Free Alpha Unleashed by Aileen Erin Page B

English as she slipped on an eye mask. She was already under her covers when I shut the door. Apparently the fey took their beauty sleep seriously.
    I’d wanted her to have some better news for us. As it was…
    â€œWhatever happens, we’ll get through it. One way or another.”
    That was what bothered me—the other way. I didn’t like it. Not one bit.
    It lit a fire in me. I had to figure out a way to stop Luciana. I had to be able to fight her. I had to be stronger. Much stronger. “Let’s go back to the gym.”
    â€œYou don’t have to go back, cherie. You’re exhausted already.”
    Cosette was right. Fear was a great motivator. “I do. I can do this. But I need your help.”
    â€œI’d do anything for you.”
    I knew he would. Just like I’d do anything for him. If that meant eating mat every day until I was ready for the fight with Luciana, then game on.

Chapter Eight
    Four days later, I was hanging by a thread. There hadn’t been any more attacks on the school since Raphael had been bitten by zombie Daniel. That should’ve been a good thing, but I knew it wasn’t. Luciana was building up power. Maybe saving up for the church but I had a feeling we’d see her before then.
    Waiting for something to happen was killing me. It was like slow torture.
    Adrian had only gotten to Costa Rica before he had to stop. Raphael was too unstable to go farther. All I could do was hope that Claudia would find a way to save her brother while I spent my days training with Dastien and my nights trying to anticipate Luciana’s next move. Sleep was at a premium. I knew I should be resting while I could—it was somewhere past midnight—but I just couldn’t. Maybe when Dastien got back, I could relax a little. Even convince him to not set the alarm. We’d been sleeping maybe three or four hours a night, and I could barely manage that much.
    The shitty thing was that I couldn’t do anything else. Fixing the pack bonds had stopped most of the arguing among the alphas in residence, but now they all agreed we should stay put. Dastien said the Cazadores were watching the compound from a safe distance, just in case Luciana made her move, but that left me and most everyone else sitting around, waiting for whatever Luciana threw at us next.
    So in the meantime, I was doing the best I could to prepare.
    The more I dug into the pile of books surrounding my bed, the more I realized there was no way in hell I was going to be ready. There was too much to know. Too much that these books didn’t talk about. Anxiety had my shoulders in one giant knot. I tilted my head to the side, and my neck gave a satisfying snap. If something didn’t change soon, I was going to take action and it would probably be insane. The ideas I’d come up with tonight were scaring even me. And I could almost swear I felt magic in the air… But maybe I was just being paranoid.
    A knock at my door pulled me from my books. I bit my lip as I waited to see if whoever it was would go away. I was in no shape to entertain. And if it was another Were coming by to ask me what I’d come up with, I’d lose it.
    The knock came again.
    Screw it. “Come in.”
    â€œHey,” Meredith said. “How are you doing?”
    Why wasn’t she just coming in? We were suitemates. We’d passed the whole knock-before-entering thing weeks ago. “I’m… I have no idea how I am. How are you?” Ever since Shannon left, she’d been distant. I’d planned on giving her until tomorrow to deal, and then I was going to talk to her about it. But she’d just beat me to it.
    She wrung her hands together and looked anywhere in the room except at me. “I feel like I should apologize again.”
    â€œWhy?” She had nothing to be sorry for. Not in the slightest. “You already apologized, and you didn’t need to in the first place.