Her Alpha Across Time

Prologue

Thunder boomed again outside and the comfortable orange glow from the fire that lit the bedroom was momentarily drowned out by the bright white flash of lightning that illuminated the room. There was nearly no time between the two, so the storm must have been utterly upon them. Ewan stifled a smile at the small yelp that came from the direction of his bed and walked over to where only a bit of yellow curls poked above the warm furs, and gently pulled it aside to reveal the two little faces underneath, wide awake and on the alert, huddled together and shivering not so much from cold as from terror.

“Something’s coming!” the little boy shouted, eyes welling up. His twin sister was openly weeping and clutching her brother close to her. Ewan rubbed the bridge of his nose. Four seemed awfully old to still have such deep-rooted fear of something as routine to island life as storms, particularly for an island as known for violent storms as this one. Despite knowing his other brothers would yet again tease him for being overly indulgent, he knew they’d be spending the rest of the night in his room. Again.

“And what could you have done, wee Henry, to have angered the sky so? Why do you think it would bring its displeasure on you? Or is it Gabrielle you think it comes for?” He asked the boy, hoping the two were old enough yet for reason to earn him a few precious hours of sleep. The storm sounded bad, and in the morning there would be work to do checking on the livestock and crops and trying to do damage control. These two were yet still pups and would be sleeping off the late night probably still tucked into this bed, but despite his relative youth Ewan was the Alpha of their clan and couldn’t expect the same tender treatment.

Before either tot could answer, Ewan’s head popped up at the sound of feet running up the stairs to his chambers at the top of one of the towers of his family’s keep. The footfall told him it was one of his brothers, but they’d have no reason to be coming up his stairs that late… unless something was amiss. Ewan tucked the children back into the bed and was at the door, opening it before the unexpected guest had a chance to knock. It was the second eldest, Lachlan, of course not the least bit surprised that Ewan had heard his approach. He had intended him to.

“We’re under attack.” he told him in a rush. Ewan shushed him and stepped out into the hallway, closing the door partially behind him. “We don’t need to scare the children.” he hissed to Lachlan, not able to hide his displeasure. He kept his voice down, near a whisper, hoping his brother would follow suit. It wasn’t unlike Lachlan to be so dramatic; in fact, dramatic tended to be the younger wolf’s only mood. It was, however, unlike him to do so where it might affect the twins.

“Something is wrong, Ewan.” Lachlan repeated, this time echoing Ewan’s volume but his tone was more urgent than before. “Everyone in the Hall has collapsed…” he started to explain. It was clear this was more than Lachlan’s usual penchant for melodrama -- the man was worried. Ewan could smell fear and adrenaline pouring from his brother, his second-in-command, like it gushed from a waterfall.

“Everyone?” Ewan interrupted in shock. Most of the clan, certainly all of their family and the staff of the keep, as well as those that were close to and trusted by Ewan and his family would have supped together that evening and while Ewan had tried to soothe the much younger twins to sleep would likely be drinking and carousing and finding partners to warm their beds through the storm that night. Collapsed…?

“Everyone.” Lachlan confirmed. Ewan’s stomach twisted as he started off down the winding staircase, towards the Hall, to investigate, Lachlan following. “Not just them.” Lachlan continued in a rush, and this time Ewan didn’t urge him to slow his words, “I’ve been checking everywhere, and one by one everyone is collapsing where they stand. I sent Charles and Rob to check the kitchens, try and find a poisoner… they haven’t made it back.” he explained, referring to their two younger brothers, just barely old enough to be considered men.

At that, Ewan felt the wolf inside him raise to meet the fear and alarm and anger that boiled and he fought to hold it back,fought his claws back to hands, as he took off at a sprint to cover what distance was left to the Hall with Lachlan hot at his heels. He needed his wits about him. He couldn’t give in to his fury that anyone would make them unsafe in their own home, home to untold generations of the McCloud pack. He couldn’t give in to his fear that his inexperience had allowed this to happen.

It was as it was described to him. There were either bodies strewn about, or people collapsing in heaps. He stopped and moved to a knee, pressing his fingers to the neck of one of their maids.

“She’s alive.” Ewan told Lachlan. “They’re not dead…”

“... it’s like they’re sleeping.” Lachlan finished as he looked around. His words slurred just a little, and his eyelids started to droop. “Ewan…” he warned, swaying a bit. Ewan was on his feet and took a step but he didn’t make it before Lachlan fell to the floor, joining the others in their unconscious state. Ewan let out a roar, panic seizing him. There was nothing he could do. He couldn’t scent anyone in the keep that shouldn’t be there. There was no time, everyone was dropping around him. It was all too fast, and he didn’t know what to do. What was he supposed to do?!

The twins!

He went for the stairs again, needing to get back to the children. Whatever this was, it hadn’t seemed to have reached his chambers, and perhaps he could smuggle the children out to safety and make it to one of their nearby allies for help. He wasn’t sure what sort of attack this was or why -- the McCloud family had few enemies, they were largely self-sufficient and kept to themselves, there were no land disputes when you were bordered on every side by stormy ocean and what few clans were stupid enough to try usually didn’t make it home-- but maybe someone near them knew.

Ewan burst into his room, more than a little out of touch with his human side, simply glad he’d decided on a course of action and skidded to a halt, heart thumping in his chest as the pieces fell into place.

“Traitor.”

The word was a mere breath, such was his shock taking in the woman standing in the room, her hands making odd configurations in the air over the now unconscious children, her masses of blood red curls a curtain nearly obscuring their faces. She turned to him, startled, and pulled her delicate hand away.

“No, no I…” she tried to argue in her sweet, silver bell voice with her light, enchanting accent. Ewan took a step towards her, but he felt heavy, wrong, and the room was starting to go fuzzy at the edges. This was the thanks they received for helping an outsider. This was to be his legacy as an Alpha. The Alpha that thought with his dick and his heart and destroyed his clan.

“Judas... “ he interrupted, reaching towards her, having every intention to strangle the treacherous harpy to death, only when had she gotten so far away from him? “Why?” he asked, but even speaking was getting hard and he fell to his knees with a thud, still fighting whatever was happening but struggling every second.

“It was the only way.” she told him softly as he fell to the floor, her voice trailing off as the blackness overtook him.