for what he was about to find.

As the elevator doors opened, he stepped into a dimly lit room. The walls were lit with candlelight; everything seemed to be made of concrete and smelled of mildew and rotting flesh. He nearly gagged at the stench.

Still, there were no sounds indicating that there was anybody down there. Could Alaric really have left his layer unoccupied while they fought the wolves above the ground?

Alaric uses a lot of dark magic; that's his main source of strength and power. Which means, he must have some sort of power source. Or something that can defeat him. A normal wolf wasn't going to be able to defeat Alaric; something else had to do the job.

Caleb knew whatever it was, Alaric would be keeping it close to him. He would be keeping it in his layer.

He made his way to what seemed to be a dungeon, pausing only briefly when he saw, in one of the cages, a spot of blood that has been pooled on the concrete and cold ground.

Caleb shuddered; that blood could have belonged to his sister.

He shook the thought out of his head as he made his way through many different halls that contained many different doors. He continued down the narrow halls until he reached the end. He paused when he saw the large door that stood before him; it was the biggest door of them all.

Caleb took in a deep breath before turning the knob and letting himself in.

The door led to a large room; for a moment, Caleb thought it was the library with all the bookshelves. The shelves towered over his head, and he was in awe of how many books the vampires kept. There was a large crystal and gold chandelier hanging in the center of the room, which made everything look almost sparkly.

The ground was wooden, which was different from the concrete floors everywhere else; and like the door, there was a giant maroon rug with golden swirls.

In the far back of the room, was a long chestnut desk with a couple of books occupying the top of it, a computer, and a mound of papers.

On the far side of the room, there were stairs that seemed to have led to an indoor balcony; or maybe it was a loft. From where Caleb was standing, there seemed to be a bed and a couple of dressers on the balcony. There were no windows though because they were under the ground, but realization dawned on Caleb about what room this was.

He was in Alaric's chambers.

Caleb smirked as he shut the doors behind him and went toward the desk at the back of the room. There had to be something here that can kill Alaric. Something that Alaric wouldn't want anyone to get.

He paused as he rounded the desk and saw the metal safe that sat on the ground.

Bingo.

...

Bernice's POV

"Talia!!!" I roared through the house, shaking the walls as fury boiled through me.

Talia was already running out of the front of the house. She was on her way to bring my pup to Alaric. I wasn't going to allow that to happen.

My wolf was much stronger now and she can take full control now that I wasn't pregnant. It's been a while since I felt the full strength of my wolf, but it felt amazing transforming into her.

I couldn't stop thinking about my little pup in the possession of that monster. He didn't even have a name yet; I had to get him back. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to him.

I ran from the house, the steps of my wolf shaking the earth around me. She was fast, but I was faster. I ran faster than I ever had before. Everything around me was nothing but blurs in my vision. I saw Talia in her wolf form; her wolf was auburn red and glistened under the full-moon lighting.

I could hear my pup crying; he was frightened.

At that moment, all I was seeing was red.

"Talia!" I growled furiously again. She looked back at me and I saw the hint of a smile on her lips. I wasn't going to let her get away. But I couldn't just fight her while she had my son; I had to be smart about this. "Release my son!" "Or what?" She laughed. "You'll attack me? You wouldn't dare put him in that kind of danger."

She was right. I couldn't just attack her.

I had to think of something else; anything.

"He's just a baby," I cried. "He did nothing wrong. Just let him go. You can have me."

"Oh, trust me, we'll have both of you," Talia said in return, her laughter howling through the night. "But for right now, he'll do."

"I will never stop chasing you, Talia,' I hissed. "I will never stop until he is in my arms." "

"Alaric requested the baby, so Alaric gets the baby." Talia's words traveled to me through the wind.

"You're sick, Talia," I hissed. "He's just an innocent pup."

Talia paused; she was growing breathless. She turned to face me, her eyes darkening.

"You have no idea what Alaric is capable of. Going against him is suicide and-"

Talia gasped as if she was struggling to breathe. Her entire body began to tremble. She had my pup held in a blanket from her teeth, but she had placed him on the ground as her wolf weakened and forced her to shift back into her human self. She was gasping even louder now, holding onto her stomach like she was just punched.

Without even thinking about it, I ran to my son and wrapped him in my arms. He was still crying, but not as bad as I tried my hardest to comfort him. My body was trembling, and it was taking everything I had not to burst into tears. This was the first time I was holding my son and I couldn't even enjoy the moment. I knew I needed to get him out of there, but I worried that Talia would just come after us again.

"What are you doing to me?!" Talia gasped, her entire body trembling. I saw the color draining from her features, her eyes growing lifeless and yet so wary as she stared up at me in complete horror.

I wasn't sure what she was talking about; I wasn't doing anything to her.

But then I saw it.

Blood.

There was blood oozing in her stomach and, dripping down her bare stomach and soaking into the dirt around her. Her hands trembled as she struggled to stop the bleeding. I could see her features growing grey; it was like she was wasting away before my eyes.

I held my pup close to my chest, shielding him from what was happening in front of us. He was too young to see something like disturbing; I didn't want to see it either. But I needed to figure out what was happening to her. "Talia...?" I asked.

She continued to gasp for breath, her head hitting the ground and squirming in discomfort. She screamed out in agony as I saw blood oozing down her chest. It was another puncture wound... but where was it coming from? Who was doing this to her? And was it going to happen to me?"

I took an uneasy step away from her as blood continued to pool around her and cover her body. She gasped for a little longer, staring at me like I was some kind of monster who had done this to her. Blood oozed out of her mouth, and I could hear her gurgling it; she was choking on it.

The blood was filling her quickly.

Soon, she had stopped moving altogether and we remained in the forest, silently.

Talia's dead.