Chapter 16
SAPHIRA
Morden had never looked so grumpy as we packed our meagre belongings and prepared to leave the glade as shafts of morning sunlight cut across it.
I struggled to tamp down my own nerves, trying to keep my focus on the task ahead of me, not sure I was really up to it.
Kaeleron believed so. It had been his idea that I speak with the alpha of the Ryland Pack rather than let Morden—a male—speak for me.
Morden hadn’t looked so sure that it was a good idea.
“We should go straight to the Hunt Pack instead.” Morden slung his bedroll over his shoulders, his grey eyes dark as they landed on me.
And there it was. The reason he was in a shitty mood.
He huffed and shoved his hand through his dark hair.
“We know the lay of the land now and how many we’ll be dealing with thanks to Kaeleron, and our combined strength will be enough. ”
That was a first.
I almost keeled over at the sound of Morden using his actual name rather than calling him a ‘fae’ or a ‘bastard’ and I waited, every inch of me tensed, as Kael looked as if he might respond and part of me wondered if he too might have gotten over himself enough to call Morden by his name.
“While I appreciate your belief in my power and battle prowess, we need allies in this fight, wolf.”
Apparently not.
Kaeleron’s tone was all business, as cold as it had been when I had first met him, as he continued, “We must focus our efforts where they are needed most—in the capture and elimination of the insidious prick and his beta.”
Elimination.
That word sank like lead in my stomach.
If things went according to plan, Lucas wouldn’t live to see tomorrow.
I flexed my fingers, stretching them hard, trying to loosen them up as every inch of me grew increasingly tense.
Elimination. A nice way of saying murder.
Kill. My wolf side howled, the thought of Lucas lying bleeding at my feet sending pleasure rippling through that side of me, satisfaction that made the other side of me want to vomit. I wasn’t sure I could do this.
“It is Saphira’s decision and we follow her lead.” Kaeleron came to stand beside me.
That only made the heavy feeling inside me worse. It sprouted spikes and bled acid, making me feel as if I might vomit right now, when we hadn’t even done anything yet.
“She isn’t up to it.” Morden pointed at me. “Look at her.”
Kaeleron did, and whatever mess he saw it didn’t deter him. He shifted his gaze back to Morden.
“She is up to it. But if she is not…” Crimson ringed his pupils, bleeding into the silver of his irises, and he lifted a hand before him—a hand with inch-long black claws and onyx-tipped fingers and beautiful fae markings that tracked down their undersides to his palm. He growled, “I will see to his death.”
The sight of this darker side of him, and the way he promised to kill Lucas for me, shouldn’t fire me up, but by the gods, it did. My wolf instincts howled for another reason, making me want to rub my body along his, marking him with my scent.
“Come, Morden. No more delaying. We face the truth, no matter the consequences.” Kaeleron proved he could use my protector’s name, that he could be civil if he wanted, and then he roughly grabbed Morden and teleported him.
I hoped he didn’t follow Morden’s previous suggestion and find a mountain to teleport to the top of and drop him from a great height.
While I was still angry and feeling bitter towards Morden, I had cooled down enough to feel he was still my friend—one of my oldest friends—and I would rather he remained alive.
I paced the glade for a few seconds, trying to wrangle my nerves under control.
I could do this.
Kaeleron appeared before me.
I shrieked and jumped.
His now-silver eyes gained an apologetic edge as he gracefully extended his hand to me. “Ready?”
“No,” I blurted and blew out my breath as I paced away from him. “Not really.”
“The alpha will listen to you.” He lowered his hand to his side.
“I’m female.” I paced back towards him, catching the concerned crinkle of his brow before he schooled his features into a bland expression.
“So?”
“So, alphas aren’t in the habit of listening to females.”
His right eyebrow arched and then lowered as he grinned. “Neither are kings, but I am in the habit of listening to you. You do have a rather commanding sort of presence.”
“Do you really want this alpha to find me arresting in the way you do?” I tossed that out there and his visage darkened and he was before me in a flash.
His hand wrapping around the front of my throat and thumb pushing my chin up to meet his vicious crimson gaze.
His voice was darkness and malice as he purred, “If he so much as hints that he finds you alluring, I will hang him with his own entrails, my little wolf. A single lustful glance in your direction and my claws will come out.”
