Alpha Divided (Alpha Girl Book 3)

That wasn’t the way to come out to the humans. Showing them our violent side would make them afraid. It’d be witch hunts all over again.

So many scenarios ran through my head that I hadn’t even noticed Raphael had stopped walking until he spoke. “What the hell happened back there? Why did you chicken out?”

I wasn’t ready to talk about it, but I guessed it was unavoidable. “No. I just…no.” I didn’t know how to put what happened into words. “I had the worst déjà vu. It was like the Matrix had a huge fucking glitch.”

“A glitch in the Matrix?”

This was going to sound totally insane. Hearing what future visions were like was totally different from experiencing one.

I needed more visions like I needed a hole in the head.

I waited until we were down the road a little more. I didn’t want to be overheard. “I guess I had a vision. We went to the schoolhouse, but as soon as you put your ear to the wall, they knew we were there. Anyhow, it was turning into a bad scene—Luciana and the others were pissed. Then I jolted back to where we were right before you asked me if I was okay for the second time. In the exact same spot.”

A slow grin spread across his face. “See. You can do it. See the future. We should start testing it out. We should—”

I tuned him out as I stared up at the stars. It was a clear night, and now that we were far away from the meeting—a quiet one, too. If I closed my eyes, I’d bet I could forget the last fifteen minutes had happened.

For about the millionth time, I wished Dastien were here.

Oh no. I had to get word to him. He had to know that the pack was in danger.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a cell that works?” I asked. Even if I couldn’t really talk to him, he needed to know that Mr. Hoel was here and working with Luciana.

“No service out here. And Luciana is the only one who knows how to turn our phone on. But…”

I knew it. He’d been holding out on me. “Please. Just this once. I need to talk to Dastien. He has to know what I just saw.”

“The only landline that’s always turned on is in Luciana’s house. She’s busy at the meeting and Daniel’s at our house—”

“You mean Daniel has a working phone?” And he hadn’t told me? He was so going to hear about this.

“And Internet. All of us have to ask permission before we make a call and she goes over the log on every phone bill.”

What was this? A fascist regime? No wonder they hadn’t told me about the phone. The more I learned about Luciana, the more I confirmed that she was a complete psychopath.

“I’ll be gone before she gets the next phone bill. You can put all the blame on me.”

He thought for a second, and I crossed my fingers. Short of leaving this compound, I wasn’t sure what to do. But getting word to Dastien was imperative.

“This way,” he said finally, and I let out a sigh of relief.

He paused in front of a white house four houses down and across the street from his own house. “I’m going to get you the portable from inside. Probably better if we stay out here in case she comes back.”

“Sure.” Even given the circumstances, I was nearly giddy with the thought of hearing Dastien’s voice.

Raphael reappeared a second later with the phone in his hand. “Be fast. I don’t know how much time we have before the meeting ends.”

I nodded. “I appreciate it.” I quickly dialed Dastien’s cell.

Meredith answered. “Dastien’s phone.”

Why did she have his phone? “Hey, it’s me.”

“Tessa?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my God. Hang on. I’ll get him. Just give me one second.” I heard doors slam as she moved through the building.

“What’s going on? How is he? Why do you have his phone?”

I heard her and Chris arguing but it was muffled, so I couldn’t hear what they were saying. A second later, Chris’ voice came on the phone. “Hey. So Dastien’s been a mess. He’s locked in the feral cages. We’re heading to them now. I’ll put you on speaker and hopefully he’ll change forms.”

My heart dropped. “What do you mean he’s in the cages?”

“The lack of the bond has been really hard on him. Just hang on a sec. Let me get him for you.”

The sound of doors clanging closed echoed through the phone.

“All right,” Chris said. “I’m putting you on speaker.”

“Dastien?” I said.

“Oh thank God,” Meredith murmured, her voice sounded tinny.

“Cherie.”

I gasped at the gravelly tone in his voice. “What’s going on? Why are you in the cages?”

He muttered something in French.

I really was going to have to learn his language. “English,” I said as I rubbed my forehead. There were too many things going wrong tonight.