The Black Alder Series (Books 1-3)

Arabella Pov

“BELLA,” I hear all at once, and my heart flutters with so much love.

“Are you okay?” “Are you hurt?” “Did he hurt you?” All of my friends said it at once, and I tried to keep the tears from coming out. My mates. My beautiful mates.

“I am okay for now,” I tell them. “I am just ready to escape. I am sorry, my love. Endymion had me under a spell that made me sleep with him. He gave me this tea laced with his vampire blood,” I told them. Growls from all three filled the mating link, and I felt guilty for it. Even though I know it was not my fault, it still felt like it was.

“Bella, it’s okay?” Ares asked, reassuring me.

“We know you would never cheat on us,” Ash says.

“You forget, we can all feel your love through the bond,” Adonis says, and I am trying to control the tears. Of course, they would forgive me. They know me better than I know myself.

“I miss you, my love. I missed you so much,” I tell them, and I can feel how much they miss me as well.

“We’re coming to get you, Bella,” Ares says.

“NO!” I almost yelled at my link.

“What?” Adonis says.

“He is waiting for me to use my powers. He cut my wolf from me for the last three months, and I have her back now. He doesn’t know that, since I have her back, I have my powers back as well. The moment he realizes I have my powers back, he will drain my blood. I think he has an accomplice working with him who is with you as we speak, trying to get you to come to me. Has there been anyone new lately that is trying to send you my way? I ask. Ares Pov

When we heard Bella’s voice, it was like a weight was lifted from my shoulders. She is alive. She has her powers, but she keeps them secret, so Endymion doesn’t drain her. I realize that with this new piece of information, we need to get to her faster than ever. I saw the look of relief on my brother’s face. I can feel their relief through the mate bond, and, minute by minute, I can see I am slowly getting my brother back.

“Has there been anyone new lately that is trying to send you my way?” She asks, and I feel like a glass of acid in my face. Yes. Yes, someone is trying to get us to her. We linked up with a soldier to bring her back. She was soon sitting back down in front of us, looking puzzled as to why she was asked back. The fucking traitors. Luckily, I expected no less. I knew she was coming in here because this was fishy to begin with. Since we are mindlinking Bella, she probably knows from all three of the facial expressions that we are talking to her.

“Have you contacted your mate?” Cayce asks. She almost sounds hopeful. Way to be hopeful.

“Yes,” Adonis says, and Ash and I look at him.

Keep talking to Bella. I WILL HANDLE CAYCE. He says this through the link.

We channel our thoughts back to the conversation with Bella. Adonis Pov

I wasn’t surprised to find out Cayce was a traitor. Luckily, I had already put the outcome together from the second she started her story. Which is why I made sure I would have a plan of my own.

“Good, that’s good. I will teach you how to create a portal right away to get to her,” Cayce says. I stand up.

“That’s all we needed to tell you, Cayce; thank you again,” I told her, and she stood up too. “Give my brothers and I a moment to discuss things. We need to see how badly she is hurt. In the meantime, if you are hungry, please make your way to our kitchens. Our cook will whip you something up. We will prepare ourselves and be ready to create the portal soon, so we can retrieve our mate,” I tell her. She nods, bows, and leaves.

“Stay on her tail,” I commanded the guard outside.

“Yes, Alpha,” I hear.

I tune back into the conversation with Bella. Ash Pov

We let Adonis talk to Cayce while we talked to Bella. That woman was off from the moment she stepped in there. Thankfully, her sad story didn’t fool my brothers and me, as I could already tell they felt the same way. She hadn’t deceived us one bit. I also knew Adonis was planning something. I would ask later, but we have to help Bella.

” Yes. There is a woman here who says she is his mother, trying to get us back to you,” Ares tells her, and we hear her gasp.

“I haven’t seen his mother here, but he probably had her hidden, no doubt,” Bella says.

“Look, Bella, I know you don’t want us coming for you, but we are, and that’s final. Plus, we already know your location,” I told her.

“I don’t want you guys coming here without having a way to get back,” Bella says. I could hear the panic in her voice.

“You don’t have to worry about that, Arabella; we have a way there and back,” I heard Adonis say. It looks like the woman is gone, and he has a determined look in his eye.

“Please, be careful,” Bella pleads. We can feel her worry.

“We will, Bella. Please try to get some sleep. We are coming for you!” Ares says.

“I don’t doubt it,” she says. “I love you, my boys,’ she said, and we felt it.

“We love you too, Bella,” we all tell her, and the link is cut.

“We need to learn how to channel a portal,” I tell them.

“Cayce will teach us,” Adonis says, with a small smile on his face.

“You’re cooking up a plan, aren’t you?” I asked, and he just grinned at me mischievously.

“Yes, actually, I do. I knew she was off the second she stepped foot here, but if she can help us create a portal, it will be useful.” Adonis tells us.

“Well, then let’s go,” I tell them, and we all head out, heading towards Cayce, who is outside on a bench writing on paper. She is sitting away from everyone else. Her head snaps up when she sees us approach her. She scribbles something on the paper and tosses it up in the air. The paper lights on fire and burns away fast as it falls, leaving no trace.

“Something is wrong,” Adonis asks.

