Alpha Asher by Jane

Chapter 212 

We left that day for the safe haven, not bothering to pack or say goodbye to our families. 

It didn’t matter that I was on the verge of passing out, not when the place we promised would remain safe had been attacked. There was no more time to wait. I needed to use my magic to protect them, and I needed to do it now. 

Asher gave me enough of his blood to keep me standing up right. The only pit stop we made before peeling out of town was to pick up Tristan and Giovanni. Now that the sun was finally setting, they could safely leave the house. 

I cried out with relief when Giovanni  passed two blood bags into my hands and  quickly tore into them. It wasn’t nearly  enough, but it would have to be. 

We were just under a mile away and already I could tell something had happened. Smoke lingered in the air, crisp and heavy like someone had started a very large bonfire. Even coasting down the main road, the gouges in the forest were visible. Trees were knocked down  and bushes trampled into the dirt. It looked like a pack of very large beasts had charged through at full force. 

I wasn’t at all prepared for what I saw  when we arrived. 

There wasn’t a single part of me that thought the safe haven would survive an attack without any damage, but beyond all reasonable belief, I had clung to the hope that the damage would be minimal. 

We rolled down the main road intersecting the town slowly, giving me plenty of time to scour every single shred of damage the witches had done. 

From the number of houses that had scorch marks licking up the sides, it was clear Ember had been here. 

So many of them were crumbling, halfway torn down with families hiding inside, clinging to the shadows as the last hints of sunlight faded. 

It grew worse as we neared the center, so  much worse. 

Bodies were lined in neat rows, covered in white sheets stained grey with ash. There weren’t many, perhaps only a dozen, but it didn’t matter. Those twelve carried the same weight as a hundred as a thousand, would. 

The sidewalks and street were streaked  with black marks, kissed by Ember’s  flame as she pillaged the town. Cars were turned over, some halfway crumpled and smoking. The stench of burnt motor oil hung in the air, mixing with the scent of  death. 

Tristan cursed, and Giovanni made a  sound of agreement. 

“Fuck, my mother and father are here.” 

I craned my head to stare at him in the 

back seat. If we weren’t surrounded by so much carnage and death, I might’ve  laughed at how absurd he looked  crammed in the backseat with Giovanni. 

“Is that a bad thing?” I asked.  Giovanni snorted. “If you think Tristan is  unpleasant, wait until you meet his  mother.” 

I glanced at Tristan, waiting for him to snap or explode on Giovanni, but instead he actually nodded in agreement. 

There was nothing to say that would ease their discomfort. In truth, I wasn’t too worried about Tristan’s family or what opinions his mother would have. Seeing  what happened here with my own eyes, it outweighed everything else. 

Asher’s hand grazed my own, his fingers sliding in between mine. I glanced away from the carnage and into his eyes, not realizing how close I was to plummeting until I felt his presence glide down the mate-bond and into my troubled mind. 

‘It doesn’t matter how many times they destroy this place. We will rebuild.’ He promised, his eyes severe and set in  stone. 

More than anything, I wanted it to be enough, but it wasn’t. 

the car, barely noticing it had come to a stop. The slam of car doors. was

flash of brown curls flitted past

tangled her fingers in his hair and let out her sigh

I imagine we all had the same expression on our faces, grim without the barest hint of victory.

cluttered streets to the center of the safe haven, to the  community center that served as a sort of Town Hall. Children clutching ash stained stuffed animals padded behind their mother’s and

safe haven we’ve heard so  much about?” A refined and almost nasal  voice

Dina and Spence locked eyes, something private passing between the two of them. Tristan made a sound low in his throat,  his icy

said as a warning

  the woman with soft blonde hair and an  upturned nose. She had a delicate pearl

a single curl on her head that

into one festering pool that I did not have the energy to deal  with.

new Monarch. Lola, isn’t it?” She purred, the obliviousness in

spared her a

on her land, why don’t you show

was shrill and fell on deaf ears. One after another, emotions impaled me in the

of hard work reduced to rubble in  the span of two

against her bird chest. Her voice lowered to a whisper that wasn’t nearly quiet enough to be an actual whisper. “Think about your sister for Goddess sake. Do you expect her to live in  a hovel?” 1

told Asher through mind-link,

was  meaningless, and empty words were not worth

side of a man who had the  same facial features as Tristan. His hair  was much darker, but his deep-set eyes, angular nose, and pouty lips were identical. The little girl was the spitting image of Tristan’s mother, only younger and not nearly as sour. She waved timidly  when we locked

flitted from person to person, he was observing everything carefully. They clung to my face the most, and I wondered if he was naturally this curious or if he had a habit

invite you here, and you didn’t have to come. It wasn’t like this before.” Tristan

for ignoring the things she

through over half of the houses here. The rough asphalt beneath my

and death the witches had  caused, all

a pity. I was so hoping we could live here, but I won’t risk your  sister’s life when

snarled, but he wasn’t looking at

“Lucinda.” 1 

man I had assumed was Tristan’s  father approached. His hand was on his  wife’s shoulder,

baby. You’ve got to calm down. The  shadows are reacting to your stress…’

link, but it was faint, muffled by white noise like everything else.

than normal. Many of the streetlights were destroyed, but even

of a million little

them, perhaps even more. Within every nook and cranny, crawling over every piece of this earth that the moonlight failed to reach, the shadows writhed. They crawled beneath smashed cars and into half  crumbled houses.

brave ones slithered across the  ground and circled around my feet, whispering sweet words

but holding her tongue is not one of them.” Tristan’s father said in  a

scowled at her

it like this is not easy for her.” Asher’s voice dropped

my feet with eyes of ice. Her lips twisted and puckered, deepening the fine lines that circled her mouth.

and stumbled back when a few tendrils of shadow got too close for her liking. “Honestly, your father couldn’t control those things either. Disgusting,

cracked as my  head snapped in her