Chapter 10

Ayla’s POV

Being trapped inside my head is its own kind of hell. It was bad enough not to be able to reach my mates, but watching them in the arms of Alune was killing me. This was a new kind of torture. I felt powerless, like there was nothing I could do to fight back against her. I didn’t even know where to begin to push back.

I could hear her voice grating against my every nerve. Hell, I could even feel my mouth moving when she spoke, but the words were not mine. I felt Aiden’s skin underneath my fingers; it was not me touching him. It was beyond infuriating. Bria wasn’t any help either; she had hardly anything helpful to say; if I’m honest, she just seemed scared and was doing a crappy job at hiding it.

“There must be something more you can tell me, Bria; I can’t stay stuck here forever. This is my body, and I refuse to lose full control of my life just because some fucking higher being demands to use my flesh as a vessel,” I all but shouted the words at my wolf, and I could see she so wanted to help me more, but something held her back.

“As I said before, you must concentrate and feel your way in. you need to find a loose emotion and grab onto it. It’s the easiest way” she nuzzled my hand as she stepped closer to my body, trying to comfort me.

“Bria, why do I feel you are not telling me everything? Why do you seem nervous? If I’m not mistaken, it feels like you are scared to me?” If I were in control of my body, it would be one of those hands on the hips and stare her down kind of moments.

“I’m not scared, not really, more apprehensive,” she sighed, and I felt the weight of her stress to my core.

“Tell me,” I left no room for argument; if there was something I needed to be worried about, then I had to know before I ran blindly into this, not that I had a bloody clue as to how I was even meant to attempt it.

“Okay, well, Alune is powerful, like really, really powerful”, she began, but I was getting irritable and interrupted her.

“Yes, I know we went over this a few times already” all it earned me was an eye roll, and an eye roll from a wolf was impressive.

“Will you just listen for once,” she snapped, and I knew I better shut up if I wanted the answers. “Throughout history, the Exalted have co-inhabited a body with mortals many times. As far as I knew, there are at least six Exalted. I may be wrong though there may be more. Anyway, Alune is one of the most powerful of the Exalted and does deserve our utmost respect, but she is also the most devious of her kind” Bria paused “she is known for many great things, but she is also the one Exalted who never wants to leave and will do whatever she can to stay in her host’s body as long as she can, regardless of what the cost to the mortal will be”

“So, what your saying is, if I don’t hurry and get my body back under my control, that crazy bitch may never let me back in the driving seat of my own life” I couldn’t believe what Bria was telling me. If I didn’t get a move on and kick Alune out, then I may not be able to control my actions again.

“Pretty much, yeah, she loves the feel of mortal flesh. She likes to feel the pleasure you feel and enjoy every second of it” Bria confirmed what I was fearing.

“Oh, and she knows I know a lot about her kind and doesn’t want you finding out, so forgive me for not wanting her back in here with me very quickly, your much better company”, she laughed roughly “she’s exhausting and has ways about her even inside your mind when she isn’t in control of your body.”

“What does that even mean?”

“She can use a measure of her powers when you are in control still, and let me tell you; they can hurt” I watched my wolf flinch at what seemed to be a memory.

“Has she hurt you, Bria” my voice became dark and heavy with unspent anger.

“She can press a lot of her will onto me when she wants to, as a werewolf’s wolf is born of the same place the Exalted reside. They are like us, but so much more. If she wants something from me, then I must provide it, I have no way to refuse, and that scares me more than anything else. Losing your choice to say yes or no is horrible, and I know she will do anything she can to get a hold of your body permanently, well until you no longer exist, then her tie to you is lost,” she explained, sending a shiver down my spine that never fully left. That horrible cold feeling settled over me as I allowed the magnitude of what Bria told me to sink in.

Bria suddenly laughed, a full belly-rumbling kind of laugh. Making me jump, I wasn’t expecting the sudden change in the atmosphere; reeling from pent-up anger over Archer and now my most recent stupid predicament; I almost bit the wolves head off for it.

“Sorry, Ayla, but look, watch as Aiden fights against Alune’s advances, he’s having none of it. It won’t be long until she loses her patients. That will be your opening Ayla” she told me through bouts of laughter.

She wasn’t wrong; it was bloody funny to watch him refusing her, even if she looked like me. Pride swelled in my belly as he rejected her. I couldn’t love him more if I tried; he was faithful to the core. I couldn’t wait to get hold of him myself and show him how much this meant to me. He was helping me without even realising it.

“Do you feel that Ayla” Bria dragged my attention away from the gorgeous man I was watching; it was like watching a movie on a screen, he was right in front of me, but you couldn’t touch him.

“I feel something, yeah, but what is it?”

“That is your opening; Alune is getting annoyed with Aiden; use her loose emotions to gain access to your body once more”, she bounded around me, excitement building, even though I knew she didn’t want to be stuck here with Alune again.

An odd pressure was building to the right, it was hard to describe, but it felt like a dark space bubbling into existence. Edging towards it, waiting for it to grow, I'd get my chance if it just got big enough for me to step through. It was odd that I didn’t know how I knew what to do. Bria was right. It was something you felt, it wasn’t something you could describe. The more annoyed Alune got with Aiden, the bigger the dark pressure became. I went to tug at the edges to try to ease my way through.

“Ayla, don’t; she will feel you. Don’t touch it until you are sure you can get through.” Bria rushed to warn me moments before my fingers could touch the darkness.

“You got this, just a little bit longer”, I coached myself, nervous energy lapping around me. I didn’t dare turn around to watch Aiden repeatedly reject the Exalted. Even though I knew it would be a show worth watching, I couldn’t miss my chance.