“I’m just sending a letter to a friend,” Cayce says.

“Okay, then, teach us how to create a portal,” I told her.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

2 hours later, we were all struggling to get a hold of using our celestial power to create a portal. Using our power was so great that Ares ended up passing out for a few minutes. Once he arrived too, he had a sad look in his eye, and he excused himself, letting us know he had to speak with our dads for a minute. We questioned it, but we knew he would tell us what was bothering him later. He came back not too long after; his face hardened, and he told us to continue. After another hour, we all ended up getting the hang of it. Although we were all extremely tired, it drew out our power.

“You all learned faster than I expected,” Cayce says, looking pleased with herself. We were all tired from the strain of our powers, but our lycans were giving us energy again, so we were feeling refreshed not too long after.

“We will get ready. Meet us back here in 10 minutes,” Adonis tells her. She nods, and he leaves as we follow him. He is silent until we realize we are heading to our room.

“Get ready. Pack your weapons,” Adonis says. After 15 minutes, we were ready. The three of us are dressed in a black shirt, black jeans, and black combat boots. We have small silver knives dipped in a poison called moonshine that is toxic to vampires and werewolves. We have guns filled with ultraviolet bullets, which are also lethal to vampires.

“Are you ready to tell us this plan of yours?” I asked Adonis as we walked back to the grounds.

“We are about to go get Bella, but first things first. We need no surprises,” Adonis says. He tells me to keep walking but stops Ares from talking to him while we walk. A few seconds later, they caught up. Ares stays quiet, though he looks a bit distant. We can still tell something is bothering him, but he looks more focused now.

“Ah, Alphas,” Cayce says as we make our way back to her. “Are you ready??” She asks.

“Yes, we are. The information you gave us has been great, Cayce, but this is where we say goodbye,” Adonis says. The next second later, a sword with some sort of substance is shoved through her heart. Our beta, Kyle, stands behind her, sword in hand, holding it in her hand.

Cayce looks down at the sword in her chest. There is a white substance on it.

“White Sage” huffs as blood comes out of her mouth. She looks up to all of us, her true face showing, filled with nothing but hatred. “I hope my son kills all three of you, along with that whore wolf of yours. Kyle looks up to Adonis for a split second, withdraws the sword, and cleanly cuts her head off. He then looks up at Adonis, and Adonis smirks a little. I caught Ares’s eye, who was not expecting this as well. Well shit! Adonis Pov

That bitch gave us major creepy vibes the second she stepped foot in our office. Her story was bullshit, and even my Lycan knew it, but we couldn’t call her out on it. While she was telling us her story, I linked our Beta Kyle.

“KYLE”

“Yes, Alpha,” he responded.

“Find out all you can about a nymph named Cayce and find out how to kill her,” I commanded.

“Right away, Alpha,” he said. A few minutes later, he linked me with all the information that confirmed most of Cayce’s story, minus how her husband died. It turns out she was the one who murdered her husband herself, but she was never found guilty. I knew the b*tch wasn’t any good. He also told me that she was found communicating with vampires by air message, which convinced me of her guilt. Even more, when I remembered the message, we saw burning. I knew she was telling Endymion we had connected through Bella. It would expose that Bella has her wolf again, but it wouldn’t expose that she has her powers. He then told me about the white sage essence that kills all nymphs.

Thankfully, we had white sage flowers in our greenhouse, so while we trained to open a portal, Kyle extracted the oils and put them on the sword. I knew we would need it. Like I said before, I ran the outcomes. When Ares passed out and left, I knew something was wrong. I could feel it somehow, but I knew he would tell us when he was ready. He usually does. While we were walking back to the ground, I slowed him down and nodded to Ash to keep walking.

“I know you’re not going to tell us what’s wrong, and that’s fine. I know you will tell us when you’re ready, but right now, you need to put whatever it is in the back of your mind and bring your focus to the mission,” I told him. He ponders what I say, and his eyes turn sad, but then they fully go in determination. He nods and jogs to catch up with Ash.

“Kyle. Kill her,” I commanded, and I saw him coming out of the greenhouse, sword in hand. He is almost close. I keep her attention on me.

Cayce asks if we are ready, and we tell her yes. I see Kyle closing in as I give her my full attention.

“Yes, we are. The information you gave us has been great, Cayce, but this is where we say goodbye,” I tell her, and it’s followed by Kyle stabbing her through the heart. A look of hurt flashes on her face, but it is replaced by rage, showing her true colors.

“I hope my son kills all three of you, along with that whore wolf of yours,” she spits out. The nerve in this bitch.

“Her Head”. I command Kyle, and he withdraws the sword and cuts her head off.

“Thank you,” I told him. He smirks and nods, turning around to go back, most likely to his pregnant mate, who has been frantic ever since Bella has been gone.

“Well, Shit’, Ash says, looking at me in shock.

“A bit dramatic, brother,” Ares says. His face was still straight, though it held a bit of shock as well. It was completely turned back into determination as his next word was simply “bella.”. We knew what it meant. Now that we knew how to create portals, it didn’t take long to open one right up. It was time to go save our mate, and we would kill anyone who got in our way. With that thought, we jumped through.