His claws were already out, making me tremble as he stroked one across my lower lip, his gaze falling there.
Such a possessive little male.
I tilted my head back further, gaze hot on his.
Demanding.
He swooped on my mouth, replacing his claw with his lips, scorching me right down to my marrow with a possessive, delicious kiss that stamped his name on my soul and made me itch to take advantage of the fact we were alone.
But just the thought that Morden was waiting out there, wondering where the hell we were, was enough to have me somehow finding the strength to break the kiss.
Kaeleron growled at the interruption.
“Fight first,” I breathed, bewitched by the pure aggression darkening every line of his face and brightening his crimson eyes, “Fuck later.”
He kissed me again, devouring me, and when he relinquished my lips, we were halfway through a teleport. I held on to him—not that there was any chance of him releasing me—and pushed my own needs aside, focusing instead on my pack.
The sky was bluer than I had ever seen it as I stepped out of the darkness with Kaeleron at my side.
I stared at that vibrant blue and the snow-capped mountains before me, narrowing my focus down to where they met.
I reached for that connection I had felt with nature in the glade, one I was now sure was born of those fae markings I had spotted on the trees. Markings Kael had put there.
He remained silent and still beside me, watchful as he waited. Not pressuring me. Just waiting for me to make the first move.
To lead us.
I could do this.
I was strong.
An alpha’s daughter.
The Ryland Pack alpha would listen to me.
“Lead the way.” I gestured towards Morden, issuing that command with all the demand an alpha might.
Morden nodded and strode ahead of me into the trees, leaving the road behind, the furthest point he had driven with Kaeleron when he had convinced Morden to show him the Ryland Pack lands so he could easily teleport us there whenever I was ready.
Had I known they were going to steal a car from a small town near where we had made camp, I might have stopped them.
I focused on my breathing as we walked, Kaeleron bringing up the rear.
Focused on the nature. On the pressing power of Kaeleron that was incredibly comforting to me now that I was used to it, soothing my ragged nerves and boosting my courage.
Shadows whispered around my feet, brushing my legs at times, as if their master craved a connection with me, as if he needed comfort too.
I glanced back at him, a smile dancing on my lips as our eyes met. I would be fine. I could do this. He nodded, as if he had heard those words, and nudged my backside with a shadow, making me hop a step as he smirked and gestured with his chin, silently telling me to face forward.
I did as he instructed, tilting my shoulders back and head up, straightening my spine as we entered a large clearing nestled among the dense pine forest that hugged the base of the mountains that enclosed the Ryland Pack territory on all sides.
Three haphazard rings of cabins of all shapes and sizes filled the meadow, with a broad green in the centre. The largest cabin, a two-storey affair with a deep raised deck and steps up to it, stood directly ahead of me. The alpha’s home.
It wasn’t long before we were noticed.
Males dressed in rugged clothing prowled from between the buildings, their gazes landing on Morden first, and then me.
Whispers started as I was spotted and I tried not to listen to them as I kept my head high, perfecting the picture of a female who was as strong as any alpha.
A female who commanded others, and was listened to by them and obeyed.
A strong female.
One who was as much a warrior as any of the males here.
When they noticed Kaeleron, all whispered comments and curious glances shifted to him, and remained there.
I wasn’t commanding enough apparently.
Or I was just too normal.
I supposed it wasn’t every day that a six-foot-eight male dressed in a fine black tunic and leathers, carrying a sword at his side and walking with a regal bearing—a male who had pointed ears and exuded dark power—strolled into a wolf pack.
By the time we reached the centre of the green, the Ryland Pack alpha was standing on the deck of his cabin, cleaning his oily hands on a dirty rag.
He was as big as Morden; his muscled frame packed into a red-and-black checked flannel shirt that was rolled up his forearms. Wild dark brown hair and a short beard framed intense green eyes.
Eyes that remained locked on Morden as we approached.
“Something I can do for you, Snow?” His tone was gruff, and dismissive.
This wasn’t going to go well. I knew it before Morden stepped back and I stepped forwards, and the alpha’s emerald gaze moved to me.
“There’s something you can do for me,” I said, sticking to what I had practiced while I had bathed last night.
“And you are?” He discarded the greasy rag in the direction of a motorbike that stood off to the right of his cabin, several toolboxes left open near it.