“ Now, Ayla, do it now”, Bria shouted at me, louder than she needed to, I might add.

Jamming my hands on either side of the darkness, I forced my way through the inky-looking opening. There was nothing to be seen beyond the dark, but I knew I had to push my way in and force my way forward until I was the one controlling my body again.

The space between being in control and not; was nothing but pure coldness and heaviness. I felt like I had ten-ton weights strapped to me as I bowed my subconscious head and ploughed on through. I would not lose. I knew she wouldn’t slip up like this again if I did; she wouldn’t give me such an easy chance to regain my body, not again. It was now or never.

“No!” I hear Alune bark in anger, knowing it’s aimed at me. I was winning, and she couldn’t believe it. She clearly underestimated me, didn’t she? I allowed the smug feeling to pass through me only briefly, as I still had a job to do. I couldn’t afford to lose focus yet.

“Move over bitch; I’m coming back in”, I growled as I dug my heels in and pushed with everything I had. She was doing everything she could to keep the walls she had put in place to keep me in check. She didn’t realise I would never give up my life or my mates that easily. They were my world.

Just as I felt like I had nothing left to give, I felt the walls barring my way collapse beneath my fingertips, and I slammed back into my body with such a jolt that I was sure I’d given myself whiplash.

The light around me was blinding, and the sound of Aiden’s voice was way too loud for my ears.

“Get off of me, you psycho crazy bitch”, Aiden growled as he held me away from his body. He hadn’t realised it was me yet. He was holding me firmly but gently. Even though he didn’t want Alune touching him, he knew it was still my body and didn’t want to hurt me. Goddess, I loved him. I let my body go slack, and a smile slipped onto my face.

“I did it”, I whispered. I was finally back.

“Ugh, Axel, help me”, Aiden grunted.

“It’s me”, I laughed as I lifted my head to look into his eyes. He was so angry and sexy at the same time. How was I meant to resist reaching up to kiss his lips?

“I said no. I don’t care what others did in the past, but I’m Ayla’s, not yours” he warned me, and I laughed.

“Aiden, I’m back; I did it; I forced her out; it’s me”, I spoke to his mind this time, looking him in the eye and tentatively reaching up with my one free hand and trailing my fingers down his cheek. His body fell still as he watched me, calculating if it was me or not. A growl left his lips as he watched. Slowly I moved forward and rested my forehead against his; he let me move this time, so part of him believed it was me at least. But still, he would not move.

“How do I know Alune isn’t playing tricks on me” he spoke aloud.

“She hasn’t got access to our mind link, handsome man” I spoke to his mind again the moment I did, and he crushed me to his chest and damn near squeezed the life out of me.

“Make your mind up, dude! do you want my help or not?” Axel chuckled; he was watching us closely.

“He’s fine”, I spoke into our link again; this time, Axel could hear us too, and he beamed.

“That’s my girl; I knew you would work out a way to sort this shit out.”

“Now I got to learn to keep it that way” I smiled, but a quiet determination had settled inside me. Alune will only have access when I say from now on and only when it suits me.

Archer’s POV

Running through the pack house towards the door that led to the archives with my heartbeat pounding in my ears was terrifying. That goddess awful screeching started up again, but this time it was so much louder, which only meant it was closer.

“Keep going. We have to get out of sight before it sees us,” Titan urged me; he actually nipped at my heels to get me moving faster. He would pay for that one later, and he knew it.

“Quick in here; I pulled the door open and ran through. Only to be greeted with a large grand-looking library. Not the corridor leading to the archives. “What the?”

“Well shit, the Archives are made of magic from the waking world; it wouldn’t work here, meaning it wouldn’t reflect here” Titan hung his head.

The door to the pack house banged loudly, hitting the wall as it was thrown open, sending a ringing through my ears. Turning to face Titan, I see the fear etched over his face. It was rare to see fear in the eyes of a wolf, especially one as strong as Titan, but it was clear to see, and for him to be scared, I knew there was good reason for me to feel it too.

“Don’t move a muscle, don’t speak or even breathe too loudly”, he warned me within my mind. I nodded and had every intention of following his instruction to the letter.

“I know you’re here, little Wolf; I will find you” a beautiful voice filled the air around us; it came from everywhere all at once.

The hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood up, and I shivered as fear ran a course around my entire body. Unfortunately, my fear gave us away as my leg banged into the table directly behind it. Normally the tiny movement wouldn’t be enough to alarm anyone, but here it was like alarm bells going off; I knew we were fucked right then.

“I found you”, her voice sounding triumphant just as the door swung open, revealing us. “Oh, my, aren’t you a pretty one? I wonder what I did to deserve such a handsome servant this time”, she cooed at me as she made her way towards me.

I didn’t dare breathe. The woman before me was stunning, but I knew it was a mask, something she showed to people before revealing her true self to them. she sported a perfect hourglass figure with legs up to the sky, long white hair trailed down her back with large hazel eyes dominating her face. She wore a skin-tight black pencil skirt with a crisp white long-sleeved blouse on top and the reddest high heels I had ever seen. They were a stark contrast to the washed-out look of everything else in this place. If I hadn’t known better, I would have found her pleasant, and I felt like I would do anything she asked of me. But titan was whimpering next to me, he held real fear for this woman, and that was enough for me to know to feel the same.

“Don’t let her into your mind, Archer; I won’t be able to reach you if she does”, he sounded desperate.

“Who are you” I stammered as I backed up a step.

“Well, my dear boy, I am many things, but you can call me Leah.”