The Alpha's Cursed Mate

Chapter 37

Horrific tales about unclaimed land in the black of night reach every child's ear — even mine and my brother's despite the keep's gate and its walls and its guards positioned to keep all horrific things from slipping past. My brother told me stories of demons and witches and rogues before my service came to blow out my candles — before his ensured he was safe inside his own bedchamber.

I remember one story quite clearly now; the short spiel about the tree spirit that my brother told me nights before his first shift. It comes to me suddenly as I leap through the canopy, still moving south but doing so more vigilantly than simply sprinting on the ground. After I passed Alpha Pollard's territory, I rose from the forest floor into the trees to avoid coming face-to-face with the Alphas hidden somewhere around here.

The tree spirit — a mysterious child of the God — masks itself by bending and morphing into the tree line. Its victims wander obliviously towards it, not able to differentiate the spirit from the natural landscape. And once close enough, the tree spirit grabs you, casting your soul into the God's void but transforming your body into a sapling that will grow and join the forest. My brother leaned close to tell me the next part: No one will ever know the truth of your death unless they find the young tree and cut it in half because a tree made by the tree spirit isn't made of wood; under the bark, it's filled with flesh.

I shoved him off my bed and told him to go away, but as I slink from branch to branch, I feel like the tree spirit. Senet says, if I whisper my demand in Gaius' ear, no one will know the truth of his death. And if they cut him in half?

I stop before I launch myself at the next pine tree, catching a particularly powerful scent coming from the east. I turn and go towards it, diverting only slightly from the southern path Alexei dishonorably disclosed.

It isn't Alexei's scent, but perhaps he isn't far from whoever I'm smelling. Ten or so trees closer prove the scent to be Alpha blood, and the potency of it scrambles my senses, endorsing that the stench radiates from more than one man. I resist the lure as I've been practicing doing with Alexei, and my growing proximity provides unfamiliar voices. I leer from above as the party — two Alphas I recognize but have not formally met — discuss alone.

"He's dead but the girl isn't. We either kill her or wait to see if she runs amuck."

The other Alpha glowers. "He wasn't right, but Blythe was a fool killing him. I knew his attendance would only create senseless complications."

Dead? Killing? The blood in my body seems to coagulate as I turn to stone. My hand palms and fists my cloak as though I can grasp my heart. I look all about, frantic and impetuous, climbing hastily away from the Alphas as they prepare to shift and run home.

Blood tears brim my smoldering eyes as my nails rip bark from the trees. Can a dead heart feel death? I experience the mate bond after my transformation, but there are so many things I haven't experienced in this form. Is it possible Alexei...

I drop from the canopy and collide with the dirt and duff, catching myself only partially as my thoughts rot, contaminated. Where is Alexei's scent? Where are the rest of the Alphas? I shoot into the night like an arrow lacking a target, jostling tears from my eyes, desperate to find him alive.

If Davra spread his word as everyone suggests, then every Alpha at this meeting must have been against us. If they see Alexei as a traitor or false Alpha all for defending me, then who else would Alpha Bythe have...

I choke on the thought like tough meat. The bond riles in objection. Not mine — surely not my love. I will reach into the void with my bare hands and yank him out. I will hunt Alpha Blythe, cleave into him like a solstice roast, and devour him like the beast they believe I am. I will, I will — my thoughts hiccup with a thousand savage desires, but my fear slows me like a ton of temple bricks. Not my love. Goddess? Tell me you hear me even hours away from the mirrored trees.