The Alphas Assassin (Complete)

Water Hemlock

*Ariella*

“Ari?” A voice whispered. I was too afraid to move. “Ari… Princess, come out…” the voice was urgent. Insisting. “Ari… Please…” he begged.

I saw knees drop to the floor. The pink skirt of my bed was moved over and revealed a friendly face with hazel eyes peering down at me. His long silky black hair flowed with his movements as he settled into the floor and reached his hand toward me. I saw the steel plate of his watch and the steel links holding it snuggly to his wrist..

“Uncle V?” I whimpered as he gave me a calming smile.

“Hey Princess…” he said softly, “Come with me…”

“Where’s mommy…”

“She’s… busy sweetheart…” he whispered as I crawled from beneath the bed. He grabbed me beneath my arms and hoisted me onto his hip before he stepped from the room. I heard a yell somewhere far off.

“What was that…?” I asked.

“Close your eyes Ari…” he whispered, pressing his hand over my face.

“Okay V…” I said, and I turned my face into his shoulder and gripped his shirt in my tiny hand. He smelled like sandalwood. But something unusual hung in the air, it reminded me of copper… like the smell our hands would have when we dug pennys from the bottom of the fountain in the courtyard of my home.

“What’s happening…” I asked after a few moments of him moving slowly through the hallway.

“I’m taking you somewhere safe…”

“Why… what about daddy and mommy…?”

“I have to get you somewhere safe Ari…” He whispered, “There's bad people who want to hurt you… your Dad told me to make sure you were safe…”

“But I want daddy…” I whimpered as tears came to my eyes.

“I know, sweetheart…”

The sounds of howling and barking became more apparent, the sounds of angry growling, shouts, and screams, the smell of smoke from burning wood. The sandalwood scent rolling off his shirt was the only thing preventing me from coughing as the smoke hit me.

He held me tight to his body. Shielding my face from a groaning noise as he ran through a hallway. When he stopped running I felt him duck down for a moment and I peeled my eyes from his shirt momentarily.

I could see him peering around a corner, but further down the hall I could see one of the guards, lying on his back, his clothing ripped to shreds, a slice through his neck, his eyes wide with undying terror as he stared forward. He didn’t move… even so young, I somehow knew he was dead…

“Ari… don’t look, Princess…”

A sob hiccuped in my throat as I buried my face back into his shirt. My tears stained his shirt.

I felt him burst through a door and begin running. His hold on me adjusted slightly and I pulled my head from his shoulder. Looking back over him to see my pack house ablaze. I could hear a scream ring through the dark night. Shattering the silence that the air around my home normally held. Once it died down only the crackle of the fire could be heard for a few moments, then another scream and what sounded to be a scuffle between two wolves.

We passed the fountain. A horse with a knight over top with a sword raised in the air above him, triumphant over some long fought battle many years ago. I could only remember the coins we’d fish out and toss back in, making silly childhood wishes with Vs children and the wet nurse who followed us around whenever they’d visit.

I watched a window shatter in my home as sparks erupted over it, glass shattering to the ground, raining over the knight as the force sent shards flying into the air.

I felt V take a sharp turn as I heard wolves run after us. Their growls and howls became more viscous as we went. I couldn’t help but sob.

“Don’t Cry Ari… it’s okay…” he breathed into my ear as his sprint increased.

Soon the sound of wolves died down. But V kept running until he skid to a stop at the river. I’m not sure how long he had been following it through the woods but he looked around and then bolted into it, water hitting my feet and soiling the bottom of my pajama pants as he went.

He pushed his free hand into an overhang of tree roots behind a log and shoved his way into the tiny cavern before he dropped to his knees, panting as he dropped me into the mud.

I looked up to him, taking in his messy appearance in the dark. His eyes shone with a blue glow as he reached into his pocket. He produced a small wooden ball from his jeans and pulled the string holding the wooden cork in place. A strange odor filled my nose as he set it down beside him.

“What’s that…”

“It’s a water hemlock gas… it should help you forget everything tonight…”

“Ari… don’t move from this spot…” he urged, grabbing my shoulders and making me look directly into his eyes. “I promise if you don’t move you will be safe…”

“What… about mommy and daddy…”

I heard him swallow, “I need you to promise you will stay here until daybreak…”

“But…” my eyes started to feel heavy…

“Promise me Ariella!” He ordered in a deep voice.

“I promise…” I sniffled, nodding.

“Just stay here until you see the sun… then it’s okay…”

“Okay…”

“Okay Princess.” He leaned down and placed a kiss on my forehead. “Remember… if you ever ever need me… Full Moon will always help you… I will always help you. I promise you.”

I nodded at his voice as the blue of his eyes dimmed. Only the rays of the moon illuminated him as he pulled back from me, crawling from the muddy overhand and carefully fixing the roots in a natural way over the tiny tunnel.

When morning broke through the opening of the overhang I scrubbed my eyes with muddy hands. I hadn’t even remembered falling asleep... The small wooden ball beside me was slowly running out. Sun sparkles through the cracks of roots and I swallowed hard… taking a crawling step toward the opening. It was quiet… birds chirped in the trees… the sound of the river babbling against rocks down stream…

I pushed my hands through the roots and they moved easily. I stood and peered out, looking around. The woods were still…

My bare feet squished into a familiar sediment filled river bottom… I knew the way back home from here… Uncle Vs kids and I played here…

I followed a hidden path between the trees and bushes. The soft fall leaves left over from the winter thaw dampened the sharp rocks that I stepped over, but didn’t prevent me completely from cutting my feet open as I walked.

I could smell charred wood as I grew closer to my pack house and when I rounded the corner of the stone gate I paused. Staring at the destroyed chaos of the courtyard. Blood washed stone times leading up to the door of my home… or… the burned remains of my home. Cinders still warm and crackling in some places. Windows shattered from every opening… I could see body parts scattered randomly.

I walked slowly through the blood stained court, a dead body was leaned over the first and second step headless. He wore a familiar shirt, though stained completely with blood from head to toe, I could recognize it…

A head sat beside the body on the second step, facing out to the courtyard… his brown eyes were open, but they seemed… almost peaceful… as if he hadn’t feared the death that came to him…

Tears streamed down my cheeks as I stared into his eyes. His lips mushed together unnaturally with his lifeless chin rested on the step in a pool of blood.

I turned and ran. As far and as fast as my legs could carry me. Tears ravaged my face as I sprinted, my lungs burning. I didn’t know where to go. I was too far from Vs pack, I didn’t even know where he was. I was too young, I had no wolf, no strength, I had nothing to help me find him or anyone to help me. I ran around the forest for days… eating berries from the wild blueberry bushes in the woods…

“Hey…” A soft voice called.

A man shook me awake as I laid in a pile of freshly fallen leaves beneath a tree. I looked up to a shadowed figure with a brown cloak over his body. He pulled the hood from his face to reveal ocean blue eyes and dark hair over fair skin.

“Hey kiddo…” his voice lulled, “I’m Mason… What's your name?”

“I’m… Ari…”