The alpha I hated

Chapter 23: The battle

NOAH'S POV

I opened my eyes and looked down at her. She was still unconscious, but her fingers had definitely moved.

"She's waking up," I said.

Elder Sarah came over to the bed and looked down at Daisy.

"Her color is better," she said. "And her breathing is stronger."

Alex and Maya moved closer too, watching Daisy carefully.

"Give her space," I said. "She's been through enough."

But as I watched Daisy's face, I saw her eyebrows scrunch up like she was having a bad dream.

Then she started talking in her sleep.

"The fire," she whispered. "It's still burning."

"What fire?" I asked, but she didn't seem to hear me.

"Pyritha," Daisy continued. "She's not gone. She's waiting."

Maya and Alex looked at each other with alarm.

"What does she mean, Pyritha's not gone?" Maya asked.

"She's supposed to be with Lucien now," I said. "She left Daisy and went into his body instead."

"But what if she didn't?" Alex said slowly. "What if she only pretended to leave?"

The room went quiet.

"You mean the fire goddess is still inside Daisy?" Elder Sarah asked.

"It would explain why the creatures are still coming," Maya said. "If Pyritha is still connected to Daisy somehow, they would still be drawn to her power."

I felt panic rising in my chest.

"But Lucien said Pyritha had left Daisy," I said. "He said she had taken over his body instead."

"Lucien might not know the truth," Alex said. "Pyritha is an ancient goddess. She's very good at deception."

Daisy's eyes suddenly snapped open.

But they weren't brown anymore. They were the same burning white color they had been when Pyritha was in control.

"Hello, little wolves," she said, but it wasn't Daisy's voice.

It was Pyritha's voice.

Everyone in the room took a step back from the bed.

"You thought I was gone," Pyritha continued, sitting up slowly. "You thought I had moved into the vampire's body and left this sweet little hybrid alone."

"You did," I said. "We saw you leave."

Pyritha laughed, and the sound made the windows rattle.

"What you saw was a small part of me moving into the vampire," she said. "A decoy, if you will. To make you think I was gone."

"You mean you're still in Daisy?" Elias asked.

"I am Daisy now," Pyritha said. "We are merged completely. She gave me permission to stay, you know. When she realized that leaving her body would mean returning to my prison."

"That's impossible," I said. "Daisy would never agree to that."

"Wouldn't she?" Pyritha asked, tilting her head. "Even if it meant saving the people she loves?"

The creature wearing Daisy's face looked directly at me.

"She loves you very much, you know," she said. "More than she loves her own life. When I explained that the only way to protect you and your pack was to let me stay, she agreed immediately."

"I don't believe you," I said.

"Ask her yourself," Pyritha said.

The white light in Daisy's eyes flickered, and for a moment, they were brown again.

"Noah?" Daisy's real voice said weakly. "Is that you?"

"I'm here," I said, moving closer to the bed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry," Daisy said, tears starting to run down her cheeks. "I had to let her stay. The creatures were going to keep coming. They were going to kill everyone."

"Daisy, no," I said. "We can find another way."

"There is no other way," she said. "Pyritha showed me what's coming. Thousands of creatures. Ancient vampires. Things from the space between worlds. They'll destroy everything if they don't get what they want."

"And what do they want?"

The white light flickered back into Daisy's eyes, and Pyritha's voice returned.

"They want to open a permanent gateway between the world of the living and the world of the dead," she said. "Using my power as the key."

"Why would they want to do that?"

"So they can rule over both worlds," Pyritha said. "So they can make themselves immortal in the truest sense. Not just long-lived, but impossible to kill."

"And you're going to help them?" Elder Sarah asked.

"Of course not," Pyritha said. "I have no intention of being anyone's key. But I also have no intention of going back to my prison."

"So what do you want?" I asked.

Pyritha smiled with Daisy's face.

"I want to find the Void Cavern your friends were talking about," she said. "And I want to trap every single creature that's hunting us inside it."

"You heard our conversation?" Maya asked.

"I hear everything now," Pyritha said. "I see everything. And I know that the cave is our only option."

"But if you go into the cave, you'll be trapped too," Alex said.

"Perhaps," Pyritha said. "Or perhaps I'll find a way to escape. I am, after all, a goddess."

"What about Daisy?" I asked. "What happens to her if you get trapped in the cave?"

The white light in her eyes flickered again, and Daisy's voice returned.

"I'll be okay," she said softly. "As long as you're safe, I'll be okay."

"No," I said firmly. "I won't let you do this."

"It's not your choice to make," Pyritha said, taking control again. "It's ours. Mine and Daisy's. And we've already decided."

She stood up from the bed, and I could see flames starting to dance under her skin.

"The barrier your friends created is starting to fail," she said. "I can feel the creatures getting closer. If we're going to do this, we need to do it now."

"Wait," Elias said. "If Pyritha is still inside Daisy, then what's inside Lucien?"

Alex and Maya looked at each other with growing alarm.

"That's a very good question," Maya said.

"I left a small part of myself with the vampire," Pyritha said. "Enough to give him some of my power. But not enough to control him."

"Why would you give him power at all?" I asked.

"Because," Pyritha said, "someone needs to guard the entrance to the Void Cavern after we seal it shut. Someone needs to make sure that nothing ever escapes."

"And you chose Lucien for that job?"

"He chose himself," Pyritha said. "When he offered to sacrifice himself to save Daisy. That kind of selflessness is rare. It makes him the perfect guardian."

"But he doesn't know that's what he signed up for," Elder Sarah said.

"He will," Pyritha said. "When the time comes, he'll understand his role."

I looked around the room at everyone's faces. They all looked as confused and worried as I felt.

"So let me get this straight," I said. "You want to use yourself as bait to lure thousands of deadly creatures into a magical cave. Then you want to seal the cave shut, trapping yourself inside with them. And you want Lucien to guard the entrance for the rest of eternity."

"That's about the size of it," Pyritha said cheerfully.

"That's the worst plan I've ever heard."

"Do you have a better one?"

I opened my mouth to argue, but then I realized I didn't have a better plan. I didn't have any plan at all.

"There has to be another way," I said.

"There isn't," Daisy's voice said as the white light flickered in her eyes again. "Noah, I've seen what happens if we don't do this. I've seen the future. Everyone dies.

"But if you get trapped in the cave, you die too."

"Maybe," she said. "Or maybe I will find a way out. But even if I don't, at least everyone else will be safe."